(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

If we look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 1, it begins by saying this is a true saying. If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires for good work, the title for the sermon tonight is the office of a bishop. Now you may or may not realize, especially for those that are part of Blessed Baptist Church, if the borders were open to Queensland and we weren't in lockdown, all this kind of stuff going on, I would basically have another three and a half weeks left before our family. It was the original plan, before we would move back to Queensland and so I really got three Thursdays left in the original plan and what I really wanted to cover on these last three midweek services was looking at the different offices that exist in the church. The first one we're going to be looking at, of course, is the office of a bishop. Next Thursday we're going to be looking at the office of a deacon and then I wanted the last one to be the office of the evangelist and so, I mean, obviously I'm going to be here longer than the original plans, I'm going to be here longer, but I still wanted to go through these topics and, you know, what I really want to achieve, what I really hope for with Blessed Baptist Church is that we find a full-time bishop, a full-time pastor for this church. And so in order for that to be something that we come to develop in our church, whether it's someone internal, internal that grows into that position or if it's someone external that we can bring in here, well, you know, we want to be looking for the right person that would fit that category, the office of a bishop and so that's what I want to look at tonight, I want to look at what makes up an office of a bishop. You know, I take on that office, I've been ordained as that office of a bishop, often we use the title pastor, another title that is used for that office is elder and we'll have a look at that soon, why these things are interchangeable, but instead of looking at 1 Timothy 3, we are going to come back to 1 Timothy 3, but I want you to now turn to Titus chapter 1, turn to Titus chapter 1. The book of Titus and 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy are known as the pastoral epistles and so, you know, if you are, if you want to be a pastor, you want to be a bishop, you really need to study these books, okay, and understand what God requires from someone that takes on that office, but if you look at Titus chapter 1 verse number 1, let's have a look here, it says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, but have in due times manifested his word through preaching which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour, to Titus, okay, so this is why the book is called Titus, because Paul is writing to Titus, sorry, to Titus, he says, mine old son after the common faith, grace mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, look at verse number 5, for this cause left I thee in Crete, so I is Paul, thee is Titus, I've left you in Crete, Crete is an island. It says that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordained elders in every city as I had appointed thee, so you notice that Paul has appointed Titus into this position that Titus would ordain elders or that's a bishop or a pastor in every city, you see when we look at why that's the mission of Titus, it says that thou should have said order the things that are wanting, you see there are churches or there are cities in this world that need, that are wanting a man, a bishop to oversee a church and you know right now we have a need, we have a want when it comes to Blessed Hope Baptist Church, as I said the plan was that I would be going back to Queensland and that we as a church would be hoping that God will send a man that would take on that position as a full time pastor of the church, now when I say that I want you to understand something, you know Blessed Hope Baptist Church is not without a pastor, I'm the pastor, I'm the bishop, but when I go back to Queensland that is my full time position, I'm a full time pastor for the church in Queensland and I'm kind of a part time pastor for Blessed Hope Baptist Church, nevertheless this church is a pastor, let it never be said that this church is without a pastor, it's not without a pastor but what we want is a full time pastor, we want an elder in the city of Sydney that can take over this church and lead it forward for its future and so we see the importance of a man being left in a place to find a pastor, to find an elder, to take over a church and I want to just show you very quickly why, you know you probably often hear the preaching that the title bishop or pastor or elder are all interchangeable and they are, but let me just show you that from the bible where that idea comes from, so please keep your finger there and go to 1 Peter chapter 5, go to 1 Peter chapter 5 and when we're looking at the book of Peter, who wrote the book of Peter, well Peter of course the apostle Peter and we know that like Paul, Paul was an apostle but Paul was never married, Paul never had a wife and never had children and one of the qualifications to be a pastor is to be married with kids, so Paul even though he had the office of an apostle he was never a pastor, now we have Peter who was an apostle as well but he was married, in fact we know the story of Jesus Christ healing his mother-in-law, you know and he must have been married, he must have had kids because not only was Peter an apostle but Peter was also a pastor, he was also a bishop of a church, so if you look at 1 Peter chapter 5, let me just prove that to you, 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 13, 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 13, Peter writes, the church that is at Babylon elected together with you, salute of you and so doth Marcus my son, so we learn here that Peter was the pastor, was the elder of the church that is at Babylon, okay, now go to verse number 1 in the same chapter, 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 1, 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 1, it says, the elders, now remember Titus was left in Crete to appoint elders, okay, so you see here Peter says, the elders which are among you I exhort, then he says this, you am also an elder, you see Peter, he's not just an apostle, he says I am also an elder, okay, so an elder is a pastor, is a bishop that is overseeing a church, now let's keep going, also an elder, so we know he's an elder, okay, and then it says, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, look at verse number 2, feed the flock of God, when we talk about a flock what are we talking about, the sheep, okay, feed the flock of God, so when we think about someone who feeds the flock, someone that leads the flock of sheep to green pastures, what would we call that person, a shepherd, right, he's a shepherd, and where do we get the term pastor from, or pastor, you know, in Spanish for example, the word for pastor is, sorry, the word for shepherd is pastor, a pastor is just a shepherd, it's just another name for the same role, okay, so it says feed the flock of God, we're talking about now a shepherd, a shepherd dealing with sheep, then it says, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, we're going to look at that word oversight in a moment, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, now, when we talk about taking the oversight thereof, let me just share with you what the Greek word, we'll go back to the Greek, what is the Greek word for the word oversight, okay, and I looked it up, and it's basically this, it's episcopus, okay, episcopus, now, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, but you can kind of now see where the word bishop comes from, okay, episcopus sounds a little bit like bishop, okay, the English word bishop comes from the Greek word episcopus, which is the word for oversight, in fact, the definition for the word bishop is an overseer, okay, so when we read verse number two, it says feed the flock of God, hey, that's the shepherd, that's the pastor, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, that's the bishop, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, now look at verse number three, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensembles to the flock, once again, the flock being referenced there, why is the flock being referenced, look at verse number four, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, and so we learn that Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd, so