Pastor Paul Chappell: A Good Work

first timothy chapter 3 our text for tonight this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a bishop and the word bishop speaks of the overseer or the pastor a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy looker but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil likewise must the deacons be grave not double tongued not given to much wine not greedy of filthy luker holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience and let those also first be proved then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless even so must their wives be grave not slanderers sober faithful in all things let the deacons be the husband of one wife ruling their children and their own houses well for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves a good degree or reputation and great boldness in the faith which is in christ jesus let us pray father thank you for what we have seen and heard as we come to the scriptures for the time of challenge would you challenge all of us lord would you encourage us to live a biblical life and to pray for this preacher of the word of god as he has given his life publicly tonight the rest of his life to the preaching of the gospel may we pray for him and we pray now in jesus name amen you may be seated when we think about the apostle paul writing these two epistles to timothy a younger preacher there's no doubt that paul's whole heart there's no doubt that the moving of the holy spirit was making this message clearly known to a young preacher named timothy a preacher that would go to places like ephesus and stand and proclaim the truth of the word of god a preacher that would fill so much of the vacuum that would be left as god would call the apostle paul home not long after he penned these words perhaps as paul wrote to timothy he went back in his mind remembering when he first met timothy remembering that first occasion in timothy's hometown a town called lystra the bible tells us about it in acts 14 perhaps you'd like to look there briefly it says and there came thither verse 19 certain jews from antioch and iconium who persuaded the people and having stoned paul drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead how be it as the disciples stood round about him he rose up and came into the city and the next day he departed with barnabas to derby one of the very first times that timothy ever saw the apostle paul was after paul had been drug outside of the city of lystra and stoned for simply preaching the word of god paul having been stoned and left for dead now had a small group of believers gather around him those early believers from the church at lystra very likely included not only timothy's mother and grandmother lois and eunice but also would have included this young timothy timothy's first picture of the ministry was not necessarily an air-conditioned auditorium and a pastor in a suit and padded chairs but one of his very first pictures of the ministry was the man of god in a pool of blood surrounded by rocks thrown by haters who did not want to hear the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ i submit to you tonight that it would take a call from god for timothy to want to be a pastor after seeing that i'm thankful tonight that that church at lystra gathered round this man named the apostle paul and i'm thankful that timothy surrendered his life to the gospel ministry and tonight i want us to just take a few moments to learn all of us especially brother mord but all of us what is this matter of being called into the ministry we see man proposes but god disposes and we believe that god is in the middle of what's happening here tonight that this is not something that we made up or peter made up but it's something that god has brought us to it's something that we are simply recognizing tonight that is the work of god in brother moore's life i want you to notice that the ministry is a good work the bible says in 1st timothy 3 and verse 1 this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work and i want you to understand that this work begins with a god-given desire a god-given desire if a man desire i believe this is a desire that comes from the lord i believe it's the only way to comprehend why timothy would want to be a minister it is because despite the sufferings he saw in the life of the apostle paul he knew that god was calling him to take his stand to be willing to suffer to be faithful in preaching the gospel the call begins with a desire that god places in the heart of a man david livingston the great missionary to africa said if a commissioned by an earthly king is considered an honor how can a commission by a heavenly king be considered a sacrifice it is an honor to be a preacher of the gospel of jesus christ peter i would rather see you tonight surrendering to the call to preach than sitting as the governor of the state of california the lord knows we need a different governor but more than we need new people in government we need preachers and the pulpits that will not compromise the word of god the bible says here in this verse if a man desire the office of a bishop the word desire is to stretch oneself out in order to reach after something it is not a natural desire it is a spiritual desire martin lloyd jones was a great british preacher and a medical doctor before he was called to preach lloyd jones once wrote this is something that happens to you speaking of the call to preach it is god dealing with you and god acting upon you by his spirit it is something you become aware of rather than what you do it is thrust upon you it is presented to you and almost forced upon you constantly in this way paul said