So Jesus is the senior pastor of every true church. His word is law. His will is the standard. His life is the example. His goals are the mission. He is the senior pastor of every true church. Hebrews 13.20 says this much, where it says that he is the, quote, great shepherd. He's the superior. He's the highest shepherd. Peter, in 1 Peter 5.4, calls him the chief shepherd. He is the shepherd who has authority over all other shepherds. Now the word pastor is just a synonym for the word shepherd, which is why Jesus is the senior pastor of every true church. He's the highest. He's the one in charge. And my goal for us here at Redeemer is that He is the senior pastor of this church. That His word is our law. That His will is our standard. That His life is our example. That His goals are our mission. And the way I put it for the staff and the elders is that our goal is to stay behind Jesus. So he's the leader, and we're the followers. Right? So we would never want to stand next to him as consultants. Right? We would never have the audacity to stand in front of him as his superior. Hey, Jesus, follow us as we go. No. We, as Christians, But we also, as leaders, as pastors, as staff, we want to stay behind Him, following His will, making sure that we stay in His will by following Him. Now, Ephesians 4.7, 4.8, and 4.11 say that when Jesus ascended into heaven, That when he ascended, he gave gifts to his people. And that one of those gifts is pastors, shepherds. These are under shepherds of the great shepherds. These are staff pastors under the senior pastor. Now the senior pastor being Jesus. Now there's nothing inherently special about pastors. They don't have what some call an anointing. They don't do miracles. They're not closer to God merely because of their office. They aren't in some separate class above other Christians. They're just regular people who have a specific assignment. But here's the thing. More often than not, there are false pastors, impostors out there, who claim to have all of these things simply because they're pastors. And these are the kinds of false pastors that was the problem that Paul is addressing in the book of Titus. So turn to the book of Titus. Titus chapter 1. If you got a Bible from an usher, that's page 1100. So there's these true faithful pastors and these false imposter pastors. And Titus is Paul's Navy SEAL. He says he's the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the ministry partner, above all the rest, where there's a hard issue. He's sending Titus. So they both go together to the island of Crete. They see all of the mess that's going on there. And Paul says, you're staying here and I'm leaving. I'm going. I got other things to do, but you need to stay here and do some things. Now, I want to give you some more specifics on that, so take a look at chapter 1, verse 10. Why did Paul leave Titus there? Look at 110. He said, for there are how many? Many, not a few. There are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and what's the word? deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party, they must be what? Silenced. So you are to silence them. You are not to let them continue their false teaching. Why? Because they're upsetting whole families by teaching. Notice what's their motive? Shameful gain, money, influence, power. teaching what they ought not to teach. So why does Paul leave Titus there? Because there are these imposters running around, tearing apart families with their false teaching in order to get rich, get fame, money, power, women, whatever it is. All of that shameful stuff, he said, you need to address that. Take a look at chapter three. Chapter three, why does Paul leave Titus on the island of Crete? Look at chapter 3 verse 8. He goes through this explanation of the gospel and he says in verse 8, the saying is trustworthy. What I'm saying about the gospel is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to what? to good works. So there's a problem on Crete. One is false teaching. Two is ungodly living amongst the Christians. They are not, it says, they're devoted, devoting themselves to good works. But when they do, it says these things are excellent and profitable for people, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, namely by this false teaching, after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him." Whoa. So why does Paul leave Titus on the island of Crete? Because there's false teaching, number one, and because there's ungodly living amongst the Christians. False pastors, false teachers were a problem for the island of Crete. And they're also a problem for churches today in America, right? Anyone can be propped up by the money and marketing that is Christianity in our day. They can be propped up as a pastor, a leader, an influencer that Christians just need to follow and pay attention to. The marks that we're gonna see over the next month of a faithful pastor in Titus chapter one are rarely, they rarely have anything to do with who is lifted up as an influencer of mass amounts of Christians in our day. All someone needs is a unique angle, a charismatic personality, preferably with a lot of humor, a ton of social media followers, and a Bible, open or not. And then they, with the backing of big evangelicalism, We just drive them to the top of the church. And now people disregard their own local pastors because there's the super pastors over everybody. And add to that the seduction of our celebrity culture, and it's just made a huge mess in the church today. Just look at how many high-profile pastors have fallen morally or fallen away completely from the Jesus they once proclaimed in the last few years. Heck, in the last few weeks, right? And here's the