House Rules: Week 8, 1 Timothy 3:3

Welcome to Celebration Baptist Church Podcast, where we help people connect with God and others.

Each week you'll find biblical teaching, practical encouragement, and conversations designed to help you follow Jesus in everyday life.

To learn more about Celebration Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, visit iCelebration.org and let's get started.

So I brought some with me this morning.

Got a couple items here.

This one is called Gotcha.

You don't have this because I made this.

Matter of fact, here's a picture I found of us when the kids were little.

I mean, that's Tommy, that's like 10, 12 years ago, okay?

This is a long time ago.

We made this game up.

And we have some serious house rules when it comes to games.

But you know, over time, we had to kind of write down or list out the rules to the game.

Because if we didn't, we'd just argue and yell about the rules.

So just like if you guys play Monopoly, you know how you have your house rules or Uno or cards or whatever you play in your house.

This is our game called Gotcha.

A lot of dice, a lot of counting bears, a lot of fun.

And we finally got it to the point once we wrote it down and put some things on paper said we've agreed upon this is how you play the game.

We have a tub of dice and counting teddy bears, and you need some cups.

And if you want one, I'll sell you one for a hundred bucks.

If you want one, I will sell you one, and you have to figure out how to play it on your own and go through the agony that we did.

You know, it's not bad in life if you're playing a game or you have a position or you're at some place to list out the rules or the qualifications to have that position.

Let's just start with a simple question.

The president of the United States, are there any qualifications you have to meet before you can run or become the president of the U.S.?

Does anybody know any?

What are they?

You know what they are?

All right, it's 35.

I'll show you the three in a second.

You have to be 35 years old.

Anybody know another one?

You got to be born in the U.S., not become a citizen, you have to be born.

And there's another big one that you have to live here for so long.

Does anybody know what that is?

It's gonna be, let me show you.

Here's the three qualifications.

You've got to be a natural-born citizen.

So if you're born from another country, sorry, but you can't be our president.

It's not a bad thing, it's not a bad thing to have qualifications.

Yes, you have to be at least 35 years of age.

So if you're in college or you're younger, just wait.

Wait till you turn 35, then you can go apply and run for the president of the United States.

And yes, you have to have been a resident and lived in the U.S.

for at least 14 years.

Now, some of you may look at that and think that's not fair.

You know, that's that's excluding a lot of people.

Well, it is.

The sermon series that we're going through is called House Rules.

And in 1 Timothy, Paul gives a list to Timothy.

There's a list of qualifications you have to have to be a deacon.

There's a list of qualifications you have to have to be a pastor or an elder in your church.

And you may look at it and they say, That's not fair.

It's okay, you can argue with God all day long, but God sets the rules.

We don't.

And so we've been walking through this list of qualifications of what it takes to be a pastor in a church.

And it's the same for every church.

Whether people want to change it or not, you can't change the qualifications that God has given us in Scripture.

If you have your Bible, open up to 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

We're going to read this.

We've been reading it each week as we walk through these qualifications.

Today we're talking about two more.

And these two are going to step on some toes.

I'm just telling you right now.

1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Let me read this as we read through this list of qualifications of what he's telling Timothy.

This is what it means.

This is what you have to be like if you want to be a pastor, an elder, or an overseer to lead the church.

Here's what it says, 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Here is a trustworthy saying: whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

Now the overseer is above, is to be above reproach.

He's to be faithful to his wife, to be temperate, to be self-controlled.

You've got to be respectable.

You've got to be hospitable and able to teach.

Not given to drunkenness.

Not violent, but gentle.

Not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him.

And he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.

If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for another Sunday that we can come together and open your word.

I pray, God, today that you challenge us, not just pastors, but believers, what it means to be different.

We live by a different set of house rules in the world.

So I pray that today you challenge us on these two ideas.

How do we address them?

How do we live them out?

How do we be Christ-like in our daily life?

Thank you, Father.

For your name we pray.

And everybody said.

All right, let me show you this list we just read.

So here's a list of these 14 things that we just read through that you have to be that to have in your life to be a pastor.

Anyone want to sign up now to be a pastor?

Anybody?

