 Welcome back, we'll continue with our study of 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 1, where Paul is telling Timothy not to rebuke an older man, and we said this word rebuke, is a different Greek word that he uses compared to the other places where he talks about rebuke and the Greek word that he uses elsewhere in the New Testament, but the Greek word rebuke is that he uses is only found in this place and in this verse, and it means to strike at, so he's telling Timothy, don't attack older men with words, but treat them with respect, just like you would treat a younger man or his younger brother. And he's telling Timothy to exhort the older men as fathers. Now the word exhort here is basically encourage, so he's telling him, encourage them to do what needs to be done, okay, and the word encourage or exhort here is basically the manner of a coach or a trainer, helping an athlete to achieve their best. So just like a coach or a trainer would encourage an athlete to achieve their best, in the same manner he's saying Timothy exhort the fathers, encourage the fathers. Then he says, he talks about younger men as brothers, treat the younger men as partners, as friends in the work of the Gospel, but at the same time don't differentiate between older men and younger men. Then he also talks about older women here and he says treat the older women as mothers, which means treat them with respect and treat them with honour, give them the honour that is due to their age. And how does he have to treat the younger women? How does he say treat the younger women? As sisters, yes. So he's saying treat younger women as sisters, and he says, you know, even though you're a young person, Timothy, look at all the young women as sisters, treat them so that you can ensure that your conduct is pure and holy and above reproach. Then what's three? He says honour widows who are really widows. Now why does he say really widows? Why didn't he just say honour widows? And period, put a full stop of that. Why does he say honour widows who are really widows? Yes, Loubega? We can see him trying to expand what he really meant in the proceeding verses. Okay. Because there are those ones who were young and it seemed that they were sexually active, yet their husbands had died. And they are those ones who would be married again, and there were also those ones who pretended to be widows, but they were doing other things which were contrary to the doctrine. So that's why he was like advising them if they are that young, let them get married and raise new families because a widow without a kid and is still young seems not to be a widow. I'm sorry to use that word. Thank you. No problem. Thank you, Loubega. Yes, that's a good answer. Anyone else? He's talking here about widows, typically widows in the sense in those days, there were one class of people who were very, especially the vulnerable class and these were the elderly widows and these elderly widows were usually without support from husbands or they did not have the support of their grown up children or they did not have children who were grown up, or they had children who were grown up and would not support them. And so these elderly women or elderly women, they did not have adequate means of support for themselves. So he's saying those are the real kind of widows who have no husbands, who have no children. They also can't like Loubega saying can't marry, can't raise a family again. So these are the real widows that you really need to help. Now if you look at this passage, there are four types of widows in these verses. He talks about widows who are really in need, who are really widows and then who do not have family members to care for themselves. And then they have the second kind is widows with children and grandchildren who are in a position who are capable to take care of widows in the family. And also the third kind is younger widows who he says should remarry in verses 11 to verse 15. The second kind he talks about them in verse 4 and verse 16. And then the fourth kind of, or the fourth type of widows he's mentioning in these verses are those widows who live for pleasure rather than the life of the, life for God or living a life that is pleasing to God, which he talks about in verse 6. So he's mentioning four types of widows here and he says the real widows to the church really needs to take care of are those who have, first they don't have husbands but they also don't have children or grandchildren who are able to look after them or in a position to look after them. Such kind of women, you know, the church's responsibility to look after them and care for their needs. Then in verses 4 to 8, he talks about the believer's responsibility towards their own family. So can one of you please read verses 4 to 8 please. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents for this is good and acceptable before God. Now she who is really a widow and left alone trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives and these things command that they may be blameless. But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than a non-believer. Amen. Thank you, Lubega. So in these verses 4 is instructing Timothy what must happen in the local church when it comes to taking care of widows. So he says if any widow has children, which means, you know, he's saying those who should be legitimately helped by the church should not have a family, should not, you know, should not have any children or grandchildren to assess them to look after them. But if widows have a family to assist them, to take care of their needs, you know, they're in a position to take care of their needs, it's the responsibility of the family to do it. So he's saying it's the, this is the occasion for children and grandchildren to rise up to address the needs of their parents or the needs that their parents might have. And he's saying this is also good and acceptable before God. God is pleased when we as children or we as grandchildren take care of our parents, our grandparents