deal. They just, you know, go off to their new life or maybe they join, they get connected to another group of Christians who are gullible and have no discernment. And they're just like, yeah, come teach us, you're wonderful. And they proliferate this destruction. See, it doesn't harm them very much. They just move on to something else. But you know what hurts? The guy works a nine to five that says, well, if that pastor doesn't care about this stuff, why should I? It hurts the young lady on social media who's looking at all the fighting and destruction caused by these false pastors and goes, gosh, the non-Christians I know are better people than these Christians, these pastors. It also harms the kid who looks up to these wolves. only to have the perception of pastors, churches, and maybe even Jesus himself forever tainted and scarred because of their fall. See, the pastor, like for me, I always wrestle with how do I take something that was written 2,000 years ago, a personal letter between Paul and Titus, and make it applicable to you today? You know, it's 2,000 years removed, different culture, different people. How is this, why is this in the Bible, this verse five, why is it there? It's there for this reason. You and I need discernment. And we need discernment on this issue. What is a pastor supposed to be? What is he supposed to do? There are a lot of people out there that are calling themselves pastors, but are false. How many did we see in chapter one, verse 10? Just a few? Many. There are a whole lot more today than there were in this day. which means that you and I need discernment like crazy because there's social media, there's television, there's YouTube, there's books, there's podcasts, there's everything that's screaming, you need to listen to me, you've got people in your life, you need to listen to this, you need to read this, you need to follow this person. Well, you need to be able to go, well, should I? But look, how do I know if they're good or not? Because they're funny? That's what we do. They're funny. They're likable. They say some things that sound kind of like the Bible. So OK, well, let's just follow them. No, we need discernment because there are many of them. And Jesus said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons? And he will say what? The part for me, I never knew you. I never had a relationship with you. Jesus says that because we need discernment and this text will give us discernment, especially in this area, the priorities of a faithful pastor. What are the things that they're working towards? What are the things that they're committed to, devoted to? What does a faithful pastor look like? Again, why do I say this to you? Because Acts 17, 11, here is this group of people who heard Paul faithfully and said, we love what you're saying, Paul. But you know what they did after that? They took out their Bibles and they took what he said and went, well, we need to make sure that what you're saying, Paul, is accurate. Well, guess what? If people did that for Paul, you better believe we need to do that today with every person that says, oh, I'm a pastor, listen to me, I'm teaching the Bible, right? Every one of us needs that. But then beyond that, Beyond that, there are other people in your life that you need to help, that there's discernment that you need to pass on to other people who don't have the discernment that you're gonna have. And so that's why we're looking at this text. We need to understand these things. A faithful pastor should have some of these things going on in his life and ministry. This is what marks the ministry of a faithful pastor. Now, in saying that, two qualifications. The first one is this. These are not all of the priorities of a faithful pastor. This is just the ones in verse five. I know there's more, there's a whole bunch more, but we're sticking to what it says in verse five, rather than doing a whole theology of the priorities of a faithful pastor. We're just sticking to verse five. But second, and even more, more deceptively, false pastors can come off like they're doing all these things. And they can actually be accomplishing these things for a long, long time. But eventually self gets in the way, self-ambition, selfish promotion, and it's gonna replace these priorities. So let me make it even more practical. If you've been learning from someone whose priorities do not align with what we're going to see in this text now and over the next few weeks, you need to limit your exposure to them. Or you need to end your exposure to them. Because here's what we do. I know it says in Titus 1.5 or Titus 1.9 or whatever. I know it says in the Bible that a pastor is supposed to do this, but he's so fill in the blank. He's so funny. He's had such an impact on my life. He's so dynamic. He's so good looking, like whatever it is. We go, oh, see, like it can't be. They're so wonderful. God in his grace has given us words in black and white that just say they either meet this or they don't. And if they don't, run. So does that make sense? That's why we're looking at this text this morning. That's why this text is in the Bible. So that you and I have the discernment we need to assess, is this an imposter or is this a faithful pastor? So take a look at verse five. Paul begins his instructions to Titus by saying this, this is why I left you in Crete. So the word why, purpose, reason, this is why I did this, two things, so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. So I want you to think about this for a second. So this island has got problems all over the place. In the churches, outside the churches. And where does Paul begin? He begins with the issue of leadership. Because he knows that