 Timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. I'll begin reading at verse 18. I'll read to verse 20 and we'll get into our study first Timothy chapter 1 Verses 18 through 20. We're looking at the subject fight the good fight verse 18 this charge I commit to you son Timothy According to the prophecies previously made concerning you That by them you may wage the good warfare Having faith and a good conscience Which some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck of whom our harmonious and Alexander whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme and So as we're going through first Timothy as is the way that I normally teach and some of you who've been part of this Search for a while know this I like to give a foundation and then move into application And so let me give you a context that we can view this passage by in order to understand What Paul would be sharing with this young man by the name of Timothy? So I want to begin today By asking a question and the question is is not one that I'm expecting you to answer I'll supply the answer for you, but the question I would begin is with is this What is the primary reason for Paul writing these letters that we have first and second Timothy? Why did Paul write first and second Timothy? The answer is found in first Timothy 3 verse 15 The answer is to instruct believers in proper conduct in the church That's why he writes this and in first to me Timothy 3 15 he said it this way. He said if I am delayed You will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household Which is the church of the living God the pillar and foundation of the truth And so I want to begin my introduction today and establish the context by pointing that out You see the household of God as Paul just said is the church or the congregation It is the church or congregation of notice with me the living God So the household of God the church is the congregation of the living God This is the living God who was working actively and personally in the city of Ephesus Remember that Timothy is a pastor of a church in the city of Ephesus a city that has been given over completely to idolatry and and commercialism it was a huge city as I've been mentioning to you in my introductions and this is a city that's given itself over to Cultism as well as the worship of Diana and so when Paul's beginning to speak here he's reminding us that that the church is the Foundation the sub pillar of the truth and the church is the church of the living God So that is the living God who is working actively and personally in the city of Ephesus But that would be in contrast to Diana whose image was in the temple, but did nothing for the people See that image that they had could do nothing to help. It was just an image The image is dead, but God is alive. That's the point that would be made you see again Ephesus was given over to occultism and idolatry and their idolatry is useless Diana did them no good Diana could not be of any help to them when they were in need And that's what idolatry is it is Worshiping a useless lifeless idol Psalm 115 verses 2 through 8 says it like this Why do the nations say where is their God? Which is what is being said right now about us by the way, where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases him But their idols are silver and gold made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak eyes they have Cannot see they have ears But cannot hear noses, but they cannot smell they have hands But cannot feel feet, but they cannot walk nor can they utter a sound with their throats Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them Lifeless idols they cannot help in your time of need and that's what Paul would remind us of that We have the truth and the truth that has been given to us has been given to us by the living God In contrast to dead idols who can be of no help and so idolatry is useless So in contrast to this the church is the church of the living God and is the pillar and foundation of truth So when he speaks of the church being the pillar the church Is a massive pillar upholding preserving and presenting the truth of the gospel Our very existence is intended to validate God's promise to save as well as to transform So when I as a Christian claim to have a message that transforms lives Then it is very helpful indeed if I live that message out before men Because if not that i'm undermining the effectiveness of the gospel and the truth The church proclaims originates or is founded on Jesus Christ. It originates with him He is the foundation because Jesus himself is the truth And it's the truth that's revealed in the gospel that the church guards as well as cries out to people So with this in mind as we're looking at this passage Paul is writing to instruct believers to live lives that line up with the word of God to do this Paul writes around 75 specific instructions in these two letters alone You see Christian leaders are intended to instruct those whom they lead And leadership is intended to safeguard the sheep from spiritual deception Leaders are intended to communicate the message That keeps people from going into error In Ephesians 4 verse 14 Paul says we will no longer be like children forever changing our minds about what we believe Because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth So God gave to the church apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry so that we might be matured and safeguarded from deception So if timothy is going to be a spiritual leader, he