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Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter number 1, we just finished reading there in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the famous passage where it talks about the bishops and deacons being ordained and what their different qualifications are. And that's what I want to preach on tonight, the subject of ordaining bishops and deacons, pastors and deacons. Now, the reason that I bring this up is because there's a great need today for men to step up to the plate and fill these type of roles. First of all, there's a great need for churches to be started all over the United States, where men of God would go out and have a vision to see a church established and grow and thrive and win souls. That's really the answer to the problems in America tonight. It's a spiritual solution that's needed, not a political solution or any other kind of solution. It's a spiritual problem, and it needs a spiritual solution. The fact that our government is stupid and all the problems that are going on and all the wickedness and filth is the symptom of not having churches standing in the gap and making up the hedge and doing what they need to be doing. And if we had pulpits across America thundering forth the word of God on a weekly basis, this country would be a completely different place. I mean, that's really the answer. And not only that, but every person in the United States would then have a chance to accept or reject the gospel. In fact, multiple times, because there'd be so much soul winning going on if we would get some men of God that were spirit filled behind the pulpits of America. So this is a very important subject. But unfortunately, there are many people who, in their zeal to reach America with the gospel and in their zeal to see churches established, they actually have this attitude of, let's just throw out the qualifications for the pastor and the deacon. Or even just throw out the office of the pastor altogether and let's just have these freestyle, freewheeling churches popping up all over the place. And honestly, that is not God's plan. It's not necessary. It's actually going to cause more harm than good in the long run. We need to understand that doing things God's way is always the best way to have success. And not just what we feel is expedient or we're in a hurry to get it done. It's like I preached this morning. You can't just build a great big tent without lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes. You have to dig down deep. You have to have the right foundation. And you can't cut corners or in the end, the whole thing is going to come toppling down. Now in Titus chapter 1 here, the Bible reads in verse 5, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting. Now wanting there means lacking. The things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. So this is God's plan. Elders in every city, churches in every city with ordained elders, pastors who meet the qualifications laid out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1. The Bible says in verse 6, if any, be blameless. Now I want to draw special attention to the word any. A lot of people are waiting for some kind of a special miraculous calling before they would go into the ministry. They expect an audible voice to come or a vision or something. But in reality, the Bible said in 1 Timothy 3, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Here it says, if any, be blameless. So anyone who meets the qualifications and has the desire to do this job may step up and do this job. It's not just for a person who has some kind of a special miraculous calling or anything. I never had God come to me in an audible voice. I never had any visions. I never came down the aisle and said, I was called to preach on May 17th of 1999. That never happened for me. I just read the Bible. It said, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I said, here am I, Lord. Send me. And right here in the Bible, it just says, if any. But that any has to meet up to certain qualifications. It says, if any, be blameless. The husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. Now let me say this right away. Obviously, this isn't saying that the person has to be perfect, sinless. It doesn't say, if any, be sinless. Because then there would be no pastors. There'd be no churches established. When it says blameless, and when it talks about not being accused of riot or unruly, it means that basically you don't have this big glaring offense where the world looks at it and says, wait a minute. You know, this guy is guilty of cheating on his wife, or this guy is a murderer, or this guy's committing adultery. This guy has done whatever the horrible sin. Riot, unruly. Hey, this guy's getting arrested for actually something that is wrong and immoral. But anyway, I've been arrested, but I was declared not guilty, and it wasn't anything immoral. But that's another sermon that shall be preached at another time. It says in verse number six, if any, be blameless, the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. And on and on the chapter goes. I've preached on this chapter many, many times. But let me just say this. There are a lot of just vain talkers out there, just a bunch of people that are just blathering and talking about things that they don't even understand. You know, the Bible is giving us here the need for biblical leadership. He's saying we need elders in every city. Why? Because there are all these vain talkers. There are all these deceivers and unruly people, people who basically are just preaching whatever. God didn't call them. God isn't sending them. They're not even out of a local church many times. They just basically ordain themselves pastor and teach all this nonsense. He's saying, look, somebody needs to cut through the confusion, hold fast the faithful word, and with sound doctrine exhort and convince the gainsayers. It says in verse 11 of these people, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. And he talks about some of the false doctrine that they teach, et cetera. So the bottom line is, because of all the false teaching out there, the deception, all of the unruly vain talkers. And what's a vain talker? It's someone who just likes to hear themselves talk, but they don't really know what they're talking about. They don't really know the Bible. But they just get up and blah, blah, blah. The Bible says there's a lot of that. Shut these people up. Get some real preaching, the Bible says. From faithful men of God, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Now, what are the qualifications listed here in this passage? Of course, it says, if any, be blameless. Then it says, the husband of one wife. And that doesn't mean one wife at a time. That doesn't mean you're cycling through wives, and you divorce one and marry the next. No, this is talking about the fact that a pastor needs to be someone who is faithful to his original wife. Obviously, unless she passes away and he marries the next one. But it says, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, where he's not just in it for himself and what his will is, he wants to seek God's will. It says, not soon angry. Now, why is it important that the pastor not be soon angry? Because there are a lot of enemies and people that will try to provoke you when you're a pastor. You're constantly getting attacked and railed on and criticized. And if you're soon angry, you're just gonna be angry all the time. People are always mouthing off to you and telling you off and calling you names. So if you have a bad temper, that's not gonna work out for you to be a pastor. Now, notice what the Bible says, not soon angry. Does it say, never angry for any reason? Is that