it's going to be leadership that's going to correct these things, and it's going to be leadership that keeps them corrected in the long haul. And so he starts with his own leadership. Look at verse five. He addresses Titus as a superior officer to a soldier and says, this is why I left you in Crete. That word left doesn't mean I just dropped you off there. That word conveys the idea of I dispatched you. I deployed you. You have a mission, an assignment, a charge, an order from your superior officer, Titus. And you see that at the end of the verse where it says that as I directed you, Again, I gave you direction, I gave you orders. In other words, this wasn't a suggestion, this was a command. And since it came from an apostle in a letter inspired by God, this is a divine command to Titus. And again, the issue is how much does that divine command apply to us. See, it looks like just that Paul and Titus, you know, but what Paul is doing is he's setting the parameters of faithful ministry for Titus, which then we're able to apply in our own lives. And point number one, as we do that, a faithful pastor under the leadership of Jesus, the senior pastor, his priority point number one will be to submit to an authoritative assignment. Submit to an authoritative assignment. In other words, a faithful pastor knows, and it comes out in his life, that I'm a man under authority, and that authority is God himself who has given me the assignment to be here with these people, to shepherd them, care for them, protect them, lead them, feed them. So he's not his own, he belongs not to the church, the other pastors, the denomination, the association. He belongs to God and the assignment came from the Lord himself to perform. He's a man under orders, the result. And when you think about it, if you're a soldier and receive orders, the goal is never creativity. Right? You're not like, oh, you know, what can I do with that order? Oh, maybe it means this or that. No, the goal is faithfulness. That's the goal. And I want you to see that ministry is not a suggestion. It's not like, oh, you know, what kinds of things could I, well, I guess I could be a pastor. Take a look at Titus 1.3. I want you to see how Paul characterized his ministry. Listen to this. Titus 1.3, at the proper time manifested the gospel, this word, through the preaching, with which I have been entrusted, I've been entrusted to do this preaching, notice what it says, by the suggestion of God. He kind of laid something on my heart and then I just kind of like, well, I don't know, God, I'll just do whatever. Is that what your Bible says? Ministry was a command. It's a command from God himself. Yes, Ephesians 3, 7, Paul says that ministry was a gift of God's grace, but just like the grace of salvation, the grace of ministry comes from the King. So disregard this gift is to be disobedient, derelict in one's duties. It is, yeah, again, you think about a soldier given a command, you know, let's do whatever. That's a suggestion. Paul's like, what I'm telling you? And he says it beginning and end. This is why I left you here, deployed you here, and as I directed you. There is a command here on Titus's life. First Timothy 2.7, Paul says, being a pastor, a preacher of God's Word, and a teacher of God's people comes as, quote, an appointment. to the task. And now here's the thing, Jesus is the senior pastor, right? So if that's true, then we should see this in his life. Do we see this in his life that he is a man under authority with a task that he is to fulfill? Answer, yes. John 5.19 says, quote, I can do nothing of my own accord. I can't do anything. I can't do whatever I want to do. He says, I can only do what I see the father doing. So he's under the authority of the father, promoting what the father wants him to do. And that goes all the way down to what Jesus said. John 12.43 says, quote, I have not spoken on my own authority, but the father who sent me himself has himself given me a commandment." Well, what is that commandment, Jesus? He explains it. What to say and what to speak. So Jesus never said a word and never did a thing that was outside of his authoritative assignment. So the idea here is that the under shepherds, under the great shepherds, simply follow that example and say, this is a command from the Lord, this ministry. In other words, it's not a job. It's not a stepping stone. It's not something that, oh, I'll just see if I like this. I don't know. It's not something he does just because his dad or his grandpa or somebody else did it. It's a command. Paul even went this far. 1 Corinthians 9.16, he says, quote, woe to me. Let me be cursed by God if I don't fulfill my assignment. That's how serious it was for him. So a pastor is a normal Christian like every other Christian, but has a very abnormal assignment. That his life and his, his ministry is meant to be a shepherd to the people that God sends him to. And really it's not just single pastor. It is elders. As you see in verse five, it is the group of pastors. So they're not a hireling doing it for the money. They do it for free because God compels them to do it. A faithful pastor feels that, and it comes out in the way that he comports himself, the way that he carries himself, that there's a mission, a purpose. This isn't just like some deal. There's a direction, there's a goal, and it's an assignment from the King. Let me just say this, too. 2 Timothy 2, 4 likens pastoral ministry to being a soldier. Soldiers don't have their own words, they don't have their own wills, they don't have their own direction. They exist to please their commanding officer. So for the pastor, his words are not his own. His will is not his own. The standards are not his own. Success