Right?

It's it's kind of different than your average believer, this list of what you have to be to be an overseer or a pastor or a shepherd.

Now we're walking through these.

Last week we did Hospitable and Able to Teach.

This week, since Pastor David's gone, he gives me the next two drunkard and he gives me not to be violent.

Those are the two we're gonna talk about today.

What does it mean to be different than the world in the area of these two categories?

Now, if you look at the uh the next slide here, at 1 Timothy 3, as you read this list, we're gonna just pull out those words, not given to drunkenness.

What does that mean?

Not given to drunkenness.

Well, let me give you a couple of the Greek words in here.

First of all, let's start with the word overseer.

What is an overseer?

What does this mean?

The Greek word is called episcopos.

Episcopos, what's it mean?

It means one who watches over.

It's a supervisor, a guardian, or overseer.

It's the office of an elder, what we might call a pastor or a shepherd.

It's not a place of authority to rule over people, like thus saith the Lord, thus saith Tommy.

No, that's not what it is.

It's thus saith the scripture.

But it's one of leadership to guide, to protect, and to watch over.

That's supposed to be the role of a pastor.

Not say this is the way it is, deal with it.

It's no, this is what the Lord says.

Go chew on that.

You figure it out, you're your life, you live your life.

All we get to do is point, point to Christ, be Christ-like in all that you do.

The next word I want to look at then is that word drunkenness.

The Greek word for drunkenness.

Anybody know how to say it?

I'm kidding, you may never heard this word before, but pernos.

Paranos.

Now, maybe if you have a drink, maybe you'll be able to say it, right?

Paranos.

Per literally means this: it means to be near or to be around.

The nos is the alcohol, it is the wine.

It's the stuff that's gonna mess you up if you drink too much.

You put those together, and that's what he's saying.

So, Timothy, if you want to be a pastor, then you're gonna stay away from this stuff.

He says, I want you not to be characterized as a drinker.

You just can't do that.

Now, I have a couple of choices of fluid on my little podium here.

This is called water.

You might know what this one's called.

It's not beer, it's root beer.

Come on, man.

Ron, you're gonna give me trouble here.

This is root beer, right?

But it looks like uh a can of beer.

You just, you know, bottle beer, you take the label off, and this is a bottle.

Some of you thinking, man, that's just weird.

It looks unusual to see this on the stage of a church.

But what if we just took it and put it in your fridge?

Would it look weird then?

Oh, I didn't say that say that?

I just said that.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud.

What I want to do though is think about this in your life.

Does this have a place in your life?

And if it does, how do I manage or deal with that and come to terms with God?

Is this okay to have in my life as a pastor, and maybe even you as a believer?

Now I thought long and hard about doing this within this up there, this bottle of root beer, underlying root beer on the podium here.

And I didn't have one, you know, in the office.

I'm looking around for a prop this week, trying to find something to use.

And I thought, I just want to go buy a pack of six pack of beer.

I'm just gonna do it.

And I thought, no, I can't use the church card to do that.

That would be that would be a very awkward moment trying to turn that receipt in.

Like, no, it's for a sermon prop, seriously.

Then I thought, well, what do I do with it when I'm done with it?

You know, do I just pour it out?

That's wasteful.

Do I give it to somebody that makes me an accomplice?

I'm like, I can't do that.

I can't, I can't, I can't, that's too much to do.

I'm like, I'm not even sure how to hold this thing, you know, like this.

What do you what do you do?

You know, just I'm just gonna leave it sitting right there and let you deal with this.

But we're gonna go to scriptures and let's just look at what God's word says about my relationship with this thing we call alcohol.

That's where we're at this week.

Let's go to Ephesians 5.

Here's the first one.

Ephesians 5, Paul writing to the church at Ephesus tells us this.

He says, Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

Instead, be filled with the spirit.

Okay.

What did he say?

He said, Don't get drunk.

That's what he said.

If you get drunk, that leads to bad things.

That's what he's telling us.

Hey, let's check out the next one.

Romans 14.

You've probably heard this one.

Again, he tells us it is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

You guys got kids?

I got kids.

You got friends?

