Shepherds for Christ

Man, it’s great to see everybody. Great to see everybody. Really excited to be with our church family again this morning. Becca and I had a really good time. We were Monday through Wednesday. We were up in Asheville, North Carolina. The Billy Graham Association has a training center up there where they run a number of things, but one of the things they do are these pastor retreats. So it was me and Becca and maybe another hundred pastors and some of their wives were there. So we got to hang out up in Asheville for a couple days and really good time for us just to get to spend together, just the two of us, but also really good to be around some other pastors and pray with each other and hear a really incredible pastor speak.

Anybody know the name Jim Cimbala? Some of us do. Any of us heard of a church in New York called the Brooklyn Tabernacle? Okay, so I guess 40 years ago, something like that, Jim arrives on the scene in Brooklyn, New York, and starts pastoring this church called the Brooklyn Tabernacle. And if you’re not familiar with him, his name, the church, some of the books he’s written, undoubtedly you’ve heard some of the music that their church has produced as the music that his wife has written and others has been kind of spread throughout American Christianity. Jim is an incredible preacher, incredible speaker. He’s got the heart of this evangelist. He talks to people all the time in inner city New York. But the coolest thing about what their church does is he attributes everything to prayer. They run this Tuesday prayer service that just to get in, people have to show up early for, and the line is wrapped around the building. They’ve got to maintain seating in their facility just because all the people that want to be able to get into the prayer time. And he said something that was wild to me. As much as their church does with worship, as much as they do feeding the homeless and taking care of the needy, as incredible of a preacher he is, he said prayer is the engine of our church. Nothing happens without us praying.

So I figured it’d be really apt this morning. It’d be really appropriate for us to start this time with prayer. Last Sunday we had an opportunity to hear Dr. Sam George preach. If you weren’t here with us, you have to go onto the website, look at that sermon page, pull up his sermon, and give yourself 40 minutes to listen to that incredible man and talk about what God is doing through his ministry in India. We’re going to spend a few minutes praying for him and praying for that ministry before I get into my sermon. So here’s what I want you to do. I just want you to buddy up with the neighbor and just pray for him and his ministry by name. Just pray out loud together. It’s going to be awkward until we’re all praying, and then it’s going to be great. Just pray for Dr. Sam George. Pray for his church in India, that God would protect him, would bless those efforts, and then I’ll wrap us up as a group here in a moment. All right? I give the baton to you.

All right. Father, God, I want to thank you. Lord, thank you so much for Sam. God, thank you for lining up all the details for him to be able to come and share your incredible work in India with us. God, a week ago, we didn’t know who Sam George was. We didn’t know about the thousands of folks that have come to faith in you because of the influence of his ministry. We didn’t know about the thousands of Bibles burned in that city where he has pitched his tent. God, we didn’t know about all the widows and the children that his organization has taken in to give refuge to. Lord, we didn’t know about the dozens of church planters that their church has trained and is sending out. Lord, we didn’t know about the hundreds of children that are at his school. Lord, we didn’t know that the Indian government, which hates Christianity, is happily working with Sam because they can’t deny what Sam is doing. So, Lord, we beg for you to bless them. God, I’m begging that you would protect that man. God, undoubtedly, there’s a target on his back. Lord, there are people that hate what he’s doing. And even more than that, God, we know that our battle, our wrestling is not with flesh and blood. No, it is with powers.

It is with authorities. It is with spirits, Lord. So, God, I pray that You would protect him from demons, that You would protect him from the evil one. God, that You would protect him even from his own desires, which would derail his life and his ministry and his love for You. Lord, let it not be said of him like it was said of the church in Ephesus, that they did many things. They even refuted false teachers, but they left their first love. God, keep Sam in his first love. Keep him loving You. Keep that church loving You. Keep that organization, that school. Keep it all loving You. And, Lord, would You bless them for that? God, would You keep me loving You? Keep our church loving You? And right now, Lord, would You please bless this? God, I am needy. And, Lord, there are people here that need Your word. So, Father, help me just to be faithful to preach this. God, we do love You. We’re grateful for this time. And it’s in Your great name that we pray. Amen.

I say with Jim Cimbala, prayer is the fuel of our church. We will attempt very many things. We will pursue a lot of stuff. But prayer has got to be at the core of anything we’re going to do if we’re going to want to have success in it. So, very somber beginning to this time. If this is your first week with us, welcome. It’s not always this heavy, but it is today. So, there we go.