to timothy in first timothy 2 7 whereunto i am ordained a preacher and an apostle i speak the truth in christ and lie not a teacher of the gentiles in faith and in verity the word ordained reminds us that this is god's calling the word ordained means to be set forth or to be established the bible speaks of it in acts 13 where we read about the first missionaries being sent out by the church in acts 13 2 and as they ministered to the lord and fasted the holy ghost said separate barnabas and saul for the work wherein two of i have called them and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away and so it was the missionary movement began not with a denomination but with a local church and they prayed for paul and they prayed for barnabas for the holy ghost had said separate them out and let them go out and even as we have laid hands on peter tonight and even as this work has begun on the other side of our valley it is in the spirit of acts 13 that we have laid hands and taken of our very best and said go this is a great valley there are a half a million people here and let us reach them with the gospel of jesus christ but remember in acts 13 it was not the church that originated the call it was the holy ghost that said this it was the spirit of god moving on their hearts and sending out the missionaries and the church simply concurring with what god was saying we are here tonight to concur to agree to cooperate with our god in his calling upon this man's life first timothy 1 12 and i thank christ jesus our lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me in the ministry and so tonight we are thankful that god has put you into the ministry may your tribe increase may preachers continue to rise up may many young people tonight even as students at west coast baptist college dream of the day that they will experience what was just seen that they will find a place in this world and preach the gospel of jesus christ i believe it was also d martin lloyd jones that said concerning charles spurgeon it was spurgeon i believe who used to say to young men if you can do anything else other than preach do it if you can stay out of the ministry stay out of the ministry i would certainly say that without any hesitation whatsoever you should stay out of the ministry i would say that the only man who is called to preach is the man who cannot do anything else in the sense that he is not satisfied with anything else this call to preach is so put upon him and such pressure comes to bear upon him that he says i can do nothing else i must preach it is a desire from the lord and i'm thankful that the lord has given you this desire we have seen men in recent days and months perhaps we have seen men certainly over the years who have left the ministry who have fallen from the ministry who have walked away from their pulpit one would wonder as they walk away from the ministry if they were ever called in the first place peter if god has called you then never look back never settle for anything other than the preaching of the gospel of jesus christ this desire comes from the lord but may i say secondly there's not only a desire to preach there's a desire to serve the lord jesus christ galatians chapter 1 and verse 10 the apostle paul writes for do i now persuade men or god or do i seek to please men for if i yet pleased men i should not be the servant of christ a good minister is focused on serving the lord jesus christ first and foremost servanthood is not about everything else fitting into your schedule sometimes your plans will need to be adjusted sometimes danielle as you know there will be late nights and long days and perhaps a missed time that you would really look forward to and expected and and that will be made up amen peter those times will be made up and you'll take danielle out for a nice dinner and flowers and amen but the fact of the matter is that serving the lord is not always on our timetable it's not always according to how we planned it serving the lord is about being ready when he calls or when there's a need philippians 2 and 5 let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross success is a moving target leadership is a fixed goal and that goal is to be like jesus christ to follow after the pattern of jesus christ it is a god-given desire if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth the good work but also we see tonight a god-given description god gives a description for this office of the pastor and i want you to see first of all the nature of the office the bible says if a man desire the office of a bishop this is uh the word episcopal it is the word overseer often when i'm speaking to our pastoral staff or mentoring someone coming along in the ministry i'll speak to them about looking wide and deep looking into the corners of things looking into the causes of things trying to understand how we can go forward and meeting the needs of the church and and doing our best to oversee every aspect of the ministry why do we emphasize that because the very word bishop means the overseer and it's not enough for the pastor just to see one area of the ministry but to have a heart for the widows as well as the teenagers and to be concerned that the print and the bulletin is large enough for that person who struggles maybe to read and needs a little extra it may be the the program of the church uh somehow slowing something down because it's been a busy season it may be a teenager in the church that just needs someone to show them a little bit of attention but whatever the area god calls the pastor to be the overseer god has entrusted you jesus christ is the chief shepherd but he's called you tonight to be the under shepherd in