or those who are widowed in our family. And he says, you know, widows who are older are those who would normally give themselves to prayer and supplication because they don't have any family now. They can't, you know, marry and all of those things. So they are the ones who would give themselves to prayer and supplication. But then he says, but she who lives in pleasure, which means those who should be, you know, those who, widows who should be helped by the church are those who should actually live godly lives and not the ones who give into the pleasure of life. Not those who are, you know, wanting to marry or sexually active or, you know, having a relationship with other men, you know. But those who the church should help should be ones who are those who are living a godly life and not living a life of pleasure or not giving themselves into the pleasures of this world. He says, you know, those who live for pleasure is dead while she lives, okay, was six, but he who, but she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. So he's saying that, you know, the life that a person lives for mere pleasure and a life that a person lives for just having an easy life is not a life that is worth living. Okay, it is living death. You're actually living, but you're living death. If you're living a life for mere pleasure and for ease in life, you know, a living a life of death and, you know, and he's saying it can be anyone, whether it's a widow or, you know, any other young person, anyone who's living like this, they're actually living a life that is dead. That means they're dead to the things of God, they're dead to the spiritual things and there is no life of God flowing and running into them because, and, you know, they would not be able to bear fruit because they are actually living for pleasures and for easy life. And then he's telling Timothy, these things come on. So he's saying a good pastor, a good spiritual leader, a good minister, you know, as a good minister, as a good teacher, as a good minister of God, a spiritual overseer, you need to teach these things so that all will know what God expects of them. So he's saying teach this so that people will know. Widows will know how they need to live. You know, people will know that they can't just live for a life of pleasure and ease. That is a life that is living death to the things of God. And also teach them these things so that, you know, people who have parents or, you know, widows in the family would know it's their responsibility to take care of their widows and their parents and not leave them to the church to take care of their needs. Okay? If you look at verse 7 in the Message Bible, you know, it reads like this, says so that they will do the right things in their extended family. So sometimes, you know, most often in churches, you know, pastors face a lot of issues that rise up with families, you know, for counseling or, you know, parents coming to them talking about how the children are treating them, children are going to the pastor talking about how their parents are treating them. There's a lot of discord, there's a lot of strife that's happening in the family, a lot of family issues and most of the time, you know, pastors having to deal with a lot of family issues. So it's important that, you know, you teach about all of these things under pulpit, talking about family responsibilities, talking about what the responsibility of the children are to the parents, the parents' responsibility to the children, family's responsibility to the church, family's responsibility to the society and all of these things, even as we see all of these instructions given to us in the Word of God, but these need to be taught. So you can have a series of sermons on family, family issues and teach what Scripture is talking about, what God is instructing each one of us to do as members in the family, okay? What's eight, he says, but if anyone does not provide for his own home and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever, okay? So Paul is saying Timothy, God's normal way of providing for people in need is not just through the local congregation, but it is through the family. It is the people in the family, they have to work hard, they have to provide for the needs of the family. They can't look up to the local congregation, the local church to meet their needs, okay? And if somebody does not provide for their family, Paul makes a very strong statement here, he says, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever, okay? So in the strongest terms, Paul is emphasizing here the responsibility of a man to provide for his family, okay? To do all that he can do in his means to support the needs of the family, okay? And how we as children have to take care of our parents or our grandparents or if you're married, it's your responsibility to take care of your spouse, of your children, you know, you can't just throw the responsibility on your parents or the grandparents to take care of them, it's your responsibility. And he says if you don't do this, you know, he says you have denied your faith and you're worse than an unbeliever. So very strong statement, you know, and I think some of us, you know, we don't, we think our responsibility once we get married is only to take care of our wife and our children and not take care of our parents. Yes, some of your parents might be financially stable, well off, and so you are depending on your parents to take care of your needs, depending on your parents to provide for you. And if they don't, you get very upset, you get very angry, you know? So I think this is a very strong statement here and it's Paul is writing under the inspiration of Holy Spirit, you know, if you're not taking the responsibility of looking after our wife and our children or our husband and children or your parents, you know, you have denied your faith and you're worse than an unbeliever. Nothing more can be said about that, but it's something that we all need to ponder, think, and if yes, slacking that area we're