>> Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day. Have all of you had a good week in the Lord. We're going to go ahead and start our service with this first song, Enough. >> You are my supply. >> All right, I forgot I was supposed to come up here. All right.

Just a couple of announcements before we get started. Let's see. So first of all, the spiritual development courses, the sign-ups are still going on. Again, I want to remind you, if you need help with the Bible study lab, how to do the inductive Bible study, Pastor Mark is teaching that.

And the first class is happening on February 6th. There's three classes, and it's happening at 2 p.m. So please sign up for that. The other one is we have a New Testament survey class being taught by Pastor Peter Chung. And the first class is starting again on February 6th, and there's four sessions for that.

And that's also starting at 2 p.m. So please sign up for that. And then one other thing is that we have communion service on that Sunday, so February 6th. So please prepare your heart for that as well. After I pray for the offering, we're going to have a baptism of our brother David Kim.

So he'll come up after the worship, and then he'll give the testimony, and we'll have him baptized. So if you're new to our church, we have a physical offering basket in the back over there. And then after I pray, we'll give you a few minutes to give your offering for the electronic, if you're going to give it electronically.

All right? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing over this time. We ask, Lord God, that whatever it is, Lord, that caused our hearts to be entangled with the things in this world, that you would help us with your word through our worship, our giving, all of it, Lord God, as an act of worship to honor and glorify you.

We pray that you would bless this time, bless the testimony, bless the teaching of your word, and bless our giving, Lord God, that it may be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For those of you who are outside, please remain seated. While those inside, please join with me in standing.

The radiance of the Father. The radiance of the Father, before the dawn of time, you spoke and all creation came to be. The molecules and planets revealed your great design. And everyone was made so we could see, so we could see you are Lord. You are the glorious Christ, the greatest of all delights.

Your power is unequal, your love beyond all heights. No greater sacrifice than when you lay down your life. We join the song of angels who praise your day and night. Glorious Christ. You left the air of heaven to breathe the dust of earth. And dwell among the outcast and the poor.

You came to be forsaken. You came to be forsaken and died to take a curse. So you could be our joy forevermore. Forevermore. Forevermore. Sing it out, glorious. You are the glorious Christ, the greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal, your love beyond all heights. No greater sacrifice than when you lay down your life.

We join the song of angels who praise your day and night. Glorious Christ. You're seated now, Lord. You're seated now in heaven. In throne that God's our hand. You shattered death and freed us from our fear. And though we cannot see you, you're coming back again. And I will be made right when you appear, yes, Lord.

And I will be made right when you appear. Oh, you are the glorious Christ, the greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal, your love beyond all heights. And you are the glorious Christ, the greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal, your love beyond all heights. And no greater sacrifice than when you lay down your life.

We join the song of angels who praise your day and night. Glorious Christ, Lord. Amen. Sing together, Christ the sure. Christ the sure and steady anchor in the fury of the storm. When the winds that blow through me and my sails have all been torn. In the suffering, in the sorrows, when my sinking hopes are few, I will hold fast to the anchor.

It shall never be removed. Christ the sure and steady anchor while the tempest rages on. When temptation claims the battle and it seems the night has won, deeper still than goes the anchor. Though I justly stand accused, I will hold fast to the anchor. It shall never be removed.

Christ the sure and steady anchor through the floods of unbelief. Hopeless somehow, O my soul now, lift your eyes to Calvary. This my ballast of assurance, seer's love forever true. I will hold fast to the anchor. It shall never be removed. Christ the sure and steady anchor as we face the wave of death.

When these trials give way to glory, as we draw our final breath, we will cross that great horizon. Clouds behind and life secured. And the calm will be the better for the storm that is coming. Christ the sure, Christ the sure of our salvation, ever faithful, ever true. We will hold fast to the anchor.

It shall never be removed. Amen. All right. Mic check. OK, perfect. All right. Good morning, everyone. My name is David Kim, and I'm a girl dad, a husband/servant, photographer, cheerleader, social media manager, and whatever my wife says I am to my wife, Tessia. But most importantly, I'm a sinner saved by grace and adopted into the family of God.

Before I continue with the rest of this testimony, I just want to put a disclaimer out there. If any part of this testimony speaks to you and if it convicts anybody, that's from God. If I totally botch it and it just goes all kinds of haywire and nobody knows what I've said, that was all me.

So all glory to God, all the mistakes come down to me. So I just want to put that out there first. But anyways, thank you for taking the time to hear my testimony and witnessing my baptism. I know most of you didn't really have a choice and didn't know this was even happening, but I appreciate you guys patiently suffering with me next few minutes all the same.

I became a follower of Jesus Christ in 2001 after I watched the Billy Graham crusade on TV with my father. I prayed with my father, who was a missionary and still is, and accepted Christ that day. And yes, I'm an MK, and that also means I have all sorts of underlying issues.

And that's just the nature of the beast. But I should also get out of the way that I also received a sprinkle baptism and was never fully baptized through full immersion. So although I did accept Christ, I never-- just purely out of ignorance-- never received a full immersion. To continue, after that day, I pursued God, or more accurately, God pursued me.

I found a strong community within my church and experienced God's love through my friends and the pastors that God placed in my life. In my third year at school, however, I grew lazy and began harding my heart towards God's voice. I don't have an epic, traumatic story here. Instead, I simply stopped praying and reading the word as often as I used to.

And the change was so subtle but dangerous. And over time, I simply forgot how good God is, just like the Israelites repeatedly did after their exodus from Egypt. And I began to ask, is Jesus really all I need in life? I'll save you the time and the pain of discovering the answer to that question for yourself.

And I'll tell you, the answer is absolutely yes. I can confidently say, as someone who got to travel all over the world through the military and just through some interesting experiences, met all kinds of people, nothing-- and I mean absolutely nothing-- can even come close to the love of Christ.

At the time, when I was struggling, even though I thought I was free in a worldly sense, I was pretty miserable. And I often joked that I even couldn't get sinning right, because I always felt like something was holding me back. So I was a terrible Christian, and I was a terrible sinner.