what it says? You know, we need some pastors that'll actually get mad about the right things. You know, the Bible says, be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. There is a time to be angry and a time not to be angry. We should not be soon angry. We shouldn't be one that just gets angry at the drop of a hat or flies off the handle. But we should be angry when there's a time for righteous indignation. You see Jesus Christ getting angry and making a whip and chasing people out of the temple. You see, people will try to use Bible verses out of context to basically take the pastors of America and just weaken them, water them down. Oh, you're not allowed to get angry. Oh, you're not being Christ-like. Oh, you gotta be soft. They want us soft and weak because they know that that strong leadership is gonna defeat them. It's gonna stop the mouths of the vain talkers and deceivers. So they want to basically, you know, tie one arm behind our back and they want us to be a soft, weak leader. Not gonna happen. The Bible says not given to wine, no striker. What does that mean? Well, a striker, it's talking about somebody who is a brawler. That's what it says in 1 Timothy 3 about this subject. Somebody who basically just gets physical. They just turn to violence. You know, somebody says something they don't like and they start swinging, okay? That's a striker. Now obviously there's a time for self-defense, but you have to be very careful not to be one who just goes out and gets in a fight. It should be a last resort, obviously, to be striking back. The Bible says here also not given to wine. And by the way, it's amazing to me how many pastors drink when the Bible says here, as one of the qualifications clearly, not given to wine. Now there've been a lot of fools out there lately because I preached a sermon a couple weeks ago called Wine in the Bible. And I demonstrated clearly from the Bible to any rational person that when the Bible uses the word wine, it can either mean basically just fruit juice or the alcoholic beverage. You know, I proved that from the Bible. And in fact, anyone with any common sense can read the Bible and figure that out. And in fact, no serious student of the Bible has ever said, oh, it's always alcohol, it's always booze. Because that would be so ridiculous since it's mentioned over 200 times and yet juice is never mentioned. So to sit there and say, oh, the Bible just never talks about fruit juice, all it talks about is alcohol, is ridiculous and it's just a lack of knowledge of the English language. You know, when the Bible is translated, it's translated from the Greek and the Greek New Testament uses the same word for fruit juice, whether it's fermented or whether it's not fermented. So obviously, in order for the English Bible to be a faithful rendering of the Greek original, they can't just sit there and decide every time which one's alcohol and which one's not. So they use the word wine for both throughout the Bible over 200 times. And you say, well, how do I know whether it's alcohol? Well, that's why he described, he said, look not on the wine when it's red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it moves itself right. He describes the bad kind of wine and then elsewhere he talks about the good kind of wine. And here's the thing about it. People today because they want to embrace alcohol and I don't know why they want to. I don't desire to drink. Does anybody here just have no desire to drink? I don't desire to drink at all. Why would I want to behold strange women and utter perverse things? Why would I want to bring in all that sin in my life? I'd rather just be sober like the Bible says. I have no desire to drink. But for some reason, people out there, they wanna drink. And so they find every way they can to justify this thing in the Bible and find a way to say, well, it's okay to drink as long as you don't get drunk, the famous last words. We all know where that leads. But there's this thing out there of, well, it's okay to drink and God wants us to drink. And so because they're so intent on making this point, this is the kind of nonsense they'll say, oh, juice wasn't around back then. I mean, somebody literally contacted me and said that juice was invented about 300 years ago. And before that, it was all alcohol. I'm like, whoa, what are you talking about? I mean, these are the same people that told me that pants were invented 300, 400 years ago and everybody walked around in a toga at the time. Look, you've been watching too many Roman gladiator movies, okay? Everybody throughout history hasn't walked around in a toga. Just a bunch of weird Greco Roman perverts walked around in that stuff. Normal men have always worn pants throughout history. That's a fact. Pants aren't really an invention that's up there with like nuclear power or something. I mean, it's fabric on both legs, folks. It's always been around. It goes back to Adam. But they say, well, juice is new. Juice is a new thing. And here's what they say. They had no way to preserve it back then. So therefore, you can't drink it unalcoholic. Hey, newsflash, you can drink it freshly squeezed. I mean, how do you, oh, I can't preserve it, so I guess I just have to drink it weeks later when it's alcohol. No, you can actually drink it right away without a refrigerator. But that's beside the fact that it was possible to preserve it back then. But obviously, the Bible also talks about just squeezing grapes right into Pharaoh's cup and giving them the, and you could also just drink it right away. But there are different methods that they use. For example, in the Roman Empire where they would fill pots with wine, they'd put oil on top of it and everything to seal it in. I mean, there's nothing new under the sun. There have been all kinds of methods before refrigeration to keep their houses cool, to keep their things from going bad, to preserve things like wine, et cetera, et cetera. And when I say that, I mean juice and to keep it fresh and so forth. And yeah, it's true. You leave fruit juice on the counter for a couple of days, yeah, it'll have a little tang to it. It's never gonna get you drunk in a million years. It's not like this wickedness that they sell at the grocery store as wine that's like 13 to 17% alcohol. And that's what these pastors wanna promote and drink and say, hey, this is fun. One glass of this with my dinner. It's the equivalent of like two beers, but that's fine. Well, tell that to the highway patrolman when you pulled over. But anyway, the bottom line is though that these pastors that drink, even according to their false logic, because they think, oh yeah, wine's always alcohol, according to their foolish logic, which obviously this verse we know is talking about alcohol, okay? But what's funny is that it says right here, not given to wine, and they'll use this as a proof text because they'll say, well, the deacon's not given to much wine and the pastor's not given to wine, therefore it's okay to drink a little bit, okay? This is what they say of alcohol. But what's so stupid about that is that these same pastors turn around and drink wine a little bit, quote, unquote. Well, even according to their logic that drinking's okay, which it's not, it says here the pastor's not to be given to wine, period, if they're gonna compare that to the much wine of the deacon. So even their own logic defeats them. You know, my dad actually brought this up to a pastor and his wife, and he said to them, why do you have all this wine in your house? Why do you have this wine cask and all these wine coolers and everything when the Bible says that the bishop is not to be given to wine whatsoever? And they said, where does it say that? This is a pastor and pastor's wife. They said, where is