is not measured by something that he makes up. I mean, think about this. Do you think God looks down from heaven and goes, wow, that church is so small? That pastor is just a loser. What is wrong with him? Or do you think he's sitting there going, my goodness, look at how big that church is. I'm so impressed with that pastoral team over there. They've got budgets and buildings and people and oh my goodness, they're just incredible. God is not impressed. He's not sitting there going, oh, this is so wonderful. We do. We get impressed by all that nonsense. God's sitting there going, are you being faithful to what I told you to do? You have an assignment, and that is what you're going to be. You're going to stand before your commanding officer and give an account for that assignment. Are you being faithful? Remember, we want to all hear the same thing, right? Well done, good, and faithful. Servant. Slave. One who does the will of his master. That's what we want. A faithful pastor submits to the God behind his authoritative ministry assignment. And look back at verse 5. So Paul again leaves Titus on Crete to do two things. Notice it says there, I left you there so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders in every town. Now, a little background for a second. Acts 2.11 says that there were Jews in Jerusalem on the day the Spirit fell and the church was born, which means, I think, that there were Christians, they were Jews when they showed up, they were Christians when they left, who went back to Crete, and then they began to have these little churches on the island of Crete. So Paul and Titus show up, not to evangelize an island that had never been evangelized before, but there were people, there were Christians. What they found there was a whole lot of chaos amongst those churches. A whole lot. And so, with it being overrun by false teaching and ungodly living, He says, notice in verse 5, I want you to address what remains. That idea is that there's an incompleteness to the work. There's something that needs to be finished. It's unfinished. And as a result, it's defective. It's unhealthy. But notice that false teaching, that ungodliness also is something that needed to be, verse 5, put in order. A word that means to straighten out, to bring in conformity to a standard, to correct. It's the word ortho that we get orthopedic, one who straightens bones, straightens legs and feet, or orthodontist, one who straightens teeth. It's the same idea. He says, there's some thinking and there's some living that needs to be straightened out, Titus, and I need you to go there and do that. And it's straightened out, not based on any other standard, but based on the Word of God. It's bringing lives, it's bringing thinking into alignment with God's Word. So, that's Titus' charge. That's the charge of every faithful pastor, the way that I put it for point number two. A faithful pastor will persevere in correcting and completing. Correcting and completing. Much of the work that a pastor does is summarized by those two words, correcting and completing. First, he's constantly correcting false teaching and sinful behavior. He's doing that when he teaches publicly. He's doing that when he's counseling privately. There is constantly a correcting going on as he's hearing people's ideas or seeing people's lives and going, well, that doesn't align with what the word of God says. So he's bringing people's thoughts and lives into order, into straightening it out based on the word of God. Well, for this, the faithful pastor is not always the most popular person in the world. You can imagine, right? And so inside the heart of a faithful pastor is this pull of man-pleasing. And if I say this, what could happen? If I say that, how could these people respond or what's gonna happen? So inside the heart of a faithful pastor, there's this tension. That's why I use the word persevere. Because the faithful pastor knows this is my mandate. So I've got to persevere in correcting, correcting thinking, correcting actions, so that people's lives can be in conformity to Christ likeness. But he's also constantly completing what's not done. Now, there is never a moment when a pastor puts his head on the pillow and goes, everything's done. What am I going to do tomorrow? I don't know. There's never a moment like that. And that's because you and I have this sliver of time that we're alive. But there's this story that's been going for centuries and will continue for who knows how long. And we just have this little moment in time. And for the pastor, he has this little moment in time to be faithful with his charge, and then he's done, but the story keeps going. Because we're simply, as I said in our prayer meeting this morning, with the team, we are simply the extras in a story where Jesus is the hero. And we just have our little moments to serve our King, and then we're gone. And the story continues. Well, this this idea of the work never being done is what he's pointing at to Titus saying, Titus, there is a work there that you need to finish. But that's the point. A faithful pastor doesn't see all of the stuff going on and goes, whatever, I'm going golfing. There's so much that's got to be done. There's so much. I'm just not like that. There's nothing wrong with going golfing. My point is this, that when there's so much to be done, if it's a consistent pattern of neglect and laziness, He's saying, Titus, you've got a 160-mile-long island, and I'm leaving you on that island to go to every town that has a church and to appoint elders there on that whole island. Well, that's going to take a long time, no matter whether he's loved or whether he's hated by those people. Titus, you've got to do