So that kind of tells you how conflicted I was back then. I didn't know it then, but today I know it was the Holy Spirit relentlessly pursuing and protecting me as part of his mission to complete the good work he began in me, as stated in Philippians 1.6. Now today, as my wife and I transition out of the military life, God continues to remind us of his goodness, his holiness, and providence every single day.

He continues to be faithful and takes care of us in so many ways that I can't even begin to cover in this short testimony. We'll just have to get to know each other for that one. But as I navigate this next chapter in my life, I look forward to seeing how God will be glorified in my life and the lives of those around me.

That's you guys. And I really look forward to seeing the types of miracles and the blessings that he brings upon us. Thank you for listening to my testimony, and I pray that you are blessed by the rest of this service. >> All right, thank you, David, for that great testimony.

If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. We're gonna be in the text in verse 17 through 19. It's gonna be a two part message. And this is a passage that you guys have all been looking forward to. Obey your leaders and submit to them, okay?

So obey your leaders, submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.

And I urge you all the more to do this so that I may be restored to you sooner. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we pray for your blessing over this time. May your word be honored, and that you would encourage us, rebuke us, guide us, and build us up, Lord God, for the sake of your name.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If our church was a topical message giving church, this is one of those passages that you probably will never hear, right? Because I don't want to give it, right? This is one of those passages that I know as soon as I hear it mentioned the word submit or obey your leaders, there's a cringing that takes place.

In fact, the very first wedding that I officiated, I had an issue because the bride was having a hard time saying the word submit. Right, we're equals, what are you talking about, submit. And then every wedding, the husband and wife, they exchange their vows. And then when it comes to the wife's turn, and then in the vows it says I will submit to the leadership of my husband.

And so they say that in the vows, and I know every wedding there's always some cringing that takes place, right? And rightfully so, because of the abuse. Because especially if you've been raised in the Western culture, questioning leadership is part of maturity, right? We're not dumb, we're not naive, what do they know more than we do?

Why do we need to submit to them? Especially right now, the last couple years, there's so many things that have happened in government and in media. That it's all time low to trust in any kind of leadership. In fact, they did a survey and found that 66% of people who were surveyed believe that government is deliberately misleading people, 66%.

Now, if it was just one political party, right, it wouldn't be 66%. 66% basically represents a majority of people, no matter what party you're part of. 63% believe that business executives are not to be trusted, right? Whatever they're selling you, whatever they're telling you, it's not for your own good.

67% believe that media is deliberately misleading people. So trust in media, news organization who supposedly are just telling us facts of what has happened, 67% of the people don't trust in the media anymore. Now, all of these things are referenced to secular leadership, but it's sad to say that that number correlates exactly with how they view church today.

They said that the trust in church and its leadership is at an all time low. And 66 to 67% of people who are interviewed in our culture say the church is not to be trusted. And the leadership of the church specifically is not to be trusted. So it's in that context we read, obey your leaders and submit to them, right?

So some of you who may have already looked into this text, and maybe you looked at Facebook and said, we're gonna be in this text. And if there's one verse that I'd like to skip and just kind of not sit in the service, it may be this one. And not just for general reasons, some of you, including myself, have very painful experience of putting your confidence in a leader and them disappointing you.

And so you have a scar that's probably gonna last the rest of your life. And maybe as a result of that, you've determined in your heart that I will never put myself in this position again. So you've resolved, I'm just gonna kinda be there, but to really put my confidence and trust, let alone to obey and to submit leadership.

And this is not something that I can do. I've had a friend who was burned by that kind of leadership. And I remember him specifically telling me, coming out of that ministry, he's like, I will never follow another man. I understand where that's coming from, because that distrust of leadership did not come from a vacuum.

Every single one of us can probably point to, either from personal experience or from things that you've heard recently or in the past, somebody who was a leader, who was trusted, who was gifted, who embezzled the church, or had an affair with his secretary, or completely led to double life.

In fact, this may not be true of every single one of you, but I think most of you can easily name people who have discouraged you or they didn't live up to what they were supposed to do. And you can give examples, maybe even in the dozens. And then if I was to ask you a pastor or a leader that you really, when you think of, that's the kind of man that I would follow and I would submit to, that you'd have to think really long and hard if you can even find anybody.

Every single one of us has had some kind of experience, maybe in different degrees. And like I said, it doesn't come from a vacuum. I remember years ago, I had a friend who asked me to come and speak at a youth conference when I was a youth pastor. And basically, it was supposed to be a large conference in Colorado, and they had about six, seven churches get together.

And they got a newspaper advertisement advertising this event with my name on it. Saying that Pastor Peter Kim from SoCal is gonna come, he's gonna preach to the youth, we're inviting everybody to come. And then I showed up, and then my friend kind of warned me ahead of time.

He said, we were expecting so many people, but a lot of them dropped out at the last minute. And I said, so what happened? I said, when they found out that Peter Kim was coming, they said that they got upset and they just basically called and say I'm not coming, and they disappeared.

So I said, Peter Kim, how do they even know who I am? You know what I mean? What did I do in SoCal that my name got dragged over in Colorado? So basically what happened was, a couple weeks before I showed up, another youth pastor made the news because he ended up sexually assaulting one of his students.

And the student ended up telling the police, and then it got into the newspaper, and this young Pastor Peter Kim was in the newspaper. And then the very next thing that was on the newspaper is Pastor Peter Kim is speaking at a youth conference. And so he didn't even know what was going on, and then he got the news.

And then so as soon as he found out what was going on, he started contacting some of his friends. So the few friends that he knew that was coming, he told them, so they came. But everybody else that didn't have that direct contact, by the time that they found out what was going on, they just dropped out and they couldn't come.

Now, as sad as that story is, when people think of leadership, if you experienced that, or you knew somebody who experienced that type of abuse, I mean, that's tainted your idea of leadership. Not just for that moment, not just for that purpose. We have a most likely, well, who knows?

He's Peter Kim too, right? Who knows? And so as a result, you kind of harden your heart and you said, "No, I can't do that. I know what the Bible says, but it's not practical." So knowing that, knowing that this is a subject that is cringeworthy for people to hear, if it was up to me, I would easily avoid this subject.

