Transferring Our Faith to the Next Generation - 1 Timothy 4:11-16

We're a church that's been looking at since the beginning

of New Year till now, the letter that Paul wrote to a young

protege in the faith named Timothy.

And the the purpose of the letter is that Timothy is now

being charged to really put a church in order.

So we have called the series trustworthy because you can read

First Timothy and you can look at all of the different designs

and all of the different commands and instructions that

God has for what a healthy or trustworthy church is supposed

to look like. What a what an important thing

to study and to know in the day and age that we live in there.

I've heard it said there are more churches than there are

McDonald's. So there's a lot of churches,

and if you've ever been in one of those seasons of your life,

maybe you're in it now where you've needed to find a new

church for whatever reason, new to the faith, new to the city,

just moving from 1 congregation to the next.

First Timothy is a great book of the Bible to know and to read.

Because if we didn't call the series trustworthy, we could

have called it the Checklist. All of the things that you

should be looking for in a church that you're going to

commit your life to be a part of.

And so just by way of review, it's timely review.

First Timothy in the passage we'll look at today in chapter 4

is is like the halfway point of the book.

And now we're going to really work quickly in closing our

study in this. But if we just did a way of

review, think of all the things that have been on the church

shoppers checklist so far. We've talked about the role, the

qualifications and the characteristics of the

overseers. A a healthy church is going to

have people in the position to oversee it that are called and

qualified so that the church is governed well.

We've looked at the role of the servants, meaning not all of the

ministry is being done by one or two people that are overseen,

but faithful people within the church that are qualified to

serve are also being called and qualified to serve a church

that's part of being a healthy church.

We've looked at the role of women in learning and and

gathering in the church. We've looked at the role of men

and praying and the the different commands that they're

given to not to quarrel and to be people who are falling under

the submission of the leadership.

We've looked at the importance of doctrine in a church, how

important it is that they're teaching through the word.

We have on the list that we've gone through.

There is one role that we have yet to look at, and it's a very

important role. It should be on all of your

radars when you're thinking about the church you belong to

or any church that you're investigating.

And it is what we will discuss this morning, and it's good

timing. The role that we'll look at

today, because I'm very mindful that the role that we're looking

at is the role that I serve. It's the role of the lead of the

church, the overseer of the overseers.

And I'm mindful of that and I'll share why I'm mindful with one

photo. This was actually sent to me

just by coincidence. Someone sent me this and said,

Can you believe that this was nine years ago today, a few days

ago marks the nine year anniversary of the service that

I walked into to to take on the call of transition our church

from 1 lead pastor to the next and that was nine years ago.

Can you believe it? Amen.

Amen. Now the, the reason I share is

because when a transition of leadership happens, I think one

of the best text of the Bible that you can ever look at is

first Timothy chapter 4. What we will look at, because

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

essentially what we are going to study in this Scripture is Paul

telling Timothy in all of these instructions for elders and

servants and the role of men and women, I need you to lead it.

That's why the letter is to, for to Timothy.

I need Timothy to lead it. So it is the role of the lead

pastor and he's transitioning that role.

And it's good to look at that transition because just as soon

as we can look back and say, wow, that photo of nine years,

how fast it went, at least for me, maybe longer for some of

you, the transition should happen again.

And by God's grace, unless he comes very quickly, the

transition will happen again. A healthy and trustworthy church

will always outlive one person that is called to lead it for a

particular season. So I study this one so that you

can look at the measurements of a healthy leader and you can

look at what makes healthy leadership something that will

make a healthy church. The other reason is someday

there will be a young man, by God's grace, who will take on

the ministry of Calvary Chapel Boise, and we will be as a

congregation called to support him in what he's called to do.

So in preparation for that, we can look at this now, whenever

that day comes. And I think there's another

reason that we should all be looking at this text and

listening very closely. And it's for similar reasons

that all of this book has been more than just a study in church

government and qualities and qualifications of some specific

roles. Everything we're going to read

about in Paul's encouragement to Timothy's transition into

leadership is going to be healthy and wise and good for

every believer among us. And, and I will say this, I

don't think any preacher or any future pastor should be without

times where they sat in the sanctuary and sat under the

teaching of someone who was leading a church.

And so by God's grace today, maybe there are some future lead

pastors and preachers and teachers among us.

That would be great. This message is for you.

Let it grow inside of your heart.

