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Voddie Baucham - The Church and Her Expansion · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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There's an epidemic in our culture, an epidemic of broken marriages, and that
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epidemic of broken marriages has at its root a number of causes, but one
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of the main causes is the fact that we don't understand what marriage is for.
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And if you don't know what a thing is for, you will eventually
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abuse it. This is why we don't let our children play with our expensive
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things, because they don't know what they're for, and they have no choice
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but to abuse those things if they don't know what they're for. We live
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in a culture that doesn't know what marriage is for until we abuse marriage.
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There are a number of things that we think about marriage that are completely erroneous,
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and they lead us to bad places. One of the things, for
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example, that we've become convinced of is the idea that marriage exists so that
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we can have fulfillment. We look to our spouse for fulfillment, not realizing
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that since we are made to be fulfilled by and find our fulfillment in Christ,
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that looking to another human being, whether that's your spouse or not,
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for fulfillment is actually an act of idolatry. Your spouse is not there to
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fulfill you in fact, your marriage is not about you. Your marriage is
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bigger than you. Your marriage is actually about the Gospel. It is a
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picture of the relationship between Christ and his bride, the church. And so,
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because of this warped view that we have about marriage and that marriage is
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supposed to be about our fulfillment and about our enjoyment, we have people who
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walk into marriage and they're completely selfish when they walk into marriage. And we
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want to put off children as long as we possibly can. Why because children
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will interfere with our enjoyment. That's selfish. We don't understand the purpose of
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the thing, and so we're abusing the thing. And then so maybe we
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get around to having kids or having a child, but even then it's for
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fulfillment. We've been married for a while and seems like we ought to have
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a child, you know, because there maybe there's something missing, and maybe
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that will make us more whole, and maybe that will fulfill us. But
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again, if you find your fulfilling in something other than God, that is
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idolatry. And then we're tired and we're worn out and we're frustrated because there
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are children now and children are so demanding and parenting is so tedious, and
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it's so heartbreaking and heartrending at times, and because we're selfish and don't understand
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what marriage is for, we look at our children as an intrusion. Then
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ironically that are on our children are ready to get up and they're ready to
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leave, and we freak out because we don't know what we're gonna do,
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and now we want to hold on to them at the end all of this,
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because we think wrongly about marriage and we don't understand what it's for.
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Therefore, the idea that we would see our children go out and enter into
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marriages themselves, so that the glory of Christ and the relationship between him and
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his bride might be magnified and manifest in multiple other relationships coming out of our
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relationship as it bears fruit doesn't cross our mind. I miss them, I
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want them with me, I want them close to me. What does this
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have to do with mission? I just have been thinking about the irony of
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the way we think about marriage and abuse it, and how similar that is
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to the way we think about the church and abuse it. Because just like
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people don't understand what marriage is for and turn inwardly and abuse marriage, we
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don't know what the church is for, and so we turn inwardly and we
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abuse the church. We look at marriage and we say, well, marriage
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is for me, and it's from my fulfillment. We look at the church
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and we say, the church for me, and it's for my fulfillment.
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We don't want kids coming because there will be intrusions in our marriage. We
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don't want the church extending herself to too many different kinds of people because that
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will be an intrusion on our enjoyment. We don't want the church to grow,
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We don't want the church to change, want church to expand. Why
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Because we want what we want the way we want it, because it's about
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me and my enjoyment. And all of a sudden, people in the church
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grow up and leave go plant other churches, and we get uncomfortable and we
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get upset. Why because those people could be useful here. Why do they
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have to go somewhere else? Did you hear how familiar this sounds. It's
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the same way that we think abusively about marriage. We want to hoard for
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ourselves and for our own blessing and for our own nourishment and for our own
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enjoyment, not understanding that God is bigger than that, and that what God
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is about is bigger than that until we miss it well. Over the next
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two nights, I want to address both of those issues. Tonight, I
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want us to look at this issue of the church and the church and its
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expansion and what that means to the way we think about the church. And
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then on tomorrow night, I want us to look at the family. I
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want us to look at the forgotten mission field of the family. For example,
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I think it's quite ironic that there is a there is a conflict between
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missions and family, and that there are some mission agencies that won't even think
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about working with you if you have a certain number of children because of this
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conflict between mission and family, because of us not understanding that the family is
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our primary mission field. Amen, somebody so, But that's tomorrow tonight.
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Let's look at this idea of the church and its multiplication. This has many
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implications if we understand that the church, that a healthy church multiplies just like
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a healthy couple, if a healthy couple comes comes together. One of the
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things I pray for when I when I do weddings is I pray that God
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would crown the union with the gift of many, many children, And I
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love to see people's heads up. I'm gonna go do he? Just yeah?
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He did? Sometimes sometimes I see lots just oodles and oodles of children.
