members of the Church, all the
members of God's Church. In our text this morning, we'll
see the responsibility of pastors, the responsibilities of every
different kind of person in the Church, and we'll see, most importantly,
what Christ, the Head of the Church, has done for His Church.
And we're going to begin in verse 12 of 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. And we beseech you, brethren, to know then which labor among
you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem
them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at
peace among yourselves." Now, the apostle tells us, know your
pastors and your elders. Know who they are. Get to know
them personally. But the word know, it means a
little more than that. It means pay attention to them.
Pay attention to their message. And this also means this. Make
sure they get to know you. You know, you can't minister
to people that you don't know. You know somebody, you can love
them, you can pray for them, you can minister to them. Make
sure that your pastor, your elders get to know you. And esteem them
highly in love. You know, God's pastors and God's
elders, they love God. They love God's people. That's
why they do what they do. Well, love them back. You know,
give them, you know, that affection back. And we'll look more about
showing this love in a minute. As I was preparing my notes, I thought of you all and how
I love you and how I appreciate you do this. You show your affection
and your love and how much I appreciate you. But this is given to us
so that we continue in that. But I'm not telling you to do
something you don't already do. I appreciate your love and compassion
so much. And this love and this respect
It applies to pastors and elders here, but also in other places. Hold God's servants in their
preaching, the preaching of the gospel in high esteem. And you
know, as the Lord brings these men in other places to your mind,
pray for them. Hold them up to the Lord. It's
very important. Now that's a word of the responsibility
of the congregation towards pastors and elders. And here's a word
of the responsibility of the pastor towards the congregation.
The first phrase Paul uses here to describe pastors is over you. Now, that doesn't mean that a
pastor is on a higher spiritual plane or somehow closer to God
than anybody else. That's just not so. I've got
the exact same nature and faults and weaknesses and sins as everybody
else does. But the phrase here, it means
guide and protector, someone who gives aid. And that's a pastor's
job. He gives aid. in guiding people
to Christ. He protects the pulpit. He protects
the gospel that's preached here. He protects the attitude and
spirit of the whole group by setting the example, leading
the way. Now, God's vested the authority of the local church
with the pastor. There's no doubt about that.
But that authority is given to servants. I'm your servant for
Christ's sake. Only in God's church would that
work. Only in God's church would it work that you give the authority
to servants. That's the only place it would
work. Second, Paul talks to pastors about laboring. The ministry
is work. It's a hard, relentless work. God's pastor labors in prayer. He labors in seeking God's word,
God's message for the people. He labors in seeking the Lord's
leadership. It's a hard work. But now it's
a good work. You know, I guess, I don't really
count up to hours, but I've worked more than I've ever worked before
in all my career. But you know, it doesn't feel
like it. It's enjoyable. It's beneficial. It's a labor
for God's glory and a labor for your good. It's a work of joy. And third, the goal of the ministry
is peace. Now, our message is peace with
God through the blood of Christ. God's not angry anymore. Christ
has taken away the sin that offended God. Took it away with the blood
of His sacrifice. And God's people aren't angry
anymore either. The blood of Christ has been
applied to our hearts. We're at peace with God. And
God's people ought to be at peace with one another. Now, we're
all the same family. We should be at peace with one
another. And part of this peace is not dividing over preachers.
I think that's why Paul put this in with the instructions to the
pastors. Part of this peace he's talking about is not having division
over preachers, like they did at Corinth. You know, some say,
well, I'm a Paul, or I'm of a Paulist, and they split over these preachers.
God gave us his servants to promote peace. Not so we have a preacher
contest and divide with one another, but to promote peace. So next,
that's the word of the pastors and their responsibility towards
the congregation. Now next, Paul gives us five
different kinds of people that we find in the church. At one
time or another, all of us are all of these five at one point
or another. And we have responsibilities
to everyone in the church, every member, no matter what kind of
this category they may fit into at the moment. We have responsibilities
to every member of the church. And first, in verse 14, we have
the unruly. Now, we exhort you, brethren,
and this is not just speaking to the pastors, it's speaking
to the whole church of God, warn them that are unruly. Now, unruly
is a military term. It means out of rank. It means
disorderly or insubordinate. Someone who's unruly didn't come
here to learn. They know it all. You can't teach
somebody that knows it all. They came to be critical of somebody
else or, you know, tell everybody else, you know, how they ought
to do, you know, everything that they should do. Now, you know this
attitude ought never be found in a believer. It ought never.
