Amen. Anybody else tonight? Alright, if you're at 3rd John, why don't you stand guys, you can bring the mics back to me. I won't be like Pharaoh tonight. I will let my people go. Just bear with me. I'm going to give you just a thought quickly tonight. Verse 1 says, The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that was in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom, if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Because that for his namesake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles, We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. I want to jump down, if you will, to verse 10. Verse 11. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath a good report of all men, and of the truth itself, yea, and we also bear record, and you know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee, our friends. Salute thee. Greet the friends by name." And I want to back up and go to verse number 9. I wrote unto the church, but deatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Lord, we love You tonight. Lord, I ask God that You'd be honored with our time in the Word. Lord, I ask God that You'd help us to not forget the principle of application, for we don't preach and teach just to be heard. Lord, but I ask God that it'll go beyond the ear gate, Lord, into our heart, and God, that we will apply what we've learned today. Lord, we love You. In Your name we pray. Amen. 3 John short book, there are three individuals that John is addressing. When John uses the term elder, he's not necessarily referencing his age, but he's referencing more or less his position and his spiritual maturity as an apostle. And he's writing to what I believe he's writing to a church and he's instructing a church, if you will. And there are really three individuals you're going to find in this text. Two of them are great. Two of them that we should really pattern some of our ministry after, if you will, one of those is mentioned in verse number one. His name is Gaius. He talks about how his wish for him is that he'll prosper in spirituality. Many believe that Gaius had a physical ailment according to verse number two where he I ask that he prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. But he says in verse number three, he says, I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee. And one thing about Gaius, Gaius did not just believe truth, but in verse number three he says, you didn't just believe truth, Gaius, you actually walked in the truth that you believe. And can I tell you this tonight? That your belief will always affect your behavior. What you believe will always dictate how you behave. You have a small view of God, it'll come out in your behavior. And so Gaius was one of those individuals who not only believed truth, but he walked in truth. And verse number 6 tells us that he was very hospitable. He was the guy in church. He was a very giving individual. In fact, it's believed that Gaius often had people over in his home and he would give money and he would love on people. He was one of those people that you wanted in your church. He was a loving individual. He was hospitable. He was always giving. He was always helping. Not only Gaius, but then in verse number 12, there's an individual by the name of Demetrius. And John tells us that Demetrius had a good report of, notice this word, all men. Now that may seem small, but if we believe our Bible tonight, John is saying this, every person who I've ever known that has known you, every single person, not one of them have a bad thing to say about you, Demetrius. He said of all the brethren, every single one of them that I've ever talked to that knows you, you have a good rapport with them. Can I tell you, that's good Christianity right there. I don't know if that could be said of me, just to be honest with you. I'm being transparent tonight. I don't know that every person that's known me and has talked to me could say, yes, this individual, he's a good individual. He's got a rapport with everybody. But Demetrius did. He also walked and lived in truth. That's individual number two, but there's a third one that John's going to mention, who doesn't really fit those qualifications, doesn't really fit the character and his name is, in verse number 9, Deatrophes. And I want to just give you a small thought tonight. And my thought is this, the danger of Deatrophes. The danger of deatrophies in simply, in really just in two verses we can sum up a lot of things about deatrophies. There's three principles about deatrophies that John's going to tell us tonight about him. Number one is this. He was self-centered. He was self-centered. Look with me in verse number 9. He says, I wrote unto the church, but Deotrophes, notice this phrase here, who loveth to have the preeminence among them. This preeminence attitude indicates that he always wanted to promote himself. He always wanted to be in the spotlight. It always had to be about the atrophies. The word preeminent means the utmost position, first place. It always has to be about the atrophies. He says He loved to have the preeminence among them. The word preeminence means a desire to always be first. Remember as a little kid, I remember in elementary school, we would always, if we were to go out for recess, you know, it was a big deal. So big. It was one of the biggest deals in our day that you could be first in line. If you was a good boy, you could earn the position of being first. I don't know if you've ever worked with kids. You'll know what I'm talking about. If you ever worked with kids and you tell them to line up, buddy, there. just squeezing, knocking people out of the way, just to be, I mean, they're like cramped up on each other, just to be first place. Y'all know what I'm talking about? You ever did that with kids? They gotta be first. That is their fleshly nature of wanting to have the preeminence, and that was what deatrophies did. I always wanna be first. He was self-centered. It's always going to be about me. I want to have the spotlight, the preeminence, the first place. I want the honored seat. Deiotrephes had to have the final say-so about everything in the church. This is what gets me about Deiotrephes, this phrase of preeminence. His decisions were based on how it