the church acts 20 28 says it this way take heed there for unto yourselves and into all the flock over the which the holy ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of god which he hath purchased with his own blood there are two fundamental responsibilities of the overseer first there is the protection of the spiritual development of the church would you turn in your bibles please to acts 20 and verse 29 acts 20 and verse 29 paul has just said to the church and to the pastors of the church at ephesus that they were to feed the flock of god the flock that had been purchased with his own blood but in acts 20 29 peter the lord says these words and the apostle paul speaking to the pastors for i know this that after my departing shall grieve his wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years i ceased not to warn every one of you night and day with tears paul says to timothy timothy and rather to the elders at ephesus he says now i know that as soon as i leave the picture at ephesus as soon as i'm called home to be with the lord there will be those from without there will be some from within who rise up and speak against the doctrines of the word of god some will even speak perverse things and this is why god leaves an under shepherd in the church this is why those of you from rancho vista need to pray now much more for brother moore because the fact is that it will be incumbent upon him to go to that one spreading heresy and say hey we don't believe that in this church and you're welcome to come and sit and listen but we're not going to let you spread that false doctrine in this church it will be this man who must be sensitive to those false doctrines coming in from without over the years we've had plenty of that at lancaster baptist most of which you've not seen or been a part of as a congregation but we've been busy whether it's been mormon missionaries coming in trying to proselytize in the very foyer of lancaster baptist church or the iglesia ni christo cult from the philippines trying to argue with our members right in our own property or someone trying to simply use the church to sell vitamins or detergent somebody's got to keep the church focused on jesus christ and that somebody is the under shepherd and it will not always be easy and i dare say this will separate many times uh churches that are going to go forward and that is do they have an under shepherd willing to deal with those that are speaking perverse things and drawing disciples after them it's spiritual warfare that i'm speaking about and you must be filled with the spirit if you're going to have any kind of victory in this area the protection of the spiritual development knowing what is taught in the church for all of these 35 years peter i have approved every teacher in this church and every piece of curriculum that's taught in this church why because hebrews 13 17 says that one day i will give an account for this church i will stand before the lord jesus christ for every sunday school lesson and for all of the things that are taught and there must be a responsibility in your heart that true and pure doctrine will come forth from the lecterns of the church first peter 5 and 2 says it this way feed the flock of god which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucr but of a ready mind a preacher then must be both a soldier and a shepherd you must be on guard for the church while nurturing the church at the same time there is the protection of the spiritual development there is the proclamation of the doctrine of the church i'd ask the church to turn to second timothy chapter 3 for just a moment in verse 16. ii timothy 3 and 16 it says all scripture is given by inspiration of god the word inspiration means god breathed it does not simply mean inspiring it means inspired the word of god is a god-breathed book written by the holy spirit and it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works here we see that the word of god must be taught and the man of god must be grounded in the word of god the bible says that the bible itself is profitable for doctrine i want to challenge you peter as the deacons questioned you just a few nights ago in this age when there is so much wokism in this age when there are so many that are leaning into social justice which is another gospel not the gospel in this age when so many are are finding uh that it's a little hard to tell people they're sinners and they're kind of pulling out some of the doctrinal terms in this age when many churches kind of resemble maybe a nightclub in the way that it feels and in the message that is giving this age needs desperately men of god to preach the word of god line upon lying precept upon precept without compromise and without apology preaching the word of god i know that you have been to bun hill fields in london where your sister served as a missionary for so many years bun hill fields is what is commonly referred to as the burial grounds for the non-conformists and in bun hill fields you'll find the burial site of john bunyan who wrote the pilgrim's progress you'll find the wesleys buried there you'll find the pastor who pastored spurgeon's church before spurgeon you find many many other anabaptists who were buried there in bun hill field or bone heal field it's just an area about one acre maybe filled with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of men predominantly men who preached the gospel men who were not deemed worthy to be buried in the churches of the day many of which were catholic or many of which were church of england these were those baptists those anabaptists those methodists those protestants they they were the ones that were buried in bun hill