The Assembly: Committed Congregation - Service (Part 2)

So let's quickly move into the next section, 19, 20, so on, where you have this idea, Brother Tom, of superiority. I don't need you. What does that, if the first one led to discouragement and inferiority, this leads to pride.

I don't need you. And then that is answered in verse number 24. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered, balanced.

It's all together there, perfectly. So if you have a problem with gift in your assembly, your argument's with God. Pretty solemn.

So we need to be aware of these things and allow them to change our thinking. I was just looking at that verse, verse 18 again. As it hath pleased him.

Yes. I think that's what settles the matter. It's not so much what the brethren have to say, although I think they have a responsibility in this, but ultimately, is it pleasing to God what I am doing? And if every one of us check ourselves out with that, I think it would help us to guide us in what God would have us to do.

Absolutely. And let's, I think honesty's so good. Too much limelight, it's not good for any preacher.

There's something, my father taught me years ago, watch out for the unconscious rising of pride. And you just think, on the end all be all. Nobody can preach like I can preach.

But if we get back to this book, we're part of a whole, okay? It's the whole idea of everything working together. Mr. Wark used to say, don't let anyone put you on a pedestal because there's only one way to go. Sometimes the ones that put you up can be the ones that bring you down.

Yeah. Scott, with what you said is true. When David was told, was said of David that they sang that Saul had slain his thousands, David, his 10,000.

That didn't do David any good. That's right. Read the context of those passages.

And you know, both Brody and I here today, and Brandon as well, I can just refer to you brother, I don't mind giving you a little limelight for a minute. You have been very encouraging. So then when he comes with correction, it has more weight.

If everything's always bang, bang, bang, that just leaves me on the ground. But give me something that lifts me and then there's a correction maybe later. Quickly, verse number 27, because the clock is beating me again.

I noticed they gave me a half hour lesson, Frank, I'm really upset with that right now. Verse 27, why does Paul change the pronoun? Look at verse, now this is for the younger people. Verse number 13, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body.

Why in verse 27, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. Why the change? Do you have a new breed Bible? I do. Is the word the italicized? Yeah.

Yes, yeah. Right. Body like in character.

So the local assembly in Corinth, of which Paul was not a part is the point you're making. They were body like in character. They should be functioning as this human body.

Right, so let's try to link back into a number of things that were said today. Out in Christendom, individuals are wrong when they make assembly reception based on body truth, salvation truth. In this chapter, we see a clear distinction between them.

One happens at conversion or however. The other one is after baptism. Well, that's chapter two.

See how we're taking the word of God and we're allowing it to interpret itself. This is not what the gospel hall is forced upon the Bible. This is what the Bible teaches.

So we want to be very clear on that. Any final comments? One more thing. You were mentioning inferiority of some members and superiority of others.

But there's a last thing here and that is partiality. Very good. You said if one member suffer, all of them suffer with it.

Very good. So there needs to be equality in our relationship with other believers. And not being partial, well, I like this person, so I'll give them a better place or a better function.

Right, very good. One little thing. The book of, in First Corinthians, you'll notice that before Paul corrected them, he commanded them, so that's a good principle.

Very nice thing, yeah. Just as a general comment, retrospectively looking back. In First Corinthians, we have four metaphors used of the local assembly.

There is the husbandry, tilled field, and the thought there's activity. They involve tilling, guarding, keeping, right? Then you have the building, thought of stability, the stability of a building. And then we also have the thought of a temple in chapter three, the sanctity of the assembly.

But here it's the body and it's the thought of unity and functioning for the good of the whole. Right on, very good. So that's a three.

There's one more, isn't there? The bride? The bride. Where's that? We are bride. Where's that, nearby? He's talking First Corinthians, within First Corinthians.

Oh, I'm sorry, I got you now. We'll talk about that later. It's good.

All right, let's move to First Thessalonians, chapter five, please. And verse number 12 to the end. I'll just quickly read it, and we've got about 33 minutes left.