I can spend the rest of my pastoral life preaching, choosing subjects that would be much easier to preach. And you'd be encouraged and maybe thanked before, maybe even grow the church as a result. But we don't preach the Bible that way. We preach expository for a reason. Because there are passages that I personally prefer to stay away from, but God does not.

This passage is here for a reason. So what I want to do this morning is go through five different things that leaders are called to do. And when I say leaders, I'm specifically referring to elders and pastors. Our church, elders and pastors, they function in the same way. The only reason why we separate the elders and pastors is for logistical reasons.

Okay? And I'm not going to get into that right now, but the elders and leaders are in reference to because they're the ones who are functioning as leaders in the church. It's a two-part sermon. First part today is for the leadership, okay? Because the call to obey and to submit is a conditional call.

It's not unconditional. It's specifically to submit and to obey because what the leaders are called to do. And so it's not like no matter what they do, submit to them as you would submit to Christ because they know better than anybody else. That is not the call of what this text is saying.

It is a conditional call because of the work that the leaders are called to do. So today, you won't be cringing, okay? If anybody's going to be cringing, it's going to be the leaders, including myself. And based on that, we're going to move to the second part. Only when we understand the calling of the leadership where the second part is going to make more sense, right?

Because this is not a hierarchy. It's like, "Well, just because they have the title, you just do whatever they tell you to do," right? It's because of what we have been called to do. So there's five things that I want to bring up that the Bible makes it clear, the weightiness of the call to leadership.

First call, the first call of the leaders in the church are to be undershepherds of Christ. I am not the head of this church, and the elders are not collectively the head of this church. There's only one head of the church, that's Christ. We are members of the church just like anybody else, except we play the role of a leader.

And so the role of a leader is to be the undershepherd, meaning that we say what he tells us to say, we do what he tells us to do. And so we are not leaders independently of ourselves. That's what makes the leadership of God's church unique. We are not CEOs where we have our own vision and what we want.

We are simply undershepherds, ambassadors of what Christ desires of us. So your submission and obedience to the eldership and to leadership is simply an avenue to obey and to submit to Christ. So if the elders are not submitted to the leaders, or elders are not submitted to Christ, he does not have authority by himself.

If you remember the Israelites, if you are a king, there is nobody above you. So in a typical setting, if David committed adultery and then he murdered, he didn't break any law. He didn't break any law because he's the king. He's the one who makes the law. He could just say, "You know what?

From now on, the king could do whatever he wants." So there was nobody to indict him. There is no Supreme Court. There is no justice system that you can drag the king into. But what's unique about Israelites king is that he was not the ultimate king. The king of Israel was God himself.

And so the kings are established basically to carry out what God desired for them. That's why Saul got into trouble because whenever God told him to do something, he acted like he was the king and he did whatever. And that's why his kingship was taken away. So the eldership and the leadership of the church is ultimately Christ.

And the leadership of the church is simply, we are called to be undershepherds. In Jeremiah 23, 21, it says, "I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied." They kept on speaking. In other words, they're not representing God. They're speaking of their opinion.

This is my experience. This is what I learned. This is what I know to be wise. I've been doing this for a long time, so you should listen to me. It says, "No, I did not speak to them. And what they're saying to you is just their opinion." That's why we make sure that when we speak, that we're not telling you, that my authority does not come from my experience.

Like, "Yeah, I'm older than you. I've been experienced. I've been doing this for a long time." Don't listen to me. Your experience is just as valid as my experience. The only authority that I have is authority given to me by Christ. That's why if you read the New Testament, the introduction almost always starts by saying, "Apostle, a servant of Christ, a slave of Christ," or "Apostle Paul," right?

And he's connecting himself because the authority of the letter doesn't come from him. The authority of the letter comes from Christ himself. So, Paul is making it very clear that the content of this letter, even though I am writing this letter, I am writing to you, another human being writing to you, but the authority of this letter is coming from Christ himself.

So, we are simply under shepherds, representing who God is. Paul says in Galatians 1.10, "For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." First and foremost, we're not your servants.

Yes, we choose to be your servants because we want to serve you, but the calling is not to be a servant of the people. That's why when Apostle Paul wrote Galatians 1.10, he was saying that because he had to rebuke Apostle Peter and Barnabas. Apostle Peter, he's the head honcho among the apostles, and Barnabas was his mentor who came alongside to protect him.

So, if he had any human reason to be shy about what he was about to say, it would be in this context. It would have been easier for Paul to compromise and say, "Well, you know, they're not teaching anything wrong. They're just refusing to sit with the Gentiles." But the problem was the gospel was just starting to come into the church, and their behavior was confusing.

And it was giving credibility to the Judaizers. So, it could have been easy, like, "Oh, if I say this, what if this backfires, and what if this creates a rift between Apostle Peter and myself, and what Barnabas was so loyal to me, he's the one who stood up for me, and God, he's telling me to be gracious.

Shouldn't I be gracious in this situation?" He could have had all kinds of human reasons to sweep this under the rug, and hopefully it'll take care of itself. And he says, "No, if I did that, I would be a servant of man and not God." And so he comes out and says, "If anybody preaches a different gospel other than what I preach to you, let him be anathema." And you know who he's referring to?

Peter and Barnabas. If they don't correct themselves, and they allow this confusion to penetrate into the church, let them be anathema. Even if I did it, even if an angel of God comes, let him be anathema. This is this important because Paul is saying, "I represent God, not man." First and foremost, the calling of the leaders are to represent Christ.

That's why his personal relationship with Christ is essential to his calling. Not his peachy, not his doctorate, not simply because he had many experience, but his personal walk with God. He must know Christ in order for him to represent Christ. Christ must speak to him in order for him to speak what Christ spoke to him.

Through the Word, obviously, because we are simply under shepherds. 1 Thessalonians 2.34, "For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts." Who doesn't want to be in this situation where, you know, I've been doing this long enough to know that there are certain things that if I say it, like I'm going to have a lot of compliments, encouragement.

"Thank you so much. I was so wearied and tired, and your sermon just lifted me up. And when I hear that, I'm encouraged. I have a better week. I look forward to coming to church because everybody's thankful that I'm here." Every once in a while, I'll give a sermon and I say something, and then it's like, "Oh, he's legalistic.

