Biblical Qualifications

00:02 Good morning to each one. Let the church say Amen this morning. Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you for those songs Brother Justin and for leading us this morning in our singing together. Invite you to turn in your copies of the Scriptures to 1 Timothy Chapter 3. And this message, 00:21 or some semblance of it, has been preached here before. We usually try to preach on the biblical qualifications of a minister before we have an ordination or a licensing service. And the qualifications haven't changed since the last time that we had a call to minister. And our procedures change at times, 00:43 but the qualifications are the same. And they're rooted in the character of God and rooted in the model believer. Paul told Timothy, "To be thou an example of the believer." And so that's what the leader is to be, is an example of the believer, 01:03 not just an example to the believer, but an example of the believer. And so we want to look at that again this morning. Our process is a little bit different this time. Last time when we chose a minister, we had seven men that were identified that we took through a leadership training class. 01:24 And we chose from those seven men, which you had identified as men that you wanted to go through that class. But we're not doing that this time. So we're not limiting to any group of men other than men that are qualified and biblically qualified. 01:42 And I will say this this morning that 01:46 these qualifications make a man feel unworthy because none of us have these qualifications down pat all the time. 01:59 And we can look at these and feel a bit inferior and a bit insecure and a bit saying that if this is going to be anybody, it's going to have to be by the grace of God. And it also is a call to a scribe to these, 02:19 to say, "This is our pursuit." And as we pursue these character qualities, we do well as any brother or sister in the church. This is good Christian character that is a prescription for each and every one of us in our pursuit of Christ. 02:42 Now, let's read from Chapter 3, verse 1 through verse 7. "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, 03:02 sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. 03:24 For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 03:38 Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and a snare of the devil." Now, turn over to 2 Timothy Chapter 2, verse 24 through 26. "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, 03:59 but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, 04:18 having been taken captive by him to do his will." And then one other passage this morning, just a couple pages over in the Book of Titus. 04:30 Titus Chapter 1, verse 5 through 9. "For this reason I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination. 04:50 For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 05:09 holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict." The story is told of a man who was directed by the Spirit of God to go to a he was from London, 05:29 I believe, and to go into the backwoods of America. This is many years ago to preach the gospel to some woodcutters. And when he went back into the timber area where they were he thought they were working, he found shanties that were there but no people. 05:48 And they had evidently gone back further into the deep woods and had abandoned these cabins. And so he was there on assignment from God to preach the gospel with no one to preach to. So feeling that his mission was to preach the gospel, 06:07 he preached the message of salvation. And he preached faithfully, expounded the Scriptures, and then went back home. A number of years later, he was walking in London, England, across the London Bridge. And he was approached by a man who said, 06:28 "I finally found you. I finally found you. I've been looking for you." And the preacher said, "Well, I think you must have the wrong person because I don't know you." "Oh, but I know you. 06:40 Were you at such and such a place back in the woods, the deep woods of America with some woodcutters who had abandoned their little community there? And did you preach the gospel that day?" And he said, "Yes. Yes." He said, "I did." He said, 06:59 "Well, I want you to know that I was your only listener that day." And it had so happened that he had come back, had forgotten a piece of equipment, and had come back, left his men working out in the woods, come back to the settlement, and got his missing piece of equipment. And while he was there, he heard someone preaching. 07:21 And he said, "I read or I heard your voice and saw you through the chinks and the timber walls, listened to you, and was deeply convicted of sin. But I left and went back to my men, but the arrow had stuck fast." He said, "I had no Bible. I felt more and more wretched. At last, I possessed myself of the sacred treasure, 07:42 and I read till I found words whereby I obtained eternal life. I told my men of the same blessed news, and they were all converted to God. Three of them became missionaries. 