12 Essential, Practical Commands for Pastors

[0:00] 1 Timothy 4 Today we're going to study verses 7-16.

[0:34] 7-16. 1 Timothy 4, 7-16. And as we always do, I'll read the passage and we'll jump in.

[0:47] 1 Timothy 4, 7-16. Again, page 164 in that black Bible. 1 Timothy 4, starting in verse 7. And again, I'm mixing a little bit Greek New Testament with New American Standard.

[0:59] So that's why I'll sound a little bit choppy and odd. But reject worldly old wives' myths.

[1:10] But discipline yourself for the purpose towards, in other words, godliness. For bodily discipline is little profit. But godliness is profitable in every way.

[1:23] Having promise for the present life and for the one coming. Faithful is the word, worthy of full acceptance. For it is for this, unto this, we labor and strive.

[1:37] Because we hope in the living God. Who is the Savior of all men, specifically believers. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth.

[1:49] But show yourself an example. In speech. In conduct. In love. In faith. In purity. Toward those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the reading.

[2:03] To the exhortation. To the teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you. Which is given through prophecy. With the laying on of the hands by the elders.

[2:14] Take pains with these things. Be in them. So that your progress may be manifested to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching.

[2:27] Persevere in these things. For as you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Some of you know Ellen.

[2:40] She bought us a lamp for Christmas. And I think it was last Sunday. Last Sunday. I put it together. Sunday or Monday. Last Sunday. I put it together. Of course I had to bring the manual out.

[2:53] It's like how do you put this thing together? It's like all pieces. Put it together. Follow the six to eight steps. And voila. You have a nice lamp. It's over the couch. Nice little thing. So Chris and I can sit together and read.

[3:06] By the way. My New Year's resolution. I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I've never read the Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah. So I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I've already finished the first book.

[3:16] I did that in six days. Yes. It would be 11 o'clock at night. I'm like just two more pages. Then I'm done with that chapter. And then this morning. I was a little bit late this morning.

[3:27] Because I was reading this morning. So as I read. I'm like oh man. It's like 645. I'm going to get going. I'm now in the second book. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So I'm reading those books.

[3:39] But anyway. So I get to read. So we have the lamp there. We read together. Follow the manual. And you'll have success. That's the idea. Right? Follow the 12 steps.

[3:52] Follow the 12 steps of AA. And you'll have success. No more drinking. Not that I condone AA. But you follow the steps. You'll have success.

[4:02] Here's your manual. This is what you're supposed to do. Paul gives 12 steps to Timothy today. Actually 12 commands. To Timothy.

[4:13] Actually for pastors. For pastors to be successful. This is God's manual for church life. How do you do this thing called church?

[4:25] When the body gathers together. How do we do this? And today we're going to see. 12 essential practical commands. For pastors.

[4:36] For me. Honestly. 12 essential practical commands for pastors. 12. Here's a statement. 12 essential practical commands for pastors.

[4:48] So they can have an effective successful ministry. What is success? You save yourself and you save others. That's success. It's not big numbers. It's not lots of people coming to the church service.

[5:03] It's not having a fat paycheck. You get saved and other people get saved. That's success. It's kind of different from how the world defines success.

[5:14] Isn't it? Here's a long version of what we're going to see today.

[5:25] Timothy. Timothy. Timothy. 12 practical essential commands to have a successful ministry. The essence of these commands is this. Faithful in public teaching and faithful in your personal teaching.

[5:38] Conduct yourself as you teach God's word. It's for you Garrett. It's for you. Big time. Pastors should be faithful in their public teaching and faithful in their own personal lives.

[5:55] Conduct yourself as you're teaching others. Feed yourself as you're feeding others.

[6:09] That's success. And you'll see how Paul intertwines faithfulness in Timothy's public ministry with faithfulness in his personal life.

[6:20] It's intertwined within these verses 7 through 16. Show the church body how to conduct themselves as you conduct yourself well.

[6:34] And as you teach the truth. So these truths are really good for all of you to apply. You're going to see that.

[6:45] And yet the real application is to me. Your pastor. So I would encourage you. Apply these truths. These aspects of these truths.

[6:55] To your own life. You'll see ways you can do this. But I would also encourage you. To pray these for me. And for this church as a whole. Kind of have to have a body life focus this morning.

