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Amen. Okay, so in the book of 1 Timothy and for, you know, for a few reasons I could explain before. I think it's a great practical book. I want to try and keep the Sunday evenings a bit more practical. And we're up to chapter 3 now in 1 Timothy and in the book so far we've seen quite a bit already. We've seen in chapter 2 the encouragement to pray for all, but especially the rulers in our lives. It's something that I said, you know, we often forget, don't we, to pray about. But it wasn't to pray for them so, you know, they'll be happy, healthy, you know, well-meaning rulers. It's so that we can continue to serve God. It's to pray for things to work out, for us to be able to continue to serve Him, You know, get to church, all those things which we maybe take for granted here, which in many nations, you know, would be much harder to do. We saw some great verses last week, if you remember, that destroy the nonsense of Calvinism and then also affirm the Trinity as well. Verse 3 in 1 Timothy chapter 2 said, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. So it's God that's our Saviour because the Lord Jesus Christ is God, who will have all men to be saved. Destroy Calvinism there and to come unto the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God. That works because of the Trinity and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. There are great verses there aren't there in the Bible, so there's so many truths in those four verses there. After that we focus on how God through Paul showed his will for how women should behave and we went through that at length and some of the women got a bit, you know, hot under the collar and ear and, you know, kind of twitching in their seats and stuff, but I'm kidding there, you know, it was some great truths in there but, you know, nothing that's kind of insurmountable there either but sadly we live in a world where women are attacked so much, brainwashed so much, influenced so much and it just seems so out there just preaching just normal biblical roles for women, doesn't it, you know, biblical behaviour. But we saw that and then, you know, we saw, well, and here's a question, why was Timothy told that and why did he make this point of how women should behave? Because Timothy being the pastor is expected to preach that, isn't he? Okay, it's something that we are expected to preach and sometimes some of these things aren't always comfortable for those listings, sometimes we're preaching as well. However, he's commanded to preach out, he was told all these things to therefore relate to his church and one of those truths was that they're easier to deceive, wasn't it? And we looked at that as well and, you know, how women are and if for those women that are able to be led and stuff, they need to appreciate the fact that they need to be led and for those maybe that are in situations where they can't, they need to just appreciate the fact they're going to be easier to deceive, you know, and maybe need to have their antennas up a bit earlier and a bit quicker and they need to really be in the Word of God even probably more than ever, don't they? Well, it said in verse 11, Faith and charity and holiness with sobriety, then chapter 3 and verse 1 begins with, This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. I'd like to pray before we continue with this chapter. Thank you, Lord, for a great chapter of the Bible here, Lord, a chapter which just lays out so many truths about the office of a bishop, a pastor and what's expected of them, the qualifications here we're going to be looking at, Lord. Please just help me to preach this sermon just very clearly, Lord, and accurately and preach it, you know, to a church here, which maybe not everyone here kind of has thoughts of being a pastor or anything else. However, all the men here can learn from this and all the, in fact, everyone here can learn about just many, many qualities you expect your children to have, Lord. Help us to, just everyone here to just take in what your Word's saying. Help me to just preach this fully in spirit and boldly, Lord, in the just name of prayer. Amen. OK, so this isn't a complete change of subject here. Paul's just said in verse 11 of chapter two, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. He then explained some of the reasoning, didn't he, that we looked into last week with an extra interesting point about childbearing. He then says in verse one of chapter three, remember the chapter divisions came much later. He just then went straight into this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. So what's a bishop? Well, it means an overseer and is interchangeable with elder. We use the word pastor, which, by the way, is another biblical word. However, we see it used in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Jeremiah and other places. They all refer to the same thing. OK, it's the leader, it's the overseer of the church. Paul said for the women to learn in silence with all subjection and then said if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. OK, it's pretty clear, isn't it? And I say that because there are so-called female pastors all over this world, aren't there? Female pastors, elders, bishops, deacons, vicars and whatever other words they want to come up with to call themselves something, some sort of position in the ministry, absolutely everywhere. What a load of nonsense is that? I mean, you literally have the qualifications laid out here and he says, a man, just after saying let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. So how on earth do we have this situation? And when I say this situation, yeah, look, there's going to be false religion everywhere. You know, there have been goddesses and all sorts of priests of the goddesses and gods and all sorts of nonsense about history. But I'm talking about so-called Bible believers, people that claim to teach the Bible. One of many would be that absolute witch, Joyce Mayo. And there's all sorts out there, aren't there, that claim to be following the Bible and teaching the Bible. Yet they can't even get this this part right. They can't even follow the obvious part about who should even be doing the job in the first place. Yet they do claim to follow the Bible. Now, that should be obvious, shouldn't it? OK, you would think that's just obvious. We've gone to the qualifications a bit. The pastoral epistle, OK, or the first of them. Yeah, you could go to Titus and see the same thing. We're going to be going to Titus in a minute anyway. OK, and straight from the off, if a man desires the office of a bishop, straight after teaching that women should be in silence or subjection. Now, I would assume, OK, I would assume that being on the back of those verses about women learning in silence, et cetera, and often when someone asks you a question or tries to pull apart something in the Bible, often don't just stick to a chapter. And I think most people would know that. But just remember, going to the chapter before chapter after sometimes is needed for context as well. I mean, this is clearer as day, isn't it? OK, you go back a few verse in the chapter two, we can see clearly what the role is for women as opposed to men. The office of a bishop is just for men. OK, you didn't just say this as just using the word man as mankind. No, he's talking specifically about a man here. And most self-respecting, save serious Bible believers would turn around, I would imagine, and walk straight out of the church with a female pastor, wouldn't you? I would assume if anyone here, for whatever reason, maybe they moved, maybe they left this church, whatever it was, and they tried to find a church, they couldn't see much online, they went into a so-called Baptist church and there was some woman behind the pulpit there, you'd walk straight out, wouldn't you? OK, I would walk, in fact, I'd possibly want to rebuke them as well before I walk straight out, OK? That's what you would do, wouldn't