needs to have proper doctrine and he needs to have character Now when paul was writing or rather speaking to the elders of Ephesus There in myelitus as is recorded in acts chapter 20 Paul was speaking to the elders of the church of Ephesus and he was giving them instructions And he told them that their manner of life would be the mirror of biblical doctrine So he was encouraging the to live lives that that properly presented the gospel to people In order to do that he actually pointed to to his own way of of life as an example for those Elders to follow in acts 20 verses 17 through 21 It reads from myelitus. He sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church And when they had come to him, he said to them You know from the first day that I came to Asia In what manner I always lived among you Serving the Lord with all humility with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews How I kept back nothing that was helpful but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house Testifying to Jews and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ But notice he had said in what manner I always lived among you So he says use me as a model imitate me even as I imitate Christ Is what he would tell the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 1 I should say this very quickly Obviously leaders are not perfect and Paul never taught that leaders were Perfection doesn't occur this side of heaven every message that I give Is always a message that is above the way that I live not to say that I'm a hypocrite intentionally just to say that the message Is greater than my behavior and yet that doesn't give me an excuse To continue in sin at all. It just is a way of explaining that perfection is is in heaven and not this side of heaven There are those who teach what is called sinless perfectionism. Perhaps you've heard of that term They they say that you can become perfect On earth and and the ones who preach that I would like to talk to their wives Because I rather doubt that that's true in their life In the book of Philippians. I actually had mistyped on my notes collosions and it may be up there on the screen I don't know But in it's philippians chapter 3 verse 12 the apostle paul said And not that I have already obtained all this or have already Already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which christ jesus took hold of me. I haven't attained The apostle himself would make it very clear this side of heaven perfection is not experienced You see often leaders are judged by a standard that many do not meet themselves There are those who will hold pastors like me and others to a standard that they themselves don't apply to themselves and it's interesting how people can be Because they do they they look at you as in a way that the lord himself doesn't Uh, the most important thing that we can do all of us is to do the best that we can and trust the lord to work through us And and keep proceeding forward, but sometimes people I think really do judges by a harsher standard I was gone this last week. I um I had the opportunity to go To the east coast and to minister. I was in uh upstate new york um I actually I taught at a at a mens conference on saturday. Then uh, I taught our services on sunday Then on monday. I had the opportunity To leave at six in the morning to the east coast arrived that afternoon in new york And attended a pastors conference in upstate new york Taught twice on tuesday drove from Finger Lakes upstate new york Drove to a place called Poughkeepsie in orange county, which is a four-hour drive Did the wednesday night study on thursday met with some pastors and staff On friday drove to new jersey Um attended a conference taught twice on saturday then drove from new jersey to manhattan Did the sunday morning service for harvest manhattan. So we had a busy week and um On monday I went to breakfast and I did something that I usually don't do. I took a picture of my breakfast I know people love to see breakfast. I know you're just dying to see a picture of those eggs, you know And I actually did that as kind of like a joke and I I just took a picture of the eggs And I wrote something like something like okay A food photo because there are a lot of people who hate those food photos, right? I'm sure I've got a lot of you and say I don't care what you're eating. Well, that's why I did it So because it bugs people and I just thought it was funny. So I took a picture of some eggs So people begin it's on instagram people begin to respond and somebody responds telling me Don't you realize that there are hungry people on the face of the earth? and uh And pastors are supposed to be humble So I wrote back shut up. I hate you. No, I I still don't get it. I I don't get it. I mean we got nothing else to do other than to write dumb things like that Maybe I shouldn't put photos of eggs. I don't know. Maybe I should have put bacon, but if I put bacon Maybe some Jewish person would be mad at me. I I don't know. I don't know Don't you think it's time for us to lighten up a little bit? I think I think it's kind of that's kind of crazy I'm sorry. Maybe that's not the proper word somebody's going to write and say you shouldn't say okay That's just not right Maybe we ought to lighten up on one another and give each other a little grace, you know Do you think that's something we can do? Maybe we ought to love each other and and all of that, you know Because you know paul didn't say that pastors were going to be perfect paul said that he