[7:11] Okay. Pray for me and the church body. That we be faithful to these commands. To be a faithful sound minister of Christ.

[7:22] That's what I need. That's what I need you to do. That's what you need yourselves to do. Be encouraged in that. May I exhort you in that today.

[7:35] Twelve of them. Let's jump in. Number one. Reject myths. Verse 7. Reject myths. Reject. He calls them.

[7:47] Worldly and old wives myths. Good faithful servants refuse untruth. They decline. Or reject.

[7:58] Or avoid. All that is contrary to the words of the faith. Verse 6. You will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Nourished on the words of the faith.

[8:08] And the sound doctrine. Which you have been following closely. And opposite to that. Reject. Avoid. The untruth. The things that are not the words of the faith. He calls them.

[8:21] Myths. Fables. If you would. I think it's in the New American Standard. Myths are unhistorical. Untruthful.

[8:32] They're profane. They're godless. These concoctions were not from God. But. Huh. Don't talk to me anytime.

[8:44] Talk to me later. These concoctions were not from God. But they're teachings of demons. Chapter 4. Verse 1. Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.

[8:57] That's where they come from. These myths. These fables. Tales. And notice he calls them. Old wives tales. Or old wives myths. It's like a sarcastic epithet.

[9:11] Characteristic of old women. Old wives tales. Definitely Jewish in nature. From chapter 1. What is it? Verses 7 through 9. You see the Jewish nature of these.

[9:21] These fanciful stories. As one writer puts it. Fictitious stories. Genes. Genealogy type stuff. Trying to figure these things out. This is nonsense. Reject these myths.

[9:35] And they regarded them as truthful. No. Reject it. Reject things that may come into the church. That will draw us away from the truth of the gospel. Notice.

[9:47] Opposite to that. From verse 7. Which is the second command. Discipline towards godliness. Definitely something that we all can apply. To our lives. But discipline yourself towards godliness.

[10:00] And the word discipline. You probably heard this before. Means to train. Referring to the physical training of athletes. This is where you get the word.

[10:11] English word. Gymnasium. Exercise this. Stay fit in this. Stay fit in the gospel.

[10:21] Discipline towards godliness. A good servant of Christ. Should be in the training toward godliness. Which means. All.

[10:32] Or reverence showed in a life of obedience. That's the word godliness means. An actively obeying life. Which befits reverence for God. And the gospel. Another way to define godliness.

[10:45] Is an outward evidence. Outward evidences of one's genuine trust in Christ. Godliness. Remember in chapter 3 verse 16. You call it the mystery of godliness. Which centers upon Christ.

[10:57] Christ is central. Christ is the focus. Jesus is supreme. Train yourself in that. Train yourself in him. And notice the purpose.

[11:10] Towards godliness. You discipline yourself towards godliness. That's the purpose. That's the goal. A good servant. Trains himself. With godliness as the goal. Exercise.

[11:20] Train yourself. In pursuing the things of God. With the goal. Of loving God more. Because you're so enamored with his love for you. He continues.

[11:33] Verse 8. For. Bodily discipline. Is of little profit. But godliness. Is profitable. Profitable for all things.

[11:45] Bodily discipline has little profit. Benefit or value. We should eat right. Exercise. Sure. When you think about the eternal perspective on things.

[11:57] That does profit. But that profit is little. Well. The comparison notice is between. The little value of physical training.

[12:07] Versus. The ginormous value of training towards godliness. I like using that word ginormous. If you watch the movie Elf. That's where I know. It's a real word.

[12:20] Right? I mean. People spend so much time. Exercising. And being fits. Taking care of what they eat. Making sure they're not eating this.

[12:34] And not eating that. And yet. They don't pray. They don't worry God's word. They don't discipline themselves for godliness. And then they wonder why they flounder as Christians. Really? Notice he says.

[12:47] In all things. Another way you can. Translate that is. In every way. Or. In all directions. It's superior. Right? There is.

[12:57] Absolute value. To training in godliness. Versus. Physical training. And. Look at what he says. The next part. Of verse 8. Since. New Yorker Standard. And holds promise.

[13:08] Literally. Since. It has promise. For the present life. And for the one coming. It has absolute value. Why? Because. It has promise.

[13:18] From God himself. For this present life. And the life to come. One. One exercises. In godliness. Because of its eternal value.