you? However, let's keep reading because Paul goes on to give the other qualifications for the job. OK, so it's not just, it's not qualification, one qualification, it has to be a man. There are other qualifications, let's look at it from verse 2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Now, admittedly, much on that list is going to be subjective to some degree. However, there are a couple of qualifications here that are pretty easy to prove, aren't there? There are a couple there that, it's not subjective, OK, these are easy. And the standout one is verse 4. Verse 4 says, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. And I'm not talking about the being in subjection part yet, OK? I'm talking about having children, just having children. OK, that's pretty easy to prove, isn't it, whether someone has children or not, you would think, yeah? Because if they have children, and whether or not they're in subjection or not, if they have children, especially children that are in the faith, according to Titus chapter 1, then you would hope to see those children in church now and again as well, wouldn't you? OK, so that's a pretty easy one to prove. You're going to hope to see them in church barring some sort of issue while they're not there. Now, some would say, well, that's just if he has children. If he has children, they should be in subjection. There are people that come out with this sort of stuff. Obviously, the same sort of clowns maybe that come out with, well, it's OK for women to be pastors and everything else, yeah? They might say if. So keep a finger here and go a few pages forward to Titus chapter 1. Now, we're going to be going to Titus chapter 1 a lot because for me, Titus chapter 1 lines up perfectly with this. In fact, so many of it is basically parallel to it. And then there are little parts of it which help to expand upon here and vice versa and put together. They just really help you to understand these qualifications. So we're going to be going regularly to Titus. And you're welcome to flick as and when you want, as I mentioned Titus as well. Now, Titus is another one of the pastoral epistles, OK? Paul now speaking to Titus and he says this in verse five. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders. So again, interchangeably pastors, with bishop as we've seen here. So in every city, as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly. OK, clear as day, isn't it? Now, we've seen it twice. The two just clear qualifications for a bishop which line up perfectly. He's made a big point twice of saying children plural, hasn't he? OK, having faithful children, let alone the fact how those children should therefore be after that as well. OK, so he has to have the children, surely for starters, before we get onto the faithful bit. Agreed. Keep something in Titus to go back to 1 Timothy 3, OK, where Paul even gives the reasoning as well. So it's not just that it happens to be mentioned and you're like, well, I don't know, maybe if they have. No, he even says why they need to have children in 1 Timothy chapter 3. He said, 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? So obviously a single man isn't really ruling a house, really, is he? He's made this big point of having children plural, so he has to have that to be able to show that he can rule his own house, etc. I say all of that because many of the same people that would walk out of a church with a female pastor, and there are many, there are many people who have been in this nation, you know, so-called saved Bible believers, you know, loving the King James, loving NIFB preaching, would walk straight out, well they wouldn't even consider going to a church with a female pastor, apparently don't seem to care about past having children. Apparently it doesn't even bother them. In fact, not only does it not bother them, there were people that many of us have rubbed shoulders with in the past and who have claimed to be these men, women, you know, whatever of God, these NIFBers and everything else, that really seem to not care to the point where they were trying to argue and advocate a church with a pastor without children. I mean, it's bizarre when you just look at it through the Bible like this, isn't it? Now, of course there are the usual work salvation churches around, okay, that more importantly don't care what the Bible says about salvation, so why would we expect them to care any different? I went to a church where they claimed to believe it was grace through faith, this clown church down in Brighton of all places. I mean, this is how desperate we are for a church, that we were like, we're going to have to go to Brighton to go to a church which seemed to still be open during, you know, the Covid stuff and seemed to believe it was grace through faith, et cetera. And this wicked false prophet called Jonathan McClure who spoke out of both sides of his mouth, West Hill Baptist Chapel, I think it was called down in Brighton, part of this wicked bunch of crown Christian heritage lot that seemed to be taking over old buildings and chapels and turning them into false churches with repenting your sins preachers. Well, this guy, I was trying to really just get on there, I thought, I don't want to get in any debates when I go there or anything else. It had rung me about something or other and we were on the phone. I remember I was working at the time, had my headset on, I was chatting to him. I just happened to mention, oh, we should have some more friends coming along. They had an issue, they were at a church, but I think they found out that the pastor, I think, only had one child and, you know, wasn't really biblically qualified so they thought they should come along. Whoa, whoa, whoa, let me stop you there. What's the problem with that? Oh, no, here we go. And this isn't like, because he did have children, he was a pastor with his children, you would, you know, you could say seem to be in subjection, et cetera. It wasn't a fellowship break thing, you know. We were pretty desperate at the time, we were desperate for a church, weren't we? However, I just thought, oh, I don't need this debate. I didn't even, you know, I wasn't planning to go there and get in a debate. And next thing you know, he's basically trying, well, what about if some guy who's a really good, you know, preacher, he's come out of Bible college, you're going to stop him pastoring? I was like, yeah, but don't worry, we don't have to debate this, you know. And I say, well, what does the Bible say? It doesn't just say it once. And like, that's just bizarre, isn't it? Then in hindsight, it turned out it was unsafe. So he didn't really care what the Bible said anyway. However, there were people there, there were people around, there were people in this nation where we had this absolutely bizarre situation where there were all these NIFB inspired soul winners, okay. So these weren't just kind of some people that kind of happened to go to a church. These guys were like, you know, some of them, they would say, I've listened to thousands of hours of passing around. They listen to him all day, every day. They were, you know, and other NIFB preachers, they were soul winning. It was like, you know, we're coming on the marathons. Was it 2019, the first one? 18. 18, so back in 2018, there was a marathon with 63? 60 something. 