field and it is commonly referred to peter as the burial ground of the non-conformists the burial ground of the non-conformist i want to challenge you peter this evening that you will never conform to this world to this world's culture but that you will always conform to the word of god and that you will be faithful in the proclamation of true doctrine vance havener said the early christians condemn false doctrine in a way that sounds almost unchristian today they were so strong in contending for the faith and baptists have always been non-conformist and the gospel is counter-cultural it's going to call people out of their sin it's going to call them unto a walk with god and so the nature of the office of the pastor is the nature of calling men and women to conform to jesus christ but we see not only the nature of the office we also see before us tonight the qualifications of the office whenever this chapter is read by a pastor by a deacon or by any man that seriously wants to walk with god there should be a spirit of pause in reading this chapter it should not be read quickly for every man in this church should desire a testimony that pleases god but especially for those that would teach or preach the word of god the bible says in this passage a bishop then must be blameless peter that does not imply that you'll never be accused we live in a day when good men are accused from time to time and sometimes slandered the word blameless however means that when that accusation is thrown it should not be able to stick it should not be true you should live a life that is above reproach robert murray mcshane wrote to a man named dan edwards after the latter's ordination as a missionary mcshane said it in great measure according to the purity and perfections of the instrument will be the success it is not great talents god blesses so much as great likeness to jesus a holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of god a minister that is not living a blameless life cannot preach against sin he cannot preach against the sins of the day he does not have the wherewithal to speak specifically on issues that will help the congregation because he himself struggles in these areas or has offended in these areas god says i need my men to be blameless with respect to the world in which they live the preacher's first and most important task is not to prepare the sermon it is to prepare himself to have a walk with god that is pleasing to the lord notice if you would church in chapter 4 and verse 16 once again it says take heed unto thyself tonight is not a night to look at the man next to you or in the row across from you tonight is a night for each of us to look at ourselves and especially for brother moore to look to his own life and doctrine and to continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee these past several months peter and you and i have discussed from time to time we've heard of some that have fallen out of the ministry tragically we never rejoice in that sometimes we reach out to people like that and offer counseling and condolence and not to get them back to a pulpit but to just pray with them if we could but peter somewhere along the line they neglected this verse take heed unto thyself unto thyself the first requirement of each of us is to take heed unto ourself in an interview with an african safari guide he was asked is it true that jungle animals won't harm you if you carry a torch the guide replied that depends on how fast you carry it and i want you to understand tonight peter that you need to take heed to yourself you need to make sure that you walk closely with the lord the bible says blameless quickly tonight he gives some qualifications notice the family qualifications verse two he must be the husband of one wife verse four he must be one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity leadership begins with who you are not with what you do and that leadership begins at home and you know this peter but i want you to hear tonight this challenge let your family be your first ministry he said well you're just saying that because he's your son-in-law and you want to treat your daughter right you're absolutely right thank you for that analysis no i've said this in all 20 ordinations i've ever preached your family is your first ministry and i want to challenge you tonight with your family and boys i don't want you to obey your mother and father just because your daddy is a pastor but because you love jesus sometimes there's a pressure that way and sometimes peter there was a pressure on me to try to get danielle and and larry and matt and christine to act a certain way because i was the pastor there was a measure of pride in my heart with that just a little bit and and sometimes would be a little harsher because i didn't want to look wrong but let me just remind you tonight that as you lead your family you want to lead them first and foremost to follow after the lord jesus christ to live the christian life not because they're a pastor's family because they're a christian family there's a lot of moralistic philosophy in baptist churches that kind of creates a standard of legalism that in the end will fail but if you will lead your family first because you're a christian family first because you want want to honor the lord then the pastorate will be helped but don't make demands of your family just because you're in the pastorate h.b london wrote a book years ago entitled pastors at risk in that book he described the alarming rate with which pastors are leaving the ministry this book is quite old now but then when it was written 90 percent of the pastor said they worked more than 46 hours a week i have no doubt that you