Aside from that, every single one of you should listen to the

qualities and characteristics of what it means to be a leader in

the faith because husbands and wives, parents to children,

coaches, teachers. And as I look out and I just see

the role of, of business leaders and and neighbors who want to

use their influence to bring people to Christ, that every

single one of you who loves Jesus and wants to follow him

could read this and think, what would it take for me to have my

faith transitioned into someone else?

That is our strategy for evangelism.

We don't do a lot of evangelism training or this is the strategy

is that we would raise up people who would be willing to allow

their faith to be transferred to someone else.

So all of you are students of leadership.

This is a leadership conference for our church right now with

the measurements for the lead pastor.

So I hope that you're listening, taking notes, and I hope that

God will use this to give you some influence into someone

who's following you in the faith.

And so let's start in first Timothy, chapter 4, verse 11.

1 Timothy 4:11

Paul, writing to Timothy, says these things, command and teach.

He's installing Timothy to be the the leader who would be

given the authority to command and teach this letter to a group

of believers in Ephesus. And then he's going to give some

practical steps to Timothy. And mind you, as we'll see in

this, this letter is going to be read publicly.

So as Paul is giving authority to Timothy as he writes, it's

going to be read in the listening ear of everyone in the

church. So they would hear Paul giving

Timothy instructions. And verse by verse, we'll look

at the instructions for the future leader.

And already we get a very important instruction for the

leader to hear and anyone who's going to follow that leader to

hear. In verse 12, it says let no one

despise your youth. And so let's just pause right

there. I already showed the photo of me

nine years younger. I remember when I was a youthful

and young pastor. I'm now qualified as middle age.

So that is I can't wait for the day when there's clearly someone

younger than me ready to take the charge.

But here's the point. To transition leadership from

one generation to the next requires an older leader to be

discipling and then passing the baton to a younger leader.

And that is a message that I think every church needs to be

reminded of because when the new leader comes, sometimes the

initial reaction is our other leader was older, wiser, and

more experienced in the church. In leadership, of course,

there's the new leader has to be younger, otherwise the the

leadership will die with that generation.

And with that message, we have to be reminded that this just

happens sometimes. I don't know if you've ever felt

it, but one generation can look at the younger generation and

kind of despise everything about them.

And, you know, it's like they come in and you just, you see

their sense of fashion. And I don't know if you've ever

seen, you know, these new up and coming pastors.

They have the reputation of beanies and skinny jeans.

And it's like, I just don't like that.

It's the clothes they choose to wear.

Try not try to give them grace for things that were different

in your time. It was baggier when you were

young. It's now baggy again.

So if you wait, everything will be fine.

The music style, everybody's talking about their generation,

their generation had the best music and the young generation

comes up. They will worship Jesus

differently with a different expression of music that God

writes a new song for a new generation.

And one of the charges here is is older generation.

Be be gracious and maybe even remember when, when you know it

was scandalous to have an acoustic drum set on stage and

somehow God gave grace to an older generation to, to Now we

have rock worship every Sunday. And someday a new generation

will come with new music and they'll need the grace of the

older generation. And so there is in the hearing

of the older give grace to the younger.

But that's not all that Paul is communicating.

He's also saying to Timothy, don't let them see your youth

and say, well, of course he's immature because of the way

Timothy behaves. Give no reason for your youth to

be an issue in your leadership. And, and I say that because of

what he goes on to say, he says, but be an example to the

believers in Word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in

purity. A young leader cannot do

anything about his age. The year he was born to the year

he takes leadership is his age, But he can do something about

the way he lives. In fact, I, I don't know if you

remember those of you who've been going here nine years or

longer, The promise I made to the church when I took over was

if I'm younger than you and you look at me as maybe a young

pastor, I promise if you give me time, I will get older.

And that's all I could do about my age.

And I want to stand here before you today and say I have kept

that promise. And so have you.

You all have aged very gracefully under the last nine

years. The, the, the age we can do

nothing about, but we can remove any doubt about maturity.

And so now we we shift the conversation leadership, give no

excuse for someone to look at you and say that's not a person

worth following. And so very quickly, if the Lord

is stirring in your heart for how this applies to your office

of leadership. If there is the young

missionaries and the young pastors among us, This is a list

to be meditated to be considered into the thought through.

And I'm so grateful this week as I just looked at this and I

thought this is a great reminder for me as the example I need to

be in my role. So this is more than just Paul's

telling Timothy. He's saying, Timothy model it.

And everyone who hears the letter follow it.

And here's the list very quickly.

There's five ways that Timothy is supposed to model a life for

everyone else to see, a life worth following.