60 something guys turned up in the UK on the first mega marathon here. You can imagine, I mean, that's a big deal. That was the biggest, anywhere outside of the US, wasn't it? Yeah, biggest turnout anywhere outside of the US. So look, there was obviously years ago. I mean, we're talking five years ago. It looked like things were happening in the UK. And these guys are turned up on it and they're like, so many of these people, yeah, we're soul winners. We're NIFB. Yeah. And then this guy, this absolute clown. And clown is just being kind. And many of you met this clown. He came into our church, absolute clown. Then just decides that I'm just going to be a pastor and make my own church, you know, as you do. So he just kind of, I'm going to be a pastor. Now, the most ridiculous thing about it all was that he just decided to make his own church. However, the second most ridiculous thing about the whole thing was that he didn't have any children, let alone any children in subjection. So this guy just went, right, I'm going to basically, it's going to be a church now, guys. Everyone should be coming along who's involved in this. I've got some fresh meat here, you know, like classic false prophets, seeing all these people. Right, right, everyone, I've got a church. Right, I've got myself, you know, already a congregation ready to go. Now, you would assume that normal people who just believe the word of God would have just gone, see you, yeah, good luck to you, buddy. You know, that would have been it, wouldn't it? Like, I wasn't involved at this point. Soon after, I'm looking up churches, I find this clown church and I'm like, wow, this looks good. I can't believe this is suddenly, where's this popped up out of? You know, NIFB, all the doctrines, you know, and everything else, thinking, not bad at all. E-mailed them just to kind of make contact, thought I'd better go and check on this guy. It literally took me, I would say, about, I don't know, an hour, not even that, of scrolling through his Twitter, I think it was, and not only seeing that the guy was an absolute clown and probably unqualified in a hundred other ways, but I'm just looking, where's the kids? Where's the kids? Where's the picture? Why is there no mention of kids? Why is there no mention of kids? This guy doesn't have kids, does he? And soon enough, you realise, this guy doesn't have kids. This is a joke. And I was just like, this is a clown church, I can't believe anyone would probably even go to this, would they? Well, apparently, I was wrong, because a lot of people did, right? And so, himself or Dave, he makes this church here, and like I said, there's then this big split, okay? So, you've got all these guys, soul winning, getting involved, turning up on this mega mouth and you're thinking, there's going to be great things, surely. There'll be a church here at some point soon, won't there? No, the devil had plans for that, didn't he? No, we'll get this clown to self-ordain and make his own unqualified church, and then all these guys suddenly just start joining this church and going, yeah, no, no, it's okay. Oh, no, no, don't worry about that, that little Bible stuff, you know, all that qualifications. No, no, you know, that's kind of, that's only an ideal world, isn't it? Because we don't have another church here. So, a self-ordained clown who doesn't qualify, that's okay. But it wasn't just that they started attending. A load of these guys were arguing and shouting down anyone that was just saying, this is ridiculous. This isn't a church. How on earth is anyone calling this a church? This guy doesn't even have kids. You don't have to be the most learned Bible scholar to get to the pastoral epistles and go, clearly you need to have children. Now, in fact, not just have children, you need to have your children in subjection. How can you have your children in subjection when they're not even born yet? I mean, it's absolute madness, wasn't it? Yet, this was the situation we had. And, again, I'm not talking about new believers who don't know any better, okay? Normal people just went, no. No. But they ended up, so they ended up, I don't know, at the beginning, how many, any ideas, how many would you say started attending this Niath church at the beginning? 30 people. You're thinking, what on earth? Well, let me tell you about these 20 or 30 people. Because then what happened, eventually, sure enough, the church breaks down. It turns out the guy's just like helping himself to cash, you know, just like taking what he wants, what he wants, was an absolute clown. The whole thing goes downhill. And they start attending our legitimate church, okay, some of these guys, and getting kicked out or yoking up with other people that got kicked out. And pretty much that was the vast majority of these people that went to that church. I mean, it was an absolute mess. But here's the thing, and this is why, you're thinking, well, you know, just going to that, does that really, like, mean, you know, were they all bad? Now, I'm not saying every single one was. The vast majority, I mean, we had people, like, full on, wicked, came here for about two services, tried to come in with an olive branch of exposing this false prophet. And then, within a few weeks, they're just railing, just like off the leash, just complete animals. You're thinking, how did they last three years? It was about three years, wasn't it? How did they last three years at this false church? Because their spirit agreeeth, I suppose. Like, they were actually, they weren't just going there, they were calling this clown pastor. I mean, a lot of people met him, right? Can you imagine that? Calling him pastor, you know, just amazing. Listening to this guy preach, I don't know, once or twice a week, I don't know what it was, it probably added up to about half a sermon a week, but whatever. And like I say, it wasn't that he was some great preacher tearing things up for God and it was a bit of a grey area. It wasn't, well, you know, the second kid was adopted and, you know, I don't know, maybe, like, no, no, no, he didn't have children, okay? He didn't have any, there's no, like, well, it depends on your interpretation. He was completely unqualified, the guy was an absolute clown. And like I said, some were going there for three years, okay? Then the same division causes, this is the funniest thing about it, yeah, the same division causes who have basically split this group of soul winners who have just, like, wreaked havoc, okay, with what should have been just this group of, like, hard, strong people where you could, like, the wicked false prophets could have been kicked out and it could have been probably a church a lot earlier and many of us wouldn't have been just scrabbling around at these dead-as-a-door-nail churches. Maybe it would have been a lot, because 60-odd people is a lot of people, believe me, going out soul winning on the first mega-marathon in this country. And what happened? These same division causes, when they got kicked out of our church, were then railing on our pastor, calling him disqualified due to something his actual legitimate children did. I mean, this is how nuts these people are. So, oh, no, it's fine to be, oh, no, no, it's fine that he's disqualified, sorry, he's not even qualified in the first place, our false prophet. However, now we're kicked out, then it's like, ah, your kids, you're just, like, railing accusations. Define irony. I mean, that's unbelievable, isn't it? That was a guy called V.J. Kumar and his wicked wife, yeah, that we, I don't think they laughed among about three services here, did they? I mean, they were unbelievable. Yeah, they spent three years in this false church. Says a lot, doesn't it? Well, let's have a look at these qualifications, okay? Because it's not just having a wife and kids, but that's the obvious one. That's like the no-brainer, isn't it? Okay, if you don't have a wife, you don't have kids, you're not qualified, okay? And I think anyone that can read the Bible can see that, can't they? Okay, let's see. Verse one says, this is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Now, before we go through the qualifications, let's not miss the obvious. Being a bishop, an elder, a pastor is a good work. Now, it's a good thing to do, but it's still work, okay? And I say that because there'll be people here and maybe people in the future, maybe kids growing up here that might consider this job in the future, but you have to appreciate that it's work, okay? It is work. It's very rewarding work, but it's still work. In fact, it's very hard work, okay? It is a very, very hard job. But it's a great job to do. It's a good work. It's sincere. And