So this morning we're going to pick back up 2 Thessalonians 3, and I've got some good news. Next week we'll be finishing up 2 Thessalonians, and I don't know how long we've been in it, but we've been in it a while. We're going to be going to an Old Testament letter or book. Now, since I think we've been in this church, I don't think we have on Sunday morning done an Old Testament book or letter. I will tell you that those require a lot more study. You really have to work hard to reach into the old and then to bring it into the new in an applicable way today. But it's just as important as anything we do in the New Testament. So this morning we're going to get close to finishing 2 Thessalonians 3. We're going to pick back up with Paul's closing narrative and what a closing narrative it is, complete with admonishment, correction, coupled with what I would call the good old genuine commands of what to do and what not to do. So this morning, without further ado, let's pick back up with chapter 3. I'm specifically going to pick up with verse 6 through 18.

One more time, here's what Paul wrote: "'Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life, not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.' And we had a shift in verse 8, 'Nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Not because we do not have the right to do this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone's not willing to work, then he's not to eat either.' For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

And then another shift: Verse 13, as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him so that he be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Once again, admonishment means to correct, to warn, to counsel. And then verse 16, now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own handwriting. And this is a distinguishing mark in every letter. This is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

We began last week with verse 6 where we explained and expounded on verses 6 and 7. And I think we did a fairly good job, pretty good job doing that. Where Paul said, stay away from any brother who's living an unruly and undisciplined life. And so I think that was pretty self-explanatory in and of itself. But just in case it wasn't, Paul was trying to say, do not associate yourself with these types of brothers and sisters. These are believers, especially in any ongoing type or ongoing or consistent basis or way. Maybe better said or maybe translated, he's not saying never speak to this person again. We just read that. It didn't say we were to put them away. He's saying do not grace them with your presence in any consistent manner or form. Another way to say it is let them know how you feel by keeping them at arm's length.

And why is that? Because this is how this church, the church at Thessalonica, this is how they got into the position and the shape that they're in. They began listening to every kind of wind of doctrine. Specifically, they began listening to those who taught something completely opposite of what Paul had already taught them, which is why he said in verse 7, they should be, that they should follow his and the other disciples' example. And so, as I said, I would say that's pretty self-explanatory. Remember, guys, if you think you can pull up next to someone who's got a different or opposing view, who's off track in any shape, form, or fashion, if you think you can pull up next to them and sort of love them and nurture them back into a right relationship, that somehow they're going to change their mind, you need to understand more than likely you're not. It won't happen. On the contrary, it's kind of like, it reminds me of kind of like jumping into the water to save someone who's drowning. If you're not trained on how to recover a drowning victim, well, then you are liable to end up, and many times people do end up drowning themselves. The same is true with people who get off on other doctrines. If you're not spiritually mature, if you're not grounded in God's Word, you run a very, very high risk and probability of them pulling you over to their side and not the other way around.

And let me say this, even if you are more mature, but if you're more mature than, say, the average Christian, it's still super dangerous for you to interact and to listen to other people and begin exploring other theological and doctrinal concepts, especially ones that are not thoroughly backed up with the basis of Scripture. When I think of this, I often think of many different movements that have taken place in the church over all of these hundreds of years, centuries. I think about specifically, for example, the Hebrew Roots Movement. The Hebrew Roots Movement is one that has gained traction over the last several years. It's gained momentum. This movement encourages people to go back and to place themselves under the law of Moses. The proponents of this movement say that this is how, somehow, this is how you please God. In the Old Testament, it was that way. Under the new covenant with Jesus, it's not that way. But they say that's how you please God. And at first, when you listen to this person explain it, educating you on their position, on the topic itself, it may sound pretty good. It actually does sound good. But I assure you it's not, not in any shape, form, or fashion.

This whole movement began when the people trying to follow it said, it's so important that we know the origins of our words, specifically Hebrew words, which is true. It is true at some extent. They often say stuff like, did you know that Jesus, his name is not Jesus, it's Yeshua. And don't get me wrong, words and the meaning of words are important as they can change the context and the meaning of whatever text of the scripture you may be studying. But here's the deal, guys, head knowledge is not enough. It's not enough, which is highlighted over and over again by Jesus himself when he rebukes the religious rulers. Words and meanings of words only have purpose when they are matched up with a heart for God, with love especially. The proponents of the Hebraic system say that somehow through the definition or the study of the origins of these ancient Hebrew words, you can unlock some type of supernatural power that is going to please God. And as such, you'll become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. But what is it that causes us to become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ? It's one that stays in a right relationship with Him.

