Leadership

0:53And Huck tells her that in her relatives' church, there are no less than 17 clergy. And Joanna is stunned, and she says she doesn't want to sit through 17 sermons, which is understandable. And so this is the rest of that conversation. Take a look. Huck says to her, Shucks, they don't all of them preach the same day. Only one of them. Joanna says, Well, then, what does the rest of them do? Huck says, Oh, nothing much. Loll around, pass the plate, one thing or another. But mainly they don't do nothing. Nothing. Joanna says, well then, what are they for? Huck says, why, they're there for style. Don't you know nothing?

1:42As most of you know, at this point, we're a couple of months into our Back to the Basics series. And what we're doing this fall is we're taking a look at all of the basic things of the Christian life and life in the church. So over the past four weeks, we've talked about Christian worship and why we gather together on Sunday mornings like we do. Why we do the things that we do in the service, preach and teach, why we pray, why we do baptism and observe the Lord's Supper, why we sing together. And today what we're going to do is we're going to turn our attention to church leadership, specifically to the role of elder or pastor in the church.

2:21Because I think for a lot of us, even those of us who grew up in church, we might have a little bit better understanding of what pastors do than Joanna did. But if we're honest, not much. I've been asked many times in my life and ministry, so what do you do the rest of the week? Nothing much. Play golf, hang out. And so I think it's clear that all of us need to have a biblical understanding of the role of pastor, of the role of elder, so that we can relate to one another rightly as God's Word calls us to do.

2:55And so let's turn our attention to 1 Peter 5. You see here in verse 1 that this whole section, he says, so I exhort the elders among you. This whole section is an exhortation. That means it's an earnest request from Peter to the elders of several churches in Asia Minor. That's who he's writing to. That's what we'd call Turkey today. And so, in ordinary use, the word elder simply means someone who is older or more mature.

3:28But in Scripture, that word almost always refers to an office in the church. So, take a look on the screen at 1 Timothy 3:1. Paul makes this very clear. He says, The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Now, you might say, Alan, that passage is talking about overseers, not elders. And that's true, but in Scripture, the term elder and the term overseer are used interchangeably. You'll see that in this text, you'll see that in many other texts as well. And those two nouns, elder and overseer, are almost always used in connection with the verb poimen in the Greek, and that means to shepherd or to pastor.

4:20So, the apostles used the nouns elder and overseer interchangeably in scripture, and they always used it with the verbs to oversee or to shepherd or pastor. And I want you to see here in verse one that Peter is not just addressing the elders of these churches, but look how he identifies himself. He calls himself a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. I find that remarkable. I mean, not only did Peter witness Jesus' death and resurrection, but he walked with him for three years as part of his innermost circle. From everything that we read in the scripture, only John the Apostle may have had a closer, deeper relationship with Jesus than Peter did.

5:10And yet, here in this text, he calls himself a fellow elder. He starts off this letter noting that he is an apostle, but here he calls himself a fellow elder. He's saying that I have the authority of an apostle at the outset of the letter, but here he's reminding everybody that he has the wisdom that comes from pastoring ordinary people in an ordinary church alongside other ordinary elders. And friends, I think in a day of celebrity pastors, this is a really good reminder for us, both to Christians and to pastors ourselves, of the fact that no matter how famous a preacher might become, at the end of the day, he is to be one of the people. One of multiple elders shepherding a local congregation with other faithful men. If you look ahead at verse 2, it says that the elders are to shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

6:15It is among you. So celebrity pastors aren't a new thing. In the 1700s and the 1800s, men like Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, they had international ministries. Their writings, their books were published and sent all over the world. As soon as radio was invented, later on, pastors could broadcast their sermons all over the world. Celebrity pastors are not a new thing. But here in the Word, what we find is that the work of pastoring is to be done among a local group of people, a particular flock, not people hundreds or thousands of miles away somewhere else.