lacking, we need to ask God for forgiveness and, you know, do our responsibility in the governmental structure that God has placed in the family, okay? We'll move on to verses 9 to 16. Before we move on to verses 9 to 16, anyone has any questions, any doubts? Anything you'd like to say? And some things you'd like, you disagree? You'd like to talk about? Yes, Lubega? Can I say that that statement that is worse than an unbeliever has both spiritual and physical implication or it is inclined on the physical implication? Thank you. It has more... What do the others think about Lubega's question? Can we have some discussion here, please? Anyone else would like to have a say on what Lubega said, whether it is just physical or spiritual implications? Jefina says it's both. Anyone else? Everyone in class or... It's just Lubega and Jefina. Yes, Zellutoli, thank you. I think Lubega is both spiritual and physical, right? Physically, you're talking about your actions, your attitudes, your mindsets. So who you are and how you act and behave is your connection with God, whether you have a connection or not in the spiritual sense. The spiritual is translated into the physical aspect in your attitudes and your mindsets and how you behave. Did that help? Thank you, Mama. Sometimes when you look at unbelievers, you can't expect them to have honesty, integrity, not to speak lies, to have the fear of God and what they're doing, moral ethics, living out morally pure lives. It's because of the God they worship. You're looking for compassion, you're looking for mercy from them, you don't receive it and you know it's the God that they worship. It's no God, it's a stone God. So their hearts are like stones, so hard-hearted. And nothing goes into their minds and there's nothing that can morally convict them even if they're not living morally pure and holy lives. Thank you for that question. Anyone else? Sorry for the background noise. I don't know, there's some work going on, it's too loud. Okay. There are no questions or doubts. We'll move on to verses 9 to 16 where he's talking about the church's responsibility towards widows. And so he's saying to not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number. So what does he mean here is, or the idea here is that if someone is under 60, then they could still support themselves or they can still get married. They can remarry, like Ubega said. And they don't have to be added to the support list of the church. The church does not need to support them, but they can support themselves by being, by marrying again, by remarrying or getting married again. And in verses 9 and verse 10, Paul again elaborates on the conditions of the verses that he has always spoken about in verses 3 to verse 5 concerning needy widows. So he says, who are the widows that are really widows that the church needs to take care of? They need to be at least 60 years and older who have served in the church well. Those kind to be taken care by the church and if there is a need, if they're 60 years and older and they have a need, then the church can take care of. Or if they're 60 and older and they have children and grandchildren who can take care of them, then there is no need for such widows to be taken care by the church. And like we see in verse 16, he says the family is able to take care of them and the family should do so and not burden the church so that the church can help those who are literally real, elderly widows above 60 who are in real need and who don't have anyone to help them. And he says furthermore that these widows who the church takes care of must have shown hospitality. They must have shown hospitality to strangers. They should have washed the disciples' feet to the saints' feet, to the believers' feet, which is showing a true sign of humility and serving the church. Salaturi says I was just thinking about what widows who are unable to take care of themselves as it's not mentioned in chapter 5. Yes, that's a very good thought, Salaturi. So basically, why do you think Paul is not mentioned about widowers here? Any thoughts, anyone likes to say anything? Why is Paul not mentioned about widowers here? Come on, can we have some thoughts, please? Some answers, some discussions, some people talking. This is going to be boring if you're just going to hear my voice. Any answers? Any answers? Do you think Paul is telling we should not take care of widowers? What do you think? You can at least say something. Mama, I did not hear the question. It's in the chat section, Dube. Salaturi's question is she was saying I was just thinking what about widower who are unable to take care of themselves as it's not mentioned in chapter 5. It's a great question, a good one. Why do you think Paul is not mentioned about widowers? Actually, to be honest, Salaturi, I never thought about it myself. Mama, can I answer my question? Yes, yes. Because those days men... I'm sorry for the noise, ma'am. No problem. I think men those days were strong enough to take care of the women who were dependent. So Paul mentioned widows in this scripture. Thank you, ma'am. Sorry for that. Yes, no problem, no problem. Thank you, Rosalind, for sharing. I think, yes, maybe, you know, men were able to take care of their needs, work, maybe, you know, also have a family that married, you never know. I recently read there's a man who is in India, somewhere in North India. He's close to 100 but he's married recently. A year back he's married. So, you know, because he's feeling lonely, he needs somebody to take care of him, married a very young woman who's a widow herself. Yeah, so maybe that can be the reason. But I think even Paul would have thought about widows but especially, you know, he's talking here about widows because they might need more help, security in the sense, protection. Yes, Nubega. I think we all know that in the old days, there was gender bias whereby inferior people in the society were taken to be children and women and so they thought men would take good care of themselves but just as we see where