if a man, a pastor, is overseeing a flock, is he the chief shepherd, no, okay, though the pastor is an under shepherd, okay, but he reports to the chief shepherd, so what do we notice here, in first Peter chapter five, we notice a few things, that the chief shepherd or the pastor, okay, is also synonymous, or I should say the shepherd or the pastor, is synonymous with the elder, and the elder and the pastor is also the overseer, okay, so when we go back to Titus chapter one, go back to Titus chapter one for me please, you'll notice that all these terms are used interchangeably, if you have a look at, sorry, let me have a look where that is, oh yeah, verse number five again there, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that should have set in order the things that I want and to ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee, so what do we learn there, that Paul appointed Titus as an elder, and now Titus as an elder is appointing or ordaining other elders in other cities, okay, so what we learn about ordination is that ordination is a top down system, okay, ordination should never be where a congregation comes together and they just ordain a man amongst themselves and calling pastor, no, a pastor ordains a pastor, Paul was an apostle, the office of the apostle was a higher office than that of a pastor, so yes, the apostle could ordain a pastor and pastors ordain pastors, okay, so this idea, this system of ordaining takes away, you know, the possibility of someone self-ordaining themselves, okay, where they're just like, oh, I just want to be a pastor, I just want to start my own church and I'm just going to be my, I'm going to call myself pastor, I'm going to be the leader of my church, you know, if there are people like that, you need to get away from those people, if you ever find yourself in a church and you find out this man ordained himself, okay, he was not submissive to another church, he was not submissive under another authority where he was ordained as a pastor, he just did it himself, then you need to get away from that person, okay, pastors ordain pastors, churches start churches, you know, you never want to be someone that just goes, I'm going to start my own church, I'm going to call myself a pastor, no, okay, there's a top down approach from apostle to pastor or from pastor to pastor, okay, and again, what we learn is that these titles are all interchangeable, elder, pastor, bishop, now again, when we talk about all these names, they point to different parts of the role of the pastor, okay, so as a bishop, we already saw, it's an overseer, okay, so you're overlooking, it's kind of like a supervisor, okay, you're in charge, you're making sure that the affairs of the church are being run properly, as a pastor, you're someone that's committed to feed the flock, the word of God, you're to lead the church to the, you know, the green pastures, you know, feed people God's word, you need to be someone that's able to teach God's word, and of course, an elder points to the fact that the person is a mature Christian, right, he's not just recently saved or newly saved, you know, he's lived a life, you know, he's been married with kids, he's proven himself in other churches, he's proven himself as a family man, and you know, you can see maturing that person, that's why he's got to be an elder, not just some guy that got saved, you know, last week, and so these just points to different aspects of the same office. Now let's keep going there in Titus chapter one, verse number six, what are the qualifications? You see, the Bible gives us qualifications for a bishop. Now a lot of churches, they think, well, if I just send a man to seminary, okay, or if I send a man to Bible college, a lot of churches are like this, if they graduate, that's it, they're a pastor, you know, they're ready to start a church, honestly, people think that way, if I just commit to my two years, three years, four years of Bible study, I'm going to be a pastor, and this is why you end up with men that are unmarried as pastors, this is why you end up with men without children that are pastors, okay, because people just, they neglect God's word, and look, if you go into it, look, I wouldn't be against Bible college that much, I am against it, number one, I am against it, but I wouldn't be so against it if you were actually learning the Bible, okay, but what happens is, people in Bible college, they actually learn other philosophies, they learn the philosophies of man, okay, and then they try to find loopholes in God's word, and they say, well, God's word is not something that we can trust, yeah, we know one of the qualifications is to be a husband and have kids, but, you know, in the Bible college, as long as you've done the courses, don't worry about what the Bible says, you know, you've proven yourself, you've got your piece of paper on the wall that says you've graduated, now you're a pastor, well done, you know, it's stupidity, no, there is no Bible college in the Bible, okay, the pillar and the ground of truth is the local church, this is where people are meant to come to be fed God's word, not Bible college, the church is the place that you get fed God's word, that's why you need to be in a church where you're actually feeling like you're being fed, where you're learning God's word, you're gaining truth, right, you don't want a pastor that's worn down, preaching soft messages, and you walk away more confused than you were before, that's not what you want, you want a man who's able to feed the flock of God. Now let's look at the qualifications, verse number six, if any be blameless, we'll come back to the word blameless in a moment, the husband of one wife, okay, so that automatically removes every woman out of the equation, a woman cannot be a pastor, a woman cannot be the husband of one wife, you know, if you ever come across a woman that says, yeah, I'm a pastor, we'll ask her, how did you become the husband of one wife? It's impossible, okay, to roll for a man, and it's a man that has had one wife, you know, if you've been divorced or remarried, you're disqualified, okay, that's not what the Lord wants, the Lord wants us, the man, to have the one wife, and by the way, it's not one wife at a time, like Peter Ruckman taught, right, Peter Ruckman, who was married three times and divorced twice, and he says, well, yeah, I'm the husband of one wife, I got divorced first, and then I had another wife, and then divorced her, and had another wife, and so he thinks he's keeping the qualifications, but look, even if that was the case, let's say you could allow, find the loophole, and allow that to be one wife at a time, we'll see later on why someone like Peter Ruckman was disqualified anyway, and not only the one wife, it says, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, so having one child is not enough, it says children, faithful children, you know what children is plural, that means two or more, okay, and you say, well, you know, I've been married, and my wife gave birth to twins, those two, okay, and our twins are one month old, can I get you a Dane? No, it's not just children, it says having faithful children, okay, so you have to be able to, before you ordain a man, you've got to be able to look at those kids, and say, are these kids faithful, okay, and what does it mean by faithful, some people think does that mean they've got to be saved, no, don't believe that, believing a faithful child means that they're growing up under the umbrella of their parents, they're obedient kids, they're not running riot, right, you know, you see this clear obedience, the way dad and mum have raised their kids, they love their parents, they're obedient to their parents, and, you know, it shows that they've instructed the children will, and they're able to lead a home, because this becomes so important, if you cannot lead your home, you cannot lead a church, okay, a man that has no wife, he cannot lead a church, a man that has no children cannot lead a church, a man that does not have faithful children cannot lead a church, it's going to end in disaster, guaranteed it's going to end in a bad way, because the training ground to be a leader in a church is to have first led your own home, led your wife, led your children, had a faithful family, that's obvious to all that you've got a faithful family that follows the leader in that household. So, faithful children again, two or more children. Now, I strongly believe that these should be natural born children, because another way some pastors get around this, if