Music
Good evening everyone welcome to steadfast baptist church if you could have your seats and grab your song books we're going to sing song 174 my jesus i love thee song 174 my jesus i love thee
174 my jesus i love thee sing it together
My jesus i love thee i know thou art mine
For thee all the follies of sin i resign
My gracious redeemer my savior art thou
If ever i love thee my jesus is now 174 on the second
I love thee because thou has first love in me
And purchased my pardon on calvary's dream
I love thee for wearing the horns on my brow
If ever i love thee my jesus is now
I love thee in life i will love thee in death
And raise me as long as thou lendest me breath
And say when the death do rise hold on my brow
If ever i love thee my jesus is now
In mansions of glory and endless divine
I'll never adore thee in heaven so bright
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow
If ever i love thee my jesus is now
Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening's service.
Thank you for our pastors. Pray that you would bless this time now as we sing.
Praise us to your name. Fill us with the Holy Spirit. Help us to sing out with love and understanding in our hearts for you.
And pray for those that couldn't make it this evening that you'd be with them. Keep them safe.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
For our next song, let's go to 209, Sunshine in the Soul.
209, Sunshine in the Soul.
Song 209, Sunshine in the Soul.
There is sunshine in my soul today
More glorious and bright
Than involves in many earthly skies
For Jesus is my light
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There is music in my soul today
A carol to the king
And Jesus, listening, can hear
The songs I cannot sing
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There's springtime in my soul today
For when the Lord is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart
The flowers of grace appear
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
There is gladness in my soul today
And hope and praise and love
For blessings which he gives me now
For joys lit up above
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul
Good singing.
Thank you for coming to Steadfast Baptist.
If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand nice and high.
We're still working on our Bible memory passage, Proverbs 31.
We have our service opening times, church stats on the right.
Several ladies, please be in prayer for them.
Also be in prayer for our church family on the prayer list on the back.
There is a preaching class Saturday.
Make sure you signed up for that homeschool trip on the signup sheet.
Out here, we want to make sure we have an accurate number of everybody that's planning on participating.
If you have a child five years and older that's homeschooled, your entire family is welcome to attend.
Everything will be provided for, including lunch.
Please make sure to show up there early.
Sometimes it can even be a little bit crowded or some traffic.
So anticipate that you might need to be there a little extra early as far as you're traveling.
Also there's a baby shower on the fourth for the Hernandez's.
And then thank you so much to everybody who went out with us to Shreveport.
It was great. The weather was great. The fellowship was great.
And it was a great blessing.
Definitely reminds me of just the fact that there's still a lot of people out there that want to get saved.
In fact, it's funny for me because I went out there and we were just running in,
you know, going through some apartments or whatever.
And I saw a guy walking to his car.
And a lot of times it's not always the best soul winning opportunity because they're usually trying to head out.
But I walked up to this guy and I just handed him the track.
I said, hey, we're just giving out tracks.
And he just said, I really want to hear what you all have to say today.
I was like, at first I was thinking like, is this guy messing with me or something?
Like, what does it mean?
But no, he was one of the most receptive people I've ever preached the gospel to.
And so, you know, there's still people out there that want to hear that are interested in the Bible and getting saved.
And of course that one of a thousand or ten thousand or whatever, it doesn't happen often.
But when it does, you know, it can remind you that there is still that person out there that wants to hear.
And we want to be that individual to give them the gospel.
Because when I was talking about church, I was talking about the gospel and I said, you probably heard this a bunch.
And he's like, well, honestly, I haven't really gone to church hardly ever.
So you could tell like this person isn't necessarily getting fed, you know, a steady diet of how to be saved from anywhere.
So that's why it's important that we go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.
And that's why, you know, we have big numbers like this is because a lot of people are not being reached.
And people aren't going out and doing the work.
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.
And so please, please consider going soul winning regularly with us because we want to get as many people saved as possible.
We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 in our separate handout.
Sing it out nice and loud.
All right, let's sing it out together.
Psalm 119.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
I have sworn in, I will perform in, that I will keep thine righteous judgments.
I am afflicted, very much quick in me, O Lord, according unto thy words.
The wicked have played us, therefore, yet I err not from thy precept.
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Accept I beseech thee the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.
My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy law.
The wicked have played us, therefore, yet I err not from thy precept.
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
For they are the rejoicing of mine heart I have inclined mine heart to perform.
Thy statutes await, even unto the end.
I hate vain thoughts, but I love who I love.
The wicked have played us, therefore, yet I err not from thy precepts.
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy chapter number 3.
The Bible says, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach,
not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous,
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?
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre,
holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
And let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, 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 degree,
and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly.
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up in the glory.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
I thank you for the great success out preaching the gospel yesterday and today.
I pray that you would bless now, remove all distractions as we hear your word,
and please help Pastor Shelley to preach in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
1 Timothy chapter 3 is a pretty famous chapter as far as providing the qualifications of a pastor,
but it also provides the qualifications or the instructions regarding a deacon specifically.
And really this is kind of the main passage of the Bible,
talking about deacons and what their role is and why you'd pick someone to be a deacon.
And that's what I want to talk about this evening is deacons.
That's just basically the title of the sermon is Deacons.
And we have them being mentioned here in verse number 8.
The Bible says,
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine,
not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
So when we talk about a deacon, he's a particular role or title within a church that is very similar to a pastor,
especially when we talk about the qualifications of a particular pastor.
It's also many of those qualifications are going to be doubled or essentially copied for the deacon as well.
That they need to be grave. What is grave?
Grave is being serious.
I think the reason why grave kind of, we typically think of someone dying.
But death is serious. That is a reality that's going to happen.
And sometimes when we talk about grave, what you really kind of have to think about the word is like gravity.
Like the gravity of the situation is what sometimes people say.
And we're talking about the seriousness of a situation.
Being grounded, you know, that's kind of related to gravity as well.
And so when we talk about a deacon, we want them to be a serious person.
Now before I get too much into the qualifications, I just want to kind of explain our view on deacons, specifically at the church.
We believe that when it comes to the offices or titles that the New Testament Church holds,
Steadfast Baptist Church believes in pastors, deacons, and evangelists.
And these three are all a little bit different from each other.
Pastors are essentially the people that are in charge of the church, leading the church, doing the preaching of the church primarily.
That is what the pastor's role is.
He's the overseer of the church.
He has other titles that mean the same thing.
Bishop and elder.
So it is accurate to call the same person the pastor, bishop, or elder.
They're all interchangeable in the New Testament text.
We kind of prefer the word pastor.
That's the word we usually go with.
But technically the pastor could also be described as a bishop or an elder.
Those are accurate titles and it's the exact same individual.
When we talk about a deacon, that is a different role than the pastor.
This person is really a servant of the church.
And really at its root core, the word deacon just simply means servant.
That's really what the word itself means.