We are in the middle of a series that we’re calling Blueprints. We get that because God has a blueprint that He is building His church with. That first week of our series is, it was based on this passage out of 1 Timothy chapter 3, 14 through 16, where God calls the church the household of faith. So, I asked this question, if God’s building a house, if He’s building a church, does He have any blueprints? Is there a standard He’s doing this by? Is there some sort of plan God’s got? And the answer to that, obviously, is yes.

So, I compared a lighthouse to a mansion. And I said, which one does God want us to be? And I believe that He wants us to be a lighthouse. He wants us to be a beacon of hope and refuge and safety for a community. Not just a big house with lots of rooms and stuff for us, but actually a place where others can find refuge. So, God has given us His design. And He says, in this house, there are two types of leaders. You have deacons, and then you have pastors, elders, and overseers. Those words, pastor, elder, overseer, is three different terms to describe one office.

And then, last time I preached, two weeks ago, I walked through the qualifications for a pastor out of 1 Timothy. And made the point that those qualifications are largely based off of character. There’s one skill. It’s just the ability to teach. But there’s a lot of content there that’s about who that person is. And while I wish I could get up here and say that I perfectly fulfill every single one of those character qualifications all of the time, we would all know that that would make me a liar. Would therefore disprove that claim, right? But, I am a man in front of you that is in process.

Anyways, the question then is, if God has a design, if He has leaders, if there’s qualifications for those leaders, how should those leaders lead? How should the local church be led then? That brings us to 1 Peter. So, if you have your copy of God’s word with you, you go ahead and open it up to 1 Peter. That’s where we’re going to be. It’s toward the back end of the New Testament.

I want to give you a little bit of context, though. This is 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2. If you’re still turning there, it’s going to be on the screen as well. This book, or this letter, opens this way. 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2. You see, something that ought to catch our eye immediately as we are starting to orient ourselves this morning is the fact that Peter calls this group of Christians, and he says they are living as exiles dispersed abroad. Peter is writing to this group of churches, these people that they used to live in Jerusalem, but they have been dispersed throughout what they would have called Asia, what we now call Turkey. You see, 1 Peter is addressed to Christians scattered throughout five Roman provinces.

in the area of northern Turkey. You have them right there on the screen. The churches in these provinces were made up of both Jews and Gentiles, and that’s reflected in Peter’s letters here. And this letter is rich in references and quotations from the Old Testament. Jewish Christians would have found special significance in the term dispersion, meaning to be scattered. And Jews living outside of Jerusalem would have felt themselves as being dispersed. All right?

Now, Peter, throughout this letter, he is encouraging these Christians to persist because they are going through suffering. In fact, in the first four chapters of 1 Peter, suffering is mentioned at least seven times. But here’s good news for you, because there’s folks in our room that are going through some sort of suffering right now. Thing is, God is never surprised by your suffering. No matter what you’re going through right now, achy body, a life that’s falling apart, maybe even some persecution from friends or family or coworkers because you’re trying to make a stand for Jesus. No suffering that you will ever go through is ever lost on God, will ever surprise God, will ever catch God off guard. In fact, if you are going through suffering, if you are going through something that is testing your faith in Jesus, I would encourage you this afternoon, get a cup of coffee, get tea, whatever it is, and just read 1 Peter and just believe it. God has something for you here. It was written to these Christians in Turkey. It was written to them, but it’s also good for us.

So, suffering. It never surprises God. And these Christians that have been scattered are scattered because they’re suffering. They have been driven out of Jerusalem because of their faith in Jesus. In fact, certain charges were coming against Christians and they became so common, they became stereotypical. They just became little cliches. Romans viewed Christians as atheists, in fact, because Christians were denying this vast pantheon of gods. They’re saying Christians have no gods. Therefore, they must be atheists. How hilarious that at one point in our history, we as Christians used to be called atheists, right? Christians, too, used to be called cannibals because they would say they would eat the body of Jesus and drink His blood. That’s what we do whenever we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. And Christians, too, used to be called incestuous because they were always greeting each other as brother and sister and saying, I love you.

So, these Christians were being persecuted for their faith. Christianity was this perfect scapegoat for a government that was against Christ. So, chapters 1 through 4, Peter is just encouraging these Christians, just saying, hey, hold fast, stand firm. Jesus will come back again. It’s okay. This doesn’t surprise God. Just hold on. And then in chapter 5, Peter transitions and he starts talking to the elders of those churches. He knows if God wants to take out those churches, He’s going to take out the elders. That’s why we pray for Sam George in India. That’s why I know you pray for me. And that’s why Peter wrote to these men.