6:54So when people ask me, are you the pastor of New Life? I always remind them that I am one of the pastors here at New Life. I am not the pastor at New Life. I have the same office as Cody, who serves with me on staff. I have the same office as Chris and Bill, who serve as elders here alongside me. We are all responsible to shepherd and to oversee the flock of God that is among us, you.

7:22And the last thing I want you to see here in verse 1 is that Peter not only saw himself as an ordinary elder. He saw himself as an ordinary Christian. Take a look at what he calls himself. He says that he is a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. A partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. What a great title. And friends, the beauty of that is that title applies to every one of us who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.

7:57Every Christian gets to look forward to the same salvation, the same resurrection, the same glorified body, the same eternity in the new heavens and the new earth. We all get to look forward to that when Jesus returns. So I want you to be encouraged today, especially in a sermon that is focused on elders, on pastors in the church, I want you to be encouraged today that whether your work for Christ and his kingdom is as well known as the most famous apostle or the most famous preacher of our day and age, even if your work for Christ and his kingdom is largely unknown, even to the other people here at New Life, that you are a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

8:44You have the same reward, the same joy coming to you that the most famous, most well-known Christian has coming to him or to her. So let's get into the exhortation itself, verse 2. Take a look at. What Peter says elders are to do. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. So we talked about the fact that elders and overseers, pastors, are all the same thing, and that the work of these men is to keep watch over the church like shepherds keep watch over the sheep. That's what Peter is saying: shepherd the flock that is among you. He's making that analogy.

9:32And that shouldn't be strange to anyone who's familiar with Jesus and the kinds of things that he said and the way that he referred to us. Matthew records that when he saw the crowds, he saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And he was moved to compassion. He said that he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He called himself the door of the sheep, the way that you come in to God's kingdom. And he said that he was the good shepherd. And if you look down at verse 4, you see that Peter refers to him as what? The chief shepherd.

10:14So Jesus is the good shepherd, the chief shepherd who willingly lays down his life for the sheep. And until he returns, he has entrusted the care of his sheep to elders, to faithful people. Pastors in the local church. And guys, if anybody understood this, the Apostle Peter understood this. You may remember that after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter and the disciples went fishing, and Jesus appeared to them on the shore. So they went, they had breakfast with him.

10:49In the course of the conversation, Jesus asked Peter three times, Do you love me? And every time, Peter said, Lord, you know I love you. And so Jesus replied with, Feed my sheep, tend my sheep, feed my lambs. So Peter understood better than anybody that the work of a pastor, the work of an elder, is to shepherd the flock, is to act in that role. So what exactly does that mean? How does a pastor do that? How do we shepherd the flock of God exercising oversight?

11:27Well, I think the first and most important thing that we need to consider before we can get into what we're supposed to do for you is that we have to keep watch over ourselves. You find this all throughout Scripture. In Acts chapter 20, Paul is addressing the elders at the church of Ephesus. And take a look at what he says to them: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

12:02Take a look at what he writes to Timothy, a pastor at that church in Ephesus. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Whenever you fly, and the flight attendants are making that long speech about the things that you're going to do to stay alive when that plane traveling four, five, six hundred miles per hour crashes to the earth, the first thing they tell you to do is to put your own mask on first, your own oxygen mask on first, before you help other people.

12:46Because you can't help anybody if you're unconscious or if you're dead. And so the same principle applies to pastors. We have to keep watch over ourselves because we can't shepherd you, we can't take care of you if we're not first taking care of ourselves and our families. In fact, if we're not taking care of ourselves spiritually, if we're not taking care of our wives and children spiritually, Paul is clear that we are disqualified from the work that an elder is called to do because if we're not faithful at home, we can't be faithful over God's house, the church.

13:22So we keep a close watch on ourselves. But then our job is to keep a close watch on your souls. Because that's what a good shepherd does. A good shepherd knows the sheep. A good shepherd keeps a close eye on the sheep. He knows if they're hungry or thirsty or tired or being bothered by parasites or being attacked by predators. And seeing their needs, he leads them to food or water or to places where they can lay down and rest. Or he applies medicine to those bugs that are bothering them or he fights off the wolves and other predators.

