There are a number of you who are here who are not on my list, so that's good. I had no idea exactly who would be coming. I have a list of some that I knew would be coming. Terry normally teaches this class, and he will be teaching it. This is the first time I've taught. I have taught one of these sessions in 13 years, so you're getting a real rookie here in front of you. And I have not taught this one at all, so that makes me a double rookie, I suppose. It carries away this week, as you know, but as far as I know, it will be back for all the rest of the classes. This is the introductory session, and so we'll treat it that way and hopefully cover some information that will be helpful for you as well. Let me start out by reading one simple verse of Scripture, 2 Timothy 2.15. diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. I speak pointedly there to the right use of the scripture, but I use that in a more general sense, that we all ought to be diligent to present ourselves approved to God as workmen who do not need to be ashamed, whether we're dealing with the word of God, or whether we're dealing with our occupation, or the use of our spiritual gifts, or whatever it is that we're doing, we ought to be doing it all to his glory, to present ourselves approved to him, that is to work diligently at whatever it is that we need to do to prepare ourselves for our tasks, so as to bring glory and honor and praise to his holy name. So I just say that as initial charge to all of you in regard to this class and in regard to the sessions that we'll carry on, but in general as well, as we think upon the Lord's work in our lives in a general way, and specifically in regard to our callings. Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to come before you tonight. We come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our only sufficient Savior and King. We rejoice that you determined to choose us in Him, to elect us in Him even before the foundation of the world. And as we contemplate that, we are absolutely overwhelmed, overwhelmed with praise and thanksgiving Why would you choose us out of all of the large number of humanity, all of whom deserve your wrath, all of whom have merited eternal condemnation and death, all of whom have merited hell? And yet you have determined to choose us, and we know not why, but what the rationale may be. We know there was not a capricious choosing, that you had reason for it, but not because of anything that you foresaw in us that was good. And so you have determined to elect us in Christ, your beloved one, And in these latter days, by your Spirit, you have determined to bring us from darkness to light and from death to life, to regenerate our hearts, to give to us the gifts of repentance and faith, and so move in our hearts and lives that we would exercise those gifts to our justification. You have adopted us into your everlasting family, and you have bred to us heirship in your kingdom and in your family, and we rejoice in that. You'll give to us the down payment of our inheritance and the gift of the person and presence and work and grace of your Holy Spirit. And so we come to you in Jesus' name. We come to you by the power of your spirit. We come to you under the authority of your word, which is truth. And we ask for you, oh great God and King, to be our silent guest, to work mightily in us and amongst us to accomplish your good purposes. In this class and in the classes that will follow, may all be downed to your glory, as you build these men onto the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as you equip them for the tasks that you have for them in the body of Christ, the church over which you are king, Lord Jesus Christ. And so we commit this class into your hands. Direct and guide in every detail. Be especially with the speaker that I may do those things that are pleasing in your sight. We ask it for Christ's sake and pray in his blessed name. Amen. You want to turn to, I think you have this page where it says Officers Training Introductory Session. It's under the introductory material for the second page after the yellow sheet. You all have that? Is that in your... You do have it? It's called Officers Training Introductory Session. You have that page? You do. That's what we're going to concentrate on during the course of our time here today. Initially reviewing materials, the privilege of service, Roman numeral three, the who, what, and why of officer training. Then the break, that's usually everybody's, the greatest time everybody looks forward to. You know, when I was a kid, a teacher used to ask, you know, what your favorite time was, and it was usually recess, commencement, whatever the end of the class was. And the history of the Westminster Standards, we'll go over that and read through that material. The government of the church, we'll look at the various structures of government that are extant today. And then if we have some time, take a quick glance at the Constitution of IPC, and that will be covered in future classes as well. Now, in regard to the review of materials, let me just go through some of the stuff that you've been given here. Not making a lot of comment on it, you received a loose leaf booklet. that has in it introductory materials, studies, which are largely, which essentially are the Westminster Confession of Faith, the historical sketch of that document, and so on. And then church documents, exams, and notes. You've received that. I'll take a few moments to look at that in just a minute. And then you received a number of booklets, most of which you will be called upon to read somewhere in the course of your training here. The Five Points of Calvinism, all of you have that. John Kirchner said that tulip was the most beautiful flower in God's garden. if you can remember that that way, the most beautiful flower in God's garden. It's an acrostic, T-U-L-I-P. You also have Sola Scriptura, a book that deals with the authority of Scripture and Scripture only, a booklet on the Lord's Supper. All of these really have come from some of the Tariq's preaching, observing the Sabbath, planning your wedding at Independent Presbyterian Church, And then a couple of booklets that we're going to actually look into for a minute or two tonight. An Evangelical and Report of Faith and the Churches It Was Meant to Be. Do all of you have all of those? In addition to that, you have the Westminster Confession of Faith by G.I. Williamson, which is a commentary by Williamson, an Orthodox Presbyterian minister. Is he still alive or not? I think he probably is not. At least it seems he's been around forever. So my guess is he's probably died, although I don't know that for sure. And then you have a copy of the Westminster Confession. I see at least you have one, Mark, but I don't think the rest of you do. But I think there will be a copy forthcoming that you will be given now. In the G. I. Williamson book, you have the Westminster Confession noted as he gives commentary all the way through. And you also have commented commentary in your loose leaf book as well. But I think there will be an actual copy of the Westminster Confession, along with the larger and shorter catechisms, with the proof texts actually spelled out. And I think that's what the, let me see your white book. Where did you get that? That's from two years ago. Two years ago, okay. This, I think, will be coming to you. Debbie said that she thought that we would be providing those. I haven't