hadn't attained and I haven't attained But we are to be models and and hopefully some of the things that we're doing Our emblems of what the grace of god can do in somebody's life But often leaders are judged by a standard that that others don't meet themselves In first carinthians chapter four verse three paul said it like this He said with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court In fact, I do not even judge myself. He says, you know god ultimately is really the righteous judge You see paul himself had partaken in the gospel that he was preaching to other people And he emphasized this when he reminded timothy of his own salvation paul had been saved and he was reminding him We saw that last time about how he had been the worst of sinners and yet god showed his incredible grace to him And so paul had emphasized that when he reminded timothy of of his own salvation. He was called to be an apostle And and one who has tasted of the grace of god is encouraging one who is presenting the grace of god Who has also tasted of it and that's what he's doing here in first timothy and thus in verse 18 He gives him an order now notice what paul this apostle Notice the order that he gives to this young man named timothy who is pastoring a church in Ephesus In verse 18, he says this way he said this charge. I commit to you son timothy According to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may wage the good warfare So at this point he gives him a charge the word charge is a military word It conveys urgency and response and an obligation to obey If I have any military vets or currently active military personnel here You know what that means when you're given a charge or given a command You don't have the ability to to argue those commands. You're to fulfill the command When the fulfill when the command is given you obey that's what you do and that's the word that he's basically using here He's saying you have an immediate response that you should be giving and you're obligated to obey this command This word charge is a word that is used seven times in various forms in this letter It's given in first timothy 1 verse 3 Verse 5 and verse 18 It's repeated again in chapter 4 verse 11 Chapter 5 verse 7 Chapter 6 verse 13 as well as chapter 6 verse 17. It's a military charge He's saying this charge or this strict order. I commit I entrust to you timothy as a faithful soldier So timothy you're a soldier in the lord's military. You are engaged in spiritual warfare Paul is saying I have a heavenly order that you are obligated to urgently carry out We need to remember that the christian life is a prolonged battle. It has immense cost but immense reward And as soldiers we are called by god To endure hardship In second timothy chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 He says you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of jesus christ No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life Then he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. He's saying you are in a battle and the battle Is spiritual in nature Ephesians 6 12 we do not wrestle against flesh and blood But against principalities Against powers Against the rulers of the darkness of this age Against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It's spiritual In its makeup That's why this message called the gospel must be free from error We do not follow cunningly Devised fables peter would say in second peter 116 It has to be given properly And so it has to be free from error So that's why paul would have said earlier in verse 3 To a command some to teach no other gospel. That's why he would do that You see early in church history false gospels began being taught And what was happening it was emptying the gospel of its ability to save and transform people So paul came out strongly against the false messages as well as the false messengers In second carinthians 114 he was speaking to the church and he said you seem to believe whatever anyone tells you Even if they preach about a different jesus than the one we preach Or a different spirit than the one you received or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed You're so prone to believe what these false teachers are saying he said You see false teachers were beginning to alter the message They were undermining the faith And paul gave warning about this and there were very heavy warnings by the way In galanxians 1 8 and 9 He said even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you Let them be accursed as we have said before so now I say again If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received let him be accursed Those are strong words. May he be cast into eternal judgment anathema now paul pointed out some errors that had begun to enter in He speaks concerning the fact in verse 20 that these teachings are blasphemous In chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 He points out that their teachings promote a false holiness by emphasizing outward behavior and asceticism We'll see that when we get to that passage And in 2 Timothy 2 17 and 18 their teachings were an error about resurrection When paul begins to speak concerning the origin of this he says these are doctrines of demons These are doctrines that originate with demons in contrast to the truth that comes from christ So paul is summing up the essence of the true gospel He had pointed out in verses 14 and 15 of this chapter That jesus christ came to save sinners and he alone gives eternal life So paul emphasizes the importance