All right, well, praise the Lord, guys. Hey, good to be back together again today for our next installment of our foundation series, The Fundamentals of the Faith, A Christian Identity. And we're getting to the second part today. We're just gonna get right into it this morning. The second part today of the two offices. We looked at it last week. The two offices, as you know, are pastor and deacon. That's what they are. That's all you find in the Word of God. A pastor is, we went over his titles last week, bishop, elder, shepherd, pastor, we see in the Word of God. And we looked at the qualification of his position as well, the office of the pastor, I should say. We looked at the qualifications, and that's where we finished up for time's sake last week. And on the front end of last week, we looked at what a pastor is not. We looked at what some titles that are utilized today within false cults, within false organizations, institutions, so-called churches. And we know that they are biblically unsound. We know they do not teach a sound doctrine. They rarely even, if they do teach the gospel, they have a works-based religion. They have a works, be it through baptismal regeneration or be it through good works or confirmation into their institution. And again, that's all at the root of the devil, guys. And again, I know that's maybe harsh, but sometimes the truth is harsh. You just need to take it on, answer it scripturally, and you'll be fine. And so we looked at what a pastor and a deacon is not. We looked at the qualifications of a pastor. We looked at his titles. So quickly this morning, I want to get into, finish up on the pastor, then we'll get into the deacon today, the office of the deacon. I want to look at the pastor's responsibility. A leader of a church, if you're a pastor, and again, I'm talking about a biblical pastor, not some of this nonsense they're doing today in the liberal world, there are responsibilities, beloved. There are responsibilities that a pastor must take on board if he's going to be right in the eyes of God. Guys, I cannot preach to you and tell you to get right with God and list these things if I'm not doing above and beyond what list I give you, but taking care of my responsibilities. I have Christian responsibilities and I have pastoral responsibilities. That's just very clear. Just like I have husband responsibilities, I have parental responsibilities, I have pastoral responsibilities, and I have Christian responsibilities. I'm going to teach you guys to tithe. I teach you guys to go out and witness, to pray, to read. I must be doing all of those things and above and beyond. I need to be doing my responsibilities as well. And that's just being honest with you today. So number one, the primary responsibility of the pastor, primary responsibility is to preach. It is to preach. To go ahead and say this guys, The primary responsibility of the pastor is not to build churches, not to fill churches. That's a lie. If you've been taught that, it's not to fill churches, it's not to fill pews, okay? It's to preach the word of God. It is the church's responsibility, the people within the church, to draw people in, compel them to come in. The pastor's responsibility is to preach. Acts 20, verse 28 tells us very clearly It says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. It's one of the reasons we're doing this class, guys. It's one of the reasons we're doing this on a Thursday morning for you, so that I can teach you and teach you, because again, as we've mentioned, at Calvary in Cardiff, we have one shot, we have one day, we have one service down there, one shot for me to get something in you that will spiritually feed you, that will bring the gospel into your heart and your mind, and provoke you to good works in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to help you throughout the week. I have one shots on Sunday night. So some of the foundational and didactical teaching, guys, that's why I've opted to come and preach an entire new service here on the online series so that you can get ahold of it, you can listen, you can rewind, you can go back, you can follow the outlines, and you can crack on like that. So it's a blessing. But it is making sure that I, as an overseer, take that oversight thereof to feed the flock of God. 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, tells us, "...preach the word, be it in season, out of season, reprove and reabsorb with all longsuffering and doctrine." and doctrine. We've heard so many times people say in the world today, you know, well that doctrine just gets in the way. It does get in the way. It gets in the way of a lot of things, and it should. It gets in the way of false teaching. It gets in the way of false security. It gets in the way of a false sense of hope for salvation, and it brings the truth. So I'm going to preach the Word of God, I'm to be instant in season. That means I need to be ready to preach whenever, however, and whenever God calls me to do so. I got to rebuke. Yes, there's going to be a harsh service. I got to exhort. I have to do those things. Exhort means that warning, that shot, that warning out there. But I need to do it with long-suffering, but I need to do it with doctrine as well, be doctrinally sound. 