He says in Word leaders, pastors, specifically anyone in

ministry, your words matter. One of the, the verses that I

kind of hold into my heart for all of the interactions and

conversations that I have with people in our church is from

James to be very quick to listen and slow to speak.

And it's, it's done in, in times that I've LED well, it's times

that I've listened more than I've spoke.

And I encourage all leaders to take on equality to to be good

listeners so that you can respond with words that actually

minister to people. He then says with your conduct.

There's an other translation, say leaders, you know, let your

conduct or your life be an example.

Is this person's life a life that is more abundant?

Is this person's life a life that is going through a process

of transformation, a life that is is worthy of the the name of

Jesus attached to it. And for for this, you know,

short reminder, this is where Jesus says to all of his

disciples on the Sermon on the Mount, let your light shine

before others so that they may see your good works and give

glory to your Father as in heaven.

That is specifically true of anyone holding the baton of

leadership. Live your life so that whatever

good works you do, whether it's preaching or teaching, washing

the feet of the Saints, let people see that good work and

say, wow, how awesome is God in that person's life.

And then this one's worth circling.

This one is revive me in it. Revive all of you in the roles

and offices you play with any influence.

He says, let your love be an example.

I think this is for me, the challenge is to reread First

Corinthians 13 and in every capacity of leadership that I

take on in serving this church, in my patient, in my kind, in my

long-suffering. And it's especially important to

read the beginning of First Corinthians chapter 13 when Paul

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

says that you can speak with the tongues of angels, you can be

eloquent, you can divide the Scripture correctly, But if

there is not a love coming from the minister to the people, it's

a sounding gong. And this should be on the marks,

the checklist of the leader worth following.

Is everything that he's saying motivated and compelled by love?

He says in spirit to be a, a leader who has still got zeal

for leadership, A, a, a desire, not begrudgingly, as as Peter

will say in his exhortation to elders, but a willingness to say

I'm called and I'm going to lead, I'm going to do my very

best. And then he says in faith,

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

I have to say, without faith it is impossible to encourage

others to live their life for God.

It would be very hard to preach week by week and to divide the

Scripture and to say the hard truth and to proclaim the narrow

gate of salvation through the name of Christ if I didn't

actually believe it. And so there needs to be a

stirring in the heart of the leader to lead with a confidence

in God. His promises are true.

The word comes alive and doesn't return void.

You're, you're trusting that these are God's people and not

your own. And I think you can take that a

step farther to say not just faith and confidence in God, but

to lead with faithfulness, to be a faithful person in the

ministry. Paul, when writing his 2nd

letter to Timothy will end in Speaking of his own leadership.

His last correspondence with Timothy toward the the last

letter that Paul would write, he writes to Timothy and says, I

have fought the good fight. I finished the race, his race of

ministry was coming to the end. And he said I have kept the

faith. He stayed faithful to the call

of God in his life and he made it to the finish line leaders.

You got to go to the end. You got to stay faithful.

And then he says to young Timothy, living in Ephesus as a

single man, to be an example in purity.

Ephesus, as we have noted throughout this series, was a

city that we would liken to New York City or LA, a city of

influence, a city of riches, a city of a lot of religious

variety and a lot of debauchery. And Timothy doing ministry in

that city. He says, live by example, be set

apart, be pure. James says religion that is pure

and undefiled before God visit orphans and widows in their time

of need and to keep yourself unstained from the world around

you. That a leader can lead in a

culture that has fallen, turned its its heart and and face from

God. And yet the leader can lead

unswayed by all of the distractions of the world around

him. And I have to say, in going

through all of this, it actually makes me think of a young pastor

of our church that took the pulpit just last week, our young

pastor overseeing all of the community house gatherings of

our church. And last week he stood up and he

divided the word correctly. And he's 15 years old or 16.

I don't know how old he is. He's a youngster in the faith.

And, and I think of him because as quickly as our youth can be

used against us, and it's all relative.

So all of you will probably serve someone who's older than

you at some point who could say, well, you're just not quite as

experienced as me and your mature immaturity is really

showing. But when you live your life in

these examples, you speak right and you've got a life that is

loving and kind and your conduct is good, you almost get the

reverse effect. And when I think of Connor, time

and time again, people think he's so young, but I'm so

impressed because he's so faithful.

He's he he, he, he surprises people.

In fact, that's the feedback that he shared with me.

I said, how do you think it went?