And although there is some truth to what's being said from this side, for the most part, people who espouse this type of doctrinal theology, they really miss the forest for the trees. And many times they end up in a place of isolation, isolating themselves from other Christian men, women, brothers, and sisters, trying to figure out why they're the only ones that can see what it is that they see. And let me say, I've studied this movement pretty in depth. I find it interesting, at least from a psychological standpoint because this kind of stuff always starts the same way. And the reason I call it stuff is because it's always this idea that I've discovered something that has been hidden. Mankind discovering what they believe is some overlooked key aspect of the Christian walk and Christian life. Essentially, it's as if they have found the Holy Grail of some sort, which creates some kind of what I call shortcut to the Christian walk. It's as if they think they've found something extra in the Scripture, something different, the magic sauce, as I often call it. The thing is, is that, well, they think no one knows that thing that they have discovered that opens or unlocks a spiritual truth that's been missed by a people for the last couple thousand years, some sort of spiritual enlightenment which leads the Christian to a more spirit-filled life.

Now, the problem with this is, guys, is that there is no magic trick. It's a lot like losing weight. Even though every year, especially this time of year, around New Year's, we've got some new pill, potion, or lotion, some book that's been written. If you want to lose weight, the best way to do it is burn more calories than you take in. If you do that, I promise you, you'll lose weight. So there's no magic crick in our faith or Christianity. There's just really the grind of life. That's what there is. It's a grind. And that's the truth, folks. Life is a grind. And for believers, the only way to navigate this what I call God-forsaken world, the one that we all live in, is to pull in close to Him. Through His word, through His people, and then stay there. Never let it go. And if you do that, you can maintain and survive and many times even thrive as this is the only way to get by in this world. It's the only way to reduce what I call the stress of life. A stress, by the way, for the believer that is a byproduct of confusion. Everybody's confused. As believers are more confused, I would say, than they've ever been about the existence, say, of this planet and specifically about their purpose as Christians. They're not only confused about their purpose, but they're also really confused about God's will, his promises, his character, his commands. And the only way to eliminate that confusion is to get to know him and to get to know him in a more intimate way.

Now let me say, the Hebrew Roots Movement is a very fragmented movement. You may have never even heard of it. You may have never heard of it. Fragmented meaning the people who try and adhere to this system of theology are all over the place in their belief of the movements itself. It's not very well organized at this point. Some of them take it to an extreme. Others not so much. It's also a relatively new movement as well. Matter of fact, it only traces itself back to the early 90s with people like Baten Wooten of the two-house theology movement, Herbert W. Armstrong with the Worldwide Church of God movement, and then after Mr. Armstrong's death, there was a couple by the name of Dean and Susan Wheelock who applied for and received a trademark on the term Hebrew Roots in 1994, which served to further popularize that movement. On one level, this movement really appears to be very harmless, very enlightening, and lighthearted in some sense, non-invasive. Also, in some sense, especially to the uneducated Christian, it seems to make more sense on some level, but I assure you it is not.

The danger of it is, is that many times this movement, it progresses, as almost all movements do. It progresses in the life of the person, so much so that it ends up at what I would call an extreme level, with leaders in the movement telling people that you need to ignore the New Testament. That they try to say that the New Testament is not really truly part of the real canon of Scripture. Now having said that, some will stop short of making such statements. Instead, they'll say, if you do read the New Testament, just don't read what Paul wrote. Who wrote the majority of the New Testament? Okay. Don't read what Paul wrote. Well, I can tell you, if I was them, I would say the same thing. It makes sense because Paul is very adamant about never returning to the old ways, the old covenant, the law of Moses or any part of it. He mandates, by the way, that we are to not adhere to the Jewish ways and step away from, even to Jewish people who have become Christian, for them to step away from it.

These mandates, as I said, they were for the Jews at that time and the Jews alone. Paul was so adamant about this that he wrote an entire letter about it. And does anyone know what that letter is called? My wife does. Does anyone else know? Galatians. Galatians. I say my wife does because within weeks of us finishing Galatians, she said, geez, can we move on from talking about the law? The law, the law, the law. We get it. We get it. It's bad. We don't need to do that. We need to stay away from it. And of course, Galatians is not the only place that Paul speaks about denouncing Jewish laws, customs, and traditions. He mentions it a lot, several of his other writings. As a matter of fact, in addition to Galatians, he speaks about this whole concept in Romans and Ephesians and Colossians and Philippians, which means he speaks out against any believer putting themselves back under that system. And he does so in at least five of the 13 letters that he's credited with writing, which is about 38% of the time. So obviously Paul's 100% against any believer even considering the concept or considering placing themselves under the old covenant. And why? Why is that?

