Alright, flip over if you would to Titus chapter 1, we're going to come right back to 1 Timothy
3, so keep your finger there, but in Titus chapter number 1, we see kind of a parallel
passage of this famous passage in 1 Timothy 3 about the qualifications for the bishop,
also known as the pastor or the elder.
Now in Titus chapter 1 verse 5, the Bible reads, For this cause lept I thee in Crete,
that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every
city as I had appointed thee.
And so Titus is being told here that there's something that's lacking, something's wanting,
something's missing, and that is that there is not an elder in every city.
Now I'm sure that today in the United States of America, let alone across the world, there
are many cities in which there is also a lack of a Bible believing preacher.
Now obviously there are churches in every city, you know, if we go to our small town
soul-winning campaigns, for example, around Arizona, we might go to a town, it might have,
you know, one Catholic church, or it might have one community church or something, but
often these churches are not preaching out of the King James Bible, they're not preaching
salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ, often they are not doing any kind
of soul-winning, etc.
I talked to a guy, he lived on a small island in one of the Shetland Islands, he said there
were two churches on his island, there were a lot of people living on the island, he said
one of them was a Baptist church that preached out of the NIV, one of them was a Protestant
church that used the King James, you know, and he said, you know, which one do I go to?
And you know, I told him to go to the Protestant church that used the King James because I
wouldn't set foot in any church that is preaching anything other than a King James Bible.
You know, God put some really heavy curses on the people who put those versions together
in Revelation 22, when they're taking away from God's Word and adding to God's Word.
But honestly, there are people all over the place that are struggling to find a good church.
Or maybe they found a mediocre church, but you know, they'd really like to be going to
a fired up, soul-winning church that's really going to build their faith and really going
to preach on sin and really going to motivate them to get out there and win lost souls to
Christ.
Look, we need today new churches to be started up in every city.
We need a whole army of young men to go out and start churches and to preach the Gospel,
to just reach everybody in that town with the Gospel, at least that they would hear the Gospel.
Obviously nobody's, not everybody's going to get saved, but at least get everybody a
chance to get saved.
And I'm telling you, there are a lot of areas today that do not have a great church to go to.
And just as there was a lack in Titus's day in the area of Crete, there's definitely a
lack today of Bible-believing churches and churches that preach right.
You know, in my seven and a half years as pastor here, you know, I've made friends with
various pastors over the years and you know, it's amazing.
A lot of these guys that are kind of dead, kind of watered down, you try to talk to them,
you try to get them fired up, you try to motivate them, you try to show them errors and it just
doesn't seem to get through.
And so that's why we just need some fresh blood, some new churches, some guys that'll
go out and start a church.
And I thank God that we have many guys in our church who have this desire in them and
have a will to go out and start a church.
Now first of all, the thing I want to point out about this passage is in Titus 1.6 it
says, if any, be blameless.
Because in verse 5 he said he wanted him to ordain elders in every city as I had appointed
thee, if any, be blameless.
Now look, that says any.
So is this just a specific person that God chooses to pastor a church or is it just anybody
who can meet the qualifications?
Look if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 3 where we just were and the Bible tells us something
similar.
In 1 Timothy 3, 1 it says, this is a true saying, if a man, just a man, desire the office
of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
So isn't the Bible saying here that if somebody wants to do it, that's a good thing and send
them out there to do it if they want to do it.
It's like when God said to Isaiah, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
And he said, here are my Lord, send me.
If you look at both 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1, one of them says any and one of
them says if a man desire to do it.
But yet today we're taught, you know, you must be called.
And people tell these stories, the whole room lit up and I felt a tingling sensation and
the hair on the back of my neck.
You know, I was saved on so and so the year and so and so the month and I was called to
preach on July 25th to that, you know, and they had like some date that they had some
supernatural experience when they're called to preach or called the pastor and whatever.
Do you desire it?
Are you willing to do it?
Are you a man?
And of course, that's the first qualification being a man.
You know, today we have woman preachers, God help us.
But anyway, in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus chapter 1, we have laid out the qualifications for
being a pastor or what the Bible calls a bishop or elder.
These qualifications are laid out saying, look, if anybody wants to do it, great.
But they must meet these criteria and these qualifications.
You say, well, Pastor Anderson, I'm not really sure that this is something that I'm going
to do.
Well, if you're not 100% sure that it's something that you're never going to do, unless you're
just sure I'm never going to do that, you'd be wise to just meet these qualifications
just in case.
Because today you might be thinking, oh, I could never see myself pastoring.
But yet a lot can change over five years, 10 years, 15 years as you grow.
I guarantee you that there are a lot of pastors who earlier in their life probably never would
have thought they'd be a pastor.
But yet now they are a pastor.
Now they're on their way to becoming a pastor.
And so you always want to keep an open mind and always want to keep your options open.
Now certain things that you may have done in your life may have permanently disqualified
you from being a pastor.
That is what it is.
But for those who have not disqualified themselves, you should strive to meet these qualifications
just in case you might someday want to become a pastor.
And I know there are many here today that already have expressed a desire to pastor,
already have expressed a desire to start a church.
Some have very serious plans about starting churches in the near future.
Let me say this, memorize 1 Timothy chapter 3 and memorize Titus chapter 1.
Because these qualifications are very important to you and you need to make sure that you
live up to these things.
Let's go through them.
1 Timothy 3, 1 says this, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he
desireth a good work.
The first thing we see there is that it's about work.
It's a job.
It's a lot of work.
It's not just a title or a position or an honor.
It's actually a job that entitles you to a lot of hard work.
And so you must be one who has a desire to work if you're going to be a pastor.
A lazy person is not going to make a good pastor.
The first qualification for the bishop here is that you've got to desire the work.
You've got to want to do the work.
Later in 1 Timothy, he tells Timothy, do the work of an evangelist, meaning go out and
give the gospel to the unsaved.
That's the work of an evangelist.
He says in verse 2, a bishop then must be blameless.
The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt
to teach.
Let's go through each of these.
First of all, it says he must be blameless.
Now does this mean that he's perfect and sinless?
Obviously not because then no one would be qualified.
Now some people have taken that word blameless and said, well, blameless, that means sinless.
Nobody's qualified.