He said, many people came up to me and said, you really

surprised us. We didn't expect much out of

you, and when you're young, you almost get to use it for your

favor. It's like, wow, you're young and

you love Jesus and you're faithful and you're set apart

and living pure. So don't let anyone despise your

youth. Don't let any age at any time

disqualify you from living a life that is worth following.

That's what Paul is saying to Timothy.

Live a life regardless of your age that is worth following.

And then he says in verse 13 until I come give attention to

reading, to exhortation, to, to doctorate.

So Paul is away from Timothy and he's writing this letter and

he's basically saying, you're in charge until I get there.

And throughout this series, I've looked at this letter and, and,

and seen the operation and the governance and the the gathering

of our own church. And I think, OK, here's some

scriptural foundation for why we do what we do.

And here's another example of that.

While Paul is away, he says, Timothy, here's what I want you

as leader to focus your attention on.

And he gives him three things. He says, I want you to read the

word, I want you to exhort the word and I want you to give

doctrine. And that is a great measurement

as we go through this and we look for a leader worth

following a a leader specifically of a church or in

ministry. But I will extend this into the

home for husbands to wives and parents and all of the offices

we've mentioned a leader who is willing to ground all

leadership. On the word of God is going to

be a leader that represents a a trustworthy version of this

whole thing and those three things very simply you read the

scriptures. Those are probably two ways that

Timothy could have heard that I received both of them reading in

the sense that you study the Scripture or what is God

speaking to me as leader. That is supposed to be for the

the the church in the the flock that I'm shepherding.

And also read it when you get together.

If you're visiting our church or if you're looking at churches

across our valley or you're just here in voice and you're going

to the next one. Here's a great mark of a church

that's worth a second visit. Do they open the scriptures and

treat it like a living powerful word of God?

Are they reading the word or are they just looking at it and

going to the next motivational speech that could be about

anything. It is the word that we must read

the word. We must study the second part,

he says. Make exhortations.

This is the practice of preaching the Word.

So we get together, I study the word, we read it openly, and

then let the Lord use my words to land on your ears.

That would give you the power of the gospel unashamed the gospel

preached every Sunday. The word of God preached and

proclaimed every time that we gather and then he says and and

give special attention to doctrine.

Doctrine not a scary word. It's actually healthy and good

when the word is given to you and it's given to you with

instruction and application. So we preach the word and then

we say, how do we live this out? The the doctrine of all of the

categories of applying this to your life, applying this to our

church. These three things, I would say,

if we just look back at the last nine years are the reason we're

still a church in all of the different chaoses of of the

world that we have navigated through in the last decade.

It is the the commitment to trusting the word, preaching the

word, standing on the word that is the reason that I I believe

God will still bless our church because we're willing to allow

him to speak apart from all of the the the words that I may

lead us in otherwise says. I love this quote.

It says every pastor is called to be both a diligent student

and a diligent teacher of the Word.

If the pastor answered this call faithfully, the church he serves

will become diligent in kind. So the pastor is called to

diligently study and diligently preach.

And the fruit of that is that we will become a church family that

diligently studies the Word and diligently shares it.

It blesses my heart when I hear about families in our church

that diligently study the Word together and diligently talk

about it. It blesses my heart when I hear

about the house church gatherings that are happening in

our valley that we send people into with the Word.

And there is a diligence to understanding it and a diligence

to trying to live it out that is going to create a trustworthy

culture of a church. And so timely as we are now all

invited to a revival night. It's a night, it's a night of

worship, a night to to make First things first again and

just cry out to the Lord, invite people in to meet the living God

that we all worship this morning.

And I say it's timely because it makes me think of Chuck Smith

who founded Calvary Chapel Boise, his three keys, his three

steps to a thriving church. Number one is faithfully worship

God. So we faithfully worship every

Sunday morning. We're worshiping the Lord and

then we faithfully worship him as we call special times of

worship like Friday night. And then he says faithfully

teach God's Word Sunday by Sunday, group by group.

So step one, faithfully worship God.

Step 2, faithfully teach His Word and then he says there is

no Step 3. Those are the things that every

healthy church will do. And from those of course will

flow discipleship and outreach. Because when you worship God and

trust Him with everything you are and study His Word and trust

it, He will open up the doors for all the next steps.

And so that is what the minister is called to do and that is what

anyone worth following and your Christian faith is willing to

do. He then says verse 14, do not

neglect, neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to

you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the

eldership. He essentially says to Timothy,

you've been gifted and you've been called.