again, I say that just because there then is this kind of false type teaching out there, like it's kind of like a stroll in the park. It's just this great little easy number and everything else. Believe me, it's not. Not when it's a proper church. When it's a fake church, I'm sure it's an absolute breeze, you know? But when you're actually doing things to God, you're at the height of the spiritual battle and everything else, however, it's a very rewarding work, so I don't want to have to put you off either, but you have to understand that. He said in verse two, a bishop then must be blameless, okay? So we're going to look at these qualifications. And just before we do, sorry, for those of you sitting here going, I don't want to ever want to be a pastor or whatever other reasons, et cetera, or maybe I don't qualify because I'm a lady or whatever else. Well, regardless, these are good qualities for all Christians, but especially for all men here anyway, okay? So it always makes me laugh when you get these people attacking a pastor on supposed subjective reasons as to why they believe he might not be qualified, but it's like, you would fail on about 10 of these, you wicked person, you know? This is stuff that we should all be trying to be like, okay? So let's see what he says. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach. We're going to look at the first one here. A bishop then must be blameless. Now, blameless isn't sinless because that would be impossible and there wouldn't be a pastor in the world that's qualified, right? So what's it referring to? What things makes them blameless? Well, flick over to Titus chapter one, where it appears that being blameless refers to the list of qualifications that then follow on. So Titus one, and we're going to look from verse five, it's only a couple of books on from where you are. Titus chapter one and verse five says, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in all the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city. As I had appointed thee. He then says in verse six, if any, be blameless. Okay, what does that mean then? He goes on, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. He then continues, 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 hath been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince against sayings. So specifically, it's being blameless. Firstly, in marriage, he highlights that the husband of one wife having faithful children, okay, they better be blameless in that. And secondly, for me, in the other qualifications, he says, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry. So it's talking about this list of qualifications. It's not talking about being sinless. It's not talking about some kind of imaginary now list of sins that we say makes him blameless. It's specifically about the list here. He needs to tick these boxes. Go back to 1 Timothy 3, where he said, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. Now, the husband of one wife means no polygamy, okay, no multiple marriages. And we probably don't have that nowadays in modern cultures so much, but also no divorcees, okay. There's no divorcees that would qualify for, I don't just think for me, he said the husband of one wife. Okay, so according to the Bible, no divorcees. Now, just a quick point with this, okay, it's not that we're saying that people that are divorcees are bad people. All of us have sinned in many different ways and have many paths and things that pass that, you know, that aren't according to God's will in our lives. However, it just means they're not qualified to pass the church. They're not qualified. And by the way, it also does mean married, okay, clearly, the husband of one wife, okay, so no sort of, you know, like I said, fresh out of Bible college, haven't quite, you know, Bible college blind date wasn't a success because that's what a lot of it's about, where these women go there to like learn the piano at Bible college or something. Really, they're looking for like a pastor to marry because they've got their sights on pastor's wife, pastor's wife, you know, who knows why, but anyway. But however, no, no, none of those either, but why are divorcees unqualified to pastor then? Well, here's one reason, when you preach, the reality is people will often, whether it's verbally and often not, whether it's in their head, in their mind, whether they go home, they'll often just automatically shoot the messenger. That's what happens, okay, and we know that I'm not, you know, it's not, I've got to fix it, I'm not fussed about that. That's just the way it is. People do that, yeah. When the word of God's preached, they're going to find a way to criticise the person preaching when it hits a nerve, right? Now, they should be self-reflecting, right? But a lot of the time people won't, maybe they won't straight away at the beginning. If I'm preaching on marriage, for example, but I'm divorced, I'm preaching, wives, submit! And they're going, yeah, what do you know about that? Yeah, yeah, so-called example for that. This guy and everything else, what do they do? They're not going to take the message seriously, are they? And something we have to make sure when we preach for the pulpit, we want to be, do our utmost, we're not going to be sinless, but the message we're preaching, we want to make sure we're right on that, right? We want to make sure we're right on that message as we're preaching it, and one thing that you can never then therefore be right on would be your marriage if you're, for example, you've had a failed marriage, okay? Now, that might be the other person's fault, but whatever it is, at the end of the day, people are going to find fault with that, aren't they? Okay? So one of the reasons. He said a bishop then must be blameless as a husband of one wife. He then said vigilant. Now, vigilance is really important as a pastor. The, and again, if you're looking at me going, you know, in a pastor, by the way, look, I've basically been doing 95% of the job of a pastor for the last two and a half years now, okay? And as it's gone on longer, our past has left me to make more decisions with it. However, I'm not yet, but I've got a pretty good idea as to the job now, okay? Now, vigilance. The attacks that come on a church, okay, you've got to understand, they're often being preached about long before the person is ousted if ever from the church when it's people inside. Also when it's outside, you won't always know what's going on and why, but a lot of the preaching you'll find often is because the pastor, theoretically, or at least they're acting as pastor in their absence type thing, the church leader evangelist, is going to see things, he's going to get things crop up. You get, you kind of, it's almost like God just reveals the things you need to preach him, right? Okay, and that, they have to be vigilant for that. Now, it's not that, oh, well, you just, you know, I'm such a vigilant person or someone else, a pastor whoever is, a pastor this is, or whatever else. I think God gives it to you, but you've got to take heed to it. So I think the point being that you have to, when you get those little things, not kind of palm it off and go, yeah, but I really want to preach on the sodomites this week. You know, I really want to preach on something that, you know, that's a real backslapping sermon for everyone because I want to be popular this week. No, vigilance includes, I think, acting on your vigilance. You know, and preaching those messages. Sometimes they're hard hitting messages. I mean, we had, the first part of this church, I mean, at the beginning, I mean, there was just sins being preached on every week, issues, problems, attacks, all the different angles these people, and it must have been a bit rough, you know, for a time. You're thinking, where's like the back slappers? Where's the, you know, where's all the sodomite sermons, everything else? But there was just so many issues, so many attacks coming in in various ways that it needed preaching on. In Titus 1, he gives an example of things to be vigilant for. So he makes this, for me, this is kind of the Titus 1 version of, he must be vigilant. He said in verse 10 of Titus 1, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. Look, there are many, many, especially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy Luca's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound of faith. And for me, that's a they, the people that are being taught this by them. Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn for the truth. And all of that requires vigilance, doesn't it? You'd be vigilant for the attacks, vigilant for the things that come in. And that's an important part of the job, isn't it? It's not sort of, you know, oh, well, it's just great, you know, you get to go on YouTube or whatever, if you're impressed by that sort of thing or anything else. That's not what it's about. The point is, you've got to be vigilant. You've got to sometimes preach stuff which half the church really doesn't want to hear. You know, sometimes it's not always great, but they've got to be vigilant to that. And then also with that would be vigilance for the other things around the church. Vigilant, you know, for your family members, vigilant for the weaker people in the church being prayed. There's so much stuff that you have to be vigilant for in a church because it is, like I've said many times, it can be a battleground, okay? Not always, and it can be a great place as well, but it can be a battleground. He said a bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife, vigilant, he then said sober. So sober would obviously mean no drinkers, obviously, wouldn't it? Okay, you're not sober if you're drinking alcohol, but also regular, calm, able to make sober judgment, not flying off the handle all the time, right? Would be important too, wouldn't it? Titus 1, both sober, it says in verse 8, but also in verse 9, it says, not soon angry. Because look, you know, and I think that kind of goes hand in hand with being sober. There are a lot of times that a pastor is provoked to anger, isn't there? In the ministry, there's a lot of times that people are just trying to flick your switches sometimes and trying to get you to just fly off the handle and to just lose. Look, you can lose the plot easily in this job, believe me, okay? There's like, sometimes unbelievable stuff that you deal with. And look, and don't get me wrong, it's a great job as well, okay? So I want to make that clear as I go through because I don't want to put people off in the future either. But however, look, you've got to not be soon angry because it would be so easy to just snap, you know, just start sort of throwing javelins at people and stuff. You know, you could easily do it. I mean, that last lot that we had in here, I mean, how easy would it have been to have just literally just opened up a can on every single one of them, right? But you can't do that. But you can't be soon angry. You've got to be able to deal with that stuff, don't you? Sober, I think would include that. And there are a lot of times that you need, you know, you need to be sober, you need to be able to make proper judgment. He said of good behavior. So Titus 1.8 says holy, by the way. And again, I think they would go hand in hand. But it didn't say holier than now in Titus 1, did it? Okay, it's not being a holier than now. And there's a lot of people that kind of get this kind of a bit wrong. They get the balance a bit wrong with that, okay? Being a holier than now is not what's needed. It's being of good behavior, okay? Trying to avoid sin. Now, no one's going to be sinless, but what's your goal? What is your mentality? Is it, well, yeah, but that's, I'm just a sinner, is it? Look, I'm trying my best to live for God, right? That's what God wants to see. That's what Paul's talking about here. Someone of good behavior, someone that's holy. But here's the question as well. Would a pastor be holy if he didn't go soul winning? Would that be of good behavior as a Christian? As someone that's been given the ministry of reconciliation that's an ambassador for Christ, would that be holy? But again, how many out there won't even go out and open their mouth and preach the gospel to someone? That wouldn't be holy, would it? That wouldn't be of good behavior yet. I mean, they're 10 a penny in this nation, aren't they? And again, that clown I was just talking about earlier from Nyoth, I don't think that guy hardly went out ever at all. I mean, just that's unbelievable. People there for a long time, it's unbelievable. Okay, he said also given to hospitality. Now, people get funny ideas about this. I want to explain this one to you. Because does that then mean, we've just talked about him being vigilant, him being sober, you know, and all these things. Does that then mean that he should be opening his home up to random hobos? Anyone thinks that the pastor, you know, if he lives in the center of town, should just be welcoming in all the drug addicts, all the weird sex offenders whose family won't let them stay with them and bring them in, bring them in and sleep in my kid's bed while they're downstairs, you know, and everything else. Is that what it's talking about? No. How about so-called saved hobos? I hope no one didn't see any hands up. So I think everyone's gone off the drug addict. How about saved hobos? Hmm? What if you get a hobo saved? If you're given hospitality, should you be bringing them home to your family? I don't think anyone's thinking of that. I don't think anyone's thinking that. Are they? Wait a second. Okay, so should they just be inviting the church over on a rotation for dinners? Some people think that, I think. They think you should just be like, they should just become, every week, every Saturday should be like a new church member and just kind of go through the cycle, you know, and just have them over because you're given a hospitality. Okay, should he be putting every church member up at his house who lives far away from church? Hmm? Some are starting to wonder, well, maybe he should be given a hospitality. Okay, because people, like, before, when we had these people in, they tried to whisper and hint about this sort of stuff. And they were trying to like, because you often find they're trying to like find you, whoa, he's lacking now, or like everyone come over, sleepovers, barbecues, everything else, yeah? But would it be very vigilant if I did that? Consider, for example, would that have been good leading and running of my house if I'd had Doreen over every other weekend for sleepovers, Alex over, you know, Ben and his mob over, and some people, most people here know who I'm talking about, these people, yeah. Raymond to hold my children, you know? I just say, come on over, guys, we need to witness the baby city. That wouldn't have been good running of my house, would it? That wouldn't have been vigilant, okay? We've had literal perverts at our church, okay? We, like, for me, look, there have been some pretty crazy stuff that we witnessed, especially after they kicked out, people coming up to me telling me stuff as well. So would it have been vigilant? And the reason I say this is because we were warned about this from early on from our pastor, and he said, look, I don't think you should, you know, you've got to be careful not inviting like church members over and having them stay over and stuff like that, because you just get, because it's not just the weirdos, it's just that people often, and the sad truth is, I'm not saying anyone that's ever, because I have had people around my house, and lovable, you know, never been a problem, however, look, the reality of it is, is that people, you get blindsided by people, and I'm sure those people are great, but maybe I could invite someone over in the future, or have someone who comes from far, who says, my house, it does turn on us, and starts using a little bit of truth to make the lie and the slander sound believable, because people like