So what he's saying is when I do this, it doesn't just affect me, it affects the people around me.

Right?

So any kind of sin or anything that's going to be harmful for us, it never just affects just us, it affects the people around us.

He says, if somebody else is stumbling or this is a stumbling block for them, I'm not doing them a favor if I participate in this activity.

So he's saying this don't cause other people to stumble.

Let's keep moving.

Proverbs 20, verse 1.

Proverbs 20:1

He says, Wine is a mocker, strong drink, a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

Again, he never said don't touch it.

What he said is if you touch this and you go too much, it's not wise.

It's gonna destroy you.

And not just you, you're gonna take some other people with you, is what he's saying.

Then this is one of my favorite passages.

This literally describes what it's like when you've had too much of this.

And I'm going by other people's testimony, not mine.

All right.

I've told you before, I've I've chosen in my life just to never drink it, you know, never tasted a drop of it, and I'm okay with that.

And if I'm missing out, you know, I do know this, Jesus, the Last Supper.

What's he say when he's drinking the wine?

He says, I will not drink of this again until when?

Until I get to heaven.

People, there's a feast in heaven, and if they're passing out the good stuff, I'll be the first to raise my hand and say, give me seconds.

Bring it, Lord.

Come on, it's my time.

Let's celebrate, right?

But while we're here, we have to struggle with what's my decision then on to do or not to do when it comes to this category.

This is Proverbs 23, describing what that drunkard looks like.

He says, Who has woe?

Troubles?

Who has sorrow?

Who has strife?

Who has complaints?

Who has needless bruises?

Who has bloodshot eyes?

Who are they?

Well, it's those who linger over wine who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

He keeps going.

He says, Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

In the end, it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

Some of you have felt this description, right?

It says, You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

They hit me, you will say, but I'm not hurt.

They beat me, but I don't feel it.

When will I wake up so I can find another drink?

I know this.

There's probably three, three fifty in the room right now.

So there's probably three, three fifty opinions on this thing here.

Correct?

Everybody has their own view of this.

Is it right?

Is it wrong?

Let me give you a couple statements that you can take to the bank.

Here's the first one.

In the Bible, there's no prohibition against alcohol.

All right, I didn't say you got permission to go drink.

What I said is in the scriptures do not say that you can never touch this.

There's no prohibition against drinking.

The prohibition is what?

Against getting drunk.

It's crossing that line.

Now, how do you know where that line is?

You know, for me it may be like one drink.

You know, for you it might be six.

I'd have no idea.

The point is, is it's not for me to tell you yes or no.

The point is you have to say, if I'm a believer in Christ, then I need to decide is this thing good for me or should I just abstain from it?

Here's the question should I drink alcohol?

Let's just have an open discussion.

All right, floor's open.

Anybody want to go first?

Here's what you do with anything, any decision.

Weigh the benefits.

You know, right now we're in need of another car.

I gotta buy a car here within a week or two.

My son's coming to get mine.

I need another car.

So we just make a list.

Kind of car, you know, what do we want in the car?

How much money?

We just make a list.

Is this car the right choice or the wrong choice?

The same is true when it comes to this.

Let's just make a list.

Let's list the positives and the negatives to drinking alcohol.

Let's start with the negatives.

Those are a little easier for me, right?

The negatives.

If I drink this, I might lose control of the ability to make choices.

Good choices, I should say.

If I drink this, I may put myself in a position to where I'm going to be harmed, or I harm somebody else, right?

If I drink this, I could cause somebody else to stumble, cause somebody else to have a little chaos in their life, and that's not good.

We've already read that from scripture.

There's a pretty good long list of negatives of why not to touch this thing.

All right, let's go to positives.

Hang on a second.

Where was that at?

Somewhere in here.

I had one.

Was it some where are the positives?

Hang on.

Positives are um I got one.

I got one.

Y'all remember watching the old Western movies?

Remember somebody gets shot in the arm or the leg?

What do they do?

They take him to the doctor.

What's the first thing the doctor does?

Give him a shot of whiskey, right?

We got to numb it and kill the pain.

Listen, if I ever get shot and we can't get to a hospital and there's a bullet lodged in my arm or my leg, you have permission to give me some whiskey.