that? He said, it's in the qualifications for the pastor, you know? And the wife said, well, I'd have to see that. Maybe you should have read that before you became a pastor's wife. You know, maybe you should have read up on the qualifications like once, since it's in both Titus and Timothy. So what, but you say, well, why do you bring that up? Well, because these type of just freestyle YouTube teachers and self-proclaimed pastors, this is the kind of stupid doctrine that they preach. Oh, it's okay to drink wine, because they haven't studied to show themselves approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And if you go searching for it, you can find plenty of these bogus internet-type preachers that will tell you it's okay to drink alcohol. I don't believe it's okay to drink any alcohol at all. The Bible says, look not on the wine when it's fermented, if you get the context. That's what it's explaining. Don't even look at it. But the thing about that is that when you go to independent Baptist churches across America, I've never heard of any independent Baptist church where the pastor said that drinking is okay. When have you ever gone to an independent, who grew up an independent Baptist? Put up your hand if you kind of grew up in that. Have you ever gone to an independent fundamental Baptist church where they said, hey, drinking's okay? No, that's the liberal church down the street. That's a Southern Baptist. Or that would be the community church or whatever. So you say, well, why is that? Why is it that even though independent fundamental Baptist, they disagree on certain things, but then there are certain things where just, come on, every single one of them is right on it. Why? Because these things are basic teachings of the Bible that they should have already hashed out before they ever became a pastor and at least figured out the basics of the qualifications and the basics of what wine is in the Bible, that wine is only good in the Bible when it's not alcoholic, okay? They should have figured that out. Now, let me say this. Church has a great effect on you as a Christian and as a future pastor because it moderates your beliefs. And what I mean by that is that when people get out of church, they get some really crazy, radical wild-eyed beliefs sometimes because they don't have the church to rein them in. Okay, let me explain this to you. If you came up with some harebrained doctrine, some foolish ideas about the Bible, and you walked into Faithful Word Baptist Church and started saying your theory is this and that and the other, here's what would happen. People would actually take you aside and tell you, you know what, here's why you're wrong. And this is long before you're a pastor. So you're spending years in church before you're a pastor and people would take you aside and tell you, look, that's not true. Let me show you what the Bible says. And you'd have all kinds of people telling you, you know what, that's foolish, that's crazy, that's ridiculous. And then when you're surrounded by 200 people that are kind of telling you you're foolish, you're ridiculous, you're not making any sense, and then they're showing you scripture to back it up, then it makes you rethink some of those silly ideas. And look, we've all had silly ideas before, right? And it's okay to have a silly idea. It's okay to be wrong about stuff. It's okay to make mistakes. But what you don't want to do, though, is get up and start teaching those mistakes and teaching those foolish ideas to large groups of people. So that's why you go through a process of being a church member where you are basically around other godly people that believe like you and you can bounce ideas off them, you can talk doctrine, you can kind of hash these things out so that by the time you make it to the pulpit, you actually know what you're talking about. And I've noticed even very good godly people, when they get out of church and just go solo and they're just studying the Bible on their own, or even just listening to a lot of preaching that they get online, but they're not fellowshipping with actual flesh and blood human beings in a local church, they sometimes become radical in strange ways. And they get off on crazy doctrine because they don't have that normalizing influence of the local church. The church makes you normal. I'm serious. I remember a pastor friend of mine talked about how when he first started the church, there's just a lot of weird people coming. And he said that he was laying in bed at night with his wife at night, and his wife said, honey, will we ever have any normal people in our church? And this is what he said to her. Honey, we have to make them normal. We gotta make them normal. You know, that was what he said. Because of the fact that church does make you normal. I'm saying church moderates you. It keeps you from going off into craziness because there are other people around you to give you counsel, to give you advice, and to kind of talk to you about doctrine and make sure you don't just go off the deep end with what you believe, okay? Now go to 1 Timothy chapter three. Did I already send you there? Go to 1 Timothy chapter three. You'll find the other passage about this. You see, it's important that the people who are teaching us the Bible have studied the Bible thoroughly and know what they're talking about and are able to back up what they believe. And listen, this is not a self-test where you just decide, that's me. Yeah, I know the Bible really well. No, it takes other people to realize that about you. Okay, it takes going to a local church, succeeding in that local church, thriving in that local church, being a blessing in that local church, being involved in the program, and then that church saying, yeah, you'd make a great pastor. Yeah, let's send you out to start a church. Not just you sitting in your basement, watching YouTube, eating chips off your chest, and just saying like, I could totally do that. I could totally start this church. And then what you end up with is just a bunch of crazy fly-by-night type churches and these half in, half out. Nobody's even proving these people and checking them out whether they even meet the qualifications. It's just a total free-for-all freestyle. And listen to me, I like to go on the internet and listen to preaching. Okay, many of you, that's how you even found out about our church. You found the preaching of Faith Forward Baptist Church on the internet and listened to it. I think it's great. But you know what I would be aware of? I would be aware of listening to a whole bunch of preaching from a whole bunch of people who you don't even know who they are. They don't even go to church or they're not a pastor of a church. You know, why don't you listen to pastors preaching because they've actually gone through a certain process of studying and being tried and proven and going to church for years, being faithful, studying the Bible. They're not a beginner. They're not a novice. Look, it's great to listen to preaching online but you can't just listen to every bozo who just uploads themselves preaching. Oh, I found this great guy. You don't even know who that guy is. And it's a danger of the internet. The internet's great for a lot of things but it can be dangerous. Think about the people who have started a relationship on the internet and gotten burned. And okay, they're the success stories too. But anyway, think about the people though who get burned or with the relationship. Why? Because the thing about the internet is you don't really know what you're getting. You don't really know where people are coming from. You don't really know who they are in real life as opposed to a physical flesh and blood. You walk in the door, you show up, you're at church, you kind of know what you're getting, okay? This is important stuff. This is not something that the Bible takes lightly because there are virtually two whole chapters dedicated to these qualifications. Now, here's my question. If it doesn't matter who preaches to us, if it doesn't matter whether a pastor meets these qualifications or has been ordained, then why would God give us two chapters of qualifications and just say, oh, by the way, it doesn't matter. Anybody can just get up and start preaching and just anybody can get up and start a church with no qualifications. Then why would he even list these qualifications? Because it's that important. Now, look at 1 Timothy 3, verse one. It says, this is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Look, I'm not trying to lock people out here. I would love for as many people as possible to become pastors. I want to train as many pastors out of this church. I want to see other churches training pastors and sending them out. It's for anybody who desires it. It's a good work. The bishop then must be blameless, verse two. The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, there it is again. 