of this by reminding timothy of a spiritual experience He reminds him of the prophecies that went before him There are there are times that the lord And I hope this makes sense. I didn't share this for a service. I'll share it here I I I hope this makes sense There are times There are times when the lord Can And I'll develop this with you this illustration is not something I shared today, but I'll work my way through it right now There are times in the holy spirit validates his word In in a way that is uniquely supernatural uniquely supernatural When our church was very young I've shared this some of you have heard this before but When our church was very young Just a few months old we had been evicted from the place that we were meeting Because The pastor of the church that we were renting for our Sunday morning services believed that we were a cult Because we celebrated the birth of christ And because we had given an alternative to a halloween a halloween Observation by giving a hallelujah party for our children And so they thought that we were satanists that we worship the devil And they kicked us out of the church And we were looking all around to try and find a place to meet And the expulsion date was At the end of january And we were looking all through the city of ontario even into upland To see if we could find a place locate a place to use and we had Been unable to find anything we We had a small fellowship. We We couldn't afford any of the rent that was being required of us I mean we were spending like a hundred and fifty dollars a month to rent this church and a hundred dollars a month to rent an office And that was all we could afford And the place that we were looking for to to rent the only place that had been opened up to us was Central school and central school cost 1500 dollars a month to rent There was no way that we could afford that with With the amount of people we had and so It was the middle of january and I was just Beside myself. I didn't know what to do and And I still remember a wednesday night Going into my room and for some reason marie and our children were not there at that time and I still remember just laying on the carpet in the bedroom crying literally crying saying god I don't know what to do. I We don't have a place to go. We can't afford the rent And I got up and I washed my face and I went to the bible study and I still remember Young lady approaching me saying you look like death warmed over. We need to pray for you And so I said well, thank you after the bible study. I truly appreciate that and after the study um my assistant at that time dan and I sat down and And that little study laid their hands on us and said god, please open away and that night As I was laying in bed The spirit of the lord spoke my heart in an unmistakable way and it was an audible yet internally audible voice and he said you will need A place to seat 200 On easter sunday, which was two and a half months away At that time we had about 60 people and yet he's saying you're going to need a place that seats 200 And I sensed it and I remember thinking That's true. There was not some odd feeling of any sort. I just thought that's true I went to bed and went to sleep rather next morning woke up I was preparing a study out of john's gospel. We're going through john at that time and Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die Bides alone, but if it dies, it'll bring forth much fruit john 12 24 and and I was I closed the bible and I said Lord, I am dead I don't have an answer for the situation i'm asking for help And at that moment the mailman came up and was dropping off letters and The spirit of the lord once again spoke and said your letter is here Several days before I had written a letter to pastor chuck smith and I had said to pastor We'd like to be associated with calvary chapel And so the voice of the lord spoke to my heart said your letter is here And so I went and I got the mail and put it down and I went through the other things and then Opened up that letter and my heart didn't even bounce or anything. I mean, I saw it. I knew it was I knew it was A letter and I read it and that's when pastor chuck welcomed us into the fellowship of calvary ministry You can see a transcript of that on the wall right here in the hallway and We entered into and became calvary chapel ministry at that time Up to that point. We were called ontario christian chapel and so Within a short time our church doubled and offerings increased and we made a commitment to use central school and on easter sunday in 1982 it was pouring rain And i'm thinking nobody's going to show up for church It's pouring so much that the curbs here are getting overflowed by water And anybody who's from ontario knows that the the curbs are higher in certain areas there in sultana by g street And the the curbs were the water was lapping over that it was that bad And I go in and I deliver a bible study and I still remember walking out looking at 200 people And saying to them you don't know this But you are were already spoken to me by the lord that you would be here today And so there have been times That I have gotten to the point where I've said lord. I don't know if I can do this anymore And what paul is saying here to timothy is remember the prophecies that went before Hold faster those promises And do you know I'll be honest with you that part of what keeps me strong in my ministry Is remembering the things god has done over these years to validate his truth One of the things he said to