would benefit him. I believe John's writing to a church. I believe these are three individuals within the church that he's writing, he's addressing. And in all the church decisions, this is what deatrophies would ask. How does this benefit me? How does it benefit me? The self-centered church member says, how does this benefit me? Instead of asking, how does this benefit the body? Let me let that one sink in just for a moment. The self-centered church member says this, how does it benefit me instead of how does it benefit the body of Christ? Y'all follow me? He's preeminent. It's all about him. Can I tell you, that's what we ought to ask ourselves. Is there some deatrophies, characteristics that want to rise up? Well, preacher, that's not really good for me. But my question is, is it good for the body? Well, I don't really know how it's going to benefit me. Can I tell you, the church, listen, don't get mad at me. The church ain't made up about you. The church is a collective group of body believers that have voluntarily joined themselves together to fulfill the Great Commission. And can I tell you, a church that's about the individual will go nowhere fast. Diotrephes said, it's all about me. How's it going to benefit me? What's in it for me? He would say something like this, well, preachers serving in that ministry don't really benefit me. Can I say, newsflash, serving in any ministry don't benefit you. Outside of the rewards you'll receive for Jesus Christ. Serving in ministry, ministry, servitude, means you're giving up something for the benefit of others. So it's not about us. He said, I'm preeminent. I want first place. It's all about me. The serving, it's not gonna benefit me. Listen, it may not benefit you, but does it benefit the body? Deatrophies always did what benefited him, and he always wanted the place of importance. By the way, as I studied a little bit about Deatrophies, there's no indication anywhere in the Bible that his doctrine was flawed. In other words, Deatrophies could have had all his doctrine right, but he had a wrong heart. You can be good here, but be wrong here. In fact, 2 John is going to be dealing with balancing truth and love. You can have all the truth you want to, but if you don't love people, it does you no good. You can have all the love you want to, but if there's no truth, it does no good. And so he's balancing truth and love together. Deatrophies. He could have had all his doctrine right. No indication that it was flawed, but he had a problem with the attitude of his heart. I found it interesting. The term preeminence is only mentioned two times in your King James Bible. It's mentioned in Colossians chapter number one, where Paul would say something like this, that in all things, he, talking about Jesus Christ, should have the preeminence. But then you get to Deutrophes, he says, well, I want the preeminence. Can I tell you? When it comes to preeminence, either you have the preeminence or Christ has the preeminence. There's no in between. Either you have preeminence or Christ has preeminence. There's no in-between. And Deiotrophes was self-centered. He said, John said, he's got the preeminence among them. He wants to be honored. It's all about him. He's not looking to nobody else. It's all about what's going to benefit him. And can I tell you, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm really not interested in church members like that. I'm really not interested in a preacher or a pastor like that. I'm interested in saying that, you know what? It doesn't matter if it benefits me. Is it going to help the church? He was self-centered. Let me give you number two. He slandered. He slandered. Verse number 10. Wherefore, this is John speaking under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wherefore, or therefore, or for this cause, if I come, Paul had a desire to come visit this church. If I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth. In other words, I believe John's saying something like this. If you look with me in verse number 14, he says, I trust I shall shortly see thee. I believe John had intentions of coming to the church. And I believe he's telling Gaius, the recipient of the letter, he's telling Gaius, hey, when I show up, Gaius, I'm gonna remember what Deutrophes did. That's what he says in verse 2. Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth. Understand, John had apostolic authority that was delegated to him. He had some authority like Paul did when it comes to these local churches. And he says, when I show up, He said, I'm gonna remember. I'm gonna remember some of the deeds that deatrophies did. Well, what kind of deeds did he do, John? John tells us, look with me in verse number 10. He says, prating against us with malicious words. Being a redneck feller from the hills of Virginia, I had to look up that word prating. What in the world does that mean? I looked up, this is what Mr. Webster says. He says, it signifies to talk nonsense. It has the idea of bringing idle accusations. It means to make empty charges. It means to accuse someone falsely. In other words, there's no indication of the accusation being true, but they're going to accuse you anyway. In other words, they're going to make up stuff about you. And not only does he say prating words, but he says prating malicious words. That's what he says. Malicious means a desire to harm. So, Deuteronomy's words against John were words that were meant to harm him. In other words, I break it down, my wife told me today, she said, you don't need to say break it down Big Bird style, you need to say break it down VeggieTale style. So that's what I'm gonna start saying. Let me break it down VeggieTale style for you tonight. In other words, old deatrophies, he made up a bunch of junk about John that wasn't true, and it was stuff that would really harm his reputation. He made it up. Deatrophies slandered others. He didn't just gossip about him, but he intended to harm their reputation. Can I tell you, if we're not careful, we really fall short in this area, church. We really fall short. And I'm not talking about specific people of Taberna. I'm just talking about believers as a whole. We can fall into this trap of slandering other people. Somebody said this, that some people believe