So let's just put whoever we want in the pulpit, even if they violate subsequent things in
the list.
Now that's, that's a bizarre doctrine.
Okay.
Obviously when he says blameless, he doesn't mean sinless.
I think what he means there is that there's not some glaring problem in their life where
they could be blamed.
Okay.
You think about the word blame in the Bible, it talks about how, you know, Peter made a
big mistake when he was with the apostle Paul in Galatians 1 and it, you know, Peter, Paul
stood up to him because he was to be blamed, you know, because he basically did something
that was in violation of, of, of a very key doctrine about the Jews and the Gentiles.
I'm not going to go into that for sake of time.
But the bottom line is when the Bible says blameless, basically if someone just has some
huge bad mark on their reputation, and I'm not talking about something from the distant
past before they were saved, but you know, if someone's just has some kind of an open
sin or just an open, uh, uh, uh, reproach unto the heathen where people would look at
him and say, you know, this guy's a pastor, look at what he's done over here.
You know, just some major sin or some major blot on their character, whether it be in
business or in their personal life, whatever the case may be, you know, a bishop then must
be blamed.
For example, you know, a guy is committing adultery.
He's not blameless.
You know, a guy is, is, uh, you know, uh, running a dishonest business or something
like that.
Obviously he's not blameless because he's committing a major sin where people could
look at that and he could be publicly blamed for something.
Okay.
So I think blameless there is talking about having a good testimony.
And if you jump down to verse seven, I think this ties in with being blameless where it
says moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, meaning those that
are outside the church lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
So it shouldn't be something where it brings a bad name on the cause of Christ where people
look at the pastor and he's a bad example of Christianity and he brings reproach on
the name of Christ because this is the pastor and he's running this crooked business or
he's an adulterer or he's committing this other blatant open public sin where everybody
sees that this guy is not practicing what he preaches.
I think that's what God means by blameless because the word blameless implies that someone
else is doing the blaming.
There's blame coming his way.
There's reproach coming from those outside the church saying, look, this guy is not qualified
to be a pastor because he's X, Y, and Z.
So let's keep reading blameless, the husband of one wife.
And I firmly believe this does not mean one wife at a time as some have tried to construe
this and they say the husband of one wife at a time.
And they say, well, you know, he was just teaching against polygamy here.
Now I don't really see in the New Testament any practice of polygamy even going on.
I mean, can anybody think of an example in the New Testament of polygamy even going on?
I mean, I know in the Old Testament days there were people who had multiple wives and it's
always been sin.
Even from the beginning, God made them male and female and said that a man should cleave
unto his wife and they too should be one flesh.
And God commanded against multiplying wives and having more than one wife.
But people did it back in the Old Testament days.
But in the times when Jesus lived, I don't, I don't see the practice of polygamy even
necessarily happening, number one.
But number two, when he says the husband of one wife, we can cross reference this with
first Timothy chapter five, just two chapters later in order to help define what he means
by that.
Because in first Timothy chapter five, he says something similar, but he's talking about
a woman instead of a man.
This is talking about taking widows in under the care of the church financially.
And it says in verse nine, let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore
years old, that's 60 years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported up for
good works.
If she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers and on and on, it lists all
the good works that she should have done.
But when the Bible says here that the, that she should be the wife of one man, is this
telling her not to have two husbands at the same time?
Because I don't think anybody has ever done that.
I mean, I'm sure you could find some bizarre occurrence where a wife had two husbands.
But look, if you say, well, back then all these husbands had two, okay, did wives have
two husbands back then?
Of course not.
That's bizarre.
And so obviously if he's saying, hey, this wife needs to have been the wife of one husband,
wouldn't that be the same thing he's saying in first Timothy three when he says the husband
of one wife, it's just backwards.
And look, he's obviously not talking about having multiple husbands.
What he's saying is it shouldn't be one who was married to one and then divorced and then
married a second spouse, okay, being taken in as a widow that's cared for by the church.
And that's why I firmly believe that in first Timothy three, God is prohibiting a man who
has been divorced and remarried from pastoring.
Now look, that doesn't mean that I, you know, think you're a horrible person if you've been
divorced and remarried.
Obviously we should forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto those things
which are before and press toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And if you're on your third wife or your fourth husband, you know what?
Just be faithful to the one you're with, you know, live a godly marriage with the one that
you're with.
Obviously you can't go back and undo the past and change the past.
There's no sense in beating yourself up about mistakes that you made in the past.
Just confess it, confess your sin, forsake your sin, move forward and go on with it.
But you're not going to pastor the church.
It's that simple.
And there's plenty of other ways to serve God without pastoring a church, aren't there?
I mean, you can serve God in a lot of great capacities.
You can go out and win souls.
You can preach to the lost.
You can do many great works for God.
You can be a key player in the church, but you're not going to be a pastor or a deacon
because specifically God says that the pastor must be the husband of one wife.
And there's a reason why he says that, okay?
Because it says in verse number four, one that ruleth well his own house, having his
children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church
of God?
That's not to say that somebody who's been divorced has not learned lessons from that.
And now in their current marriage, they're ruling well their own house.
I'm sure that there are people who are currently ruling well their own house, even though in
the past they didn't.
But yet we don't want to take a chance on a person like that for pastoring a church.
We want to have somebody who has been married one time and stayed faithful and led their
house properly and not allowed it to come tearing apart in divorce.
Obviously if someone's spouse dies, then the Bible makes it clear that it's very legitimate
for that person to then get remarried.
But biblically, the Bible says that if you marry her that is divorced, you're committing
adultery.
And if you put away your wife and marry another, you're committing adultery.
And so that's what the Bible teaches.
That disqualifies you from being a pastor.
Doesn't disqualify you from being a great church member and serving God, but it does
disqualify you from pastoring.
So the first qualifications are that you must be blameless.
You must be the husband of one wife.
And then look, here's an important word, vigilant.
Do you see that in verse two?
Vigilant.
You know what it means to be vigilant?
It means it's somebody who is alert to danger.
I mean vigilant has the idea of somebody who is staying up at night watching and guarding
for enemy invaders.
Someone who is in a vigilant position, you know, you think of people doing a vigil.
That's where they stay up at night.
And the Bible is saying that the pastor has to be vigilant.
Let me tell you why.