me that I still remember in my heart where he had said I did not raise you up to let you fall I did not raise you up to let you fall He has always supplied our need according to his riches in christ jesus And paul is speaking to timothy here in a similar way of a supernatural awareness that he needs to have Concerning how the lord had spoken to him notice again verse 18 This charge I commit to you son timothy According to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may wage the good warfare In first timothy chapter 4 verse 14 We see there that the elders had laid hands on him and had actually prophesied over him Later on in second timothy 1 verse 6 paul writes Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of god, which is in you through the lane on of my hands He's reminding him of the impartation of the spirit of the words That were spoken You see god gave to the church in its early beginnings prophets Ephesians 4 11 and 12 He gave some to be apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers Um for the purpose of building up the saints for the work of ministry and so Before the new testament was completed. He still was directing the church and did so often through the the leadership of the prophets in the church It's directed uh in the rather in the early church It is recorded that the lord directed the church by prophets acts 13 1 through 3 Now there were in the church that was at antioch certain prophets and teachers As barnabas and simian that was called niger and lucius of sireen and Men which had been brought up with hered the tetrarch and sol As they ministered to the lord and fasted the holy spirit said Now separate to me barnabas and sol for the work to which I have called them And when they had fasted and prayed and laid hands lay their hands on them They sent them away or act 16 verses 6 and 7 Paul and his companions traveled through the region of frigia and galatia made the way to ontario and eventually out to chino Having been kept by the holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of asia When they had come to the border of missia they tried to enter bethinea But the spirit of jesus would not allow them to Undoubtedly through the mouth of prophets So the elders had laid hands on timothy and prayed for him and they encouraged him We need to remember that according to 1 Corinthians 14 3 He who prophesied speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men So prophetic direction was and remains part of how the lord directed the church Now the prophetic utterance that word from the lord lines up with scripture It does not replace nor does it contradict scripture If god's word plainly says it if someone speaking in his name, he will not contradict it And that's very important You see because the lord will use it there are times that he foretells and speaks future events or There are other times that he foretells he's speaking concerning what it's about to take place And so these prophecies had to be remembered. He said that by them you may fight the good fight Why because they give you strength to continue when you're surrounded by trouble We can encourage others by reminding them of and sharing god's promises with them That's the purpose of prophecy Years ago again I was at biola young student And I had gotten to the point That I wanted to give up and biola is a christian college and I went and spoke to my professor who my love very deeply His name was dr. George more And I spoke to dr. More and I said to him dr. More. I'm gonna I want to back out of This whole christian life. I I am so shattered and and defeated and I just I just want to step out step away and And dr. More said to me david. He said don't do it hold fast He gave a word of encouragement to me He spoke the word to me to my heart and and he said david He said you think that that that That the lord has abandoned you he hasn't he says you think that what is happening in your life is common that a man should Lead his father and mother to faith in christ to lead his family to faith in christ the way you have He says you think that's normal. It's not normal. He said god has placed a call in your life david hold fast That was a word of encouragement to me. I was at a pastors conference and And our church had begun and and I had gotten to a point where it was so difficult. I didn't know what to do and And I I was thinking lord, I'm just not cut out for this. This is just not my call I'm just not good at this and And I I probably should just step out of the ministry and And we were having what is called an afterglow where we wait on the spirit and god moves through The various gifts of the spirit and all we're having a time of an afterglow where Prophecy and words of knowledge and all were given in the gifts were exercised and and during that time as I was I still remember just Being seated with my head just down just thinking lord I I just I want to give up one of the brothers said there is a brother here right now Who is wanting to give up and the spirit of the lord is saying don't hold fast God isn't through with you yet Hold fast and I started to weep. I knew that was to me I knew that was to me and that was one of the ways that the lord kept me strong in my ministry in the early days Is knowing that he didn't raise us up to let us fall Knowing that god is able and that has strengthened me. And so paul is speaking about this. He said listen This charge I commit to you son timothy according to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them You may