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Then the bride and groom kind of go do he. But again,
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healthy couples, it's always been understood until recent times, the healthy couple marries,
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then children should issue forth relatively quickly, you know, within nine months
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or a year or something like that. Okay, that children should issue forth,
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And throughout history it's been understood that if that's not happening, then there's
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probably something wrong. Now we don't think about that anymore. We don't think
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like that anymore. Ironically, we also understood that a healthy church should be
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a multiplying church, but now we don't think about that anymore. Now we
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just think about a healthy church being a growing church. We think about it
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healthy church being a bloated church, a church that consumes for itself and never
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looks outward and multiplies. From a biblical perspective, is that that's just it's
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unheard of. If a church is healthy, it multiplies. If a church
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is healthy, it raises up individuals who will then go elsewhere in order to
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help others. Enjoy what they've experienced. It's a difficult thing, it's a
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painful thing, but it's a biblical thing. And we need churches to multiply.
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If you have your Bibles, open them to the Book of Second Timothy.
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Second Timothy in nor do I mean that we just sort of neet churches
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to multiply overseas. One of the things that we've done at at GFBC is
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we've really kind of backed off on using the term missionary. And number one,
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because you don't find it in the text. You don't find the term
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missionary in the text. And secondly, because it sort of brings confusion to
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people. And sometimes we look at things and call the mission that don't have
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anything to do with the mission. And so it's quite interesting. You know,
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eight years ago we started Grace Family Baptist Church there in Houston, Texas.
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And so we started Grace Family there in Houston. And so because we
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planted the church, that would make those of us who planted the church church
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planners, right with church planners, because we planning the church. Now,
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if I go to Brazil and plant a church, I gotta be called a
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missionary. I'm doing the same thing. Why do I get a different title
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if I cross a border, or we don't even have across a we just
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have to work with a different ethnic group, and all of a sudden we
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get a title. We get a different title. Right, how come a
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church planner is not a church planner is not a church planner? And I
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think one of the things that we've done is we've clouded the issue so that
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now we think that only certain individuals are part of the mission and other individuals
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are not. Nothing could be further from the truth. The term Christian missionary
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is actually a redundancy amen. It's a redundant term as a Christian, that's
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part of what you are, is a missionary. In fact, a Christian
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who's not a missionary is not a healthy Christian. If you can't say a
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man, you ought to say ouch, okay. But through our you know,
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adopting this terminology, we've come to believe that there are certain Christians who
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are missionaries and then other Christians who are not. That there are certain Christians
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who are oblos gated to give their lives to the Lord, to his service
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and the proclamation of the Gospel among those who don't know, and other people
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who are called to root them on. This is not true. And if
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we change the way we think about this, we'll change the way we think
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about the church as it multiplies, because it's a difficult thing. It's a
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painful thing. Our church is right now about to multiply for the third time,
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and it's difficult. It's difficult. It's painful. It's painful to raise
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up and train and disciple men who are gifted and strong, and then look
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at how useful they are and the body, and then watch them leave and
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watch the load multiply on the rest of us again because somebody left. It
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would be so much easier for us if they didn't leave. But it's healthy
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for them to leave. It's God honoring for them to leave. It's a
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blessing for them to leave. We don't see it that way unless we change
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our perspective. Some people don't think that missions something that's significant here in the
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United States because we don't understand a few facts. May I share a few
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things with you. There are over two hundred million unchurched Americans. The United
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States of America is the third largest mission field on planet Earth. In my
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hometown, they're about three and a half million unchurched people. No US county
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has a greater church population today than it did ten years ago. Not one
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county in the United States of America has a larger church population today than it
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did a decade ago. In the last decade, church membership declined nine and
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a half percent, while the US population increased eleven and a half percent.
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Each year, between thirty five hundred and five thousand churches die while only fifteen
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hundred are planted. In the decade of the nineties, one hundred thousand churches
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in America died one hundred thousand. We have not yet planted enough churches just
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to make up for the ones that died in the decade of the nineties.
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We now have sixty percent fewer churches per ten thousand persons than there were in
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nineteen twenty, and even less than the ward nineteen fifty. Eighty to eighty
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five percent of churches in the United States are plateaued or declining, and the
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majority of church growth in the United States happens in churches that are two years
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old or younger. Listen to this from Phil Newton. With projected population growth
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in the next twenty years, at least twenty nine thousand new churches would need
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to be started in the deep Southern States that's the Bible Belt, just to
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keep up with population growth. And that does not consider the existing population and
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existing communities that lack adequate gospel centered churches. That's the Bible Belt. We
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need almost thirty thousand churches to be planted in the Bible Belt over the next
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two decades just to keep up with population and growth. And that's not even
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talking about places that are underrepresented right now with gospel outposts. It's mind boggling,
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mind boggling. And yet there's work to be done all over the world.