So, let’s read it together. This is 1 Peter chapter 5. This is where we’re going to settle down this morning. 1 Peter 5. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed. Shepherd God’s flock among you. Not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. Not out of greed for money, but eagerly. Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown glory.

What incredible words Peter is given four chapters encouraging Christians in general. And then he transitions and he focuses on the pastors, the elders, the overseers, and says, shepherd these people. There’s one main thing I want you to take away from the sermon this morning. And there’s one thing I believe that Peter was trying to communicate to these pastors. It was, or these pastors, it is this. Elders shepherd like Christ. Not perfectly, not all the time, but that was definitely the standard. Elders shepherd like Christ. That is what He wanted them to have. That’s what He wanted them to hold on to. And that’s what God has for us this morning.

So there’s three underlying truths for that one main point. The first is this. It’s the fact that elders do it together. All right, look at this in verse one with me. Peter says, I exhort the elders among you. Now, Peter has Already written in chapter one that he’s, he’s already said in chapter one that he’s writing to these various churches. All right. So each of these churches would have been listening to this letter being read. And then Peter says, “I exhort the elders among you.”

Now, here’s the fact is that these churches would have been pastored by multiple elders simultaneously. If you look throughout the New Testament, you see this pattern. In fact, if you go to Acts chapter 11, verses 28 through 30, it says this: One of the prophets named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. And this took place during the reign of Claudius. Now, each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea. So they did this, sending it to the elders in the church of Jerusalem by means of Barnabas and Saul.

And then you flip forward to Acts 14, verses 21 through 23. It says this: After Barnabas and Paul had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith, by telling them it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Then, when they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

But it’s not just a reality in the book of Acts. It’s also in Titus. And this would be the complement to 1 Timothy. It says this in Titus chapter 1, verse 5. Paul, he’s writing to a guy named Titus, and he says, “The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone, and as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.”

Or you look at Philippians chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, writing to this church in Philippi, said this. It seems there was this pattern in the New Testament. Maybe not a prescription, but certainly a pattern. That when local churches were established, there would be multiple men that would be called upon to shepherd, to elder them.

In fact, there’s also a practice in the SBC historically. You look at the Charleston Baptist Association, which was founded in the late 1700s. And one of their guiding documents is called the Summary of Church Discipline. It taught churches to set up leadership structures where multiple men would have been held in equal authority as elders. And that sort of pattern, that teaching then, was given to all the churches in the Charleston Baptist Association. That was the 1700s.

You look at the Philadelphia Baptist Association, even older than the Charleston one. It taught the same thing. You look at guys like W.B. Johnson, who was one of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention. Or Southern, yeah, he was the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Also a man from Saluda, South Carolina. He wrote in his sort of principal document in the mid-1800s about the wealth of having multiple elders in a local church.

You see, it’s not just a pattern of the New Testament. It’s not just a precedent of our heritage as Southern Baptists, but it also just makes a lot of sense for a church. It makes a lot of sense for a church to have multiple men that are all pastoring simultaneously. And you see, not all of those pastors that Peter would have been writing to would have to be financially supported by the believers. But they would all need to be formally recognized as elders and trusted to lead.

The thing is, no one man can adequately pastor a church. It is beyond the ability, beyond the spiritual strength, beyond the cunning, beyond the cleverness, beyond anything that a single person can bring to that role. That’s just not God’s design. Men, we are limited. So for us to shepherd a church in Jesus’s place, for us to shepherd it like Jesus, we’ve got to do it as a group.

You see, Christ, He can shepherd all of us all at once. But even in His earthly ministry, He had a select group of three guys from the 12 that He would pull away from the broader movement. And He was just in His earthly form, only ever in one place at one time. And I’m not Jesus. If Jesus didn’t do it all by Himself, I’m not going to do it all by myself either.