07:54 And I became possessed of a desire to tell you that your sermon had led to the conversion of at least 1,000 souls." That was taken from the British Christian Herald many years ago. 08:11 Now, it is amazing that one single message could reach that many people when it looked like it reached no one. And when we think about these qualifications, one of the primary qualifications is faithfulness. 08:23 Faithfulness to the call of God, faithfulness to the command of God, faithfulness to the Word of God, and to the assignment that God has given to the man of God to preach the Word of God. But it is not true that most of our lives or that our lives are unobserved. That's not true. 08:43 This sermon may have been unobserved or almost unobserved by anyone, but our lives are observed. And as we observe the life of the man of God, we hold up these qualifications as necessary because we do not live on an island, and we are subject to the evaluation. 09:05 And the gospel is at stake by what we do with the gospel and how we live our lives in accordance with the gospel. And so when we look at this passage of Scripture this morning, we're thinking about being of good reputation both within the church and outside of the church. Now, Paul begins here by saying, 09:24 "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work." Now, I want you to notice that Paul does not say. 09:33 So we don't necessarily think that men should desire those things, but neither should we not desire if God calls. So we are not to desire the position of a bishop or a church leader and say, "Well, God calling, Lord, I just don't want to do that. 09:53 I don't have no desire." We do have a desire to serve the Lord. And the man of God must have a desire to serve the Lord. And if God calls him to the office of bishop, he desires a good work. The emphasis here is not on the man desiring, but on the work that's being desired. 10:13 And so it is a good work to serve the Lord. It is a good work to serve the Lord in the ministry. It is a good work to serve the Lord behind the pulpit. It is good work to serve the Lord in any work that God calls us to do. Amen? Now, there are very few who are called to fill the pulpit. 10:30 There are very few that are called to lead out in leadership in the church in comparison with the rest of the church. And that does not make us extra special. It does not make us extra good or extra talented or extra anything. But what it does is it reminds us that wherever we are called to serve, 10:53 we do so with joy. Any work that God has called us to serve in is a good work. Now, there are those who particularly look and because of training and background and experience and whatever, maybe even a false humility, look at the ministry as being a curse. 11:11 "Oh, you mean that God would judge me by putting me in the ministry?" And Paul said the opposite. "Praise God that he found me faithful, putting me into the ministry." And so if God puts you in the ministry, he's putting you in a good work. He's giving you a good work. 11:29 Now, we notice here in this passage the word bishop. We're going to give a little bit of an explanation of the terms here if I can move forward with this. When he talks about the word bishop, now, most of us come from a background where there was a three-tiered ministry. 11:51 There was deacon, there was minister, and then at the top of the tier was bishop. And there was a bishop in every church or a bishop in every district that would be over that district. And in some cases, only the bishop could marry, only the bishop could baptize, only the bishop could bury. 12:11 And it was more of a top-down leadership structure. So we may tend to shy away from the term bishop, but it is a biblical term. But it's not the only biblical term. 12:22 So what we have here as we look at these Scriptures and the qualifications is two words in the Greek. One is called is the word episcopus. One term is called where we get the term elder, which is the Greek word presbyterus. 12:44 This term emphasizes the man in the office. They were generally elder men. They were called elders because they were generally elderly or at least more experienced in the gospel and mature. I think that could mean by age and by spiritual maturity. 13:03 But then there's another term that we have here in this passage this morning, which is the Greek word episcopus, which emphasizes the bishop or overseer. If you have a more modern translation of the Scripture, you would have it's probably translated overseer. If a man desires the position of an overseer, 13:24 he desires a good work. Now, the difference is that the term bishop, overseer, episcopus emphasizes the responsibility where the term presbyterus or elder emphasizes the man filling the office. 