14:06In the same way, pastors keep a close eye on the flock that is among them. Our job is to know you and to discern what you need. And then we apply the tools of our trade, which are primarily prayer and preaching and teaching and setting an example. And so I want to think carefully about each one of those tools. The first one is that elders pray. We pray for you because we're commanded to do so, but also because we know that we cannot fix most of the problems in your life.

14:48We can't fix most of the problems in your life. Most of the trials that you're going through, whether they're self-inflicted or have been inflicted upon you by someone else, your sorrow because you've lost someone or you've lost something. That you loved, the difficulties that you encounter in school and at work and among your family and friends, we can't fix most of those things. We're finite, we're limited in our wisdom, our power, our ability to change your circumstances, but God is not. He is infinite, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful. And so, we can go to him in prayer and we can ask him to do the things that we can't do for you.

15:29So, we try to set an example for that. Every time we pray up here on Sunday mornings, we're praying primarily for you and for ourselves that we would hear and receive the word of God and apply it to our lives. We pray with our spouses for you, with our families for you. We pray individually for you. Every one of the pastors oversees a subset of our members, and we do our best to reach out to you regularly through phone calls, texts, emails, to get together with you for coffee or for a meal, to find out how you're doing, what's going on in your life, and how we can pray for you and shepherd you in that way.

16:09We pray for you because we want to. We want to do our best to be faithful. We want to know you and your struggles. And so, anytime you need prayer, I hope that the first thought in your mind is, I'm going to contact one of my pastors. Anytime you're struggling, I hope your first thought is, I'm going to contact one of my pastors. Because that's our job, our role, is to shepherd you by praying for you.

16:36Secondly, we shepherd you through preaching and teaching. I want you to take a look at this small sample of verses. First one is 1 Timothy 3, verse 2. This is the only qualification that is a thing that you must do, a skill. The rest are character. Therefore, an overseer must be able to teach. Take a look at 1 Timothy 4:13. He tells them, Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

17:142 Timothy 4:2, we looked at this earlier this semester. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. In Acts chapter 6, you have this situation where the church is growing and the needs in the church were multiplying as well, especially among widows in the congregation. And so the elders were doing all of this work to try to minister to them. But that was meaning that they had to take time, energy, and effort away from praying and from preaching and teaching the word. And so they told the church, you pick out from among yourselves seven men full of the Holy Spirit. Spirit and wisdom, and we'll set them over this work so we don't have to give up prayer and the ministry of the word. And so the church does that, and look at the fruit, Acts chapter 6, verse 7.

18:13And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Our elders will testify that the greatest gift that we have ever received in this church is godly men who have been set aside to serve the church as deacons. We were having to neglect prayer, we were having to neglect preaching and teaching the word to a large extent because we didn't have enough men serving the body in that way. And over the past year and a half, as we've expanded the deacon body, the amount of time that we're able to spend praying and preaching and teaching the word and preparing to do those things has just multiplied exponentially. And the fruit of the ministry is, I think, evident to everyone here. And we're so excited about that.

19:12Guys, we preach and teach because it's the primary way that we shepherd you, training you to think God's thoughts after him, training you to embrace truth and reject error in all of its forms, training you to pattern your life after the commands and example of Jesus. Jesus, our Savior. Pastors shepherd the church through preaching and teaching. And then, third, pastors shepherd the church by setting an example to follow. That's why when you look at the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1, almost every qualification is a character qualification. It's something that you have to be, not something that you have to do.

19:57So one of our primary jobs is setting an example for you to follow. And what that means is our marriages have to be exemplary. Our parenting has to be exemplary. Our reputations inside and outside of the church have to be exemplary. The way that we handle conflict and food and alcohol and everything else has to be exemplary. The way we handle our money has to be exemplary. Because one of the primary things that we're doing is setting an example for you to follow.

