Good evening ladies and gentlemen Let's pray. Father, we just thank you for your word. It addresses every subject of concern, of need, of great importance pertaining to this life and to the spiritual life, to the very life that we live in the flesh, which we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us, the life of Jesus, the life that he pioneered, proved, and passed. to us as the body of Christ, the church which is his body, the fullness of him, who fills all of us all the way up with all that he is because of all that he's done and given to us. We are so grateful, eternally so. Lord Jesus, and we gather together in your name this evening to honor you and you've promised to be in our midst. where two or three are gathered in your name. And so we welcome you and focus our attention and our complete concentration upon your person, for it is you who are the object of our worship, the object of true worship, the one God mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus who has called men into service in telling the great, the old, old story of Jesus and his glory. telling the good news, proclaiming, heralding the good news of eternal salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. The best news that's ever been heard on this earth for the entirety of all of human history. The message, proclamation of that name that is above every other name and royal title to which every knee shall bow and every tongue swear allegiance. Thank you, Father, for these things. Bless the Word of God as it goes forth. It's already been bathed in prayer, and so we expect to hear from you this evening. And once again, magnify your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ in our midst. For it's in his name that we pray, amen. I've entitled the message this evening, So You Want to Be a Pastor? It's 1 Timothy 3, and we probably won't get through the whole thing. We'll get through about half of it, at least the part that deals with pastors and their qualifications for pastors. You want to be a pastor? This will be a very important message for you if you ever considered being a pastor. And not many should be pastors, and not many should be teachers, according to James 5.1, because they're held to a much stricter standard. and to whom much is given, and those who would accept that call or presume to attain to that vocation and position must be very, very careful, lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil and get caught in his snare. the occupational hazard of the ministry, which is pride and hubris and disregard for the principles, doctrines of true humility, exalting the person of Christ. God shares his glory with no person, and therefore, humility is the order. is the order of the day for the ministry of the Word of God. Pastors need to be very careful to maintain humility. People think that they are—oftentimes think that they are brash or arrogant because they proclaim the truth with such dogmatism, but it's just the opposite. That requires humility. To say what the Word of God says and to stand against the tide of opinion, people's opinions and the things that people say. and the slogans and maxims of the cosmos, the cosmic system of Satan, and the things that float through the atmosphere and are sucked in by the vacuum, negative pressure in men's souls, to suck in the sayings of the world. There's so many of them. And to think with the thoughts that are from beneath rather than the thinking from above or the mind or the thinking of Christ. And so 1 Timothy 3, it's Tuesday, February 25th, 2020. Paul speaking to Timothy. Remember, this is Paul to Timothy, not Paul and Timothy to the churches, but Paul to Timothy, the prototype pastor-teacher, and to all pastor-teachers, instruction to all pastor-teachers in the church age from the first century. He says, 1 Timothy 3.1, he says, faithful is the word, and indeed it is. This word, in particular, with regard to this subject. The subject is, so you want to be a pastor. And he says next, if someone should aspire to the office of an episkopos, episkopos, which is an overseer, translated also in English a bishop or a pastor, one with teaching authority, presiding authority. in a local church. There are different names and titles for pastors, and one of them is this one, the episkopos, which is the overseer, which is a bishop or a pastor. If anyone aspires to the office of a pastor, then he desires a good ergu, ergon, a good work. It's a good work that he aspires to. If he desires to be a pastor, so you want to be a pastor, it's a good thing. If you want to be one, then as long as you're called to be one, as long as the Lord has called you, summoned you, and has given you direction, and has selected you by His grace and mercy, because you'll need plenty of that, to be a pastor and to continue and to finish the course that God called you to run and win, the good fight of faith, which all pastors are called to fight and win, to stand in the gap, and to declare the truth of the Word of God without apology, without equivocation, without argument or debate, but to state it and to proclaim it clearly from the Word of God. Not your word, not your thoughts, not your concoctions or your interpretations, but those of the Word of God. those of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the author, the one God who is the author of all Scripture. It's a trustworthy statement, or faithful is the word, if any man aspires to the office of an overseer, it is a good work, kalon, a fine work that he desires to do. An overseer is a pastor. It's one of four titles for the office. First one is Poimen Didaskalos, which comes from Ephesians 4.11. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. These are called the ascension gifts of Christ. When he ascended on high, he gave gifts to men. the gifts that he left with men, so that all men might have equal privilege and opportunity along with an equal spiritual endowment and IQ, so they might understand the full counsel of the Word of God and learn it over the course of time that God's given them to remain upon the earth. and to do the one thing that's needed or necessary, that is to get the Word in their soul, to saturate their soul and to marinate their mind with the Word of God. How are you doing with regard to that? Okay, good. Another increment this evening. And of course, the local assembly is the dining room of the spiritual life, where recipes and delicious meals are put together, formed, delivered hot, and where you eat as much as you can, and then you pack up the rest and take it home. heat it, and eat it the next day, or in the days following, or between messages in the local assembly. So it is the dining room of the spiritual life, or the restaurant of the spiritual life, where new recipes are tried out on the people who come to partake of the Word of God in the local assembly. To find it and eat it. so that it might become unto them the joy and rejoicing of their heart." In Jeremiah 15-16. And so here we have the poimen didaskalos, which means a shepherd that teaches. These are all feeding and eating metaphors. All these names are feeding and eating metaphors. The Poiman Didaskalos is the shepherd who leads his flock to green pastures where they can graze on grace and truth, green pastures, grace doctrines. and beside the still waters, where they can drink from the pure waters of the Word, have their souls cleansed and restored continuously as needed. Poimen didaskalos, the next one is presbuteros, and then we have diakonos and episkopos, the one that we have in our passage here. All of them are feeding and eating metaphors. Poimen didaskalos is the shepherd that leads his flock to green pastures and still waters, the presbuteros, which literally means the old man is the ship captain, who prepares the ship and the voyage, provisions for the voyage, with enough food and nourishment, enough to nourish and sustain, his crew and the passengers with a well-balanced and nourishing diet. That's his main job. Make sure that there's enough food on board so they can all make it through their voyage and journey, arrive on the other side well-nourished, and free from sickness or illness due to malnourishment. And then you have diakonos. Diakonos is literally ministers or waiters, literally waiters, who serve up a variety of dishes prepared in the galley kitchen, served up in the spiritual dining room, the local assembly. A diakonos is a waiter, officially a minister, who ministers the Word of God, who feeds those in the restaurant or in the spiritual dining room of the local assembly with the Word of God. A heapin' helpin' of the Word of God. So have a seat, tuck your napkin under your chin, Pick up your golden fork of faith and dig in. That's what you do each time you sit in a local assembly. Eat as much as you can, take the rest home where you can heat it up. and eat the rest. In the days following, the message is received, and the tracts laid down in the local assembly. Episkopos is the overseer. He's the overseer of the house, where the guests are warmed and fed according to their need. He's the overseer of souls, and provides the sustenance needed for growth and health, that is by the Holy Spirit, by the gift of Christ. These are all by Christ, and function in Christ, in humility, without any arrogance whatsoever. They're not higher than anybody else, and perhaps lower than all the rest. not able to do many of the things that others do. And we'll see that. So you want to be a pastor, well you have to understand these things. Verse 2, he says, an overseer, therefore, the overseer, D-A-D-E-I, must, of necessity, And he says, be beyond reproach, that is, have nothing held against him, no criminal charges pending, can't have any criminal charges pending, or a record of criminal activity that demonstrates a pattern of reckless living, or even criminal living. Can't be one if that's the case. And he had to wait a long time, if that's the case, till all that clears away. That doesn't mean that you can't have a bad or fruited past, but it means you can't have anything at the time when these things were conferred. So he says, let me go back here, he says, he must be one who nothing can be held against. And next he says, and a one woman man. That means he's to be married to only one woman. It's preferable if he's