If it's gonna kill the pain, give it to me.

I will drink it to kill the pain.

Put the stick in my mouth and start digging the bullet out so that I don't die or have to cut off my arm.

Now, other than the old Western scenario, I'm not sure I could find a lot of positives to drinking alcohol.

Now, I get it, little wine, the Bible says helps the illness, whatever, in moderation.

But you have to decide where you're gonna stand on this issue.

Let me give you the bottom line.

Here's the bottom line for the topic of drunkenness.

For a pastor, he says you're not to be controlled by alcohol but the spirit.

That's it.

I can't tell you yes or no for you personally.

What I can tell you is yes, there's a line you can cross when scripture says, you blew it.

I don't want you to go there because of your character.

If you tell people you're a believer in Christ, he is saying, listen, you represent the body of Christ.

What you do in public matters.

What you post on social media, it matters.

So you have to deal with the question too much, too little, where do you stand on that category?

Let's turn the page, thank God.

The next one from 1 Timothy chapter 3 says to not be violent, but be gentle.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Not violent, but gentle.

By the way, if you ever have a pastor that's drunk and violent, you need to switch churches.

You're at the wrong place, people.

A couple weeks ago, we were at camp.

We got to do some summer camps this summer, my wife and I, some of the kids, and we got to ride horses.

We went to camp in Nebraska.

I got to speak at two camps there, then I went to Iowa.

This was in Iowa, and speak at a youth camp there.

And while we were there, they had a horse stable, and one of their options was to ride horses.

And we know the director pretty well because she's our soon-to-be uh daughter-in-law.

And she hooked it up to we got to go on a horseback ride.

Now, I'm from Oklahoma, but that doesn't mean I grew up riding horses.

I saw some, but I never rode a lot.

Now, I'm not the best horse rider in the world.

And at 55 right now, I'm thinking, first of all, how do I even get on this thing?

And secondly, can you make sure I get off without getting hurt?

That's all I cared about.

And they did, they took good care of us, they put us on a barrel.

And man, the horse they gave me was a gigantic beast.

This thing was humongous.

I'm thinking, do I look that big?

He's like, really?

Come on.

I said, I want the oldest and a big-sized horse that's just gonna walk in a straight line, and I don't even want to have to direct it because I don't know what to do on this thing anyway.

And that's what happened.

We took about a 45-minute little horse trail ride.

Man, it was wonderful.

It was awesome.

But when that thing was breathing or that thing wanted to go its own way, you could feel the crazy strength in this beast.

I mean, this thing was a monster, and it just reminded me that uh you think you're in control, but you're not.

At any time, I felt like this thing could just bump me off and it'd be all over.

You see, a horse is a crazy strong beast of an animal.

But yet when it's broken and when it's tamed and trained right, you could put a kid on it and it's just gonna walk around and take good care of the rider that's on its horseback.

But that's what the violent thing looks like for a pastor.

Some pastors can just beat you up with their words, right?

We've got a pulpit, we've got a place of authority, and man, they're just violent.

They can just say things, just cut you to the core.

Maybe you're meeting with them for counseling or getting advice, and a pastor can just abuse his authority and be violent with his words.

And Paul's reminding Timothy that's not the case.

You're not supposed to be that way.

You can't be violent with your hands, can't be violent with your words.

He says you have to be gentle in the way you treat people.

The Greek word here for that word violent is plague tastes.

Plague taste.

It means to be a striker, it means to hit back.

It's a person who strikes back, it's someone who lashes out.

He's telling the pastor, listen, you can't abuse your authority just because somebody, and it happens all the time.

People attack us, people say a thing about us, they give us emails like, wow, where did that come from?

We're people too.

We can get upset.

But he says, even though that happens, it can't last back.

You have to be controlled.

He says, you must be gentle in the way you treat people.

Let me give you a couple more statements.

Gentleness is not weakness.

Sometimes us men think that being gentle, wimpy, right?

It's not wimpy, it's actually controlled strength.

It's just like that horse who has a lot of power, but we just choose to use it in a way that's not gonna hurt other people.