Because there are constantly people trying to bring in false doctrine.
The devil is constantly attacking.
Bad influences and bad practices are constantly trying to creep into the church.
And if you're a guy who's just kind of aloof of false doctrine and, oh, I don't know what's
going on.
And if you're the kind of guy that can't say no to people because you're too nice.
You're not, you're not going to meet the qualifications for being a pastor.
You got to be vigilant.
And the problem in many churches today is that the pastor is too nice to say no to people
to be on his guard.
Well here's the word that's the opposite of vigilant, naive, right?
What's the opposite of vigilant?
Being naive, being overly trusting, thinking that everybody's good, everybody's nice and
now everybody's hearts in the right place.
No, it isn't.
There are all kinds of bad, wicked people.
The Bible says there were false prophets amongst the people.
There will be false prophets amongst you.
There will be people who creep in privily, bringing damnable heresies.
There are going to be people who creep in, bringing in adultery and sin.
Look, as a pastor, you must be vigilant.
You must be alert and on your guard.
And then when you see the enemy coming, you can't just see the enemy coming and just be
like, I mean, you have to actually have the guts to stand up to that enemy and say no.
And the word that is not in the vocabulary of so many pastors that needs to be there
is the word no.
You know that when people try to bring in the wrong music, no.
People try to bring in a different Bible version, no.
Nobody puts a calendar on the wall, a beautiful calendar.
The only problem, they quote the NIV at the bottom, no.
And honestly, you have to be willing to say no.
And so many pastors, they're nice, they're nice people, they're really nice, but they're
not able to guard against false doctrine, false teaching and bad influences creeping
into the church.
You got to be able to stand up to the drunkard, stand up to the fornicator, stand up to the
extortioner, stand up to the people that are bringing in leaven that's going to leaven
the whole lump and you got to have the guts to tell them no.
And so many today are too nice.
And you say, well, being nice is a good thing.
Being nice is a good thing, but you know what?
You have to be a little, you got to have a little mean streak too if you're going to
be able to tell people no.
Sometimes you got to be the bad guy, right?
And it's, by the way, it's the same way with parenting.
And look, I'm very nice to my children.
Ask my children if I'm nice to them.
I play with them.
I treat them nicely.
I give them gifts.
I take them places and I'm friendly to them.
I'm kind to them.
I'm loving to them.
But you know what?
I know how to tell them no.
I know how to put them in their place and I know how to discipline them when they need
to be disciplined.
And a guy who is not vigilant is not going to make it as a pastor.
He's going to let everybody walk all over him.
He's going to let everybody bring in all the false versions.
And you know what?
You give people an inch and they take a mile when it comes to heresy and false doctrine.
You got to just nip it in the bud.
You got to draw the line in the sand.
So it says he's got to be vigilant.
And then next it says he must be sober.
Now sober has, it's a very deep word.
It means a few different things.
First of all, it clearly is talking about the absence of drugs and alcohol.
I mean that should go without saying.
Later on it says that the pastor should not be given to wine.
And so sober definitely has that meaning.
But sober also means that you are serious.
Now this doesn't mean that you never laugh or have a good time.
But what it means is that you're taking life seriously.
You're taking the job seriously.
You take doctrine seriously.
Do you ever get around people where everything to them is a joke all the time?
I love humor.
I love joking around.
I like having fun.
But there's a time to be serious.
And there's a time when it's not a game and where we need to take things seriously.
And the Bible says that the bishop must be sober.
And then it says of good behavior.
You see, we as pastors are supposed to lead by example.
The Bible says we're not supposed to lord over God's heritage.
But rather to be an ensemble to the flock.
So our behavior should be behavior that's a good example under the church member.
And that they would look at our behavior and say that's good behavior.
That's the way I'm going to live my life.
And then the Bible says given to hospitality.
Now what does that mean given to hospitality?
Well when you think of hospitality you think of taking people out to eat or having people
over for dinner or having somebody stay at your house.
And you know it basically it's somebody who cares about you know the visitor and cares
about people's needs and taking care of them and feeding them and so forth.
And you know this is something where you know obviously as a pastor you have to be a social
type person.
You can't be a person who doesn't want to talk to anybody, doesn't want to be friends
with anybody, just wants to kind of you know hide away and be a recluse and go into your
shell.
You know as a pastor you need to be able to have a relationship with people.
The Bible talks about an act you know breaking bread and you know eating their bread from
house to house and breaking bread, talking doctrine.
I mean that's part of being a pastor is eating those meals and spending time with the people
and talking to people.
So you have to be a person who's given to hospitality which means basically a person
who has a tendency to be hospitable.
You know somebody shows up you want to help them out.
Oh you know they need a meal you want to feed them that meal.
You want to give them a cup of cold water when they're thirsty.
You want to have them over.
You want to get them a place to stay.
And you know I understand what it means to not have room in your house to have people
over you know because I don't have room in my house to have you know I have nine people
in my family and I have a small humble abode okay.
So therefore my house is pretty full with just the people that I have you know but but
still we've crammed in people before and you know there's always you can get people a hotel
you know you can provide people with lodging somewhere help people get lodging but but
as a pastor you should be the type of person that that's willing to open your home to people
that's willing to to share a meal with people that wants to talk to people and get to know
people and be friends with people.
Now I was taught when I was in Bible college they said you know as a pastor you can't be
friends with your church members.
They said you know you must keep a distance with your church members.
You must keep the mystique about yourself.
And they said you know you don't want to become too buddy buddy and too friendly with your
church members because you know then they're not going to respect you if you do that.
Now I understand where they're coming from with that.
I see what they're saying because sometimes you know when you get buddy buddy with people
sometimes they can get a little too familiar with you and not treat you as an authority
figure but rather just treat you as you know their buddy or whatever their pal or even
below them on the totem pole.
I understand that but honestly that is not as I study the scripture yes I believe that
people should respect the pastor but at the same time I think that the pastor should be
humble given to hospitality and should be friendly and should you know and so I've never
followed that advice.
I've always been and people who've gone to church with me for a long time and have hung
around with me you know I've tried to be one that's not on a pedestal but rather down to
earth of a person okay.