they can't have kids for whatever reason, or they've only had one, and look, let me just say this, if your wife can't have any kids, I've preached not long ago, that my wife was originally told she would not have any kids, okay, now, if that's the situation, you find yourself in a situation where your wife is barren, you know, you can't have kids, and you say, I want to be a pastor, well, it's not for you, okay, the Lord is the one that opens and closes the womb, alright, and if the Lord's closed the womb, the Lord is just telling you, you're not suited for that role, okay, that doesn't mean you can't serve God, you know, I'm sure there are going to be just your regular, you know, church pew sitting Christian, that's going to be rewarded, you know, by God, more than many pastors that have done nothing for God, you know, it's not just I want to serve God full time, I've got to be a pastor, you can serve God full time in your home, with your family, in your job, every aspect of your life, you can, you should be serving God in that capacity. You know, those that think I can only serve God in the local church, do not understand what it is to serve God, God has given us many responsibilities, we can be an example, a shining light of Christianity, you know, I follow Christ and influence, you know, we have the gospel in every aspect of life, it's not just in the church, okay, and if you can't be a pastor, your wife has only had one child, it's not for you, you know, it's actually very clear that it's not for you, and doesn't mean you can't serve God, it means you can do great things, if you've been divorced and remarried, you can still serve God, you just can't be a pastor, okay, and again, I do believe this has to do with natural born children, because as I said, some people try to get around this, and they adopt kids, okay, well, I've adopted two or three kids, now I'm qualified, I've got faithful children, well, I don't believe that's, it's great that you have done that, you know, I don't know if I have the heart to adopt children, I think I find it hard to love children that are not my own, if they were in my own family, some people are able to do that, praise God for them, okay, but, you know, it's very clear that these people need to be children from your wife, from your family, and that you've raised them well, okay, so, to me, faithful children would be, if we're going to go with a minimum of two children, that the youngest child is at least three years old, okay, because, you know, when they get around two years old, we'll call them, we'll call that terrible twos, okay, that's where a lot of kids try to find, you know, they try to push the boundaries, they realise that they're able to do more and they become a little bit, you know, difficult to manage, well, if a child gets to about three years old and you see, hey, that child seems to be well-tempered, alright, he's obedient, you know, he's not screaming and kicking and running around wild, then that proves, as a younger child I'm talking about, that proves that well, you know what, this family was able, you know, to have two, at least two minimum faithful children that, you know, helps that person be qualified for that position of authority. Let's keep going, verse number seven, it says, for the 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. Now, a lot of people give their opinions of what they believe blameless means, you know, does blameless mean sinless? Of course not, then nobody can be a pastor, okay, no one is sinless, but what is blameless? And so people have different opinions of what that is and, you know, if we're going to, look, granted, the Bible doesn't make it very clear what it means to be blameless, okay, but I would say if there's a major sin in this person's life that is just that obvious and just change that person's testimony in a horrible manner, then I would say that person's not blameless. You know, I would say if a person has committed a sin worthy of death, like murder, okay, like rape in the past, let's say they did it before they were saved, I would say that's not blameless. Like there's something so horrific in their past that you just couldn't label that person as blameless, okay, but if we keep your finger there and go to Philippians chapter 2, go to Philippians chapter 2 verse number 14, let's have a look at another passage where the Bible uses the word blameless and let's see what the opposite is, so you got, sorry, yeah, what the opposite is of someone that is blameless and then we can kind of understand what this person should be like as an individual. Philippians 2, 14 please, Philippians chapter 2 verse number 14, it says, do all things without murmurings and disputings. Why? It says in verse number 15, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. So when you look at blameless here, what is the opposite of blameless? The opposite is someone that is murmuring, complaining, whining, okay, disputing, they're constantly in conflict with people, right? So that person that's constantly in conflict, the person that's constantly whining and complaining, oh, I wish church was doing this, I wish pastor was doing that, I wish this was happening, whining, complaining, that person's not blameless, he's not suited for a position like that, okay? People that murmur, complain and whine, they do that because they're not content, okay? We need a pastor, we'll soon see later why, we need a pastor to be a very content person, happy with what they have, you know, appreciate the blessings that God has given them in their life, but if they're murmuring, complaining, you know, they're not harmless and they're not blameless, okay? So that's what I believe, you know, if I identify someone as just a whining complainer, you know, I would say that person's just not suited for the position, okay, as a bishop. What else do we learn there in Titus chapter 7? It says blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed. So a pastor is basically saying, hey, I need to put my will aside for a moment, okay? I want to seek God's will, this is why you don't want a self-appointed pastor, okay? Because a self-appointed man is basically self-willed, okay? He said, you know, I don't have time to, you know, submit myself under another pastor, I don't have time to serve another church, I'm going to call myself pastor, well that's been self-willed. I'm going to start my own church, that's been self-willed, okay? That's been rebellious, that's not the kind of person you want, okay? It's not about you, it's about serving the Lord, it's about serving God's people, so you want to make sure you don't have a selfish person, okay? If someone proves themselves to be selfless, where they put the needs of others first, then that's a good example of someone that you may look at and say, hey, that person would make a good pastor. What else do we learn there? Not self-willed, not soon angry. It doesn't say he never gets angry, it just says he's not quick to anger, right? He doesn't have a short fuse. What else? Not given to wine, I believe that's alcohol, okay? A person that doesn't drink alcohol, a person that's not addicted to that substance. And so if you want to be a pastor and you've had alcohol addiction in the past, and you know that's a major thing, that's something you really need to battle in your life, okay? Because usually if you've had addiction to something in the past, you're going to battle with that for the rest of your life, okay? And you may go for a period of time where you overcome that addiction, but it's always there. If you just find yourself in a weak place, you know, it's the same flesh you've got, and they can be very tempted to go back to the same sins of old, okay? So not given to wine. A person, it's so important, because we already looked at this when I preached about alcohol, how we saw how alcohol can mess up the minds of somebody, like a king or a priest, who's supposed to teach people God's word, or supposed to pass judgment, and many times the pastor is going to pass judgment for his church, he's going to have to make decisions for his church. And if that person's clouded his mind with dead brain cells because he's been drinking alcohol, you know, he's not suited for that position. What else did we learn there? It says not given to wine, no striker. Now there is another passage later, one that says no brawler, and I believe those are two different things. So when I think about a striker, I don't know about you, but I think of someone, I think of a snake. A snake where, you know, they come up to their prey, and