talked to Terry about it, but I assume that it will be the case. and you will find this to be very, very helpful. And the real value of this one is that it actually, and the scripture proof texts are actually printed out in it. So, if you do not receive this, you know, next week, make sure you talk to Terry about it, and ask him if he can provide that for you. So you have all of those booklets, hang on to them, you'll see that you will see that you have an assignment in regard to virtually all of them in the training calendar. So let's go through this. Go to the next page in your loose link book where it says Independent Presbyterian Church Officers Training Fall 2005 Format. And you all get a replacement sheet for that. Everybody pick up a replacement sheet. Really the only changes on the replacement sheet is to get the time right. Instead of it being 7 to 9, it's going to be 6 to 8 each Wednesday night. I probably shouldn't say this at this early stage, but when we get into September, I think you will be able to get your meal prior to the class. We're going to have, I think on a consistent basis, a meal provided for all the various activities, people participating in all the various activities on Wednesday nights. And this will be one of those activities for a period of time at least. for the choir members and one week out of the month for the combined board and so on. I don't know that there's enough food for you to do that through this month. Now if you get here a little bit early and you want to go over there at 5.45 and 5 o'clock and they have enough food, then feel free to partake of it. But make sure the choir, the choir I don't think meets through this month, so I think they have just some of the men meeting right now that are going to be singing. So it may be that there will be some food over there. Again, you might want to ask Terry about that and see if some food is going to be available for you. And some of you may want to avail yourselves of that, especially if it's tight for you to get here, if you haven't had a chance to get your meal. prior to coming. Maybe that's a way that you can pull that off, not have to go home and just get here a half hour or so earlier than you would get some food. Let's just skim through this. The time will be 6 to 8 p.m. each Wednesday night, August 3 to November 2. And then 6 to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, November 7 and 8. Those are the latter dates. November 7 and 8 are the times when you will actually be examined and will be meeting with the various boards and specifically with the session. That's assuming that you follow through and are wishing to become an officer in the church. So keep those dates in mind and we'll look at the next page in just a second. The format for each of these classes, not counting tonight, will be 555 to 605, a quiz that Terry will provide. I think he puts out the sheets, and again, I don't teach this class, so I don't know all the details, but I think he sets out a sheet. Those of you who've been here before, want to help me out? Does he put out a sheet over here that you pick up and then fill out the quiz? Is that how it works? Okay. So you'll come, you want to come here five minutes ahead of time, 555, so really it doesn't start at unless you're really fast. You can do it from 6 to 6.05. But if you need 10 minutes for your quiz, then give your five minutes earlier. And that will be before each of the sessions. Let's see. I don't know that there will be a quiz next week, because we're not covering any of the specific material in the Westminster Confession. I doubt that there will be next week. But following that, there certainly will be. 6.05 to 6.30, Discussion of the Church Policies and Qualities of an Officer. 6.30 to 8, Study of the Westminster Standards. The requirements that you come to class each week with written answers to the study questions, which you are prepared to read aloud. If you will look back at the study section of your loose leaf book, you will see, for example, on page 15, on page 15, session one, You will see questions that you're going to be asked to fill out. You will do that for each session and then you will come prepared to read the answers if Terry calls upon you to do so. So that will be a homework assignment virtually every week. So you come to class each week with written answers to the study questions which you are prepared to read aloud. The procedure will be your instructor, Tyree, will randomly call upon the participants in the class to read their answers as we work through each section of the Confession of Faith. And then the resources are noted there. The Westminster Confession, which you did not receive, and hopefully will. The Larger and Shorter Catechisms, PCA edition. The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Courses, G.I. Williamson, you do have that. The Free Ring Notebook. And then make sure you bring a pen. or some kind of writing implement and your bible so that you're able to follow along week by week as you look into the scripture in each case. Turn to your officer's training 2005 calendar, the next page, the next two pages actually, and you will see that you're going to go 13 weeks, I think it's 13, 3, 6, 31, 13 weeks that will carry through to October 26. And then there will be a week of review, November 2, a review of testimony, a review of the examination. And then there will be an interview November 7 and 8. So you're talking about 15 weeks all together, taking you all the way through to the examination before the session. The interview is Make sure you sign in, please, and pick up a copy of everything there, assuming that you're going to follow through with the class. And then the nominations will be published for those that have been approved and are going to stand for election on November 13th. The election by the congregation will be November 20. Those are Sundays. And the installation ordination will be December 4. So that gives you all of the dates that will be important ones. Let me go back to the beginning of that again. You notice under the introductory session at the top there it says read the church as it was meant to be. That's one of the handouts that you just received. So for next week you need to read that. For August 10 you're going to read Sola Scriptura. If you skim on down to session number six on September 14, you're going to read the Evangelical Faith, that's really a booklet entitled Evangelical and Reformed Faith. On the seventh session on September 21, you'll read the Five Points of Calvinism booklet. The next week, Observing the Sabbath, and I think that's it. The other book that has to do with the weddings of the church is considered another of the handouts, another of the publications that you want to have that enables you to have some understanding of how we handle for weddings here at IPC. Any questions about the officers training 2005 calendar? Any questions about that? Moving up to the next page, row number five, officers training information for biographical sketch. I'm skimming through these very quickly. You need to fill out a biosketch. And this will be particularly important if you're going to be a candidate for one of the offices, either L or D. I don't know when Terry requires that. I don't expect it. It's something you have to do this week. Moving on in your outline to row number 7, the next page, the outline of qualifications and responsibilities of a church officer. Sign in, please, and take one of