13:43 And so we have a difference of terms but not necessarily of office. And the way that we know that is because these two terms are used interchangeably. So look at a couple of verses with me. Look at a couple of verses with me. 14:01 Let's look at the overseer emphasizes the function or the task of superintending over the life and work of the church. As time went on, a leader in a locale would emerge as leader of leaders, as first among equals. And then over more time, the equals part disappeared, 14:22 and they became prominent authorities. And so you ended up in the Catholic Church with a seven-tiered ministry, which we in Anabaptist circles brought into our circles as a three-tiered: bishop, minister, and deacon. But these terms are used interchangeably. And so if you turn over to Book of Acts Chapter 20, 14:44 Acts Chapter 20, when Paul called the Ephesian elders to him to give them his final farewell, in Acts 20, verse 17, it says that this became excuse me, verse 17. 15:01 "From Meletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church." He was calling for the men who filled the office of overseer or of elder. But then he calls them in verse 28. He says, "Therefore, take heed to yourselves, 15:20 same group of men, and to all the flock among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." And so you have the term for the same men being called elders, presbyterus, and overseers or bishops, episcopus. 15:42 One emphasizing the men, the other emphasizing the role that the men were to play. And so it is not two different offices, that of minister and bishop. It is one office with two different words to describe both the men and the function. Now, 16:02 if you go over to Chapter 5 of First Peter, you find this happen again. First Peter Chapter 2, verse 25 says, "For you are like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls or overseer of your souls," speaking of Jesus. 16:21 And then in Chapter 5, verse 1, Peter says, "The elders," that's presbyterus, "who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a particular of the glory that will be revealed, 16:41 shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as bishops, overseers, episcopus, not by compulsion but willingly, 16:52 not for dishonest gain but eagerly." And so you have the same group of men being addressed as elders speaking of the men and as bishops or overseers speaking of their function of overseeing the work of God in the church. So when Paul says, "If a man desires the office of a bishop, 17:13 he desires a good work." It is a good work to serve the Lord in the ministry. It is a good work to serve the Lord wherever he calls us and with whatever gifting he gives. Then he says in verse 2, "A bishop then must be blameless." The word blameless is a heavy word. We would say, 17:33 "How could a person be blameless?" Well, a person who is blameless, it simply means that they are above reproach or above reproof. It is having no grounds for accusation. In other words, this is the man who, if you accuse him of something, 17:53 it is so out of the character of the man that it does not stick. It cannot stick because it is unfounded. It is baseless. And so therefore, this man is to abstain from all appearance of evil. He is subject to financial scrutiny, sexual scrutiny, family scrutiny. 18:13 And he is found to be one whom it is impossible to bring any charge against, such as could stand impartial examination. So on any day in the ministry as a minister of the gospel, we can have our critics. But this says that not that they're above criticism, 18:32 but that they are above reproach in their character as they are examined and as they are scrutinized. The second qualification here is that he must be the husband of one wife. This does not imply, most commentators would believe, does not mean and state that he must be married. 18:54 We anticipate that Paul probably, when he was an apostle, was not married. At least he says he was functioning as a single man. And so Paul would have been disqualified because he was not married as far as we know. So it does not mean that a man must be married. 19:11 Neither does it mean that a man who lost his wife could not be remarried. But what it means is he is a one-woman man, a one-woman man. He does not have two women at the same time. This eliminates those who are involved in polygamy, 19:31 those who would have a concubine, those who would have been divorced and remarried. And so he must, those who are involved in sexual sin and even in the sin of pornography with the wandering eye and the lustful heart that is uncontrolled. 19:50 So he is a one-woman man. He is the husband of one wife. Verse 2, he goes on to say, "He must be temperate." He must be temperate. Let's just jump down here since we're talking about wives and families. Let's jump down to verse 4 where it says, 20:09 "One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence and about the importance of having our families under control." Now, I'll be honest with you, when our son left several years ago, that gave me great cause for concern. Was I no longer qualified to serve in this position as pastor? 20:32 And I sought the counsel of a number of men. I have sat on several boards. I offered to resign from those boards. And I remember Brother Alan Roth saying to me, Brother Todd, he said, "These qualifications are not to get men out of the ministry. 