 Beginning at verse 1 and reading to verse 8 will begin our study. Third John, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 8. The elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for his name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. Now, third John, as we look at this, is a letter that actually really centers on three people in a particular church. The three people that we'll be seeing are first found in verse 1, you have this man by the name of Gaius. The second man that you speak of that he speaks of is found in verse 9, a guy by the name of Diatrophes. And the third man that he speaks about will be found in verse 12, a man by the name of Demetrius. So you have these three individuals that are spoken of. The Gaius and Demetrius are mentioned in what we would call a positive light, but Diatrophes is spoken of in the negative. And you'll see that in just a moment as we go through this particular letter this evening. Now, there are parallels between second and third John, and that gives us the reason to date it around 90 A.D., which is basically the same time that second John was written. It was written specifically to encourage a man in a church by the name of Gaius. And the encouragement is for him to continue his Christian service to those that he is ministering to who are in need. So the first reason is to encourage a man by the name of Gaius to continue his Christian service. And the second reason is to expose the pastor of the church for being prideful. Now, isn't that interesting? But that's what it's all about. He's going to expose a prideful power hunger of a pastor by the name of Diatrophes. And we'll see that when we get to verses 9 through 11. And so, what has taken place here, and let me set the stage for you. What has taken place is, as the man by the name of Gaius has welcomed some missionaries into his home. And he's been caring for them. He's cared for their various needs, including taking care of their meals. He's lodged them there. He's given them finances and other necessities. And in doing so, what he is actually doing is simply living out a Christian life. He's just basically doing what Christians ought to be doing. He's caring for the needs of a brother and brothers in the Lord who have a need. That's all he's doing. He sees following scriptural commands. The Bible, throughout from Old Testament to New, commands that we ought to do things that are good. They call those good works. And that's what we're supposed to be doing. That's simply all he's doing. The Bible says in Galatians 6-10, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. In 1st Timothy 6-17 and 18, Paul said command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. He says command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. And so throughout the Bible, you see commands related to how we are to treat one another. And if I have opportunity to do good, I am to do it. And as I do good, I may very well be entertaining angels without me even knowing it. So God's commands throughout the Scripture is for us to do something good for one another. And basically that's what Gaius is doing. Gaius is actually serving the Lord as he has been taught to do. He's caring for missionaries and helping them out. He's making sure that they have a place to stay. He's making sure that they have a food to eat. He's making sure that they're cared for financially. That's simply what he's doing. But the pastor of the church, Diatrophes, is not happy about it. He actually is opposing Gaius doing this kind of ministry because he wants pre-eminence in the church, because the pastor is lording it over the flock. He doesn't like the idea that Gaius is doing something good without his permission. And it creates a tremendous problem there. He has a selfish ambition in his heart. He longs for power. And that is what has motivated this response. Now the Bible tells us very clearly in various passages, for example, Philippians 2-3, that that isn't our heart. That's not what we're supposed to be like as believers. Paul had said, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, Let each esteem others better than himself. In 2 Corinthians 1-24, Paul had said, We don't have dominion over your faith. We are fellow workers for your joy. For by faith you stand. And so the whole bottom line is that as a believer, especially as a pastor, Diatrophes should not be lording it over the flock. Gaius is actually doing something that he ought to be doing. He's simply obeying what God has taught us in the Old Testament as well as the teachings we find in the New to do good unto all men. Now, if false teachers had entered in, even as we saw in 2 John, false teachers had been entering in and were attempting to usurp the authority of the apostle Paul and the apostolic doctrine. If false teachers were to have been entering into the church, Diatrophes did have the responsibility of telling Gaius, Listen, do not be helping them along the way because they're false teachers and they're undermining the work of God. And so on the one hand, if a false teacher were to enter into this church and it was brought to my attention and it has in the past been brought to my attention and people have said to me, Listen, we have somebody that we're trying to help