to do that stuff, don't they? Try, or just accuse you, well, I've been in a house, and we saw something they didn't even see, for example, or for example, they're around my kids and everything else in the middle of the night, well, I'm asleep. You know, all that sort of stuff, that's not very sensible, and the truth is, when you're a pastor, and I ain't a pastor yet, but when you're a pastor, you have a massive sign on your back, and do you know what none of those pastors are doing out in the US that everyone loves? They're not inviting people over for sleepovers every weekend. They're not having church members stay at their houses every weekend. Now, look, you know, I'm not saying that it's the worst thing to do, and look, I'm not trying to tell people not to do that, because I know we have some people that live far away and will say, there's nothing wrong with that, you want to have them stay over your house, great, but I don't think it's a sensible job as a pastor, or as in the ministry. I don't think that's a sensible thing to do, for the obvious reasons, okay? So therefore, therefore, how can he be given to hospitality? Wait a second, he must be given to hospitality, it said. Well, there's another house that the bishop is the overseer of, and that's what people miss. It's the house of God. That's where he's meant to be given to a hospital, that's the whole point. It's not, right, everyone who we've ever met, who says they're a Christian coming over my house, yeah? That's not vigilant, that's not ruling your house, well, that's not sensible, that's not sober. But you should be given a hospitality and a house of God. When people come into the church, when new people come into the church, et cetera, if you go on anyone here to be a pastor in the future, you need to be given a hospitality, you need to be welcoming, you need to be kind, you need to be willing to be a servant leader, you need to be willing to make them a drink if they want, show them around, make an effort, right? And we want this church to be a very hospitable place. I hope people feel it is, and if it isn't, then it's something that not just myself, but many need to work on. And part of being given a hospitality is encouraging the whole church to be that sort of place as well. Okay, and obviously you want to get the balance right with that as well. So there's being given a hospitality and then there's like just jumping on new people and harassing them when they clearly are the types that don't even want to talk to anyone, you know? And they're just like, I just want to sit down and you're just in their face and everything else. And then there's obviously even worse stuff than that. Okay, so Titus 1.8 says, but a lover of hospitality. Okay, so like I said, he needs to be welcoming to those coming into their house. And again, like I said, within reason, okay? And we want to do this in our new church. Look, we're going to have to get this balance right in South End, all right? Because we're going to have people coming into the church, which maybe they've slipped through the usher net somehow, you know? I kind of got images of just like them all, just coming in. The ushers are like, what are you doing? Another one slips in and stuff like that. And we're going to have to be a bit kind of wise with that as well. We want to be kind, we want to be welcoming everything else. I want to be swapping numbers, okay? I've talked about this before. You know, if you're swapping numbers with new people, that is what many parts would call a big red flag, okay? That's really odd. And by the way, you get people that do the opposite. You'll have people that come in and start swapping numbers with you and everyone in the church, okay? That's not normal either, okay? It's like you've just come to our church. How about you kind of, you know, learn to kind of be a part of our church first before you start trying to get everyone's number? That's a bit weird, isn't it? And do you know what happens when lots of people have your numbers? They start sending the slanders to everyone who they've got the number of, okay? Here's another thing. You're not, no one is best friends with everyone and genuine at the same time. It's impossible. Look, we all love each other. We all want to be friends each other. No one's best friends with each other, okay? So if they are and it's like, they just seem to have everyone's number and messaging everyone and best friends with everyone, that's a big red flag. It's like, how is that the case? Because surely they're either, you know, if they're really being themselves, they're not going to be best friends with everyone, okay? So something we want to watch out for with that as well. But when it comes to a pastor, they should be a lover of hospitality. Titus 1 also says a lover of good men, okay? A lover of good men. So how does that work? A lover of good men. Well, basically they should like good people. They should like saved people. They should like the brethren. They should not be like, I just can't stand these people. Just get me out of here, you know? They're not probably qualified to be a pastor then, you know, because they're going to have a hard time because that's going to eventually emanate off them as well if they're just, I don't want to be, I don't want to talk to anyone. Just leave me alone, you know, et cetera. Okay, so first to me, three, two, ends them with apt to teach as well. Okay, so given the hospitality, for me that's centered around the house of God. And then it ends with apt to teach. Now apt means fit, suitable, qualified. Now how is that defined? How do you define that? Does he need the whiteboard out? You know, does he need, should I put a whiteboard up here? Am I failing on not doing whiteboard sermons? Or be able to answer every random obscure question about the Bible, right? He failed because he didn't know which was the line of kings from here to there or something else. Well, Titus 1.9 helps define how. He says in Titus 1 and verse 9, 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. Holding steady to the word of God, that. Notice the that, the that. He may be able by sound doctrine both to encourage that's what it really means, exhort. Okay, that's for some. And also, that's how I read it, to convict or convince the gainsayers. So how is he apt to teach? By holding fast the faithful word, because it all comes from the word of God. You're apt to teach the word of God if you hold fast and strong and tight to the word of God. Because look, the temptation out there and many will be to not hold strong to the truths of the Bible and start to teach something outside, start to try and make the Bible fit in with you, start to wonder, start. No, look, if you're apt to teach, you can hold strong to the word of God. Okay, if you stand steady on it, you stand strong on it and you teach what the word of God says, not what your pet doctrine or someone else's pet doctrine or something else, it's all about the word of God. That's how you're apt to teach by holding fast the faithful word, that you may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. That's how you're able to do it by holding fast the faithful word. Verse 3 says, oh, well, he's got to have had teaching experience. He's got to have done this in a previous job. He's got to, you know, no, no, hold fast the faithful word. You're teaching people with the Holy Spirit and you hold fast the word of God, you will be able to get across those points if you're saved and they're saved, you have the Holy Spirit, you have the word of God, you hold fast and you preach the word of God. People will learn because of that, okay? Verse 3, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covered. You see why I split this into two, this passage, by the way, in case anyone's worrying and forgetting that I said that, okay? Don't worry, we're not going to do too many of these verses. Okay, so these are all similar to Titus 1.7, which said not given a wine, et cetera, as well in there. But not given