I thought, I didn't quite know who put this Bible study together, but it's very nice how that a lot of the things that are emphasized in chapter 12 is going to be actually, we're gonna see it function here with the oversight, which I thought was quite nice. First Thessalonians five, verse number 12. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you.

First Thessalonians five, verse 12. And are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything giving thanks, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearances of evil, and the very God of peace shall sanctify you wholly and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen. Now we'll start right away, verse number 12. So the responsibility here is actually on the part of the saint to know the shepherd, whereas in other places it's the shepherd knowing the sheep.

Perfect balance of scripture, right? So how do we know them? He's saying, we know them. We teach you, brethren, to know them which labor among you. So how do we know them? The key is in the laboring.

So the working identifies, is that probably, go ahead, develop that, go ahead. So their approachability, their concern, their labors, their activity, right? They're putting themselves out, and you could get various pictures of shepherds from the scriptures, whether it's a Jacob, whether it's a man who were willing to, no matter what the weather was, they weren't fair weather shepherds. They labored in this, they labored in that.

If people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the flock. Very good, so it's a very good point because these first couple of verses are gonna be looking at the oversight. Now listen, if you're here today and you think this is gonna turn into a, let's get even with the elders.

You got the wrong man opening this Bible study because I have great respect for elders. We criticize them far too much. And if we prayed for them as much as we criticize them, we'd change it, we'd shake this world upside down.

There's a work, brethren, that they do. As I remember my father, he says, Scott, you might not be able to trace everything that we do in the oversight, but you can trust us. That has held me in good stead.

So there is a laboring, and this is leading up to the esteeming. I would take it in verse number, end of verse number 12, and admonish you is the general sense of giving helpful, practical ministry, be it public or be it private. As we get down a little further, same word is used, but now it seems worn.

There's something now very, has to be identified. So have some of that. Just against the background of this epistle, what's 1 Thessalonians all about? Well, it's the coming of the Lord.

But as he closes out the epistle, here are saints that are waiting for the Lord's coming. And here are conditions that should pertain in the assembly in the meantime. And so in the Lord's absence, he has placed under shepherds to care for the saints, to feed them.

I take it that's the primary role of a shepherd, is to feed the sheep. Brother, we know that this assembly was only established about a year. Yes, very young.

So these were men that had made remarkable progress, and they had demonstrated a deep exercise in the ongoing welfare of the saints. Sometimes we wait 30 years, or someone has to be saved in the assembly for years and years before they could function. These were young men, and they hadn't been saved very long.

So it should be an encouragement to younger men. You know, in 1 Timothy 3, he says, strive for, what is that? Aspire to the work of the overseer. They should do that from the very beginning.

Absolutely. Brother Brody? So I do agree that it will be easily identifiable by their labor, but explain the use of the word, or overview in the Lord in this context. Yes, I got to admit, this is one of my soapboxes.

The human heart is naturally against authority. It's everywhere in the world. And everybody seems to go, ooh, the translator's made an awful mistake here, then that or over.

Go through and look at it. Anytime there's leadership, responsibility, it is in the sense of over, out front. You could look at oversee, looking out for.

There's an accountability that is placed upon elders that is not upon me, who's not an elder. That's why I'm a firm believer that preachers should not be involved in oversight business. I've learned that from this man.

And there's too many problems are created when a preacher gets involved in. Oh, no, if they're asked in, their advice, understand all that. But I want all my preaching brethren to know this.

This Bible teaches that we are accountable to elders. I come from an island where I'm accountable to elders. When I'm here visiting, I'm accountable to the oversight in Mount Sterling.

They don't come answering to me. So is that what you had in your mind, bro? You go ahead. There's the aspect of feeding the flock of God, which you are among, or which is among you.

But there has to be some sort of acknowledgement of their authority because they are governing. They're not just feeding. They're placed before you in the Lord is the idea, isn't it? Placed before, set out before you, but it's in the Lord.

It's only under his authority that they have any authority. It's also seen though in light of their work, right? So it's not a position, it's a work. And that's important to understand too.