financially. What do you think about it? Who was starting to show up in the church and I discovered that this person was a person that ought not to be helped for a variety of reasons. I will let you know. I ought to let you know. You know what, even as I'm sharing this with you, I just remembered something that was brought up to me two weeks ago and I don't know, maybe somebody else in this church has had this happen. It's happened to two members of our church at different times in different places and I don't know. There's a fellow apparently here in the city of Chino who is calling himself by the name the hobo preacher. I don't know if anybody's heard that, the hobo preacher. And anyway, somebody approached me a few weeks ago and said, Pastor Dave, the hobo preacher says hi. And I said, I just talked to Raul. Why is he calling, no, I thought he had a home. But anyway, I said the hobo preacher and he goes, yeah, he was at the gas station and he said, this friend was saying I rolled up and I was putting gas and he came rushing up to me and said, listen, I need some money. I'm a preacher and I'm on my way to San Diego and I've got diabetes and I already, I just need some money for some gas so I can go there and I'm a preacher. And so this friend of mine said, well, are you, I'm a Christian also, really, way to go to church while I go with, you know, Chino Valley. Oh, Pastor David Rosales. Oh yes, he's a friend of mine, say hi. And anyway, so he walks up to me and he says, the hobo preacher says hi and I said, I'm sorry, I've never heard of him. I don't know exactly what to tell you other than you got ripped off. He burned you, man, you know, it sounds to me as if he took you for some of your money. I said, you know, so bless the Lord. I mean, you know, you try to help somebody and all that wasn't probably the wisest thing you do. And I said, you probably should never hand people cash. I never do, not even my wife, but there's a good reason for that. And I said, I never hand cash to anybody. If they really need gas, I put the gas in myself and pay it myself because sometimes I just take the money and run off and use it for something else. You just don't hand them cash. Oh, okay, do you think I did wrong? I said, you never do wrong trying to do good, you know, but I think you made a mistake by not using discernment. But let's see. Then about two weeks, maybe three weeks later, somebody here in church after service approached me and said, the hobo preacher says hi. I said, oh no. Really, how's he doing? You know, give him my regards. Same story, same exact story. And I said, you know, unfortunately, you're getting ripped off. This is somebody who's discovered that this church exists here and apparently heard my name somewhere, probably from one of my members and he's just repeating it. And so if any of you get hit up by somebody calling himself the hobo preacher, you are being warned right now because that's really, you're really not to do that. If somebody is using the body of Christ for their own, you know, selfish means, you know, that really is never to be supported. You're not to support that kind of thing. And if there's a false teacher, then of course they're not to be handed a pulpit. That is something that we find in Scripture constantly. We had already seen that in 2 John. Remember in verses 10 and 11, how it says there, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. It's already been stated that false teachers are not to be encouraged or supported in any way by the body of Christ. They're to be rejected and never allowed to occupy a pulpit. They're actually to be avoided. That's what Romans 16-17 says. He says, I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses. Contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. And so on the one hand, if the individuals that Gaius was helping out were false teachers, well then, diatrophies would have the responsibility to say, don't be doing that, don't be helping them because you're not really supporting somebody who is genuine. But on the other hand, Gaius is actually acting responsibly. He's helping people, he's helping these missionaries because they're genuine. Diatrophies is the one who's wrong because his motives are improper because he wants to rule over the church and therefore was not acting as a shepherd, but in reality was acting as a bully. He was lording it over the flock. Now Jesus had stated in Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 and 26, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them. Those who are great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And so with that in mind, John is writing to this one whom he refers to here in verse one as the beloved Gaius, whom he says I love in truth. You might find this interesting. He uses the word beloved and love seven times. He also uses the word truth and true seven times because love and truth are always working together. And so he says in verse one, the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. He begins with a simple introduction. He's the last surviving apostle of the original 12. He's the leading elder in the body of Christ. He's writing to Gaius whom he states, I love in truth. So obviously this is a personal letter to a member of the church that is passioned by diatrophies