[13:30] In this life. And the future life. A life that is rich. And abundant in Christ. Remember. Godliness means. The mystery of godliness.

[13:42] Is centered. It's focus. It's Christ. Is supreme. Right? We looked at that. Chapter 3. Verse 16. I mentioned it. Just a few moments ago.

[13:53] So great sacrifice. Comes to us. When we discipline ourselves. Toward godliness. But great reward. Also comes. Similar to what Jesus says. In Luke chapter 18. Verse 29 to 30. Mark chapter 10.

[14:05] Verse 29 to 30. Is anyone. Who. Peter's like. We left everything. To follow you. He's like. You're going to have great reward. Sufferings too. But there will be great benefits to you.

[14:20] Great reward. You will reap in this life. And it's not in the prosperity gospel idea. You get a family that you never had before. You get relationships you've never had before. You get connection with people you've never had before.

[14:36] This present life. Finds. Satisfaction. And growth in the mystery of godliness. Which centers on Christ. And it prepares us. For the life to come.

[14:49] And we'll see Christ. We'll walk with him hand in hand. We participate now in this kind of life. Because we have union with Christ. We have that life with him now.

[15:02] We have that joy with him now. We have that relationship with him now. And it's just going to get even better. We look forward to the fullness of that relationship. The fullness of that life in the future.

[15:15] Train yourself in that way. Stay fit in that. He says. Another way to put it.

[15:26] When God's truth captures our beliefs and values. They guide our lives. And directs us towards more training in Christ. Towards more training in godliness.

[15:40] Because Christ is our focus. And we enjoy him. There's such great satisfaction. In the son of God. And then he gives a statement in verse 9.

[15:51] Faithful is the word. Remember that's a doctrinal statement sign for you. Signpost. Hey this is a doctrinal statement within the church. The doctrinal statement in the church body.

[16:03] The faithful word is what came in verse 8. It's talking about training for godliness. That's the faithful word. That's the statement. This is true. Paul is saying. It's doctrinally sound. He's saying.

[16:14] And it's worthy of all acceptance. That's what he's saying. This is good. And then he continues on. With the discipline towards godliness.

[16:25] In verse 10. Notice. Verse 10. For unto this. Or for this reason. We labor and strive. So godliness profibility.

[16:38] Motivates us. To laboring and striving. Godliness profibility. It's what motivates us.

[16:50] That's what he's saying here in verse 10. For this reason. Unto this we labor and strive. The promise inherent in godliness. It motivates us to labor. To strive.

[17:02] Labor. Work hard. Toil. Pastors should work hard at godliness. Christians should work hard at godliness. Strive.

[17:14] King James Version has a word here that says suffer reproach. Actually a better textual manuscript version is going to be striving. Or struggling.

[17:25] Striving after a goal. Agony. Referring us once again back to that athletic illustration imagery.

[17:36] Where you're training yourself and athletes training themselves. And doing all those things fit for that right. To get themselves ready for the big race. For the big competition. So the promise inherent in training and godliness motivates a pastor.

[17:56] Motivates a Christian. To labor and strive with intensity. And look at the ultimate grounds. The ultimate reason that he gives us here.

[18:07] Next part in verse 10. Because. Or for. New American Standard. We have fixed our hope. Literally it's we hope.

[18:19] In the living God. The ultimate ground. The reason why we do this is because our hope is in God himself. He is our hope. We hope in the living God.

[18:33] Godliness is not just a life of obedience to the truth of Christ for nothing. Hope. Which is a fact yet to be revealed.

[18:45] That's what hope is. It's a fact. Yet to be revealed. It's the truth of God. Who is truly alive. He is for real man. He is the only one who is able to keep his promises.

[18:59] The promises that he makes. He will keep them. So we can have hope. And the promise of eternal life. The promise to be with Christ. The promise to be in his kingdom. The promise to be with him forever.

[19:10] He's going to fulfill that. Why aren't there amens to that? Leave it to my son to do that. Notice he says. We hope on the living God.

[19:23] Who is the savior of all men. Of all sorts of men. I would say it takes it like that. All sorts of people. Chapter 2 verse 2. He said this before. Chapter 2 verse 4. All kinds of men.

[19:35] This is an Old Testament reference. There is no other savior in the world. But God. And God alone. He loves sinners.