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? Now again, this goes back to why he's supposed to be the husband of one wife, and why his children are not supposed to be accused of right and unruly. Because if he doesn't know how to rule his own house, he's not going to be able to effectively take care of the church of God. Then it says this, not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now, the word novice simply means beginner. I remember I first learned that word through dirt bike racing. There was the novice class, the amateur, and the pro. Those were the three motocross distinctions. And novice is not a bad word. And it always blows me away when people use this as a slander or drive, he's a novice. Like that's a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with being a novice because everyone starts as a novice. A novice is simply a beginner. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not a name to call people that you don't like. No, novice is just simply a beginner. I was a beginner, you were a beginner. Maybe you are a beginner. What is the Bible saying here? That the pastor should not be a novice lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. What this is teaching is that before honor comes humility. You know, before you're exalted to a position like the pastor or the deacon of the church, you've got to first be humble and pay your dues. You can't just be a beginner and then all of a sudden you're leading. All of a sudden you're at the top. Why? Because then it goes to your head. You have to first go through, pay your dues, be humble and submit unto your leadership before you take the reins. The problem is when people just, you know, go straight to being the pastor, they don't pass go, they don't collect $200. The problem with that is that now all of a sudden, you know, they become puffed up, lifted up with pride and they know better than everybody else. They don't understand what it means to be a great follower. Now listen to me, every great leader in the Bible was first a great follower, every single one. And that's why we don't recommend that people just go out and just declare themselves a pastor because they've been listening to Pastor Anderson for six months and they pretty much know everything that he has to teach. And now they're ready to start their own church somewhere. They can't find a good church because every church has thrown them out. But oh, they're ready to pastor. No, they're not. Because they need to first pay their dues and be a great follower before they can ever be a great leader. Now think about the biblical examples of this. Great leaders in the Bible, Joshua. But he was first the great follower of Moses. The apostles, great leaders who turned the world upside down. But they were first the followers of Jesus. And before that, they were the followers of John the Baptist. Even Jesus himself submitted unto the Father just to set that example of first submitting unto the Father. And by the way, the Bible says he submitted unto his parents. It tells us that in Luke chapter two that Jesus submitted. And by the way, kids, if Jesus could submit to his parents, you can submit to your parents. Think, oh, well, my parents aren't that spiritual. Well, compared to Jesus, no parents would have felt that spiritual either, but he still submitted to them. Even though he was smarter than them, even though he was more godly than them and more righteous than them, Jesus obeyed his parents. And we ought to obey our parents as children tonight. Lots of children in the auditorium tonight. You need to obey. Listen up, kids, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Jesus was a great follower as a child. He also submitted unto the Father, okay? Then he became the great leader. And that's a great example right there. But also throughout the Old Testament, we have many other examples like Elisha pouring water on the hands of Elijah, following him, learning from him, being trained by him, and then going out and doing double the works that Elijah had done. Why? Because he was first a great follower before he could be a great leader. Now, listen to me. People sometimes, they hear me preach and get up and rail on things, and they think that basically they should go to some other church and they're gonna just straighten that church out and just straighten everything out and you know, Pastor Anderson said this and Pastor Anderson said that. But here's what you have to understand. For the first 24 years of my life, I didn't go to Faithful Word Baptist Church. Because Faithful Word Baptist Church didn't exist. Now I've been here ever since it existed and I'm not going anywhere. This is the place to be. No question about that. But let me tell you what I did for the first 24 years of my life. I went to other churches. And guess what they all were? They were all wrong on the rapture. They were all pre-trib. They all had these altar calls and you know, as the piano begins to play, would you come, you know? And some of you need to do business at an old-fashioned altar tonight. You know, they had all kinds of things that I didn't agree with. You know, there were a lot of things that I didn't think were biblical. But you know what I did when I went to those churches? I sat down, I shut up, and I learned a lot. And I submitted under the leadership and I never fought the pastor and fought the program of the church and preached against the doctrine of the church. I went there. I was a blessing. I tried to be the best church member I could. And I spoke positively about the program of the church, positively about the pastor, and I was involved and I was active and I was not a troublemaker, not a rabble rouser. You say, well, you're a troublemaker and a rabble rouser now. Yeah, I know, but first I paid my dues. I'm serious. Well, yeah, obviously when you're the pastor, yeah, you can take the direction, the church that you feel God's leading you at that point. Once God has given you the reins of that local church, then sure, yeah, take it the way God wants you to. And charge hell with a squirt gun at that point. Take on the world at that point. But you can't sit there and walk in to a church where you're not the pastor, where you're not in leadership, where you're a novice, where you're a beginner, when you've been saved for one or two years. And you just walk in and you just think you're gonna start running the place. That is not the right way to do it. You should walk in and learn. And you say, oh, well, I know way more than these people. No, you don't. If you've been saved for one or two years, you probably