And so if you're going to be a pastor you want to be one that's given to hospitality
that you enjoy and by the way flip over if you would to Titus one we're going to be going
between these two because we're going to see kind of the similarities and I always like
it when God tells us something twice in the Bible because then you can compare the two
and get a deeper insight and so I like the fact that he gives the qualifications in first
Timothy three and in Titus chapter one both because then you can compare and go back and
forth between the two.
But it says in verse eight it says but a lover of hospitality remember in the other scriptures
it said given to hospitality here it says a lover of hospitality a lover of good men
sober just holy timbers so that gives us a little insight about what he means by given
to hospitality it means you like being around God's people.
You enjoy spending time with God's people you enjoy sharing the meal you enjoy having
them over you enjoy the fellowship you enjoy the the talking and the getting to know people
you have to be one who loves hospitality and loves good men meaning that you'd rather
pal around with God's people and pal around with the church than to pal around with the
world or to just be by yourself all the time.
You know you have to be one who's a little more outgoing in order to be a pastor this
is part of what and you say why are you preaching this because I'm preaching to hopefully many
men who will go out and start churches someday and pastors someday and these are the things
that you need to think about these are the things you need to work on these are the things
where you need to look at yourself and say is that something that I can do is that something
I can work on or improve upon.
Not only that but if these are things that God wants to be in a pastor I'll bet you he
just wants all believers to also not be given to wine you know to also not be be blamed
and and have multiple wives and and be a brawler and you know not rule their house and so I
think that all of God's people should be given to hospitality because I think what's good
for the goose is good for the gander you know if he's saying well this is how the pastor
is supposed to be you know it seems like that's how he wants all of God's people to be given
to hospitality hospitable that means when somebody comes over to your house you don't
begrudge them whatever food you give them I remember one time I was at a friend's house
as a teenager and they were serving spaghetti and I always grew up with that parmesan shaker
you know that green parmesan shaker the Kraft parmesan cheese and you know that's the parmesan
that I was used to but I was over at these people's house and they were very wealthy
and they had the fresh grated parmesan okay okay great so I'd never even had it before
I'd never even seen it before so I sat down and you know a plate of spaghetti was put
in front of me I reached over and began to spoon some of this parmesan onto my spaghetti
and I didn't put on some kind of a crazy amount I didn't put on some kind of an inordinate amount
you know I put on a generous amount but it wasn't it wasn't too much I mean it was very moderate and
reasonable and I remember that my friend's dad said do you know how much that stuff costs you
know here I'm a guest at dinner right and it's like you know much that stuff costs I mean they're
living in a mansion they've got fancy cars in the drive you know and sometimes rich people are the
cheapest people you know they're the biggest tightwads right because their whole life is
just about money you know it's like do you know how much that costs and I said oh you know sorry
I didn't think it cost what is it you know is it I didn't know I mean is this some kind of a rare
imported I don't know what this is well it's fresh grated parmesan oh well sorry that's the
opposite of being given to hospitality when you're giving to somebody and you begrudge you know and
you don't want to give them your best you know you don't want to kill the fatted calf you want
to give them something that's small or you know something that's cheaper not as expensive so the
Bible says given to hospitality apt to teach now what does it mean to be apt to teach well aptitude
means ability it means that you simply are skillful or have the ability to teach you're
able to get up and speak the Word of God and explain it to people in a way that they understand
now part of this is talent perhaps that you're born with but I think a lot of it just comes with
practice when it comes to being apt to teach because I've seen some guys just get up and start
preaching and they had no experience and they just did a phenomenal job I mean I heard a guy get up
and preach his first sermon shortly after being saved and it was just excellent you know I heard
I you know Roger Jimenez is one that just even when he was preaching like his fifth sermon or
his tenth sermon I mean he was just a good preacher from day one he was just had the
ability to preach just inborn okay whereas other people start out really struggling with preaching
but after preaching hundreds of times they become a good preacher and they build that ability and
they gain that aptitude over time and I would put myself more in that category you know when I
started out preaching I really struggled with preaching and I preached many hundreds of times
before I before I was able to preach with any kind of aptitude you know I really struggled with
preaching in the early days and there were many many times that I questioned and other people
around me question you know whether I would ever have the ability to be a pastor just because I was
not very good at preaching I just didn't have that talent to get up and speak well and to be able to
preach well and many times I thought about just deciding to not do it just because I didn't feel
like I had that ability because it was something that did not come naturally to me and and yet I
persevered and and today you know I am what I am today but at least I've persevered to where I could
do it so what I'm saying is just because you don't just get up and you just preach perfectly don't
give up on it keep trying keep coming and thank God for our preaching class keep coming to the
preaching class keep trying get up there and and you might you might fumble you might fail and
preach and I've laid some eggs in my time let me tell you I preach some really you know really
sorry sermons but you just got to keep trying and keep going but obviously if you just never get
there you're not going to be able to pastor a church you have to be apt to teach you must
develop or have inborn the ability to preach okay or you're not going to be able to be a pastor why
because the pastor's most important job is to teach the Word of God and to preach to God's
people so if you're not able to effectively communicate God's Word and teach people you're
not going to be able to do the job of a pastor it's just that simple no matter how hospitable
and and well-behaved you are you got to be able to deliver the goods to the people you got to be
able to feed the flock with God's Word and teach them the Bible it says in verse 3 not given to
wine okay this is talking about the fact that you know you're not drinking alcohol you're not
given to wine and that that should go without saying since the Bible said anybody who's a
drunkard should be cast out of the church let alone the pastor you say well you could you know
you can drink a little bit without getting drunk well but are you sober and again in Proverbs 23
it talks about the wine that moves itself aright which I explained the other night scientifically
that that's fermentation he said don't even look at it okay so don't be given unto wine don't be
a drinker and there are believe it or not there are pastors who drink and it's it's a clear
violation of this and then it says no striker now what is a striker well to strike someone
needs to hit someone and again if we compare scripture with scripture we could compare this
with Titus chapter 1 where it says that he's not a brawler you don't have to turn there but it says
he's not a brawler now what does it mean to be a brawler this is someone who goes out and gets in
fistfights and there are people who at the drop of a hat they're insulted and they get in a fistfight
now I don't believe this is teaching you not to defend yourself I think that we are totally
entitled to defend our lives and our property and our loved ones the Bible teaches that principle