wage the good warfare hold fast You see as a faithful soldier in the army of god, I'm giving you an order Fight the good fight wage a good warfare This is a command repeated later in in chapter 6 verse 12 where Paul says fight the good fight of faith take hold of eternal life to which you were called When you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses And paul reminds timothy you're in spiritual warfare. You need to be aware of this Satan is battling against god and god's purposes and he's battling against christians You see if he can undermine god's work in his people He will make god look weak And because of this we should be aware of his methods as he attacks the church We should be knowledgeable concerning his battle plans against us In 2nd Corinthians 2 11 paul said we're not ignorant of the devil's devices So timothy Remember god's desire is to rescue the lost That's why jesus christ came That he might bring salvation In luke 19 verse 10 the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost So wage a good warfare Be aware that you're in a battle for souls And as a minister timothy Be aware of the fact that satan will undermine your work and try to undermine the gospel Remember that he attempts to keep unbelievers blind to its saving message In 2nd chrithians 4 3 and 4 paul said if our gospel is veiled It is veiled to those who are perishing whose minds the god of the sage is blinded Who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of christ is the image of god should shine on them He wants to keep people blind Secondly, he intimidates a believer to keep him from sharing the gospel Don't be afraid of the faces god says to jeremiah. I'm with you Go forth and speak the word and don't be nervous about how they respond. Just be faithful You see satan wants to convince the messenger that god's word is not what people need satan will whisper into the ear of a pastor and say well the bible's boring. It's not relevant What you need to do is entertain but don't preach the word And yet in 1st simothy 4 16 it says take heed to yourself and to the doctrine Continuing them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you Don't water it down Preach it as it truly is if there's been a time when the gospel needs to be preached. It's now If there's been a time when fearless preachers ought to be taking the pulpit It's now Instead of watering it down to make people who can't handle the truth Make them satisfied. We ought to be saying this is what god says He can transform your life through the gospel But if I minimize its demands, you'll never be a child of god So we need to preach the truth in love, but we need to preach it nonetheless Especially now especially as the days are getting darker and people are looking for alternatives to christ Now the gospel changes life it transforms people and like paul would say to timothy If it took a persecutor of the church and its insolent man an injurious man and transformed that man into a courageous Apostle a man who was taking the word of god out to the world timothy hold fast to that and do the same I would say that to us as a church. Don't be ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ Don't be ashamed to tell people that that jesus christ transforms life Don't be ashamed of the gospel speak it forth and watch what god will do He changes lives to the power of the gospel and never forget that jesus christ transforms people Don't try to entertain people Teach them the word a third thing is you must remember that satan will go after the most difficult target He tries to undermine and destroy a genuine believer's trust and faith in god He'll go after the hard target not the easy one the one who's backsliding the one who's lukewarm is really doing more on his behalf than on For god's behalf He goes after the warrior He goes after the man or the woman of god who wants to stand up for jesus christ in this age He goes after that one. They're the harder target. He wants to take you out So the when you you've seen this when you have said lord use me. That's when it seems that you're being abused When you say god, I want to grow That's when it seems that you're being stifled when you say I want to be used That's what it seems like everything comes against you and it gets easier for you Just the backslider keep your mouth shut than to open your mouth up But I say it to you we need to open our mouth in these days. We need to speak for the truth We need to be open with what we believe and let other people know why because god can change their life too To destroy the work of god satan attacks the leaders in the church So servant leaders are to have integrity and strong marriages. They're to have humility and moderate taste That means that they can become a model of the christian life In philippians 4 verse 9 Paul said the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and god of peace will be with you And then finally You need to remember that satan attacks the church through deception His ministers appear like believers who are teaching a genuine message, but they're really transforming themselves. They're disguising themselves In 2nd Corinthians 11 14 and 15 satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works You see leadership has been placed in the church to protect the church from deception And christian ministers are strategically set in place for the defense of the gospel In philippians 117 Paul said it like this. I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel If satan can infiltrate