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So if this is the case again, and that's just that's here in
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the United States, and we're we're in the best position of anyone in the
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world you travel anywherese in the world. When we're here in America, we
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complain, amen, you know, we do. We complain in America,
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you know. And the church it's so hard to find a church, so
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hard to find good teaching, so hard to find d D D D D.
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You know, we're on the internet and we're on sermon audio, and
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we're on this and you know, we got John MacArthur that and John Piper
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this, and there, so and so and so and so, complain and
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complain and complaining when there are places you go and they don't have the Bible
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in their language. We got one in every room of our house, and
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we're complaining. Churches, multiple churches in every neighborhood, and we're complaining because
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we just can't find a church. We complain until you go elsewhere, and
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then you recognize that we're actually operating from a position of strength. Nobody in
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the world has it as good as we do. Nobody does. And by
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the way, remember what I just read. We don't have it all at
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good, but nobody in the world has it as good as we do.
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So if we need that kind of work in planting churches here in the United
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States, by the way, the US is the number three missionary receiving country
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in the world. There's only two other countries in the world that receive more
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missionaries, that have more missionaries sent to them than the United States. Okay,
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just a little tidbit for you. So if that's the case, if
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there's that much work needed, then how's it going to get done. The
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only way it's gonna get done is if local churches, because that's God's plan.
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God's plan is the local church. God blessed parachurch ministries. They're outside
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of the God's plan. And now I didn't say listen to me. I
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didn't say that they're you know, in sin that they're da da da.
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But when you look at the Bible and you see God's plan to reach the
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world, he has a plan A and there's no plan B. His plan
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A is the church, the local church. So all the rest of those
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ministries had better be partnering with undergirding the local church. Otherwise go home,
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because that's God's plan. God's plan is the local church. God's plan is
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healthy churches. Therefore, our number one goal is to plant healthy churches.
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That's our number one go Everything else that we do is to support that number
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one goal of planting healthy churches. Because if we're doing anything other than planting
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healthy churches, and if planting healthy churches is not at the foundation of all
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of the other ministry that we do, then ultimately here's what's going to happen.
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We're gonna, let's say we do campus ministry. Okay, great,
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We're gonna go to parts of the world where there's campuses and there're gonna be
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these campuses, and we go on these campuses, and we witness the people
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on these campuses, and people get saved on these campuses, Then where do
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they go If our ministry is not undergirded by planting healthy churches. Are you
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smelling one of Steven a business? You know? Now, there's a big
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thing where we want to go and we want to impact the business world.
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We want to go and we want to do this, we want to do
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that. Great, all those things are wonderful. But if we don't have
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healthy local churches where people are going to sit under the ordinary means of grace
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on a week by week basis, then ultimately whatever else we're doing is going
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to fall flat on its face. We must plant churches, which you can't
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plant churches without church planters. So how do you do that? Well,
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the seminary is better. Get busy. Yeah, find one of those in
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your Bible. Again, just like parachurch ministries. I didn't say they're all
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insane. I didn't say That's not what I said. Not what I said.
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But the biblical pattern is that healthy churches reproduce healthy churches. How do
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they do that? I'm glad you asked tewod Timothy. Look at chapter two
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we read you, then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that
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is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me, in the
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presence of many witnesses, and trust to faithful men who will be able to
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teach others. Also, there's the answer. There's the answer in a nutshell.
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There's the pattern that Paul has. In fact, this entire letter,
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the letter that he writes to Timothy, both of them, and the letter
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that he writes to Titus. These are known as the pastoral epistles. Here's
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Paul reproducing himself and the life in the lives of young men who have been
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called to pastor and plant churches. And he does this because he understands that
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this is the way that the Gospel is going to be sustained. There's a
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pattern in the book two Timothy. In every chapter you see two things.
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One there is a call for Timothy to Timothy to preserve and proclaim the Gospel
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as given to him by the apostles. That's number one, preserve and proclaim
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the Gospel as preached by the apostles. And number two, endure the hardship
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that will follow inevitably as a result of doing so. In every chapter you
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see these two things, both of them in every chapter. Why is this
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so important to Paul? Well, turn with me to the right and look
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at chapter four, and here's where he sort of summarizes it. And again
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this pattern exists in every chapter of this short letter. But he writes,
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I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is
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to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and by his
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kingdom, preach the word. There's the proclaiming the gospel be ready in season
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and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching.