[19:48] And saves them through Christ. And Christ's finished work. It's the only way you can be saved. God must save you.

[19:59] You must trust Christ alone. For you to be saved. You must turn from your sin. And put your hope in Jesus. You must say. Jesus I believe you died for my sins.

[20:11] You resurrected from the dead. I put my hope. I put my trust in you. You're the only way I can be saved. And God will save you. If you're here. You don't know Jesus.

[20:21] You should repent and trust Christ even now. That's the gospel. God loves sinners. He saves them through Christ. And his finished work. Notice the last part of verse 10.

[20:36] Especially of believers. This word provides further definition of the saving. So you can even translate it as. That is believers. Or specifically believers. God has a purpose in his salvation.

[20:48] He saves his people. See the first one is rejecting these myths. Second. Discipline towards godliness. These next few they go pretty fast.

[21:00] Three and four. Command and teach. Command. Three. Teach. Four. Verse 11. Command and teach these things. Command the things said by Paul.

[21:14] You have apostolic authority. Timothy. Teach them to obey the things that I just wrote about. Verse 1 through 10. They just wrote about. In chapters 1, 2, and 3. Gospel ministry is commanding and teaching truth.

[21:32] That's gospel ministry. So 3. Command. 4. Teach. Notice. 5 and 6. Let no one despise your youth.

[21:43] 5. 6. Be an example. Look at verse 12. Verse 12. Let no one despise your youth or look down on it.

[21:53] 5 and 6. 6. 6. 7. 7. Going back to verse 11. Here's Timothy. He's commanding and teaching these things. Well. As he was commanding and teaching these things.

[22:04] People in the church body may scorn. Or despise him being so young. Who are you that are teaching me? A young whippersnapper. I had a teacher in high school.

[22:17] He called the junior highers a bunch of honyaks and yahoos. That was Mr. Springer. You know. He said. I know yahoos out there. Honyaks. You know. He was so funny. I said. What is this young hack teaching me?

[22:28] Who is this yahoo commanding me? Resistance. Questioning. Timothy was at least in his 30s. Maybe in his 40s.

[22:41] Maybe 48. Young guy. Good looking. Or maybe he was ugly. And the elders in the body.

[22:54] They were probably older. Who is this kid? In the Greek. The first part is the verb. Show yourself an example.

[23:06] The negative. Don't let them despise us. The positive. Be a pattern. Or an example.

[23:17] Be a mold. Or a pattern. That should be. Pressed into the lives of God's people. As they watch your life. That's the idea of. Of the pattern. They have a pattern. From that pattern.

[23:27] They would make other things. So be that pattern. Be that mold. Be that example. One writer says.

[23:39] It's not necessarily about confrontation. But exemplification. Overcome people's tendency to look down on you.

[23:52] As another writer says. By demonstrating a maturity in life and conduct. Give a pattern for believers. Notice he says. Those who believe.

[24:03] To follow. The pastor's life. Is to be a model for the body. Look at what he says.

[24:13] How he describes it here. In speech. In conduct. In love. In faith. In purity. So in speech.

[24:25] His words. In conduct. His way of living. In love. His affection. And care. For Christ. In the body. In faith.

[24:37] His trust in Christ. And purity. His moral purity. In the body. As believers see these qualities in him. Demonstrating his true. Spiritual maturity.

[24:49] It would give him the practical respect. Remember my father-in-law talking about. There's positional respect. And then there's practical respect.

[24:59] Positional respect. You have the position. But then there's the practical respect. That's earned. Another writer says this. A. Quote.

[25:10] Pastor. Wends the respect of his congregation. One day at a time. As he continually lives out his life before them. Over time they behold what he is. And come to respect him.

[25:22] End quote. A life showing what it means to be Christ's disciple. Devotion to God. That's the type of guy. Timothy's called to be.

[25:33] That's the type of guy. Pastor should be. Notice the seventh command he gives to him. Give attention. And notice the three aspects that he gives here.

[25:45] In verse 13. Until I come give attention to the reading. The exhortation. The teaching. The verb give attention means to turn your mind.

[25:56] Devote yourself. Or apply yourself to this. It's the same word he uses in chapter 4 verse 1. With the false teachers. They gave themselves over to false teaching. The same word he uses in chapter 3 verse 8.