Because God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill all righteousness, which is another way of saying he just sent his son to fulfill the requirements of the law, which was impossible for us to do prior to Jesus. Prior to Jesus, if you were a Jew and, say, wanted to stay in a right relationship with God, praise God we don't have to do that anymore. But if you wanted to do that, then you had to follow the laws. Over 600 of them, by the way. But we don't have to do that now. And it's the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary that completely satisfies the wrath of God. Did you know that without Jesus, God's wrath would be poured out on you and I? There would be no salvation. There would be no opportunity to go to heaven. A wrath that was imputed to mankind because of Adam and Eve's choice to disobey God's command in the Garden of Eden. So Jesus in his sacrifice satisfied the wrath of God, but only if people are willing to accept it, to admit it, which happens when they are convicted about their sin and then they repent and are baptized. For that is what is required to be saved and to spend eternity in heaven.

And one more thing concerning this movement, this Hebrew Roots movement. If I'm being completely honest, when someone tries and put themselves back under the law of Moses in any shape, form, or fashion for any reason, they're essentially saying to God that the sacrifice you provided was not sufficient, that it wasn't. They don't look at it that way. They'll argue with you about it, but essentially that's what they're saying. I realize my statement is probably not going to be real popular amongst that crowd, with those who are trying to adhere to this Hebraic move and system, but it is the truth. Either Jesus was enough or he wasn't. You see, it's not Jesus plus something, and it's not Jesus minus something. It's just Jesus and Jesus alone. So I'll digress on this topic only to say this is exactly why Paul is telling this church at Thessalonica to disassociate themselves with any brother or sister who teaches anything different than what Paul and the other disciples have taught them. Because for generations, people have come up with so much stuff since the beginning of time.

This is why we have over 5,000 denominations in the United States of America. Just in the United States of America. People stuff that they think is some type of hidden mystery, a hidden mystery that will take Christians to a different place of spiritual enlightenment. But it's not true. It's not true. I mean, there's no other way to put it. As I said, it's a grind. We get up every day and we go at it. We ask God for strength, wisdom, direction. We adhere and we stick to His word. We stay and we do not forsake the assembling of believers. We stay together as a group. We encourage one another. We disciple one another. And then one of these days, as Paul told the churches in Asia Minor when he went out and set them up, he says, look, I got some good news for you. This thing gets a whole lot worse, but you get to die. How's that for encouragement? How's that for a motivational speech? Zig Ziglar would have had a field day with that.

Moving on. Next, we pick up with verses 8 through 12 as we're going to move closer to finishing. And as I said, I want to back up verse 6 one more time just for context purposes. And here's what Paul said. "'Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you receive from us.' For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you. And then verse 8, nor do we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you not because we did not have the right to do this but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you so that you would follow our example for even when we were with you we used to give you this order if anyone's not willing to work He's not to eat either.

But we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, not doing any work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in a quiet fashion and to eat their own bread. Over this past couple of weeks, I've expounded quite a bit about on this whole concept that Paul puts forth about being paid. Specifically, we talk about ministers being paid. And I'm not going to beat on that drum anymore today, only to say if you didn't hear my commentary on this topic, just go to our website. You can listen to it. You can listen to a whole lot about it over the last couple of teachings because I went fairly in-depth on the topic. Once again, I'm not against it. And somebody might say, well, you keep saying that. But I don't know that I believe it, but I'm just telling you. I'm not against the minister being paid. He just needs to understand what that means for him and his ministry and what he's up against, and I'll leave it at that.

Now, as previously stated in verse 8, Paul makes a shift in his narrative from telling the church in Thessalonica to disassociate themselves with the brothers and sisters who are teaching something different than what Paul is teaching, to reminding them of how he and the other disciples were not a burden on them, how they didn't even take food from this church without paying for it. I want to stop here for just a minute and just say something about this, and that is, ministers should never expect other believers to pay for their stuff, food, or anything else for that matter. This type of behavior kind of oozed in and creeped into the American church. It became very prevalent in our society, in our church society today, and it started after what was called the Evangelical Movement in America, which hit this country after the Great Depression.