work much more than that 80 percent believe their families struggled and were adversely affected by the ministry sometimes that's because of the expectations of the church family and i want to pause tonight and thank our church family once again because for all the years we were raising our children you loved our family and prayed for our family and you allowed them to go through little stages and and at christmas time you remembered them and you were so kind to us as a pastor's family i believe that's why all four of our children are serving the lord today because we had such a loving church family but i want to challenge those of you in this section back here love this family here love these boys and know that there'll be plenty of people taking the attitude well my job is to keep the pastor humble there will always be people like that and there will be many a an unkind letter that he'll never share with you but as a church family gather around them and love and pray for them 75 percent of the pastor surveyed had significant stress-related illnesses what i'm saying tonight regarding the pastorate is that the family many times takes the brunt in that way peter make the family your first priority i remember years ago talking to pastor adrian rogers from bellevue baptist church in memphis i remember what he said to me about the family he said brother chapel the church is christ's bride not your bride they can get another pastor but you can't get another wife and i remember those words so often make your family your first ministry take care of your family and then the family of god notice verse 5 for if any man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god church family thank you for the privilege of caring and overseeing and directing and and uh thank you for deacons who support and lift up the arms of the pastor who's trying to oversee but peter make your family the first priority there are family qualifications here they're also our social qualifications we'll not preach them all tonight but notice if you would in verse 2 vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach danielle i know that you all have folks in your home and you have events that you put on and and and you're given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine peter let me encourage you as you've already have testified to the deacons that means not a drop don't don't put yourself in a place of someone saying something don't put yourself that close to being inebriated stay away from the wicked cup that moves itself a right no striker not someone that's angry and fighting or not someone that's serving for money or greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous these are social requirements that are given to the man of god god is calling on his men to have a testimony in your area in this valley as you work with a different mayor than i do and you work with different leaders than i do they may not know it sometimes our city leaders don't know it but they actually need a man of god who will cry aloud and whose life is backing up what he's saying someone who's living according to the word of god we see a god-given desire if a man desire the office of a bishop we see a god-given job description peter there's not one person here tonight that works in aerospace that has that on their job description not one there's not one police officer here tonight that has that there's not one engineer that has that tonight but this is not lockheed this is the church that jesus died and shed his blood for and god gives us these requirements this description we see a god-given desire we see a god-given description very unique in the world in which we live finally tonight we see a god-given dedication the bible says if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a good work the ministry is certainly work it requires labor it's demanding work someone recently wrote and said they finally had a good job description for a pastor and they were trying to find a pastor for their church and kind of wrote out what they were looking for and they said the perfect pastor has finally been found he preaches exactly 20 minutes and then sits down but he thoroughly exegetes the scriptures he makes 400 a week and gives 150 to the church he drives a late model car buys lots of books wears fine clothes and has a nice family he's 36 years old and he's been preaching for 40 years he is tall on the short side heavy set in a thin sort of a way and handsome he has a burning desire to work with youth and spends all his time with senior citizens he smiles all the time while keeping a straight face because he has a keen sense of humor that finds him seriously dedicated he makes 15 calls a day on church members but spends all of his time evangelizing non-members and is always found in his study if needed bottom line peter you'll never meet everyone else's job description but there is a biblical job description god says that you must be dedicated to his work if a man desire the office of a bishop he desires a good that word kalos is excellent honorable useful what an honorable privilege to preach the word of god this word work speaks of the business it speaks of occupying until jesus comes it speaks of administration and toil and paul relied on god's grace but he also said that he should work harder that the pastor should work harder than others work in fact in first corinthians 15 and 10 he said but by the grace of god i am who i am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but i labored more abundantly than they all yet not i but the grace of god which was in me the scourge of the ministry is a lazy pastor god has called you to work he has called you to labor and i challenge