And I think that is even why he adds the last injunction and be at peace among yourselves because ultimately they are accountable to the Lord. So when it comes full circle, I think we could agree that it's not only that we're all going to watch these men work and say, okay, I know he's a shepherd because he's shepherding. But at some point the assembly has to make known these are the men that we are going to follow in their decisions when it comes to government.

I think it has to be. So that's a good question. So how is that done? Because there are various places, some have said, well, we need to make an announcement to the assembly that this person is now on the oversight or we need to do this.

Let's back up for a second. The position work argument I've heard my entire life and I disagree with it being just a word because when I've sat seeing the actual work being done, the context here is what I would say are called standing in the bridge, meaning the actual putting something out of the assembly requires an overseer to stand up and do the work. And it can't be done by an unseasoned brother, okay? So if you look at, and I'll give you an example of Proverbs 31, is it? The woman who is exonerated, the reason her husband, because she's going out and buying a field, she's doing all this stuff that seems like men's work, but they're doing it unified because her husband is standing in the gate.

He is the judge, he is looking out into the world and he's standing in the breach to protect the people from the spy that will come in. And that is a work, but it's also a position. It's not just a work.

It is a work, but I believe it is a position as well because you have. If that was the case, then you would need help. I'm saying that that position is predicated by the work.

And that is what the word of God teaches. So that you don't attain to that unless you're doing the work really, because there could be wrong men in leadership doing the wrong things. So the two passages that emphasize the work of the elder, both emphasize the fact that if a man desire, 1 Timothy 3, he desires a good work.

Here it's esteeming the very height for their work's sake. That's the point that I'm making, right? But there is a position and that's what this over is, is it's a position. And it's also, they're also serving under as well.

And that's a position. It's an actual physical place that they have to be to be doing the work. I agree it's a work.

Yeah, and we know that from Philippians chapter one, there's a distinction made between the elders, the deacons and the saints, right? So this idea of today where, oh, we're just all one big happy family. No, we're not. That's why homes are breaking down because it's not a shared headship.

The man is head, he's responsible. In the assembly. So listen, it might be young brother and you might be saying, okay, how do I esteem them very highly and love for their work's sake? Listen to them.

Don't be disagreeing and going out and getting a little group together and you're gonna get them up against. Be workable. I don't understand what they're doing, but I'm going to submit.

They're golden words, brother and sister, submit and accept. There's things that you don't, pray for them. Pray for the situations.

And I think that is why this, often in authority and be at peace among yourselves. When I understand you're above me, there's something that wants to tear you down because we don't like authority and the flesh doesn't like it either. And I think how these things just all come in here is very important.

Scott, in our New Testament, there are five words that describe the functioning of these men. Do you want to? You're thinking of Acts 20, go ahead. Well, you have overseers, those that watch out for, right? Are looking over the flock.

They're giving attention to what's going on. Then there's the thought of the elder, which is most common. And that's the thought of maturity.

They are mature Christians. You have the thought as well of the rulers. They stand before the saints.

Romans 12, eight and so on. Then you have leaders. They go before the saints, right? They're taking the lead on things.

And shepherds who feed and care for the flock. An overseer is a person with a watchful eye. An elder is a person generally with wide experience, but a shepherd is a man with a warm heart.

And that's why we can take what the elders want or we have to disagree or whatever. We have a love for it. That's why they're doing it.

And what happens if the elder is in a wrong position? Well, there's where submission comes in again. Like I think of what happened with Paul when he came up to Jerusalem, the elders wanted him to partake in this vow for seven days. And Paul could have said, have you not read my epistle to Galatians? We don't mix law and grace.

But he submitted and God didn't allow it to come to fruition. What I was thinking of was there's no way we can say he shouldn't be an elder and we'll get rid of him. If he's in the wrong place, God can get rid of him.

Right, and we still believe it's God's assembly. That's the thing. I had a young brother come to me once.

Does it surprise you he's no longer in the assemblies? I don't think so-and-so is an elder. I said, well, that's a great road we're starting on. I said, where do you think that road is gonna end? Out of the assembly.

I said, who are you? You've got this tremendous insight that nobody else has. Do you know what that was? That was just attitude, rebellion. Now here's where it comes down practically, verse 14.