Then he says don't neglect the gift and don't forget the call.

Do not neglect the gift of God in your life in the way that He

has called you. I can tell you as a person who

has been called into the ministry of leading a church

that this is a reminder that Timothy needed and a reminder

that I think probably every lead pastor at some point of a

sustained leadership of a church needs from time to time.

Leading a church is hard, ministry is hard, going through

the the ups and downs of all of the the ways we will have trials

and tribulations, but trust Jesus to overcome is hard.

And ministers question their role all the time.

And so Paul is saying to Timothy, listen, you were gifted

for this. Don't throw that gift away.

And that gift was confirmed when the elders of Ephesus laid hands

on you and prayed for you and, and, and allowed you to, to

receive that gift publicly for everyone to see the authority

that God had given you. And so that is a great reminder

for Timothy. It's a great reminder for anyone

who is called to lead a church. And it is a reminder that

extends into the lives of every person who has received the free

gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives that comes with a call to

good works that God has prepared beforehand.

Don't neglect the gift of God in your life, The gift of the Holy

Spirit to produce fruit in you, and the unique gift according to

what God has already revealed is one of your offices.

If you have been given the blessing of a marriage, guess

what? God has given you the gift of

marriage and He has called you to be a Holy Spirit husband or

wife. Answer the call.

Don't neglect the gift and you go right down the line.

If God has given you the gift of a child, He has called you and

gifted you to be a Holy Spirit empowered parent.

And wherever God has placed you, it is by design that He will

equip you to encourage others to know Him, that your life will

shine for people to know God. Do not neglect the gift of God.

And I know some of you needed to hear that because as we started

a sermon on leadership, you thought, well, this is this is

not a sermon for me. Who am I and what have I done to

do anything to proclaim God? What you've done, if I can

answer that for you, is you've given your life, life to Jesus

and you've received the free gift of the Holy Spirit in your

life. There is a gift and a call that

you cannot neglect. And you better find out from God

how you're doing in that role. So don't neglect the gift.

He then says in verse 15, meditate on these things.

Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be

evident to all. Think about it.

Meditate, give yourself to them. Other translations say, practice

these things and immerse yourself in them.

Give entirely to them. Once again we see in Timothy a

reminder that all of us need. Timothy is being called to

receive it, to allow it to be more than just something that

came as a thought went one ear and out the other.

Think about it. Allow it to dwell in your heart

and go all in. Timothy was called to lay down

his life for this church in Ephesus.

He was called to give it his all.

And when you follow Jesus and he gives you the influence to bear

his name and by his grace say Follow me as I follow Christ, he

is calling you to a life of discipleship and a life of going

all in for Jesus. I think often times we think of

ministry and leadership and whatever the gift is.

And, and you know, it's something that you'll hear about

on Sunday and consider for some future day when you're finally

retired and you've got all of your earthly affairs in order

and you can finally start helping, you know, the the the

service of the Kingdom in some way that aligns with where when

you're ready to go on. And that's just not what we find

in what Paul is saying to Timothy.

He says immerse, absorb your heart and your mind and what God

is telling you to do. Practice these things.

So very quickly, a reminder of what Paul is saying when he says

these things. This is the exhortation from

last week to today, going all the way back to verse seven.

Practice when Paul says train yourself for godliness.

Practice reading the word, meditating on it, asking

questions about what it means and how to apply it to your life

as doctrine. Practice the art and the the

discipline of seeking God through prayer.

Practice the reading of scripture in the teaching and

sharing of what it means for someone who is a couple steps

behind you in the faith. Practice using your spiritual

gift. Practice the fruit of the Spirit

in your life. Practice living your life as an

example. Practice these things in

everything that you do. Young Timothy, young leaders

among us. And then he gives all of this

with the grace that I am so grateful for as a lead pastor of

a church, he says practice these things. second-half of verse 15,

that your progress may be evident to all.

And this is a great word because often times, especially when

you're going through a transition in leadership and

you're kicking the tires on the new leader and you're wondering

what he's about and he looks a little young and you have your

questions. I, I think, you know, if, if I

can think back to that transition in my own life,

sometimes there's an expectation that the leader is going to

come, you know, ready to rock in every area of ministry with

wisdom and experience that is just plug and play.

And that is not what we find in Paul's encouragement to Timothy.

He does not say do all of these things that they can see that

you are so perfected in what it means to be a godly man and a

good leader. He says keep practicing so that

little by little, the people that you're leading can see that

you're growing. So practice so they can see your

progress. And one of the great compliments

that I get or I've gotten over the last nine years is, hey,

you've really improved. I love hearing that.