And we see this as an example of what the deacon's role is, is that he's serving the church.
Then we have an evangelist.
Of course this person's primary goal is the gospel, getting people saved, and just kind of fulfilling the Great Commission, reaching lost and new people.
And again, there's going to be overlap with all of these peoples.
The pastor is sometimes going to serve, just like a deacon would serve.
Sometimes the deacon's going to preach, just like the pastor would preach.
Sometimes the deacon may even fulfill a role of authority as a temporary basis.
But again, generally speaking, the pastor's the one in charge, the deacon's serving.
The evangelist, sometimes the evangelist is going to be doing things where he's serving,
or even sometimes the evangelist is kind of putting on an overseer role in a sense, maybe overseeing a church plant or starting churches or things like that.
So there's going to be a little bit of crossover and mixing of responsibilities and roles within these particular offices.
But we want them to still have a pretty distinguished general role, what they're mainly focused on, what this person is doing, why we're even giving that person this title.
The reason why you should give somebody a title is because that's the work that they're primarily doing.
That's the job, that's what their responsibility, that's what their role is.
And when they're not really fulfilling that role, you know, you kind of question, like, why do they have that specific title?
And when we look to deacons in a church, you know, our church specifically doesn't have a deacon.
It's never had a deacon. But it doesn't mean that we couldn't have one.
It does appear in the text that most churches probably won't have a deacon until they reach a particular size.
Like, it's something that happens later in a church's history or evolution as the church maybe grows or gets older or gets bigger, that then you might put someone in this position.
We don't have that person, nor am I planning on necessarily ordaining a deacon any time soon.
But what I thought would be beneficial is to at least talk about it.
And to talk about it from this perspective that, you know, there could be some men that desire to become a deacon of a church one day.
And I think it would be important, you know, to explain to the congregation and to those men, like, what that even looks like.
So, if someone did desire that, they could become a deacon of a church in the future.
Because, you know, God willing, God will still allow us to have big churches in the future.
You know, I don't want our church to necessarily be small.
And if it is for the rest of our life, then so be it.
If we never have a deacon, then so be it.
But we might as well plan for the future and talk about these roles.
And a lot of churches will have deacons, and they don't really fit the Bible's role of a deacon.
They're more like a board of directors.
It's like a company, like some kind of a corporation, and they have this board of directors.
And what a board of directors does is they just make decisions.
They're just given a title, they just make decisions.
They're usually a part owner of the corporation.
And yet, they're not really serving.
They're not really doing anything for them.
A lot of churches have this.
A lot of churches basically just sign, hey, you're a deacon, you're a deacon, and you're a deacon.
We're going to go have a meeting over here and just decide a bunch of stuff for the church.
But they don't really do anything.
They don't have any role or responsibility.
They're not really doing what the Bible explains that a deacon would be doing.
They don't even meet the qualifications of a deacon.
I mean, I know of a church where they ordained a guy as a deacon.
He was unmarried, and basically he was young.
He was like a young guy.
But here's the thing.
You know why he was the deacon?
He owned a company.
He owned a company and basically was running some kind of Internet company or something like that.
But I was kind of blown away when I found out this guy is the deacon of the church,
and I'm thinking, you're not even married.
How are you the deacon of a church?
That just doesn't even fit.
That doesn't even make any sense.
And look, having a deacon title is an important title.
Go to Acts 6 for a second.
Go to Acts 6.
Really, when we talk about deacons, you haven't mentioned a handful of times here in 1 Timothy 3.
You haven't mentioned one other time in an epistle where it's just saying,
he's addressing all of the bishops and the deacons of the church,
but there's no information about that.
This specific church has, apparently, bishops and deacons.
But I believe that Acts 6, while it doesn't spell out that this is a deacon,
is most likely what we would see a deacon doing in the church or why you would ordain a deacon.
And in Acts 6, it's really kind of a transition in the church's history where they're really growing.
We see thousands are being added to the church, according to the Bible, in Acts 2.
Well, when you're running thousands, it's going to be difficult for one man
or just a few people to necessarily manage all of that.
That's a lot of people to manage.
I've read online, and I don't know how accurate this is, just worldly advice,
but it's probably pretty good, is that a church, if it has 150 or 200 people,
that that's enough for one employee to manage.
It's really difficult for one person of a church to manage more than 150 or 200 people by himself.
If you had 300 people, then you probably need at least two.
500, three, you know, just to kind of add as you get 200 people or something,
just because if you get so many more people,
well, then it'd be really hard to handle all of the weddings and calls and hospital visits
and just all the different things that happen.
There's just a practical reality there that you also can't be friends with a thousand people.
Sometimes there's just practical limitations on that,
and so if you want to effectively manage a big institution or a church,
you might think about having ministers at a quantier ratio that is maybe 150 to one
or 200 to one or something like that.
You know, they talk about classroom ratios all the time, like 30 students to one teacher.
Obviously, the more students to a teacher, the less attention and focus they're going to be able to get.
The same is going to happen with a church, right?
The more people, the less people on staff or ministers or whatever,
maybe the less attention they're going to get.
So there's a reason why you would employ more people into the work of the Lord
or put more people into the ministry,
and it's going to ebb and flow based on the congregation.
You know, the congregation is shrinking.
Maybe you lose staff members, right?
If the congregation is growing, maybe you add staff members,
but it's just going to be kind of dependent on the congregation's growth.
Look at verse 1 of chapter 6. It says this,
And in those days, when the number of the disciples is multiplied,
notice what it's saying.
The church is growing, okay?
There arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews
because their widows were neglected in the daily menstruation.
So notice there's people complaining,
hey, some people aren't getting what they need or some people aren't getting taken care of
or not all of the needs are being met here.
Verse 2,
Then the twelve called the multitude of disciples unto them and said,
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
So they're saying, it's not like they're saying there's anything wrong with serving people or helping people,
but they're saying this doesn't make sense for me to just serve people.
I should be focused on the Bible and the word of God.
And really, you know, that's a weird idea if people think that the pastor's job is to serve people carnally.
Like the church's main role, the church's main duty is not to help people carnally.
And a lot of churches, it seems like that is what they do.
Usually churches aren't safe.
Their main ministries are like food pantries, meals on wheels, assisting senior adults, things like that.
And they have a lot of people employed to do these particular activities.
And look, I'm not against those activities.
The disciples are not against those activities, but they are against those activities.
And they say, hey, I'm not going to focus on that or do that.
That's not right. That's not appropriate.
I'm going to focus on the Bible because that's the whole reason we have church.
But if you want, let's just get some people and we'll put them in that role.
Notice there is legitimate reason, too.
They're multiplying, right?
They have a ton of people.
And they're not even just saying, just grab random yahoos.
Notice the qualifications that they say.
Seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
So they're looking for some serious qualifications of these individuals.
Also, they're not getting random people.