they strike at their prey, right? They dig in their fangs, and they see, you know, the other object as prey, okay? That's what I think of a striker, someone that just goes on on the attack, okay? So a brawler is something else, let's go into a fist fight, we'll talk about that later on. But a striker is somebody that is seeking to destroy others. You know, a pastor's role ought to be to edify people, to build up the church, right? To help people learn the Bible and to help people make the right decisions in their life, to edify, to exhort the brethren. But someone that is a striker is trying to tear down other people, and this is a really bad characteristic. You know, I remember this was something, you know, this is something that you're meant to grow out of as a teenager, but you see a lot of this stuff in high school, where you have, like, teenagers, you know, tearing down other people, striking down other people, like, you know, just maybe bullying other people, or, you know, acting that way. Why do they do that? Why do they like to tear down other people? Because they feel like if I tear down others around me, I look better than others, okay? So instead of, you know, improving oneself, some wicked people, they would rather tear down other people, they'd rather strike out at other people so they feel better about themselves, okay? That would be a horrible person as a pastor. What else does it say? Not given to filthy Luca. And of course, filthy Luca is money, not given to it, okay? So, you know, in a church, you're going to have people giving, you know, their offerings, their tithes and their offerings to the church. And you know, even though we're a small church, there's quite a bit of money that comes through the church, you know? That's why it's so important that the pastor is not someone that's greedy for money, for filthy Luca, because you will handle large sums of money sometimes. And as a pastor, you're going to have to make decisions for the church that, you know, you'll be spending literally thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars for church decisions. And you want to make sure it's not someone that is, you know, skimming a little bit off the top for himself. Now, there's nothing wrong with a pastor being paid, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's completely biblical. But I am wary of people that basically want to become, want to be put in positions of authority in a church to get paid, meaning that the whole point of getting to the ministry is that they can have an income, you know? I would much rather, okay, have someone work in a full-time job, already proven themselves to be a hard worker, already proven themselves to be able to take care of bills, take care of family financially, okay? And then, through that transition, eventually become a pastor, because he's already learned how to handle money. He's already learned how to handle the finances for a family unit, okay? And then he can come into a position of authority and handle the finances in a church. And much rather than that, than somebody, some young guy who's left high school, goes into Bible college, does his four years, okay, he's never had to manage the household, finances the household, and then he becomes a pastor because that's going to be, for him, that's his full-time job. You know, I'm thankful that I know I could be earning, you know, literally three times as much, you know, if I was out in the secular job, you know, back in business, back in management, I could be earning much more as a pastor, and I'm thankful about that, okay? Because that, you know, that should show people that I didn't become a pastor just for financial reasons, okay? I could, if it's financial reasons, I'd much rather, in fact, you know, honestly, you know, if there was just some other guy, we had some other man ready to be the pastor for this church, for New Life Baptist Church, it might be better for me to be like, hey, you know what, guys, thank you, I'll leave these churches in your hand and I'll go and work my secular job because I've got a large family to take care of, okay? No, you know, we need to make sure that the pastor of a church is someone that is not greedy for Phil Phil Luca, okay? As I said, there can come times when you're actually handling large amounts of money, and you know, it doesn't surprise, shouldn't surprise us, and you know, this has happened within IFB churches where pastors are literally stealing money from the church, you know? And I just, I do not understand it, you know? Any time that I've had to go to the church and say, hey, guys, look, I'm paying myself this much, you know, I'm in this situation, I need to increase my pay, I run it by the men, you know what? You run it by, you be open, you communicate, people are like, of course, pastor, you know? Pay yourself more, okay? When you're open and honest, I mean, if you need a pay increase as a pastor, why don't you just let the church know? They understand. If you're just serving God, you're doing it faithfully, you're feeding people God's word, and they know you're putting your heart into it, and that you're not selfish, and that you're sacrificial, you know, generally speaking, people are just going to be like, of course, why do you have to steal something? Why do you have to hide that behind the church's back and destroy your ministry, you know, and hurt the church and hurt the people of God that looked up to you? So we need to make sure that the man we choose is not greedy, fulfilled for Luca. Verse number eight, but a lover of hospitality. Now when you think about the word hospitality, people often think that, you know, it's about inviting people to your house, and that is part of it. Now I will say to you, honestly, you know, with 11 kids, you know, the more kids we've had, the harder it's been for our family to have people over in our house, just requires a lot of effort, okay? But hospitality isn't just having people over your house, right? We talk about the hospitality industry, okay? Let's talk about service. You know, when you're serving people, you might talk about hotel, restaurants, okay? It's service, okay? This is why, you know, even church, you know, the pastor needs to be someone that is hospitable toward people. They love the people. They love the church, right? They view people as, I'm here to serve these people, right? We talk about a waiter. He works in a hospitality industry. He's waiting on the customer, okay? The waiter goes to work. He takes the customer's order. He goes to the kitchen. He says, hey, they want to order this and that. He makes sure he's the one communicating, right? Well, you know what? Being a pastor is a service. You're a minister. You're ministering to people. It's not about being served yourself, okay? I kind of get embarrassed when people sometimes give me nice gifts, take me out for a meal and they've been nice to me. I'm kind of thinking, yeah, but I've got to serve you. I mean, I get to serve you with the word of God, amen? Sometimes I get a little bit, you know, rewards, you know, little gifts on the side. Praise God for that, you know? But, you know, the person who wants to be a pastor, he ought to love his people. He ought to love visitors when they come in and he's seeking to be hospitable, to serve that person. It says in verse number eight, a lover of good men. So you need to make sure that this person that wants to be a pastor has good men around him, right? That his best friends are not like worldly people, right, that can influence him in a bad way. You know, he finds good men and he's able to fellowship with good men. He's able to encourage good men and he's also able to receive encouragement back from good men, right? You've got to have a good network of people to help that pastor along the journey. It says sober. Sober can sometimes, we can think of maybe, you know, someone that is a drunk and is not sober. We've already looked at alcohol, but sober means that you're serious minded. Now, if you know me, you know that I often just muck around, like I joke around, right? If you know me, if you listen to me online, you probably don't realize, maybe you do realize I'm like that, I don't know, but generally speaking, I'm pretty down to earth and I just like to muck around. Hey, I'll make fun of myself. I don't care, okay? I'm usually mucking around, laughing, whatever. But being sober means to be serious and say, well, maybe Pastor Kevin, maybe you're not serious enough. You know, when it comes to the house of God, when it comes to church matters, when it comes to church