to wine for me here is talking about alcoholic wine, okay? I believe at this point in this chapter, I believe possibly not when he's talking to the deacon, we'll look at that next week, but not given to wine, okay? Now, that should go without saying, shouldn't it? You would assume, when someone's preaching the word of God, they've got an important job, they're running a church, they're the overseer, why on earth would they drink alcohol? Yet, so many so-called pastors, so-called believers in the Bible, Bible-believing preachers, pastors around this world, try and justify what they call social drinking. I mean, what on earth is that about? Unbelievable, isn't it? What on earth is social, what is social drinking anyway? So they think that it's okay if you're sitting with someone to get drunk. Oh, as long as you're with someone, drunkenness is okay. Even though it says your lying eyes shall behold strange women. You'd be better to be in private, wouldn't you? But then you're a drunkard. So either way, let's be honest, you're stuffed. And look, and I hope no one here has issues with this, but look, there is no reason to drink it. If you could give me a genuine good reason to drink alcohol, then by all means come up to me after the service and go, look, I think you're wrong, brother Ian, because alcohol, and I don't even know what you're going to say, because there isn't one, because it's a mess, because it destroys lives, it ruins lives, it poisons you, it poisons your liver, poisons your body, because it's filth, yeah? Don't drink alcohol, and if you're leading a church, you're a pastor, what on earth? Why on earth would you be given to wine? But he made this point because there are many that will be given to wine, aren't there? Not given to wine, no striker. Now, the striker as opposed to the brawler, which is someone who's rowing and arguing a lot, the striker is someone going around beating people, okay, beating people up. So if you're the type of person that just kind of has to give someone a slap every now and again just to get it out of your system, or when you're getting a row, you're getting a debate or something, you just start wanting to beat people up and stuff, then again this wouldn't be the job for you. If you're going around beating people, hurting people and stuff, you need to be able to deal with things without just resorting to your fists. Now, just to caveat on that again, sometimes you do have to resort to your fists. What a good one. Isn't he a pacifist? No, there is such a thing as self-defence. I tell you what, there's also self-defence of your family as well. If someone's trying to do something horrible to my wife or children, you think I'm just going to go, oh, I better not hurt them. You know, oh, I forgive you. You're going to beat them up, aren't you? Badly. And in the same way, if someone's trying to attack you, you are allowed to defend yourself, okay? Okay, that is okay. However, you shouldn't be just going around beating people, okay? There's a difference there, isn't there? And claiming, well, I thought they were going to attack me. Yeah, okay, there is a law. That is part of the law. That is legitimate self-defence, but I don't think those situations come that often, okay? The truth is usually it's because you're wanting to beat people up. He said, not greedy and filthy, lucre. Now, lucre is gain in money or goods as well, by the way. And I say that because people go, oh, yeah, yeah, so he's not into too much money. He doesn't get paid much. He just drives the church Ferrari. It's all right. He got like SFBC on the side of it, you know? Or it's all right. He doesn't get paid much. He's just got the church yacht or something else, you know? Okay, so it's a whole lot. If you're greedy or filthy, just gain money, cash, it's not the job for you. And again, look, you say that and joke about it, but there are people that are greedy or filthy lucre. There are people where it's just money. They're just thinking how. Now, on the flip side, this job, people should be paid for this. This job is unlike any other job I've ever done, okay? They should be paid to be a pastor, again, depending on if the church can afford to pay them. However, if they're greedy, if their goal is money, they're in the wrong job, okay? Because eventually it's all going to go wrong because you cannot serve God a mammon, can you? Okay? Patient, okay? Now, patient is, well, look, you've got to be patient with people, for starters. And again, look, because dealing with people, I remember listening to Pastor Jimenez, I think, once said that the best and worst thing of the job, being a pastor, the best thing is dealing with people and the worst thing is dealing with people, okay? Because there's two sides to that coin, okay? And look, it's great. You get to deal with people and you get to see changes in lives. You get to see lives changed, transformed, and people, you know, not only just the salvation, but people suddenly live for God and all that. Look, great stuff. There's some great people. You've got, you know, you're with the brethren, aren't you? You know, brothers and sisters in Christ. And, you know, it can be great, but also you're going to get people are going to let you down sometimes. You're going to get people that are going to, you know, are going to be hard work sometimes, you know? And we also get the worst types of people in here as well, don't we? Okay, sadly, we've had that before. That's just church life, yeah? So you've got to be patient because if you weren't, and with those people, at the end of the day, they'll have stuff on you straight away. And when I say they have stuff on you, they'll just start calling you a false accuser or whatever else because you haven't had enough goods on them to kick them out or something out, but you don't have the patience for it. As long as you've got to be patient in this game, you know, you've got to ride it out. But it's not just patience with people in those situations, not just patience when you're dealing with sort of church members, but also with trials yourself, right? Be patient in trials. You're going to go through in this job, you're going to go through a lot of trials, you're going to go through a lot of spiritual battles, spiritual attacks, things like that, and you need to be able to be patient to get through that, yeah? He said a brawler, and like I said, that's someone constantly arguing or rowing with people, okay? And again, you don't really have the place. Now and again, you're going to have to have crosswords. Now and again, you might have to hash out a point with someone or something else, but that shouldn't just be a constant, should it? It shouldn't just be going out, you know, someone who just loves debate and just constantly trying to get aroused, arguments and everything else. Titus 1.8, I think, encapsulates both of these with, in verse 8, with temperate and self-control. So, sorry, with temperate, sorry, being self-control. And also perhaps with not self-willed from verse 7. So he said, you know, not rowing, not, you know, sorry, not being a brawler, the patient, et cetera. I think temperate, if you have that self-control, you have that, you know, that ability to kind of keep going, to not just resort to sin, et cetera. The self-willed, and, you know, there's a way, a couple of ways you can look at self-willed being stubborn as well, but I think also, you know, if you're not self-willed, you're likely to be more patient, you're likely maybe not to be as much of a brawler, you're not going to be a striker, et cetera. Then he also said here in verse 3, where we are in 1 Timothy 3, not covetous, okay, which isn't just money, by the way, because you go, oh, wait a second, didn't you just say not greedy, filthy, lucre. There are covetous people who just want other people's things, okay. There are people like that out there, their stuff. Exodus 20, 70, you don't have to turn there, the famous thou shalt not covet of the Ten Commandments says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's. So