and it's a simple affirmation to a man who's doing good. He's saying I love you and I love you sincerely. I love you in truth. Verse two, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. Now this is what is called a general blessing. It's a common greeting during the time of the writing. It was a common greeting. He is not teaching that there's a guarantee of health and prosperity. I have heard this particular scripture used by those who teach that God guarantees health and wealth and they will say well if your soul is prospering in the Lord well then you ought to financially be prospering equally. But the fact is this is a general greeting. It's not a guarantee. He's not saying may you become rich and famous. May you be in this fashion. That's not what he's saying. He's simply saying this. He's saying may God bless you. May God bless you in every way in every aspect of your life. And that's a general blessing that we have for any believer. I want God to bless you is what John is saying and that's the same thing that I would say to you as a fellowship, as a believer. I know that could be extended to my personal life. God wants to bless and I pray that he does. May he physically, may he spiritually and yes may he materially bless your life and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that but there's no guarantee in encouraging people in that direction. He's simply saying may God bless you. May your spiritual life prosper and may you be in health and may God take care of you in every way. It's just a beautiful blessing but not a guarantee. He says in verse three I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. What a wonderful thing. That is a pastor's heart. He's showing the regard that he has for this man. John is rejoicing. He's rejoicing in the knowledge that this man is maturing in his walk in the Lord. This is somebody, John is somebody that you can recognize as a true elder in the body of Christ because the thing that causes him the greatest excitement that causes him to rejoice greatly. Notice that in verse three. I rejoice greatly is that this man is habitually walking in the way of the Lord. He's walking in the spirit of God. He has a great desire to see Jesus Christ formed within this man. And it's a blessing when you see somebody that you've had influence on growing and moving out and doing wonderful things for the Lord. John is a great example. John Berrillero who spoke before our service tonight out there in Mexico for 12 years goes into the country with not a proper understanding of the language. Just decides to go and now when he speaks Spanish he speaks fluently. He speaks beautiful Spanish. His children basically speak it as a first language. And to see that the Lord has worked that way in this man is a tremendous, tremendous testimony. We're having the senior pastor's conference. Calvary Chapel senior pastor's national conference right now and it's in Murrieta. And while I was there, I contacted the men, some of the men from our fellowship who have gone out from here. We have 15 of our men who have planted Calvary Chapel ministries that are there in Murrieta that I had an opportunity on Monday to spend two hours with just to catch up with them to see what is the Lord doing in your life. And we have them in Lake Havasu and we have them out in Great Falls, Montana and we have them in Onianta, New York and we have them in Corpus Christi, Texas in various places and as far away as Ontario and upland even and to the, you know, all the way out to Los Angeles and Watts and the Lord is doing tremendous things and what a blessing it is to sit there with these guys and to know that every one of these men that I'm speaking to, they're my sheep and yet they're pastors over their own flocks now and God is using them in tremendous ways. And some of them are pastoring churches of several hundred people and it's a blessing to see that. And it's true when I read this in verse four I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. I can absolutely say amen to that. What a blessing it is. Listen, as a pastor, there are times that people may approach me and say you just need to know this about one of the sheep there in the church. You know, they're not doing so well and it breaks your heart. But how blessed it is when they come and say I want you to know what a blessing this person has been in my life how God is being used in their life, is using them in their life to minister. And that's what he's speaking about here. He's saying, I recognize what God is doing in you and not only that, others have too. Notice how he says in verse three I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you just as you walk in the truth. Your ministry has been recognized and spoken by others. It's interesting that the things that cause people to give testimony often are very small things. Simple courtesies, acts of kindness, speak to hearts in many ways. The gayest is a man who's walking in the truth. And the fact that he walks in the truth causes John great joy. His Christian faith is not simply intellectual but is practical. He actually is showing compassion and of such nature that the testimony of his compassion has come to the ears of the apostle John. And John is able to say, listen, I've heard testimony of