but I will say this you have to you have to know where to draw the line of what's defending
yourself versus what's just defending your pride now if somebody slaps you on the cheek that's
gonna hurt your pride isn't it somebody spits in your face that's gonna hurt your pride but is your
life necessarily in danger no and I I come up with a clear boundary for myself because you know I look
at this and I say okay I don't want to be a striker I don't want to be a brawler so I've come
up with a clear line that I've drawn that if somebody pushes me if somebody shoves me that I
will not retaliate if somebody shoves me but that if somebody clenches their fist like this right
and somebody actually throws a punch at me with their fist then I'm gonna just go nuts and just
fight them you know and kill them with my bare hands so I'm just kidding but anyway I'm just
saying if somebody throws a punch at me I'm gonna fight back because you know when somebody's
throwing a punch at you they can do serious damage they can hurt you very badly and you don't know
what their intentions are you don't know if there's other people involved you know if there's
multiple assailants and at that point it becomes I'm defending myself but let me tell you this so
let me say this if I had decided well if somebody grabs me and shoves me that's a provocation worthy
of fighting back then I would have been in about 20 fistfights by now as a pastor okay and do you
think that that's what God wanted me to do because I've been out soul winning many times and had
people push and shove me now look does it feel good on your pride to have somebody push and shove
you no and obviously the flesh wants to show them you know what a man is gonna do in this situation
and you know and tear them you know limb from limb or at least you know beat them into next week or
whatever you know and I'm gonna tell you something there have been many times I was tempted to just
to just start swinging but I'm gonna tell you something you know God doesn't want us to be one
who is just a hothead who's always just got to be defending our pride and defending our manhood all
the time you know what it's great it's great to be strong and it's great to to be confident but
you know what people are gonna insult you they're gonna make fun of you they made fun of Jesus they
mocked Jesus they insulted him and you know people are gonna push and shove you and all it is is just
grandstanding you know they're not necessarily gonna hurt you now when somebody clenches their
fists and throws a punch at you at that point they're trying to injure you at that point they
could kill you you know if they start doing that kind of so at that point I believe and then again
this is just my opinion you you may disagree with me you may draw the line where you like but I'm
just warning you future pastors of America if you draw the line and say well if somebody puts their
hand on me in any way I'm gonna defend myself well get ready to have some bloody knuckles my friend
because you're gonna get in a lot of fights if you're anything like me if you're if you pass or
anything like I do because I've had many people physically assault me in the last seven and a half
years but I've never had anybody throw a punch at me which shows that it was all fluff it was all
talk it's all just trying to provoke you to throw the purse punch and then they're gonna call the
police and whine how you started the whole thing and the only reason you beat him up is because
they were black and what you know whatever they're gonna make up stuff and I know you know and you
this guy said he hated homosexuals and I'm a homosexual so that's why he just came to my
house knocked on my door and I opened the door and he just punched me in the face he looked me
up in the phone book and he came to my house you know that's what they're gonna say right that's
what they're gonna say hmm and so therefore as a pastor you have to have a longer fuse even than
the general population you can't be a guy who anybody insults you you're hey let's take it
outside buddy let's settle this outside right now if you're that kind of a guy you're not gonna make
it as a pastor because you're constantly gonna have people provoking you you're gonna have people
push and shove you you're gonna have people lay hands on you you're gonna have people provoke you
and taunt you and insult you you must be able to control anger control pride and say you know what
I'm not in danger here the Lord rebuke you and you know people might call you a wimp for doing that
right somebody insults you and pushes you and you walk away they may call you wimp but that's what
God's commanded us to do and as a pastor it's more important for us to keep our testimony and to do
our job as a pastor but again if somebody throws upon I'm just warning you if you ever throw a
punch at me no I'm just saying if anybody throws a punch at me I'm gonna I'm gonna hit back and I'm
gonna keep hitting until they stop twitching okay but just kidding and you know if somebody breaks
into my house if somebody breaks into my house in the middle of night I'm gonna kill him with
a shotgun okay and and I mean I don't have any qualms about that and you know I remember you
know brother whirling here used to go to church with me back in Sacramento pastor Nick goes I
remember he told the story about a guy attacked him and one time he shocked him in the face you
know but he only had to do it one time in all of his pastoring but it was a situation where you
know somebody was in danger and he had to step in I don't think it's wrong to step in and if
somebody's in danger but there's no danger and all these all these gang bangers you know with
their pants halfway down their legs and they're coming you're not let me just say something you're
not really in danger most these guys are not really gonna swing at you okay I've had people
pull a gun on me on soul winning yeah I've twice I've had somebody pull a gun on me but you know
what I was able to diffuse the situation but that's another story which shall be told at
another time but anyway so it says here not given to wine no striker not greedy a filthy
lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous so here we see patience that means putting up with
insults and putting up with things and not just being a hothead who's ready to start swinging at
the drop of a hat not a brawler not somebody who's going out looking for a fight is what that means
but notice it says you're not greedy of filthy lucre now a lot of people will take this and say
you know if a pastor is being paid he's greedy of filthy lucre he's he's a hireling here's what's
funny they'll say if the pastor is getting paid he's just a high these bunch of hirelings well
here's what's funny you know what the Bible specifically says about pastors the laborer is
worthy of his higher so you know and then you're going to insult the pastor by calling him a
hireling when the Bible says the laborer is worthy of his higher okay and the Bible and I'm not going
to go there for sake of time but first Corinthians 9 clearly is the first Corinthians 9 or second
Corinthians 9 see I'm not really that interested in money I don't even know uh for it's first
Corinthians 9 first Corinthians 9 clearly teaches that pastors are ordained to be paid for the
preaching that they do and for the work that they do in the local church Paul says I've not used
that Paul made tents he had a secular job okay I think that it's perfectly fine for a pastor to
have a secular job and make his own money and not get paid nothing wrong with that in the world or
I think it's fine for the pastor to get paid first Corinthians 9 makes that very clear you know I've
already preached that other sermons I'm not going to preach it again now for the first four and a
half years that I pastored here I didn't get paid I just worked my own job then for a little while
I got paid full time and then right now I'm kind of half and half you know sometimes I'm working
more for work sometimes I'm working more for church and I do both I do a mixture I do a hybrid
between the two but you know these people that are out there that'll say oh pastors should never
get paid and they're hirelings and they're preaching for filthy lucre you look at the
people who say that usually they don't go to church anywhere number one number two if they
do go to church it's like four or five people in a living room and they call that church you know