everything that's there. There you have the various officer qualifications. I'm really going to go over a couple of those passages tonight and just make a brief comment about them. And Terry will be going over these in several different sessions. But you might want to go over them yourself, look up these various passages, and look at the comments in regard to character, behavior, family life, usefulness, experience, reputation, with reference to qualifications, and then responsibilities for deacons as servants and elders as presbyters or leaders. The next sheet is an officer's training basic reading list. All of these are worthy of your reading. I can't imagine any of you being able to read all the way through all of this. Nor do I know where you're going to be able to find every one of these books. I don't know that all of them are up in our bookstore. They may well be. Many of them are. But I don't know that every title is there. If you're interested in getting one of these titles, see Ron. Ron is able to get books from a zillion different sources at a very good price. If you are interested and you can't find them in the bookstore, I'm sure Terry will make some comment about that basic reading list as well. As far as I know, there is not required reading in regard to these items. Is that right, those of you who have been in the class before? That is not required reading, suggested reading. Just helps. Just helps. OK? So you have books on doctrine, philosophy, and apologetics, apologetics being the defense of the faith, Christian life, ministry, a biography down the bottom there, Church History, Family, Ethics, Evangelism, Eschatology, End Time, Theology, Worship and Sacraments, Modern Culture, other issues. Then on the next page, number, Roman numeral 10, a bibliography on leadership, the Bible, Elders and Deacons. The next page, number 11, a bibliography of resources for the development of the Christian home. There are periodicals noted, World is an excellent magazine, by the way, I suggest that you subscribe to it if you don't already. That's a weekly magazine for about $55. Money well spent, in my opinion. Focus on the family, discipleship journal, books, books for parents and children, child rearing, marriage relationships, Christian family education, Christian home and counseling. So those, again, are simply a bibliography of helpful things that have to do with the matter of the Christian home. Continuing on, questions to guide in writing your testimony. Near the end of the class, you're going to be writing a testimony. I think it's right at the very end. We get back to where I saw that in here. November 2, there's a review of testimony. So I assume that as you get further on into the class, maybe, Terry, as you do this earlier on, who can tell me when the writing of your testimony happens? Those of you who've been through this before. At the end. At the end? It happens at the end. OK. But here are some questions to guide you in writing your testimony. Before beginning to write it, consider the following questions. Again, I'm not going to go through all of those, but it gives you an aid in helping you to frame your testimony as you endeavor to put it together. Moving to the studies, the next section. Here you have the historic sketch of the Westminster Confession. We'll read through that tonight, and the role of Westminster standards at IPC. That's page five of that. We'll read through that as well tonight. The graph of the Westminster Confession. We'll make some comment about that tonight. And then the Confession itself. You'll find in each of the sections that there are comments, quotations of individuals, theologians, and so on. that you're going to be filling out during the course of the week. And you have that for each of the studies. And you go on through, you'll find that all that information is there. Then as you get to page 89, page 89, there's an outline of the Shorter Catechism. Altaria will use that. Then page 90, Studies, under Studies 91, Officers Training Catechism Memorization. are you, again, are you asked to memorize these? I assume you are. You are asked to memorize this. Do you memorize it as you go along, or is this in preparation for the final exam, those of you who've been in the classroom? Two or three each week? And they're on the quiz as well, okay. So you may want to get started on those. I don't know how well you are at memorization. Generally, as you get older, it's not as easy. It's a general rule of thumb. I'm kidding. I remember when I was in seminary. I went to college when I was about the normal age for college students. And then worked in industry for six years. And then went to seminary. You know, sensei, follow the Lord, and go to seminary. And started in seminary. And like a fool, who had very little aptitude for language, took Hebrew and Greek at the same time. And found out about three weeks into Hebrew and Greek that I better stop. I better drop Hebrew, concentrate on Greek, and then hopefully pick up Hebrew somewhere down the road. Anyway, I remember H.A. Young, who was our Hebrew professor, one of the great theologians at Westminster Seminary when I was there, saying that, he said it would be much easier for you to pick up this language if you were five years old than your age. And I was 27 then, and back in those days, I was one of the older ones in seminary. That's not the case anymore. A lot of guys go to seminary at an older age. But he was talking to 22- and 3-year-olds, mainly, saying it would be easier to teach you if you were 5. And that's true. If you've ever gone to a classical Christian school or another classical school of any kind, you know that they start teaching you Latin, usually, in first grade. And kids are able to pick up Latin along with English pretty easily. They're able to do that. I never had any aptitude for language, really, and struggled all the way through. Anyway, same thing is true with memorization. Sometimes you get older, it's not as easy. But I'm sure you guys can do it, because you're all brilliant. So just get started at it. Then there's a bibliography for the Westminster standards on page 95 and 96. Moving on to the church documents. The constitution and bylaws of the congregation are on pages one through... Well, it's one through four, and it begins with one and two. And then the Charter of Incorporation is there, continuing back. The session and its various committees are noted in the next page. Then the Independent Presbyterian University Academic Policy Manual, as you continue on back, the Table of Contents. And so I'm not going to go through all of this, but I suggest those of you who are contemplating being deacons that you read through this at your leisure and pay close attention to the labor of the deacons. As we get further back, some of the work of the deacons specifically noted. worship assistance on chapter three, and then the various committees, the maintenance committee of four, stewardship committee, hospitality committee, mercy committee, the various committees of the deaconate. Continuing on, there is a page in general rules for Point Pleasant, which is, of course, our place where we go for our camping and our evening services in the summer and so on. And you want to pay particularly close attention to that, those of you who are aspiring to be deacons. Then the next number of pages give you the floor plan of the administration building. The first page there is the first floor. The administration basement