Can I just answer that? Because I asked that question before it kind of got derailed. Go ahead. So, okay, so let's just take number one, a man is going to come on to the oversight, okay? So this is a decision by the other elders.

Are they recognized by this? How is it made known? Should it be made known to the assembly? I do believe that. So you believe that it should be a public announcement to the assembly that we have now taken this person on? We were talking about this in the home and I know everybody has different personnels and some people are fairly shy. I think there's just a matter of orderly business in God's house.

Why is it that when you and I went into the work, it was made known to the assembly? So-and-so was leaving secular work and they're going out to preach the gospel. Why is it when it comes to oversight, shh, don't, we're gonna sneak this in, and all of a sudden one day, ooh, you're in the oversight? I just don't see that. I think there's a way it can be done.

We have asked so-and-so to share some responsibility in the oversight. Fine. At least as saints, we can pray for that, that God will give the needed help.

So I know there's the shyness and all that, but I think we need to be orderly, brother. I'm just referring to the case of an assembly where they were asking themselves who is going to be, or who is an elder, who's an elder who's gonna be in the oversight? And the brethren had the wisdom to ask, who are the men that we'd go to if we have a problem? Who is the one that we can depend upon for answers? Who's doing the work to visit the assembly believers? In a sense, brethren should be recognized because they're already, in some manner, doing the work of an elder. And we wanna make sure, that's why God, in his wisdom, has given us a plurality of oversight.

Listen, whenever you get the word elder in a singular, it's always looking at its characteristics. But whenever you get the word elders, look closely, there's always a church involved. That right away goes against this idea out there in Christendom of one man doing everything.

Now as well, brothers, I understand the immaturity. There's no such thing in the Bible as the chief elder. It's not ideographies.

Each person that is recognized as being on that oversight has valid input. Now there's experience. And the younger should maybe talk less and listen more.

That's just common sense. But no elder should say, oh, you're only a papa, we don't really care what you say. That is, you wouldn't find that in the Bible, okay? So you have to know that not only we're going from unity in the fellowship, there's often not unity in the oversight, brethren.

That causes, the sheep know that. Look at what we're entering into now, verse 14. Same thing happened in Corinth.

How are you gonna deal with wrongs without first addressing unity? Look at this, verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren. So the contrast, context, verse 12.

We beseech you, brethren. All the brethren, all the brothers and sisters are to know who the elders are and esteem them. Verse 14, now he's coming down just to the oversight.

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak.

Be patient toward all men. Who wants to be the one that has to carry the stick? That's why he needs his other brethren behind him. That's why he needs the assembly.

Do you know the greatest harm you can do when discipline is enacted in the assembly? I don't agree with it, especially when it's your own blood. I like what this man taught me when somebody had to be dealt with in his family and they came to him and he said, don't come to me. I'm not their elder, you are.

I give you full permission to deal with them. That's spiritual thinking, brothers and sisters. There's an interesting word there, Scott, as you make the transition into that next section.

So you have the elders acknowledged in verses 12 to 13. Now the elders are advised in verses 14 and 15. But right in between, esteem them very highly and love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves.

Amen. You have the thought of peace brought in. Yeah.

And that is so necessary if you're going to deal with those that there's a disparity here, perhaps, of those that are spiritually strong, the elders, the mature believers, and those that are spiritually weak. They're unruly here. And what's the other one? Feeble-minded.

There's a disparity. That's right. But the governing principle is peace among yourselves.

Right. And I think that, oh, sorry, go ahead. Well, see, in verse three, you have, and they shall say, peace and safety.

This is a contrast, really. It's talking about the day of the Lord. And we know the rapture will come first.

But when it's the day of the Lord, I think when it refers to us, it's a God deal with our testimony. Very good. And what's going to come out in that future day.

Very good. Very good. So then you have verse number 15, see that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good.

Now, further down, you're going to get the word good again, but it's a different word. This up here in verse number 15 is a beneficial good. There's a positive benefit that is flowing.

So dealing with all of these different cases is challenging. That's why we need to pray for these brethren that have to sit someone down or go visit them in their home and say, sister, brother. See, we live in an age today where don't discipline nothing.