that. You've got to persevere. No laziness here. Supplying what was lacking is how Paul thought of his ministry, 1 Thessalonians 3 10. He says to this group of Christians, my ministry is to supply what was lacking in your faith. It's to grow you, to give you more trust in Jesus, to tell you how wonderful he is so that you'll entrust more of your life to him. So he saw himself as, I'm supplying what you're lacking. Also, he says of his friend Epaphroditus, another one of these ministry partners, it says, he risked his life to complete what was lacking in your service. So here's this ministry that this group of Christians had, and Paul goes, hey, he was ministering to you to complete what was lacking in the ministry that you were doing. So the faithful pastor is assessing and addressing what is lacking so that the work of the ministry, so that God's people can be complete, mature, well-taught, well-cared for, well-led, and well-protected. So the faithful pastor is working, and he's working to be a finisher. Bringing organization, leadership, truth, holiness to the body. And that is in light of all the laziness that could exist in ministry. That the faithful pastor is finding needs and filling those needs. He's seeing all the needs, he's seeing clearly everything that needs to be done, and he's trying to do something about it. And he's trying to do that, by the way, while not sacrificing his wife and kids on the altar of ministry, and still always abounding in the work of the Lord. He lives in this tension all the time. But that tension is what drives him and says, God, help me to be a blessing to your people, to meet their needs, to finish the task that you've given me here. That's what we see in Titus. That's what we see Paul encouraging in Titus. And that's what we see God encouraging faithful pastors to do in their ministries. Again, just like the senior pastor, the Lord Jesus. He completed the work the father gave him, right? He didn't leave anything undone. And he spent much of his time correcting and addressing the falsehood in people's teachings and people's lives when it came to the God of the universe. So a faithful pastor knows that's gonna be hard. It didn't get Jesus puppy dogs and ice cream and a party. It got him crucified. It got Paul crucified. It got Peter crucified. It got all of the apostles killed. except John. But he didn't, the end of his life was horrible as well. Persecution, hardship, and the faithful pastor here knows, well, that's not going to happen to me. None of that stuff's happening here yet. So he perseveres. Through the people that don't trust him, perseveres. Through the false teachers assaulting him, perseveres. Through the ungodly people attacking him, through the tasks that seem far too big, the faithful pastors persevere. Now look back at the text one more time. Titus has a task. He's not just to put, he's not just to finish the, to complete the tasks that are there and to correct the problems. But in verse five, it also says that he was there to quote, appoint elders in every town. The word appoint means to put in charge, to assign, to empower. Notice it was Titus, a minister appointing other ministers. And those ministers notice were to come from the people in the churches, in the towns and on the island of Crete. From the book of Acts, we know that when that was happening, we see Paul and he's going, God, who do you want to be the elders? There is prayer, there's fasting, they're seeking God to make sure that the right men go into that office. And what we're gonna see in the coming weeks is that there was a standard of behavior that had to be met. And notice the text, there had to be more than one. Notice it says, appoint elders, plural, in every town. That single elder, single pastor model does not have any warrants in the New Testament. So as we step back and think about the context, there's these sickly, unhealthy churches. And Paul says, all of these things going on, you gotta put in order, you gotta correct. Well, how are you gonna do that? Where's the place that you start? Godly leadership. Godly leadership. A church without elders is like an army without officers, one pastor said. Soon, dysfunction, chaos, everybody doing what's right in their own eyes will be the result. So to address that and to keep it from happening, like Titus, a faithful pastor, point number three, will commit to developing elders. Commit to developing elders. He will train, develop, equip elders, the elders he has, and will do more of that for the future. The way I've summarized it for myself is my job is to preach God's word, love God's people, and train leaders. That's if I want to summarize my whole job description, it's that. It's those three things. And this was Paul's desire for all of his ministry associates. He says the same thing to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2.2, Urantitus is just one book to the left. 2 Timothy, look at chapter two, verse two. He's speaking to another one of his ministry associates. And he says, 2 Timothy 2.2, here's your ministry. Start in verse one. 2 Timothy 2.1, you then my child, Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you've heard from me." So here's Paul talking to Timothy, one and two. What you've heard from me, and the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, there's Timothy talking to faithful men, teaching them, who are able to do what? Teach others also. So there's this four parts. Paul to Timothy, Timothy to faithful men, faithful men to teaching others. That's the idea. That's the job. We're going to see that that's part of the main part of the job of an elder. And that's how they're trained. And again, let me ask you this question. Did Jesus