They're getting people that are already in the congregation, already serving, already doing a lot of the work, already faithful.
They're not just like, hey, do you want to be a deacon of our church?
Or do you want to help in our church?
And they're like, I've never been to your church.
It's like, no, no, no.
These are people that are already there, already doing a lot of work, already plugged in,
and they're picking those people out from the congregation and allowing them to help with this particular business.
Now, verse 5 says this,
And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timmon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch,
whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them,
and the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
So notice by putting these people and employing them in the work of the Lord, in the business of the Lord,
and after they've been ordained officially, then now the work of the Lord expands.
It grows.
I mean, that's what the Bible says in verse 7, and the word of God increased.
That's important.
Why did the word of God increase?
The word of God increased because these specific men of God that are dedicated to the word of God
were able to still focus on the word of God,
and other people were just doing the daily menstruation, the serving of the tables, helping other people.
So they're taking the carnal activities away from the apostles and the main disciples,
the main pastors and bishops of the church,
and they're allowing them to focus on just the Bible,
and then what happens? The word of God increases.
Also, I guarantee that men like Stephen, who are going and ministering to the widows and doing the daily menstruation,
they're probably also preaching the Bible, showing people verses,
basically spreading the word of God as they go out and do their work,
and so that's also increasing the work of God,
through their specific ministries as well,
and we notice that they were ordained.
Now, I would say this. When we look at the book of Acts,
you don't want to get the book of Acts and say,
this is the absolute perfect model for church.
Some people say, we need to get back to the Acts 2-style church,
and we need to go back into the house,
and we need to have a house church, and everybody's in charge,
and you're like, well, no,
because a lot of things that happened in Acts weren't even right.
You have to understand this about Acts.
Acts is what happened.
Acts is not telling you this is what's right or wrong.
It's not saying these are the guidelines.
It's not giving you the instructions.
It's just saying this happened, okay?
You know what's telling you the exact commandments and the charges of God?
1 Timothy, where he's literally saying,
hey, I'm charging you by the Lord Jesus Christ
that this is how you're supposed to behave in the house of God.
So it's like, am I going to take the passage
that tells me how I'm being charged by God himself
how to behave in church,
or am I going to just take a story of what happened?
When we order our church,
we're going to order it after 1 Timothy.
We're not going to order it after the book of Acts,
but I'll say this.
Many of the things they did in Acts
fit the biblical model and were a good idea.
So, you know, when we talk about these group of individuals,
did they get the official title deacon at this church?
I don't know.
I don't know if they even gave them a title.
They did ordain them, though,
because they picked them out,
they chose them, and then they laid hands on them,
and they ordained them.
Now, later in the text, the Bible tells us
that Philip was called the evangelist.
I think that most likely how to explain that
is Philip was probably ordained here like a deacon,
but then after the church dissolved,
because it was literally persecuted
to the point where it was just completely scattered,
well, now he's not really a deacon,
because how are you going to be a deacon of a church
that doesn't exist?
Hey, I'm the deacon of the church.
What church? I don't know. It's gone.
But you know what?
If you're going out into the world
and you're preaching the gospel and getting people saved,
you know you're more like an evangelist, right?
And he was still ordained,
so I believe that that's why you see
that kind of a change or a transition.
But it seems like Philip kind of started out
as a specific, ordained deacon type, okay?
And that would be the same with Stephen
and all these other men that were mentioned here.
So go back to 1 Timothy 3.
I just want to bring that up,
because when we talk about deacons,
it's interesting that the Bible just really doesn't
show a lot of, like, illustrations of a deacon
or what they did or how things are going.
But that story, to me, does kind of illustrate
what a deacon would look like, what they're doing.
They're helping with the daily ministration.
So if Steadfast Baptist Church ever had a deacon,
I believe that that person's role
would be mostly dealing with people,
helping people with their needs,
taking care of carnal things, helping serve tables.
So they would be planning events.
They would be driving people around
if they needed a ride, potentially.
They would be, you know, helping the elderly
if they needed something.
They might be going and doing hospital visits.
They, you know, basically just anything
that's just going to be, like, helping people,
serving, doing these type of activities.
Like, that would be that person's role.
And to be honest, there are people out there
that really like that.
Like, there are some people,
they don't necessarily want to stand by in a pulpit
and just scream and yell at people,
but they like being someone's friend.
They like helping people.
They like serving people.
They like just being there as a shoulder to cry on.
They like, you know, basically just ministering
and helping people and doing these type of things.
And there's nothing wrong with a person wanting to do that.
That's great.
You probably know people that are like that.
And you know what?
That's the type of person, in my mind,
that would be a great person to be a deacon,
be someone that's very social,
very well-liked, you know, loves a lot of people.
He's not the kind of person that's just, like,
always picking a fight with people in the church
and just like, I don't like this person,
and I don't want to sit by this person,
and I can't be that person's friend.
Like, that, you know, that's not really a person
that's probably going to be thriving in a deacon role.
Like, the deacon role needs to be kind of a person
that likes everybody and is really easy to get along
and is very willing to serve a very humble individual.
That's the kind of person
that you would want to put in this role.
Also notice that they take the Word of God very seriously.
I mean, when we looked at these qualifications,
this is some really strict qualifications.
They're grave, not double-tongued,
not giving too much wine, not greedy, filthy lucre.
What does it not double-tongue mean?
They're not going to say one thing and then contradict it.
They're not going to promise to do something
and then not do it.
They're not going to basically say,
hey, I really like church,
but then their actions are going to basically
be a completely different thing.
Or when they're hanging out with the church people,
they're like pro-church,
but then when they're hanging out with the work people,
they're like anti-church or something like that.
No, no, no, they're not double-tongued.
They basically, they mean what they say.
And it's really refreshing when you're around people
that when they say something, they mean it,
and when they say they're going to do something,
they always do it.
Like, that's a really nice person to be around and to have,
especially when, think about their role.
They're doing a lot of tasks.
You've got to be like, hey, I need to do this.
And they're like, done.
And it's really nice when you are like Potiphar
and you don't even have to think about what Joseph's doing
because you know that Joseph's going to get the job done
every single time.
You know, that's really nice.
It's not fun when you have an unfaithful servant
and you're constantly having to micromanage
and wonder if they're going to get it done
or how they're going to get it done
or if they even care about it getting done.
Like, you want to know that it's going to be done
and they're not giving you lip service.
They're not saying one thing and not meaning it.
They're very serious in what they say.
Not giving them much wine.
Of course, you know, we don't want anybody to be an alcoholic.
I don't really think that's, I don't really personally believe
that's what First Timothy 3 is talking about when he uses wine.
I think it's mostly talking about the idea of luxury
and just the idea of really desiring riches.
So it's someone that's not, doesn't have to live a really luxurious life.
And again, it doesn't mean that the person has to be poor or anything.
It doesn't mean that they can't even have money.