He's judgmental. He's too harsh." Yeah, and I have a bad week that week. And then when I come to church, I'm aware there are some certain people that don't like it. So if it was up to me, if it was up to my flesh, I could spend the rest of my years avoiding those topics and just get to those subjects that's going to be encouraging to people.

But if I did that, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. I would be your servant. If what we do and do not do at this church is simply based upon what you want, your opinions, then I've been hired to be the social worker for you. And to be honest, earlier part of ministry, that's what I thought I was called to do, right?

If people come to church and they're not happy and it doesn't grow, that means I'm failing. And so I figured out early on as a youth pastor how to get people to come to church and how to get them to want to come to church and keep them at church.

You know, tell a lot of funny stories, and I got plenty. You know, I got a lot of funny stories. And keep it short, keep it entertaining, right? So I can keep everybody engaged for a short period of time, and then give you plenty of time to go to a cafe, play basketball, and people are happy, the church is growing, and you know, my family is taken care of.

I figured out early on. But it's so empty. Because if that was my goal, I could have been a businessman, made a lot of money, and do all of that, fulfill all of my desires with money, you know? But that's not what I'm called to do. It's just so empty.

So at the end of my life, what if you have a 10,000-member church, but the people don't love Christ? Then what did you do? Other than propagate religiousness of our culture, which is what God hates, he says he detests, then I become a propagator of what he says he detests.

So I remember early on thinking, I am not a servant of the church, first and foremost. There's things that I will say that you are not going to like. But the only reason why I would need to say that is because I'm concerned about what he would say if I don't say it.

Today is one of those sermons, right? I am not a servant of man, first and foremost. I am his servant. He's the one, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, it says, "Not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts," first and foremost. Number two, the responsibility of elders and pastors is to teach the word.

It says in 2 Timothy 4, "Preach the word in season and out of season." The reason why Paul is writing that, in season and out of season, is because he was out of season. Paul is sitting in prison. He's about to be beheaded. That's the last letter he writes before he dies.

You know, early on in the church, it's almost exciting to be persecuted. Because Apostle Paul, I mean, think how exciting it is that Apostle Paul gets stoned. They drag him out. He gets back up. He goes back and he preaches. And he continues on. Can you imagine if you heard that if you were with him?

You know what happened? They tried to kill him. They couldn't kill him. Can you imagine the excitement that must have spread in the church that this man who was anointed by God literally is just escaping death, just like Jesus? They wanted to kill him. He would just walk through the crowd.

They're hungry. And then they would just find food just anywhere. Apostle Paul and the other apostles experienced that kind of miracle. Can you imagine the excitement? So in the early church, even with the persecution, there was this buzz. But by the time 2 Timothy is being written, people are actually dying.

They're being stoned and they're not getting up. They're in prison, but they're not getting back out. Paul is writing this letter. If you notice Philippians, there's almost this hope. Like this has actually caused benefit in the spreading of the gospel. This is good. More people are preaching the gospel because they're becoming bold because of my imprisonment.

And he says, I am sure that I'm going to be delivered from all of this because I have more work to be done. 2 Timothy says, I'm being poured out like a drink offering. This is the end. Paul's about to go and he knows it. And the church knows it.

And the people know it. And as a result of that, people start slipping away. They start backsliding. And so he's writing this letter to his young protege, Timothy, sending him and establishing him as the pastor of the church of Ephesus, which Paul loved, probably more than other churches. And he's telling Timothy, you preach the word in season and out of season.

In other words, whether they listen or don't listen, whether you live or whether you die, you preach the word in season and out of season. The primary call of a leader in the church is to not to compromise the word of God, especially in this culture. There may be greater and greater consequences that come because what we believe is in direct contradiction to what the world says.

More and more, the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, they're labeling it, hate speech. So if we are servants of men, automatically you are disqualified because you can no longer stand between the gap with the pressure that's coming. I mean, right now, in my opinion, it's a joke. As much as it's because we've lived so comfortably for so long.

It's like, oh my gosh, they're erasing us from YouTube. Oh my gosh, they're saying that we're giving hate speech. Think about what's been happening around the world. Think about what's been happening, what is happening. People are literally being stoned and burned at the stake for their faith. It's just that God has blessed this country for so long that any little discomfort, we say, oh my God, it's persecution.

And if we can't even stand against that, if we're going to fold because of that, you're no longer a servant of Christ, you're a servant of men. If we pick and choose what we say and don't say because how people will respond, you're no longer representing Christ. You're no longer representing Christ.

You're serving man. Ezekiel chapter 3, 17 to 19, it says, "Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, warn them from me. When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way, that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself. If all you are committed to as a leader is the praise of men, you are disqualified." Because you can no longer represent Christ accurately.

You cannot pick and choose that this is pleasing to men, so I will represent this, so I'm going to sleep under the rug. You cannot do that. He says, "If I tell you that this is the state of men and you do not warn them because your idea of Christ is mercy and grace at all costs, even if you're going to hell, mercy and grace at all costs, and you refuse to warn and call out the wolves that are coming into the church, destroying the church, then you no longer are representative of Christ, you are representative of the people." The leaders of the church are called to be an ambassador of Christ, to speak on behalf of what he would say.

We cannot avoid the cross at all costs. There's a reason why Jesus says it to his disciples, "If you want to come after me, you too have to pick up the cross." Do not think it's strange that they reject you. They rejected me. We can't be popular and cool when Jesus is not popular and cool.

We cannot be loved and honored when Jesus is not loved and honored. If they reject him, they have to reject us. We cannot live in a culture where leaders are praised while the culture hates Jesus. Then we no longer are representatives of Christ. If they hate him, they have to hate us.

If they think he's weird, they have to think we're weird, because we are simply undershepherds to teach the word of God accurately, to say what he says. Apostle Paul says in Acts 20, verse 20, he says, "How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance toward Christ.

