This is not something to be done by the throw of the dice, not something to be done because it's a popularity contest. It is something that's absolutely vital to the health of a congregation. So we're going to be spending some weeks considering the important matter of leadership, at least as far as the elders go, in the churches of Christ. And I'm going to be encouraging, of course, the entire congregation either to be here or to tune in for this because we believe in a form of church government in which there is a limited participation of the congregation. And the choice of elders is one of those crucial and important participations. So that's going to take our time for the next few weeks as we look at this. Tonight we're going to be reading from our confession. If you don't have your confession with you, you can turn to your Trinity Hymnal, page 683. Page 683. And we'll be reading a passage this evening from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. We'll be reading verses 14 and 15 this evening. Jeremiah 3, verses 14 and 15. Now most of these will be a little more teaching than preaching. We're going to be working through both the role and the way that the church ultimately installs men, how we find the kind of men, and how we install them. We're going to be looking at all of that. So there will be more teaching than specific preaching, though we're going to be doing expositions of vital passages to draw out all of the important matters regarding this. With that in mind, if you would please stand with me, we're going to read Jeremiah 3, verses 14 and 15. Let's give our hearts attention to the Word of God. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Amen. May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His word. Holy Father, we pray that Thou wouldst come by Thy great Spirit this evening. Come, Holy Spirit, warm our hearts, fill us with light, fill us with understanding. And we pray that Thou wouldst bless Thy people, exalt Christ, and may all that we do here bring glory to our God. In the name of Christ, we ask it. Amen. Please be seated. Now the passage we have just read speaks to us of the prophet's passionate plea for Israel's repentance with the promise of mercy and forgiveness at the hand of God. And one of the great features of the Day of Restoration that is set forth before us here is God's promise of pastors or shepherds. The Hebrew there can be translated shepherds, as easily as pastors. And of course, these are ideas that go right together. And they are not just any pastors, but pastors after His own heart. Israel's problem was its leaders at every level. And that is certainly the condition of our nation today. The problem is our leaders, whether they be men sitting in the White House or whether they are men that stand in the more exalted position behind the pulpit. The problem is our leaders. We desperately need biblically-minded leaders. And of course, the churches of Jesus Christ are suffering because we've got more entertainers and jokesters than we have men who would die for the Word of God. We are not going to see any lasting change. We're not even going to phase the next generation. let alone see generations of glory for God, unless there are men that are willing to preach the Word of God and discipline according to the Word of God, whatever the cost. It would be better to have five people in a congregation that are utterly given to Christ and will walk with Him no matter what, than to have a room full of people, megachurches, that live like the world. Or that have enough religion to believe that they're okay with God when in fact they're on their way to hell. We need pastors after God's own heart. And they're not self-made men. It's not anything that any man ever born of woman can accomplish. Apart from Christ Jesus. Pastors after God's own heart means that these are men, men, not women, men that will faithfully deliver God's Word and govern Christ's church according to God's will. And that is found in the Word of God, not their own brains. So with this in mind, we want to learn what pastors after God's own heart look like and the scriptures tell us. So that we might have wisdom and light in appointing elders in this congregation. A great deal of the problem within our churches lies in the fact that choosing pastors often means going and taking someone else's after hearing a couple of sermons. This has filled our pulpits with men who have 10 sermons that they just repeat all the time. Brethren, this is a serious matter. We live in a day in which Bible programs come replete with internet connections where you can just go and download somebody else's sermons. This is astonishing to me. Not opposed to reading other men's sermons. I love to hear them. But we're talking about men who don't labor in the Word for a Word for God's people. Then we wonder why there isn't any power in the churches. So with that in mind, we take up a new series, which is entitled Pastors After God's Own Heart, and we're going to be spending time considering what the Word of God says about these matters. If you'll open your confessions to chapter 26, Chapter 26, I'm going to read the first ten paragraphs just to give us a little background. We will be consulting the Word of God, which is inspired and infallible, and our confession, which is neither of those things, but it's helpful. Chapter 26, beginning in paragraph 1 says, The Catholic, this does not mean Roman Catholic. The Catholic, or universal church, which, with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace, may be called invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof. and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. This is what we often refer to as a universal church among Baptists. There have been debates about this for centuries. You know, let me simply say that regardless