[26:08] With the deacons. They should not be deacons if they give themselves over to wine. Excuse me. So give yourself over to these three tasks.

[26:19] It's for you Timothy until I come. The public reading. The exhortation. The teaching. What does he mean? The public reading. Which I think you have.

[26:30] Yeah. New American sentence says of scripture. Which is implied. Yes it's true. It's a public reading of scripture. It followed Jewish tradition. When Jews would meet in the synagogue. They would read out loud the Old Testament.

[26:43] Which would include. They would probably read the Old Testament. As well the admonitions and letters given by Paul himself. Which was considered scripture. At that time. The exhortations were comfort.

[26:56] Comfort. So the idea is calling people. Call the people to respond to what was read from God's word. And to love and obey Christ. Call them to repentance. Trust Christ.

[27:08] Love Christ. Serve. Grow. To be gracious. Remind them of these gospel truths. All these different things. That's what exhortation means. And then leads into the next one.

[27:18] Teaching. Teach God's word. Teach the truth. Teach them the principles of God's word. God's people need to be taught truth. Instructed in the truth.

[27:30] And appealed to respond to the truth. To apply the truth. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. That's my task. Ask. So I'll make a strong statement here.

[27:47] When the church body gathers together. We should read out loud God's word. We should be exhorted from God's word. And we should be taught God's word.

[27:59] A church body that does not do these things. Should consider if they are a true church. If a church is not doing these things. Are they really a true church? Give attention to the reading.

[28:15] Exhortation to the teaching. The eighth one. He says don't neglect the spiritual gift. Verse 14. The spiritual gift within you.

[28:28] Don't neglect or deny the gift given to him. It was the source of the power for ministry. This gift equipped Timothy for ministry. And notice it was given to him. It says through prophetic utterance.

[28:39] Literally it's just through prophecy. God revealed it. God revealed to Timothy through prophecy. Along with the elders.

[28:50] That he was to be a minister of the gospel. He was to be gifted by God with the task of ministry. Called by God's spirit. Paul brought this up to chapter 1 verse 18. And notice he says.

[29:05] With the laying on of hands by the elders. The elders laid their hands on Timothy. And commissioned him to complete the task. That God called him to do. To minister. To serve. To pastor.

[29:15] To teach. To command. To lead. To shepherd. Word. So the idea. That's here. Is. That God revealed it. God's people recognize it.

[29:28] And elders laid their hands on Timothy. So that's where. You as God's people. You're involved in that process. By saying. We want this pastor to shepherd us.

[29:38] We recognize it. And Paul is telling Timothy. That's the gift that God gave you. Keep going at it my man. Don't stop. Don't hold back. You see later in 2nd Timothy.

[29:51] There's. Ideas that maybe Timothy was timid. Filled inadequate. So Paul's encouraging him. Notice the 9th and 10th commands.

[30:02] 9. Take pains. 10. Be in them. Verse 15. Take pains with these things. Be in them. Take pains means be diligent.

[30:15] Again staying with the athletic imagery. Practice or cultivate these things. Be diligent. Make these matters your business. Because it is your business.

[30:26] Timothy. And notice he says. Be absorbed in them. Be in them. He was to give himself totally. With total involvement in this task.

[30:37] He was to totally immerse himself. In these matters. It should be your life. Timothy. And. What things. Be in these things.

[30:50] Take pains with these things. His personal life. Scriptural ministry. Warning. Teaching. Not neglecting the spiritual gift. All that Paul commanded him to do. These things. This is what he's saying. Be in them.

[31:01] Take pains with them. Make them your business. And look at. The reason. Or the purpose to this. Verse 15.

[31:11] So that. Your progress. Your progress. Not their progress. Your progress may be manifested or evident to all.

[31:25] Interesting. Don't you think? You think. So. So. People will progress in the faith. That's the purpose for him. Taking pains and being in them.

[31:36] No. That's not the purpose. So. Your progress. The purpose. Was so that all may see. His progress.

[31:47] In the faith. Interesting. I actually think another way that Paul says this. In verse 16. We'll look at that in just a moment. That it may be clearly seen or manifested.

[32:00] The idea is this. They would see. His progress. In his personal godliness. In his preaching and teaching. In leading and pastoring the church body. All would see it. All would see the progress.