you tonight to work in the study to labor in the word of god to stand up if you must to pinch yourself if you must to stay alert in the study of prayer and studying the word of god study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth their entire our entire denominations tonight that were founded off of the misinterpretation of the word of god many churches tonight where the preaching is nothing but psychobabble and what the preacher thinks would make entertaining message but god wants you to rightly divide which means to cut it straight to tell the people what the bible says g campbell morgan said nothing is more needed among preachers today than that we should have the courage to shake ourselves free from the thousand and one trivialities in which we are asked to waste our time and strength peter listen if i got up here and preach what some people would want me to preach every week would be about politics some weeks it'd be about the lakers and most weeks would be about something related to covet but somehow god has called me not to preach the front lines of the newspaper i may comment from time to time but god has not called me to preach according to the antelope valley press he has called me to preach thus saith the lord and i challenge you tonight that while you'll have many loving opinions on a variety of different subjects that when you stand behind this sacred desk what people need to hear is not the rehash of fox or cnn what people need to hear is what the word of god says and you must get into your study and read god's word and preach god's word the work of the study and then the work of planning and preparing as an overseer counting the cost the bible says no man that buildeth the tower would build that without first counting the cost and that means working with men of the church and danielle with the ladies of the church and planning the budgets of the church and the counseling of the church and delegating the work of the church and then inspecting what you're expecting and following through luke 14 28 for which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether you have sufficient to build uh to build it peter let me challenge you as you get involved in projects seek godly counsel so many millennial pastors today all of their counsel is from some other millennial who's never really done what you're trying to do you say well are you telling peter that just so he'll seek your counsel of course but peter there are many men of god that you've had in your life already and there is safety in the multitude of counsel and i want to challenge you tonight when you get into large projects and when you're up against something you've never been up against and that'll happen almost every day go to the word of god go to the men of god luke 14 28 is so clear which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost seek that counsel study the word of god study to give oversight do the work of the preacher second timothy 4 and 1. i charge thee therefore before god and the lord jesus christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine bill bennett wrote a book years ago on preaching the title simply stated 30 minutes to raise the dead 30 minutes to raise the dead that was the book's title on preaching a lady said to me this morning she said man right when my husband was getting a little tired you hit the pulpit this morning and he woke up i said that's the idea 30 minutes to raise the dead you see we need preaching of the word of god the bible says in matthew 24 12 and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold because iniquity abounds because there's so much sin in the world many christians will have a coldness come into their heart and there's nothing like the preached word of god to warm a christian's heart preaching is described as labor turn if you would to first timothy chapter 5 just a page over there notice what it says let the elders that speaks of the pastors that rule well this speaks of their leadership and of their preaching let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially those who labor in the word and doctrine peter the hours that you work will probably be divided about half in the preparation of messages and the other half in the administration and oversight of the church a lot of that labor will be in the early mornings and the late nights never seen but by the lord and by you but i want to challenge you to labor in the word of god like a medical student would labor to become a doctor like a legal student would labor to become an attorney yet with the unction of the holy spirit laboring in the word of god and i challenge the men tonight from new life baptist that as you see this man laboring and as those messages are ministering then let this man be counted worthy of your love and of your double honor a few months from now the care of this family will no longer be a part of something that is budgeted by this church i challenge you care for and encourage and love expressively your pastor not only is there the work of the preaching of the word of god the oversight the study but peter let me remind you also the work of soul winning the work of soul winning jesus taught in john 20 21 peace be unto you as my father hath sent me even so send i you peter after you spend that early morning time and study let me encourage you to push away as you've been doing from that desk and find a neighborhood and take a bunch of gospel tracts and go out in the neighborhood if you're called upon to pray for the city council meeting or to go to the chamber of commerce or to go to some other type of a meeting or to do a funeral or a wedding whenever you do it do it all with the gospel in the middle