Don't make anyone feel ashamed. They'll just leave us. What do you find? What's the principle you find in the book of the Acts? Every time there was discipline, there was growth.

You are not helping a situation, dear elders, if you just keep sweeping under the rug. Maybe it'll go away. Things fester.

Little leaven, leaven up the whole lump. Now, those of us that see wrong and we want to fix it, you just hold back. Pray for those men.

Let the elders do their job. Now we can help and try to assist things and maybe go to them and ask them, is there something I could do to help? I might have a better relationship with so-and-so. But always confer with your brethren.

Don't go behind them and underneath them and try to do something without their knowledge because they are ultimately accountable for that assembly. Brody, you have something there, brother? No, I was just smiling. Oh, okay.

The example we have, the example, spiritual example we have of not taking down an elder is actually David in the book of the Acts. Amen, amen. He is anointed king already.

Amen. And the king is coming after him and he is given the power to end Saul's life. It's God's anointed.

I will not put my hand to him. That's right. And that's the example.

Yeah, we should never seek to take down an elder. That's right. And then the New Testament part would be where the elder is that a double witness.

If anyone comes against him, it has to be in two. It's different for an elder because he is, if someone comes against an elder, for the New Testament construction, if it's a he said, she said, the elder is automatically not found guilty because of the fact that he's an elder. Lack of witness, which will come up a little more importantly in Matthew chapter 18.

So just as we jump out of this section into verse number 16. Let me say something. Elders should be approachable.

Oh, absolutely. If you don't agree with them, go and ask them and you may find that there's something you don't know about them. And just on that very practical point.

And you've heard me mention my father a number of times. I love the dear man. Murray and I had to sit down years ago with my father.

Advancing in age, pressure was making him sound cranky. Dad, it's too much for you. Step back.

God will raise up someone else. That's where his heart was entire life. You know that brother.

But there's just, there's a lot of pressure that's on people. And sometimes when they get a little irritable, it's building, it's building, right? But we should try to help that. Just as we jump out of this section of verse 16, I'm gonna summarize it this way.

I wanna speak to my younger brethren today. Whatever you have plans of doing, if you don't have your brethren behind you, you're wrong. Don't do it.

Accept it. Work with those men. Get to know those men.

Respect is earned, not demanded. And you might think, oh, oh, I wanna go preach the gospel. And we'll get up.

Listen, God will promote you. God will honor a spirit of submission. You go through this Bible and you find me one person who God didn't teach the lesson of submission to first before he used them.

It's against this world, but it is God's way. So let's go into verse number 16. We have a whole number of commands here.

We had a number up earlier as well. Now, my personal understanding is verses 16, 17, and 18 is personal, and then he brings it into the assembly in verse 19, 19, 20, 21. So what I see here is coming back to this morning.

We carry personally something into every meeting. Attitude, temperament, on and on and on it goes. So we'll start with 16, 17, and 18.

So that would have been all right to look at that as activity in the assembly. So you have the will of God for the assembly in those three verses, 16, 17, and 18. Then you have the word of God in the assembly, verses 19 through 22.

And then maybe the work of God in verses 23 to 24. So first of all, rejoice evermore. We are to express our delight.

Then pray without ceasing, express our dependence. I'll take you to the prayer meeting. And in everything, give thanks, expressing our debt to God for blessings received.

Very good, yeah. No, I know some have taken it all. I just had a little difficulty with verse 17.

Like if I just took this to be primary to the assembly, that means we're to pray all the time. Okay, I know we're to be ready to pray all the time, but I was just making a real close link between the personal, I'm bringing something into that assembly. So do you have something there, Frank? I think that's exactly what he's saying, that you cannot divorce one from the other.

Right, right. Praise comes before prayer. Yeah.

So it's not just all about us. We, first of all, we praise God and praise the Lord. So then we move into verse number 19, quench not the spirit.

Now this is very important. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is the good. I believe that's the word of God, which has been proven all things.