married to the same woman all of his life, if he has one woman, one wife for life. Although it does not exclude those who have gone through a divorce in the past, But it does not recommend that type of activity or lifestyle or those types of losses where these are concerned because he can't be a good manager and one who fosters healthy relationships if he can't manage his own marriage and bring peace in his own home. And we'll see that also. He's to be a one-woman man. That is, Mias is one, and then we got Gwinaekus, or Gwne, which is woman, and then we have Andra, which is gentleman, a one-woman man or gentleman. He cannot be one who is promiscuous or predatory. Lots of those on the news today. They thought they could do whatever they wanted. Well, they can't. one who has been divorced and remarried, or one that has been divorced and remarried multiple times, or one who has affairs. You can't have a pastor that does those things. It doesn't mean that they couldn't have failed in the past and recovered and forsook any such thing. exercise great caution never to put themselves in a place where they would be tempted to do those things again. That's not what it's saying. It's saying at the present time they can't be that type of person. So it says, be a one-woman man, and then he says he must be restrained And the word for restrained is vepsilias, vepsilas, vepsilias, which means restrained, restrained here, pertaining to behaving in a sober, restrained manner. It means must be sober, self-controlled, have an orderly life. In a number of languages, it may be idiomatically referred to as one who holds himself in or one who always has a halter on himself. In other words, he's very cautious and careful where he goes and what he does and not to put himself in harm's way or in a place where he might be tempted, unnecessarily tempted. So it says he must be sober, serious and stable-minded. He must be. Yet, not without humor, and certainly not without happiness. He better be a happy man and have a sense of humor, especially regarding himself. And many different things, in many ways, a good sense of humor. To laugh at many things about himself and in the ways things are done in the world. Very humorous things in the world around us that surround us. And people are very funny. in many ways they're funny. Funny like strange and funny because they're humorous to watch and see the things that they do and don't do. So sober and then he says orderly. Here's orderly is cosmion like where we get the word cosmos which means the world as far as its order is concerned. And here it's orderly, prepared at all times. That means to bring a word in season, to refresh, to encourage, and to edify. In season and out of season, be prepared at all times. Not a sloppy thinker, but a serious and focused student. of the Lord and His Word, a disciple of Christ, a mathetes, disciplined and focused and devoted learner. Then we have here, he must be philizinos, which means he's kind to strangers, one who makes others feel welcome, who opens his arms to receive others without suspicion, without finding fault, or as the scripture says in King James, without doubtful disputations. He doesn't receive people with suspicion. Put them on probation. He accepts them based upon what they say they truly want and believe. Gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. And then it says didacticon, which means having an aptitude to teach. So he has to be restrained, sober, orderly, kind to strangers, and apt to teach. Of course, he must have teaching aptitude. He must. Which isn't natural, but supernatural, given to men who don't naturally have it. Whereas women are natural teachers, men are not natural teachers, but God gives the gift of pastor-teacher supernatural gift and manifestation of Christ to men who wouldn't normally or naturally have it. Which begins with an abundant inventory of truth in its many categories, from the Word of God, present and active circulation with connections to the real issues of spiritual life. Not superficial things or nominal things, but the true issues of spiritual life. That is faith, hope, and love in particular. He has and acquires a skill set. spiritual skills, and production skills, listening skills, learning skills, leaning skills, living skills, and loving skills. He has a saturated soul and a marinated mind. He's to a very great degree, growing to a very great degree, to be like his Savior by living, as our Savior did, by every word of God, Matthew 4, 4, Luke 4, 4, Deuteronomy 8, 3. Man does not live by bread alone. But as Christ did, the man does not live by bread alone, but by every word. The man Christ Jesus did not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Likewise, the pastor kisses the son, receives from his mouth his word, up close and personal, in a personal love relationship with his Savior, Jesus Christ, lest he become angry, and he perishes in the way. Because to whom much is given, much is required. Therefore, he accepts his office and with great gravity and responsibility, a sense of responsibility, to do the will of the Lord. He's careful at all times to remain under the influence of the Holy Spirit. If he slips out, he gets back in. Romans 8.3, Galatians 5.16, walk by means of the Spirit. 