is the second one. The administration second floor is the third one. Then the educational building, the next sheet, The second floor is the first page, and the first floor is the second page. And I don't know why these are in this order, but that's how they are. And the third floor, the next page, and the basement, the final page. And then the vows that you will be taking if you follow through to ordination and installation. But all the vows are noted there. Membership vows, congregational vows with the new minister, officer installation. The ordination and installation vows, we'll take a look at those. a little bit tonight. And then the admission to non-community community and voting membership is the last sheet in that section. Do all of you have these sheets as we're going through? Make sure you're loosely binded or linked. Do you all have them as we're skimming through? Okay. Then you move to the exams, which there is nothing there. That will be given to you as you go along. And then finally there are some notes with regard to the confession of faith and that completes everything that you should have in this particular binder. Okay? Any questions on any of that material? No? Let's go back to your officer's training introductory session way back in the beginning where you had the order of in order for tonight. And I want to spend some time on the privilege of service. What I really want to do is concentrate. We have about an hour and 20 minutes or so that we'll have for this. I want to concentrate really on three things. The privilege of service, which is Roman numeral two in this introductory session. Number three, two, vows and subscription. I want to spend some time on that. And we'll spend some time on the history of the Westminster Standards. and on the government of the church, Roman numeral six. If we get through those things, that will be ambitious and we'll have made some pretty good progress. Tony? On the floor plan? Yeah. Why don't we have a floor plan or a sanctuary? Probably it's only one floor. I think most everybody knows. There's not a whole lot to it. You know, the sanctuary You know, I don't know why that's not included. Probably because there isn't a whole lot to show. Not a lot of rooms for you to know about. If you have your Bibles, do you want me to bring your Bibles up? A lot of you did not, it looks like. If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Timothy 3, 1-13. the various passages that we have here. Do we have any extra Bibles around? Probably not. Make sure you bring your Bibles next time, okay? 1 Timothy 3. Here you have the qualifications for overseers and deacons. If you don't have your Bibles, then just listen as I read these, as I read through this rather quickly and make some comment as I go along. Again, I want to look at each of these passages quickly. because I think it's important for you to digest the biblical material that has to do with the various offices that you are desiring to be a part of. 1 Timothy 3, beginning with that one, is a trustworthy statement that man aspires to the office of overseer to find what he desires to do. The word overseer is a translation of the word Episcopos in the Greek, which is the word from which we get our word Episcopal. And so there are two denominations, essentially, that draw their names from the Greek words that have to do with the order of government that they have in place. Presbyterian Church comes from the word presbyteros, which means presbyter or elder. And so we get our word presbyter or presbytery, which is the second and lowest court in the Presbyterian Church. We get that from the word presbyteros. It's simply a transliteration of that word, essentially. And the same with the word overseer. So when you see the word overseer, at least in the New American Standard, you know it comes from the word episkopos, which is the Greek word from which we get our word episcopal. And it has to do with the actual task of the elder. He is an overseer. That's his task. He is engaged in carrying out the ministry of the church. in all of its detail. And the word presbyter, which really refers to the very same office, has more to do with the individual. Some would say it has to do with his age. He ought to be older. That isn't always the case. And I think you ought to wonder, most of our ministers are relatively young men when they start out. Is that wise? Well, debate that one, I suppose. But they certainly need to be mature in the faith. So it has to do more with their qualifications, their maturity, spiritually and so on. So an elder is one who is mature and he is an overseer. And so when you get the word, when you find the word elder in your translation, it likely is a translation of the word presbyteros. When you see the word overseer, likely a translation of the word episcopus, from which we get our word episcopal. So it's a trustworthy statement. If a man aspires to the office of overseer or episcopus, it is a fine work he desires to do. So is it right to aspire to to one of these tasks, and obviously it is, or the passage would say that that was the case. How do you aspire to something? Well, you evaluate your own spiritual walk in life, of course. You evaluate your own spiritual gifts. And as you evaluate those gifts and abilities and your particular interests, I don't think God calls us to do something that we don't have a zeal to do, that we don't have an interest to do, that he doesn't give us a desire to do. So if you aspire to that, it's a fine work that you aspire to. There isn't anything more glorious, I don't think, in terms of the ministry of the Church than to be an officer in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it's to be an elder, or a deacon, whether it be a servant or an overseer, or one who carries out the ministry of the church. And it's right to aspire to that. There needs to be an underlining of your aspiration, however, and that comes from the congregation. And that's already happened, hasn't it? Somebody has asked you if you would be willing to stand for an office, or at least that should have happened. As it happened with all of you, if not at this point, somewhere in the past, someone asked you if you would be willing to stand, and they nominated, they suggested you, your name, recommended you. And so at least in the mind of one person, they feel, they sense that you are called, or at least you have the ability and the talent and the character, to be an elder or a deacon, and you have said yes, you're willing to stand, right? I hope that, I don't see, I see some blanks on your faces, but I hope that that's been the case, that you've been recommended by somebody, yes. We can have people here that weren't recommended, and they're just attending. Okay, well, that could be. Are some of you just here just to attend, and you're not really thinking about an office? Okay, we have some of you like that, then you don't fit into that category. But if you are here as a potential elder, or a deacon, and maybe some of you, as we move along, you'll sense that you have a calling to one of these offices. That will perhaps become more obvious. Well, let me continue on. Verse two, an overseer, that must be a bumper problem. I'm not gonna go through all of these qualities, except to say that most of the quality, most of the emphasis is on character, as we go through here. In addition to character, there is the ability to teach for an elder. But largely, the interest is character, not so much