For some reasons, believers related paying for the minister's food, car, variety of other things to that of supporting God and God's work. And although in a small sense, I guess you could say it was kind of true, often the reason behind someone's decision to give to the minister, though, was a problem. And it was very spiritually unhealthy. I've heard lots of people throughout church history say, well, you know, such and such gives a lot to the church. Such and such is a big giver to the church. Well, first off, let me tell you, you're in luck. I have no idea what people give. I don't want to know what people give, and I don't care what people give. And that's the gospel truth. That's between you and the Lord.

So this whole concept became very unhealthy, meaning when people think that somehow they're garnering God's favor by giving to ministers, well, I'm going to tell you they're way off base. This concept has really been popularized in the charismatic circles. Yes, I know, this morning I'm an equal opportunity offender, aren't I? And I normally don't do this, you all know that. But if the shoe fits, you got to wear it. And by the way, I've been part of those circles. I'm not just speaking from the outside. I've been on the inner circles. I've seen people who were broke actually sign banknotes for the minister. By the way, we're going to be doing that when we leave here today. I've got a banker out here, and he's going to sign you all up so I can borrow some money, okay?

But really, seriously, they signed bank notes for the ministers. I've also seen them give everything they had to a preacher, all in hopes of pleasing God. And just like the Hebrew Roots Movement, this type of thinking is wrong. It's destructive because it's not true. And Paul is highlighting that fact right here in 2 Thessalonians 3:8. Guys, once again, this is what happens when believers are really not grounded in God's Word. Oftentimes, people are moved by a preacher's message. They're convicted about it, and as such, they want to do more. Nothing wrong with that. So when they get an opportunity to give back to the preacher, they say, don't worry about paying for this, brother such and such. I got it. I'll pay for it, which, as I said, then leads those same people down this unhealthy and destructive path.

And it's not just unhealthy for the person giving. I'm going to tell you it's unhealthy for the preacher, for the pastor. As the ministers themselves will often begin feeling a little bit entitled. By the way, I've got a lot of friends who are pastors, and I know what I'm talking about. I promise you. They don't sit down, though, to eat with me and expect me to pay for their stuff because I'll just look at them and say, look, dude, I'm a preacher too, so we'll just go Dutch. How about that? And so the ministers sometimes, this is not a conscious thing, this is a subconscious thing, they begin expecting that person to always pay for things for them, which then leads the believer to begin at some point beginning to feel used and abused. They become disenfranchised and disheartened in their faith, which eventually causes the believer to quit church. And many times they completely fall out of fellowship with other believers permanently.

So, this is not going to once again make me very popular, but it's the truth. If you don't believe me, just ask the people it's happened to. I can give you a list of their names. If they let me do that, as I've counseled a bunch of them throughout the years, people who have fallen into this trap, their mindset always begins with, well, he's the minister, therefore, he must be at a higher level, more special, and so we should help pay his way. And if the minister allows it, then they themselves eventually end up always expecting it.

Now, am I saying you should never pay for anything for the preacher? No, that's not what I'm saying. You have got to use a little logic and pragmatism. But if you don't pay for anybody else's stuff, anybody else's food, what are you paying for his for? But if you want to, that's up to you. If you feel led to pay for a meal for the pastor once in a while, then by all means do it. But I wouldn't make a habit of it because it can turn into an issue. So preachers, pay your own way and don't ask or expect those who are in your care to take care of your every need. And if you don't like my advice, then, well, what I would tell you is to follow Paul's example here in 2 Thessalonians 3:8, where he says, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have the right to do this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you that you would follow our example.

So there you have it. Follow Paul's example, pastors, preachers, deacons, elders, and leadership because I assure you, if he thought taking money, if Paul thought taking money from the people that he ministered to was a great idea, he would have done it. Moving on, and we'll close with verse 10 through 12. One more time. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone's not willing to work, he's not to eat either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and to eat their own bread.