Our primary call of preaching the gospel is to bring people to repentance. You say, "Wow, I get repentance every week. Repentance." If you have not tasted the goodness of God and you're committed to nominal Christianity, I mean, this is cringeworthy. That means every time you come to church, you're being called to turn, because repentance means to turn, turn from the world and turn toward God.

But if you've hardened your heart and you don't want to do that, I think this is who Jesus is and this is what I want. I want to live my life where I have these things and I don't want people to judge me of my sins, because I'm okay with this.

It's not that you're not committed to Christ or the Bible. You're committed to Christ of the culture. And you know what the Bible says about that. That's not true faith. That's not true salvation. But it's okay because everybody else seems to be okay with it. We're called to preach the word in season and out of season, because the only way that you will find true life is not to be comfortable in your sins, but to bring you to repentance so that you can have a much more intimate relationship with Christ.

And if I'm not convinced that that's what's best for you, I shouldn't be here. If I'm not absolutely convinced that the best thing for you is to put away your sins and to cling to Christ with all your might, even if the things that you're comfortable with brings peace and satisfaction, that if I don't warn you and tell you that anything that causes you to be distant from Christ is the source of the contention in your life, then I do not belong here.

Because my primary task is to teach the word of God in season and out of season. Thirdly, the leaders must lead a life for others to follow. And let me honestly say this. Leaders have the potential to be the biggest hypocrites in the church. Leaders have the potential to be the biggest hypocrites at the church, and especially me, because I'm here preaching every single Sunday.

And what I preach is not something that I can do. I'm not telling you because I'm more disciplined than other people, that I'm more righteous, that my heart is more sanctified than anybody else. I'm just telling you what I see. But it is not enough just to tell you.

He says in Hebrews 13, 7, "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith." You cannot preach the word of God and say, "Do as I tell you, but don't do what I do." If that's what you say, you're disqualified.

A leader, by the simple definition of leader, is when people follow you. You're not a leader because you're ordained. You're not a leader because you have knowledge. You're not a leader because you have much experience. You're a leader because people follow you. So if you cannot say, "Follow me as I follow Christ." If all the leader is, I'm going to tell you what you should do, and I hope you just go and do it.

Then you're not the leader. The leader is a person who has been called to stand between the gap between the church and to Christ and to tell them, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ." So it is not just the preaching, but his very life needs to be in that gap.

First Peter 5, 2-4, "Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge." In other words, don't force your opinions on other people.

"But proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." That our lives must stand between the gap and saying, "Follow us as I follow Christ." There's a reason why in the qualifications of elders, everything is about character.

Everything about the qualification of an elder is a character. I mean, think about how people come into ministry today. Think about how leaders are often chosen today, right? Usually you want giftedness. Are they gifted? Are they successful? And typically if you're successful in the secular life, maybe that'll translate into success in the church life.

And so if you have a large business, if you are a famous politician, or you're a doctor and you're very well educated, and so by secular reasoning, if you have all those qualities, that may translate into the church. But the problem is, the primary character and the only things that God tells us to look for is His character.

And He says, "But he needs to be able to teach." Oh, He says, "able to teach." I think able to teach is not just talking about skill. If you don't have the character, you can't teach. Because no one's going to listen to you. You may be skilled at articulating.

You may have knowledge to present, but no one's going to listen because they don't respect your character. So even the calling to be able to teach is related to the character, who you are. And so He says, a leader not only must understand that he is an under-shepherd of Christ, that he has to preach the Word accurately in season and out of season, he needs to set an example of what that looks like in his life.

You can't say, "We need to be like this with our finances, but don't look at my books." You need to have lordship with your finances, but I don't want anybody looking at my books, at my expenses. Because I want to tell you what's right, but I don't want to show you.

No, we must speak and we must show. I remember years ago, there was this one particular church that I was a part of. Some of you, some of you, a few of you may know. The senior pastor left, and then they were looking for another pastor to come in.

And as the other pastor was coming in, you know, they found a Southern Baptist pastor, and they were really excited about him. He was Southern Baptist educated. And so they were about to make the decision, and all of a sudden, the very next week, we had a guest speaker that came, and they loved his sermon.

You know, and almost overnight, within a month period, they decided to go with the other guy. And I said, "What happened?" He said, "Oh, his sermon was so great." And I was asking the leaders, "What happened?" I thought you guys already made a decision. He said, "Well, his sermon, the whole church loved his sermon." And I found out that he wasn't a Baptist, he was a Methodist guy.

And then I said, "Okay." You know, and at that time, I was kind of like, "Okay, you know, I'm a young kid, so I'm not going to question this." And then he comes in, the first thing he does is he changes the sanctuary, and he removes the pulpit from the middle to the right.

Now, most people, you know, it's like, "Well, what's the big deal?" Because Methodist and Presbyterian churches, they have the pulpit to the right, and they have the altar in the middle. Baptist churches have the pulpit in the middle to say that the Word of God is central. But in a Presbyterian and a Methodist, it's the altar is at the center, so the communion and those activities are at the center.

So as soon as he changed that, I kind of said, "Oh, okay. So he's going to start doing that." But that in and of itself was not a big deal, right? Okay, so he changes it, you know. He doesn't have the same mindset, so it was kind of like bells ringing, you know.

And then for the first maybe about six months, everybody loved him. And part of the reason why they loved him is because they loved his sermon. And second, he was really good at golf. And people loved him because, you know, people at church playing golf, and so he would go with them to play golf, and he was hanging out with the people playing golf, and they loved him.

It's like, "Oh, our pastor is like one of us, and he's playing golf," and you know. And so they loved him for that because he was one of them. And then during that period, I ended up going to another church to join my former mentor, and I was there for a little bit.

And then after about six, seven months, I start getting these phone calls from people that there's grumbling and stuff going on over there, and they're thinking about removing that pastor who was only there for probably less than a year. And so I asked him, "So what's going on?" And he said, "All he does is play golf Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

He's on the field. Every time we try to get to him, he's playing golf." And the problem with that decision was their whole leadership, why they wanted him was based upon the quality of his sermon. Sad to say, in our generation, if you're gifted and you can lead well, you're the guy.