You hold onto it. So we pray, I'll just say this and I'll come to you. We are very concerned about the spirit's individual guidance in our lives individually.

But how much time in prayer do we give to the spirit's guidance to a collective assembly, which is given through ministry? See, quench not the spirit. Don't despise prophesying. We have a very quaint way of doing that.

I don't like, Brother Bill, anyway, I don't like your delivery. So I'm not gonna listen to what you say. Wrong.

So and so, so and so. I won't listen to you either. Yeah, there you go.

We have our favorites. The spirit of God has no favorites. He will use the weak, he'll use the strong.

Look at the diversity of prophets he used. Can you imagine me and Nehemiah banging our heads together? Oh, and you loved it back there. Pulling hair out and everything else.

We can't do that today, though. But we have to be conscious. It's gonna be difficult with you, so I won't try.

You do have a lovely head of hair, by the way. Okay, William, take us. Okay, quench not the spirit.

We're applying this to the assembly still? Definitely, yeah. Okay, good. Wouldn't the system of clerisy, for example, be one example of quenching the spirit? Okay, let's explain that for the younger people.

What do you mean by the clerisy? Well, the modern idea of a pastor, right? What's out there in Christendom? Very good. It militates against the priesthood of all believers. That's right.

That brethren are expected to be free to take part. Absolutely, very good. I wondered if it's also in relation to the epistle itself.

Because he's, verse 14 goes back, now we exhort you, brethren. So he's exhorting them. He's encouraging them to listen to the word of God.

And now in verse 8 and 19, he's gonna close with that. So quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, but prove all things. So the way we would quench the spirit, and that would be, I would take it quenching is more of a collective thing.

I do agree. So that it would be by suppression of the truth of God or rejection of it. And he's saying, don't despise the word of God.

What I'm writing to you now is in several areas. I mean, if we can go back through the epistle, there were some very, very pointed areas, not only in relation to the will of God, in relation to their morality, in relation to doctrine, in relation to the coming of the Lord. And he's saying, don't despise these, don't quench the spirit, he says, but prove all things.

That's right. So coming back to your point, Brethren Murray. I just think that for those of us that seek to minister to God's people, keep in mind who you're speaking to, okay? Don't speak down to them in a down-meaning way.

You will not have people that are gonna appreciate no matter what you say, because they're off before you start. Remember what you do, I was on the other night with Peter. It says in Acts chapter two and 14, that Peter stood up with the leaven.

The leaven weren't standing with him. He stood up, and when he did that, he could then lift up his voice. That's right.

They were gonna hear him. So that when we're speaking, sometimes maybe it's just a personality, we don't mean to do that, but we gotta be very careful. Remember, esteeming each other better than yourself.

I'm gonna look at these people for who they are. They're God's people. Right there.

So because we have the truth and we're right, doesn't mean I could be ignorant or rude or sarcastic or just turn a ministry meeting into a half hour comedy show. We are dealing with the word of God. And the spirit of God through the ministry.

So brethren, we're not talking about sermonettes. We're talking about a genuine, something is on the heart. So how can we quench the spirit to spice proper? You're gonna have a Bible study on Sunday on 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

Ooh, hair's gonna be touched. We better not talk on that. That's quenching the spirit.

It's in the Bible. Now, based on your comment, do you see a difference? Verse 19, quench not the spirit. Do you see a difference? I do.

From Ephesians five, grieve not the spirit. That's individual. Ah, good, good.

So for the people of God, Ephesians chapter five, grieve not the spirit. Look at the setting. All these different sins come before it and these different sins after.

The context seems to be individually. Here, the context seems to be at a corporate level at the local level. Go ahead.

And there were specific things that were going on in Thessalonica that needed to be addressed. And the assembly could refuse to hear those and reject them. And by doing so, they would quench the spirit.

And we can do that collectively very clearly with teaching that is given, with teaching that puts its finger on specific things. Right, and this is another thing that I have learned from my dear brother, Murray. The assembly I come from, I'm used to speaking.

I mean, it's easy to get up almost every Sunday. But you know what I start to realize? There's younger men. I'm shutting them down.