20:54 They're putting men into the ministry." Well, you could debate that whether or not Alan was right. But we were encouraged that we had four children that were serving the Lord and one that wasn't. We must have done something right. We didn't do everything wrong. But when you're in that position, it sure feels like you did everything wrong. 21:15 But thank God that that son has come back to the faith, come back to the Lord. 21:20 And so I believe that this can be rooted in the Scripture where Samuel with his erring sons knew that they were in error and did not rebuke them. 21:39 And when he did rebuke them, he did not remove them from office. And he tolerated their sin. And of course, that was something that we would not do is tolerate the sin of a son. But nevertheless, we thank God that he has returned to the faith. 21:59 It was a very difficult time. And there were times when we entertained this idea of giving up the ministry. And we're encouraged by our other children to say, "Dad, don't do it. Don't give Satan more victory than what he already has." And so we appreciate that affirmation. 22:18 But at the same time, we must do something with this passage of Scripture for children that are under the direction of submission, under the living in the home. And I think maybe more than just one. You may have several. It may be that. But at any rate, 22:38 he needs to have his family under control. And in other words, his loyalty needs to be to the gospel and not to the erring son or child. So he has his house in order. 22:55 Titus 1:6 says, "A man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient," speaking, I think, specifically of children that are at home. When they get to be adults, parents no longer have control of the children's decisions. 23:14 Now, we go back up to verse 2. "He is to be temperate." He is to be temperate. He is to be vigilant. He is to be discreet. Means to be calm or dispassionate. He is to be sober-minded, self-controlled, and of a sound mind. 23:34 He is to be of good behavior. Of good behavior means to be respectable, honorable. Obedience is commanded. Respect is earned. This is something we must remember. Obedience as parents from our children to our parents is commanded. Children obey your parents, but then respect is earned. 23:55 This man needs to be one worthy of respect and then given proper obedience. May not always agree with this man, but he's always able to be respected. Respected. And then he is to be hospitable. Hospitable. 24:14 To love people. To love strangers. To love the people to whom he preaches. 24:23 Someone asked the pastor one time. He said, "You preach on the love of God, but do you love the people?" Or, "You love the preach, but do you love the people you preach to?" It's a good question. It's a good question. I remember driving school bus many years ago. I said, "School bus is great. 24:37 Driving school bus is great except for the children that you have to haul." And I was a substitute driver in a particular unruly route. And sometimes we might say, "Well, the people God has chosen me to lead are leading is great, but the people are not so great." And Moses had that in mind also when he said, 24:58 "God, first of all, I didn't choose this. And secondly, God, these people that you gave me to lead aren't all that hot." I thank the Lord that the church that we have been asked to lead and chosen to lead is a church that loves the Lord and that is a blessed church. 25:15 As I've said many times, there's no other church I'd rather pastor than Living Water right here in Goshen. You all are wonderful followers, wonderful people that we love dearly. But able to teach, hospitable, able to teach. Now, the term able to teach or apt to teach can also mean teachable. 25:37 And so we learn to look for a man who's teachable, not one who thinks he has all the answers, but one who is continuing to learn. I remember Howard Hendricks in a video series we had here many years ago on teaching. He said, "If you stop learning today, 25:57 you stop teaching tomorrow." Because the teacher must be a continual learner. Learn from the Word of God. Never do we get to the point where we have this Word of God all mastered and all figured out. We must continually be learning. We must continually be learning about Scripture. 26:17 We must continually be learning about the sheep and how to minister to them in proper and healthy and effective ways. And so we must be teachable. But it also can have the meaning of being apt to teach, able to teach. One of the primary roles of a bishop, overseer, elder, is that of teaching. 26:38 And if you are not apt to teach, you're not able to fulfill some of the responsibilities that God has given to the leader. And so to be apt to teach. By the way, this is one of the only qualifications found in Scripture that has to do with ability rather than character. Most of these passages, 26:58 most of these qualifications have to do with the character of the man filling the role. When it talks about able to teach, that is one of the functions that the man of God filling the role is to function. And if you look at it as being teachable, then it also becomes a matter of character. So he is to be not given too much wine. 27:18 Verse 3, not given too much wine. I think it's appropriate to say that he does well to not be given to any wine. But nevertheless, in Scripture, there was a possibility of some wine consumption, not highly strong drink, but some wine. 27:40 We've gone through that in the past, that Scripture does not necessarily forbid the use of all wine, but it does forbid being brought under the control of anything. 