5.24, walk in the Spirit, since we're Since we have the Spirit, let's walk by the Spirit. Ephesians 5.18, be filled continually with the Spirit to all fullness, that is, all of the time, with the Word and the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4.23 and 24, that is, to be filled with the Spirit, to let the Word of God richly indwell our hearts. And Colossians 3.16, full of the Word. not full of anything else, but not full of oneself, but full of the Word. Then we're at verse 3. And he's not allowed to be a drinker, a wine-bibber. He's not to be a pyroinos, a wino. He can't be a wino. He can't be addicted to drink or need to drink all the time. Need to drink to get loose, to have fun, to converse with people? No, just the opposite. He doesn't need it and doesn't take it for that reason. Doesn't want to be compromised or restricted by it. Not that it gives him any type of a release because it does not do that for him. All it does is restrict him so he stays away from it, as far away from it as he can. He cannot be a winebibber and he can't be a striker. That means he can't be a fighter. He isn't gonna punch you in the mouth if you disagree with him. Slap his wife, throw her down the cellar steps. or the dog, kick the dog, hit the dog, or the cat, or the monkey, if you have a monkey, whatever it is, any animal that's in your home, or children in your home. You don't beat your children unnecessarily. You give them a weapon every once in a while so that you don't spoil them. Spare the rod, spoil the child. And just let them know who's in charge so that they might humbly submit to their parents and live a long and prosperous life. the first commandment with a promise. So, and it says, rather not a striker or a drunk, rather he must be gentle, that is as opposed to harsh. Identifying with others, yet never placating emotion or sentiment, but able to speak the truth in love and do so effectively. and to reason with others from the scriptures. Next it says he must be a maxon, a makos, or amicable, that's where we get our word amicable, must be friendly, accessible, and approachable, never aloof or standoffish, and have no airs, present no airs, carry no airs. Open and available to all. And then it says that he must be a philogoros. A philogoros. A philogoros, which means not loving money. Not allowed to love money. If you're going to be a pastor, so you want to be a pastor, you can't love money. Not acclimated to money or wealth, not thinking about it, talking about it, loving it, or that which it can buy. Not to be oriented to material things. Use them, but don't be used by them. And own them, but don't be owned by them, is the wise counsel of scripture. See, because it can't buy anything that is lasting or enduring. That is, it can't buy faith, it can't buy hope or love. Money can't buy you love. 1 Corinthians 13, 13. The greatest of these is love. These three abide, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest is love. Didn't say anything about money, did it? Warn those in your congregation not to be deceived by riches. which disappear and can't help you. Into this world you came without any, and out of this world you go without any. So you come naked into the world and naked out of the world, and the only thing you can take with you is the Word of God in your soul and those deeds of faith, labors of love and steady production of hope that was produced by the Word of God and spiritual skills, and a ministry that proclaims the truth of God's Word in the person, especially the person, of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He's the one that we preach. We preach Christ, warning every man and teaching every man that we might present every man complete in Christ. Colossians 1.26-27. Then it says this, He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. Now, what if he doesn't have any children? Then I guess it doesn't apply to him. But he still has to be a good manager of his own household. And that doesn't mean he has to do it all himself. He might have a wonderful wife that is his helper. without whom he wouldn't be able to do anything. Well, because she is the man behind the man behind the plow. That is the woman behind every good man. Behind every good man is a good woman. And that's the truth. So he manages through her. She manages. She's the house manager. She's the housekeeper. She's the house. She's the homemaker. The homemaker. That's what she is. She may work outside of the home also, but she's the homemaker. She made the house into a home. So he has to be one who manages his household well, according to that, presiding over, it says. Well, it doesn't say managing, it says presiding over. He is the ultimate authority in the home. Doesn't mean he has to do all the work. Sometimes he doesn't do much of it at all. He does other things, like preaches the Word of God, studies the Word of God, and has a hard time doing much of anything else. And it says, well presiding over his own oiku, which is his own home, then it says, having his tekna, his children, in