Why can't I just sit back and listen? Oh, something in there says, oh, they got ahead of you. Praise the Lord if they get ahead of you. It's not a race.

We're all in this together. So there's where older, mature individuals can help us and we can all learn these things, which take years too. But this verse go with the one that follows.

Different conditions and there were prophets. And there were some maybe they didn't want to listen to. You know, they hindered them in speaking.

But then the thing is, but you should be teachable. That's it, yeah. So positively appreciating what we can grasp, prove all things, right? And it's the word of God.

Hold fast, preserve it by practicing it and propagating it. So these things, younger brothers and sisters that you're hearing here today, don't go away and say, oh, Scott McLeod said it and Murray said it and Frank's. Prove it.

Find the verse yourself and go now, how did he come to that conclusion? And the spirit of God will give you light. So verse 22. There's no prophet would say anything contrary to the word of God that was.

Exactly. That time wouldn't fit in there to evaluate what we hear by the word. A lovely example would be by the Bereans in Acts.

They searched the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. So verse number 22, I still take it to be in the assembly context. Abstain from all appearances of evil.

We have other verses to look at the private. But even assemblies, be careful what methods you take on board. Don't humanize assembly principles.

Don't humanize the gospel. Don't try to reinvent the wheel of how we're going to orchestrate God's word here. We have a pattern.

It's been given to us. Lots of examples and we need to keep to the spiritual pattern. So just on the meaning of that verse.

I think sometimes it is misapplied. But it's abstain from all forms of evil. Isn't that the idea? It's not just what appears to be.

It's all forms of evil. Would you take it that that in continuing, because Newberry has it as one section, so that that's the end result of quenching the spirit and refusing prophesying. Very good.

So that they will deviate from God's, not only God's method, which is prophesying the word of God, but then they will actually take upon themselves that which is something that is evil. Very good. And then it just leads naturally into this idea of sanctification.

Verse number 23. The spirit of God is very jealous. In the Old Testament, God, his name is jealous.

He wants all of us, body, soul, and spirit. Lock, stock, and barrel, as we would say. Body, spirit, soul, and body.

Yes, you have the proper order here. I did that just to see how sharp. No, I didn't.

I did. Good for you. There's three mentions of peace then in this.

There's false peace in the very beginning of the chapter, as was mentioned. And there's fruitfulness of peace, as far as these things now being fruitful among you and those who are leaders and their fruitfulness and their work. And then there's, actually, he ends with the very foundation of peace, which is God himself.

That's right. So coming at the end, you know, nice how that Paul would say, brethren, pray for us. I hope you don't think preachers don't need to be prayed for.

We need help. Elders need help. Saints, everybody needs help.

Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I was touched by just my brother, Cal, here. You know, when we first met each other, it kind of looked like you had a little bit of a tear in your eye, brother.

I was glad to see that. I thought we should have spent the first half of this conference just a hug fest. Not a slug fest.

Hug fest. Isn't it great to see each other? Amen. Certain places, they do carry this out in a way.

If you want to kiss me in the cheek, brother, I'd let you do that. They don't kiss you on the lips or anything, but they go each time. I've had people do that to me.

After the meeting, they'll line up and they'll come and give you a hug. Yeah, I mean, I take this very carefully. When you stay in a sister brother's house for like five, six, seven weeks for meetings, and the woman of the house comes and hugs you and she might plan a kiss on your face, what's wrong with that? Now, you've got to be careful.

I understand you're not gonna go and crazy and have an affair. I'm not even going there. But the affection, that's something that Zoom cannot reproduce.

The virtual thing cannot recapture this. And it doesn't have Christ in the midst. So I think we need to do a whole bunch of reprogramming for the past two years because as comfortable as that might have been, it fit a need, but let's use wisdom and not let it overtake and detract from what we're enjoying here today.

So thank you very much. Scott, one quick question. At the end, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, be preserved blameless until his coming.

Like, I've already died. So what, okay. So he's talking about believers who are long dead.

Do you actually think he's seeing really the reality of the judgment seat of Christ? Just to say that. Judgment seat of heaven. Full reward.

Yeah.