ministries, right, when it comes to soul winning, when it comes to preaching God's word, I'm very sober. I'm very serious about God's business. I'm very serious about God's house, right? You know, blessed up Baptist Church is not just some party place. We come here and everyone's just mucking around and, you know, who's preaching today? I have no idea. Who's some leader? Who knows who's some leader, right? And people are just, you know, you let the women get up and preach, hey, that's not going on in this church, okay? We take God's business seriously, okay? Being sober. It says just. Just. This is, you know, you pass judgment in the right way justly, okay? You know the difference between what is right and wrong. Holy. Holy means separated, okay? So you're not worldly, right? When people look at your life, you don't just look like every other person in this world. You actually look like somebody, right? Your life, your family, you know, your conversation, your behavior looks like something godly, looks something like Christ, hopefully, right? That's what holy means, to be separated, unlike the world. You know, I like it. Well, we haven't been able to do it for a long time because of lockdowns, but I used to love just walking down the street or going to places, restaurants or zoos with my kids and people look at us and go, well, that's weird. Yeah, you know, that's weird, but it's holy, it's separated, it's different, okay? And I've given stories before where we've gone to the zoo, right, Taronga Zoo here in Sydney and, you know, you get a lot of Asian tourists come and instead of taking pictures of the animals, they're taking pictures of our family, okay? I mean, they find another attraction, right, to take pictures of, I mean, look at this big family. Well, yeah, that's been different. That's been wholly different from the world, okay? Temperate. Temperate means, basically, you know, you've got your, you're self-controlled, you know, you've got, you know, you're not, you don't lose your temper, right? You're in control, right? You don't get too emotional. Now, some people get really emotionally happy, but they're also, usually the people that get very happy about something, very excited, are also people that sometimes get very, very sad about a sad situation, right? Being temperate means you're in control, okay? You don't lose control. Now, there's nothing wrong with emotions. Please don't misunderstand me. But you're in control of your emotions because, you know, when you allow your emotions to get out of control, then you make stupid decisions, okay? You think stupid things. You say stupid things. And a pastor is someone that needs to be temperate, self-controlled, controlled of his emotions. Now, let me just also say, a lot of Baptist pastors, if you've, you know, and look, I'm not the only one to speak because I'm putting on a bit of weight. I need to lose my weight, okay? Well, I know we're having some kebabs later on, dream team, livestream dream team, but I've got to be careful, Brevin. I've got to be careful because there's a lot of Baptist pastors that are just, not just a little bit overweight, but literally obese, okay, where they, they don't go soul winning because they can't even walk from one house to another house, okay? I mean, there are, look at American Baptist pastors. Some of them are huge, all right? Well, that person is not temperate. He's not in control, okay? He doesn't control his food substance, right? He's addicted to food. Hey, a pastor needs to make sure they're in control in all areas of life, okay? As well as, you know, taking care of the body, you know, you've got to be careful because, you know, sometimes as a pastor, you may not, you know, you're not working as a laborer, right? You're not necessarily working as hard as you maybe were in the past and you're sitting down, you're thinking, you're praying, you're meditating, you're writing sermons, right? And it's easy to, as you get older, to put on weight. And so pastors need to be careful to be temperate even in that area of their life. You know, I wouldn't want to be under a pastor that's just extremely overweight, you know, I'm just telling you the truth. Because I would look at that person and say, that person is just not temperate in that area of their life. Okay, verse number nine. It says, holding fast the faithful word, as he have been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Now let me be very, let me be careful about verse number nine here. It doesn't say holding fast that, that he's been, sorry, as he had been taught, okay? See, some people think that if you've been sent by a church, you've been ordained by a church, that you just have to make sure you line up perfectly with your previous pastor. About everything, okay? Some people think that, right? And I've seen some pastors where they deviate, where they see some other truth in the Bible, and they teach, you know, with pure conscience, with a good conscience, what they believe to be true, okay? And then the other pastor tries to basically break fellowship, separate themselves, other things. I'm talking about minor doctrine. I'm not talking about major doctrines here. I'm talking about minor doctrines, okay? Now it's good that you've been taught. This is why you don't want to self-adtain in person. You're a person that's going to church faithfully, serving God, learning great truths, and let me tell you that a lot of what I preach, okay, is the build-up of many pastors over my life, okay? I've been in church my whole life, okay? I've listened to some online preachers which have helped me in some areas of my life, but most of what I preach, brethren, honestly, are things that I've learned from my pastors of old here in Australia, you know, from my own experience in studying God's Word, okay? It's what we've been learned, but it's not just parroting what you've learned from another man. It's just holding fast to the what? The faithful Word as you have been taught. So if someone has taught you something true from God's Word, then you're not going to deviate from that, but sometimes, you know, as it is, pastors sometimes preach their preferences. Sometimes they preach man's wisdom. Sometimes their interpretation of a passage could be wrong, okay? And so if you're being ordained by a man and you come and you come before God's Word and you have a clear conscience and you're trying to serve God faithfully through the Word and you have a difference to another pastor, I say just preach it. If it's true to God's Word, you preach it because you're holding fast the faithful Word, okay? So it's not like you have to be like, oh, I got ordained by this man. You know, if one day I ordained a pastor, okay, and I find out later on that pastor preached some things that are different to me, as long as they're not major problems and major heretical issues, I'm just going to be like, well, praise God for him, okay? Because the last thing I want is like a cult where everyone just has to parrot exactly the same things all the time, okay? I'm just a man. I can make mistakes. We can all make mistakes, okay? But when it comes to, of course, our foundational doctrines, the main doctrines, you know, we need to make sure that we don't waver from those truths. And by the way, this is why it's so important that the person is not just a graduate from a Bible college, okay? That the person is not just someone that's parroting information, right? The worst thing would be if I ordained a man, and before he preaches, he just goes back and listens to one of my sermons, and then just preaches my sermon. I don't want the regurgitator, okay? We don't need that person. Hey, I can regurgitate my own sermons, okay, but I'm not going to regurgitate some other man's sermons, okay? We don't want that. Why? Because when you do your own study, okay, it grounds you in God's Word. But then it says here, in verse number nine, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. You see, in a church, you can't expect that everyone's just going to line up with you perfectly. They're not. I'm sure, I've taught things in the last year that I've been here at Blessed Above the Church, I'm sure I've taught things that people have said, I don't agree with that. Well, praise God for you, okay? A gainsayer is someone, if you think of the word against, if you think, oh, this person's against me, what do you think? That person doesn't like you much, right, they talk against you. Well, that's what a gainsayer is, right? He says things against, that's where a gainsayer comes from. He says things against the