do that? Did the senior pastor train other leaders? You bet he did. If you look at the life of Jesus, the first year was lived mostly in obscurity. The second year was talking to the crowds. But the bulk of the third year? was focusing on those 12 disciples, making sure that they were ready to take what he taught them and pass that on to other people who are able to teach others also, which by the way, is why you and I are here today. You know that, right? is because they took what Jesus taught them and passed it on. And Paul passed on to Timothy and Titus and others. And all of that has been passed down for multiple centuries until we get to today, where we're seeking to teach the same exact thing the apostles taught that they heard from Jesus himself. Not trying to deviate from that, but say exactly what they said. Well, that's the job of a faithful pastor. Faithful pastors want more faithful pastors around them and know that if they're not already there, he's got to develop those men. so that they will be with him in the ministry. We've got to be models of sound theology and godly living, as we're going to see in the coming weeks. If those men aren't there, he's going to develop them. If they are there, he's going to develop them even more. But too often, pastors spend their time doing things that aren't that. And so this becomes a major part of what he tells Timothy to do, and what Paul tells Titus. You'd be like, well, Paul tells Timothy and Titus that, great. No, God tells pastors that we have to do the same thing. Again, that's part of our authoritative assignment. This is not optional. And so just so you know that, just so you know this, you're gonna see a lot more of that happening here at Redeemer in the coming months and years. And it's because of this. When you walk out of here later, You're not going to look out at vast swaths of unused land, right? There's not just empty parking lots or empty lots all around us. We are landlocked, which means that we can't grow beyond this footprint that we have here, this kind of five, six acres that we have. So what are we supposed to do with that? Well, if God continues to bring people like he's brought all of us, we're going to be multiplying services like crazy. This looks exactly like the last service, which means that we have needed four services since January, to be honest with you. And as we look at that, we're like, okay, five, six, seven services? What are we going to do with that? That's just insane. I think Sean and I will die from that. Right? So before I left, elders got together and we sought the Lord and we prayed and we said, God, what do you want us to be going forward? Redeemer 1.0 was that we didn't die. Okay, if you've been here for a little while, like what's going on here? This is a four-year-old church turnaround. Four years ago, this church was on its way into the ground, dead, buried. Redeemer 2.0 was the resurrection. God resurrected this church, kept it going, kept it thriving. Now we're in the position of Redeemer 3.0. And what do we want to be as a Church Redeemer 3.0? That's where we're praying, thinking, God, what do we want to be? And what we believe the Lord wants this church to be is a church that develops elders to plant churches. Because we can't, we can't, we can't only grow so much here. We can only knock down building, blah, all that. Like, we can only do so much of that. But if God continues to do this, and for whatever reason he is, well, how are we going to reach this valley for Christ? Best way to do that is to put a Redeemer in Santan Valley and South Gilbert and Mesa and wherever else somebody wants to go. But in order to do that, we just like, Oh God, just plant other churches. No, we've got to develop the elders. It's going to take to plant those churches and lead those churches so that more and more people will come to know, love and serve Jesus. That's our hope. That's why this church exists. And so as we conclude, I hope you've seen two things. The first, I hope you've been given some kind of grid, discernment, wisdom to assess, who are these people that are influencing me or that I'm allowing to influence me called pastors, leaders, whatever, and do they match some of these priorities? But also I hope that you've seen that when it comes to pastors, their job is simply to do what Jesus did. Submit to an authoritative assignment, number one, Also, to stay committed to this, to persevere in correcting and completing ministry. And number three, devoting themselves to training other leaders just like Jesus devoted himself to. Now here's the deal. We looked this week at the priorities of a faithful pastor, but next week and in the following weeks, we're going to look at the character. Because what is exalted most in Paul's assessment of the kind of people that he wanted Titus to appoint to be elders in the churches of Crete are men of character. And here's the deal. It is because churches and people, Christians, have disregarded what we're gonna see in verses six to nine. Oh, you know, I know it says that he's not supposed to be this, but you know what, he's just so, funny. I know it says that he's supposed to be, you know, let's let's take a look at verse 7. I know he's supposed to not be a drunkard. I know he's got a little bit of a drinking problem, but gosh he's just so such a good preacher. It's because we've taken these verses and we've explained them away that much of the damage has been done in Christianity. So we need to understand these things so we have the discernment to protect us and the ones we love from the imposters that are out there. And just know that imposters, faithful pastors, the difference is one follows the senior pastor, Jesus himself.