But we have, if we're honest with ourselves, we admit sometimes
we do. Sometimes we've fallen into this category of being unruly.
Well, what's our responsibility to someone that's fallen into
this attitude, being unruly and subordinate? Our attitude is
to be, we're to warn them. And that word is exhort and encourage
them. Someone who's unruly, they've
become insubordinate, we're to encourage them with the gospel
by pointing them to Christ. The best attitude adjustment
I can think of is the gospel, is being pointed to Christ. Wayne
tells me this often on Wednesday nights, that Wednesday nights
he just lines everything back up. You know, it's an adjustment.
It's the gospel. Hearing of Christ's love for
me, oh, that'll soften my attitude. That'll fix me, won't it? Hearing
that Christ died to pay for my sin, that He made a sinner like
me justified before God in Him, that in Christ, a sinner like
me, someone who's fallen into insubordination, can come boldly
before the throne of grace, accepted and beloved. A sinner like me,
I mean, this is bad. I've fallen into insubordination,
but I'm complete in Christ. Now, that'll fix my attitude,
and it'll make me bow to Christ. Nothing will get rid of insubordination
faster than hearing the preaching of Christ. I'll bow at His feet
when I hear Him preached. Second, we have the feeble-minded.
Paul said, comfort the feeble-minded. Now, feeble-minded doesn't mean,
when they translate it here, like what we think of. I think
somebody feeble-minded, you know, their mind is bad. It doesn't
mean weak-minded or touched in the head. It means faint-hearted. Faint-hearted. The feeble-minded
are people who are timid by nature. And they're often fearful. They're
full of doubts and fears. Maybe they ought not be, but
they are. Well, what's our responsibility to that faint-hearted, feeble
brother or sister? We're to comfort them. Comfort,
they're full of fears and doubts. Well, comfort them with the gospel.
Comfort them with the person of Christ. Remind them, if God
be for us, who can be against us? We're comforted and our fears
vanish when we quit looking at ourselves, when we're full of
doubts and fears. You know why that is? All the time, we start
looking at ourselves. We look at the circumstances
around us. But if we'll quit looking at ourselves and start
looking to Christ, Those fears and doubts will vanish away.
So comfort them by pointing them to Christ. Look to Christ. Third,
we have the weak. Paul says, support the weak.
Maybe they're weak in faith and they've fallen into despair.
Maybe they're weak in conduct. They've fallen into sin. And
no matter which it is, every one of us should be able to identify
with that person. Be weak in faith. fallen into
despair, weak in conduct and fallen into sin. What's our responsibility
to that weak brother? Support them. They're weak. Then
carry their burden for them. They're too weak to carry it.
Well, you carry it for them. Hold them up in prayer. Hold
them up in fellowship. Give them some extra attention.
And remind them that when I'm weak, then am I strong. Because
then I'm depending on Christ. Fourth, we have those that try
our patience. Paul said, be patient toward all. That word man there
is in italics. It was added by the translators.
Just be patient toward all. All. Believer and unbeliever
alike. Now, this is necessary. We need to be patient with one
another. You know why? God saved you. He's given you new nature. He's
given you His grace. You know Christ. But we need
to be patient with one another. Because while the one's true,
this is also true. We still got Adam's old nature.
You're going to have to be patient with me. You're just going to
have to. I've got Adam's nature. Let's be patient one for another.
And I tell you what will promote that. Looking to Christ. See, the answer to all these
is looking to Christ. Had he been patient with us?
Had he been long suffering with us? Well, look at this in our
text this morning. Martha and Mary both come to
the Lord and said, Lord, if you'd been here, our brother hadn't
died. Be patient with them, wouldn't he? Be patient with one another,
remembering how patient Christ is with us. In 5th and verse
15, we have those that will do evil to us. Verse 15, Paul says,
see that none render evil for evil unto any man. Now, this
is one of those things that ought not exist in a believer. But
it does from time to time. Somebody will do you evil. Maybe
they meant to, maybe they didn't. Who knows? But they do evil to
you. They do something that hurts your feelings. They exclude you. They slander you. Maybe they
meant to, maybe they did not. I don't know. And it's hurtful. Whether they meant to or not,
it's hurtful. Well, what's your responsibility to that person?