God establishes elders in local churches for their good, the community’s blessing, and His own glory. That’s the pattern that We see in Scripture. But Peter, as we return to this passage, it’s remarkable. Because Peter writes these words, and he says, “I exhort the elders among you, as what? As a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ.” Peter, it’s amazing to me, he was a hand-selected disciple of Jesus. Jesus is gathering His initial group of guys. He’s gathering His initial core. He sees Peter fishing. He says, “Hey, Peter, lay down those nets. Follow me, buddy.” And then after walking with Jesus for three years, the Holy Spirit descends on the disciples and this group of 120 people in the upper room of Jerusalem. After Jesus has died, been buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, they’re wondering, “What do we do next? What next? What are we supposed to do?” And the Holy Spirit falls on them. And Peter, all of a sudden, becomes this mouthpiece for the church. He is empowered by the Spirit to be this apostle that has this weird sort of authority and leadership over the church. But Peter, he addresses these elders as one of them, not one over them as their boss, but as their peer. He says, “I’m just a fellow elder. Yes, I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. I was there and I ran, by the way, because I got scared. I saw what happened. But I address you just as a fellow elder. Hey, we’re just buddy to buddy. We’re peer to peer here.” Peter says, “I’m going to help shepherd these shepherds.” That’s His posture with them. So we see these elders over these churches that Peter is writing to. They’ve got to do it together. But they also are shepherds. That’s the second foundational truth if you’re taking notes. Elders do it together. And two, elders are shepherds. Why else would Peter have told them to shepherd God’s flock among you unless they were to be shepherds? These elders are taught to shepherd. I just, I just keep saying it because I just want us to get it in our heads because I think in our Baptist tradition as of late, we want to shy away from that term elder because it doesn’t feel Baptist for us. Anybody else in the room feel that? All right. It doesn’t quite feel Baptist enough for us. Here’s the thing. That verb shepherd, it’s the same term that we get pastor from. You see, a pastor is a shepherd. So when Peter says, “Hey, elders, shepherd them,” what He’s saying is, “Hey, elders, pastor them. Hey, elders, be a pastor to these people.” Elders, pastors, overseers. It’s one office with three different terms because it’s like three different flavors. There’s a who, there’s a what, there’s a how. The who, that’s your elders, these men of spiritual maturity. What are they supposed to do? They’re supposed to oversee. They’re supposed to manage. They’re supposed to lead. How are they supposed to lead and manage? Like shepherds. Not like slave drivers, not like bosses, but like shepherds because they shepherd God’s flock. They shepherd God’s flock. Sauldam Baptist Church, this is God’s flock. This is not my flock. It’s not any other person’s flock. I get to have the role and the joy and the opportunity to be the pastor, but it’s not my flock. This is God’s. This is God’s group of people. And we’re just one church. We prayed for Sam in India. We could have easily prayed for Don and Martha in the Middle East. We could have easily prayed for some of our friends serving in Hungary. Because all Christians in all places at all times are part of God’s collective universal church, His big flock that He is shepherding. And He knows every sheep by name. He knows every sheep by name. The question is, are you one of them? There’s a lot of folks here that are at church. There’s a lot of people here that do a lot of really meaningful things. And I’m afraid that sometimes we do those things and we come because that somehow we think that that means we gain favor with God. As if checking off all the boxes would somehow earn our way into God’s family. It’s not that way. The test of salvation, it’s not how many things we do for God. Being a sheep in God’s flock is not about your performance for Him. It’s about receiving His grace into your life. It’s about embracing His gospel on you. You see, church attendance, baptism, tithing, evangelizing, Bible studies, prayer meetings, none of that equals salvation. As good as those things are, none of that gets you in. None of it gets you in. What gets you in is faith in Christ. It’s faith in the one that came for us, which means amongst a lot of things that you’re here this morning because God is drawing you into a relationship with Himself. No one shows up to church by accident. No one comes here purely by coincidence. It might feel by coercion if you’re here and you’re not totally of your own volition, but it’s not by coincidence. God is drawing you into a relationship with Himself because this group of people is His flock. I don’t own this church. Elders didn’t own these churches. That’s why it’s not called Jeremy Baptist Church. That’d be a really weird name too though, wouldn’t it harm you? See, all Christians are sheep in God’s flock.

So how does Christ want those elders to shepherd His own flock? The good thing is I’m not left to my own devices to figure that out. I just look at verses two and three. I’m going to read it again for us. It says, shepherd God’s flock among you. Not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. Not out of greed for money. No, but eagerly. Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

You see, that first one, not overseeing out of compulsion, that’s an attitude of I get to, not I have to. That’s an attitude of understanding that God has brought me into something, not something I’ve got to will myself into every day. That second one, where it says, not out of greed for money, but eagerly. That’s an attitude of I get to give myself to it, not I’m going to gain from it. And that third one, where it says, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples. That’s an attitude of getting to care for the needy instead of being a boss over people.