[32:12] They would see. Him progressing in the faith. Interesting. Now that's the purpose. Which leads us to the last verse.

[32:24] When he says. Give attention. Or pay close attention to yourself. And to the teaching. Persevere in these things. Those are the last two commands. 11 and 12. Give attention to yourself.

[32:35] And to the teaching. And persevere. Give attention. Or pay attention. Fix attention. Fix your attention. To yourself.

[32:46] And to the teaching. It's not actually your. There's no your in the text. It's actually the. You make sense. It says your. But actually. In the Greek. It's just an articular word.

[32:58] It says the. Teaching. So it's not talking about the gospel teaching. The truth. The teaching. Which he had received. Which he had been following. The words from Paul.

[33:08] The words of the faith. Verse 6. Remember that? The words from Christ. Paul is saying. Watch yourself. In the teaching.

[33:20] And then he says. Persevere. Or persist in these. Continue these things. In yourself. And in the teaching. In other words. He should be concerned.

[33:31] About his personal piety. And his public ministry. Fidelity to the teaching. To himself. And to the teaching. Of the church body. Paul called him.

[33:44] To be faithful in everything. Why? What was the purpose? Why was Paul. So insistent. On Timothy. Obeying this mandate.

[33:56] Because it's critical. To his salvation. And the salvation. Of his hearers. Look at what he says. For as you do this. Numeric standard.

[34:08] You will ensure salvation. Both for yourself. And for those who hear you. Literally it's. You will save yourself. And your hearers. Save yourself.

[34:21] What? You mean Timothy wasn't saved yet? Of course he wasn't. That's why you're selling that. No. I'm not. Just kidding. That's not what he's. That's what he means. It's not at all. The one who endures to the end.

[34:36] Will be saved. Persevering the faith. The call is to stay faithful to Christ. That's what he's talking about. As he stayed faithful to the teaching.

[34:49] In his own life. And in teaching the church body. He would. Affirm. His salvation. He would show that God saves. See God saves by means of his word.

[35:00] And his people. By being faithful to the gospel. A pastor must fight. To stay true to the gospel. In himself. And in the church body. And that's what you should pray for.

[35:12] For me. And for this church body. I'll put it another way. If he failed.

[35:24] He would prove. His salvation was just a sham. But if he stayed faithful. He would prove God's true work in his life. D. Edmund Hebert says this.

[35:39] A great quote. Helps to encapsulate this verse. Quote. We're not saved by our faithful performance of our duties. But the faithful performance of our duties.

[35:51] Is the sphere within which our salvation is realized. A pastor. Unfaithful in doctrine and morals. Is saving neither himself. Nor his congregation.

[36:07] You see. How solid. Outward service. Flows out of our satisfaction in Christ. Be constantly alert to your life.

[36:20] And doctrine. Another way to put it. Another writer says this. A right doctrine without a godly life is no value. A godly life without sound doctrine is not possible.

[36:34] Another good way to put it. Notice how this is. This is for you. But really. These are things for me to take in. And for you to pray that I'm doing this.

[36:44] And for you to pray for us as a church. That we would be this. Pray for us as a church body. Pray for the members. That we would be this. How do you sum up these verses.

[36:58] 7 through 16. In God's manual for church life. Paul gave 12 essential practical commands. To have a successful ministry. The essence of these commands is this.

[37:09] Faithful in public teaching. And faithful in your personal teaching. Faithful in the teaching in a public way. And then teaching myself.

[37:21] And the truth. Conduct yourself as you teach God's truth. As you teach the gospel of grace. Calling sinners to repentance. That you be faithful to that yourself.

[37:34] 12 essential practical commands for pastors. So they can have an effective successful ministry. Save yourself and others. You show that God has really done a work in your heart.

[37:47] And we show that God has really done a work in us. As his people. So let's pray to that end. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[38:01] Amen. Our Father we ask by your spirit. That you work in us. That we would be faithful to this gospel of grace. We've been singing about your compassion towards us.

[38:14] We've been singing about the gospel. We've been directed to the truth of the gospel. How you love to save sinners. You're the savior of humans.

[38:27] You save humans. You saved us. You love to save sinners. God help us to be faithful to this.

[38:43] Help me to be faithful. The faithful preaching of your word. But faithful in my own personal life. Godliness with my wife and my children.