27:50 And it does forbid being in a bad reputation, being in a bad environment, being in any way compromising your testimony. And it does condemn being unwisely influenced by alcohol. And so we at Living Water just simply say, 28:11 "We agree to abstain from the use of alcohol." Then we don't have to worry about whether or not we are given to too much of it. If you don't take any of it, you'll never be given to too much of it. So verse 3, he says, is not given to wine, too much wine. Verse 3 is not violent. 28:32 He is no striker, but gentle, not violent, gracious, kindly, forbearing, considerate. Some people are just born by nature. They're scrappers. I remember Brother Earl Hosteller from Madison, Indiana, one day referring to a community that he used to live in. He said, "Well, they're just a bunch of scrappers." Well, 28:53 that's pretty bad when that's your reputation, being a bunch of scrappers. You know that the Christian church can have scrappers in it, but they ought not to be behind the pulpit where we love a good fight. We can't wait for another fight to emerge in the church. No, we want to be not violent, but gracious, kindly, forbearing one another in love. 29:12 And the next one is it goes with it. No brawler. No brawler. Not violent. Some of these are a little bit different depending on the version that you have. A brawler means contentious or quarrelsome. 29:25 Can't wait to have a good quarrel and throw stuff against the fan and see how far and wide it splatters and just giving ourselves to quarrels. The Bible says not to look for a quarrelsome man. Man is always looking for trouble, always looking for debate, 29:45 always looking for stirring the pot. No, not a brawler, but patient. Now, this also happens to be used over in chapter 2, verse 24. Patient, a man who's patient, long suffering. I love the word long suffering because patient is what you, in our use of the language, 30:04 is what you have to have when you sit at a train track in Goshen. Long suffering is what you have when you're suffering with people, when you're suffering along, when you just can't seem to make headway and you enter into a period and time of suffering with someone and it doesn't end and it just goes on and on. 30:24 We are long suffering as a more intense form of patience. And then he says not covetous, not covetous, not greedy for money, not greedy for money, not addicted to anything including money, not loving money, not loving your business more than you love the church, 30:45 not loving the 30:48 benefits of ministry more than the service of ministry. There are those who pursue gold and silver and all kinds of earthly monetary pursuits. And we realize that that is a necessity when you have a plural ministry and a bivocational ministry. 31:06 However, our first call is to the church and to the work of the Lord and not to the work of secular work, even though we have to have that to live at times, depending on our situation. 31:24 And we've been blessed to be able to be a part of Gospel Echoes and minister here at the church. That has been a blessing to be in ministry in both places. That is not always possible. But I will say this, that I'll just pick on Marv here a little bit. 31:40 One of the things I have said publicly about Marv's ministry and about that I appreciate through the years was Marv was a businessman, but he always, always put the work of the church first if there was in my work with him. If there was ever any way possible, 31:58 he would drop what he had and put the work of the church first. I so much appreciated that. Unless it was just absolutely impossible, that was the spirit that came through from Brother Marv. I appreciate that so very much and honor you for that. By the way, today is Marv's birthday. You may not have seen it in the bulletin, but you can sing happy birthday to him afterwards. 32:21 So not covetous. Paul said there's a legitimate place for tent making, but he had the right to ask and receive the support of the church. And the Scripture is clear that a church should give active support to their pastors. 32:40 You as a congregation do wonderful at that. We're so grateful as a ministry that you support us with prayers and words of encouragement and also with finances to help us be able to do the work that God has called us to do. Then he says in verse 6 that this man should not be a novice. 33:01 Lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation of the devil. What is a novice? A novice is known as a recent convert. A recent convert. 33:11 And he said not to be a recent convert, but one that has the depth of maturity that he can handle both pressures of life and of ministry, the pressure that comes from criticism and the pressure that comes from praise. There's pressures both ways. Amen. There's pressures both ways. 33:27 Some days you're criticized, and if you're not up to the task and you're not mature, it can discourage you to the point where pastors give up the ministry. 