And part of the reason why the church is in the condition that it is today is because of that. We didn't pay attention to the seriousness of what the Scripture says of the high calling to be a leader. He says in 2 Timothy 2:34, it says, "Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." He's talking to Paul.

"No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life." He's talking to pastors. Obviously, pastors are to set an example for everybody else, and the elders are included in this. Affairs of everyday life. What's so bad about that? Like, get a job, pay your bills, take care of your children, make sure you have enough retirement, my wife is taken care of, that I make proper investments so that I can make more money.

Those are all civilian affairs. So is he saying that leaders shouldn't be engaged in that at all? Like, you're supposed to be a monk, right? Go to the mountain and wear a robe and have no earthly possession. What is he talking about? Don't get entangled with civilian affairs. The leaders of the church have to be committed to the gospel ministry above everything else.

Above everything else. This needs to be not just something that you do, but this needs to be your primary passion. I remember years ago when things were tough and I couldn't pay the bills. I was having a hard time, you know, even just getting grocery. This is my wife with two young children, with our third one in the stomach, having complications, and the church was so young at that time, we didn't have much help, and then I was going back and forth running this business out in Vegas.

But the temptation was, when I was at Vegas, I was earning about six, seven times what I was getting paid as a pastor. And as a pastor, basically I paid the mortgage and then paid for gas, and we didn't even have health insurance at that time. And that was it.

So we were getting paid about $2,000 a month before tax, and that was everything. Health insurance, like everything. And then I go to Vegas and I'm making somewhere around $12,000, $15,000, $16,000 a month, as long as I'm there. So I'm struggling. I can't take care of my family like this, and if I let go of that, I can't even buy milk.

So I'm wrestling, and knowing that when I told my mom when I first started going to ministry, she was not happy with it, not because of the calling, but because how much she suffered. And then so I knew if I told her that maybe secretly she might be happy that I'm considering, because Esther and I, we were talking, like if we move to Vegas and I ran that business, we can buy a nice house, take care of our kids, pay our bill, and then maybe we can just kind of come back on the weekends and put a young pastor there who doesn't have the finances and just support him.

So her and I, we were wrestling with this. We're talking about this, and it's like, well, what choice do we have? If I don't do that, we can't survive. And so we're going back and forth, and I'm wrestling with this, and I bring this up to my mom while I'm driving, and my mom just, you know, I was expecting her to say, "Okay, you did your best," right?

Because ever since I was a little kid, everybody told me that I would be rich, and I believed it. And the reason why is because ever since I was a little kid, I got into just making money. So in the winter, I would knock on doors and I would shovel snow, and I would make money that way.

And then when fall would come around, the leaf, and this is back in the East Coast when there was a bunch of leaf. It's not like here. It's like the leaf would just pile up, like almost a foot, and then they would give me three, four dollars to rake the leaves.

And everybody, you know, everybody would knock. They'd say, "Hey, come, this little kid, this third grader, you know, he's going to work for us." And then when it got too hot during summer, I set up a lemonade stand. So I remember thinking early on, it's like, "Man, making money is easy." And to this day, so ever since I was young, like everybody that knew me said, "Oh, Peter is going to be rich.

He's going to make a lot of money. He's going to be really good at business." And so my parents also thought that. My mom also thought that. Like, "That's you." So when I decided to go into ministry, you know, it's like everything that I was being hyped up for, my relatives, my uncles, everybody, it's like, "What?" Right?

Especially the non-Christians or nominal Christians, like, "What a waste." You know, you could have been somebody. You could have made so much money, Peter, and you're going to go into ministry? And so when I finally brought that up to my mom, I assumed secretly she would be happy. And that would have been it.

That's it. And when I talked to Esther, Esther would have, like, I knew how much she was suffering, and she would have said, "Oh, you know, we've done everything. What could we do?" And I know I shared this story before, but it was a turning point in my life, in ministry in particular.

And Esther was the first one that said, "Peter, as much as I want you to quit, you can't. God called you. You're not going to be able to not do this. And I know you." Right? "You're going to make money, buy a nice house, and take care of our family, but that calling in your life isn't going to go away.

I know you. You can't quit." So I said, "Okay, I don't have her support." Okay? So I talked to my mom, thinking that my mom was going to be, "Okay, you know, you've done everything you could. I mean, you got to take care of your kids." Right? And my mom looked at me and she said, "Peter, I've never seen anybody do bivocational ministry and be successful.

You can't do this part-time. You have to commit. God called you. You started it. I know it's hard, but you have to keep it going." I said, "What?" I understood Esther pushing me back, but I did not expect that from my mom. And that was just enough to push me over to the other end.

Okay. You know? And really, to really, out of fear that I was going to regret it, I persevered during that period. But those wise words from my wife and my mom at that time gave me enough strength to persevere. And it has been proven to me exactly. This is not a part-time job.

You can get part-time pay. This is not a part-time job. This is not a part-time calling. We're in spiritual battle. If the leaders in the church are distracted with civilian affairs, you cannot lead. If your mind is half here and half somewhere else, you cannot lead. If you have one eye toward comfort and one eye toward Christ, you cannot lead.

This is not something that you can do half-hearted. When he says, "We have an enemy like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour," you don't go into battle knowing that, not fully committed, not fully focused. Because the moment we take our eyes off of what's going on, we cannot lead.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 19-23, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all so that I may win more." Paul says he has the freedom, just like any other Christian. He's been delivered. He's no longer under the law. But he says he makes himself a slave because he's so consumed with bringing the loss to Christ, even though he says, "To the Jews, I became as a Jew." Imagine the suffocation of living under the law as a Pharisee, and he's finally delivered.

He no longer needs to be under the law. He doesn't have to obey these commandments that were created by man. I was delivered from the Jews, but I became a Jew so that I may win the Jew. To those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law.

Do you know what that means to a Jew who was delivered? He's stepping back into the suffocating law because he's so consumed and so committed to see the lost come to Christ. To those who are without the law, as without the law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the law.

To the weak, I became weak, that I may win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all means to save them, I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become fellow partakers of it. All things to all men, at all times.

That's the calling of the leader in the church. Elders and pastors alike, we cannot lead if we are not consumed with this cause. Because we're not here to build a community of people who love one another, where we're going to raise our children together with like-minded people, play softball, win championships, take little mission trips, and we have great stories to tell one another, and that we're going to have generational kids.