Don't get them back. That's your responsibility to
that person. Don't get them back. Don't render evil for evil. And
this is our nature. You know what we'll say when
we hear that? Where's that going to get me? Just letting people
walk all over me. Where's that going to get me?
It might get you the same place our Lord is when He forgave us. We did evil to Him. We sinned
against Him. It might get us the same place
He is. Think about that. You see, all these responsibilities
are ours for this reason. To protect the fellowship and
protect the unity of the Spirit. We don't meet here for me. We meet here to worship the Lord.
Well, then what's our responsibility? Protect this place, protect the
unity of the believers here so that we can fellowship and worship
together. Remember now, these instructions
are to us. These instructions aren't to
somebody else. Tell somebody else how to treat me. The Bible
never tells anybody, somebody else how to treat me. The Bible
always tells me how to treat somebody else. The Bible always
tells me what my responsibilities are to somebody else. And the
reason for that is that we protect the fellowship and unity of this
place so that what we do here is worship. It's not spat with
one another. It's to worship. Now, next Paul
goes on. He gives some specific instruction
to every member of the church in verse 15. But ever follow
that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Now,
always follow that which is good. You all don't do this, but you
know what a rebel always do? Well, tell me what's good again.
You know, define what's good and then I'll do that. I don't
have to define that for you. You know what's good? God. There's none good but one, and
that's God. So whatever promotes God's glory,
Whoever promotes the good of God's people, do that. And if
it doesn't promote His glory, doesn't promote the good of God's
people, don't do it. That's ever following that which
is good. And do this among yourselves, among the brethren, and all men,
all men, even unbelievers out in the world. You never know
if that unbeliever you meet out there in the world is one of
God's own or not. Maybe he is. Maybe if you give him, follow
that which is good and give him a reason to be interested in
your Savior, maybe he'd come hear the gospel. So always follow
that which is good. In verse 16, this is instruction
to every believer. Rejoice evermore. All these different
kinds of people in God's church, whatever category they may happen
to fall into at the moment, they all have reason to rejoice in
Christ. Rejoice in the salvation of your
soul. Five times David said this, I
will rejoice in thy salvation. Rejoicing God's salvation. Rejoicing
who God is. God's holy. Then his salvation
can't be taken back because it's holy and just and right. Rejoicing
who God is. God's merciful to sinners. God's
both just and justifier. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in the
person of Christ. David said, I will rejoice in
Thee, in the person of Christ. He only is my salvation. I might
mention of His righteousness and His righteousness only. He's
my righteousness. Rejoice in His person. Rejoice
in God's love for sinners. Now, I'm telling you, that's
something to rejoice over. God loves sinners in His Son. That's why He sent His Son to
die for Him. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in the forgiveness of
sins. How sweet. I mean, how... The
forgiveness of sins, I'm afraid, is far greater than we ever really
realize it is. Rejoice in the forgiveness of
sins. We looked at this Wednesday night.
Rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Rejoice
that Christ has made you His bride. He provides everything
that's required of you. And we've been looking at Christ's
return. Rejoice, He's coming back. Look over in Habakkuk chapter
3. It's between Nahum and Zephaniah.
You've got the authorized version. It's page 1163. And this will
tie into what I'm about to say here in a minute. About rejoice
evermore. Evermore. When things are going
my way, it's easy to rejoice. I mean, it's just awful thankful
and easy to rejoice. So rejoice evermore, even when
things are not going my way, even when things seem to be going
against me. Now, we'll see this in a minute
in reality that they're not, but even when things seem to
be against me, rejoice evermore. Habakkuk 3, verse 17. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of
the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The
flock shall be cut off from the fold. and there should be no
herd in the stall. I've got nothing. Yet I will
rejoice in the Lord. I will join the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hinds feet, and He will make
me to walk upon my high places. Rejoice evermore, even when the
fig tree is not blossoming, the crops aren't growing, and the
cattle are all starved to death. Rejoice evermore. You see, we're
not rejoicing only because God's blessing me. If He's blessing
me physically or materially or even at the time of special spiritual
blessing. That's not the only reason we
rejoice. We rejoice because of who God is. That's the reason
for our rejoicing. We rejoice from the salvation
of my sin God's given. These spiritual blessings, this
is what we rejoice in. Because those spiritual blessings
don't change. My attitude, the circumstances
of my flesh is constantly changing. It doesn't must go this, it kind
of always does this, doesn't it? Constantly going down. But
our spiritual blessings never change. And that's what we're
rejoicing in. Now, verse 17, back in our text,
1 Thessalonians 5. Pray without ceasing. Now, you
know, this is not constantly being on your knees and constantly
audibly speaking with the Lord. That's impossible. You know,
you've got things you have to do. They're not bad things, they're
things Scripture told you to do. Go be a good worker, be a
good husband, be a good wife, you know, do these things. So
you have to do those things. You can't constantly be audibly
in prayer. What this means is be constantly
in an attitude of prayer. Be constantly in prayer about
everything. Everything, every decision, just
be in prayer about it. And if you're in an attitude
of prayer, you'll have an attitude of humility. an attitude of dependence
upon God. You only pray about things that
are out of your control. Isn't that right? Well, if you're
constantly in an attitude of prayer, you'll live a life of
humility and dependence upon God. And in those prayers, give
thanks. Verse 18, in everything give
thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Now, we ought to be a thankful people. God has blessed us more
than anyone on the face of this earth. God's blessed us. We ought
to be a thankful people. Now, just like rejoicing, it's
easy to be thankful when we've got plenty. It's easy to be thankful
when we've got plenty. But how about in our trials?
That's harder. It's easy to say and hard to
do, isn't it? Be thankful for our trials, because it goes against
our flesh. Now, look in Romans 8, verse 28. Every person here
can Quote this, but I want you to look at it. We should give
thanks even for trials. In Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. Now this is not necessarily for
the good of the individual going through this trial, but for the
good to them, the whole body of Christ. And I'll give you
two examples of that. Naomi, that woman endured a hard
trial, hard trial. She left Bethlehem with her husband,
went down to Moab. There in Moab, away from everybody,
in a land of idolatry, she buried her husband and her only two
sons. And she came back to Israel with
nothing. And her friends met her there
in town, and they said, Naomi, it's good to see you. She said,
don't call me Naomi. Don't call me sweet. Call me
bitter. The Lord's dealt bitterly with
me. That woman was in pain. She's in a tough time. And it
was a bitter trial. But do you know Naomi can get
thanks for that trial? She really can. The whole body
of Christ, them, were blessed by this trial of Naomi. If Naomi
hadn't gone to Moab, the church never would have had Ruth. We
never would have had Boaz, the kinsman redeemed. We never would
have had David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. Millions upon millions
of times, God's people, just in weeping and sorrow, have gone
to the Psalms and just found such comfort and all assurance
David went through the same things. He wrote about them. We never
would have had the sweet psalmist of Israel if Naomi hadn't lost
everything down there at Moab. And the whole church was blessed. We never would have had the Lord
Jesus Christ who descended from Luke without this tribe that
Naomi went through. So she can give thanks for it.
As bitter as it was, she can give thanks for it. Second example,
Acts 16. Paul and Silas, beaten with many
stripes, thrown into the inner prison, their feet fastened to
stocks. You know, I sat and thought about
that, and I'm telling you, that's a trial. I mean, they're in what
pain they must have been in. That is horrible. But you know,
they can give thanks for that trial. This may not necessarily
have been for the good of Paul and Silas. I bet they suffered
with this pain and the effects of this, you know, the rest of
their lives. But they give thanks for it. Because if they hadn't
gone through that trial, that Philippian jailer never would
have heard the gospel. And him and his whole house never would
have been saved if Paul and Silas hadn't gone there and preached
to them. The church at Philippi wouldn't have been founded. And
the whole body of Christ wouldn't have had the blessing of Paul's
epistle to the Philippians if he hadn't gone through that trial.
So remember this. When we go through a time of
trial, that trial is working. for the good of the whole body
of Christ. Somehow, someway, we may never
see it, we may never understand it, but we can give thanks for
it because we know it's working together for good to the whole
body of Christ. So in everything, give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. In verse 19, this is instruction
to every member of God's church. Quench not the Now, we can't
quench the Holy Spirit. Look in John chapter 3. We can't
quench the Holy Spirit or hinder the Holy Spirit because he's
God. You can't hinder the Holy Spirit any more than you can
hinder the hand of God. John 3 verse 8. The wind bloweth where
it listeth. Can you stop the wind from blowing?