It just simply means that they're not somebody
that's seeking to just be a wealthy individual.
Like, their goal is not to be rich.
And it's so funny to me how almost every deacon in this world
is usually the richest people in the church.
Like, in the mind of so many pastors today,
they basically appoint people the deacon because they're the banker
or the business owner, the rich people in the church or whatever.
And I'm thinking, like, there's no way that every single one of the richest people in your church
are the ones that are not given too much wine.
Like, they seem like they're the most likely that are probably in that situation.
And again, I'm not saying that someone couldn't have been very successful
and made money and not still, you know, fit within this qualification.
But you can kind of tell the certain individuals
that they just come to church every once in a while and they're focused on their business.
They're focused on making money. Right?
The person that's dedicated to church, that person's the one that's not given too much wine.
Okay? And I've known this. Like, I have known churches where they had a deacon
and the deacon's, like, running a bank and, I mean, multi-millionaire.
Okay? But here's the thing. He's not going to go to Sunday night church.
He's not going to go to Wednesday night church.
He's not getting involved in the programs.
But he'll come, you know, on a Sunday morning, every once in a while, just show up, you know, he's there.
But you know what he's at? He's at every business meeting, every board of directors meeting.
I mean, he's always there making a buck, but he's not always there for church.
That's, to me, what the Bible's talking about.
When the person is given too much wine, it's someone that's saying,
I gotta be making my buck. I'm worried about the money and the things and the possessions
and just that's not quite the right person to put in this role.
It's someone that would not elevate making money above church.
We want the guy that would elevate church.
Like, if he had to make a sacrifice, he would say, I'm going to sacrifice money before I'm going to sacrifice church or the things of God.
To me, that's the individual that you would say is not given too much wine. Right?
And you also have that qualification for a pastor.
You don't want a pastor who's trying to make as much money as he can while pastoring.
Like, there should be some restraint there where the pastor's saying, like, you know,
my goal, my primary responsibility is the church not making money.
Again, that doesn't mean that pastors don't have to make payments on their bills or something.
Obviously, pastors still have to pay bills and still have to make money and still have wives and children
and have to take care of all those things and, you know, life's expensive.
Man, especially in Bidenflation, right?
Sometimes you feel like you have to make a lot of money just to survive anymore.
But at the end of the day, they're not living their life trying to just see how much wealth they can acquire.
They are focused more on church and if church is going to cause them to lose out on making some money,
well, they're willing to make that sacrifice. They're already there.
That is the same general qualification of this deacon.
Not greedy of filthy lucre.
Now, of course, I've explained this in other sermons, but again, I believe the word lucre is always in reference to unjust gain.
Okay? And especially the word filthy lucre attached to that means that for sure.
Some people say lucre just means money in general.
And that's true. In a dictionary, that's true. Lucre can just refer to money.
But pretty much every time the word lucre is used in the Bible, it's always in the context of unjust gain
where essentially you're doing something that's not right in order to get money.
Bribes are filthy lucre. This is what the sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phineas were guilty of.
They love lucre. Why? They weren't priests because they loved the Lord or wanted to serve God.
They were just taking advantage of that role and responsibility to take money from people.
Okay? The hireling out there. The guy that wants to be a pastor for money,
not because he genuinely wants people to be saved or loves God or anything like that.
We don't want the deacon to also be greedy of filthy lucre.
And again, in the world there are certain things that people do to make money that are just not right.
Like not good ways to make money. So again, interest and usury is one of those.
There's other things too. Obviously I preached about it in a sermon that was interesting.
There's this rabbi that owns the top porn sites in, you know, America or something.
It's like, obviously that guy's greedy of filthy lucre.
You shouldn't, it's like, there's ways to make money that are fine.
You know, if you want to make a really high quality product and sell it,
there's nothing wrong with making money on that.
You know, whether that be food, whether that be clothing, whether that be making, you know, constructing stuff, building stuff.
There's a lot of good jobs out there. Being an electrician, being a plumber, being a carpenter,
you know, running the books for somebody, helping manage something, things in sales.
Like there's plenty of things that you can do that are fine and you're making money and you're working hard.
But you know what? Charging interest to poor people is not a legitimate way to make money.
You're not providing a service, you're ripping people off.
People that are doing high interest loans on cars or houses or all these kind of stuff,
like that is someone that cares more about making money than actually serving God or being faithful.
Because here's the thing, the way you're getting your money is an unrighteous way to get money.
Oh, I own a bunch of casinos. Oh, good job, Trump. You're, guess what? Greedy of filthy lucre.
Donald Trump is guilty of filthy lucre and he's greedy of filthy lucre.
He's more willing to get money than to be faithful to God's word.
We don't want the deacon to be someone that is greedy of filthy lucre.
That is just not the right kind of person that we want to put in this role.
They're making money on selling liquor, on selling drugs, on being involved in casinos,
being involved in prostitution, being involved in all these different things.
Or just doing something insincerely, like being a pastor or preacher when you don't really care about the things of God
and you're taking money in a paycheck even though you're not really serving God.
Those are ways that are just not legitimate ways to make money.
Being a politician and making money through insider trading, that is being greedy of filthy lucre.
Taking advantage of that particular role and responsibility.
Look, I believe that we should pay our politicians and our government and our leaders a fine salary.
I'm not against paying them tons of money. I think we should pay them tons of money.
You know what, it's not right for someone who's making $200,000 or $400,000 a year
to be a $100 million from working in the government, like Nancy Pelosi.
Nancy Pelosi, there's this funny video, it's not funny honestly, but it's ironic.
It shows Nancy Pelosi's salary and then it shows her net worth through the years.
And it starts out in 1995 and it's like a million dollars or something.
Or maybe it's even under a million dollars.
And then it's just like 96, it's like 2 million.
It's like 97, it's like 4 million.
And then it's like, it just keeps going.
Now she has like a $143 million net worth.
And it's like, the max salary in our government is like $400,000 or something.
I don't know.
I have no idea what she makes personally or what she has made personally while working for the government.
But let's just say she even made a million dollars a year.
You can't go from 1997 to 2024 and have $143 million net worth, even making a million dollars a year, folks.
And she wasn't. It wasn't even close.
You know how she made money? Through insider trading, which has been legalized for our government officials.
That's insane.
They know that when they make a policy decision, it's going to affect the stock market.
And so they buy and sell stocks based on private information before the market knows about it.
And they're basically ripping off everybody else in the stock market.
It should be illegal and it's wicked.
And it's someone that's greedy, a filthy lucre, taking advantage of information or private information that you have against people.
You know, the deacon should not be involved in these type of industries, be involved in these type of activities, or want to do these type of things.
Yet, I'm telling you, many churches today have deacons that are guilty of this, literally.
They're involved in these kind of activities, doing these kind of practices, making money off of these schemes, scams, and unjust gain efforts.
And you know what? It's not right.