I think verses two and three talk about how to shepherd. And those verses give us the three tasks of a pastor, the three tasks of an elder. Task one is to lead the flock. I don’t oversee out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have me. Oversight is about leadership. I am supposed to lead the flock. God has placed the responsibility on my shoulders, and hopefully some other men’s shoulders that will join me in this, that we would sense God’s direction, and we would take the flock there. We would lead this group of people. The shepherds of yesteryear, of the other time, I don’t know how to say that phrase, shepherds in the past, they wouldn’t just let the sheep lead wherever they want to, but they were tasked with leading them somewhere. God certainly does not want me to take my life into my hands and go wherever I want to, and He’s just in my back pocket, and He’s like, okay, Jeremy, you take the wheel. Every time I take the wheel, I drive into the ditch. God wants to lead me, and He gives local churches, pastors, elders, overseers to lead it.

They aren’t just supposed to lead the flock. The second task is they’re supposed to feed the flock. It says, not out of greed for money, but eagerly. If I’m not focused on gaining something, that means I want to give something. And the very best thing I could give y’all is a steady diet of God’s word. The very best thing I could do is to feed you on Sundays with this, is to make sure you are fed in Sunday school, is to make sure you’re fed on Wednesday nights. The very best thing I could do is ensure that the Bible is being taught and preached in ways that make sense for your life and that stirs your faith.

The thing is, I’m a sheep too, which means I’ve got to be fed also. That’s why I appreciate when the Sam Georges, the Al Smiths are able to get up here and I could sit in the pew and I could take notes and I could say, come on, man, let’s go. Say it again. Which, by the way, if you ever want to say, come on, man, let’s go, say it again. I’m good with that too. I’ve got to be fed. It’s part of the reason that us going up to North Carolina for a couple of days this week was so good for my heart because I just got to sit in the seat and take notes and just wonder, where’s He going next? Oh, how’s He going to connect it to Jesus? Oh, man, this is so good. I didn’t see Him bringing this in there. I’m just a nerd like that, but I’ve got To be fed. That third task that elders are entrusted with, they are supposed to protect the flock. I’m not supposed to lord anything over y’all. No, but I’m supposed to be an example to you. That means I would protect you. I would make sure that destructive teaching and lifestyles don’t come into here. And again, that’s too much for my shoulders alone.

Remember the context of Peter’s letter. These were churches suffering persecution, and they would need shepherds and elders that would not serve grudgingly, greedily, or gruffly, but rather pastors who would be eager, sacrificial, and gentle. Pastors that in some way on their best of days would look like Jesus.

Because here’s the secret of it all. That third truth is the fact that elders know that Jesus is the true shepherd. He’s the true shepherd. Verse four makes that incredibly clear. Peter says, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. I’m not so worried about the unfading crown of glory. I just want to talk about the chief shepherd for a few minutes.

Who is that chief shepherd? Anybody want to venture a guess? Jesus. That’s right. That’s the safest answer in church. If you’re ever confused, you just say, Jesus. Chances are you’re right, especially if I’m preaching.

Jesus says this in John chapter 10, verses 11 through 15. Y’all know them. He says, I am. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand? Nah. Since he’s not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, he just leaves them. He runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters the sheep. This happens because he’s a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. I, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep.

Christ is the chief shepherd. Christ knows you. He died for you. And if you trust in Him, oh, He holds you. This, thank you. He holds you.

This world will tell you you’ve got to earn your way into love. This world will tell you that you must do things in order to receive affection and security and assurance in a relationship that you better not mess up or else the other party is gone. It has never been easier to break a contract. It’s never been easier to divorce a marriage. It has never been easier to earn your way or work your way out of love because this world tells you yet to work your way into it.

But here’s the thing. While we were yet sinners, what did God do for us? Christ died for us. He sent His Son for us. Not for His Son to say, oh, Jeremy, you blew it. No, Christ didn’t come to condemn the world. Why? Because the world was already condemned in its sin. Christ came to save us.

Christ came gathering wayward sheep saying, hey, buddy, that’s a dangerous cliff. You just need to come over here back to the fold with me. Hey, sweetheart, you’re about to go into destruction. There’s a wolf over there. Just come back with me. Hey, buddy, you’re about to mess up majorly. If you would just embrace my leadership and my grace for you, things are going to go a lot better.