obviously pastoring a church that's actually growing that's actually doing something
that's actually filled with people is a job it is work it does take labor and therefore
the pastor is entitled to be paid but look what is filthy is filthy lucre just a paycheck
I mean when you go to your job right as a plumber that's filthy lucre right
I know sometimes it can be a filthy job being a plumber but you know what that isn't filthy
lucre what about when I go to my job as an electrician and I get paid as an electrician
is that filthy lucre what about your landscaping job is that filthy lucre of course not filthy
lucre if we compare scripture with scripture in titus one the bible says teaching things flip
over there if you would I'll show it to you in titus chapter one he talks about these false
teachers and he says in verse 11 whose mouths must be stopped to subvert all houses teaching
things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake so what the bible calls filthy lucre is when
you're preaching lies to get paid that's filthy lucre it's when you say well wait a minute if I
preach the truth I'm not going to get paid as much I'm not going to be as popular and you say
well why would what you preach have to do with how much you get paid I don't know let's ask Rick
Warren let's ask Bill Hybels let's ask Joel Osteen
because I guarantee you that if we took a poll of all the liberal mega church pastors who basically
preach all this health and wealth prosperity gospel and then we took a poll amongst you know
pastors of big churches that are independent fundamental baptists that are King James Bible
preaching I guarantee you the pay is going to be different you know you these guys the Joel
Osteens the Rick Warrens the Bill Hybels these guys are getting paid millions of dollars and
they are not earning it with hard work they're doing it by preaching lies they're not telling
the truth they're telling people what they want to hear in order to get paid okay so don't get
mad at a preacher who gets paid get mad at the preacher who gets paid and isn't doing the work
or get mad at a preacher who's getting paid and he's doing the work but it's the wrong work he's
preaching lies he's preaching false doctrine he's teaching things which he ought not for
filthy lucre's sake look this tells us there are preachers that are motivated by money
and even a good solid independent fundamental baptist pastor could fall into the notation of
well you know I know that so-and-so in the auditorium makes a ton of money and puts a
fat check in the plate every week and I know he's not gonna like this sermon because it's gonna hit
the nail on the head in his life I'm gonna hold back on that sermon you know and in fact I'm even
gonna maybe even change what the Bible says a little to condone his lifestyle that is teaching
things which you ought not for filthy lucre's sake that's preaching popular doctrines because
you want to be popular you want the church to be filled with people you want the money to come in
the plate and you want to get paid and and so on and so forth so this isn't saying money it's saying
filthy lucre not given to filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous now look why do you
have to be patient to be a pastor because you know what people that are impatient it means what they
want things right now well look when you go out and start a church do you think it's just going
to be huge right away right away it's going to be a big church right away it's going to be thriving
no and if you're impatient you'll compromise you'll bring in the rock and roll you'll you'll
soften up your messages right you'll turn to worldly methods because you don't want to wait
now look our church right now is filled with people we have a great size church we got a great
a group here but is this how we started no we started out very small and we had to patiently
wait until we get to this point and patiently wait as the church grows and as the people grow
and so one who's impatient wants to skip the the the diligent working and waiting and and
being faithful and just go straight to success just i want to succeed i want my best life now
you know i want my best church now you've got to be patient you got to be willing to wait
he says uh patient not a brawler not covetous that means one who is happy and content with
such things as he has the one whose covetous always wants something that they don't have
they want a wife that they don't have they want money that they don't have they want a fancy house
and a fancy car and a boat that they don't have and you know what often they're covetous of someone
else's church that's why i think as a pastor it's important to be content with the church that you
pastor not always be looking to go preach somewhere else all the time now i'm all for
preaching somewhere else but i always make faithful word baptist church my priority
and what you know not that the invitations are pouring in because they're not okay but when i do
rarely once in a blue moon get invited to preach at a church i always say well i can do it on any
day except wednesday or sunday because this is more important it's more important to be here
preaching it's more important my priority is to preach to you people because you people
are more important to me than those people because you're my church you're my friends
you're my family here i want to preach to you guys i i'm not just out coveting some other bigger
crowd because you know what our crowd is better than the bigger crowd anyway even if it's not as
big it's just you know it's quality okay so i'm not just out oh i want this preaching opportunity
where i can preach to this big great crowd this is a better crowd i like the crowd that i'm
preaching to right now i'm not coveting some other crowd and that's why i always say the same thing
i can preach for you on any day except sunday or wednesday now this is a rare occurrence that i
ever even have to have this conversation okay because i am not an in-demand speaker
you know i can't figure it out maybe if you figure it out let me know but i can't figure it out but
nobody wants me to come preach nobody invites me to preach i don't get it i don't understand
but uh anyway it's neither here nor there because i'm busy on every sunday and wednesday anyway i'm
already tied up here preaching and so it says you're not covetous that's another aspect of
coverages one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all
gravity let me say this if you would like to pastor someday if you're married and have children
you're already a pastor in a sense you're pastoring not a church but you're pastoring a family
you're the shepherd of that family you're leading that family and that is your proving ground god's
looking at how you handle that family to see how you're going to handle the church of god because
the bible says if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of
god and so you are being tested right now with leading your wife and leading your children
that is going to determine whether you're able to lead a church and so basically if you're
ever thinking about pastoring someday take your job as a husband and father very seriously because
if god sees you not taking that job seriously he's going to think that you're not going to
take pastoring seriously either because that is is your laboratory for pastoring right there your
wife and children okay that's where you're first tested and by the way you know you talk to single
guys and they ask you you know what can i do to to be i want to pastor someday what do i do to
get prepared and i i always just tell them uh meet girls you know i get me you know get married
because you know until you're married you're not even ready to even think about pastoring because
you need to get married i mean it's great you know the more bible you can read the more opportunities
you have to preach when you're single but honestly pastoring is more than just preaching and you need
to get that experience of being married and having children that's your most important experience
that's what's going to give you the tools that you need to pastor a church the hard lessons that
you learn in your family and let me tell you something single people don't understand what
it's like to be married and that's not a criticism of single people i'm just saying the facts
single people do not understand what it is like to be married and married people who don't have
children do not understand what it's like to have children not a criticism just a fact you've never