don't know more than the pastor of almost any independent Baptist church. Now, you might know different things that he doesn't know, but I guarantee you that there's stuff that he knows that you don't know, okay? So what you do is you go there, you sit down, you shut up, and you listen and learn all the things that you can learn. And when he says something that's wrong, you just get over it. You just hold your nose during the pre-trib sermon and just start reading Revelation or something to pass the time. So this is important because of the fact that today we have just an attack on leadership, an attack on pastors. And we need pastors more than ever. We need leadership more than ever. We need young men to rise up and become great leaders, but first they must become great followers. They must pay their dues. They must be humble. They must be a blessing to their local church. Then, then they can be honored with being a pastor and not just trying to take the shortcut of, well, I'm disgruntled, I think I'm ready, I'm just gonna go start a church. And here's what's funny. People can't find any church that's willing to ordain them. No church is willing to send them out. No church is even willing to have them as a church member, but then they want to be a pastor. Something's wrong with that picture. You're doing it wrong. Now, I will say this. There are people in other countries where it could be true that they really can't find a good church in their area. But if you're living in the United States of America and every single person who has contacted me and said, well, no, that's not true, because where I live there really are no churches and I'm in the U.S., I always found soul-winning churches. Have you tried this one? Oh, no, I haven't tried that one. But I don't want to do people's legwork for them. They need to figure it out and find. Now, look, yeah, if they just live in some podunk hauler where there's 20 people, yeah, you might just need to move to civilization to go to church, okay? The exception proves the rule. 99.9% of people in this country could get in a soul-winning church. Is it gonna be perfect? No. But going there and being a blessing and being humble and learning from someone else is a prerequisite to becoming a pastor. You have to go through that process or you will be a failure as a leader. Every parent first has to be a child, right? Think about us. We're all parents, right? We're all leaders, we lead our children. But first, we obeyed our parents. If not, then it's coming back to haunt us all the times we disobeyed when our kids do the same things. But look down at your Bible, if you would, at 1 Timothy 3. The Bible gives these qualifications that are important. They matter. We shouldn't just send somebody out and say, well, they got most of this down. Let's just send them out. No, no, no. We shouldn't cut corners. We need to make sure that we send people out to start churches that are ready. Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. I believe that a good rule of thumb is that a person should probably be saved for about seven years minimum before they pastor a church. I mean, you can't just be saved for a couple years and all of a sudden you're the pastor. I think about seven years is probably a good rule of thumb to not be a beginner, to not be new at it. And here's the thing. I'm not saying you're saved for six years and you've been in church for one year. I'm talking seven years for the guy who's actually involved and doing the work and learning. See, I don't think it's a light thing to be a pastor. I don't think it's some small matter. I think it's a pretty important position and so it needs to be earned. 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. Again, this is where he's blameless in the sense that people don't point out these horrible moral failings that he had of being a murderer, an adulterer, a thief in business or whatever. It says in verse number eight, likewise must the deacons be great. Now likewise means in the same way. And you have to understand that the qualifications for the deacon are very similar to that of the pastor. Pretty much if you're qualified for the one, you're pretty much qualified for the other. Okay, they're very similar. That's why he said likewise. Likewise in the same way 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. What does it mean to first be proved? Test them first. Then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Did it say finding themself blameless after no one has proved them? Is that what it says? No, it says 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. Do you notice that the characteristics are pretty much the same, pretty much the same qualification. If you're qualified for the one, you're pretty much qualified for the other. Now, what are the differences between these two positions biblically? Well, these two positions are the difference between being the ruler and being the servant of the church. The word deacon, just the literal meaning of the word deacon means servant, whereas the word bishop means overseer. So those are just two different things. Now, these roles are both very important and they both require a spirit-filled man of God. They both require a preacher, okay? Now go if you would to Acts chapter six and I'll prove that to you. Because this is where we see the first deacons being ordained in the book of Acts. And let me just clear up some confusion about what the deacon is. Because every church I've ever been a part of had this wrong. Because what they call deacons is not a biblical office. Here's what the average church does. The average church sets up the church government as if it were like a little miniature United States. So they have like the pastors like the president and then the deacons are like the Congress, okay? So they have it kind of set up where the deacons vote on things and they like pass resolutions, they pass bills like Congress would or something. That's not biblical. It didn't come from the Bible, okay? And here's another majorly unbiblical thing about what we know as a deacon today is that biblically a deacon is a full-time paid position. It's not something that a layman does. See the average church today when they got to be our size, when they have about 200 some people, this is what they would do. They'd pick seven guys in the church that just kind of remotely meet this. Basically what they do is they find seven guys that aren't divorced and that have kids. And then they basically say, well, you know, the time has come to have deacons. And they line up these seven guys who are just kind of barely meeting these qualifications. Most of them can't even preach their way out of a wet paper bag. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? You ever grow up in an independent Baptist church? They get seven guys, most of whom have never preached, don't know how to preach, no ability to preach. And they'll take these guys and ordain them as deacons, but these guys, they still work their old secular job. These guys don't do any work for the church. They're just like this legislative body that votes on stuff and, you know, we've consulted with the deacons and they've decided, you know, and whatever. It's not biblical though. Look what the Bible teaches about deacons. Look at verse number one of chapter six. And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look you out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may set over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude of the disciples and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. So these are the first seven deacons. Whom when they set before the apostles and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And here's the result of ordaining these deacons. Verse seven, 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. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. So when we see the first deacons being ordained, what's the purpose? Forget everything you've heard your whole life about deacons. What did the Bible say the purpose of ordaining deacons was? Because there was work that was being neglected in the daily ministration of the business of the church. And the apostles are saying, look, we don't wanna leave the word of God and wait tables. Basically, they're spending so much time doing just menial tasks that it's taken them away from the word of God, it's taken them away from prayer, and it's just too much for them to do and work's being neglected. So they say, look, we need these seven guys to help us do this work. They're gonna set over this business. Did he say we need people to tell us what to do because we're making dumb decisions. We need deacons to tell us what to do. We need them to pass resolutions and vote on stuff. Is that what it says? No, they're picking these guys to do work. Now the bishop is a worker and the deacon is a worker. It's just different types of work. And so the deacons here are chosen. We say, well, but they're seven, why seven? Here's why, because the church is running several thousand. Because first they add 3,000 in chapter two, they add 5,000 more members in chapter three, and then it says they multiplied. Well, even if they just multiplied by two, that's a pretty big church. But then it says they multiplied greatly. You probably times it by three. I mean, there's tens of thousands of people. Yeah, at that point you need seven deacons. It's not like a church of 200 is like, oh, we need seven deacons. It's overkill. But the reason why they do seven deacons is because they're not paying them. They're not actually working full time because there wouldn't be enough work for seven deacons to do if you're running 200. But they ordained seven because they just want to be like that church at Acts. Well, you got to get to the size of the church of Acts before you need 12 pastors and seven deacons. You know, when you're running 100,000 people or whatever, then yeah, then at that point you can get 19 full time workers. But these guys are full time workers. They're doing the daily ministration, they're running things. And obviously the apostles were already full time. Peter was specifically told to quit his job and not to fish anymore, but that henceforth he would catch men. So biblically speaking, and even just the word deacon itself, as I said, the definition means servant. The purpose is to get more work done for God because you add staff. Now, in churches all over America today, there are scriptural deacons. They're called assistant pastors. So all over America, churches have a senior pastor and an assistant pastor. Well, here's the thing. They just got the name wrong. That assistant pastor is a deacon biblically. He's really a deacon when you look at what he does and who he is biblically. Then they have all these people that are called deacons that shouldn't even exist. Who are these, they're laymen, okay? And emphasis on lame in laymen because they're usually not a spirit-filled, fiery man of God. Now look, Stephen and Philip, couple of the first deacons, these guys were some pretty serious men of God. I mean, these guys are not playing games. Stephen is a powerful man of God. Philip, powerful man of God, powerful preachers, great soul winners. That's the kind of people that need to become a deacon. Not just, you know, businessmen in the community. This is what they choose. You know, just respected businessmen that can be like a moderate. And there are deacon-run churches all over America and it's a bad thing. Why? Because the pastor is the guy who's all fired up and he's all excited and zealous, you know, and then the deacons are kind of like, I don't know, pastor, if we should do this. And there are a lot of churches where the pastor has a great heart for God, he wants to do a lot of great things for God, but the deacons are like holding him back. I've been in these deacon-run churches. When I was growing up, we constantly dealt with this in church and my dad would always tell me that they were these, he would call them the moss-back deacons. Like they were so slow moving and so old that moss was growing on their back. So he would call them, you know, the yeah, these moss-back deacons, you know. The pastor is this zealous, excited guy that wants to turn the world upside down and then the deacon is kind of like, you know. There was even a story that was told to me by my dad where they were in church and the pastor started talking about starting a soul-winning program and one of the deacons literally just went like this while he's talking. Just a thumbs, the moss-back deacon gave the thumbs down to soul-winning. You know, there was a story that was often repeated in our house, you know, about that guy. And they always say, watch out for that church, that's a deacon-run church. Beware of the deacon-run church. But is it biblical? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. So being a deacon is actually a really great position to have because it's a great way to serve God and you're following in the footsteps of great men of God like Stephen and Philip. So the deacon should be a fiery preacher. The deacon should be a spirit-filled man of God. The deacon should be an avid soul-winner if he's gonna follow in the footsteps of these early deacons, isn't that clear? And he should be qualified enough to be a pastor. That's the qualification. He said, well then, you know, why would you ever have a deacon anyway? Well, here's the thing. When we have guys in our church that are qualified enough to be a pastor, obviously we wanna send them out to start churches and be pastors because of the fact that that's a great need today in the United States, right? But here's the thing, let's say a guy comes along who has all of the qualifications of being a pastor but he just loves our church and just wants to stay. Well, then that would be a guy that could be a deacon. He just desires to be a second man. He desires to be a servant. That's just what he's cut out for but he still meets the qualifications. Then that's where that would be appropriate. Or being a deacon could be a stepping stone to becoming a pastor. For example, the church that I came up in in Sacramento, there was a guy there that was the second in command and he was the assistant pastor. I'll call him what he really was, a deacon. And that guy eventually, after doing that for a while, then he went on to pastor a church. And all the experience that he gained as being a second man is gonna be perfect for him when he goes out to be a pastor because he already understands the way the job goes. And so this is important doctrine tonight because of the fact that people are mixing this up today. And they have these unscriptural deacons and you got people ordaining themselves pastor. They don't even go to church as if these chapters just simply don't exist. Well, they do exist. And we need to put them into practice in our church. It doesn't matter what the people around us are doing and what they're organizing their church, where the deacons are voting on things and stuff. We're not gonna do that. We never will. I refuse to pastor this church if we have a bunch of moss-backed, layman, lame deacons that are gonna like bridle me and tell me what to do and everything. You know, look, I have a vision for this church. Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. I'm not gonna wait for some tired old committee to approve what we're doing. No, we just need to do it. Now, if you would, where did my outline go? Did somebody, where'd my notes go? I promise I had a sermon outline. Oh, I forgot to pull it out. All right. Okay, now let's start the sermon. See, I get so carried away, I forgot that I even had any notes. I actually had a sermon prepared tonight, believe it or not. But anyway, turn to 2 Timothy chapter two. 2 Timothy, let's see what I missed there. 2 Timothy chapter two. 2 Timothy chapter two, the Bible says in verse one, thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Now, the word commit means to entrust it to them. He says the things that you've learned, entrusted to them, committed to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. The Bible says, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. The Bible says, let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. The past, and let me say this, if the deacon has to be proved, how much more would the bishop need to be proved? I mean, who thinks that the deacon's qualifications are stricter than the pastor? No way. So according to the Bible, the deacon has to first be proved, then let him use the office of a deacon. But then according to all these people out there that think you can just pastor a church with no approval, no church backing, well, you know, that just doesn't make any sense, that it would be even less strict than for the deacon. The Bible says here that people need to be faithful men who can be able to teach others also. Flip over, if you would, into Acts chapter 13. Acts 13, the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 13, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Now, presbytery simply means elders. It's just the Greek transliteration of the word elders. That's all that means. That's where the Presbyterians get their church's name. So the laying on of the hands of the presbytery is something that Timothy had. Now, Timothy is a pastor. Timothy and Titus are known as the pastoral epistles. And Timothy is a pastor who's gonna be committing the word to other faithful men. He's gonna be ordaining elders, just as Titus is a pastor who's gonna ordain other elders. But he himself had been ordained by the laying on of the hands of elders at a previous date. Look down at Acts chapter 13, verse one. The Bible says, now there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers. And any thriving church should have prophets and teachers in it. It says, as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have done for you, whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Look at chapter 14, verse 21. Chapter 14, verse 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they were turned again to Lystra and Tyconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church and they had commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. So the Bible talks about them going back through towns and churches where they had previously been. And at this time they ordained elders in every church and they prayed with fasting and then they commended them on the Lord on whom they had believed. So this ordaining of elders in every church by Paul and Timothy as they traveled at that time is again an example of the importance of this doctrine. I don't have time because I'm running out of time tonight but there are a lot of scriptures on the laying on of hands. That goes back to the Old Testament. Laying on hands is just simply blessing someone, simply praying for that person. That's all that is. It's just their hands would be laid upon them and prayer would be made that they would receive great power from the Holy Spirit to do the work that God had called them to do. Blessings were given from Abraham to Isaac, from Isaac to Jacob, from Jacob to Joseph's two sons where he leans on the top of his staff and he worships. But then remember when he puts his hands on them and prays for them. You know, this is something all throughout the Bible and so the church is basically approving certain men, choosing certain men based on the biblical qualifications and then saying, all right, you know, you guys are being ordained. What does ordained mean? It simply means that that's the purpose that God has for their life. Being ordained, being chosen for that job, chosen for that purpose is what that's referring to. And then the laying on of hands is simply a prayer for them, putting your hands on them and basically praying that God would give them power and equip them for the mission that they're being sent out to do. You know, we've ordained a couple of pastors out of this church. We've sent Pastor David Berzins up to Prescott Valley, Arizona. We've sent Pastor Donnie Romero to Fort Worth, Texas and they're brought up here and basically, you know, charged, preached to, given their marching orders and that they were approved by the church. I mean, nobody, I went around and asked people, you know, hey, what do you think about this? And the church in one accord, they believed in David Berzins. They believed in Donnie Romero. Why? Because they had been among us. We'd gone to church with them for years. We knew them. They were not a novice, but they were proven people, people that were tested and tried in this body and had been a blessing and an asset to the church. And we joyfully, we with great zeal sent them out without any reservation to go out and do the work that God had called them to do. And I did lay my hands upon them and pray for the power of God upon their ministry. That's the biblical pattern. That is what is needed. Where did I have you turn? I didn't have you turn anywhere. Okay, so Acts chapter 14, where they're ordaining elders in every church, some people have misinterpreted this, that basically this is just Paul showing up, spending a day or two with these people and ordaining them and bye, like ordaining people that he doesn't even know. But the Bible says, lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker in other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. And so if you actually study the book of Acts, you'll realize that they would stay at a place for like a year, a year and a half as they're traveling. They're not traveling that fast. They're not just preach here, preach there, preach. No, they're traveling. This is a place they'd already been before. Then they're gone for a while. Then they come back through, confirming people that had already been saved. And here's the thing, they could talk to the church and find out, hey, have these guys been faithful? Have these guys been spirit filled? Have these guys been a blessing? Do these guys meet the qualifications? See, there's the approval of that church. But I've literally had people contact me that I don't know from Adam and say, well, I just wanna come to your church and spend one weekend there and I want you to ordain me as a pastor and send me out from Faith Forward Baptist Church. It's like, whoa, we don't even know you. Who are you? You know, you need, and plus, you need to come to the church. Anybody who wants to be sent out to pastor from Faith Forward Baptist Church, which I think is a great idea for anybody who wants to be a pastor, this is a great, you know, cause everything brings forth after its own kind. If you wanna pastor a church like Faith Forward, be sent out of Faith Forward. And here's the thing about that though. Anybody who wants to be sent out to pastor from Faith Forward Baptist Church would need to actually show up here and be here for a year or two so that we could actually get to know them. And you know what I found? Everybody who has actually moved their family out here with the intent of starting a church one day, with the intent of being a pastor and said, hey, I'm just gonna come for a year or whatever and I wanna, you know, be trained and sent out to pastor, they always end up coming to me. Every single one comes to me and