33:38 And others, when they do well, receive the praise of men and encouragement, and they get to thinking pretty good of themselves and that God really, really got a good deal when he got them, and they fall into snare of the devil of pride and under the same condemnation. 33:58 And so this man needs to be mature enough that he can handle both the criticism and the praise because they will come. They do come. They have come. Verse 7, moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, 34:18 a good report. He's not just preaching a sermon by somebody looking in through the chinks in the between the logs and listening to his voice, but he's being observed by a community. He's being observed by business associates. 34:35 He's being observed by others in the community and in the church and needs to have a good report, a reputation from those outside that he would be faithful to the call of God and the character of Christ, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 34:57 Now go over to chapter 2. 34:59 We'll conclude with a couple other passages here that we read that bring out the qualifications in a different way. The servant of the Lord must not quarrel. We've heard that. Must be gentle. We've heard that. Must be patient or able to teach. 35:17 We've heard that. Must be patient. He must not strive. He must be gentle and kind to everyone. 35:25 He must be patient, not resentful or easily threatened in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance. And this goes along with Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, "My brother, and if any man be overtaken in a fault, 35:44 ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." There was a famous author, writer who said, who was lifted up in pride, and he said, "You know, the enemy may get me at any number of places, but he'll never be able to get me in my relationship, in my marriage and with my wife. 36:04 That is a place we're strong." And it was not very long when that man who was lifted up in pride fell morally and sexually and sinned and lost his ministry or a good share of his ministry. Why? Because when we recognize that we are dependent, that we are needing of God, 36:24 and in humility, recognizing that we also could fall, not a one of us is above falling. In fact, the apostle said, Paul said that he buffets his body and brings it into subjection, lest after he had preached to many, he himself would become disqualified or cast away. So we must be humble, 36:45 humble, correcting those who are in opposition and bringing them, gently instructing them in the ways of the Lord, not abusing or mistreating people, but gently instructing, not self-willed, but not overbearing, 37:05 regarding the interests of others to get our own way. There's a lot to say today about spiritual abuse. What is spiritual abuse? 37:14 Spiritual abuse is a term that gets used and thrown around sometimes by those who don't understand it and think that anytime a leader takes a position that's a forceful position or that is uncompromising position based on Scripture, that he's abusing the sheep. That's not necessarily spiritual abuse. 37:32 Spiritual abuse is to treat people harshly for our own agenda, to serve ourselves and our own desires rather than treating those with gentleness, kindness, and putting the emphasis on restoration, restoring them to the faith. 37:52 So spiritual abuse has to do with an attitude, but it is also a self-serving attitude. And I want to warn you to be careful when you hear people say about spiritual abuse because we don't always know the situation. 38:07 There was a John MacArthur a number of years ago was accused of spiritual abuse in relationship to a woman in the church who the elders said should not leave her husband. And she left her husband, and then she was disciplined and so on. And immediately that hit social media. 38:27 Be careful when you believe everything that hits social media because it's not all true, and it's very slanted at times. And I remember a family member, nobody here today, saying, "Did you hear about John MacArthur and his spiritual abuse?" I said, "Well, just hold it just a minute. Just a minute. You're only hearing one side of the story. 38:47 How much trouble did they have with this woman? Why were the reasons that they told her she should stay with her husband?" And look at the two sides. There's a verse in Proverbs that says, "When one side, whoever's first presents their case, it sounds right. And then when the other side presents their case, it sounds right." And so wisdom will be able to say, "You know what? 39:08 I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket until I hear the other side of the story." And so we be careful with those kinds of labels. But there is, having said that, there is such a thing as spiritual abuse where the shepherds abuse the sheep for their own selfish purposes and motives and goals. 