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Why for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,
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but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves, teach to suit their
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own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and will wander
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off into myths. That's why it's important for him to make commitment to sound
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doctrine, as for you always be sober minded, endure suffering. Okay,
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there's the second half remembered. First half is preserved and proclaimed the gospel as
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it was presented by the apostles and the second half endure the suffering that will
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follow inevitably. As for you, always keep sober minded, endure suffering,
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do the work of an evangelists, fulfill your ministry. For I am already
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being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has
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come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race,
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I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowd
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of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
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on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who
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have loved his appearing. Paul's in prison, and he knows that it might
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be his last time. He's going to die. He's going to be put
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to death. Why for proclaiming the gospel. He has this young protege named
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Timothy. Now he mentions Timothy, Timothy's mother in Timothy's Grandmother in the Shaping
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of his Faith, but he does not mention Timothy's father. The only conclusion
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is that Timothy's father was either not a believer or that his father was simply
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not present. Another thing that we know is that Timothy struggled with being timid,
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with being fearful, and Paul reminded him that God did not give us
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the spirit of fear. So this is the here's this amazing letter that's being
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written, and basically it can be summed up like this. Paul says,
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they're about to kill me for preaching the gospel, and when they do,
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I want you to preach the gospel. Why because people are going to wander
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off into myths. If we don't preserve and proclaim the gospel as it was
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proclaimed by the apostles, then people are going to pervert the gospel. If
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we do proclaim this gospel, then the people who don't want to adhere to
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this gospel are going to persecute us for this gospel. So we have to
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make a commitment to this. We're going to be pulled in two different directions.
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And here's the problem. And this is what we see even in our
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culture, we're pulled in two different directions. On the one hand, we're
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pulled by individuals who want to accumulate teachers in accordance with their own desires.
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And so we put a wet finger in the air and find out which way
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the wind is blowing, and we go to conferences and find out, you
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know what's happening, what's working over here, what's working over there? What
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do people want? And then we go and we try to give the people
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what they want so that they'll come, and we say, please come,
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because here we are. We're giving you all the things that you want so
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that you'll please come. We're going to scratch your itching ears. That's the
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first temptation. And Paul is calling Timothy away from that first temptation. No,
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no, no, no no. People are not going to like it.
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They're going to want something else. But you must hold firm. You
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got to make a commitment ahead of time that you're going to hold firm because
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people are going to want something else. And if your commitment is to what
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people want, then eventually you will not hold on to sound doctrine because that's
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not what people want. Then there is the pressure from the other side,
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the other side, This is the side where my flesh wants people to be
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here. Amen. I feel better when there's more people this Sunday than there
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were last Sunday. Let me just gone and put it out there. My
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flesh is just happier. My flesh says, that's good. It was more
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people here this week than they were last week. Good for you. That's
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how my flesh feels. That's what my flesh wants. And if I'm not
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careful, I'll begin to do things just so that my flesh will feel better.
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How many if you know, some people need to leave. Wesley called
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it blessed subtractions. But then on the other side, they're the people who
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are not voting with their feet. They're voting with their fists, and they're
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saying, it will kill you if you keep preaching this. So on the
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one hand, my flesh wants people to be pleased with me. On the
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other hand, my flesh wants people not to kill me. And on both
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hands, I'm being drawn away from the Gospel. I'm being drawn away from
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sound doctrine. So because of this, Paul was urgent about telling young Timothy
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and his other proteges that they had to be committed to this. Also,
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remember remember that there's another pressure that they have that we don't have. They
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didn't have a written New Testament. Now think about that for a minute.
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Paul's preaching the Gospel and planning churches, and there is no written New Testament,
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so all you have is the people that he trains. That's it.
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And so he's writing letters and he's training people, and he's trying to leave
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this u Truly, that is the New Testament for us, and we praise
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God for that. But think about the urgency. People are being killed.
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The apostles are dropping like flies. They're being beheaded, they're being burned,
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they're being crucified, run through with spears, beaten to death, with the
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branches of an olive tree boiled in oil. This is what's happening to the
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apostles. And there's no written New Testament. So Paul sitting here in prison
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waiting for his head to be chopped off, and he says, we gotta
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get this to somebody. We gotta get this to faithful men who can get
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it to faithful men, who can get it to faithful men so that they
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can survive. That's his sense of urgency. And I want to tell you
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we need to have the same sense of urgency, because just because we have
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a written New Testament doesn't mean that people aren't wandering away from it. We
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live in a country where people will love equally John Owen and Joel Ostein and
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not be able to tell the difference. Amen somebody. That's the culture we
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live in. We live in a culture where a guy can actually make it
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to the top of the New York Times Bestsellers list selling a book to Christians
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saying have your best life now. And Christians don't sit up there and read
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the title and go, hey, wait a minute. Only way I can
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have my best life now is if I go to hell. You know what's
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sad. There are more people who get offended by be calling joel Ostein's name
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than they do by him butchering the gospel. It is urgent. People are
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accumulating for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. They are not enduring
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sound doctrine. They are wandering off into myths. And so we must have
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this commitment, first of all, to the content what you heard from me.