how wonderful the Lord is working in you. You're walking in truth. You've ordered your footsteps in a direction that honors God. And so in verse five he says, beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne the witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well because they went forth for his namesake taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. Gaius' hospitality and support of Christian ministers demonstrates the love that he actually has. You might find this interesting and speaking concerning hospitality here, guys. And you might find it interesting in the ancient world hospitality was actually regarded as a sacred duty. Inns during that day were generally very dirty. They were flee infested. And innkeepers were actually the lowest rung of society. And the reason that innkeepers were looked at as being low is because they charged people for that which should be given freely, which is hospitality. And they didn't appreciate that at all. A Greek thinker by the name of Plato called innkeepers pirates who held guests for ransom before they allowed them to escape. And so that's kind of how they felt about them. In the ancient world families often opened their homes to family members from other countries. And all the traveling family member needed was an identification, a token, something that demonstrated that they were part of the family as broad as their family is. I mean, as I look out here, I know that we have many people here who have family origins in other countries. I do, and I guess all of us do basically have origins in family members in other countries. I have relatives in Italy, in Rome, Italy. I have relatives in Sicily. I have relatives throughout Mexico, you know, and in various places of the world. And I guess all of us could probably, if we did some checking, you could probably find a rich relative or two. You could sponge off of it. But if you went to visit them, you better have identification that you truly are part of that family. You better have a way of identifying yourself and saying, yeah, I am part of this clan, you know, and I'm here. And that happens when I was 25 years old. We went to a friend of mine and I, he was Greek, he's Greek. And he and I went to Greece and spent three weeks, almost four weeks in Greece in a small city called Patras. And as we were there, I mean, we got off the boat that we took from Italy and got there in Patras and got in contact with his aunt and his uncle and spent three weeks with them, you know, basically. And also went up to Thessalonica and spent some time with other family members and all. And it's because he had identification. He was a Lazarus and that's the family and that's who we stayed with. And they were welcoming us because of that. But if I would have walked up and said, oh, by the way, I'm a Rosalis, but I still want to stay with you, it wouldn't have worked, you know, at all. That would not have happened. But I was able to go and stay there with Nick because he was a family member. And so that was just the way it was. You wouldn't want to put your family member into an inn. You brought them into your house. That was how it worked then. And it's still to some degree does to this day. So his whole point would be this, if heathens are generous and caring for traveling strangers, even if they're related, very often they can still be a stranger, then should not a Christian also be open, warm and generous. And that's what the Bible teaches. 1 Peter chapter four, verse nine says, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Romans 12, 13, share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. And so that's what he's doing. You do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers. Verse six, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well. And so this is how you would support ministry. First, I want you to see that he says, if you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well. The church's responsibility towards genuine ministers is to care for them generously. You shelter, you feed, you encourage, you can provide funds for these traveling ministers if they are worthy. You know, not everybody who shows up and claims to be an evangelist or a missionary is to be supported. They have to demonstrate they are worthy. And so one, if you're going to care for somebody, they need to have a proven ministry. So you treat them in a manner worthy of God. When he says you treat them in a manner worthy of God, you treat them as you would treat God himself. Now that's an interesting way to put it. You don't grumble against serving. You don't grumble against giving. You treat them as if you were treating God himself. A second thing he says, they went forth for his name's sake. In other words, they went out for the name of the Lord, for the sake of God, and they did that in the name of God because they traveled in his name. Many years ago, many years ago now, there was a Los Angeles Times reporter who was in an African country and he was traveling in this particular road, a dirt road, and it was a very small, it was only wide enough really for one vehicle. And as he was traveling in this road, the vehicle in front of him stopped. And when it stopped, he began to back up and try to make a wide turn and to come and make