preacher. It's not like you just have a different opinion, and you're just like, well, you know what, each to their own, it's not a big deal. But this person's actually trying to cause discord in the church. He's trying to cause problems, right? So the pastor's wrong about this, pastor's wrong about that, pastor's wrong about that. Okay, that's a gainsayer. Well, you know what, it can be very tempting to be like, hey, you're a problem, let's just kick you out of the church. Okay? You're very tempted to do that. But no, what is the pastor required to do? He has to have sound doctrine, he has to know the word of God, the faithful word, he has to hold fast to the faithful word very well, where he can both exhort and convince the gainsayers. That's what a pastor needs to do, right? If someone comes with a bit of faulty doctrine, it's not like, well, get out of here, we don't believe like that. The pastor ought to be able to pull that person aside, say, look, let me convince you, let me show you from God's word, you know, let me show you by sound doctrine, show you why you're wrong about this topic, and let me show you what our church believes. That's what a pastor ought to do, okay? And to exhort, that's build up the gainsay as well, okay? So it's not just like you're my enemy, get out of here, no. Hopefully we can convince them and build them up in the faith, build them up in knowledge, and they can get on board with what the church is doing. You know, so I believe, you know, and, you know, if I were to ever ordain a man, I would ask that man and say, look, can you give me some examples where you've actually convinced a gainsayer, where you've had beliefs, and other people have not had that belief, or they've been against you, and you've successfully been able to show from God's word why and help that person come to a different understanding, the right understanding of a doctrine? That's what I want to hear. I want to hear that you're able to convince the gainsayer, this is the qualification for a pastor. Now, if you could please go to 1 Timothy chapter 3, where we had the reading from, 1 Timothy chapter 3. As I said, we have some passages from Titus and from Timothy. And let's have a look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, because there are some other things that I want to bring out here, 1 Timothy chapter 3, and verse number 2, it says, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, we already looked at that, vigilant. So the vigilant is something new that's not covered in Titus, so sober, we look at sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Now let's look at vigilant first. So we already saw that the bishop is an overseer, okay? He watches out, okay? So a vigilant person is basically that person that is watching, he's careful, right? He's looking, he's making sure that no harm will come to the church, right? That he's paying attention, if a wolf, if a false prophet creeps in, that he's not just like ignorant, but he's actually paying attention, he's careful, okay? And that's what a vigilant person does, right? He's aware of the danger, he seeks to protect the flock, that's what a pastor is supposed to do, protect the flock of God as well. And if you can please, actually I'll just read it to you. I'm going to read to you from 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8. First Peter chapter 5 verse 8 says, be sober, be vigilant. So you may notice there in 1 Timothy 3, too, it's got vigilant, then sober. So in 1 Peter 5 verse 8 it says, be sober, be vigilant. Why is this so important in a pastor? It says because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. So it's so important that a pastor is sober and vigilant because the devil is looking to get into the church, the devil is looking to devour the souls of men, to destroy a church, to destroy people that are doing the work of God. It's so important that we don't have just some simple-minded person, but someone that is aware of the dangers, that is watching out for the dangers that come into his church. What else did we learn in verse number 2? It says, act to teach. That's something else that we need to look at. We already kind of looked at that because the qualification for a pastor is someone that holds fast the faithful word, he's able to convince the gainsayers, meaning that he's able to teach, right? It's not just preaching, it's teaching. And this is really what I want for Blessed Up Baptist Church and what I really want for New Life Baptist Church. There are a lot of pastors that believe the right doctrines, but they don't know how to teach those doctrines, okay? Where they might turn around and say, well, we believe in a young earth creation, we believe the earth is about 6,200 years old, roughly, okay, a bit younger than that. But they don't teach why they believe that, okay? In other words, that person is just parroting some truth. I'm not saying what they're saying is not true, they can be saying the true things, but you need to be someone that is apt to teach. You're able to teach people why is it 6,200 years, right? So you're able to show somebody and go through the genealogies, go through the ages that people had children, go through the period of time where Israel was, you know, 400 years in Egypt and then, you know, the times of the kings and, you know, to the time that they returned back, the Jews returned back and from Babylon and to the time of Christ and then from the time of Christ to today, and you can break it down, you can show people why we believe what we believe. This is so important. I found this to be so important in churches and so many churches miss it, where they just say, if we just say the truth, we believe in the Trinity, okay, but can you teach the Trinity? Can you teach how three are one? Can you teach that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are differences and what are the common things, what are the differences between the three? Can you do those things? A lot of people can't, they just, they know how to say what they believe, which is true, but they don't know how to teach people. And why is this so important? Because I remember, as a teenager, as a young boy, you know, people that are saved at a young age and generally speaking, you know, young people, they love the Lord, generally speaking, they love the Bible, they want to know more about God's truth, okay, and they want to get into church and learn something and at the beginning, yeah, they can be hearing preaching and we believe this, we believe this, we believe this, but then they grow up and they go into the world and the world has different philosophies, the world has different beliefs and the world says, well, you should believe in this, you should believe in this, believe in this, right? And people are like, well, I know what the church teaches and I know now what the world is teaching and at the end of the day, they're going to be convinced by the arguments and if the preacher did not teach, if the preacher did not open God's word and say, look, this is why we believe it, this is the verse, these are the two or three witnesses that tell us this truth in God's word, they're going to be led astray and not believe the truth, you know, they're going to be led astray and they're going to fall into the Pentecostal churches, the charismatic churches, they might end up in a church that believes a false gospel, a repent of your sins gospel because they're never taught where the Bible teaches salvation is by faith alone and those things are not being taught clearly in God's word, in many churches things are not being taught clearly, so why it's so important that a pastor is apt to teach, he's able to go in deep in God's word and pull out truths, right? Prove why do we believe what we believe, not just what we believe. Verse number three, 1 Timothy 3, not given to wine, we looked at that already, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, so patience, patience, right? And again, this is important because patience is so important because as a pastor, I want my church to grow, not just in numbers but in maturity, okay, and everyone is at different places, some people sometimes go backwards, okay, some people are on fire for God and they get too, too on fire where they burn out, you know, some people need to be taught doctrines multiple times before they learn. There are people in my church that I realize sometimes I wish, I wish they learnt this truth earlier so they don't make the same mistakes and they make the same mistakes, okay, and you know, what a pastor really wants, he wants