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We must have a commitment to apostolic teaching. We must have a commitment
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to apostolic teaching. Notice what he says, look back in chapter one and
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go back up to it. Let's start at verse nine. Therefore, do
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not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
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but share and suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Who
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saved I love that share and suffering for the Gospel by the power of God.
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It's an amazing thing because the press, barity teachers have us thinking that
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when we're suffering, that somehow the power of God is not with us,
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because if it was with us, then we wouldn't be suffering. Paul says,
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we're suffering by the power of God, who saved us and called us
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to a holy calling, not because of our works, well because of His
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own purpose and grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the age began,
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before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing
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of our savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality
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to light through the Gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and
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teacher. Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not
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ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He
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is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Now
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listen to this verse thirteen. Follow the pattern of sound words that you have
30:59
heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the
31:03
Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit and trusted to you.
31:07
So follow the pattern of sound words. Folks, you can teach using
31:11
the Bible, but not be following the pattern of sound words. Chapter two
31:21
and verse fifteen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved
31:30
a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth,
31:33
which means you can wrongly handle the word of truth. You see,
31:38
the dangerous thing that Paul is talking about in chapter four is not individuals who
31:44
come out and proclaim outright lies. People don't fall for outright lies. What
31:49
they fall for is the meat of a lie in the skin of the truth.
31:59
So the most Jewish teachers in the world today are not the ones who
32:05
openly and blatantly deny orthodox Christian doctrine. They're the ones who use Christian terms
32:14
but pour different meanings into them. They're the ones who open the Bible and
32:21
actually read Bible verses when they're teaching, but they're ripping those verses, kicking
32:29
and screaming out of context. Those are the most dangerous individuals. And this
32:35
is why we have to have a commitment to Apostolic doctrine. This is a
32:39
common Pauline theme second Thessalonians two fifteen. So, then, brothers, stand
32:45
firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by
32:51
our spoken word or by our letter. Titus one nine, talking about elders.
32:55
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he
33:00
may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who
33:04
contradict it. It's my job to name the names of those who contradict sound
33:08
doctrine and endanger the sheep. That's what a shepherd does. This is a
33:16
pattern in the New Testament. Hold on firmly to the Apostolic teaching and at
33:23
the same time warn people about false teachers. Paul names false teachers by name
33:30
by name. This is why it's very important for us to make commitments to
33:44
that which we believe, and why confessions are even important. This is what
33:49
is meant by that pattern of sound words in Chapter two, verses eleven and
33:53
thirteen. The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him,
33:58
we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign
34:01
with him. If we deny him he will also deny us if we are
34:05
faithless. He remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. This is one
34:09
of the earliest confessions in the Christian Church. It became an early hymn and
34:15
an early confession and part of early catechisms. The second thing we look at
34:21
is the context, not only the content. With the context, this is
34:24
a corporate proclamation. He says, in the presence of many witnesses, what
34:30
you've heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses. Here's what we've
34:34
come to believe. You need doctrine for people who are training for ministry,
34:38
but you need practical teaching for regular Christian people. So if you're interested in
34:46
ministry stuff, then you need to know doctrine. Then you need to have
34:51
preaching with theological words and so on and so forth. But everybody else just
34:53
needs ten ways to have a happy life and five ways to reduce stress,
34:58
and you know, four ways to be a better neighbor, and so on
35:00
and so forth. You can't say, man, you ought to say ouch,
35:01
okay, But this is what we think. Here's the selfishness. Here's
35:06
us turning in on ourselves. We don't want to work hard, we don't
35:09
want to be responsible for and accountable for sound doctrine. Just give me some
35:15
practical, pragmatic tools that I can go home and have a better night tonight
35:21
than I did last night. Just teach me, just teach me, Just
35:24
teach me how to get my kids under control. That's all I want.
35:27
I just want my kids under control. That's it. So just tell me
35:30
a few steps to make my children behave. What's the problem with that.
35:35
The problem with that is your children misbehave because they're sinners and their problem is
35:39
not behavioral, their problem is spiritual. How do they overcome that spiritual problem
35:45
through the gospel, which is doctrine? Amen. So if we because we've
35:55
done this, because we've done this, because we've sort of taken this same
36:00
approach to church as we've taken the marriage, and because it's just all about
36:02
how I feel, and it's all about you know, me just getting revved
36:06
up every week so so I can feel better throughout my week. I just
36:08
want practical stuff, you know. I just want, you know, stuff
36:12
that I can use. I just want. Don't give me all that doctrine
36:15
stuff. Don't give me those big, you know, ten dollars words I
36:17
don't need any of that stuff, not trying to go to seminary, not
36:21
trying to be a theologian, not trying to don't give me any of that
36:22
stuff. Well, here's what happens. A sound teacher gives you something that
36:32
you have to chew on and digest, and you go, I really don't
36:36
like that. One of the prosperity preachers gives you something really practical but theologically
36:45
bankrupt, and you go, see, that's what I need. And because
36:50
you haven't built your theological understanding, you don't even know that you're going off
36:55
into a myth. You have no idea. See, people who live with
37:07
clearly marked borders don't wander off and to where they're not supposed to go.