Gentleness is strength under control.

I want to give you a couple examples of pastors that I've personally known.

One of my worked with at a former church, not here.

This this guy doesn't work here, just write that down.

This person I'm describing doesn't work here.

Church I was at in serving, I was that rec pastor, and I was automatically in charge of all things sports.

And we had all kinds of leagues volleyball leagues, bins, basketball leagues.

We had golf, had to play golf every month for four years of my life.

I don't like golf, but I did it, right?

I tried it.

And we had a couple of softball teams.

I said, Oh, yeah, by the way, Tom, you're automatically the coach of the softball teams.

We had two softball teams.

Some of y'all know where I'm going.

We have an A team.

The big boys, they're out to kill you and take your mother, all right?

They're out to win here.

We had a B team.

Those good Christian boys that can't play, we put those on the B team.

All right, that's where they go.

The B team plays in the church league.

The A team plays with the City Rec League, right?

They're playing with the big guys.

Now, I did play baseball through high school, played uh competitive softball through college in my years, and by the time I got to this place, yeah, I could still play automatically on the A team, if you will, and got to be charge of coach.

We have a game, like game number two for this team.

A guy gets up, one of our guys Hits the ball, runs to first, they throw him out.

This person did not believe that he was out, right?

The ump was incorrect.

He believed he was correct.

He didn't just get mad.

This guy was furious.

Turns around, he starts yelling at the umpire, like, I can't believe you blew it.

Beep, beep, beep.

This was bad.

I mean, he was just going off.

Now, this is not the B team.

The people that know this is the church league, right?

This is the A team.

This guy's going bananas on the ump.

And the ump says, That's it.

The guy actually pushed the guy.

The ump says, You're out of here.

Get out of my little ballpark, get out of here.

So I go up as the coach, talking to the ump, said, Listen, man, I apologize.

That guy, he blew it, lost his temper.

I'm so sorry.

He's like, hey, is that guy to go to your church?

Go to our church.

That's our senior pastor.

Yeah, it was.

I said, I got the upper conversation right now, but I got a stranger conversation coming later.

All right.

We get back to the office and we're talking about it.

I'm like, listen, Pastor, you can't do that.

I mean, you just can't do that.

You realize that what you do Saturday night at the ball field has as much or even more impact than what you say Sunday morning from here.

You can't do that, buddy.

We had to kick him off the team.

He was done.

I'd say don't even come to the game.

You know, he was the guy that if it's in the crowd at the high school, and he's the guy yelling at the ref.

Like, you just can't do that.

You know, it not just hurt who you are, it affects all of us.

Your church that you're representing.

Had another guy, year one of coming here to celebration.

Found a group of guys downtown.

We played basketball in the morning.

We had a guy there that, man, he would just be ready to throw hands.

You you call something on me, let's go.

Let's go.

You wanna go outside?

I'll take care of you right now.

I'm like, are you serious?

Who is this guy?

It's like, oh, he's the pastor of a church down the road.

Like, are you kidding me?

This guy's a pastor?

What?

Listen, for pastors, it's pretty clear.

You have to be gentle with people.

And how you act off campus affects what happens on campus.

That's easy for me to understand.

How about you?

Does that affect you?

Do you have a trouble with your temper?

Do you remain gentle in the way that we treat people?

Let's go to some scriptures and see what it says about being gentle.

Matthew 11, verse 29, Jesus himself says, I am gentle and humble in heart.

Matthew 11:29

Jesus, even though he could get upset and turn the temple, the tables over, right?

Still was under control.

Still treated people with gentleness.

Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit, says it includes gentleness and self-control.

Philippians 4.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

Sundays and the rest of the week.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

Colossians 3 says, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Proverbs 15.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Here's the bottom line.

We are not to be controlled by our anger.

Just can't do it.

There's no excuse for it.

If it's an issue, you need to deal with it.

If you need to get help, you get some help.

But you can't lash out, you can't be a striker, you can't retaliate as a believer in Christ.

That doesn't help anyone in the conversation.

He says, not controlled by anger, but be controlled by the Spirit.

Alright, here's my takeaway for today.

Let me give you three things to walk out of this room with.