a U-turn. And it got the Times reporter pretty upset because this guy's blocking the small road. He can't get past him. And as he's moving slowly, trying to make this turn so he can finally turn around and come back at the vehicle and now this guy has to pull off to the side of the road to let this vehicle pass. The guy in exasperation yells out, where are you going for Christ's sake? Well, it just so happens, it was Billy Graham. And Billy Graham rolled his window down and said, I go everywhere for Christ's sake, you know. And so when somebody actually is doing something in the name of the Lord, they're going everywhere for Christ's sake, that's the point he's making. Their motives were pure. They went out for the sake of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ might be glorified. There are some who have discovered that they can make a better living sponging off the church and calling themselves missionaries. Well, those people are not to be supported. Before I got saved, you know, I was a cynical 20-year-old and didn't believe that there was a whole lot of good in the world. And I went to a friend of mine's house and he had a guy who was there in the house who had claimed to become a born-again Christian. I had no clue what a born-again Christian was, but I knew who this guy was because this guy was a notorious sponge. We used to call him sponges. I don't know what they're called now. But he would just, he was a sponge. I mean, he would take things from you and all and live off of you if you let him. And I really didn't care for this guy. And he was at a friend of mine's house who was, happened to be one of my closest friends. And I was there watching this guy as he opened up my friend's refrigerator and made himself a sandwich and poured himself a glass of milk and sat down and started to eat. And I'm watching him use my friend's bread and bologna and tomatoes and the whole nine yards and it bugged me. It bugged me because I thought this guy, you know, he's ripping my friend off and I didn't like it. So I went up to my friend and I said, what's he doing? I said, why, what's he doing that for? And he says, oh, he said, he's an evangelist. I said, oh, what is, now what pray tell is an evangelist? Oh, he goes out telling people about Jesus Christ and we support him in his ministry. And this guy was a sponge and I'm looking at him and I said, well, you know, that's not really a smart thing to do, man. He's ripping you off. And I said, he hasn't said a thing about Jesus Christ to me and I was the only guy there besides the sponge and my friend Bill. And you know what the guy did? I'll never forget this. He finished eating his sandwich, finished drinking Bill's milk and he walks, I'm the only one in the front room. He picks up a Bible and he looks around as if there's a crowd and it's just me. And he says, does anybody here want to get saved? And I looked at him and I said, not today. He goes, okay. He puts the Bible down and finishes the sandwich. I never forgot that. And I was not a Christian yet, but I know what John is talking about. If you go out in a manner worthy of Christ, you are to be supported. But there are people who take advantage of the goodness of the body of Christ who will rip you off in the name of Jesus because they claim to be believers. And so he says, no, you support them and I want you to see this. This is basically what I said a little bit earlier about the hobo preacher. He says, if you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you do well because they went forth for his name's sake taking nothing from the Gentiles. You want to hear a ministry principle that you've heard a thousand times in one way or another. If not here, you've heard it before where God guides God provides. When God is in the ministry, he supports the ministry. You don't have to go out and beg for funds. You never have to do that. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 10, 9 and 10 Jesus speak into his men and they're about to go out and preach and their first ministry of preaching. Jesus is speaking and he says, do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts. Take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff for the worker is worth his keep. The worker, the laborer is worthy of his hire. God will supply. That is a ministry principle where God guides God provides. And if you are doing the work of the ministry, the Lord will support that ministry. You know, I've heard the stories of the pastor one in particular actually was a traveling minister who was in a church and he was standing there and as a matter of fact, I'll get a little more particular about it. He was in pastor Chuck's church a long time before Chuck was pastoring Calvary Chapel and it was an evangelist who was praying out loud in front of the church. Oh Lord, you know that I need some shoes and you know that I wear size nine and you know that they need to be brown because they have to go with that suit you gave to me. So in Jesus' name, Lord, if you could provide a brown pair of shoes size nine that are nice enough to wear with the suit. Oh, I'll be so grateful. Amen. So the next day, somebody gave him some shoes. Miracle of miracles. And he went up in front of the church and said, praise God, God supplied shoes. And pastor