been there you don't understand it that's why people say are you against a single man pastoring
yes i am because the bible says he must be the husband of one wife and he must have faithful
children not accused of riot or unruly and let me tell you something a single man is not going
to be able to feed the married and parenting flock because people in the church need preaching
on marriage they need to hear sermons about marriage they need to hear sermons about child
marrying and a single person yes they can quote you the scriptures on marriage but you know you
can also read the scriptures on marriage yourself at home can't you you need a man who can apply it
who's had the experience who's lived through it and survived to tell about it and can tell you
you know how to do it and a single person does not have that ability now again it says in the
next verse not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil
now it's funny because the term novice is often thrown around as a criticism or a slander or an
insult which is very foolish because god is not using novice here as an insult because there's
nothing in the world wrong with being a novice in fact everyone was once a novice because you know
what a novice is a beginner the word novice comes from the word nova or you know basically it means
new and so a novice is someone who's new to the faith or new to christianity or new to church or
new to preaching and so is it bad to be a novice everyone starts out as a novice i was once a
novice you were once a novice so for people to throw this insult oh that guy he's a novice
you're a novice this young guy one time this young guy who was like 18 got up to preach and people
were hurling the insult at him he's such a novice well of course he is he's 18 he just started
preaching it's his first sermon you call him a novice but but here's what's funny i've been
pastoring now for seven and a half years i've preached approximately 1600 sermons
and people insult me by calling me a novice now when you've preached for 1600 hours
you're not a beginner anymore when you have been pastoring for seven and a half years and started
a church from scratch that is now running 90 to 100 on sunday morning you know you might you know
they could say you're an idiot you know and i don't believe that i am an idiot but they could
insult me by saying he's an idiot or he's a fool or he's a false prophet or he's a false teacher
or he's a you know a mean person but to say that i'm a novice is ridiculous because i've been doing
this for i've been soul winning now for well over a decade i've been saved for uh what 25 26 years
okay so a novice is someone who's a beginner so just finding a preacher you don't like and just
saying well he's a novice even though he's been pastoring for 30 years or something i mean it
doesn't make any sense does it so what is he saying here when he says not a novice just not
someone you don't like no when he says not a novice he's saying they shouldn't be a beginner
you know what that tells me this shouldn't be somebody who's newly saved now a lot of people
who when they're newly saved sometimes they get really excited and sometimes they grow really fast
and they'll read their bible cover to cover you know four or five times the first year
and they're growing really fast and they're thriving they're outsold every and you might
be tempted after a year or two to just put that guy in the pulpit i mean that guy is on fire
but you know what you got to be careful of a beginner because let me tell you something
when you first get saved or you first get right with god there's an initial excitement that can
sometimes last for up to two years where you're just fired up but eventually the newness wears
off and eventually you go through ups and downs and you have to have the character to get through
that because i've seen a lot of people get really excited and do great things for god and they're
on fire and they're zealous and they'll do that for a couple years and then they'll and then
they'll just quit they'll burn out is what they'll do now a lot of people say you know
don't get too excited you're gonna burn out i i don't believe that you can't be too excited for me
you can't do too much soul winning for me or read the bible too much go nuts with it go crazy but
let me tell you this though you have to be ready when you hit that wall when you come to that point
where you do start feeling burned out to slow down a little not quit and just start trudging along
and just keep putting one foot in front of another trudging forward slogging your way through it
because when you slog your way and you know this is similar to running i like to run i do a lot of
running and a lot of times you're running and sometimes you'll you'll hit a point where you
just you can't run anymore you know and i and i mean you legit like for me sometimes when i run
a really long distance i'll get to a point where i just i feel very nauseous like i'm gonna throw up
just it just this really strong feeling and that's how it is when you exert your body
you'll get to that point and sometimes i'll be way into a run and all of a sudden i'll get that
really sick feeling right but see a lot of times if you just slow down and just maybe walk and just
keep slogging through it putting one foot in and then it's like you're back and then all of a
sudden your energy will come the nausea goes away and then you can start running again and you feel
good again and and so that's how life is i i'm i'll tell you right now i'm not always just flying
through life running through life at a sprint just on the top of my game all the time you know what
a lot of times i go through phases where man i'm fired up i'm loving every minute of my bible
reading and bible memory and preach i can't wait to preach the next sermon i'm praying i'm doing
everything but you know there are other times when you feel like quitting you know i'm not i'm not
ashamed to admit that there are times when you get burned out especially when you're pushing
really hard you can start getting burned out you can get tired and wore out and sick of it
and the key at that point is just to slow down and keep putting one foot in front of another
and not quitting and then if you do that soon enough the second wind will come back and let
me tell you something a lot of people quit during the hard times in their marriage quit during the
hard times in pastoring and and you know what if you just slog your way through it and just keep
putting one foot in front of another it'll get better weeping may endure for the night but joy
cometh in the morning people have to be tested and tried and true to be a pastor they have to
go through that phase they have to first get through the initial excitement slog through it
by character and come back and be fired up once again they can't just be a beginner somebody who's
new now he explains another reason why they shouldn't be a novice it says not a novice
lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil you see if somebody
climbs the ranks too fast they might become lifted up with pride if they're just promoted right away
to the top position in the church and they just got there a year and a half ago or two years ago
and they're just climbing the ladder a little too fast they could become filled with pride
instead of learning how to follow first you know before you can lead you got to learn how to follow
before you pastor you need to know what it feels like to be in the pew you need to know what it
feels like to be a follower and to spend years and years and years humbly with your mouth shut
listening learning following okay then once you've sat there with your mouth shut listening
learning following then you're wise enough you're seasoned enough you're a veteran you're not a
novice you're ready to go out and be a leader but you can't just start out as a leader you don't
just put some 17 18 19 year old uh you know there's a church in town they had on their
website this is this is a really uh this is kind of like one of these type of church type of
churches you know like a rolling in the aisles type church but there's a church in phoenix
called pilgrim's rest you know tongue talking and you say why would you criticize them oh because
we go off soul winning every week and talk to their people and none of them ever give us the
right answer on salvation they never know for sure they're going to heaven they always have
another gospel do you agree with that oh yeah i mean we you know we've done a ton of soul winning