And for those of you who've been around long enough to from that

first Sunday nine years ago to now, and you've ever thought,

man, when he started out, I would have never expected him to

get to a place where he was communicating clearly and and

leading us more, more soundly. Well, that that's, that's what

we're after. And I will say the grace that I

received from progress, not perfection.

I want to just give right to you in all of the ways that

sometimes perfection can can become a real burden in

leadership. I know just in the other other

offices I hold when when I'm a less than perfect husband, I can

sometimes feel like I'm a failure of a husband or when I'm

a less than perfect dad. And I have those moments where

I'm just like, what did I do? I got to repent.

I hope my kids don't just aren't traumatized.

I'm less than perfect. And that's OK as long as I'm

making progress, I'm getting a little bit better.

It received that grace. You're not called to be a

perfect parent. You're called to be a parent

that represents a a man or a woman that is becoming more like

Jesus as you go. And that's for all of those

offices that we've been covering for any leadership capacity.

You feel keep making progress, husbands and wives, keep

learning how to lay down your life a little bit more, how to

pray together just a little bit more, how to work through

arguments just a little bit better, a little more Christ

like, how to offer forgiveness. We're looking for progress, not

perfection. AW Tozer says the important

thing to know about a leader is not where he is, but in what

direction he is going. And I have to say the fruit of

leadership should be that the people who are being LED are

becoming more and more in love with Jesus and more and more

like him. So that may that be true of our

church. And when we study the Word and

we go out to do good works, that God will be glorified.

We just want to be more and more and more like Jesus little by

little as he calls us. And finally, it says in verse

16, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.

Continue in them. For in doing this, you will save

both yourself and those who hear you.

Now I was tempted to just look at this verse as the start

because we now have a serious warning of the dangerous game

that we play. Anytime someone opens the

scripture and leads a church, he is leading them either to some

beautiful healthy version of of becoming more like Jesus or the

potential of heartbreak and disaster.

We get a reminder of this when we think back to our study

earlier in the year in this book in chapter 1, when he said to

Timothy, this I charge you according to the prophecies

previously made, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

having faith in a good conscience, which some have

rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, he

says. Now, Timothy, take heed, pay

attention to your life and to what you're teaching, because if

you do this right, if you're a leader that that loves the word

and has never moved from any other North Star for the church

and your life is an example and you listen to everything I'm

saying to you. You're not going to go down the

the path of shipwreck and either is anyone who's going to follow

you. But you got to listen.

You got to make sure that you're living it.

I was thinking of that picture. If you've ever travelled

probably more than once or twice, you now tune out that

that pre flight message, you know the safety message that

they give pre flight. But there's a very important

principle in that pre flight message says in the event of

sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the

overhead panel. Place the mask over your nose

and mouth before assisting others.

I think that's partly what Paul is getting at.

You know, Timothy, lead pastor, leader, you better be breathing

the oxygen of the Holy Spirit in your life.

You better, you better be alive in God.

You better have the word as something that is your lifeline

to godliness. Apart from helping people, apart

from ministry, apart from serving anyone, Make sure that

you're breathing the Holy Spirit in your life.

And once that's sure you can help everybody else and you get

that right and you can't help people, but you get it wrong.

Leaders, if you fall out of love with God and this whole

operation of leadership becomes an exercise and religion or an

exercise and just making good kids and white knuckling

marriage shipwrecks waiting. And it's true of a church as

well. There are so many marks of a

healthy church and there's so many dangers of an unhealthy one

if we don't have the right measurements of what we're

looking for when we get into the word and I proclaim the gospel

and offer instruction. Shipwreck ahead.

The lead pastor is not the lead CEO.

He's not the influencer who's got, you know, great 32nd sound

bites that can grow a brand. He's not the front man of a band

that can be a face of an organization.

He is simply called to navigate the church with the North star

of God's Word closer and closer and closer to Jesus.

And Jesus is the savior. So let us not be a church that

loses our North Star, and let us be a church who longs for the

day, looks forward to the day when this gathering outlives all

of us, when the young up and coming preacher, with all of the

young up and coming Saints take the baton of the gospel into our

city for A next generation. So I'm going to do my best to

keep the Word and Jesus as our North Star, and I want you to do

your best to allow those who are following in your faith to

someday get a beautiful picture of what it means to follow Jesus

from your life.