So Paul says, if a person's not willing to work, guess what? They don't get to eat. A few lessons ago, I said, verse 10 in this chapter is what every preacher would gravitate to, what they would like to preach. It's the, for lack of a vernacular, it's the more sexy verses. It's the ones that stand out, primarily because it's the most applicable, very applicable in our society today where our government spends billions of dollars keeping up people who are able to work but are unwilling. Let me say this. Paul is not talking about government welfare here. That's not what he's talking about. Yes, you can apply it to our wealth service system if you want to, but that's not what he's addressing. Paul was dealing with an issue inside the church where some people thought that Jesus was about to return at any moment, and so they quit their jobs and they began hanging out with the fellowship, so to speak, with other people who had quit their job, and then they expected others to pay their way.

The only reason they thought this was because they listened to an outside source or they may have listened to an inside source who told them that this was the case, that Jesus was about to return at any minute. Once again, this brings me back to the whole entire reason that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians as quickly as he did after 1 Thessalonians. He wrote that letter because he was trying to correct their behavior. And the timing of Jesus' return was one of the things that they were confused about. So Paul said, go back to work and quit expecting others to pay your way because remember if you don't work well you don't eat and once again notice how he refers them back to his example in verse eight paraphrasing we didn't take your food if we did we paid for it so he's exemplifying the concept of practice what you preach.

Then in verse eleven he calls them busybodies. Busybodies. You ever heard that term? By the way, guess what the Greek text calls them, if you read it in Greek? Busybodies. It's the truth. When you look up the definition of the word in Greek, it means those who are idly standing around, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit here, but it's right in its translation. They're idly standing around watching everyone else work. There is nothing that makes people more upset or madder than those who stand around and watch everyone else do the work. But that's exactly what was happening here. I think we've all experienced these type of people in our lives, both at work and at church. When we encounter these folks, many times we find ourselves rolling our eyes, especially when they speak up. And they want to have input. But they did nothing to earn the respect of those around them. And this type of behavior, well, it just boils my butter. How about you?

And that brings me to my closing statement. Guys, as a believer, you're expected to contribute. This is a participatory sport. I don't care the way you've been raised. I don't care what you've seen in church your whole life. The Bible was never set up. The church was never set up in the Bible where the preacher was the CEO. That is not the way it's supposed to be. You are expected to contribute because you have been given a gift. And whatever your gifting is, God expects you to put it to good use. And just an FYI to you, if you are confused about what a gift is, like for example, if you think being critical of others is a gift of the Spirit, I assure you it's not. It's actually a curse of the flesh. I threw that in there because some people think their contribution is criticism, pointing out what's wrong, right? We have a saying, I'm sure you've heard it, it's nothing that I made up, I adopted it, but for every problem there's a solution and when you come, bring both. People love to gripe and complain and murmur, as the Bible says. And this, as I said, is not a gift of the Spirit. So, each one of you has a gift and you're expected by God to use it. It's part of your responsibility to this fellowship. And it's why God gave you the gift in the first place.

If you don't know what your gift is, then guess what? Pick up a broom and get to sweeping. Grab a vacuum and get to cleaning, get your mower out and begin mowing, grab a scrub brush and get to scrubbing toilets. And if you do, I assure you, well, once you get busy, you'll eventually figure out what exactly it is you're supposed to be doing. When we started this church 12, 13 years ago, we did so with a concept in mind, one concept in mind. I wanted us to do church the way church was done in the Scriptures. Now, obviously, that's not 100% possible, but I wanted to get back to that, where a body of believers came together, supported one another, and brought their talents and giftings, and served each other. Because when we serve one another, we're serving God. That's how it works. That's the way He set it up.

And for the most part, I believe we have done a pretty good job of this. Part of that whole concept, by the way, includes every person in here working in some shape, form, or fashion inside this fellowship, and no one gets a pass. By the way, I find it interesting when we get a newcomer, and we often have people, new people come, how they often ask me, how do I plug in? How can I serve? They often say, I don't want to just sit here and be on the sidelines. I want to get in the game. So I get that a lot. I get it all the time, and what a blessing it is. Now, having said that, folks, if you've been here for a while and you haven't really plugged in anywhere to serve, don't let a newcomer just come in and suck up all the blessing in the room, a blessing that comes from serving God through his people. I'm not the kind of preacher that, maybe I am today, but I'm not the kind of preacher that gets into the pulpit and preaches at people. I don't think that's my job. I never do that. I don't want to do that. That's not what I'm supposed to do. My job is to teach you God's word from his manuscript and rightly divide the word of truth and let God convict your heart. He's the one that should cause you to move. I don't want you to move just because I'm up here saying something. Do it because you're compelled to do so.