37:15
Doctrinally and theologically, we must have clearly marked borders. So one of the
37:22
ways that this changes the way we think about church is that we don't think
37:29
of the church as something that just sort of exists for me to sit here
37:32
and just you know, get my feel and get things that are not theological,
37:37
and get things that don't make me stretch and get things. We don't
37:38
think about church that way. Why, because one of the jobs of the
37:43
church is to preserve and proclaim sound doctrine, to observe the pattern of sound
37:51
words, and to teach you those ten dollars words, and to teach you
37:54
what they mean because they're important. And so we actually hinder the church when
38:02
our attitude is don't give me no doctrine, give me no theology, just
38:08
give me practical. Again, that's when you're in danger. The Muslims can
38:16
give you practical. The Mormons can give you practical. The Jehovah's witnesses can
38:22
give you practical. Buddhists can give you practical. Hindus can give you practical
38:28
if all you want is practical. But they're practical is based on a worldview
38:31
and a theological system that is antithetical to biblical truth. And if you continue
38:37
down that practical road, ultimately you end up in ruin and don't even know
38:39
how you got there. Thirdly, there is the commission to entrust it to
38:55
faithful men and trust to faithful men. This must be intentional and purposeful.
39:07
We teach it to all men, but we only entrust it to faithful men.
39:10
What does that mean? Well, that means not everybody gets to be
39:14
a teacher, Amen, lights Not everybody gets to be a teacher. We
39:25
must be selective, gifted men, called men, qualified men, tested men.
39:34
It's because in the pastoral epistles, this is what we're told. We're
39:37
told to look for gifts and men. We're told to look for men who
39:42
have a sense of call, and we are told to look for men who
39:45
have a sense of qualification and look for men who are tested. We short
39:49
circuit this. Why do we short circuit this because basically we have come to
39:52
a place in the mintern American Church because we've been carried off into myths.
39:58
And one of the myths that we've been carried off into mysticism, and so
40:00
we believe anyone who thinks they've heard the voice of God has a calling that
40:05
we can't question. Well, I know it's what God called me to do.
40:14
Really, huh, that's interesting because God gives specific directions in the New
40:21
Testament for the church to identify individuals who've been called. There are certain qualifications
40:27
that you have to meet. Funny how you say God called you, but
40:30
you don't meet the qualifications, And I'm supposed to take your word over God's
40:32
word. Funny how you say God called you but we don't see the gifts,
40:40
and we're supposed to take your word over God's word. Funny how you
40:45
say God's called you, but you haven't been tested, You haven't done anything.
40:52
Beware of the man who loves to stand up and teach but won't pick
40:58
up a broom because he doesn't love the bride. He loves the sound of
41:04
his own voice. Men must be tested, Man must be tested. Why
41:13
Because this is a huge responsibility. This is why we're told not to lay
41:17
hands on hastily because it's a huge responsibility. And this means that we,
41:23
as members of the Body of Christ, all have a role to play in
41:28
this process, in encouraging and evaluating. All of us have a role to
41:36
pandon process. No man has the right to live on a spiritual island as
41:45
it relates to his calling, because ultimately his calling is to the bride.
41:51
A man saying God's called me and ignoring what the church says is like a
41:55
man saying she's gonna be my wife and ignoring what she says. Amen,
42:02
it's just as ridiculous. Ultimately, unless the bride calls you, you're not
42:08
called. This is a heavy responsibility, it's huge. This means we need
42:25
to be praying for people, supporting people, encouraging people, testing people,
42:39
denying people. It's different, isn't it. It's different than I just want
42:50
to go to get I want to go to church, I want to wat
42:51
spiritual shot in the arm. I just want to get through another week.
42:53
Don't mess with me with all. I don't want no doctrine. I don't
42:55
want to know what's going on. I don't want to know where. You
42:58
say that, Okay, fine, you say they called a whatever. I'm
43:00
not a part of that. This is way different, isn't it. It
43:04
changes the way we think about the charge. And then there's continuity. Who
43:09
will be able to teach others? Also, that's our goal. That's why
43:14
the rest of these steps are important, because the goal is that these individuals
43:17
will be able to teach others. Also because what we're about is that continuity
43:22
and multiplication. Why is that important? I gave you the numbers related to
43:27
the United States, and we're in the best shape of anybody else in the
43:30
world. We need thousands, thousands to answer the call. Around the world,
43:42
we need millions to answer the call. Let me connect this to the
43:52
point before so that you make sure that I make sure you understand what I'm
43:57
saying. Commissioning and looking for gifted men, called men, qualified men,
44:02
and tested men has to do with making sure that they're able to teach others.