20:33I want you to look at these examples from scripture. 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is talking to the Corinthian church who desperately needed good examples. And he says, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Insofar as we are following Jesus in any area of our life, in every area of our life, we want you to imitate us. 1 Timothy 4, 12. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

21:13And I love Hebrews 13, verse 7. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Just focus on that for a second. Consider the outcome of their way of life. What that means, guys, is we're asking you to look at us and to project outward: five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years. What do the things that we are devoting ourselves to in our marriages, our parenting, the way we handle our finances, what kind of a life is that going to produce down the road? What kind of a life will we be able to look back and say that we lived if we go on living this way? Consider the outcome of our way of life and imitate our faith. That's what we're calling you to do, to look down the road. And so, if you are looking down the road and you're like, I am not living in a way within my marriage or with my parenting or with the way I'm handling my money or with the way that I'm just living as a Christian day to day, then what the call is here is to consider the outcome of our way of life and to imitate our faith. Let us help. You to walk in the manner and pattern of Jesus. Guys, we can't be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. But we are called to set you an example. We are called to say to you, be imitators of us as we are imitating Christ. And so, insofar as we are doing that, we are calling you to do that as well. We shepherd you by setting you an example to follow.

22:59Now, the question is: how should this shepherding be done? How should this oversight be exercised? Take a look at verse 2 again. He says it should be done not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. So, the first thing we see here is that pastors must serve willingly. And if you go back in your mind to 1 Timothy 3, you remember that Paul told Timothy: if anyone aspires to the office of elder, he desires a noble work.

23:45There are those ideas of aspiration. It's something that you're looking toward. You have a holy ambition. It's something that you desire in your heart. I don't know about you guys, but I grew up around people in the church. And outside of the church, they would talk about surrendering to the call to ministry. You ever heard that language before? You know, so at summer camp, you know, you might be able to like receive Christ or surrender to the call to ministry or something like that. I always thought that was a little strange.

24:15Because it's like, I mean, what does that mean? That they had other plans for their lives? Everybody has other plans for their life. There is no third grader out there. Every third grader is like, I want to be an astronaut. I want to play in the NBA. No third grader has ever said, I want to be a pastor. Like, that's not happened. So, if that's what we mean, I guess I understand that. But the concept of surrendering to the call to ministry has always rubbed me the wrong way. Because Paul talks about aspiration, he talks about desiring it. Right here, Peter says that we must serve willingly.

24:49It's not like pastoral ministry is easy. So, if you don't aspire to it, if you have to surrender to it like a prisoner of war, well, then maybe you're not called to pastoral ministry. And so, pastors must serve not under compulsion, but willingly. Second, pastors must serve how eagerly. And you notice this is said in contrast to for shameful gain. And I take that to mean for fame or for money or maybe both. And listen, I know ministers are portrayed in movies and in TV shows as villains. Most of the time. Isn't that right? I mean, if there's a minister in a movie or in a show, you're like, he's definitely the bad guy. He's going to be the guy that's greedy, hypocritical, always has a bunch of secret sins and vices. So think about the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic work. I mean, that's how they're portrayed. And don't get me wrong, there are plenty of greedy, sin-addicted, fame-chasing pastors out there. I mean, guys, Preachers of LA was an actual reality show. I don't recommend that you go watch it. I'm just saying that it's a thing. And that's what you see there. But, friends, most pastors are not greedy, fame-chasing charlatans.

26:18Most pastors are faithful men who are making less money than they could and living on even less than that because they give so much away. And I know that's a fact because I've been in so many of their homes, their modest homes. I've eaten at their modest tables. I've ridden in their used cars. I've met the people that they've blessed with their generosity. And I'm talking about big names that you would know and guys that you have not and will never hear of.

26:54Most pastors are hard workers because they're not working. For an earthly reward, they're working for an eternal one. And that's exactly what we see in verse 4. He's talking to the elders. Take a look at verse 4. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Faithful pastors want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. They're storing up treasure in heaven, not on earth. So we can't serve for shameful gain, but eagerly.