it is written in men, at times it is changed to many women. So, I think doctrine-wise putting our modern society into context also they should also be looked at depending on the criterias as being portrayed there. For instance, if they are young, they should marry again and if they are that old and they are not busybodies and they are not doing wrong things, they should be taken care of by the church just as the widow are being taken care of. I think it is in the same context. Thank you. Yes, thank you, Nubega. We can look at it in that context. If there are widows as well, yes, they can be taken care of. So, we will move on. So, he is qualifying here in these verses, in verses 9 to 16, who really a widow is. So, if somebody does not have a family who cannot take care of their needs but even if they are elderly widows and they have a family who can take care of their needs and their family should take care of their needs and also these widows should be people who have a sense of humility, they should have been serving in the church, they should wash the feet of the saints, show hospitality, they should have helped people in distress which could refer anything. You know, visiting the Sikh, helping people who are Sikh, giving counsel, comforting those who are troubled, worried, going to grief, sorrow, just being there for the believers, the people in the churches, you know, helping them up. So, basically to sum up the whole thing, somebody who has devoted their entire life to doing good work, to serving people, to ministering to others. So, he says if a widow meets all of these qualifications, then they can be put added to the list of widows in the church, whom the church can take care of. Then, of course, he talks about the younger widows and he advises the younger widows to remarry, you know, just like he says to the deacons in Chapter 3 verses 2 and verse 12, he says, you know, they should be married to one man, you know, and they also have to have reputation of good works. They should be busy in, you know, in their family chores, in building, in their family responsibilities, building up their children, bringing up their children the ways of the Lord, okay, and, you know, if she's had children, she already has children through her previous husband, then she has to be involved in raising them up in the faith. And he says, you know, here in this verses he's saying, you know, he says in verse 14, okay, in verse 13 and verse 14, you know, don't be idle, wondering from house to house, you know, gossip and busybodies, but, you know, take care of your family. So, if you're a young widow and you still have children, then, you know, bring up your children, raise them up in the faith, and also, you know, he says, you know, take care of unwanted orphans. In the Roman world, there were a lot of unwanted orphans who were all left unattended and they were left to die. And, you know, the bad people would, the corrupt people would sometimes take them for slavery, for prostitution. So, he's saying, you know, you godly people, you know, take them into your homes, care, look after them, care for them as your own. And he's saying that the younger women, he encourages them to get married, set up a family, instead of wasting their time on idle things, okay. And verse 11, he says, but refuse the younger widows, you know, for they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, their desire to marry. So, he's saying refuse younger widows means as a general rule, you know, he says, don't add them to the support list of the local church, because, you know, they can basically provide for themselves, they can take care of themselves. They can work or they can remarry and they can take care of themselves. Now, this word grow wanton. Now, the word is supposed to be derived from to remove, okay, to remove and the rain, okay. So, these two words, this word wanton means to remove and the rain. And it's a metaphor that is taken from, you know, from a pampered horse. So, a metaphor that is taken, a metaphor is basically a symbol or a representation, an image, a comparison or a simile that is taken from a pampered horse whose mouth, you know, the rain has been removed from the mouth so that there is nothing to check or confine that. The horse is just free to move, okay. Now, so he's saying that, you know, refuse such younger widows, you know, to be taken care of the church, especially those who have grown wanton, which means, you know, there's nothing to check or confine that just, you know, doing what they want, living their lives how they want in pleasure and, you know, doing their own things. Now, these verses, verses 11 to 15 basically are not very easy to interpret, sorry, they're not very easy to interpret. Some understand that, you know, the older widows made some kind of pledge to the Lord and to the church to the effect that they would remain single and devoted the rest of their lives, they are devoted to remaining, you know, to serve the Lord. They've devoted their, the rest of their lives to just ministering to people serving the Lord. Or it can also mean if a younger widow made such pledge and then, you know, suddenly they have this deep urge, deep longing to marry or they fall in love with somebody again, then it would mean that they would go back on their pledge and, you know, and then they would incur condemnation, criticism, criticisms disapproval by the church or the believers in the church. Now, Paul is not condemning the natural desire of younger widows to remarry what he's basically saying that it's wrong to break a pledge or a promise that you make. Okay. Now, others look at it at these verses very differently. Okay. The words, previous pledge, you know, in the verse 12 are literally first faith. They say it's not like a pledge in the sense of a pledge, but it's their first faith. So they argue, some people argue that Paul was addressing an existing problem, namely that, you know, these younger widows who were put on the support of the church were allowing their desire to remarry to be