of where someone comes down here, what we're talking about bottom line is all of God's people. And we're not going to see that in this world. We are only going to experience that church when we are all gathered together before the Lord Jesus Christ. But, nonetheless, we are all part, ultimately, of that body of Christ. Paragraph 2, all persons throughout the world professing the faith of the gospel and obedience unto God by Christ unto it. Now listen to these qualifications. Don't drift here. All persons throughout the world professing the faith of the gospel. Now most places stop right there. But our brethren went on to say, and obedience unto God by Christ, according unto it, not destroying their own profession by any errors, averting the foundation, that means doctrinal error, or unholiness of conversation, that means worldly or ungodly living, are and may be called visible saints, and of such ought all particular congregations to be constituted." This is the content, what makes up a biblical congregation. Those who have a profession of faith in Christ and a life of obedience to him. Who are not embracing heresy and who are not living wicked lives. Now what would that do to the church population right now if we just really walked in that? It's quite amazing. Paragraph three, the purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error. As our brother so wonderfully said on Sunday evening, if you did not hear the last message of the conference, I urge you to get it and listen to it very carefully. But one of the things that we heard is that every one of us, all through our lives, is going to be subject to imperfect authority. There are no perfect churches. There are no, no perfect elders anywhere, beginning with Mount Zion Bible Church. But that doesn't change God-appointed authority. The purest errors under heaven are subject to mixture. There will be people in the congregation that profess to be Christians and they're not. And error. We don't all understand, in fact, none of us understands the word of God perfectly. And there's no doubt error in all of us at some point of scripture. And some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, Christ always hath had and ever shall have a kingdom in this world, to the end thereof, of such as believe in him and make profession of his name. Paragraph four, the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church in whom by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the church is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner. Neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense, in any sense be head thereof. But is that antichrist? that man of sin and son of perdition that exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. Paragraph 5, In the execution of this power wherewith he, that is Christ, is so entrusted The Lord Jesus calls out of the world unto Himself through the ministry of His Word by His Spirit those that are given unto Him by His Father, that they may walk before Him in all the ways of obedience which He prescribeth to them in His Word. Those thus called, He commandeth to walk together in particular societies. That's an interesting phrase. Particular societies or churches for their mutual edification and the due performance of that public worship which he requireth of them in the world. The churches are the visible expression of God's eternal purpose made alive through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. We should be a colony from heaven, a particular society, a group of people, not perfect, but a group of people who not only profess Christ, but who obey Christ. And that's what a church should be made of. That's what a true biblical church ultimately is. There's a mixture, there's error. But it should be no less than those who profess faith in Him, repentance of their sin, and live lives consonant with that. Paragraph 7. To each of these churches, thus gathered, according to his mind, declared in his word he hath given all that power and authority which is in any way needful for their carrying on that order in worship and discipline which he hath instituted for them to observe. with commands and rules for the do and right, exerting and executing of that power. In other words, every local congregation, every biblical local congregation has everything it needs to obey and walk with Christ and to fulfill what the scriptures call the churches of Christ to be. The Holy Spirit empowers every single member We were talking with someone who is a candidate for membership, and this person brought up the issue of not knowing what their gift was. and their spiritual gift. And I assured this individual, as I would assure everyone here, if you're born of God, you have his spirit. If you have his spirit, he's working within you. He is giving you gifts by which you will function in this body as a vital part of what makes this church healthy. You have been given gifts by God to encourage, to bless, to walk with the Lord. The church is never to be just a preaching station. And that very often is what happens. It is to be a particular society, people walking together, living together. I'm going to tell you, that's hard to do because many of us choose to live way out there. It's hard for us to be a local church when almost none of us are local. But one of the things that is vital for us to understand is that a church is not a place we visit once in a while. It is the vital body of Christ in which we as a society carry out His purposes. And we're equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit to do that. That's wonderful. He doesn't leave it up to us. He doesn't leave it to our ingenuity. He gives us what we need by the power of the Spirit and His Holy Word to govern and do what He's called these particular societies to be and to do. And that brings us to