Number one, a pastor should not be controlled by alcohol.

Say amen.

Man, that one's easy.

You're talking about us.

I'm gonna talk about you in a second.

All right, number two, a pastor should not be controlled by anger.

Listen, thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, it's okay.

Now I quit softball for another reason.

All right, I don't play anymore.

I still like to play sports.

I'm a competitive guy, even in board games at my house, you know, but I can't lose my temper.

I can't lash out.

I have to be controlled wherever I am.

And then number three, well, if I can't be controlled by alcohol or anger, the obvious answer is then a pastor should be controlled by the Spirit.

That's it.

Now let's talk about you.

All right?

If you take out the word pastor, the Bible lays out a great case that the same that's true for me is true for you.

Now, you don't, maybe you're not gonna stand up here on Sundays and preach and teach, but if you're gonna say you're a believer in Christ and you're gonna witness the people around you, let's take out that word pastor and let me read them again.

Number one, a believer should not be controlled by alcohol.

That wasn't as strong.

Let me try that again.

A believer should not be controlled by alcohol.

Thank you.

Now listen, if you need help, get help.

If you're still deciding, if you haven't never taken a drink, just keep it that way.

You don't have to worry about it.

But if you want to justify it, there's something in your life dealing with it, just know that a believer should not be controlled by alcohol.

Number two, a believer should not be controlled by anger.

All right, even as you go to the parking lot, even as you go to lunch, even as you drive wherever you're going next from here, do not be controlled by anger.

But a pastor and a believer should be controlled by the Spirit.

The Spirit of God is what should lead us and direct us.

Now, we started with this little game called Gotcha.

It's a fun game.

Some of you have been to our house, some of you have played this game.

Now, my wife doesn't like this game because it gets really loud and crazy, right?

Because we start yelling at each other, having fun, who went first, who did this.

It's not about the rules because we know the rules.

It's just fun to play.

But without the rules, people, it'd be total chaos.

I'd be throwing kids out the window, all right?

It would not go well in my house if we didn't have rules for this game.

Paul is telling Timothy the same thing for his church.

Timothy, there's qualifications to be a pastor that you're gonna have to live by and be the example for your people.

Timothy, his word is telling us, hey, believers, there's a certain way that Christ wants us to live so that we can have a respectable testimony where we work in our house with other people.

All I'm asking you this morning is where do you stand on these two issues?

How's your view of alcohol?

How's your view of your temper, your anger?

And do those represent Christ that other people would look at you and say, something different about that person.

They're controlled by something else other than substances, they're controlled by the Spirit, the Spirit of God.

Let's pray together.

Father, I do thank you for your word.

And there's parts in here sometimes we kind of want to just skip over, but we're gonna get them all the best we can.

Lord, on this particular one, this hits home for a lot of us.

A lot of people have dealt with alcohol in their family or in their life, and Lord, I just want to be reminded that I'm to represent you with my life.

So, whatever that means for me and my household, God, I want to honor you with my choices.

Father, in my anger, in the way that I'm controlled, the way that I treat other people, help me to give an answer, a soft answer that doesn't bring anger.

Father, help me to treat people like you would treat them.

I can be upset.

Lord, there were times when you were upset, but yet I need to be in self-control so that I can keep a witness that's gonna honor you through that.

Father, today, if there's people here who do not know you, maybe they're not a believer in Christ, today could be that day.

As we saw the baptism, we see a life before you, a life that came to know you, and a life that has been changed.

That's our prayer for every person here.

God, they come to know Jesus as our Savior and our Lord.

Father, we're just gonna worship a little bit, we're gonna pray, we're gonna leave, we're gonna go about our day, and I pray, God, that as we go about our day, we're reminded that we are to be different.

Our house rules are not the same as the world.

It's different in this house.

And Father, I pray that we live that out the best that we can in all areas.

So thank you for your word.

Challenge us to take some action and do our best just to represent the name of Jesus Christ.

Lord, we want to say that we love you and that we worship you.

Thank you, Father, which then we pray.

And everybody said, Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church podcast.

We hope today's conversation helps you take another step in your faith journey.

For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.

Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.