greater than their faith in Christ, which means their desire to remarry is greater in the sense that, you know, they're willing to go against their faith or marry an unbeliever or marry somebody who's not in the faith, you know, and hence they're going back on their first love or their faith in Christ Jesus. Okay. So he's saying that, you know, some people say it could mean that the words, previous pledge, literally means their first faith. And so Paul was addressing the problem that existed. And it could be this, you know, the younger widows, you know, made a pledge that their faith in Christ Jesus and then, you know, they have this desire to remarry. They fall in love with a man who's not a believer, who's willing to accept them, who's willing to take care of their needs, care for them and they're willing to go away leaving their faith. So all of these various interpretations that are there, so it's not very easy to interpret verses 11 to 15. Okay. And furthermore, he says, you know, when they do this, they fall into the errors of false teachers. Okay. And, you know, thus he's saying these kind of women can fall away from their first faith in Christ. Okay. So these women can also fall in love and marry somebody who's, you know, in the church, but who's teaching false teachers, teachings and doctrine and hence they're going away from Christ and hence they would also be promoting false teaching and also they would be marrying based on, based on sensual desires and not marrying in the Lord. Okay. So thus Paul is instructing that they, you know, they should not be supported. These younger widows should not be supported, but, you know, he's rather encouraging them to marry and devote themselves to home duties, you know, so that they don't give the enemy an occasion. They don't give the enemy a foothold in their lives and there is hence no occasion for reproach. Okay. There is no occasion for them to, you know, be scolded or reprimanded by the church elders. So this is the whole explanation or meaning. We can look at it in diverse ways and we can't really pinpoint what is the real thing that he really meant or is saying here. Okay. So that is what he talks about widows, about older widows and about younger widows and who should be enlisted. What are the qualifications to enlist widows in the list of church, in the local congregation of those who need to be taken care by the church. Okay. Before we move on to how to treat elders, how Timothy needs to treat elders, how to lead spiritual elders which he talks about in verses 17-20, anyone has any questions, doubts? Any questions, any doubts? Look at verse 16, if any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them and do not let the church be burdened that it may relieve those who are really widows. Okay. So in our present day context, you know, some of us can take our parents and literally dump them in old age homes that are, you know, supported by our church, you know, and that really breaks the heart of our parents or our grandparents. Okay. It really breaks their heart. I know from my own family experience two people in our family who we lost. One is my grandmother. Of course, my uncle was very, very patient to care of my grandmother, you know, until she was 95 or 98 years. But it came to a time when she was not able to, of course, even in her 80s, little past 80s, she was not able to see well. And she was not able to know where is the bedroom? Where is the restroom? Where is the hall? Where is the kitchen? So sometimes she could mess up in the hall, bedroom, thinking that it's the restroom. And it was very difficult because when all of them came back from work, the whole place was messed up. And so when she was, I think, close to 98 or something, my grand, my uncle decided to move her to an old age home. And my grandmother did not even last for a month. She passed away because she was so used to staying with family, with children. And so that was very sad. And another sad thing was my uncle, my dad's older brother who had cancer. And, you know, my cousins were staying in the home, you know, my cousin's brother and cousin's sister was basically bedowed and staying with her son. They all go out to work and there was no one to take care of him, provide for his needs and all of those things. So they decided they thought of moving him to a home, which he was totally against, but they spoke him into it. And, you know, so the day before in the morning, you know, they were going to move him to a home where they would take care of his needs well. The night before he, my cousin's brother was sleeping next to him. And he kept on saying, what's the time now? And my cousin's brother would say it's 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and he would say, okay, there is so many hours left for me to move to the old age home. And, you know, I think around four, between four to five, he stopped asking how many hours are left, what is the time. And then when my cousin's brother thought maybe he's fallen asleep, good, let him sleep, but he actually passed away in his sleep, okay, before they could even move him to the old age home. So looking at this, it's really so, it's so important, you know, because what Paul is saying here in this verse 16, you know, you can take care of your older people. Don't burden the church. Don't burden the old age homes. Take care of them. I know it's a huge responsibility and it's not easy. It requires a lot of commitment and all of those things. But for us, we might think of it in a different way, but for them it is so hard breaking. Okay, any thoughts, anyone likes to say anything or we can move on to verses 17 to 20. Okay, we'll move on to verses 17 to 20. Can somebody read verses 17 to 20 please? Anyone likes to read 17 to 20, chapter 5, or all of you left the class? Somebody read verses 17 to 20. Go ahead. First Timothy chapter 5 verses 17 to 20. Let the elders who do well be counted worthy of trouble on especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer will worry