27:36And then, third, and finally, pastors must serve as examples to the flock. And this is said in contrast to domineering over those in your charge. This Greek word domineering, it's a combination of the noun Lord and the preposition over. So lord over or domineer. It means something like to exercise arbitrary and overbearing control over other people. Well, Jesus prohibited that behavior for every Christian. So that's not something that's just for pastors. In Mark chapter 10, he says, you know that the Gentiles lord it over you, they domineer you, but it can't be that way among you. In my kingdom, the last is first, the first is last. So he prohibits. That behavior for all Christians, not just pastors.

28:33Instead of domineering, elders are called to set an example, like we talked about earlier. And friends, that should make sense because influence trumps authority every single time. People do not follow titles, they follow leaders. And leaders are people of influence who set an example to follow. So pastors have to be examples to the flock. Now, up to this point, Peter has focused all of his attention on the pastors of the church. But in verse 5, he shifts the focus to the members of the church and the churches that they serve. Take a look there.

29:25Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. In Hebrews chapter 13, the writer puts an even finer point on it. He says, obey and submit to your leaders. I think we have to be honest. Words and phrases like be subject to, obey, submit, these are not words and phrases that make us very comfortable. If I'm being honest, I'm a little uncomfortable with those words and phrases, and I'm one of the people that you're supposed to be subject to.

30:08Since the fall of Adam and Eve, human beings have always struggled with obedience and submission to authority. We rebel against the idea of someone telling us what to do. And in America, that attitude is immortalized and glorified in our national heritage. We exist because our forefathers rebelled against the authority of the King of England. And we've been throwing our tea into the harbor ever since. And now, in the day of social media, where every leader is subject to public international 24-7 scrutiny and criticism, that's only gotten worse.

30:58Friends, the idea that all authority is evil, that every leader is untrustworthy and should be viewed with suspicion, that does not come from the Bible. That attitude comes from the world, which reinforces every single sinful tendency that we have. So I want you to look at these verses: 1 Thessalonians 5. We ask you, brothers, to respect. Those who labor among you and who are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

31:441 Timothy 5. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Hebrews 13:17, I alluded to this a minute ago. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. So, as you take in those verses, just ask yourself the question: Do these verses seem to suggest that we should view or treat our pastors the way that we view and treat most politicians today?

32:38Church, there's no room in scripture for treating your pastors with suspicion. And there's no advantage to doing that either. We are laboring among you, keeping watch over your souls, and we do it as men who have to give an account to God for how we've done that. And in return, God calls you to respect us, to esteem us highly. Highly in love, to do everything you can to make our work, our difficult work, a joy and not a burden. Because, guys, this whole thing runs on love and trust.

33:14Our love for you and your love and trust for us as your pastors who are overseeing your souls. Look at this quote from Mark Dever. It has been said that trust must be earned. I understand what is meant, but that attitude is at best only half true. The kind of trust that we are called to give our fellow imperfect humans in this life, be they family or friends, employers or government officials, or even leaders in the church, can never finally be earned. It must be given as a gift, a gift in faith, more in trust of the God who gives than of those whom we see as God's gifts to us. Listen to this. It is a serious spiritual deficiency in a church, either to have leaders who are untrustworthy or members who are incapable of trusting. You as a church member either need to trust your leaders or replace them. But don't say that you acknowledge them and then not follow them. Them.

34:34So, what does that require? Humility. Humility on all sides. Take a look at verse 5 again, the last section. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He's talking to everybody. He's addressed the elders, now he addresses the members of the church, and he says, Clothe yourselves, all of you, the elders and the members, with humility. Guys, it takes humility to lead. To know that every word, every action is going to be scrutinized.

35:22It takes humility to listen respectfully to criticism and at times have people question your motives or even your character. It takes humility to make hard decisions, like about masks, when you know that some of your decisions are going to be wrong and they're going to require apologies and a change of course. It takes humility to lead, but it also takes humility to follow. It takes a lot of humility to put yourself under the authority of imperfect, fallible human beings who sin and make mistakes.