always looking forward to the opportunity to lead someone to christ there's no accidental meetings and god wants you to labor as a soul winner in your community with a dedication to the work and then let me say finally tonight peter with a dedication to finish with a dedication to finish would you turn to second timothy as we close tonight chapter four and verse five second timothy chapter four and verse five but watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist folks this is exactly what we're preaching tonight summarized the pastor is to watch in all things he is to endure afflictions as i said a moment ago he is to do or the do the work of the evangelist make full proof of thy ministry peter i don't think there's anything that should be said against someone that's bi-vocational there are bivocational pastors in this country and thank god for them but if god let you have a shot at full-time ministry make full proof of it i don't know how many pastors they no one answers the phone we try to call their church no one's there i don't know how many pastors spend time on chat rooms i've never one time in 35 years been on a chat room i don't spend time trying to chit chat about this and that i don't get in long conversations next to the next to the the water uh just having a cup of water talking about this that the next thing i don't have time to study facebook i want to spend time in his book i don't have time to watch a lot of television you're not going to have time this is what the bible means by make full proof of your ministry paul said this one thing i do not these many things i dabble in stay focused on your ministry notice paul says in verse 6 as he comes to the end of his life for i am now ready to be offered and the time of my departures at hand i have fought a good fight i finished my course i have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but into all them also that love is appearing paul said i have finished my course i want to challenge you peter with this thought that you would begin every day by asking the lord to let you finish your course oh i would rather have my children grieving at the loss of their father rather than at the way their father lived let me encourage you peter to live for the lord all the days of your life let me encourage you that you would fight the good fight finish the course and keep your faith and that you would finish that course as a faithful servant of the lord determined to consider the end of a thing and i challenge every man here the night tonight the same way that before you make major decisions in your life that would impact so many others that you look down the end of the road and say lord i want to finish my life in the battle fighting for you and serving you that i might be faithful until the end and peter many times you'll go through a day and things won't seem to make sense you'll lead someone to the lord and two years later they know more than you do it's amazing how that happens you'll train someone that you thought was a timothy and sometime down the road you just can't believe what's happening there will be disappointments jesus had disappointment in certain ones that turned back paul spoke of them someone said people are illogical unreasonable and self-centered love them anyways if you do good people will accuse you of selfish or ulterior motives do good anyways if you are successful you win false friends and true enemies succeed anyways the good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow do good anyways honesty and frankness make you vulnerable be honest and frank anyways the biggest man with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds think big anyways what you spend years building may be destroyed overnight build anyways people really need help but they may attack you if you do help them help them anyways give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth give the world the best you have anyways remember success is a moving target leadership is a fixed goal make jesus that goal this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work some of you say well pastor i don't desire the office of a bishop no but tonight every one of us should say men i desire to be a man of god there's something here for me there's something here for me sometimes we'll have men come to our church and they'll come on our staff and it starts they'll say i'm here because i want to help you god's called me as a pastoral staff to help the pastor sometimes they'll come later and say i believe god wants me to be a pastor really there's two opportunities in the church to be the pastor or to help the pastor now i want to encourage you peter if you say the lord has put this on your heart to be a pastor then i want to encourage you to take this first timothy three and from time to time just read through it and church family as you read through it would you pray for me that the testimony of the lord would be honored in my life and in our church would you pray for young men like this are you like me when you see someone that falls away from the truth or compromises greatly sometimes i think to myself i should have prayed for him more the first thought might be to think well that rascal how did he do that but let's remember to pray for these young preachers there's an amazing influence that comes upon them to change everything they were ever taught but as a church may we pray together that god blesses and uses this man for his honor and his glory

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 342

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, 1 Timothy 3

Id: PZuyh0-VUo4

Length: 47min 5sec (2825 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021