one's mental acumen or ability in certain areas of expertise, like finances or whatever, but rather one's character. And Terry has, of course, been dealing with that in recent sermons, so I don't need to go into all that. But let me just read through it. An overseer must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle and contentious. free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church of God? That's a very important element. Having your household under control is essential. If you can't manage your home, your wife, and your children, then you certainly are not capable of managing the Church of God. That certainly would be the case with anyone who aspires to be an elder. continuing on, not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. I think we have to be very cautious to not put someone in a position of leadership who is a relatively new convert for a variety of reasons, but one, one reason that is noted here is that that individual may become puffed up. You know, I've just become a Christian and look, already they want me to be an elder. Already they want me to be a deacon. And so I must be somebody really special, you know? I mean, look at all these other people. They've been Christians for a long time. They're not owners or deacons. And yet the church is showing an interest in me being a deacon. I've only been a Christian for a month, or a year, or whatever. So it's very important not to lay hands on a relatively new convert, lest they become conceited. And we would assume, too, that they're not very knowledgeable in the faith. They need to be instructed in the faith, come to an understanding of the faith, and a solid commitment to it, and to a body of theology, so that they understand the theological teaching of the scripture. Verse 7, he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into reproach in the snare of the devil. I think it's very important that an aspiring officer, in the eyes of the world, even though the world is not going to endorse your faith, is not going to endorse your zeal for the cause of Christ made you think you're stupid for being a Christian, and really dumb for tithing your money, and supremely dumb for giving the Lord's Day over to the Lord, however you define that. They nevertheless need to recognize that you are a person of moral and ethical uprightness. They need to recognize that you're a person of your word, a person who can be counted on, a person who takes his responsibilities seriously. will recognize that. They may not endorse all of your commitment or even any of it, but they ought to at least be able to see that you are a person of integrity. And it's interesting that there are corporations today who are hiring Christians simply because they know them to be persons of integrity over against others who are not professing believers They're not hiring them because they endorse their faith. They're hiring them because they see them as individuals who are competent in terms of ethics and morality in particular, and who are going to take their occupation seriously, not going to cheat the company out of time, and so on. So the world needs to be able to see you in that capacity, at the very least. So you have to have a good reputation with those outside the church. Deacons, likewise, deacon servants, likewise, must be men of dignity. not double-tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid game, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Let those also first be tested, then let them serve as deacons, if they are beyond her approach. Women must likewise be dignified. That's variously translated as deacon's wives or deaconesses. In the PCA, it's been our conviction that women should not be in a position of deacon. And they would endorse the translation that would emphasize that this would be the wives of deacons. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be husbands of only one wife. Obviously, wives would not fit there. And good managers of their children and their own households. For those who have served well as deacons, obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Well, that's the 1st Timothy passage. The Titus 1 is similar to it. If you have your Bibles, turn to Titus chapter 1. And it's in this passage, by the way, that you see overseer and elder, both of the words, noted and obviously referring to the very same office. Beginning with verse 5 of Titus 1. For this reason I left you in Crete, says Paul, that you might set an order of what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. Notice the plural elders. It is our conviction that the Bible teaches a plurality of elders for any particular church so that if a congregation got to the point where there was but one elder, one legitimate elder, that congregation should be dissolved. It is no longer a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ would be our view. Now, that would assume, of course, that you could move someone else into the church who maybe is in a neighboring church that would be able to maintain that ministry. But if the church became a church where there was but a single elder, then that church would no longer be a legitimate church of the Lord Jesus Christ. There should be a plurality of elders, at least two, for it to be a legitimate congregation. It could be a minister and one other elder. one other ruling elder, but at least two, a plurality of elders. And this passage helps us to understand that point. Elders, in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man be above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. For the overseer, and there you see the words elder in verse five, and the word overseer in verse seven. The word elder is the word presbyteros, as I mentioned, and the word overseer is the word piscibus. obviously referring to the very same office, but referencing, in the first case, the elder, referencing the maturity and spirituality of the individual, the overseer mentioning the actual task that he is to carry out. The overseer must be above reproach, as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pognacious, not fond of sordid game, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast a faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching of which ye may be able both to exhort and sound Godfrey, and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Scots, Scots are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. It's true. Is it true? This is going down. You all know Colin? I decided I was not going to let that go. It does say Cretans. It really does. But is it true of the Scots? No. We can say Americans too, right? Okay. Where am I here? There are many rebellious men and talkers and so on. One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true for this cause were it proved them severely that they may be sound in the faith. Now there are several words here that I just want to make a brief comment about. First of all, the individual who is to be an elder, and we might say a deacon as well, but to hold fast the faithful word. which is in accordance with the teaching, the teaching of the apostles, undoubtedly at this point, the teaching of the Bible, we would say, you need to be one who holds fast to the teaching of scripture. If you're not settled in your faith, not settled in your understanding of the Bible, not committed thoroughly to the Bible as the only infallible rule of faith in life, if that is not your position, then you have no business being an officer in the church of Christ. So you certainly need to be holding fast to the faithful word, You need to be able to exhort. To exhort is sound doctrine. An elder needs to be able, at the very least, to be able to do that. To know the basic doctrine of the faith and to be able to exhort others. At least one-on-one, be able to share the faith. And to refute those who contradict. You need to be able to defend the faith as well. Know what the errors are that are extant at any given moment and be able to refute those errors. And then in verse 13, reprove those who are antagonistic to the gospel and who are perhaps going astray within the congregation. So you have holding fast, exhort, refute, and recruit. All of those are elements that have to do essentially with the scripture and how one handles the scripture as an elder specifically. Let's see, let me pick up with 1 Peter 5, if you have your copies of 1 Peter 5. in the back of your New Testament. 