Look what it says in verse 9, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
You know, how can these guys have a good conscience if they're greedy, a filthy lucre, taking advantage of people, doing these different things?
They should be someone that's sincere, serious, not double-tongued, not focused on money, and really they have a good conscience.
Verse 10, and let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless.
I think verse 10 really parlays well with Acts chapter number 6, because remember, when they were looking out in the congregation, they're trying to find people that have already proven themselves to be faithful in the church.
So someone that's a deacon, in my mind, it almost makes sense that they've already been doing a lot of what a deacon does before they were even really a deacon, or even really having that role.
Or maybe even being, you know, on staff in a temporary position before they end up being given that title.
I don't think that I have to be on staff, but you know, it should be someone that's already been taking church seriously, already ministering to people, already helping people, already bringing people into the church.
You know, they're doing these kind of activities because it's just the right thing to do, it's just being a good Christian.
And then you're picking out from the congregation, hey, this guy's already fulfilling the role of a deacon, let's just give him the title now.
You know, let's like make it official, let's put him in this role.
It says, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless.
Blameless again, you know, it's kind of a generic word.
I think that it's just an overall category of just, you don't want there to be this obvious issue with someone.
So if they have an obvious public issue, then to me, like, they don't fit the qualification.
You know, like, I don't know, maybe they murdered their father or something, right?
Like, that's reality, okay?
And unfortunately there was a pastor that had like murdered his own father.
Well, that's kind of a stain on your permanent public record.
No.
You know, you have some like issue from your past that's a public record, that's kind of a big deal.
Well, you probably just shouldn't, you know, be the deacon, right?
Or you have some glaring issue in your life right now.
Well, you don't want to do that because you just don't want the ministry to be blamed.
Like, we don't want to put someone in charge and then they're like,
the guy that got arrested for a DUI is your deacon?
And you're like, yeah.
You know?
Or the guy that committed adultery, or the guy that ran away with the secretary,
this is the guy that's your deacon?
And you're like, yeah.
Isn't that, you know, Greg Locke.
I mean, that's bad.
It's bad when your pastor is Greg Locke, who literally ran away with the secretary, folks.
That is not being blameless.
And that's why the next, you know, section, it says, look at verse 12,
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife.
Okay?
That is one of the aspects of being blameless.
Hey, this guy's been divorced and married three times.
Well, he's not blameless.
Okay?
And again, it's giving us more specific detail.
It also says in verse number 11,
Even so, meaning specifically, must their wives be grave, not slander, or sober, faith, and all things.
You know, when we look at a deacon, the deacon is not evaluated only based on him.
He's being evaluated on his whole family, his whole house.
And specifically, his wife has to meet really high standards, honestly.
Like, these are very high standards for this particular individual.
And I want to say this, there could be men that are great, but their family's not great.
And you know what, I'm not against that individual, but they're just not going to be a deacon,
they're not going to be a pastor, they're not going to necessarily be that particular role.
Okay?
So, you know, in order to be the deacon or the pastor or one of these roles,
you not only have to be great, your family has to be great.
So, look specifically, what it says, their wives must be grave.
The wife is serious.
What does it mean to be serious?
She's thinking about the gospel.
She thinks the gospel is important.
You know, she's making decisions in her life to make sure that the gospel is going forward.
You know, it doesn't mean that she's always the sole winner
because a lot of women are having to get pregnant, they're taking care of the kids, they're taking care of the babies.
But you know what?
The gospel is important to them.
They're not like trying to hold their husband back from going out and preaching the gospel.
They're trying to make it easier on him to go out and preach the gospel.
They're assisting their husband in the activities.
They think church is important.
They show up at church.
They want to be at church.
It's not like the husband's dragging them to church.
They're actually like the things of God.
They read the Bible.
They memorize scripture.
They teach their children the Bible.
Like, they're taking the Word of God seriously and they're a grave person, they're a serious person.
What would be the opposite of serious?
Silly.
Right?
Well, look at what it says in 2 Timothy chapter number 3.
2 Timothy chapter number 3.
When we talk about women, there's serious women and then there's silly women.
And for some reason, it's like there's this idea out there that women should almost try to be silly.
It kind of makes me think of this California Valley girl, style girl.
Like, totally.
Like, let's go shopping.
Math is hard.
It's like, that's not the deacon's wife, okay?
The deacon's wife is taking life seriously.
And, I don't know, maybe some guys find ditzy, dumb girls attractive for some reason.
I don't know.
But, you know, that was not something that I was interested in.
You know, one of the things I really liked about my wife is that she was really smart.
I wanted to marry someone that was really intelligent and really smart
because I want to talk to my wife and have an intelligent conversation.
I don't want to just be like, math is hard, you know.
In fact, my wife was a math teacher specifically, alright?
So, you know, she does know how to do math, alright?
And I want my wife to teach the children.
I don't want her to just be so ditzy and dumb and not caring about things.
Like, you know, they get so mad at our style church, they think that we want women to be dumb or something.
I don't want women to be dumb.
But, you know what, going to college isn't making, isn't turning out a bunch of brilliant women, okay folks?
I don't know if you realize that the women that are going to college
aren't coming out as, you know, rocket scientists or something like this.
You know what they're coming out as?
Only fan accounts, right?
That is not what we want.
That is the silly women, as the Bible describes in here, verse 6.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive,
silly women, laden with sins, led away with divers lust.
There are women out there that are silly,
meaning that they don't take life seriously,
they don't take God's commandments seriously,
and they're very sinful,
they're very easily manipulated and taken advantage of,
and specifically they're led away with divers lust,
meaning they have lots of different desires.
And again, that is what American women, a lot of them, have gone into.
Where they basically, oh, they just want the purses and the cars and the house,
they have all these divers lusts.
Like, I just want all these things and all this stuff.
Whereas the faithful, godly deacon's wife,
she doesn't care about the material world so much,
she's more concerned with the gospel.
She doesn't have all these divers lusts.
She's not easily taken advantage of.
And, you know, you see the godly women in the Bible,
hey, when the man shows up at the house,
she invites the men and then puts a nail through a temple.
You know what I mean?
Like, she is not just like, hey, let's party, or let's hang out.
Like, she's aware of the danger.
We see the women in the Bible, like in Proverbs 31,
Lemuel's mother, she's rebuking her son harshly
and telling him to stay away from whores and to stay away from alcohol.
She's not the wino mom.
She's not the mom trying to, you know,
get a TikTok account and try to show off her body
and to try to dance and just, whatever.
And she's not the one inviting all kinds of strange men into her house,
strange men to stare at her body or something like that.
You know, that's what America is turning into.
And America is so obsessed with this.
I mean, it's so disgusting to see mothers and older women
who are trying to act like college whores.
But it's out there.
And, you know, we want women to be faithful,
we want them to be grave, we want them to be sober,
not be these silly women carried away with diverse lusts.