number eight. The next three paragraphs are very, very important regarding the subject we will take up for the next few weeks. But now we're in context. A particular church gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ consists of officers and members. And the officers appointed by Christ And those are very important words. The officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church, so called and gathered for the peculiar administration of ordinances and execution of power or duty, which he entrusts them with or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world are bishops or elders and deacons. Paragraph 9, the way appointed by Christ for the calling of any person fitted and gifted by the Holy Spirit unto the office of bishop or elder in a church is that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the church itself. Suffrage there means a decision making progress, usually considered to be voting. and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer, with imposition of hands of the eldership of the church, if there be any before constituted therein. It could be that there isn't an eldership when an elder is being appointed. There may have only been one and he may have passed away. And so you would have to do a slightly different thing. We would generally call upon another church, a like-minded church to come and to work with us on such an occasion. and of a deacon, that he be chosen by the like suffrage and set apart by prayer and the like in position of hands." Or placing of hands upon the individual and praying for them. Paragraph 10. The work of pastors being constantly, not in between golf games, constantly the service of Christ in His churches, in the ministry of the Word and prayer. with watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to Him." It is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things according to their ability so as they may have a comfortable supply without being themselves entangled in secular affairs, and may also be capable of exercising hospitality toward others. And this is required by the law of nature and by the express order of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has ordained that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Now we'll stop there. This whole chapter is wonderful. I encourage you to read it often. In fact, I would say read it once a week for a while until we come to that moment in which we are appointing another elder in this place. We need to saturate this period of time in prayer and fasting and crying out to God for wisdom. and for the right man in our congregation and or men. That being the case then, we want to take this up and talk about them for the next few weeks. This chapter 26 of our confession is divided into two major parts. The first four paragraphs deal primarily with the universal aspect of Christ's church and the remaining paragraphs deal with the various aspects of the local church. We can't attend a meeting of the universal church. That's not going to happen until the Lord calls all of His own. What we have to do with all of our days is a local particular society. The church that we must serve is made up of visible saints, a gathering, and that's the idea of the word church, ecclesia. It is a gathered body, a called out assembly. We are the church by being gathered, not apart. We're part of the universal church anywhere we are. But when we gather, we see Christ's body. The confession refers to local churches, as I said, as particular societies. And it tells us that the head of each particular congregation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Elders are not the heads of the church. Ever. Christ alone is the Head of the Church. As the Sovereign Head of each of His congregations, the Lord Jesus calls unto Himself, as we read, through the ministry of His Word and Spirit all those given to Him by His Father. The Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit in word and word bring together the glorious predestinating and electing purpose of God. That is something that took place in the covenant of redemption in eternity before he ever said let there be light. But as God calls people to himself that is his glorious election becoming reality in history. and the Lord gathers us out by the Word, by the Spirit, brings us out of darkness into the glorious light of Christ, and He commands us to walk together for our mutual edification and for His glorious worship. The members of each congregation are to be visible saints, as we read, that is, those who profess faith in Christ and obedience. They obey Christ. That's what you're coming to church to do. You're coming to obey him and to worship him and to hear from him so that you can grow in your obedience to him. They are to visibly manifest and evidence all of this through their profession and their living, their lives. It isn't just saying we're Christians. It is living as Christians. And we are not to destroy our profession of faith with false doctrine or unholy lives. That's one of the reasons we have a confession. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. But what does it teach? Well, we believe that here is a good, solid, anthology of biblical doctrine. Here is systematic theology in brief set before us so that we can know the primary doctrine of the Word of God and have unity in that and not to stray according simply to the darkened minds of men or the doctrines of devils. Christ the head calls us to walk together by giving up ourselves to him and to one another in professed subjection to the ordinances of the gospel. And each particular society gathered in this fashion, according to Christ's mind, revealed in the word, has been granted all power and authority. All power and authority. by Christ the head to carry on His order in worship and in discipline. That's good. Now lying at the heart of that is ultimately its leadership. So we're going to talk about the organization of a local church. Its composition set there in paragraph 8 is a particular church gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members. Each word here is very important. There is the first emphasis on the local church, each particular church, and as I have repeatedly pointed out over the years, Baptists, Independents, and Congregationalists have always held firm to the principle of the local assembly. And everything necessary for God's people to be filled and to walk with Him is found in a congregation. This is perfectly fine for us to be connected to, associated with other like-minded congregations. But what we are saying is that Jesus Christ is the head of each congregation, and there is no higher authority in that congregation than His Word as administered by the elders. The elders do not have authority in themselves. It is a delegated authority from Christ. He gifts them and appoints them. And they are to be recognized by the church through the Word of God. And the authority that they have is real. It is Christ's authority. but it is a delegated authority. They are His representatives administering His Word to His people. Though we agree that there is an aspect of the church that we may recognize as universal, the only church with which any of us will ever have to do or work out our in which we will work out our salvation and fear and trembling is a gathered congregation. You cannot do this as a maverick. You become ingrown. I've met plenty of mavericks over the over the years that think they can live without a church and they are wrong and their lives prove it. Often by their own selfish self-righteousness. You need the brothers to knock your corners off. And we all have a bunch of them. I don't see any smooth and polished ones here tonight. Beginning with the one behind the mic. But I've had a lot of corners knocked off. I thank the Lord. It's all His chiseling. You need God's people and you can't do without them. And you were deceived if you think you can because God did not, did not design a maverick. He designed a glorious body. There aren't any perfect ones. They're all a mixture of error. But they can be real and powerful. So they need to be gathered according to his mind and governed according to his mind, which means his word and his spirit. The words completely organized, our forefathers were pointing out here that this and this alone was a composition of a biblical church, officers and members. And therefore, we need the right officers and we need the right understanding of members. Now, the first one to admit there may be very different ways of being a member of a church. What I mean by that is there may be different processes by which one is acknowledged or recognized to be a member. But just the very fact of what we're talking about proves how vital it is to understand what that means. Because the congregation recognizes and appoints the elder. You don't want somebody who's been coming for two weeks to be involved in the vote on that. How would you like for someone to come in and help appoint and then leave two weeks later? That's the way things happen. No, the idea is the church is to be a recognized group of people who have a profession and however they calculate, understand their membership, there has to be an agreed upon and recognizable group of people that are committed to that local body. Because they will be making decisions. That's a very important part of loving the Lord with all your mind. And therefore, A church completely organized is made up of those who govern according to the Word of God and those who are members of that body functioning according to the power of the Spirit as defined by the Word of God. So, the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church. Notice these words. I can tell you that the Westminster Confession, the Savoy Declaration, and the London Baptist Confession, in my opinion, are extraordinary works of theological art. I don't know how to express that any better. Yes, it is a weak and fallible collection of thoughts by men, but all those thoughts, how I can say this, there was an intense searching of the Word of God to collate and to define what the Scriptures actually teach as a body. And while it is certainly imperfect, it sets before us sometimes sentences that are worth a series of messages. That's how rich they are. Just remarkable because they're filled with biblical thought. That's the idea. This is a comprehensive epitome of Bible doctrine in a concise form. That's why sometimes it reads almost like a contract or a legal document. Every single word is important. It means something. And you're trying to juggle all of these thoughts as they come rushing into your mind. But notice the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church. That's how it's done. Christ appoints them. We say, well, what do you mean that's how it's done? We're to recognize them. How do we do that? By knowing what the Word of God says about them. And we're not to appoint someone who doesn't fit that picture. Now, let me say before we go any further. No one fits the bill perfectly. That guy does not exist. He's a redeemed sinner just like you and just like me. And he will have failings and holes. And that's why it's important as much as is possible, it's not always possible, but as much as is possible for them to be raised up within the congregation to which they are appointed. It doesn't always happen that way. Did not happen that way with me as I'm standing here teaching you. So let me say, there's not any ironclad system that has no loopholes or exceptions, but there are clear general principles that we're fools to ignore. So, that being said, They're appointed by Christ and we can recognize them