39:31 Not soon angry. If you go over to Titus chapter 1, not soon angry or quick-tempered. Some people fly off the handle at a little bit and don't have their anger under control. A lover of good men and a lover of good in chapter 1 of Titus, 39:51 verse 6 and 7, "Bishop must be blameless, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable." There again, just and upright, holy, self-controlled. 40:07 And then finally in verse 9, "Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught." Doctrinal faithfulness, doctrinal fidelity is of utmost importance here as well. So character, Paul told Timothy, "Pay attention to your doctrine and to your character, 40:29 your disposition and your doctrine." And so when we interview these men that will be nominated, we will ask them about their doctrine. We'll ask them about their character. We will ask the wife about the character of the husband. 40:42 We'll ask the husband about the character of his wife because sometimes we're too lenient on ourselves and sometimes we're too hard on ourselves, and we need an objective opinion outside of ourselves. 40:57 And so there have been times, I shouldn't say many, but there have been times when a wife has covered up for her husband in the interview room of a ministry selection. And that needs to be rooted out. That needs to be rooted out. And so doctrinally fit is important, 41:16 that he may be able by sound doctrine, sound teaching, the biblical teaching from the Word of God, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Faithfulness, faithfulness. May God find us faithful, 41:38 and may we, as we pray for the next month about this leadership selection, may we search and pray for the mind of God, the mind of the Spirit. 41:52 I think if my dates are right, a month from today, we will begin the process of identifying another pastor. That's one month, about 31 days. It's coming soon. Let's be in prayer that God would raise up a man of God to preach the Word, 42:13 to pastor the flock, to be a man of integrity, to be an example to the flock, and to carry the church as a part of the ministry team into the years to come. These things are not to be taken lightly. 42:31 Neither are we to be overwhelmed with fear that somehow we'll get it wrong because there is counsel, there's safety in the multitude of counselors. 42:42 That's why we bring the body together and say, "Who do you see collectively as a body that God may be calling to this work?" And so I would like to ask you for a special commitment today to pray the next 30 days, 31 days, 43:02 and beyond, that God would clearly speak. We want to identify a man and his wife that God is calling, that feel the call, that are willing to serve, that have the gifts and the skill set and the gifts, 43:20 the spiritual gifts that would lend themselves to that work and that would fulfill the mind of the Spirit and the call of God. I do not ever think that natural ability is the only thing that you look for. 43:39 We look for spiritual qualifications, spiritual qualities, even with those who may appear to have limited abilities naturally. There's a brother in BMA. I won't give you his name. But when he was called to the ministry for years and years, he had a stuttering problem. 44:01 God called him to the ministry. The church recognized that call. And when he was ordained to the ministry, that stuttering problem left him. God healed him. Now, it doesn't always happen. But when the call personally corresponds with the call of the church and the call of God, then God can qualify the called. 44:22 You can't do that character-wise because it takes a lifetime to build a character, but he can do it with abilities far beyond our own ability to perform. Let's pray. Father, we ask this morning that as we enter into this time of prayer for the next month, 44:42 that you would clearly speak, that you would speak to the hearts of the couple that is to be identified. If there are other couples that would be identified, to those as well as we discern, possibly through the use of the lot. Lord, may we be open. 45:03 May we be humble. May we be on our knees. May we be cautious and careful, but not fearful. 45:12 And may we come through that weekend and next month with an overwhelming sense that God has been at work and has clearly called a brother to the ministry. Lord, it is a privilege to serve you, whether behind the pulpit, 45:33 behind the counseling desk, or in the field. It is a privilege to serve you in the office. It is a privilege to serve you in the truck. It's a privilege to serve you wherever you've called us to serve by vocation and by spiritual gifting and by life calling. 45:55 And so, Lord, let us be fully convinced in our minds and our hearts that we are where God wants us to be. And may we give our all to the work of the Lord. And may we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. 46:11 For you have said then, "All these other things will be added unto you as you have need of them." Your Father knows in advance the things that you need. So, Lord, we dedicate this process to you and ask for divine guidance by your Spirit in the days ahead. In Jesus' name, Amen.