Go to Proverbs 31.
Let's actually go there, and I want to look at a few verses here.
Great chapter of the Bible to memorize.
And, you know, you ladies out there,
your behavior, your attitude towards Christianity
is going to affect your husband.
You want your husband to be in the ministry?
You want your husband to do great things for God?
Well, you have to take it seriously.
You have to take the Word of God
and you have to take the Bible seriously.
Look what it says in Proverbs 31 verse 12.
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Notice what the Proverbs 31 woman, this wife, is like.
She's always thinking about how she can do good under her husband.
This is an incredible verse.
Because notice it says,
and not evil all the days of her life.
You know, that's really hard for women
because women have some bad days.
I mean, they have some rough days.
And, of course, our society tries to give an excuse to all of that
and they say,
Oh, well, she's just hormonal.
Or she's just, you know, it's her time.
Or they have all these different reasons why
she can basically just not be good on that specific day
But you know what?
The Bible doesn't give an exception for that.
You know, today there's all these isms.
Like, you know, you have all these disorders.
Like, if you get diabetes, basically you have ADHD
or you have autism.
And, again, some people have severe conditions.
But just like any level of just not perfection is an ism now.
Oh, they have Asperger's.
Oh, they have whatever disease.
And then it's basically, this is what it is.
It's just an excuse to have bad behavior.
Well, I know they didn't do well.
But it's okay because they have an ism or an awesome
or whatever you want to add to it.
And it's like, yes, sometimes, and in fact almost all the case,
there's a neurological and a physical component associated with that.
But why would I then still say,
Okay, well, you can then be bad.
I mean, you don't have to have good behavior.
Like, what if it's like I'm playing basketball
and I just punch some guy.
And they're like, well, it's okay because he's short.
I have shortism, right?
It's not fair because I can't dunk
and this guy is taller than me so I get to just punch him
because I'm shorter than him, right?
I mean, you could even study my genetics
and recognize that all my genetics point to my height
being exactly what my height is.
And be like, oh, I guess he has a disorder because he's short.
Right?
Oh, well, this person's more prone to being angry or something.
Okay, but that doesn't give you the right to be angry.
Oh, well, I'm going through a hard time.
Okay, but that doesn't give you the right to then be rude
or to be mean or to do evil.
You know the Proverbs 31 woman,
notice what the Bible says.
I'm not saying this.
The Bible's saying this.
She's going to not do evil all the days of her life.
Don't allow your emotions to cause you to say,
I can behave how I want today because emotion, why?
You just say, I'm going to do good regardless of the emotion.
Whether I'm feeling good or feeling bad,
I'm going to have the right emotion.
And you know, this is what men are supposed to do at the job anyways.
It's not like, oh, only women do this.
Men are supposed to be like this.
Nehemiah was never sad in the presence of the king.
You don't think that Nehemiah ever had a bad day?
You don't think that Nehemiah ever felt bad or something like that?
It's saying that she should strive to do good and not evil all the days of her life.
Not being icy.
You know, this is the part of submission that's really hard for every woman.
Is not only will you do what your husband says when you disagree,
you'll still treat him with kindness.
Because this is typically what happens and I'm not trying to pick on anybody.
This is common to all women, okay.
But you want something and she wants the opposite.
And you say, no, you're going to do my will.
And she's like, fine.
He'll never pick that again, you know.
And she's icy, she's cold, she treats him differently.
And it's a manipulative tactic to basically say,
hey, I'm going to punish you for choosing what you wanted.
For going against what I wanted.
Well, you know what, that's not the right attitude.
That's not being grave.
That's not being serious.
That's not being sober.
That's not doing good.
You know, being truly submissive is saying,
hey, even if you pick the option I don't want,
I'm still going all the way in.
Like, I'm still going to do it.
I'm still going to be excited.
I'm still going to treat you well.
I'm not going to be kind of a jerk because I didn't get my way.
You know who acts like that?
Toddlers.
Toddlers, when you don't, like, I want candy, I want candy.
And it's like, no.
Well, then what do they do?
They throw a fit.
They're not like, okay, no problem. Thanks, Dad.
Hey, can we have ice cream?
No, they're like, great.
I just wanted to ask.
They're like, oh.
I wanted ice cream.
And you're like, that's a childish attitude.
But then somehow it's like we allow women to do this and think it's okay.
It's like, no, you're just still being childish.
Don't be childish.
And you say, yeah, but that's how American women are.
Have you seen every meme?
Okay, well, that's not my role model for how my wife should be.
It's the memes and social media and how American women act
because most American women act like whores.
And I also don't want her to act like that either.
So quit modeling yourself after the modern family and TV and memes and the Internet.
Why don't you model yourself after Sarah who obeyed her husband and called him Lord?
Why don't you have a higher standard for yourself and be grave and be serious
and not saying, well, if my husband does something I don't like, I'm going to punish him for it.
I'm going to be icy towards him.
I'm going to change my attitude and my behavior towards him.
You know, that's not the right kind of attitude.
That's not the right kind of woman that you should be.
Look at verse 26.
She opened her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
The law of kindness.
Hey, you want your children to be kind?
Why don't you always be kind?
And again, children aren't going to be perfect.
But at the end of the day, many times they're going to follow the example led for them.
And if you're exhibiting a particular behavior, it's going to come out in your children.
If you're sarcastic, they're going to be sarcastic.
If you're a jerk, they're going to be a jerk.
If you yell, they're going to yell.
If you are mean, they're going to be mean.
If you're constantly complaining, they're going to be perfect and they'll never complain.
Oh, no, no, no, wait. Sorry.
If you complain, they're going to complain.
You reap what you sow, folks.
And you say, man, I just can't stand the behavior of my children.
Well, have you looked in the mirror lately?
And again, I'm not saying that every child is exhibiting their parents' behavior
because sometimes you just have wild children, tough children.
But you know what? Sometimes we have to take personal responsibility for what we're doing
and think about, like, how am I behaving?
How do I talk to my superiors, my authority?
Am I always giving attitude to them?
Am I always being disrespectful to them?
Am I always rolling my eyes at them?
I mean, look, if a wife is always rolling her eyes at her husband,
always criticizing him, always talking negatively to him,
and you're thinking, like, I wonder why my kids do that to me.
It should be obvious.
Like, there's a main reason why that's happening.
And again, then you also have to ask yourself as a husband,
if my wife's doing that to me, how am I behaving when I come home?
Am I coming home and just being like, man, my boss is just awful
and I hate all his decisions and I don't like anything about him
and I don't want to do this and just this constant, just this negative complaining
and just attacking and just, I don't like this.
I don't like this and Pastor Shelley's sermon was too long and ugh, you know.
Well, you know what?
Be careful.
Be careful what energy and attitude you bring to the table.
Hey, if you just are really negative on life, your kids will pick up on that.
If you're really positive on life, your kids will pick up on that.