according to what the scriptures tell us. And then the church appoints them. Excuse me, recognizes them. Christ appoints them and the church sets them apart. See, the church doesn't, quote, make them elders. Christ makes them elders. But the church recognizes this and sets them apart to do that. It was one of the reasons when I came here, having been the pastor of another congregation, in fact, being a pastor during that time, I said, I will not come unless we have a number of meetings and I spend time here and everyone understands who I am, what I believe, at least as much as possible. And we had numerous meetings and discussions through the floor open for hours. We had, as you might imagine, very lengthy meetings in which we did Q and A for a long time. I myself struggled even with the brevity of that, but that being the case, we did what we could to abide in biblical procedure. This is not to be something overnight, generally speaking. The Lord can do whatever He wants, but I'm talking about the general principle. So let's look at terminology for a few minutes. First of all, the Word of God does not recognize three offices or more. It only recognizes two. Pastor, elder, and deacon. The idea of pastor and elder is not two different offices. Some people don't even like the word office, they would prefer the term function. Now that's fine, we're a body and there are functions within the body. But the idea is that there are clearly distinct acts and responsibilities that officers have and that members have. So, Many people get confused because there are several words in the scripture that seem at first to point to different kinds of offices, but we're going to spend a little time on that. We've got a late start this evening, and so we certainly will not finish this this evening, but that's fine. We will take our time because we do want to take time in the weeks ahead for questions and answers as we work through this. We want everybody to be very clear regarding these matters. So it may not be completely neat and tidy, but I trust it will be thorough enough for us all to be biblically informed as to the need before us. The functions of elder or presbyter, overseer or bishop, or pastor and shepherd are one and the same. A bishop is an elder. is a pastor. These are all different aspects of the same role. We need to be careful not to undermine the clear biblical pattern by adding non-biblical distinctions such as senior pastor and assistant pastor. Now, when I say things like this, I'm not saying that people that use this terminology and even function this way are lost, not brethren, or any of that type of stuff. I'm just talking about the fact that we as human beings and all congregations having mixture and error is that we can muddy the water by using unbiblical terminology and then associating ideas with that unbiblical terminology and thinking that we're talking about something biblical. This congregation has had two pastors since I've been here. It's had two elders since I've been here. It's had two bishops since I've been here. It would be perfectly legitimate for you to call Bishop Stephen or Bishop Frakes by that title. And that's what he is. Because the idea, and we'll look at this in more detail in the weeks ahead. Tonight again is just an introduction. But the idea of bishop means an overseer. That is a vital role of an elder, of a pastor. But each one of these points to a different aspect of it. A presbyter, an elder. The idea of an elder is someone who is older and wise and has spent some time in life. I mean, the idea today, I mean, should it shock us? Should it surprise us that our churches often get in trouble? Because our idea of getting a pastor is we take the best and the brightest, generally, in our congregation, send them off to a seminary, and then someone takes them to be a pastor somewhere when they're 25. And sometimes not even married yet. Now, I'm not attacking these brethren. Spurgeon was preaching in his teens. So there are always exceptions. I'm talking about general principles. And the idea is that very often, you know, here's a guy who hasn't lived very often, doesn't even have any children. And he's going to be ministering to people that are in their 70s, their 80s, in their 40s, new families. They haven't lived enough. They haven't been knocked down hard enough enough times. And they haven't experienced life enough yet. The idea of elder is often associated with the notion of wisdom. It's somebody who's lived a while and knows how to make some applications. And the idea of pastor is so clear. It's lovely. It's the same idea of shepherd, someone who feeds and protects. So all of these are the same role, function, office. And the scriptures make this plain. Acts chapter 20, verse 17. From Miletus, he, that's Paul, sent to Ephesus and called the elders, right? And the Greek word there is presbyteros. Now, I don't usually use Greek or Hebrew when we're studying. You won't be impressed with it, and I don't know it well. I try to study the men that do know it well. But the fact is, the reason I'm using it is because that word should sound a little familiar to you. It should sound like presbyteros, it should sound like presbyterian, which is exactly where it comes from. Presbyters, that word comes directly over from this one. Presbyters or elders. So Paul called for the presbyters of the church. Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves. He's now speaking to these presbyters. He's speaking directly to them. And he says, take heed to yourselves and to the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. And that's the Greek word episkopos. Now, that should sound a little familiar to you as well. It's where we get the English word episcopal or episcopalian. And to feed, poimino. feed the church of God. That word poiminos is a verb but it's connected to the noun form which means a shepherd. Shepherds feed the flock. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd and carry them in his arms. Isaiah 40. So the same presbyters are being spoken of as being episkopos, bishops. In other words, it's the same office. Different aspects of the same office. And they are to feed the church of God. Purchase with his own blood. Boy, that's sober. That's Christ's church. The church is never the pastor's. There are times when pastors will say, you know, to one another, how are your people doing? But they mean in the sense of the responsibility they have, not in the sense of ownership. I don't own this congregation. Pastor Stephen doesn't own this congregation. It is the blood-bought property of Jesus Christ. And he appoints men to be presbyters, elders, episkopos, episkopoi, bishops, and pastors. Titus chapter 1 verse 5, For this cause left I thee, Paul to Titus, in Crete, that thou should set in order the things that are wanting or lacking, and ordain elders, presbyteros, in every city as I had appointed thee, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, for a bishop, still the same context, but now he changes the word. Ordain elders for a bishop, which is the same thing as an elder, but the different aspect of his oversight. For an overseer must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. 1 Peter 5, 2, feed, poi mino, the flock of God, shepherd them. Feed them, which is among you, taking the oversight. This is episcopeo. That's the verb, taking the oversight. But that's connected to the idea of episkopoi, the bishop, the oversight of God's people. Thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre. Not for the money. But of a ready mind. And at 1st Timothy 3, 2, a bishop then must be blameless, episkopos. It could have easily have said an elder. It could have just as easily said a pastor. But it's giving us the angle of the one who oversees. The one who oversees. The flock of God must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. And we'll cover every one of these because it's vital. You must understand it so that you can recognize it. So then you can set apart someone that the Lord has appointed. Does that make sense? Okay well we can only say that as we close we're running over a little bit because of our late start but let's just say that first of all what we see is plurality of elders generally speaking and we'll talk about that more in our future meetings and what the calling is and then the work of pastors the very nature of their service The elements of their service, the ministry of the Word, the ministry of prayer, the description of their service. It says, Obey them. Now those are words that people don't like today, but they are the word of the head of the church. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Until you understand the issue of authority, you will never understand anything about life correctly. Period. God's authority is supreme and he has called his people and put them together. And he has called and set apart some of them to administer his authoritative word for them to obey. Pastor Stephen and I are not here to give you suggestions that we think up. Now, if you come and you talk to us about a car, we'll try to talk to you about biblical principles and we might make some suggestions there, but that's not from the pulpit. From the pulpit we are to speak on behalf of the head of the church, and you have one responsibility, to obey the head of the church. That doesn't mean you have perfect elders. It does not. Everyone who's been here more than ten minutes knows that. But the fact of the matter is, You must understand, as our brother so wonderfully said Sunday evening, you're going to be under imperfect authority all of your days, all of your days. Every one of you that's a parent know that you are in an imperfect authority. But God has commanded those children to obey you. And they're outside of God's will if they're not doing that. And it is the same in God's church. That's weighty stuff. It's difficult for me to think about that very long because I know how faulty I am. I know my weaknesses. I know my limitations. At least I think I do. There are times when I discover I'm even more limited than I thought. But brethren, this is why this is such an important matter. We're not here to vote for people because they're funny, because we like to go fishing with them, because they're fun to be around, or even because they're a good Bible teacher as such. There are a lot of people that are good Bible teachers that are not elders. And that is the fact. So we must be able, by God's word, prayer and fasting, to recognize them so that we might set them apart for the impossible task to which Christ appoints them. I trust that we will have some good discussions regarding this. Again, let me encourage you, read your confession. Read that chapter over and over, especially 8, 9, and 10. Be clear on these matters. And we'll have good time discussing them and looking at the scriptures and examining ourselves so that we might be able to do that which is for the health of Christ's church. Amen. Holy Father, we thank Thee that we can gather in Thy name. We thank Thee for these truths. We do pray that in the weeks ahead, there will be a very great interest and a sober participation by Thy people as we begin to talk about this matter. We thank Thee, O Lord, that Thou lovest Thy church and that Thou dost give elders and teachers and deacons and members. And we all have a function that is absolutely crucial to the life and health of Thy body. But it all comes down to submitting to Thee. Our health is directly dependent upon Thy grace. And by grace, our submission to Thee and Thy blessed word. Help us in the name of Jesus to honor and glorify Thee. Amen. Let's go in the name of the Lord.