Can you change the direction of the wind? The wind bloweth
where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit. The Spirit blows where He listens.
He does what He will because He's God. We can't hinder Him.
We can't hinder the Holy Spirit. But we can suppress the fruit
of the Holy Spirit by our conduct and by our attitude. You can
suppress love by rendering evil for evil. You can suppress rejoicing
by being unruly and subordinate. We're to stir up the gift that's
in us, not suppress it. You know, often the Holy Spirit
is given to us in a picture of a fire. Well, stir up the fire
of the Holy Spirit that's in you. One of the real good way
to put out a fire is throw dirt on it. Don't throw dirt and the
filth of sin on the fire, the fruit of the Spirit that's in
you. Don't throw dirt on it. Stir it up. And I'll tell you
a real good way to quench the spirit, a real good way to hinder
the fruit of the spirit is verse 20, to despise preaching. Despise
not prophesying. Now, I'll grant you, there's
a lot of bad preaching in our day. Almost all of it is bad. I mean, what you see on the TV
and just you hear people talking about, I'm telling you that's
bad preaching and ought to be despised. But don't despise all
preaching. I had a very, very good friend
in high school. And he was very, very impressed
with Henry. And he'd watch Henry on TV. They'd go out, he went to school,
went to college, and they'd be out partying all night. And all
those fellas that lived with him, they'd get up in the morning,
Sunday morning, and watch Henry on TV because he was so impressed
with Henry. And he told me one time, you
know why I'm so impressed with him? He never one time asked
for money. Never. He said, everybody else,
you can tell it on TV, they're in it for the money. He's not. He must be a man of God. He's
my best man. We're waiting to get married,
standing there in the waiting to go out, you know, I was nervous
to be just, you know, bundle of nerves. And he was talking,
just talking, talking, talking, talking, trying to, you know,
give me something else to think about, I suppose. And there we
stood, Henry's there with us. And he told Henry, he said, I
watch you on TV. He said, I bet you hate being
lumped in with all those TV preachers. And Henry said, I do. Don't lump in everybody with
all them fellas. Now don't do it. Don't despise
all preaching. Don't despise the preaching of
Christ. Don't do it. It's life. Don't
despise the preaching of God's true servants. And I tell you
how we despise preaching. And we all fall into this. I
mean, I wish we didn't, but we do. We despise preaching. We come to the service with an
empty cup. We come to the service as that unruly person. Oh, I
know that already. You know, the preacher starts
preaching. Yeah, I've heard that before.
That's an unteachable spirit. We fall into that. And again,
somebody will say, well, you know, how do you know if it's
good preaching or bad preaching? Well, I can tell you. Verse 21. Prove all things. Hold fast that
which is good. Try the spirits. Try the preachers,
whether they be of God. I can tell you how you can tell
whether they be of God or not. Are they preaching God's Word?
The Word of God. See if what they say matches
God's Word. They're just one message of Scripture.
Just one message. Well, that man's message, if
he's of God, will match God's Word all throughout. Because
there's just one message. The Bereans, why were they more
noble? Because they went to God's Word
to check out if what they heard was the truth. Isn't that right?
Who were they checking out? The Apostle Paul. Well, if they
were noble because they checked out the Apostle Paul, you'd be
wise checking me out. I wish you would. Check me out
with God's Word and see if the message matches God's Word or
not. Wouldn't it be fine for you if
they checked you out? If they checked out Paul, we'd be in
good company, wouldn't we? That's how you tell if a man's
preaching, if he's of God or not. How many times have one
of our young ladies started dating a fella and she brings him to
church with her? He gets mad. He thinks, that's
the number I've always heard. I never heard that. I never believed
that before. And he goes home, and he reads
his Bible, and he says, well, I'm mad, but that is what that
says. And the Lord saves him. Don't
despise preaching. This is the means God uses to
save His people. And when you find the truth,
hold it fast. Don't let it go. Hold it fast. Don't let it slip through your
fingers. Don't let it slip out of your mind. And don't let it
slip out of your heart. Hold it fast. Cleave to it for
all your worth. In verse 22, Paul says, abstain
from all appearance of evil. Now, this could apply to things
that you do out in the community. You know, don't just avoid doing
evil, but avoid the appearance of it. So somebody can't see
you doing something. It's not wrong, but it may give the appearance
of evil. Be above board. That's what he's
saying. And don't do things that would offend your weaker brethren.