And we have to be careful how we behave ourselves.
And this is why the Bible is saying,
hey, the deacon needs to have a grave wife and grave children. Why?
Because usually he's affecting that.
Like, if the wife is silly and the children are silly, maybe the guy's silly.
And what does that mean? He's not taking things seriously.
And look, I like being fun and joking around sometimes
and, you know, I can tease with people.
But at the end of the day, like, if you can't be serious as a man,
you know, that's not a good attribute.
That's not a good character.
As men, we should generally, people should be able to trust what you say,
should realize that you're a serious person,
that you're committed to things that you're doing.
They can trust and believe the words that you're saying.
And, you know, we want to model that so that our wives can and our children can.
Look at verse 27.
She looked well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness.
This woman's a hard worker.
Look at verse 30.
Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain,
but a woman that feared the Lord, she shall be praised.
We want women in our churches to fear God and not be carried away with divers' lust.
Go back to 1 Timothy 3.
You say, why are you hammering on women a lot?
I'm not the Bible is.
When you read this section about deacons, it's bringing up a ton of stuff about the wife.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.
And here's the thing.
Sometimes, you know, if your wife isn't being very serious,
isn't being very grave, isn't being very spiritual,
you as the husband have to say something.
Say, well, I don't want to say something.
You know, it's going to be rough.
It's going to be icy.
Yeah, that's the point.
And, see, the bad leader is never willing to have uncomfortable conversations.
A bad leader avoids confrontation.
A bad leader will not have uncomfortable conversations.
A bad leader will not give instruction and give reproof and give correction.
And that's why you don't want to put those people in charge
when they're not even able to do it to their own wife.
Because if they can't rule their wife and children,
how are they going to manage the affairs of God and other people?
You know, we need them to model first that they're willing to do it with their family and with their children.
Because here's the reality.
If you're willing to tell your wife what to do, it's so much easier to tell you guys, you know what I mean?
She's the ultimate test, right?
Because you have to still be with her and it's an important relationship.
And there's a delicate balance.
Because if you're too authoritative, she won't love you and she'll be bitter and be resentful.
But if you're too weak and too soft, then she'll resent you for not ruling her and managing her.
So you kind of have to figure out a delicate balance of applying love and the rod.
You know, you kind of have to ride that line.
And you know what? It takes discretion. It takes practice.
And sometimes, you know, you drift in one direction.
You kind of need to bring it back.
And, you know, it's kind of a roller coaster going back and forth.
But it's an important skill to learn.
The Bible says about it in verse 11,
Even so must the wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
I mean, the expectation given here is really high.
Notice that this wife is supposed to be faithful in all things.
Not a gossip. Not someone going around spreading other information about other people.
She's not a woman constantly involved in drama in the church.
She's not constantly getting involved in other people's affairs.
She's not a busybody.
You know, you want your husband to be someone in the ministry.
Well, you better keep your mouth shut.
You better learn how to shut your mouth and not open your mouth about everything that you know.
Not getting involved in other people's matters and issues and constantly causing strife.
You know, that is not the type of wife or woman that should be the wife of a deacon.
It says in verse 12,
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children in their own houses well.
So, specifically this deacon has to do a lot of things.
Go over to Proverbs 13. We'll kind of finish there, but.
They need to be proved. They need to be blameless.
Their wives need to be grave. Their wives need to be not slanderers.
Their wives need to be sober. Their wives need to be faithful in all things.
They need to be the husband of one wife.
They need to be ruling their children in their house as well.
You know what I'm reading? The qualifications of a deacon.
You know what it sounds like is really important for the deacon to be doing?
Paying attention to his family.
You know, you say like, I want to get involved in the ministry.
Well, you know what?
Get your house in order.
Focus on your house.
Focus on having a great wife and having great children.
You know, that's why it's funny to me.
People that are single, like a young single guy is like, I want to be a pastor.
It's like, bro, you don't even have a wife yet.
You know what? If you want to be a pastor, I'm all for you.
But you know what? You need to get married.
You need to love that wife.
You need to lead that wife.
You need to get children.
You need to start raising those children.
You need to start leading those children.
Then we'll talk.
And it's not about just being a great preacher.
There's plenty of people out there that are amazing preachers, great preachers,
but they're not doing this area.
Or they may never do this area.
Or they may never even have that area.
Apostle Paul didn't even have a family.
He's just not going to be the pastor or the deacon.
That's okay.
But we need for men to take their families seriously.
We need men's hearts to be turned towards their children.
And to love their children and to rule their children.
And so not only is the wife great, but also the children are great.
And you say, well, I never want to be a deacon.
But you know what? All the advice I'm giving for you this evening
is just ways to be a great Christian.
It's not like even if you have no desire to be a deacon whatsoever,
you should still strive to be this type of person.
This is just a good person.
And frankly speaking, you're going to enjoy your life so much more anyways.
Like it's not like, this isn't really a burden.
This is actually a blessing.
Because if your wife was like this, you would love it.
And if your children are like this, you're going to love it.
Look at verse 24.
He that spareth his rod hateth his son,
but he that loveth him chasteneth him at times.
You need to have your children in control and being disciplined.
And in fact, that is a demonstration of your love for your children.
You know, I talk about this from time to time,
but it's really important that you discipline and physically discipline your children.
Not just by verbally disciplining them, but physically disciplining.
Look what it says in verse 24.
He that spareth his rod.
Did this say, the dad that doesn't yell at his kid.
The dad that doesn't tell his kid no.
The dad that doesn't explain to his kid why he did something wrong.
It's not talking about verbal discipline.
In fact, it ignores verbal discipline.
You could do 100% verbal discipline perfectly,
but if you're sparing the rod, what does the Bible say?
It says that you hate your son.
You must, as a father, lovingly apply the rod of correction.
Because if you beat him, he's not going to die.
You know what? You're going to deliver his soul from hell.
And you're going to cause him to be a better person.
Because foolishness is bound in the heart of a child,
but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
You want your child to be a smart child.
Don't we all want our sons to be hardworking,
get good jobs, find a good lady to marry,
and raise a godly family?
The only way he's going to do that is if you get the foolishness out of his heart.
And so many young men today, they don't have the foolishness
knocked out of their heart.
They didn't have a father to love them.
I mean, let's just be honest for a second.
Okay, let's just be honest for a second.
What community is struggling, what young men are struggling
in our society from being good members of society?
How about the young black community?
And let's be honest, what is the common element
in the young black community?
No father in the home.
You know what, it's literally impossible
for the father to physically discipline his son
when he's literally not there.
And then we see as a direct result,
many of these men being filled with foolishness,
not striving to be well-educated,
not striving to be agreeable to society's rules and regulations.
They hate authority. They hate cops.
They hate getting money through honest labor.
They're greedy of filthy lucre.
I mean, all the rap music today, geared towards those individuals,
is getting money through illegal means.