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1-5. I don't know how this is how Terry handles his first session, but this is how we're going. 1 Peter 5, verses 1-5. Therefore I exhort the elders, says Peter, the apostle, the elders among you, as your fellow elder. Notice that Peter is not only an apostle, he's also an elder. And so he is He's here bridging the gap between the apostolate, between the apostolic office, and the perpetual office within the church, the office of elder. I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. When we talk about shepherding, we follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve. He was a shepherd leader, and we are called upon to be shepherd leaders, to be under-shepherds of Christ. And you can think of yourself as being an under-shepherd of Christ, whether as an elder or as a deacon, shepherd of the flock of God. that is among you, that is the church that you are a part of, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily. No one should be compelling you to be an officer, to be an elder or a deacon. They may ask you, they may pursue you and see if indeed you agree with them that this is something that you ought to be pursuing, but they should not have to be browbeating you into it. Anybody that we would have to be virtually forced to take on a position as elder or deacon in the church is someone who would not be worthy of that particular task. So you should be exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, sensing that this is the will of God for you in the carrying out of this task. Not for sordid gain, that is not because it's going to be a, it's going to enhance your your financial, I can't imagine any eldership or deacon position in the church providing much financial gain, not from a layman's standpoint at least. But believe it or not, there are some ministers who go into the ministry for that reason. They figure that this is an easy way to manage an occupation. That's all the wrong reason, of course, for going into it, but occasionally you run into somebody who is not really motivated and finds it as an occupation that they can skim by in and make enough money to get by as well. But I think the sordid game means that you should not become an elder or a deacon because that will enhance your stature with other individuals or your stature in the world or whatever. You ought to be doing whatever you do to the glory of God and to please Him. If your zeal is to please God, then you will have the right motivation for whatever it is that you're doing. It may well be, and it ought to be the case, that you will please others as well if you carry out your task biblically to His glory. And you will get the acclaim of some men rightly, and that's okay. You need to handle that properly, of course, with deep humility. But your main task is to please the Lord and to not be about the business of trying to get the acclaim of men, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, with a zeal to do his will. Nor yet is lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And again, you ought to be an example to those who are under your care, whether it's deacon or elder. Is the congregation, you'd ask this question, the people that are under my jurisdiction, whom I am ministering to, are they able to imitate me? Paul says, in another context, imitate me as I imitate Christ. The congregation ought to be able to look at the officers of IPC, ministers of otherwise, and they ought to be able to imitate, say that I can imitate this individual. Put your name there. I can imitate this individual because I see him imitating Christ, because I see the Lord Jesus in his life. We ought to be emulating the Lord Jesus, and the congregation ought to be able to see that and be willing to follow us, and follow particularly our example. And, verse four, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. What a great blessing that will be. Can you imagine that? That after you have carried out your task as an elder or a deacon, that when the chief shepherd appears, and we are the under-shepherds of Jesus, that you will receive the unfading crown of glory, that he will save you, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. I can't imagine anything being finer than that. And yet our goal is not to just get acclamation from the Lord, although that will be the end result. Our zeal is to praise him, glorify him, exalt him in the carrying out of our tasks because of who he is, because of what he's done for us in our redemption. And in the back of our minds is, of course, the hope that one day He will say to us these words. He will grant to us the unfading crown of glory. He will say, well done, good and faithful servant. That's got to be the highlight of eternity, I would expect, to hear those words from the lips of the Lord Jesus in regard to you. And then they want, of course, to serve Him well from that point on. So that's the first Peter 5 passage, and I've added another one right in your outline there. Hebrews 13, 7, 8, and 17. Hebrews 13, 7, 8, and 17. Let me read that passage for you too. This passage looks at the office more from the standpoint of those who are benefiting from your ministry. Hebrews 13, verses 7, 8, and 17. You might also put CF 1 Thessalonians 5, 12, and 13. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12, and 13 as well. If I give a charge, and I usually give a charge, Ron and I usually alternate the charges during the ordination installation. One year I charge the elders, and then he charges the congregation. I charge the officers, he charges the congregation. Then we reverse it the following year. And you'll likely hear us reference this particular passage as we speak to the congregation, particularly Hebrews 13, 7. Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, yes, and forever. And the same ought to be true of us. We ought to be able to say of us that we are the same yesterday, today, and we will be the same as we carry on Christ, of course, that is said of him as the eternal son of God. But for each of us, there ought to be such a consistency in our life that we would emulate the Lord Jesus in terms of his utter and perfect consistency. Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. And then verse 17, again, to the congregation, obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Let me say, in regard to that passage, a charge to each of you. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Those of you who would be elders, you are to watch over the souls of the congregation members, those under your jurisdiction, under your auspices. That means you need to have a concern for their spiritual well-being as much as you have a concern for your own. As much as you have a concern for your wife, your wife's spiritual well-being and your children's spiritual well-being, the same one would be the case for your concern for the congregational members. Each one of them are precious souls. They need to be shepherded. They need to be guarded from those who would teach error. They need to be encouraged. They need to be built up in the faith and so on. And you will give an account one day as to how you have handled that. To receive those words from the Lord Jesus, well done, good and faithful servant is well and good. You will also give an account as to how we have handled ourselves in the conducting of our office. I want to say more about that in the vows when I touch on that a little bit. And the congregation is to encourage you to do what you do with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable. So you are to carry out your task with great joy. What a great honor, what a great privilege to be a minister, an elder, a deacon in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great honor. Is there any greater privilege, any greater honor than that? That to serve the Lord Jesus in the context of the church for which he died and over which he rules by his spirit and word. No greater honor. Whatever it is you do in the course of your life, this would be one of the highest, if not the highest honors, and that is to serve the Lord Jesus in his church in an office capacity. Okay, any questions about those things? Did I get Corinthians passage? 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 and 13. I need to quit now and give them a break, right? Okay, just a minute here. says this, We request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Let me read it again. We request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. of the Lord is called to these high and holy tasks. Recession, Roman numeral three. Maybe I'll say, any questions about anything that I covered up in Roman numeral two, the Roman service, going through all those passages? Anybody have any comments or questions about that? Roman numeral three, the who, what, and why of officer training, who, the new or untrained, or anyone interested, if we have persons who are who are new to this particular course, have not been trained by it, and some of you who are leaders who are going through it. Some who are aspiring to be officers, and some of you who have been officers but are going through it again, I guess, or at least going through this first session. The what has to do with the outline of the calendar. We've already looked under the calendar. So I'm not going to go through that again. But why? Time involved. Personal study time, whatever that is, that has to do with your own discipline, your own interest, how much time you put in, whether you want to do any of the special reading or not. You might have to put some study effort in in answering those questions, and you will have to come prepared to read the answers to the following week. And then you have to put in, of course, two hours per week here for 13 weeks, plus the review week, plus the session examination time. if you, again, are aspiring to be an officer. So 15 weeks plus two hours each plus your personal study time is the involvement. Personal edification, I'm going to skip vows and subscription for just a minute and get back to that. Personal edification, well, it's for your own spiritual maturity as you grow in the faith. This class is certainly geared to that. The Westminster Confession is a is a systematic statement of the teachings of the Bible. The Bible doesn't tell you all that there is to know about God in any particular verse. It's rather spread out through the entire Bible. And so the Westminster Confession, like any legitimate creed, is a compendium of what the Bible teaches in regard to specific doctrines. And you will come to appreciate that as you go along. And so it's like a course in systematic theology in seminary. If you want to go through a course like that, that's what this is. It's a course in systematic theology. essentially so. Preparation for office, so you need to know the demands of the office if you are to successfully fulfill it. And so you need to know what the character, the kind of character that an individual want to have, the sort of gifts that they need to have, the aspiration for the position, and so on. So how can you carry out the office if you are not prepared for it, if you don't know the demands of it? and then are not prepared to successfully fulfill it. So that's the who, what, and why. Under the why, I want to spend some time on number two, vows and subscription. Let's look at the vows on your outline. Let's see, where are they? I think they're under church documents. the next to last page of our church documents. Everybody have that? Let me read through those vows at this early stage. I'm sure Terry will spend more time on those as the class progresses. I'm interested in the vows, the Roman numeral four, officers, ordination, and installation vows. Everybody have that? Okay. Let me just read through those, and then I want to look at some passages of scripture that speak to the matter of Syria, the matter of taking vows seriously before the Lord. Do you believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inerrant word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice? Do you sincerely receive and adopt the confession of faith, the Westminster Confession and the catechisms, the larger and shorter? of this church is containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures. And you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of the system of doctrine, you will, on your own initiative, make known to your session the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow. But you need to make it known. You need to take the initiative. If you go through all of this and you find some element in the Westminster Confession that you do not agree with, and you have a conscientious reason for not agreeing with that, and there are sometimes exceptions that persons take before they're ordained, you need to make that known ahead of time, at the time when you come before the session and they are examining you in regard to your coordination and installation. And then further on, if later on, after you have been ordained and installed, if at some point you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of that system of doctrine, you need at your initiative come to the session and let them know that the change has taken place. And then they have to, at that point, make a decision as to whether they are of the opinion that the change that has taken place is at such serious moment that you are no longer capable of continuing in office. For example, if you came to the session and you said, well, you know, this minor change in regard to some activity, perhaps on the Lord's Day, the session may say, well, OK, well, we don't think that's a matter that ought to excuse you from being an officer, an elder, or a deacon. On the other hand, if you come to the session and say, I no longer believe in the deity of Christ, I no longer believe in the infallibility of scripture. I no longer believe in the Trinity. They are in serious trouble. They would certainly consider those to be essential elements of the faith. So there are some things that would be relatively unimportant and of not great significance. Other things of great importance that would absolutely in a legitimate Christian church that takes the Bible seriously. Moving on, do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in conformity with the general principles of biblical polity? Hopefully, I don't know if we'll get to that or not tonight. I hope we will when we look at the various kinds of, the basic kinds of governments that are extant in the churches today. Four, do you accept the office of ruling elder or deacon, as the case may be, in this church? and promise faithfully to perform all the duties thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God, can't do anything apart from the grace of God, to adorn the profession of the gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example before the church of which God has made you an officer. I touched on some of those things in the passages of scripture that had to do with the various qualifications of officers a few moments ago. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord? I have probably lost at least as many battles as I have won in session meetings over the course of the years. From what that says for me, not one matters of great moment. I mean, I'm not talking about when we're discussing some element of faith that is a very essence of biblical Christianity. I'm talking about something that has to do with some element of operation within the church. You know, we're on one side and some of the officers are on the other. Let's say that a question comes up, a discussion occurs, and a vote is taken, and you lose. You need to be in subjection to your brethren in matters like that, if it is not a matter of the essence of the faith, realizing that God usually works through the majority. Now, councils do error. Sessions do error. Deacon deaconnets do error. So maybe you were right, but at least for the moment, until you can convince the other members of your board that they were on the wrong side and you were on the right side as a minority, you need to be in subjection to your brethren. And that's very, very important. Sixth, you promised to strive for the edification, peace, unity, and purity of the church. The purity of the church is paramount, let me say. A church that is not pure in terms of its theological underpinnings of doctrine and life is not worth its salt. It is really not a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace and unity are very, very important as well. We certainly must strive for the peace of the church. And we are the, as Christians, individuals who are ambassadors of peace to the extent that we're able to be that. Peace is not possible when there needs to be war. That's true in battles between nations. There aren't just wars. And times when nations need to take up arms to defend their populace. There are other times when they need to be ambassadors of peace to the degree that they're able to be that. In the church, there are times, most of the time, there ought to be peace. That is, there ought to be conflict within the body of Christ. Unity, similarly, there ought to be unity within the body of Christ, certainly on theological matters, but in terms of the general direction of the church as well. You ought to strive for unity within a particular congregation. Let me say this loud and clear, that peace and unity at the price of purity, if you don't remember anything else to say tonight, peace and unity at the price of purity is too high a price to pay. Too high a price to pay. Purity is essential. And so if the peace and unity of the church needs to be interrupted so as to get the church back on track in terms of its theological and spiritual purity, then there needs to be a breakdown. There needs to be, for a time at least, an interruption in peace and unity. Does that make sense? Everybody understand what I'm saying there? Peace and unity, there are a lot of churches that strive for peace and unity no matter what. And they will compromise doctrine, they will compromise spirituality, they will compromise conviction, so as to maintain peace and unity. Too high a price to pay. Peace and unity should not ever take precedence over purity. Now, hopefully, there would not have to be a lot of battles in that regard. And that's why it's so important that you choose your pastors with care, you choose your officers with care, make sure that they understand the doctrines that the church adheres to, make sure they have convictions about it and are committed to them, and so on. So that the leadership, if the leadership is right, then it's likely that you're not going to have a lot of problems within the congregation. There are lots of churches, of course, where the leadership has been compromised, where they have long ago compromised the truth. And then what has happened in many of these churches is that they want to maintain peace and unity no matter what, and purity is sacrificed. And they just dare not sacrifice purity ever on the altar of peace and unity. All right, now what about these battles? Let me say this, and I'm going to look at some passages of Scripture to speak to this issue. Don't ever take a vow that you are not committed to keep. Don't take an oath you are not committed to keep. You will give answer before God for every vow that you take. Your marriage vows, if you're married, you will answer to God as to how you have handled those marriage vows. If you have taken vows when you joined this congregation, you will answer to God as to how you have honored those vows. If you have had your child baptized in this congregation, you will take on vows to raise this child in the faith. You will give answer to God as to how you will handle those vows. And if you become an officer in the church, you will take vows of ordination, and you will give answer to God as to how you will handle those vows. Don't take a vow that you are not committed to keep. And then don't say down the road, oh, well, I didn't quite understand what that vow entailed. I wasn't quite prepared to take it. Make sure you understand what the vow's content is. Make sure you understand what it is that you are committing yourself to before you take the vow. Ecclesiastes 5. There are a number of passages that speak to this issue. I'm going to note four of them very quickly. Ecclesiastes 5, 1 to 7. guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools. A fool in this case is a person who is lacking in judgment, who want one who speaks or acts without thinking through the ramifications and consequences of what he says. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil. Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought, to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven, and you are on the earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Now, the emphasis here is on letting your words be few when it comes to taking vows. Don't take a vow unless you understand its content and you are committed to keeping it. Verse four, when you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it. For he takes no delight in fools paying what you owe. It is better that you should not vow that you should vow and not pay. Do not let your speech cause you to sin. And do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. For in many things, verse 7, and in many words, there is emptiness. Rather, fear God. Fear God. Recognize that you