to see the church just grow and mature and become more Christ-like, but it's not like this perfect pattern where everyone's just constantly growing, there are all kind of zigzags all over the place, okay, and you need to be patient, okay, it's like being a father, you've got to be patient with your kids, you teach your kids things and then they still disobey sometimes, right, they still do what is wrong and you can either blow your top or you can just bring him patiently, say son, I really taught you this, let me explain to you again, let me help you not to make that same mistake again, this is why patience is so important for a pastor, if you don't have patience, you're not going to be able to deal with people, okay, because it's not the easiest role being a pastor, okay, when you're dealing with concerns and problems that get brought up and sometimes in my fleshly mind I'm thinking, but why did you do that, you know, you shouldn't have done that, but I've got to be patient with this person, I love this individual, I love this person, I want them to do well, I want them not to make that same mistake again, patience is so important, okay, and I've got to work on that patience, you know, if you want to pray for me about something, pray that Pastor Kevin will be more patient, I need it, okay, but you see these are qualifications needed, after patience it says, not a brawler, there is sort of a striker or something that destroys people around, a brawler is someone that gets into fistfights literally, okay, and you think the only way you can solve a problem is, you know, meet me outside or something like that, right, now I thank God that I've only ever got into one fistfight in high school and I lost, so once you do that and you lose, you'll be like, I better not get into it again, okay, so I learned that lesson a long time ago, not a brawler, not covetous, okay, and again, when we look at being blameless, we're talking about the whiners and complainers, that's not being blameless, well this kind of comes into the covetous because the covetous is the person that's not content with what they have, being covetous is desiring the things that belong to others, you know, and it takes a lot of work to start, especially to start a church from scratch, you know, it takes a lot of work because you don't know how many, how much of the offense is going to come in, you don't know when you'll be able to pay yourself something, all right, and you're going to go without, right, when I became a pastor, when I started the church up in New Life Brothers Church, I made sure I had a big savings, I was ready to go without for a long time, okay, and again, I'm not greedy for filthy luca, okay, but you understand that you're going to have to be very sacrificial and if you're someone that just demands and wants and you look at the things of others and you want it, you want it, you want it, you're going to be a hopeless pastor, like you really need to learn how to be content, okay, with the slow growth of a church, you know, allowing Jesus Christ to be the one that builds the church, right, Christ said that, upon this rock, I will build my church, Jesus Christ said, so you're waiting for the timing of the Lord Jesus Christ and, you know, making sure that you don't desire what other members have or, you know, yeah, that's something that you need to work on, right, if that's something you struggle with and you want to be a pastor. Look at verse number four, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity, so notice the faithful children, this way he puts it here, children in subjection, okay, faithful children are children that are submissive to their parents, you can see these children love and obey their parents commands, okay, with all gravity, then look at verse number five, for if a man not know how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God, so what is the training ground for a pastor to rule over a church, not Bible college, the training ground is the family, okay, the wife, the kids, right, if the husband and wife are just constantly fighting, he's not suited to be a pastor, if the kids are the ones running the household, right, they're not, he's not suited to be a pastor because he's going to destroy the church, okay, he's going to allow people in the church to do whatever they want and it's going to be out of control and I said earlier, you know, we had that Peter Rockman situation where he says, well, I was the husband of one wife at a time and he had two divorces, okay, let's say, let's say he could find that loophole in the other passage, well, it says in verse number four, one that ruleeth well his own house, so I know one of the stories of one of his ex-wives, okay, was that he was driving down the road and his wife was so angry at him, they were arguing in the car, where literally the car is moving, she opens the car door and throws herself out of the car door, okay, and he's like, well, see how crazy that woman is, no wonder I divorced her, well, you know what that proves to me, that you did not rule well your own house, that Peter Rockman, even if it was one wife at a time, okay, the fact that he got divorced multiple times, that his ex-wife is throwing herself out of the car, well, it's moving, proves to me that that person is not ruling well his own house, he can't rule his own house and he's not going to be able to rule the house of God, okay, you can see, look, to me, a lot of these qualifications, they're just common sense, right, they're just common sense for a pastor, it's not like some extreme, it's so hard to reach, it must be so impossible to be a pastor, and I think all men should be striving to meet these qualifications, okay, but it's a man that is able to meet these things, and we'll have a look at this later, oh, I won't skip too far ahead, okay, but it's so important that a pastor is able to raise his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, because when you're teaching God's people, you're doing the same thing, okay, you're teaching the church in the nurture and admonition, sometimes you need to nurture people, sometimes you need to admonish, sometimes you have to rip face a little bit, okay, to get the message out so the people can grow up to be more mature in the Lord, look at verse number six, not a novice, so that's not a young person, not a newly saved person, okay, novice, why not a novice? It says, less being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil, you know, someone that gets saved, or maybe, yeah, early, you say, but even someone that is saved for a long time, but they're still childish, like they're still a babe in Christ, they've not learned much, they're not suited for the position, because they will be lifted up with pride, and fall into the condemnation of the devil, you see, the devil was lifted up with pride, he wanted to be like the most high, he wanted a higher position, and he destroys himself, right, and so the prideful person, the novice, will lift themselves up, make, you know, become a proud person, and they'll destroy their ministry, so it cannot be someone that is new in the faith, it has to be someone that has a good track record of their Christian growth and maturity, okay, let's keep going, that's why it's an elder, that's why again the title, one of the pastors titles is the elder, he's mature, he's been, you know, faithfully serving God, there's a track record, you know, you can go back if you want, you can ring my own, my old pastors if you want, and check whether there's a good track record of me serving faithfully in God's house, I'm not ashamed, you know, if you want my old pastor's names, check, you know, I'm more than happy to share that with you, verse number seven, verse number seven is so important, it says moreover, now what does that mean, moreover, verse number seven is saying all these things are important that we just looked at, but even more important than all of that, okay, moreover, he must, so it's not optional, okay, he must have a good report of them which are without, so not just someone that comes to church and is able to just win the hearts of people and show himself, look how good of a pastor I'm going to be, okay, but you need to check that person outside, without, does he have a good report, does he have a good reputation outside of the house of God, okay, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil, you see your pastor's pass should be open and available for anybody to check, you know, if you want to, you know, again, if you want to know my old churches, my old pastors, I'll give you