36:09It takes humility to obey God and to submit to decisions that you don't agree with in the church. Because, friends, that's what submission is. It's not submission if you agree. It's only submission if you disagree. It takes a lot of humility to follow. But this is the promise that if we together humble ourselves under God, God will pour out His grace on us. And that's what we want. That's what we need. The world needs a picture of a functioning relationship, of a family, of a body, of an organization of people who has mutual respect for one another and who treats one another with grace and kindness and bears the fruit of the Spirit. They do not get to see that in politics. They do not get to see that in sports. They do not get to see that in business. They only get to see that in the church. And so let's paint that picture together.

37:10If you're a Christian and you're not a member here or at any other local church, then friends, your next step is really clear. You need to join a healthy church as soon as possible. You should not put it off another day. Because right now, you are out on your own, like being in the Sahara with wild animals and lions. The word says that Satan is like a prowling lion looking for someone to devour. There is no one watching over you. There is no one watching over your soul who has to give an account to God. And so, whether it's here or it's somewhere else, you need to join a local church. You say, Pastor Allen, I thought the membership process just wrapped up. It did, and now you're making more work for us.

38:03But there's a card on the back of the seat in front of you, and all you need to do is fill that out and say, I want information about membership, and we will get you into this church as a member. That's my promise to you. If you're a member here at New Life, this passage gives us a lot to reflect on, doesn't it? I hope that your understanding is increased about the role of pastors, but I hope as well that you have a chance to examine your attitude towards your pastors here, or if you're from somewhere else in the church that you're a member of.

38:42Has your attitude been characterized by respect, by esteem, by open-hearted love for your pastors? Have you done everything that you can to show double honor to your pastors? Have you gone out of your way to? To seek to make their work a joy and not a burden. Some of you may be aspiring to eldership. You may say, I want to be a pastor. I feel like I'm called to be a pastor either in this church or somewhere else. I lead a group every other Thursday called Exploring Pastoral Ministry. I'd love to have you be a part of it. Come and talk to me afterward.

39:24And if you're here today and you're not yet following Jesus, you should know that as hard as the pastors here are trying to shepherd you and to set an example for you, that at the end of the day, the work that we do simply points to the perfect good shepherd, Jesus Christ. I know that there are some of you that are feeling exactly the way that Matthew described the crowds. You are feeling harassed and helpless. You are feeling lost. And that's because you are a sheep without a shepherd.

40:03No church, no religious institution, no pastor can fix that for you. Jesus and Jesus alone can fix that for you because he is the good shepherd. He is the one that can meet your spiritual needs in a way that no pastor can. Because while we sacrifice for you in every way that we can, he alone laid down his life, died in your place for your sins, and rose again. Willingly, eagerly, and set an example for us to follow, one that we can never match and live up to, but one that we can follow. And so, if that's you today, you need to receive the person and work of Jesus Christ by turning from your sin and accepting Him and His work through faith.

40:50Again, that card is on the back of the seat in front of you. Fill it out. Let us know you want to talk about Jesus. What you need, friends, is to humble yourself because God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. And so, I pray that you will humble yourself this morning and receive the Good Shepherd through faith. Let's pray. Father, this is such a hard passage to preach because when I read these words and meditate on them and pray over them, I'm just so aware of all the ways that I and my fellow pastors have fallen short.

42:01I thank you, God, for your grace and your mercy that you've poured out on us, and that we can look to you, our good shepherd, as our Savior, our friend, our pastor. But, Father, you know the desire of our hearts is to be faithful to the work that you've called us to. And so I pray that you would help us to be faithful shepherds to this flock, the flock that is among us. God, I pray that those who aren't yet under the care and authority and shepherding of a local group of pastors, that they would join a healthy church. I pray that those who are not yet part of the Capital C church, because they haven't received Christ by faith, they haven't come to the Good Shepherd, I pray that they would receive him today.

43:06God, we ask that you would do a mighty work in our hearts, that we would be a faithful picture of unity and joy, mutual submission and love in the spirit of these words that we've heard today. In Christ's name, we ask these things. Amen. Thank you for listening. To the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.