the teaching ministry, he'll do great damage And therefore paul admonishes timothy to remain faithful to present god's word In first timothy 4 13 till I come give attention to reading exhortation and to doctrine Present god's word to the people be obedient and faithful to him and his word Finally he says having faith in verse 19 and a good conscience With some having rejected concerning the faith of suffered shipwreck of whom our hymenias and alexander whom I delivered to satan That they may learn not to blaspheme Having faith in a good conscience Faith in a good conscience are part of your weapons faith speaks of a proper trust in the lord through a proper understanding of his word A good conscience keeps you sensitive to the voice of god In order to preach with conviction a minister must maintain a clean conscience And and a clean conscience begins by the way with a fear of god You read sometimes of well-known leaders who fail I've known a few in my time. I've been around for a while now and I've known a few who have who had well-known ministries who fell who failed And what people don't know from the outside people who don't know them Only saw what they did on the screen or heard what they said on the cd But there have been times when I've known them on a personal level How do I say this? and I've seen that they don't live what they teach and I'm not Sat I'm not completely surprised When things are done things are discovered And I've seen that the fear of god is not in some people The fear of god is what gives to you knowledge fear of god leads to life And the mark of a person who doesn't know god is there's no fear of god in them And when a person begins to rely on their own strengths their own eloquence their own intelligence When they begin to rely on their own strategies and their own Attempts to do certain things that are spiritual and they When they rely on their own flesh It just isn't going to work. It does not work And when you don't guard your life When you when you don't have a healthy fear of god I here we go Oh, I've gone long. I might as well continue one one last thing One last thing I had a dream many years ago It was so vivid. It was so real It was so vivid and real in my dream I had Committed adultery in my dream. I'll say that again in my dream Because right now people here. I committed adultery in my dream. I committed adultery and in my dream My this is many years ago. My parents were still alive at that time in my dream I had to tell my parents I told my dad and I told my mom and I saw the faces of the people that I led to christ In my dream. I saw the look they would actually give It was so real I had to tell my wife marie And I watched my wife as she I had to watch my wife as she broke in front of me broke All that admiration and love that she had for me was gone in in a second and And then I had to tell my children in my dream And I watched their faces As they And I woke up No, wait, I had to tell the church I had to stand up in The church and I had to say I have failed And I saw the members of my church And I woke up And I said, oh god Oh god, thank you Showing me what would happen if david russon this was the fall I will not I will not fall I will not fall I will stay strong in you von I don't want To lose All that god has given to me For what? For what? And my god My god is a holy god And he will expose my sin Thus lord may I walk in your fear Timothy Walk in the fear of the lord Give the word of god as a man of god be aware Of what's going on around you fight the good fight of faith Because there are some who have walked away will close with alexander and hymenias He says who am I delivered to satan that they may learn not to blaspheme When he says I've delivered them to satan remember that the church is looked at as being the household of god When he says I delivered them to satan what you have is you have The church pictured as the place Of the body of christ and it is it is set apart as god's kingdom And then outside of the church is the kingdom of the world Somebody said it like this There are but two kingdoms recognized in scripture the kingdom of god the church and the kingdom of the world Which is under this way of satan This would mean to exclude a man from one is to subject him to the dominion of the other So he said enact church discipline remove them from their presence They're no longer to be there They're leaven that is going to cause the whole church to become infected with the sinfulness remove them He said I have removed them. I delivered them to satan that they may learn not to blaspheme By enacting church discipline. I've removed their influence from the church and they're going to need to learn Not to be blaspheming against god not to be speaking things that are ill Concerning the lord not to be speaking in ways that do not give honor and glory to god that are not accurate And that's what church discipline does Church discipline is enacted You have corrective discipline where you have to remove them you have preventive discipline, which is the teaching of the word You teach the word of god to prevent the corrective action Because when the word of god goes forth People are being equipped if they reject god's word Then you have to bring in the corrective You begin with preventive by teaching and you have corrective When they violate and these two individuals hymenias and elixir were delivered. They were ex communicated In order that the lord might work on them and prayerfully They would repent And learn not to blaspheme