That certainly applies. This is primarily, I believe,
he's still talking about preaching. This is the context he's talking
about. When you find the truth, you cling to it or hold it fast.
When you find the truth, when you find preaching that matches
God's Word, that glorifies Christ, you hold it fast. And when you
find preaching that smells funny, get rid of it. Don't dabble in
it. Don't, you know, just don't hang
around and say, well, is it really good? You know, like you've been
gone for a few days, you come home, you've got milk left in
the refrigerator, you smell it and think, that might be good,
it might not. Jan always says, throw it out. Throw it out. When that preacher
smells funny, get rid of it. Now, you may not be able to put
your finger on exactly what's wrong, but get rid of it. You
may not be able to say exactly what's wrong, but you just know
it is. You know why you know it is?
God's given you a new nature, and His Spirit's not testifying
with your spirit. Get rid of it. Don't dabble in
it. Don't keep hanging around because,
well, you know, He said some good things. I read an article
this week by Moose Parks. It's just wonderful about people
saying, well, you know, He said some good things, so I'm going
to hang around. Moose said, have you heard of a great chef? And
he fixed wonderful recipes, wonderful food, world-class. He occasionally
spit in his recipe. Would you go support him? Would
you go eat there? No, you would not. Avoid it. A man might say some
good things, but he's constantly spitting in the recipe. And when he's spitting in the
recipe, he's spitting in the face of Christ. Avoid it. Get rid of it and cleave to that
which is good. Now, quickly, I'll end here.
Paul talks, this is most important. He talks of the head of the church
in verse 23. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Now Christ is the head of the church. He gives us peace. He's
the fountain of peace. He gives us peace through his
sacrifice. And he sanctifies his people.
We're made holy in Christ. We're set apart for holy use
in Christ. In eternal election, divine election,
we're sanctified, set apart for holy use. In the sacrifice of
Christ, we're sanctified, washed and made holy and clean in His
blood. And we're sanctified in the new
birth. We're born with a new nature. The blood is applied.
You're born with a new nature. It's a partaker of the divine
nature. And you're sanctified. And Christ
is the one. He's the head. He preserves the
church until he comes. God's church is going to exist
on this earth until Christ returns. I guarantee it. Without any thought
that they could be wrong, I guarantee it. And I know that because Christ
promised to save his people through preaching that goes on in his
church. He promised to feed his people through preaching that
goes on in the church. And I know he'll do it. You know
how I know that? He's faithful. Look at verse
24. Faithful is he that calleth you
who will also do it. He'll do what? Everything. Everything that's required. Everything
God requires. Everything you need. He will
do it. So verse 25, Paul says, Brethren,
pray for us. Pray for each other. Now, Paul
here is speaking as a preacher. And he's asking people to pray
for him. The best thing you can do for
me is pray for me. Honestly, that's the best thing.
And the best thing you can do for yourselves, the best thing
you can do for your children, the best thing you can do for
this community is pray for me as I study and preach and pray
for these teachers. The best thing you can do for
your children is pray for these teachers. I mean, they're the
best. But now pray for them. that God
will enable them to teach our children. It's the best thing
you can do for them. The best thing you can do for God's church
as a whole is pray for these pastors in other places. Pray
for them. That's the best thing you can do. And have a genuine,
warm love for one another. Don't make it in word only, but
show it. Verse 26, read all the brethren
with a holy kiss. And verse 27, I charge you by
the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. God's Word is not for just the
muckety mucks, you know, the high up, you know, and it's for
everyone. Not just for those sitting in Moses' seat, you know,
the best seat. God's Word's for everyone. Don't
lock it up. Declare it boldly. Declare the
whole counsel of God and encourage one another to read it. It's
for everyone. It's not to be locked up, it's
written in a language you can understand. It's for you. For
all the holy brethren, every brother and sister is holy. So
God's holy word is for you. Alright, we'll hope that'll bless
you.