in that area and you go there and it said i went to their website one time because there's nobody
from this church was saved i mean everybody we're talking to i talked to somebody who went there
their whole life that was 15 years old and had never heard that jesus rose from the dead and i
said i'm telling her i'm telling this 15 year old girl you know he was buried and i mean he
rose from the dead like he actually came back to life walked out of the grave she's like did this
really happen are you serious i'm like yeah she's like are you just making this up i'm like no
she's like i'm like you haven't heard that no she'd been to the church but she heard this you know
so you know anyway i went to their website one time and it said that their pastor was the
youngest pastor in the state of arizona's history because he started pastoring he was 18. now i mean
unless this guy started preaching when he was six you know i mean unless this guy got married at 12
and started having kids and you know i mean give me a break an 18 put an 18 year old the pastor
and i'm sure he's older than that now but he you know that'll get you in the guinness book okay
you're the youngest pastor in the history of arizona great but you know what you need to not
be a total beginner to pastor you not not be a novice i got to hurry up i'm almost out of time
let me just crank through these last few it says moreover he must have a good report of them which
are without lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil we talked about that with
being blameless then he gets into the qualification of the deacon he said likewise meaning in the same
way must the deacons be grave grave means serious not slanderers that means people who don't lie
about someone else sober faithful in all things let the deacons be the husbands of one wife
ruling their children and their own houses well for they that have used the office of a deacon
well purchased to themselves a good what a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is
in christ jesus so here we see that one of the qualifications for being a pastor or a deacon is
having a degree everybody see that everybody got that you must have a degree but and you know no
that's not what that means but here's what's funny well we went when we we went to church and and one
of the deacons was going to become a pastor he decided you know he was going to go out and and
pastor at church and they said well you know but he doesn't have a degree though but you know i
don't know i mean he's really gotten a lot of experience he's been a deacon for a decade i mean
he's done a lot of preaching i mean he knows what he's doing but it's just oh he doesn't have a
degree and i and i took the bible and i showed the pastor i said well the bible says they that
have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves a good degree you know i said well
there he said oh yeah that's cool you know that's true that's interesting so you know this is where
the bible talks about getting a degree and there's no mention of college or university or masters of
the universe or master of divinity or master of theology or bachelor where do they come up with
these stupid names associate of arts i mean is that really what you're striving for in life
i i am an associate of arts i am a bachelor of science i mean these titles are so stupid does
anybody else think that they sound stupid i'm a bachelor of science i am the master of theology
you know the bible says be not ye called master isn't that in the bible somewhere be not you
called master why don't they call it rabbi of divinity why don't they just call themselves
father while they're at it and turn their priest priest caller backwards you know uh you know this
whole thing of you know i and then it's funny i remember the first time i i uh you know uh played
some preaching for a guy that i had won to christ on my job i won this guy to christ that worked
with me and we're listening to some preaching and the pastor's name was dr so he's like this guy's
a doctor you know he thought he's like you know performing surgery or something i mean look if
you're if you're cutting people open or handing out medicine then okay you're a doctor but it's
just funny how pastors want to be called doctor i don't want to be called doctor you know i don't
want to be called master i dead sure don't want to be called bachelor you know that's why i got
married so that i would never be called that again you know and i don't want to be called you know
associate but anyway i'm just showing you you know when the bible talks about getting a good degree
it's when you do your job well in the church there's your degree right there uh the they
that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves a good degree and great
boldness in the faith which is in christ jesus these things right end of the hoping to come into
these shortly but if i tarry long that thou mayest know how the oddest to behave thyself in the house
of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and ground of the truth and we see that you
know the qualifications for a deacon are pretty similar to the qualifications for a pastor you
know there's really not a whole lot of difference there and so all that to say this you know the
bible gives a standard for which leaders are supposed to be held to and so if you would like
to lead someday and there is a need there is a a lack of good churches out there and plus even if
there is a good church like there's a good church in in tempe there's a good church in the phoenix
area you're sitting in it right but could we use like 10 more would it hurt to have 10 more
churches like ours across the valley oh we don't want the competition yeah we do because there's
got to be somewhere for people to go when they get all disgruntled with me you know what i mean
there's got to be a church that well this is the doctrine this is the doctrine like faithful word
except without pastor anderson's obnoxious personality you know there's got to be a place
like that for people to go when they get mad so i'm i'm just joking but honestly you could have
10 churches like this you have a hundred churches like this all knocking doors all preaching the
gospel all winning you can never have too much but on top of that there are all kinds of towns
where there's like nothing and so we need some young men to step up to the plate and say you
know what i want to live up to that standard okay some of these are my strengths some of these are
my weaknesses i'm going to work on the areas that are weaknesses i'm going to make sure that i rule
my family properly i'm going to make sure that i study my bible learn how to teach learn how to
preach show up at the preaching class preach the 10-minute sermons live a life of good behavior
not touch wine not get into all the sins that can mess me up and to be qualified because look we
need somebody to do it and i know it's easy to not it's easier not to do it you know it's easier
just to stay in the pew your whole life and you know what for some people that's god's will but
i'm going to tell you something there are a lot more people that should be pastoring that aren't
they need to step up to the plate get the experience learn how to preach learn the bible
and do what it takes to fill this job and it you know it's it's it's a difficult job but somebody's
got to stand up and be willing to be counted let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we
thank you so much for your word and thank you for these qualifications i pray that the men in our
church that are going to be pastoring soon and others that are considering pastoring soon would
listen to this sermon very carefully and and try to live up to these things and and to let these
things be indicative of their lives and please help me as a pastor to to continue even though
i'm already a pastor to to continue to live up to these things and try to to make sure that i keep
all these areas sharpened up and and improved in my own life i could use improvement i'm sure in
some areas just like anyone could and so please help me and every other man in the room to to be
vigilant and try to live up to these qualifications in jesus name we pray amen all right let's go ahead
and sing a song before we go anybody think of a song that ties in well with the sermon
who is on the lord's side for why don't you come lead it brother dave
406 who is on the lord's side let's sing it out in that first verse