Hupotasso, Hupotage, in subjection, that is, they live under his roof, with all dignity. And if they don't live under his roof, if they're adult children, they have the Word of God, and you can see that that occurred in that home, that they may have not done many things right, but they did instill the Word of God in those kids, and now they're adults, and they have their relationship with Jesus Christ, and a deep and abiding faith in Christ through his Word. which is a wonderful thing to see and behold. So a manager and his children in subjection, in hupotasso, then it says meta, with all, and it says semnotis, which is dignity, with all dignity. It's a dignified person with a dignified marriage and a dignified family. Then it says in verse five, it says, but if this one His own household does not know how to preside or to manage. Then he says, how is he going to manage the church of God? How shall he care for or manage the church of God? Basic management skills are required, along with good or sound judgment, knowing what things are allowed and forbidden. to exist in the church. Paul addresses this again in verse 15, which we won't get to this evening, but the church is called the pillar and ground of the truth. And he writes to Timothy so that he might know how to conduct himself, and those who attend, how to conduct themselves in the church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, conduct becoming their Savior, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and conduct becoming the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and his message of eternal salvation. Then verse 6 says, not a neophyte, that is, not a new convert, Never appoint a new convert or allow a new convert to become a pastor. Time must elapse. They must have experience. It takes time and experience. It takes time and failure and recovery and restoration, rebound, recovery, and lessons learned, testing, and lessons learned so that you might face a wide variety of different difficulties and even afflictions and learn to trust God. and to wait out the end and restoration. Allow God to do the things that are necessary and await the time of its completion and find a way of escape so that you might bear up under it and have capacity to suffer, capacity for prosperity as well as as a capacity for adversity, prosperity and adversity, without falling apart, without peeling off or falling down or without reversionism of any kind. Becoming conceited, he says, oh wait a second, not a neophyte so that he would not fall, becoming conceited or proud into the condemnation of the devil. That is, if he goes off half-cocked as Satan did, he did not abide or stand in the truth, but was offended by the truth and departed from the truth, and decided that he was going to do things the way he wanted to do them. have his own take and opinion and interpretation of things, which was completely wrong, and resulted in him being the opponent, an enemy of God. And some, that occurs with some, who are taken away, carried away, and seduced or deceived in the last days by wandering spirits in the doctrines of demons and who never recover and lead many astray. And in the end, great shame and loss will be experienced by those who do not follow the Lord and understand these things. and follow closely and understand the seriousness of these things who have taken on the responsibility of being an episkopos or a pastor. So you want to be a pastor, you have to know that these things are going to be there to try to derail you, distract you, so that you might be caught up or fall into the reproach, as it says in the next verse, in verse 7, the devil. He says he must have a good reputation. That means, but he must also have a good testimony for sure. And that testimony is the testimony of the Lord. Not his testimony and how he does or what he can do, but the testimony of what the Lord has done and what the Lord can do from the Word of God. He says he must also have a good testimony from the outside world. In other words, there's nothing against him once again. but he has a good reputation. He's an upstanding citizen, so that he should not fall into reproach and, once again, into the pagida, the pagis, the snare or the trap of the devil. It says in Proverbs 18, 7, a fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare of his soul." Or 2 Timothy 2.25, it says, the pastor must, with gentleness, correct those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare, the trap of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. He finds himself opposing even God, which is not a good place to be. He says, the snare, the pagida of the devil. Oftentimes, those who are gifted are indeed remarkable as to how they speak and how their messages so clearly address matters of the conscience and matters of the heart. Therefore, those who are helped by them and their messages praise and exalt the preacher, And then what is worse yet, the preacher begins to think that perhaps he is just as his fan club says that he is, and begins to exalt himself, or allows others to exalt him, even idolize him. And when such things occur, the devil catches that one in his trap of