their numbers, okay, you can ring them, you can say, you know, pastor, how was Kevin, was he had trouble making the church, did he cause divisions, right, was he selfish, or ask, hey, did he serve faithfully, you know, did he have his hand up, you know, to serve in whatever capacity he could, right, with the ministry and the work you've given, you gave Kevin, you know, did he fulfill those tasks faithfully, you know, and I have no doubt they're going to give a good report, I have no doubt, okay, so if you want the names and numbers, I'll give it to you, okay, but not just those in the church, those without, you know, you can ring any of my old employers, ring the old businesses that I used to work with, okay, my old bosses and ask them, was he a good worker, was he a good employee, right, did he show up to work on time, you know, you know, did he work hard, was he productive, you know, did you benefit having Kevin as an employee, you know what, again, I have no doubt you're going to get a good report, no doubt, okay, this is why it's so important that, you know, if I'm ever going to ordain a man as a pastor, I want to know that man's old pastors, I want to know their old churches, in fact, I've done that, or I've called up numbers people and asked information, okay, it's like if you're going to apply for any job, normally you're meant to give in your application like some referees, old employers, employers that you could, you know, ring up, people that know you, so you can find more information about that individual, okay, well, you know what, before I ordain a man, either a deacon or a pastor, I'm going to ring his old pastors, if he's been in an old church, I'm going to ring his employers to find out what kind of worker he is, because if I find out he's a slack worker, okay, and he maybe stole money on the job, he's going to do it at the church, okay, so important that we have someone with a good reputation even outside of the house of God, moreover, he must have a good report, the Bible says. Now, if you look at 1 Timothy 3, we didn't look at verse number 1, 1 Timothy 3, verse number 1, we did start with it, now, all these qualifications, brethren, let me just say, this isn't just, well, I'm never going to be a pastor, so I'll never try to achieve these things, hey, these are just good things, right, not a brawler, not a striker, having faithful children, being the husband of one wife, right, not given to wine, right, holding fast to faithful word, these are good things for any man, every man should be striving for these things, okay, but just because you have all these things in place, it doesn't mean necessarily that you're suited to be a pastor, because if you look at verse number 1, it says, 1 Timothy 3, verse number 1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work, okay, so maybe you do meet all these qualifications, the next question is, do you desire the office though, because a lot of people, yeah, are mature Christians, they're serving God as best as they can in their families, in their workplaces, in the church, but they're just like, but yeah, I can never do it, you know, I don't desire to be a pastor, well, then that person's just not suited for the position, it's not just the qualifications, but it's the desire, and it's not just a desire, it's both, you can't just have, I want to be a pastor and not meet the qualifications, well, you fail, you can't just meet the qualifications and not have desire, well, that's not for you then, okay, you've got to have the desire and the qualifications together, okay, or the good report, and if that's you, then that's the person that I'll be looking at one day till Dane into a position of authority, okay, so it also says in verse number one, this is true saying, if man desires the office of Bishop, he desires a good work, please never think that our pastor Kevin became a pastor because, you know, it's easy going, you know, he only preaches a couple of times a week, what's that one hour sermon here, what is that, three or four sermons a week, okay, three or four hours of work, no, no, it's not a holiday, okay, it's a good work, and we're going to look at another time the kind of responsibilities that fall under the category of a pastor, a lot of people don't know what those responsibilities are, it's clearly laid out for us in the Bible what they were, okay, but it is a good work and it is a good desire to have, you know, if someone in your church says I would like to be a pastor one day, you know, they're desiring a good work, please never shoot that person down, please don't laugh at them, please don't mock at them, okay, you know, my desire to become a pastor I would say probably developed in my early 20s when I first desired to become a pastor, when did I actually become a pastor, when I was 36, I think I was 36 or 37, okay, so I went some at least 15 years of desiring to be a pastor, okay, so from the time that I desired it I thought okay well I desire it now I need to work toward being a pastor, I need to be grounded in doctrine, I need to be married, I need to have good children, I need to know God's word very well, hey that process took at least 15 years, okay, so if someone says in church man I like to be a pastor when they don't laugh at them they might need 15 years, they might need 20 years, well it doesn't matter at least they're working toward it, they're desiring a good work, you know, someone desires the office of a pastor I'll be like hey awesome please work toward it, you know, here are some, you know, if I can share some thoughts with that person, all right, I want people getting offended sometimes when you give them good advice, all right, you know, this is not something to be rushed, okay, we've got to be careful, let me just say as much as I would love for a full-time pastor to be serving blessed about the church right now I'm not going to rush the decision, you know, we're coming, basically I've been pastoring this church for three years, okay, and I already made the commitment to this church that I'm going to pastor it for 10 years if I have to, okay, so we've still got seven years as we've passed to Kevin, you know, leading this place at minimum, okay, I already have that, but if someone shows up and they're ready to be a pastor I'm ready to hand this church over to someone else, I'm looking forward to getting back to Queensland to the New Life Baptist Church and serve that church, right, if we can just be full time we can obviously do much more for a church, be focused on the church that God has for us, but please be praying about this, I don't want anyone from Blessed Baptist Church to think that I'm trying to get away from here, no, I'm committed to those 10 years as I said, I'm committed to it, okay, and you may have a part-time pastor in the future when I get back to Queensland, but I'm still your pastor, okay, this church is still a church that's been established by another church, okay, I was ordained bishop by another bishop, okay, and followed on down that lineage, and this is the house of God, this is the church of God, this is the pillar and the ground of truth, and you know, if someone in our church wants to be a pastor one day, please read these passages, read these qualifications, work toward it, build a good report, okay, if you've got a bad report right now, if I called all your employers and they said they talked bad about you, they got to work on that, now look, if they say something bad like, oh yeah, we didn't like him much because he didn't like the homos, I'll be like, well praise God for you then, okay, but if they're like, he was just a slack worker and never got to work in time, and you know, he quit because he was too hard or something like that, well then he's not going to be suited for the position of a pastor, right, if you've got that kind of reputation report, you need to work at it, you need to go get a job right now, work hard for an employer, put your head down, work hard, because I'm going to be ringing those places, you know, before I lay my hands on you, all right brethren, as I said, the title for the sermon tonight was the office of a bishop, I hope, you know, if you're never part of this, if one day in the future you're not part of this church and you get yourself into another church, praise God, but I hope you kind of consider what the Bible has to say, and if that person is self-ordained or is clearly disqualified, I'd strongly encourage you, please don't get yourself under that person because they're just going to destroy not just your faith but the church, okay, let's pray.