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, verses 1 through 5 says, the elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that should be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you. Take in the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's heritage." Boy, that right there, it hit some people between the eyes, won't it? The pastor is not called to be some dictator, to have his congregation under his thumb. Think about that for just a second. But being as samples to the flock, and when the chief shepherd, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. All right? So nonetheless, we need to make sure, guys, that in our life as pastors, we are preaching the word of God. We're feeding our congregations. Not only are we commanded, guys, to preach, but as a pastor, my responsibility, or a pastor's responsibility, I should say, is to teach. And again, that goes back to what the class we're doing now. But we should be teaching as well. Ephesians chapter 4 and in verse 11, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11 says, and gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Why? Verse 12 says, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So we are to teach the Holy Scriptures biblically, doctrinally, in the right way. Why? so that we will edify, lift up, encourage, bring knowledge to the flock of God. So we're to preach responsibility, we are to teach as pastors, and then we are to rule. We are to rule. And again, don't forget what we read in 1 Peter, neither being lords over God's heritage. We are not to rule with an iron fist and have our thumb over someone. It's not our job to do that. Our job is to preach and to teach, but we are given the administrative oversight of the local New Testament church, and it is our responsibility, it is our duty, and we will give an account for it. 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 is very clear about that. 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 says, You do see a bit of a differentiation there, do you not? You see those that rule well. There are some that rule well, but he also says especially those that labor. in the Word and doctrine. It's very important we understand that we labor. We read Hebrews 13, verses 7 and 17 last week, but as looking at this responsibility of rule, we'll touch it real quick and then we'll move on to the next point. But we see that as a pastor, you ought to rule in the local church. Hebrews 13, verse 7, It says, remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversations. That conversation is their lifestyle, their actions, the end of THEIR life, considering how THEY live, how THEY walk, how THEY work. Verse 17 again says, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls. As they that may give an account, that they may do it with joy, not with grief, for this is unprofitable for you," it says. Now, what do we mean by that, guys? Here's the deal. Here's the deal. I'm going to give an account for what I teach and what I preach to you. If I teach and preach the right things and you decide to disobey those and say, now I'm going to do it my way and it ends up in disaster in your own life, there's going to be grief in mine. I'm going to give an account. We can judge how I taught and how I preached it. I'm not going to get judged according to your receptance of it, but I need to do so with joy. Your receptance, your obedience, your following of the Word of God that I teach from the pulpits or the pastors teach from the pulpits, when they're biblically sound, guys, he can give an account with joy because of that. Now, when false pastors preach and teach, or a pastor who preaches and teaches the wrong thing, and you go out there and do it, and it wrecks your life, or it locks you down, they're going to give an account for that. Yes, they are. But you will as well, unfortunately. so we see the responsibilities preach teach to work i mean preach teach to rule fourthly guys to work and this is an area guys that i am i am very adamant about paul was very adamant about it he says in first thessalonians chapter 5 verses 12 and 13 he says we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in the love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves." A pastor needs work, guys. A pastor needs to labor. A pastor needs to be busy at work. His life should not be a life of leisure. It should not be a life that he just kicks back and says, hey, I'm going to let everybody else do it. I'll tell you what, I believe it's a revelation of a person's character. who can stand around and watch other people work. I see it throughout the week. I see it in some of our classes, our gym classes, you know, particular people who just kind of stand around, let everybody else do everything else, you know, to do everything, get the work done, and then they jump into the class or whatever it may be, and then they do the same thing in the back end. And you see this in life. I think a great example of this is when the trolleys left out in the car park at the grocery store. You know, it's an example of a person's character to not walk over the 20 feet, to put it into the little rack where it goes. And guys, it's the same character with a pastor. A lazy pastor is not worth his weight in salt. I would not be in a church with a lazy pastor. If he's not willing to work, he's not willing to dig into the Word, he's not willing to strive, he's not worth you listening to, okay? And so, you know, you shake hands with a pastor, and if he's got those soft little milky hands, that means he's not a worker at all. I understand he may be laboring in the Word, and whatnot, but a pastor should be working to some extent. Is it full-time? I'm a full-time minister. I'm a full-time pastor. Should I go out and get second, third, fourth job? That's not it at all. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is he should be working in the job that God has called him to and what he's doing as a pastor. So his responsibility is to work. Pray. Prayer is another responsibility for the pastor. We find when the apostles in Acts chapter 6 verse 4 told the church to go out and choose you out seven men of good rapport, honest men. They said in verse 4, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. So I preached several months ago out of James chapter 5. which ties in this same prayer, if you will. So, you know, the responsibility that we have as pastors is to pray for our flock, pray for our community, pray for our village, pray for our church. James 5, verses 14 through 16, the Bible tells us here, it says, in the name of the Lord and the prayer of the faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effectual perfect prayer of a righteous man availeth much availeth much and so it's clear guys that responsibility is to pray also guys responsibility for a pastor is to train is to train i understand you have to have people to train those who want to learn the Word of God, those who maybe want to go into the ministry, but it may be those who just want to know more so they can be a more of an effective witness in the world today. So training we find under Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12 again. It says, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So a pastor's responsibility is to train his people. And then, of course, we find lastly in that responsibility is to evangelize, to evangelize. This doesn't mean that the pastor should be out of his pulpit 30 Sundays or whatever it may be, traveling the road evangelizing. It doesn't mean that at all, but it does mean he should be evangelizing in his life. Verse 5 of chapter 4 of 2 Timothy says, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of evangelism, make full proof of thy ministry. Evangelism can happen right across the street. up the road in your own home, your state, that's where evangelism can happen. So it does not mean that a pastor needs to be on the road, keeping it hot, preaching in other churches. Remember, a pastor needs to tend to and take care of his own church and take care of his own pulpit, take care of his own people, his responsibility. That's not a slam toward anyone who travels as a pastor, not at all. But I am telling you that a pastor's responsibility is to make sure his church, his pulpit, his flock is taken care of first and foremost, doing the work of an evangelist, I believe is a daily work that we should perform evangelizing the lost today. So that is the office of a pastor in the two offices, guys. I'm going to try to go through. the office of deacon and get it finished fairly quickly this morning and you follow along in your outline that you have available there on our church one app. So the office of deacon, the title of a deacon is a servant or to serve. We see that in Acts chapter six in verse two that we've already read quite a few times saying that then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Okay, and so that was the development of of deacons, of what a deacon is. Deacon comes from deaconos, which means servant. That's exactly what it means. Just to sum it up real quick, when you read over there in Romans chapter 16, where Phoebe is a servant, And then some of your modern versions change that to deaconess. She wasn't a deacon. She wasn't upholding the office of deacon. She was a servant, all right? She was a servant. This is an office here, and we find the qualifications already rules Phoebe out, but we need to make sure we biblically assign these things correctly today. So what are the qualifications? I'm going to start with the very first deacons. I like to run out of 1 Timothy 3 real quick, like in a hurry, but let's start with the very first ones, which should be primary. Acts 6, verses 2 through 7. Again, we've already read verse 2. It says, "...not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables." Verse 3 tells us, "...wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report." full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. So there's two stipulations right there we find, or three. Honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. All right? All right? They're gonna give themselves to prayer. And then in verse five it says, and to say and please the whole multitude. And they chose him, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost. All right? Later on in verse eight, it says, Stephen, full of faith and power. That power is equated to the Holy Ghost of God. So, one of the first stipulations or qualifications that we really and truly biblically should be looking at, guys, is not the seniority of a person in a local church. It's not the lack of or the gray hair on their head. It's got nothing to do with it. A deacon is not a position of authority. It is the position of a servant, and we need to understand that. And so before we run to 1 Timothy 3 and we begin to break down these qualifications, what we need to look at, we need to look at the very first one of honest report, having an honest reputation. And now we go to 1 Timothy 3, as we just read a moment ago, Acts 6, in verse 3, honest report, honest reputation. Acts 6, verse 3, filled with the Holy Ghost. Acts 6, verse 3, filled with wisdom. So there's our first three right there, okay, that we're looking for in this character. So in 1 Timothy 3, in verse 8, the Bible says likewise, and I'll say likewise on the backside of the pastor's qualifications. It says, likewise, must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. So first, we need to find that not only do they need to have an honest report, honest reputation, according to Acts 6, filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom, Acts 6, they need to be grave in character. They need to be a man of stateliness. That's 1 Timothy 3, verse 8. Also in verse 8, they need to not be double-tongued, meaning they're not to have a hypocritical speech, but rather one that is characterized by integrity, consistency, and honesty. All right? That is vitally important. Their