Now, some of you have said to me, I want to serve, but I'm not sure where to plug in. There are plenty of places to fill in, and sometimes I personally may not know where all those opportunities lie, but I can tell you if you ask Mark, raise your hand, Mark. If you ask Dave, raise your hand, Dave. If you ask, is Wyatt here? No. Okay, done him the next time he comes in here next week. Make him feel bad because he wasn't here. His wife's here, but he's not here. If you ask Charles, Charles is in the back, or he was somewhere. If you ask Dave, I mean anybody that's been here for a while, I assure you that they can find a place for you to serve. So as I said, I'm not going to stand up here and just done you or guilt you or any of that type of stuff. I don't want you doing it because I said that. But I want to ask you, have you guys ever heard of the 80-20 rule? I'm sure you have, where 20% of the people end up doing 80% of the work. I want us to be a church that reverses that rule, that reverses that trend.

And there could be no greater need for this and opportunity for this than that with the children's ministry. Uh-oh, currently we need help with the children. And it's interesting how children's ministry, no matter where you go, and I think we've done a pretty good job with it comparatively to other places I've been. But no matter where you go, it's always an issue within churches. Always an issue. And personally, I find that fascinating because it's such an important area of any church. That's if we want our children to grow up knowing God, not end up in some place of higher education and learning, confused about who God is, and then ultimately becoming an atheist and saying, hey, mom and dad, you're old-fashioned, you're an old fogie, you know, I know you took us to church and everything, but we don't really believe that anymore. It's very, very important that they get a solid foundation.

Currently, we need a minimum of ten people a week to serve our children's ministry needs, which includes our Tuesday night study as well. So if my math is correct, we need roughly 40 people a month to serve the needs of our children, 40 different people, which allows people to fill in once a month. If we have more, then we can extend that out to say maybe six weeks or whatever, maybe two months. Today, I think we have 29 in total, which doesn't leave us much room for people being sick or being out on vacation. Personally, I like to see us have about 50 people. I believe there's a sign up on the bulletin board out there. So if you're interested, please sign up. If you don't feel compelled to do that, I'm not telling you to do it. I'm not telling you to do it. But we need about 50 people, and that would give us a cushion of some sort.

Guys, let me say something. Children's ministry is not my thing. I know. But at least I'm honest. It's really not, primarily because I don't have patience. My wife will tell you I don't even know how to talk to a kid. I want to talk to them about business transactions or something, you know, or finance or accounting or, you know, I mean, hey, you know, how's it been going at work? But it's not my thing. I get it. But it's truly, I have done it before. My wife's going to say when. We'll talk about that later. But I've done it before, and it's truly a blessing to minister to the little ones. As God makes a special designation for them, just as he does for anyone who's innocent, it's our responsibility to take care of our children, especially if we want to see our church grow. You see, solid children's ministries have done more to grow churches, probably more than any other single ministry inside that church. People may not worry at times about being at church themselves, but they do care about their children, their children's future, and their education, their direction.

Now, I'm not asking you to serve in this ministry because you have a calling to do it. I'm asking you to serve because we have a need, and we've got to fulfill it. It's a responsibility that we have. My daughter-in-law, Morgan Driver, has a calling for children. She really does have a true calling for children. If you're around her very much at all, you'll see what I'm talking about. She is our children's director. And she loves kids, regardless of how snotty-nosed they may be at times, right? How fussy they may be at times. And she really has a heart for children with disabilities. Matter of fact, she obtained her degree from MTSU, Middle Tennessee State University. I wrote down, it was early childhood development. She told me before I walked in, that's not what it was, but it has something to do with kids. So I didn't write it down, but that's what she went to school for.

So when I say she loves kids, she really has a heart for children, but she can't do it by herself. She needs help. And I'm asking for your help in this area of our church. Now, I don't want you to serve out of guilt. I said that. I'll quit saying it. I've simply arrived at this place in scripture. By the way, here's what's interesting about teaching through the Bible. God is totally in control of whatever it is I come across. I don't pick topics based on needs or based on, necessarily based on wants or desires or whatever. I just teach it when we come to it. So God already knew that we were going to be here in 2 Thessalonians 3, and He knew we had a need, and then He laid it on my heart to have this conversation with you. And so I would ask that you consider it.

Let me say one more thing and we'll close. If you do get involved in it, and you've never been involved in it, you may find both a reward from heaven, and you may be surprised at what a blessing it is to truly teach little children the Word of God. Amen?