says, you know what, make that two years. Make that three years. It's not me holding them back because they realize, well, I've got a lot to learn. Wow, this is a great church. I could really learn a lot here. And they end up actually strengthening their stakes, lengthening their cords, digging deep, and learning what they need to learn and getting trained here because it's so important. So this isn't like getting married by Elvis in Las Vegas or something where you just kind of drive through. Not that I'm against that, I'm just kidding. But anyway, but the point is, you know, this isn't some drive-through ordination. Like you send in a few box tops, you know, you send me your IP address and I check and make sure you've downloaded enough sermons. You know, you send me some box tops and whatever. No, no, no, you actually have to be tried and proven and tested, not just come in here and come here for a weekend or whatever. And here's the thing. If people want to be sent out of other churches, they can be sent out of whatever church they want. But this thing of just declaring your, I now pronounce myself pastor, you know, you may start your YouTube channel is not actually a biblical way to do it at all. Okay, and we need to stand by our guns on this issue. Otherwise we're going to have all kinds of freewheeling, freestyling, vain talkers out there. And there's got to be some way to moderate these people. I need moderation. You, that probably surprises you, but no, really. I need moderation. And being in a local church will do that for you. Being married will do that for you. Having kids will do that for you. Having human beings as friends will do that for you. We need that fellowship where iron sharpens iron. And these bozos on the internet aren't necessarily going to sharpen you, you know? And I mean, look, you've got to get that flesh and blood fellowship. And look, are there good people on the internet? Sure, but the bottom line is though, you can trust people more that you actually know, that you actually can look them in the eye and actually observe their life. The people who go to this church, they know what I'm about and I know what they're about because we live together here, you know? We work together, we worship together, and there's some kind of accountability. There's some kind of a moderation where somebody comes out with a crazy idea. There's five people to shoot them down, not just a bunch of, you know. I mean, look, if you come out with a crazy idea, you can go to the internet for affirmation. You will find someone to affirm it. I mean, everything from a flat earth, to aliens, to 450 foot tall giants, you can come up with all kinds of stupid doctrine and then go Google it and you'll find all these people, yeah, you're on the right. Don't let them tell you you're wrong, buddy. You know, this sucker's flat. This earth is flat, you know. You're gonna find all kinds of bozos that'll tell you that. Whatever you wanna be told. But when you actually show up at a local church, you actually walk in, and by the way, show up at an independent Baptist church. You walk into an independent fundamental Baptist church and start talking about social drinking, they're gonna shoot you down. People are gonna be coming at you with Proverbs 23. They're gonna be coming at you with all kinds of scriptures about the evils of alcohol. Okay, and you know, you come in and start talking about a flat earth, you're gonna be laughed out of that church. You're gonna be mocked and sent on your way if the church is intelligent. I'm telling you, that's what you have to understand. And look, I'm not down on the internet. I'm not against the internet. The internet's a great tool, great knowledge available. But you know what, it's not a substitute for interacting with human beings. Flesh and blood in a local church. Because you need that fellowship. You need that moderation. Now I feel bad for people who live in foreign countries and can't get access to it. You know, the people who legitimately are struggling. You know, and you know, I hope that they can find as much fellowship as possible to help them succeed. You know, and if there's any way they can get to a country that can teach them the Bible, where they can go to church and learn and be sent back, that's even better. But honestly, for people in the United States, there's no excuse. We live in a land of prosperity, a land of opportunity, there's jobs everywhere, there's places to live everywhere, there's churches everywhere. You just need to get your butt in a local church and be a blessing and be humble. And you say, why preach this? Because we need godly pastors and deacons in churches all across America. We need men of God to lead us more than ever. There are more vain talkers and deceivers than ever. And we need young men to step up to the plate and fill these roles and not try to take the shortcut, the easy way, and bypass a bunch of steps. No, we need men that are willing to go through the process and to pour water on the hands of Elijah first, because unless they see Elijah when he be taken up, they're not gonna have that double portion. That's why Elisha said, as the Lord liveth and as my soul liveth, I will not leave thee. But how many people are just willing to leave Elijah's church at the drop of a hat, because Elijah's not perfect? What about that church at Sardis? The one that had a name that they liveth, but he said they're dead. He said, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found thy ways perfect before God. But he said this, thou hast a few names, even at Sardis which have not defiled their garments, they shall walk with me in white for they're worthy. You know, God had a special shout out to some great Christians in a lame church. But you know what, God never has a shout out for people who are sitting at home and forsaking the assembly. The only shout out to them is don't be like them. Don't forsake the assembly as the manner of some is, losers, that's the implication there. I added that word, losers. But don't forsake the assembly of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Whereas, the people at Sardis, he said, they're gonna walk with me in white, they're worthy. But why do they go to that imperfect church, the dead church? Hey, at least they're in church. And they're doing what's right within that church and they're serving God in that church and they're being effective in that church and God is praising them for what they're doing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word and for these important teachings, Lord. And we need to stop and study this, Lord, about bishops and deacons because of the fact that leadership is very important in the New Testament and it's something that's very lacking today in the United States and around the world, Lord. I pray that you would just touch the hearts of a whole generation of men that would rise up and say, here are my lords, send me. I pray that there would be all kinds of young men and middle-aged men that would decide, you know what? I'm gonna follow that program and be qualified according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and I'm gonna become that bishop. I'm gonna become that deacon. I'm gonna become a man of God that could lead a church in this nation or be a great servant and an asset to help a church grow somewhere in this nation, Lord. Help a whole generation of leaders to rise up, Lord. And please, Lord, save us from these vain talkers, Lord and help us to seek out actual tried and proven pastors and men of God to teach us the word and deacons to teach us the word, not to just listen to every bozo that stands up and calls themself a title that they haven't earned through humility and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.