anything if it's whispered to them. I found this. Somebody come up with this formula. I thought it was to be true. Most of you may already know it. It's a formula applied before speaking of any person or subject that was perhaps controversial. It's the acronym THINK. T, ask yourself, is it true? By the way, just because it's true doesn't mean that it needs to be shared. Somebody say amen right there. T, is it true? H, is it helpful? I, is it inspiring? N, is it necessary? K, is it kind? Think. If what I'm about to say doesn't pass those tests, it's probably a good idea for us to keep our mouth closed. Keep your mouth closed. John said he's prayed in malicious words. You know, the Bible says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace into the hearers. Leonard Ravenhill said this, he said, notice, he said, we never pray for folks we gossip about. We never gossip about the folks for whom we pray. For prayer is a great deterrent against gossip. You'll never be hurt by anything you didn't say. John said he's spreading things about me. Yes, when I get there, I'm going to take care of it. But he's spreading slander. He's slandering my reputation. And can I throw this little thing out there? Be careful of the opinion you have of other people based on what other people's told you. Be careful. You may spend your whole life having a negative view of somebody based on what others have told you about them, but yet you never met them. John said, man, this guy's making up a bunch of stuff about me. It's not even true. He's slandered. The dangers of deatrophies. Let me give you number three. I'll be done. He's self-centered. He liked to have the preeminence all about him. Didn't really care about ministries. Didn't really care about church people. He was one of those people, and listen, I'm not trying to throw rocks at anybody. He came. He sat on a pew. He didn't really serve. He came to church because it was all about him. What could the church do for him? What could the preacher do for him? What could the deacon do for him? How the ministries could benefit him. He didn't come. He didn't get connected. He didn't sign up for any type of ministry. He didn't really serve. He loved to have the preeminence. It was all about him. He was self-centered. And then not only that, but he slandered. He made up accusations about John. The slander likes to throw out. Accusations like to stir up gossip among the brethren. I found this to be true. Most people who stir up slander and gossip really ain't doing a lot at the church. They really ain't plugged in, they really ain't serving. Let me give you number three, he's separated. He's separated. Look with me in verse number 10, he's separated. He says this in the middle part of verse number 10, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, now watch this, he said he don't receive John, he don't receive anybody, but notice what he says, and forbiddeth them that would. He casteth them out of the church. In other words, he forbidden them that would means Diotrephes broke personal fellowship with a brother because he did not agree with his circle of friends. This was what Diotrephes said. I ain't got nothing to do with John. I ain't got nothing to do with anybody with John. And by the way, if you don't like John, you ain't gonna be my friend either. I said, Don, I'm separating. You better not like him. Let me tell you why you don't like him. He makes up false accusations. And if you don't like him, I'm going to separate from you. I'm going to isolate from you. He separated himself. Can I tell you, I find really in 2 John, or excuse me, 3 John, there's a lot more going on that relates to our churches today than what I thought. you like them, then we ain't going to be friends no more, because I don't like them. It's pretty childish, isn't it? But yet we do it. If you ain't with my little clique, my little circle of friends, you ain't in my group, no, don't, don't, no, I'm going to separate from you. And you may not voice it like that, but you'll do it. You'll do it secretly, John says, and forbid of them that would. Diotrephes rejected John, he separated from those who were even associated with John. He manipulated others to think a certain way about John. And if you don't think this way about John, he's gonna separate from you and he's gonna push that you would get dismissed from the church. He separated. I wanna ask you a question tonight. Here's the question. Are you a Diotrephes? Are you deatrophies? If we're honest, let's just be real. Listen, I know you stangle on people. Man, preacher, that ain't me. I know people that, man, I know some folks that really, yeah. But if we're honest with ourself, if we're really honest, let's just be honest. Let's take inventory of our life tonight, in closing. At times, there's probably a little bit of deatrophies rising up in all of us. Your flesh has deatrophies written all over it. If we're real honest, yeah, preacher, Listen, there's times in my life, there's some deatrophies that wants to come up in my life. But can I tell you, let's be more like Gaius and Demetrius and let's watch out for the dangers of deatrophies. Let's pray. Lord, we love you tonight. Lord, I ask that you just take the message. Lord, I know it was short, but Lord, I'm thankful for the power of the word of God. Lord, help us to guard against the dangers of the atrophies. Lord, help us not to be self-centered. Lord, I ask God that You'd help us to guard our tongue according to the book of James. With the power of the tongue, Lord, that we would not slander. That only, Lord, good things would come out of the mouth of Your people. Lord, not corrupt communication. Lord, I ask God that You would help us, Lord, to not separate, not build opinions of others. And if there's disagreements, Lord, there's things in the Bible that are fundamentals to Scripture. Lord, we don't back down off of them. We don't apologize for it. But there's some things Lord, we don't have to separate over. Lord, that it's okay to disagree on. Lord, I ask God that you take us to a level of spiritual maturity. Lord, I ask God that you help us to guard against the dangers of deatrophies. Lord, I ask God that you give your people safe trip home tonight. Lord, we love you. In your name we pray. Amen.