of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sending rebuke in the presence of that the rest also may feel. Amen. Thank you, Jafina. Paul is instructing on how to lead elders. Again, he's continuing from what he's spoken of in chapter 3. And, you know, he's talking about elders there. Now there he's talking about elders. The Greek word is pespiteros for elders. So in the early church, the terms bishop, elders, presbyters, they were all used interchangeably, you know, and can be referred one to another. It basically meaning those who are bishops, elders, leaders, all of them are basically those who are providing spiritual leadership in the local congregation or in the church. Now he's focusing on the elders here. And he's saying the elders who rule and he's talking about the elders who teach. Those who teach are those who labor in the word and doctrine. Okay, so it's not necessary that, you know, every elder who rules will also be an elder who teaches. They can be elders who are elders in terms of administrative authorities and they can be also elders, those who are spiritual leadership, basically talk about elders talking about those who are giving spiritual leadership. They can also be ones who are just teaching the word of God. And he says, those who are elders should be counted worthy of double honor. Okay, so if an elder such as an pastor, you know, you know, he rules well and he labors in the word and doctrine. He's preaching the word and teaching the word and doctrine, you know, which means he's, you know, clearly showing, working hard for the kingdom of God, working hard towards the growth of the church. He's saying, such a kind of an elder, such a kind of a spiritual leader, whether he's a deacon, a bishop, an elder, you know, he is worthy of double honor. Okay, he's worthy of double honor. Now the Greek word translated honor, you know, has a double meaning. First, you know, I'm not talking about double honor here, but I'm just talking about the word honor, the word honor itself in the Greek has two different kind of meanings. It has a double meaning. The first meaning is it has an idea of a price, you know, a price paid or received. And from there, it came to refer to honor or esteem attached to it. Okay, something that we or someone we give due value for what they are doing. Okay, so this word honor basically in the Greek means both material support and esteem. Because in the Greek, the first idea is of a price paid or received. So you're paying a price to somebody who's a pastor, an elder, a teacher, spiritual leader, you're giving them amount, you're paying them for their services and they're receiving it. Okay, and from there came the other meaning for the word honor, which means esteem. Okay, the esteem that is attached for something or someone because of their value, of their service or what they are doing. So it can, the word honor can refer both to material support and to esteem. Okay, now when he's saying give double honor, it implies that, you know, of course, he's spoken about and says in the church, we have to honor everybody. Honor older men, honor younger men, honor older women, honor younger women, you know, we have to honor everyone who are saints or believers in the body of Christ. But here he's saying that, you know, those who are in spiritual leadership, whether it is, you know, their spiritual leadership in the terms of giving administrative duty, just ruling or whether they're ruling and teaching, you know, teaching the word and doctrine, such kind of people, you know, they deserve double honor. That means they deserve greater respect and regard. Okay, so we can look at it in our context today. Those who are in spiritual leadership in the church, you know, yes, sometimes it's difficult for us to honor leaders who are not living lives that are honoring and pleasing in God's sight. But the Bible teaches us that we need to honor them. Okay, just like David honored a soul. He said, how can I kill the anointed of God? You know, Jesus himself, you know, respected authority. He says you have to pay taxes to the government. Okay, he honored the father. He honored the spiritual leaders or the religious leaders in one sense. Okay, so you know, we need to give greater respect and regard to those who are in spiritual leadership and, you know, they deserve double honor. What's 18 says, for the scripture says, you shall not muscle an ox while it threads out the grain and the laborer is worth his wages. Okay, now Paul is saying for the scripture says, means the principle that those who serve God's people should be paid when possible, of course, and is, you know, supported by, he supports this by quoting Old Testament scripture. Paul quotes Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 4 and also Luke chapter 10 was 7. Okay, so he quotes both of these scripture passages in Luke chapter 10 was 7, it says we'll read this and then close. He says, you know, the laborer is worth his wages. Okay, so he's saying do not go from house to house, but the laborer is worth his wages. Okay, and he's quoting this, do not muscle an ox while it threads out grain is from Deuteronomy chapter 25 was 4 and the laborer's worth his wages is in Luke chapter 10 was 7. Okay, we'll stop here. We'll continue looking at verses 19 to 25 in the next class. Anyone has any questions, doubts? Any questions or doubts? Okay, there are no questions or doubts. Thank you all for joining class and I'll see you on Tuesday for our children's ministry class. I think in children's ministry class we have greater participation and there is so much of people talking and sharing. It's nicer, but in TTP, I don't know why it's, everyone is so quiet. Okay, I look forward for more participation. The TTP classes will be nice, be engaging just like Zealotoli asked me a question which I generally never thought of in all these years and all these years is I thought TTP nobody even asked me this question. So good Zealotoli, thank you everyone, thank you for your inputs and have a blessed weekend, God bless you. Thank you.