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us. And the shepherd doesn’t just save us by giving us rules. No, He doesn’t save us by saying, if you will just button up your life, if you will just clean yourself up, then you can stay in my home. No, the shepherd laid down his life for the sheep.

You know how worthless a sheep is? Totally. You ask anyone that raises sheep and goats and cattle, if they can only pick two and leave one, what are they picking? They’re not picking the sheep because the sheep routinely bites the farmer. The sheep routinely gets lost. The sheep is always forgetting how to get home. The sheep will even look up when it’s raining and drown themselves.

And that’s what God calls us. He doesn’t call us His horses that run fast. He doesn’t call us whatever pet animal you have, the dogs that retrieve well. He doesn’t call us the cats that do whatever cats do. Obviously, I don’t have animals. I’m not worried about that. God calls us sheep because we need a shepherd. And Christ laid down His life for us.

And on the cross, Jesus, for all time, for once and for all said, “Stop trying to earn your Way into love. I love you this much. My arms can’t go out any further. I love you this much that I would take on your sheepness. I would take on your foolishness, your simplicity, your sinfulness, so that you could become members of my family. And I will hold you. Not a single one can anybody pluck out of my Father’s hand. I secured that for you with my blood on the cross for you.” Christ is the chief shepherd. He’s the chief shepherd. He is coming back. And He wants to shepherd you too. He wants to be your shepherd. He wants to embrace you into His family. He wants to hold you forever. He wants to care for you, to lead you, to feed you, to protect you. He wants to do that for you. I am so grateful He’s coming back one day. One day, I will take this baton that God has given me, and I’ll give it back to Him. It’ll either be when I take my final breath, or when He comes back. And I’ll say, “Lord, I tried the hardest I could. I was as faithful as I could be. I know I put my foot in my mouth. I know I made some bad decisions at some point, but I loved those people. I protected them, and I fed them.” And He will say, “Well done.” And He will say, “Kata, buddy. Don’t worry.”

So as we begin to close, I just want you to consider two things. Is Christ your shepherd? Is He the true shepherd over your life? Have you embraced Him? Have you really given your life to Him? Have you accepted His death for you? Have you accepted His forgiveness and His love for you? Or are you still trying to work your way, to earn your way, to get something from God? Are you still trying to convince God that somehow you like Him enough, that He should let you into His family? Because you go to church, and you do the things, and you pray before you eat, and you try not to curse too much. Or are you just embracing God’s grace for you? Today may be the day that you actually make that decision once and for all. Where you leave the religion, you leave all the steps, you leave the checklist, and you just say, “Just give me the gospel.” And if that’s you, man, let’s begin that conversation. Let’s begin rejoicing over that. Because the angels in heaven, they party for one thing. They don’t party for every sound sermon I preach. They don’t party for all the events we run. No, they party when one soul enters God’s family. When one person repents and comes to life, the angels in heaven go crazy over it. And I would love for there to be a party in heaven today, because somebody chose to place their faith in Christ here. So if that’s you, give the angels something to celebrate, and let me pray with you.

There’s a second thing to consider. If this is God’s pattern for us, then how do we bring ourselves into alignment just a little more deeply? I will tell you, the good of our community is at stake. The good of our community is at stake because there’s not just people inside of our four walls that need to hear this good news. But as we continue to align ourselves with God’s blueprint, He will continue to bring people in our path that we get to share this good news with. I’m a heaven party guy, and I want to see as much of that as possible. If you would like to begin a conversation by giving your life to Jesus in totality today, just come down during this last song, and I pray with you.

Let’s pray now. Lord, I have sought to be faithful. God, I am an under shepherd at best. God, I am honored to be the pastor at Sauldam Baptist Church. Lord, I pray that more men would join me in this role. We’ll figure out how all the T’s cross and the I’s get dotted. But Lord, I know that for Your glory and the good of this church, more men need to be in this role with me. But God, even more important than that, there are folks that don’t know You. There are folks that are still working to get love from You. And God, I pray they would lay that down right now. And God, You would send Your Holy Spirit to convince them they are loved, and they are wanted, and they can be secure in a relationship with You that they can never get themselves out of. Lord, would You secure that for them right now? And would You bring them forward? Please, Lord. God, continue to transform this church for Your glory. God, that this community would be blessed and transformed by it. It’s in Your hands that I commit myself, this church, and this community. Amen.