Chuck said, no, no. Somebody in this congregation that you were able to weasel out of a pair of shoes gave you the shoes. You know, I love Chuck for that. You know, he's a pretty direct man and I enjoy him very much for that. He's an honest man. The bottom line is yes, you can weasel things out of people. You can con them out of it. That is not the way it works in ministry though God wants to provide, but you have to be a laborer worthy of your hire. In 1 Corinthians 9, 13 and 14, do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Now notice in verse eight how he says, we therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. In giving, and I want you to see this because it says we ought to receive such, become fellow workers. In giving to them, we are partaking in the work as well as the fruit as well as the rewards. Now I don't know how many of you understand that yet. When you see John, and I'll use him again as an example, he was here tonight and he showed what's going on. And you see those hundreds of prisoners and the many were coming to Christ and all. Many of the people in this church have supported his ministry physically as well as financially. For many years now, we send teams down there to Mexicale and they have helped in every way that we can, financially in every other way. And the work that John is doing, God rewards. But he also is going to be rewarding those of you in this fellowship who have been in support of that. That's how that works. See the work that he does actually is something that goes to the account of those who are support or part of that. How do I know that? Well, Philippians chapter 4 verse 17 says it this way, Paul speaking to the church of Philippi said, not that I'm looking for a gift. I'm looking for what may be credited to your account. When you give your gifts to the Lord, and then whatever capacity that you do, whether it's through supporting a missionary, whether it's being involved in supporting an operation Christmas child or Gospel for Asia or the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association or Harvest or somebody loves you or whatever it is that you do. And you give your gift in that way as those evangelists as those teachers as those ministers go forth even here in this church as we go forth and do the work of ministry as a congregation, your finances that support that ministry actually are used to bring people to Christ to mature them and they go on produce fruit and it all comes back into your account. And you have to be surprised when you stand before the Lord at the amount of reward you're going to be gaining. You know, I think of my own pastor once again, a pastor who has seen 1,300 churches birthed from the one Calvary Chapel. And some of the churches in Calvary Chapel are the largest churches in the United States. There's a church of Bob Coy's Fellowship that God gave to him in Fort Lauderdale that has 20 plus thousand members in the church. They've had to do double services on Wednesday nights in a capacity of 4,000, you know, double services because the Lord is blessed so much there. And there's some very large works that and all this that's going on, you know what, it's going back much of that to Pastor Chuck's account because he has ministered effectively in that way. Anytime you give your finances, it's never lost. Whenever you give your money to the Lord, it's used for his glory, you receive a reward. And so that's what happened. Happens, verse eight, we ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. Verse nine, we're halfway there, guys. I wrote to the church, but diatrophies who loves to have the preeminence among them does not receive us. Therefore if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prading against us with malicious words and not content with that. He himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has a good testimony from all and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness and you know that our testimony is true. I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink. But I hope to see you shortly and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. And so we'll be able actually to summarize this fairly quickly. First, verses 9 through 11, he's talking about a tyrant pastor by the name of diatrophies. Diatrophies does not want any teaching in the church but his own. He is a tyrant. He cannot stand for his influence to be challenged. And so what does he do? Well, he does a variety of things. One, verse 10 tells us he rejects the authority of John. He says, If I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prading against us with malicious words. He uses spiteful words. He speaks poorly of John to undermine the authority of the apostle John. And in doing so, he is bringing an accusation against him. And so he's undermining John's authority. That is a tactic that occurs and I have seen that occur. You know, John has to bring a word of correction but the pastor doesn't want to receive it and so he speaks against John and he undermines what John has to say. That has happened even in this fellowship. I remember somebody many years ago now, probably 15, 18 years ago, so I can use this example now. Somebody who has given opportunity to lead in one of our men's groups and all and I can