44:07
Also, what we've come to is a place where we believe that we're
44:10
supposed to look for credentials instead of qualifications. And there's a difference between a
44:16
person who has credentials and a person who has qualifications. You can have credentials
44:22
and not be qualified. So that's not the point. That's not the point.
44:30
And I know a lot of individuals who are gifted and called and qualified
44:36
and they've been tested, but they won't go and serve, mainly because they're
44:44
hypocrites. What do you mean by that? Okay, fine, watch this.
44:51
So you take the person the person who says, well, you know,
44:55
I just don't I don't have much book learning, and I don't know.
45:00
They've been in the church their whole life. They got five Bibles in
45:02
their home. They can read it, you know, they can stand up
45:07
and teach the Bible and handle the Bible. They have leader of leadership positions
45:09
in church, so on and so forth, godly men, godly families,
45:14
but they just don't want to. They just don't. They just don't want
45:15
to do that. They're not qualified to do that. You take that same
45:17
man and you take him outn't I don't know. You take him wherever,
45:22
take him, take him, take him, Take him to Mozambique, Tanzania,
45:28
wherever. Now, all of a sudden he's on the field there.
45:30
Take him to South America, taken to Brazil, take him to Peru.
45:36
And all of a sudden, when he's on the mission field, he sees
45:38
a burgeoning church. And when he sees the burgeoning church, he sees men
45:43
in that virgeining church who step up, men who are just leaders. They
45:45
love the Lord, and they serve, men who read their Bibles and pray,
45:51
and men who can stand and teach in simple terms to God's people.
45:55
And in Mozambique, Tanzania, Peru, or Brazil, that person will look
46:01
at an individual who doesn't have as much Bible knowledge as he does and say
46:07
that person needs to be a pastor. Huh, you've had the Bible longer,
46:15
you know the Bible better, and you're satisfied with them leading a church
46:22
for those people. But you think you're not qualified to lead here. You're
46:29
a hypocrite. Do you think less of those people than you do of these
46:40
who not. And that's usually not the case. It's usually not the case
46:45
that these people are just racist or they're just not whatever, you know,
46:49
and they think, yeah, whatever, those people are just you know,
46:52
give them anybody. Usually that's not what they think. They're godly people who,
46:59
when they're not thinking about themselves, can actually be objective and analyze gifts,
47:07
calling nobilities. But when you're thinking about themselves, there's always the hurdle
47:15
that I haven't jumped over yet. Are you able to teach others the faithful
47:28
word, the trustworthy word because you know it and because you're committed to it.
47:38
Do you serve the bride because you love the bride? If that's the
47:45
case, take a weapon, man a post, and stop sitting and soaking
47:53
while other men do the work that you're obligated to do yourself. For some
48:04
of us, it's just time to man up. Continuity is important. Listen
48:16
to Calvin. He again shows how earnestly desirous he is to transmit sound doctrine
48:24
to posterity, and he exhorts Timothy not only to preserve its shape and features
48:31
as he formerly did, but likewise to hand it down to godly teachers,
48:36
that being widely spread, it may take root in the hearts of many.
48:40
For he saw that it would quickly perish if it were not soon scattered by
48:45
the ministry of many persons. And indeed we see what Satan did not long
48:52
after the death of the Apostles. For just as if preaching had been buried
48:58
for some centuries, brought in in numerous reveries, which, by their monstrous
49:04
absurdity, surpassed the superstitions of all the Heathens, we need not wonder therefore,
49:10
if Paul, in order to guard against an evil of such a nature
49:16
and of such a magnitude, earnestly desires that his doctrines shall be committed to
49:22
all godly ministers who shall be qualified to teach it. There are people in
49:31
peril all around us. There are people who are being carried off by every
49:38
wind of doctrine. Those, as Paul says in chapter three, we're deceiving
49:45
and being deceived. There are people who just won't endure sound doctrine. And
49:55
yet we have this mandate, this mandate that we would take the faithful words
50:01
that we have heard in the presence of many witnesses and entrust them to faithful
50:05
men who will be able to teach others. Also, if we take that
50:09
perspective as it relates to the church, it changes things. You know.
50:14
One of the things that changes it changes what I'm willing to endure. I
50:21
don't just get up and leave somewhere because of personal preferences. I don't notice
50:28
that when there is a place where God is at work, where there is
50:32
a commitment to raising and training and sending godly leaders and preachers, when there
50:44
is an emphasis on multiplying gospel impact at home and around the world, there
50:50
is a lot less bickering about the color of the carpet and what song we
50:54
sang last, because there's so much more to get done, and so much
51:09
more that is of weightier importance than those other things. My prayer for you,
51:21
as it is for me, as that we would love the church and
51:27
that we would serve the church, but that we would do so from a
51:32
mindset that recognizes that the church exists to multiply. That we would hold even
51:44
our most favorite ministers and teachers and leaders with open hands, always being ready
51:52
and willing to celebrate should God see fit to take them. Somewhere where people
52:00
need them more than we do, And there's always somewhere where people need them
52:07
more than we do. We are so incredibly blessed. I mean, we're
52:15
overly blessed. We're abundantly blessed. It's not even funny how blessed we are.