Drugs, stealing, robbing, just all kinds of illegal,
illicit activity, prostitution, being a pimp,
all kinds of disgusting things like that.
That's what they're striving for. Why?
Because they didn't have a father
who was disciplining them with love.
And if you don't physically discipline your children,
if you don't spank your children, if you don't use the rod,
according to the Bible, you hate your child.
You hate them.
You must, you must love your child by physically disciplining them.
And look, I'm not saying, I'm not going to give you,
like, it has to be this many times a day or whatever.
Obviously, it's to your discretion, but it should be regularly.
And you can tell the difference between children
that are spanked and children that are not.
It is a very obvious difference.
And, you know, if you're doing it only in public,
it's also obvious.
You know, you need to be doing this in home,
disciplining them regularly, keeping them in line,
making sure that they're well-behaved.
Okay, that's the type of person that's going to be picked as a deacon.
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 29.
Not children that are all over the place,
can't be controlled, or wild.
Not taking life seriously.
Not taking church seriously.
You know, one of the first lessons we're trying to teach the children here,
don't run in church.
Look, I'm not telling kids not to run.
I love running.
Let's go race.
I'll race all of you kids at the same time.
You know, we're not going to do it in church.
Why?
Because we have pregnant ladies in here.
It's the house of God.
This just isn't the place.
And we want kids to recognize church isn't the play place.
Church is the place where we worship God.
The park is the play place.
Hey, that's where we go running and doing.
They're learning like there's a time and a place for certain activities.
And they're being disciplined.
Okay, it's important.
Proverbs 29, look at verse 17.
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest,
yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
You know, what I'm saying this evening is not like,
oh man, my life's going to be so bad.
No, no, no.
You spank your kids, you're going to have a happier life.
You don't spank your kids, you're going to have a miserable life now
and when they grow up.
You don't lead your wife.
You don't love your wife.
You don't make sure that she's serious and grave and doing these things.
You're going to have a miserable marriage, a miserable life.
You're going to hate all the things that are going on.
And you know, as men, we need to make sure
that we're exhibiting the character and the behavior
that we want our wives and children to be modeling.
You say, man, I'm just sick and tired of my wife doing this.
Well, you know what, you eliminate it from your life then.
If you're upset about something going on in your family,
you eliminate it in your life.
I feel like my wife's negative.
Well, then never be negative ever again.
In fact, be positive.
Don't just do nothing.
Be positive as an opposite reaction.
Be respectful.
Take things seriously.
My wife doesn't take things seriously.
Well, then you take things seriously.
My wife's too interested in something that I don't want her to be interested in.
Okay, well then completely change that.
Or, you know, maybe you have a spot of area of interest
and you don't take things seriously.
And you need to sacrifice that or give that up
to model for her how she should sacrifice and give certain things up.
You know, why don't you look at what you can do
rather than always just telling other people what to do.
It's really easy to tell other people how to serve God.
What's hard is for you to serve God.
And, you know, the deacons are people that are modeling
that behavior for themselves
and it's rolling through their families
and then they're going to be greatly used by God.
The Word of God is going to increase.
You know, I hope that steadfast Baptist church will continue to increase
and maybe God willing we will have men in our church
that desire to be a deacon one day
and can be used greatly of God
and want to serve and love on other people.
And it can help the Word of God to increase and to expand.
And I hope that other churches will go to the model
of what a biblical deacon looks like.
And they'll stop ordaining men that are greedy of filthy lucre
and don't have serious wives and don't have serious children
because whoever is ordained as a deacon is also going to be a model for the rest of the church.
And we want the rest of the church to look and say,
like, I want to be like deacon so and so.
Man, that guy is just such a boss.
He's the real Chad.
We need a Chad to come to our church and become the deacon.
Deacon Chad.
He tells his wife what to do
and she says yes sir and does it with a smile on her face.
That's what a real Chad looks like.
Not the guy that's hooking up with random hoes.
That's not a Chad.
A Chad is the guy that tells his son and his wife what to do
and they do it with a smile on their face.
And it's not a fake smile like at Wells Fargo or the Mormons.
It's a real smile, okay?
They actually are happy.
You know, that was the thing that Queen Asheba was shocked by.
She's like, happy are thy servants.
It was like weird for her.
She's thinking like, I have employees, but boy do they hate serving me.
Yeah, because you're a chick. No one wants to serve a chick, okay?
You need to get a dude in charge.
You know, that really illustrates for you leadership
is when the servants are actually happy serving that person.
Having worked for companies and it's like everybody hates the boss,
it's not a fun environment.
But then there's other companies where you can work for
and everybody likes the boss and is excited to help the boss.
That's a completely different boss.
Usually it's a boss that cares about his employees,
works hard, gets in the trenches, knows what he's doing.
What is the boss that everybody hates?
The one that doesn't know what he's doing,
is prideful, arrogant, doesn't actually help the people
and just tells them what to do,
just orders them around and bosses them around.
That is the person that's the bad boss.
Well, you know what? Don't be that boss in your house.
Don't be the boss everybody hates, everybody's mad at.
Why aren't they doing what I said?
Well, maybe you're a crappy boss, okay?
And we can learn from the role of a deacon
and the expectations of a deacon of what our life should be like,
not what America's putting out.
Stop worrying about what they're doing
and start worrying about what this says
and how we should behave ourselves.
And you know what, God willing,
we steadfast will have a deacon like this in the future.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us
the instructions of how we should behave ourselves
in the house of God.
I pray that you would just continue to bless
Steadfast Baptist Church
and if it's your will that we grow,
that if we ever have a deacon,
that we would take seriously these qualifications,
we'd take seriously these words
and that we would ordain the right men.
I pray that any of the men in this room
that have a desire to be in ministry,
that they would take seriously the Word of God.
And I pray even the men that don't want to be a deacon
or a pastor or don't want to be in church ministry,
that they would still look at these models and examples
and say, I want to be like that anyways.
I just want to be a good example into the church
and I want to be greatly used by God
and I want to have a Godly family.
And I pray that you would just motivate their minds
and their hearts to serve you with faithfulness
and godliness.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, for our final song,
let's sing 211 whosoever meaneth me.
Two-eleven whosoever meaneth me.
Two-one-one whosoever meaneth me.
I am happy today and the sun shines bright
The clouds have been rolled away
For the Savior said,
Whosoever will, may come with Him to stay
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Surely meaneth me, oh, surely meaneth me
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Whosoever meaneth me
All my hopes have been raised
Of His name He prays
His glory has filled my soul
I've been lifted up and from sin set free
His blood hath made me whole
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Surely meaneth me, oh, surely meaneth me
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Whosoever meaneth me
Oh, what wonderful love, oh, what grace divine
That Jesus should die for me
I was lost in sin for the world I find
But now I am set free
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Surely meaneth me, oh, surely meaneth me
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Whosoever meaneth me