words must never be double-tongued, or talking out of two sides of their mouth. They say what they mean, mean what they say, and then they do it. You understand? Not given to much wine. Now, he needs to be a moderate man of delights. Understand that, okay? Having not a false balance. Now, here's what the word wine in 1 Timothy 3, verse eight is. This wine here in verse eight comes from the Greek word oinus, all right? Whereas when it spoke about not giving a wine in verse three concerning the pastors, not giving two wine, It was para oinus, all right? Para oinus is alcoholic beverage. Oinus is fruit juice of some sort. It may be fig juice, grape juice, whatever juice, all right? Doesn't matter. But it's pure juice, just like you would buy from the local shop down here, pure juice, not fermented one bit. Para, oinous, is alcoholic beverage because something's been added there into the yeast process, the fermentation process, to make it alcoholic beverage. We understand that. So these are two separate words, even though in our English we use the word wine, by context, and let me go ahead and say this, common sense, we should understand what this means. But so many people want, because let's just face it, they just want to have a bit of drink, okay? They want to drink, they want to justify them having drink. These dog-collar-wearing so-called vicars out there going and drinking six or seven pints down at the local pub with people, they try to use this verse here. Well, if they're using this verse and they call themselves a pastor, it says here, not given to wine. That means they're not taking any at all. No alcoholic beverage, if you want to understand that verse. Now, the deacon over here is to be a man of moderation, a man of moderation. Wine, grape juice, if you will, fruit juice, was a delight. It was something that was used for special occasions, all right? Typically people drink water with their meals in these days, we do as well, but for special occasions, you know, the fruit juice would come out, all right? Very clear. A deacon is to be a man of moderation, not taking those delights on a regular basis or a repetitious basis, but rather a man of moderation, okay? So very clear, very understanding, and again, You can look at the root of the words paroinous versus oinous. Also says in verse 8, they're not given to filthy lucre. This means not desirous of dishonest gain. We covered that also with the pastor. Look in verse 9 with me now, 1 Timothy 3 verse 9, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. He's possessing faith with a pure conscience. It means he's doctrinally sound. A deacon of a church needs to be someone who adheres to the presets of the proper doctrine, pre-tribulational. They believe in you know, baptism of believers. Amen. You know, they believe in the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice, the autonomy of the church. They're doctrinally sound. They're not, you know, they're not Calvinistic, none of these different things. And so they're doctrinally sound. Look at verse 10. A very key verse here. And let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. All right? That's a test, guys. It means they're proved. They're tested. They're tested in the ministry. They're tested in their work, guys. And in the midst of their test, in the second part of that verse, they're being found blameless. They're beyond reproach. All right? We saw that same with that of a pastor, the beyond reproach. Verse 12 tells us, and let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own house as well. Husband and wife, again, same thing with the pastor. He's fully devoted to one wife, one woman. The Bible and the Baptist historically continually to reject the teaching of polygamy and or bigamy and adultery. Let's make sure we throw that in there, guys. I know I mentioned the polygamy and the bigamy last week, but also adultery. He's committed fully to that one wife for his life right there, and he doesn't have a harem around his life. And then in verse 12 says, "...ruling their children and their homes well." So this is the qualifications of a deacon, not much different than that of a pastor. But we need to understand the two offices are not the same. One is an authoritative role, an administrative role of the church. The other one is a servant role who takes weight off the pastor. And to be honest with you guys, they're greatly needed today and they are a tremendous blessing when that office is filled biblically and correctly. So what are the responsibilities of a deacon? Very, very simple here. Just by their title of a deacon alone, one who serves or a servant. Therefore, by simple definition, a deacon, guys, is someone who serves the church. And they serve that church in a capacity to take weight off the pastor. The deacon is to assist the pastor in serving the church, but they are not to operate as a ruler. They are not to operate as a pastor. They are not to operate in a position of authority. They can, by way of delegation, speak on behalf of the pastor if the pastor chooses so. But a deacon is a blessing to the church when it's the right person and when it's biblically assigned to the right person. Amen? So guys, again, I know I kind of ran through this rather quick today. I do hope it was a blessing to you. Print your outlines off. Download them to your phones, your iPads, whatever it may be. and fill in the blanks. And guys, got any questions again whatsoever concerning this lesson or any lessons whatsoever, guys, please feel free to reach out to me. Guys, Lord bless y'all. Look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Excited about what God's gonna do for us at Calvary Baptist Church at Cardiff this coming Sunday. Lord bless y'all. I love ya. See you soon.