still remember when the report came and it turned out to be a true report, how he said, you know, Pastor David teaches this but this is the truth. You know, and he basically was undermining my ministry. That happens and sometimes they will speak things that are not accurate. That's what he was doing. He was prading. He was making accusations. So he speaks against authority. The second thing, he doesn't receive the brethren. That was another way of showing how stronger, how much authority he has. He refused to show hospitality and refused to recognize the emissaries of the kingdom of God. So he didn't receive the brethren. He didn't welcome them in and bless them. And then third, he put out of the church those who recognized these people in the Lord. And in doing so, he was refusing compliance to John's biblical authority and it revealed his heart of rebellion. And that's why verse 11 says, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. Never use a bully as an example of what a Christian ought to be. Sometimes people take authority to their head and they forget that the ministry is people. Sometimes people are given opportunity to lead and they're really not qualified to do so. And as a result of that, they harm people rather than helping them. And God has called us in the ministry to be of help to people. But that wasn't true with diatrophies. He was so threatened that the authority that he possessed would be undermined that he actually excommunicated people and spoke against John because John threatened his position. He says, no, this is not right. Therefore, don't use him as an example. Do not imitate what is evil, he says, but what is good. In other words, you need a better example. So follow the Lord and follow John's example. On the other hand, verse 12, Demetrius has a good testimony from all and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness and you know that our testimony is true. This is a great example to follow. He's blameless and the facts speak for themselves. Demetrius has a good testimony from the truth itself. The facts speak for themselves because as you see him, what you're seeing is what he really is. So he says, just imitate what is good and use Demetrius as an example. A couple of thoughts and then we're going to close, but this is practical and I hope it helps you. When I first got saved, I had no clue what a Christian was. None at all. I didn't know any. Other than the handful of guys that I hung around with. I began to ask the Lord if he could do something for me and I've asked him to do this in the past and he's done it. I asked the Lord, could you give me an example that I can follow? Somebody who actually lives out the message. And so I believe God has given to me several men in my life that are examples of faith to me. You know, I've been a Christian for a while. I'm not a brand new convert. I've been around for a while. But I asked the Lord, can you give to me a good example? Up to this point, I can say that my pastor Chuck has been the best example of a believer that I have. And I love that man to pieces. I mean, I just love my pastor to pieces. And he's just a genuine man. Loves the Lord. Loves people. He always fights for the underdog. His life is filled with the grace of God and faith and I would encourage you guys to pray that the Lord will bring into your life people who are sincere, people who are without hypocrisy, people who really live for Jesus Christ that you can be encouraged with and encourage. People that live for Christ no matter how difficult it may be. Look for somebody in your life, not to be the Lord in your life, but to be a good example of a believer because we learn not only by reading, but we also learn by watching and doing. And for me, I can read the word love and I don't know exactly what that means. But if I see somebody who has a sacrificial giving spirit in a caring, compassionate manner and a gentle approach to people and a patience and a kindness about them, then I start saying, so that's what love is. So that's how it works. You know, that's what love does. You know what I'm saying? And I asked the Lord for that a long time ago. I would encourage you to make sure that you have people in your life that are mentors who have that kind of effect. Because listen, it's easy for us to do bad things. And it's not, you know, we do them naturally. It's more difficult for us to learn to habitually do the good. And if I have people who encourage me and stimulate, provoke me towards good, that's a good thing. I encourage you to look for somebody like a Demetrius, a man who had a good testimony from all and from the truth itself. And he says, and I can bear witness, this is a good man. Look for somebody in your life that God can use to help you to grow. And then finally, he says, I had many things to write, but I don't wish to write to you with pen and ink. I hope to see you shortly. When I come, in other words, and I see you face to face, I'll take care of diatrophies. It'll be taken care of when I get there. So he says, you need to be aware of the fact that I am coming, but hidden within this is when I come and see you face to face, and it will be shortly, well, things are going to be taken care of. And so you just wait till I show up and everything will be just fine.