52:27
My wife and I were in Australia last month for a couple of weeks,
52:35
preaching all across the country on the West Coast and the East Coast,
52:39
and it was amazing to be in a place there's roughly two thirds the size
52:44
of the United States. Again, their population is not that large, much
52:47
smaller than ours, but it was amazing to be in a place where I
52:54
would go to you know, you go to the West Coast and you're preaching
52:59
there, and you know tell them, you know, yeah, we're going
53:01
to be on the East Coast, and they knew within five or ten people
53:06
who we were going to be with, because there was only that many people
53:14
on the East Coast of Australia who were actually Orthodox. And when we then
53:22
go to the East Coast and they found out that we were on the West
53:24
Coast, they knew within two or three churches who we've been working with because
53:30
there were only two or three orthodox sound churches in the western part of all
53:38
of Australia. We have such an over abundance. It's incredible. It's incredible.
53:57
We need to praise God for it. But in addition to prising God
54:01
for it, we need to release it, and we need to release it
54:07
gladly, and we need to have a posture that says we're always ready to
54:14
release it gladly, and we're always ready to be released gladly. It's always
54:22
tough to lose people, it really is. I mean, as a pastor,
54:27
I mean it's just tough when people go, but when they're going to
54:36
something, it's something tough that you celebrate, it's hard and it hurts.
54:45
It's like, wow, it would be so much easier if we had that
54:51
extra elder right now, if we had those extra leaders right now. You
54:55
know, there's a church being planted and you know you got you know,
55:00
she got this rising star preacher dude that you're going to send out and you
55:05
know, forty to fifty people with him. By the way, among the
55:07
forty or fifty people who go with him, you want first stringers, right,
55:15
you want first stringers. So what does that mean. That means the
55:20
next week you get to come stand up in church with one less leader and
55:27
minus forty or fifty of your strongest people. Ouch. Ouch. And after
55:39
you say ouch, you say, what a blessing that that can happen and
55:45
we can still go on. God is so good because now the ministry and
55:52
the impact is being multiplied somewhere else. Praise the Lord. Let's train up
56:00
some more. But that doesn't happen automatically, and it doesn't happen if you
56:07
just think about the church in selfish terms. I need, I want,
56:14
I wish, I hate, I love. We have got to love the
56:22
Bride of Christ with an open hand, and we have got to have as
56:30
a priority for all of us, for all of us, because it can't
56:34
just be a priority in the pulpit, but it's got to be a priority
56:37
for all of us that we are a place that proclaims and preserves sound doctrine
56:42
and is willing to endure anything that we have to in order to do that.
56:45
Because if it's if it's just a commitment in the pulpit and not within
56:52
the culture of the church, then here's what happens. Back to what I
56:54
said before, there's a commitment to teaching sound doctrine. There's a commitment to
57:00
equipping the saints and sound doctrine up here, and then out there it's just
57:07
yeah, more big words, more theology. Can you just give me something
57:17
practical, folks, There's nothing more practical than theology, because how you live
57:28
is determined by what you believe. Let's pray, Dear God, our Father,
57:50
we bow before you, recognizing that we are a selfish people, recognizing
57:57
our own sinful tendency to view everything through the lens of our desires and our
58:05
wants, and it just like children who would eat cereal and candy and ice
58:15
cream every night if they were allowed, we would soak up cotton candy Christianity.
58:27
But just like those children who have a desperate need for a balanced diet,
58:35
your children need the whole counsel of God, because your church exists to
58:40
proclaim and preserve the whole counsel of God, and our lives are built on
58:51
the whole council of God. Grant by your grace that we would embrace this
58:59
reality and be willing to endure the suffering that will follow inevitably as a result,
59:08
Father, I pray that you would protect your people from wolves who would
59:14
devour them with almost truths, who would devour them with practical realities based on
59:27
aberate theology, who would devour them with how to's based on heresy. Grant
59:44
that your people would know your word, so that we might that we might
59:50
not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. And God,
59:55
would you raise up faithful who will adhere to sound doctrine, who will embrace
1:00:14
sound doctrine, and who will instruct in sound doctrine, and who will pour
1:00:21
their lives into other faithful men who will do the same, to the end
1:00:27
that the world may know, and that Christ might have the fullness of the
1:00:32
reward for which he died. This is our prayer, this is our hope,
1:00:39
this is our desire, and we ask it in Christ's name, Amen. Pat