It's like, "Oh, that's such a great community. People love the Lord, and they're taking care of each other." That's not what we're here to do. Hopefully that's a byproduct. God called us to be a light in this dark world. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

He called the church to fight in the midst of darkness. He said, "They're going to hate you, because they hated me too." We cannot be leaders if all we're doing is talking. Evaluate everything. Everything. I'm free, just like you. I'm free to do whatever. I can pursue things that I want.

Why can't I have a business and make a lot of money on the side? I'm free. There's nothing the Bible says I can't make money. The problem is, it takes away from my heart. It takes away from my thought. I'm not consumed anymore. I just do this as my job.

A leader has to be consumed as Paul is consumed. Thirdly, he must keep watch of the people of God. You know, this is an interesting word to watch, is agrupneo. And the word agrupneo means without. And you know what the word agrupneo means? Sleep. So an elder or pastor is called not to sleep.

And it's like, "Oh, okay, I'm doing that already." Right? Obviously, he's not talking about physically. He's talking about spiritually. We have to be sober at all times to watch. I remember I was talking to a young pastor who was an associate for a while, and then he became the senior pastor.

And then after about a year, he started going bald and his hair started turning all white. And he was still a fairly young guy. You know, at that time, he was probably no more than 37, 38 years old, and too young to have all white hair. And I asked him, "So what happened?" And this is how he described it to me, what it felt like.

And he said, "You know, I was kind of a, you know, I was leading some stuff on the cruise." And he said, all of a sudden, he went to the captain's lounge. And then he said, "I realized, like, I have to be awake all the time. I can't just do my job and go to sleep.

I have to be awake all the time. Because if you're the captain of the cruise ship or whatever ship you're in, you have to make sure and see the waves coming, right? If you see the, you know, if you see the danger coming, you have to be the one who warns everybody to get people ready." And that's the way he described it.

Like, "I realized, like, I need to be awake all the time." Well, that's exactly what he says. Is a leader in the church is without sleep because he is constantly watching for what purpose? The souls of the church. Our primary concern is one that when you die, you are not under the judgment of Christ.

You can hate us, despise us, and question our decision, but our primary concern in everything that we preach and do is make sure that you can hate us, but at the end, we're trying our best to watch over your soul so you are not under the judgment of Christ.

Secondly, to make sure that your soul is enriched in Christ. Your soul is not dancing and rejoicing over temporary things that are also under judgment of God. That all of us learn how to rejoice and rejoicing in Christ together. And so he is the one who is constantly watching.

In Corinthians 11, 28, he says, "Apart from such external things, there is a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?" You know, when people come in and out of the church, you know, because of the size of the church, it seems like nothing, but if you have people who are laboring over you, praying over you, even though we don't have, I mean, as the church got bigger, it's harder and harder to have an interpersonal relationship with everybody at church.

But we are constantly, we're constantly watching over the church. We're doing our best, right? Talking, discussing, sharing, praying, because our desire is to see you grow. Our desire is to save you. If you're a nominal Christian, you're committed to nominal Christianity, you're never going to feel comfortable at this church, and I'm not going to let you.

I'm not going to let nominal Christians stay at this church year after year after year after year, possibly dying and falling into the judgment of Christ, and then do nothing about it other than making you feel comfortable. So if you're a committed nominal Christian, you will never be comfortable at this church, because I won't let you.

I'd rather have you be angry with me, and wake up and realize what the Bible says, and be committed to the truth, than to have a room filled with people who are enjoying life and doing everything that the world does, and then realize after death that they're on the wrong side of the judgment of Christ.

Let me give you the final thing, why this is such a high calling. He says, "To give an account before God." There's a separate judgment for leaders. James chapter 3, 1-2, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man and able to brighten the whole body as well." I remember a pastor described this as having two separate lines. You have a line from the people who are not leaders, and then you have the line of the leaders, and the leaders will incur stricter judgment.

We are told in the Scripture not to lay hands hastily. In 1 Timothy 5, 19-25, it says, "Do not receive an accusation against an elder, except on the basis of two or three witnesses." Have you noticed that when there's church discipline for a regular church congregation, there's three steps?

They sin, and then you confront them, and then they won't repent. Then you take a brother with you, or a sister, and then you try to say, "You know what? This is something that you need to repent of," and they refuse. Then the third step is to take it to the church, and if they won't refuse, then he says, "To treat them like an unbeliever." There's three steps.

The three steps is to bring them to repentance, to restore them. It's not to shame them ultimately. It's to bring them to restore them. But when it comes to leadership, it says, "Don't even get to step one, unless there's an agreement. Don't bring an accusation unless there's two or three witnesses." And so two or three, right?

You can be, you can say it was a two or three. I mean, our church has anywhere between 800 and 900 people. I'm sure there's two or three, right? If somebody has something against me, I'm sure you can fight two or three, right? Like just in my family, I have me, and I could convince my wife pretty easily, right?

And then get one of my children to support me. Then we can bring down any leader. Is that what he means? Of course not. He's saying, "Is there a consensus? Is there an agreement in the congregation that that person should not be a leader?" Because he's not above reproach.

He's pugnacious. Whatever it may be, he's disqualified. His character doesn't match up to the calling of an elder. And so we cannot preach, submit, and obey because of that leader, because we don't trust the leadership because of that. It weakens the church. So, first, he says, "Do not bring an accusation against an elder unless there's two or three witnesses." But if there are two or three witnesses, he says, "Those who continue to sin, rebuke in the presence of all so that rest also will be fearful of sinning." So, if there is a consensus, it says to rebuke him publicly.

There's no step two. It goes from, "There's a consensus. He's wrong." He said, "Remove him." Because that person who's in that position that shouldn't be there, and there's a consensus in the church that we cannot submit to this leader because of his moral and character failing, he must be removed because it will hurt the church.

If you bring an accusation that doesn't stick, then you've done harm, not only to him, but to the church. It says, "Do not entertain it unless it's true, unless there is a consensus." But if there is a consensus, you would be equally wrong to sweep that under the rug and say, "We're just being gracious." Because now you're throwing the church, the weightiness of the church, and you're treating it unholy, that which is holy.