hubris, arrogance, and pride, which is the ruination of the minister and the ministry of the Lord in his word. Through that one, the story, unfortunately, of more than a few. In Proverbs 6.16, be very careful, cautious. There are six things which the Lord hates. Seven are an abomination to him. A proud look is first, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers. So you want to be a pastor? Here you go. If you do, you can't drink, smoke, chew, or go with girls that do. I got that from Pastor Knapp years ago. He must have said that a hundred times or more. Probably more than a hundred. But I don't mind repeating it. It's cute. And I love him. So, and if you want to be a pastor, if you should happen to lie, and everybody does from time to time, don't they? You have to admit it to people right away that you lied. That's not easy to do. You have to. You have to say, and you can't say, well you know what, I didn't say that quite right. You say, I lied to you. And ask for their forgiveness. And they'll forgive you. If they're mature believers, if they've been forgiven, if they know how much they've been forgiven for, they'll forgive you. They'll never bring it up again ever. You have to tell them you lied, I lied. Or if you said something that isn't correct, you have to correct what you said. You may have to recant something you taught. But no big deal. Just do it. You're not perfect. You shouldn't think you are anyway. You should know how imperfect you are and how much you depend, how much you rely upon God for accuracy, precision in teaching the Word of God. That only comes from Him. You have to be transparent if you want to be a pastor. Without pride, without the lust of the eyes. What's that mean? It means if your eye at any point has caused you to sin, you already plucked it out. And now you only have eyes for Christ. In singular focus, a simple devotion to him. The lust of the flesh no longer drags you away to sin. Why? Because if it has in the past, you already cut off your hand from touching or inciting passion. and are free because you fled from youthful lust. You must demonstrate what it means to belong fully to Christ. You must live in the word and live it out every day. Do any of us do it perfectly? Of course not. But that is our one aspiration, our new aspiration, and one that is renewed daily, one we enter into daily. live in the word, live it out every day, that is before the world for all to see. You will find that you are far from perfect, and yet you will always strive toward the excellency of Christ Jesus in all things and in every endeavor. Nothing can move you. If you want to be a pastor, nothing can move you more than the Word of God, and no one can break you or make you cry except the Lord. When godly sorrow is evoked and or men choose a tragic life and suffer a tragic end, die a tragic death, when no such tragedy is warranted or necessary because of what God has done in Christ Jesus, the message that you proclaim. So let me try to describe the life of a pastor in order that you might understand some of that. which it involves if you have any aspiration to be an overseer and desire a good thing, a worthy thing. You must study the word daily in order to maintain your own spiritual growth and progress. And then when you're done with that, you have to study to prepare a message, which requires a great deal of detailed research. Like number one, isagogic. You have to look into the historical background, into the times in which the scriptures were written, to get a sense of context for the things being said, to understand the cultural norms and standards, and how the principles were to be applied in those days, and then the days that we live in. You've got to bring it to the days that we live in, showing how those truths are unchanging and every bit as relevant today as they were then. Not easy to do in a postmodern world. Nothing's changed where the Word of God is concerned, and you have to make that abundantly clear. Number two. That was the first one. That's isagogics, or studying the historical background. For every message as a pastor, you must gather up categories of scripture. This is categorical study. Taking great care not to combine unsuited elements, strange bedfellows, or to twist or rest the meaning of words to make them fit in something that you're teaching or a subject that you're expounding, or to combine ingredients in a new way that may be interesting but not nourishing or healthy for those to whom it is served up in the local assembly, that is, messages in the restaurant or the dining room of the spiritual life. Likewise, at the risk of some being disinterested, you must repeat almost endlessly, or at least ad nauseum, many of the same things until a time that the spirit allows you to move on to something else just as important or foundational, once the majority finally gets it. I just saw this recently, on Sunday actually, where something I said hundreds of times. Someone who comes all the time came up to me and said, I finally got it for the first time. Therefore, I'm glad I repeated it at least once more. They said, I finally got it. I said, what about this? It's the first time I heard it. And I went, what? I said that thing a thousand times, and they got it, finally. So it was a good thing that I repeated it so many times. I'm glad I repeated it once again. Then there's exegesis after that, which is the essential tool and skill set necessary to rightly define terms. and bring up to date meanings of words from the original texts and languages of the text of the scripture, Old and New Testament, mainly the New Testament. And Subtuagint, which is the Greek rendering, Koine Greek rendering of the Hebrew scriptures. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Rightly defining terms and rightly dividing the word of truth, 2 Timothy 2.15. Present yourself to God a workman at need is not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You must be willing also, if you want to be a pastor, to be excluded and ostracized from social activities and sometimes family activities as well. The fact is even family members will doubt your calling and reject the things that you say. Is that true, Terry? All you have. Furthermore, they will bait you all the time. Try to catch you off guard. They did it to Jesus. You can expect that they'll also do it to you. A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown or among his own family members. And they don't hear or listen to what you have to say. They can't imagine God would choose somebody like you. They see maybe them being chosen, which they're not, but not you. You're not worthy, and that's true, you're not, but God chose you anyway, in your unworthiness, in your inability to demonstrate His love and kindness and grace and mercy and ability in the weakest of men. Number four, here you will have to prepare sermons continually. week in and week out. In our case here, two times a week, sometimes three, sometimes more than three, depending on what the schedule is and what the Lord has us doing. Sometimes they will come easily, supernaturally. Other times, right up until you present them, you won't know exactly what you should say or which direction to take. You'll always be under a deadline to finish one, and to start the next never ends, and to complete it in the time allotted, always wanting everything to be fresh. and full of life from the Spirit of Christ, it may seem to be less than that, whether it is or it isn't. Therefore, you must learn to be extremely objective and to view each message as coming from and being from the Lord, and therefore important to those who come to hear from Him and not from you as a mere mortal. Number five, then there'll be people in the congregation who faithfully attend and seem to really love the ministry of the Word, as you are enabled to bring it, that all of the sudden or suddenly no longer find your preaching to be as interesting or engaging as it once was. This could be because the preacher's growing old. Or it could be that the once hot believer has cooled off or become familiar and suddenly finds himself, if he sees or recognizes it, in contempt of the word as presented. What am I talking about? Familiarity breeds contempt. I find that you have contempt for the word. Then there are the issues. where large contributors, those who give a lot of money to the church, end up making demands that are not accommodated. And as a result, they leave. And as disgruntled former members, badmouth you and your teaching in order to turn others against you. It just comes with the territory. Anyway, either way, there are many hazards. That's why James says in 3.1, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such you will incur a stricter judgment, he says, or standard. Both are true. A stricter standard and a stricter judgment. To whom much is given, much shall be required. And those who would step into the high office and accept the call of God, will give an answer and are required to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of Christ. He says, for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, and he's a communicator of the Word of God, he is a perfect man, able to bridle not only his tongue, but his whole body as well. And that's about it for this evening. That's where we'll end, because next it talks about deacons. We'll get Matt and Dan and Brad on Sunday. Oh, get ready. He's not coming. I don't blame you. Be a good day to take off. No, I'm kidding. It's so gracious. Oh, come on. Wonderful stuff. Deacons, likewise, must be men of dignity. Oh, you guys all fail at this. Not double-tongued. Stop it. Or addicted to much wine. Dang you. Dan and I have the same promise from the Lord. Next time we imbibe in liquor, he's going to kill us, so we know we're not going to do that one. We had too much experience there, and we're too accountable for those things. But anyway, so that's our message for this evening. Enough there to hold you over till next time. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, his presence here among us this evening. Father, may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our divine Redeemer. If I could have my ashes, please, Father, bless the offering in Jesus' holy and precious name. It may be used to feed many and to bring glory to his name.