He says, it goes on, turn 22, "Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily." And he's talking about ordaining, bringing people into leadership, "And thereby share responsibility for the sins of others." So when we ordain people as an elder or as a pastor in the church, and you say, "Yeah, I just want to be gracious." I go, "Who doesn't make mistakes?" Everybody is gracious until you're bothered.

We all practice grace as long as it's not personal. Then as soon as it becomes personal, judgment. How can that guy be in leadership? You ordained him. Why were you okay when it wasn't personal? And then all of a sudden it's personal. It's like, "How did the church do this?" He says right off the bat, "Do not ordain hastily." He who ordains hastily, when that person sins, he says, "You are also guilty of his sins because you took lightly the leadership of the church." Some sins are evident going before them to judgment, and their sins follow after.

Likewise, also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed. Okay, so let me wrap it up right here. This was easy for you. Okay? So the only people who are squirming here are the pastors and elders today. Your turn will come next week.

The reason why I wanted to spend at least one sermon, one part, before we get to the second part of calling the congregation to obey and submit to the leadership of the church, is not because we're more honorable, that we've been separated, and because of this title. It's because of what we've been called to do.

And we cannot do it, and we can't do it well without the cooperation of the church. And so submitting to the eldership is not submitting to the people. If there's an elder or a leader, it starts to get to his head, and he starts having an ego, and he begins to think that I must be good, right?

And you begin to see that pride welling up in that individual, right? That's the beginning of their fall. That's dangerous because I've been in, again, ministry long enough to know that before anything else happened, pride creeps in. And then that pride allows all these other sins to come in.

But the reason why the church, and the reason why that passage is in there, is because of the high calling of leaders. And so first and foremost, our leadership has to take this seriously. We cannot be divided. We have to be committed. We have to make sure that we're sober, that we're watching, that we are not compromised.

And second, you need to help us have a high standard of leadership, not simply because, you know, like, "Oh, they're skilled. We need more leaders, and we have so many people. How come we're not establishing that?" It's like, yes, we would like to have 30 elders, right? I mean, we could use all the help, but we want to be careful.

We want to keep the standard that the Scripture teaches us to the best of our ability so that we do not compromise the integrity of the church and that Christ is exalted in the midst of this. So pray for us. And that's going to be part of next week's sermon, that hopefully, including myself and the elders and the pastors, are shaking in our boots, right, that we examine our lives, our hearts carefully, knowing the high calling that we've been called to.

And I'll be honest with you, this high calling of pastoral ministry really didn't hit me until I was ordained. You know, it's like, "Okay, that's something you're supposed to do. You have to get ordained because you're going to have to full-time ministry." But I remember when the pastors, there was about eight or nine of them who put their hands on me, and they were praying, and they were praying in Korean, and I didn't understand half of what they were saying.

But I remember the gravity of them laying their hands on me and understanding what it is that I've been called to do, and it broke me. Like, this is more than any human being can handle by his own strength. And so I pray and hope that you guys would lift up our leadership in that manner, knowing that we are weak men in need of your grace, so that our church that we are building, right, to be a light would start with our leadership.

Join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, you know our weaknesses. You know our tendency, Lord God, to be worried about our future, our children. You know, Father God, our hearts, how easily it can be compromised, how we fall into temptation, Lord God. Help us, Lord, to remember the height from which we have fallen, that we may repent and redo the things that you called us to do.

Help us as leaders, Lord God, as we are weak men. And when you warned us and encouraged us that if you do not abide in me, you cannot bear any fruit. Teach us, Lord God, to abide in you. Help us, Lord God, day to day, this week, to remember the high calling of leadership, that you will prepare our hearts, Lord God, for what you plan to do with this church.

Make grace, righteousness, and holiness be exalted, Lord God, in this church in the name of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you all stand up with me for the closing praise? Oh, sovereign God, oh, matchless King, the saints adore, the angels sing, and fall before the throne of grace.

To you belongs the highest praise. These sufferings, this passing time, under your wings I will abide. And every enemy shall flee. You are my hope and victory. Praise the Father, praise the Son. Praise the Spirit, three in one. Clothed in power and in grace. The name of Christ, the name of Christ.

To the valley for my soul, thy great descent has made me whole. Your word and heart has built the tomb. Countess like water ever flows. Praise the Father, praise the Son. Praise the Spirit, three in one. Clothed in power and in grace. The name of Christ, the name of Christ.

To the valley for my soul, thy great descent has made me whole. Yours is the power, yours is the glory forever. Praise the Father, praise the Son. Praise the Spirit, three in one. Clothed in power and in grace. The name of all, all other names. The name of all, all other names.

>> Let's pray. Father, as you've been merciful to us all these years, Lord, we don't know what's coming ahead of us. But we pray, Father God, as the author of Hebrews has constantly been encouraging us to be anchored in Christ. We pray first and foremost for our leadership. Help us, Lord God, each day to remain sober, to stay awake and watch, to be prayerful, to be in your word, Lord God.

To preach in season and out of season. That we may be proper and correct and righteous ambassadors of Christ. That we may simply represent who you are in season and out of season. Help us, Lord God, to live day to day with weightiness of this calling. That we would desire more than anything else, Lord God, to see Christ exalted.

To see sinners, Lord, confess their love for you, to be saved. Nominal Christians, Lord God, who lived all their lives, Lord God, with their own making of who you are. That those paradigms would be shattered, Lord, by your word. That you would build a true church that will worship you in spirit and in truth.

And as you've promised that the gates of Hades would not be able to prevail against it. Help us to be the church that you've called us to be. Especially as the world, Lord God, is plunging toward immorality. That our love would not grow cold. But that we would have greater revival, greater urgency, Lord God, to come before you.

To help us, Lord, especially as leaders. To be desperate, Father God. To be engaged in this battle with spiritual warfare. That you would build this church for the sake of your name and your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God sent his Son They called him Jesus He came to love He left for good He lived and died To buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove My Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives Fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives Amen.

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