you could be covetous amongst stuff as well, amongst things. It's not just money, but obviously not money as well, okay. And if you're constantly looking for other things, it's basically idolatry anyway. And you could say that the temperate in Titus 1.8 could cover this too, having self-control not to be covetous in those ways as well. And in verse 4, where we are says, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. Now, did it say having perfect children? Didn't say having perfect children, did it? Now, the reality of it is, a pastor is going to be held to a certain standard, but you don't want to go beyond the biblical standard, okay. So it didn't say perfect children. However, the children should be in subjection, okay. That means that they're able to be disciplined, that they're not unruly, okay. They're not just tearing the place up, you can't say anything to them, they're not being disciplined, they're not responding to the discipline. That would be children not in subjection, okay. Titus 1.6 says, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. And riot is uproar, okay. They're kind of, you know, you can think of some of these rioters, they're just causing grief, you're just like, what on earth? Oh, the pastor's here, you can hear his kids, they come tearing in, smashing the place up, taking things, you know, the kind of poor pastor's wife's following off, they go, come back, and they're just kind of just completely out of control, okay. Now that would be a problem, wouldn't it? And faithful in context here is loyal, dutiful, it's in subjection, okay. That's what it's talking about here. And look, because some people will go, oh, well, it's talking about faithful, they need to be saved. Well, yes, look, but if they're loyal, dutiful, in subjection, they're coming to church and everything else, you would assume that they therefore have got saved as well. And that's a very hard thing to gauge anyway, isn't it? But are they in subjection to their family? Back in 1 Timothy 3, 4, they're to be in subjection with all gravity, which is sincerity. So it's not just all a big old laugh, it's not just all a big joke. And again, it doesn't mean they're not allowed to have a sense of humour, and just for anyone here who ever thinks, oh, man, this sounds like a lot of pressure on the kids, it's basically just having normal kids, really, okay. It's just having kids, look, they're going to make mistakes, they're going to make errors, they're going to have times they need discipline, they might even need times they're disciplining in church, there might be times when they mess up in this way or other, but it's having normal kids, not kids that are just this complete, just out of control children, not kids that are just, you know, that can't do a thing that they're told, not kids that just never get disciplined, okay. It's just having normal Christian kids and showing that you're in control of your house, yeah, not that your house is in control of you. And that would include your wife as well, okay, your wife needs to be in subjection as well, if this is a job that you're looking for in the future. And again, no, that's not that she, you know, doesn't say boo to a goose, but that's a wife that basically will submit to her husband, okay. Back in 1 Timothy 3.5, we see why all of that's important, it says, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? So it's so important, this part of it, that Paul even expands on the qualification here, doesn't he? Okay, this isn't like, some of the other ones he just puts in a list, yeah, a list which should be, a lot of them should be kind of givens anyway, shouldn't they, you know. But we get to this point and he's saying, he's saying, look, I'm not just going to leave it at having his children in subjection with all gravity, talking about ruling well his own house, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? How on earth then do people try and justify this? But they're all over the place. Yet, if he can't even rule his own house, if he doesn't even have a house to rule, how on earth is he going to take care of the church of God? Because the reality of it is, you learn so much from ruling a house, don't you? Dad's here, you learn so much from ruling your home. You learn ways to police issues, you learn ways to, sometimes when you may be being too hard, other times when you've been too soft, times when you need to like, it's not pleasant but you need to deal with it, don't you? Sometimes then it'd be easier to just go, yeah, anyway, who cares? You know, it's not too much of a problem. But you're like, no, I need to get up and I need to deal with this. And sometimes we fail at that, don't we? Sometimes it's kind of easier to kind of just like close the other ear to like, maybe some bad behaviour or something else, because it means now I've got to get up and start giving out spanking or something else, you know? But it's all those things, you learn so much, and then you learn, don't you, often. Dad's here, you learn that when you don't do that, and when you should have got up and you should have dealt with it, you learn when you didn't, how much worse it gets, then it's like, man, why don't I just do that about an hour ago? I should have punished them an hour ago and we wouldn't have got to this point. And I tell you what, that could be a lot, and I'm not talking about necessarily punishment, but when it comes to preaching half in the pulpit, sometimes I need to nip that in the bud quickly. I need to smash that quickly, I need to preach that quickly, because when you leave it, it just gets worse and worse and worse. And there's so many other lessons you learn. You learn how to lead a wife, don't you? And look, many wives are individual and you learn people, you're learning that. And all of that is needed to be able to lead the house of God, because it's such an important job, isn't it? If this whole church just crumbled and it just all went downhill, you know, myself or Pastor Thompson being the pastor, we're just clowns like the pastor of Nyoth was, you know, or anything else, and the whole thing, what an absolute just shambles that would be. Everyone here, you know, where do they even go next? What happens next? It'd just be disastrous, wouldn't it? And that's the same around the world. A church is, well, it's the pillar and ground of the truth, right? It's an important place, it has to be done properly, and that's why none of this is just, oh yeah, whatever. Oh, well, he's only got one kid, but you know, what's the difference? Oh, well, he's got a couple of twin babies. That's all right, isn't it? No, because how can you say that they're in subjection? They're babies. You know, like, it's pretty obvious. It should be obvious stuff, shouldn't it? But how many people are just, like I said before, what's just so bizarre was all these people that claim to love the Lord and believe the Bible and the word of God and love NIFB, Biblical preaching the doctrines of the Bible, and it's like, oh yeah, well, he doesn't have kids. Self-ordained. How dare you not recognise this as a church? I mean, what on earth? I mean, it begs his belief, doesn't it? He then said this, not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. So some newly married snotty-nosed Bible college graduate is completely unqualified, by the way. It doesn't matter if he's, I don't know, can you do a doctorate at the Bible? You probably can, can't you? Doesn't matter if he's done five years, six years. Doesn't matter if he's done, you know, had a sabbatical in the middle of it and gone off and, you know, and built mud huts for orphaned children in the middle and then come back and done even more and done another three years of it. He's not qualified because none of that makes any difference. Because how can he, if a man know not how to rule his own house, you could add him to, for if a man not even have his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? And yet, completely lost on most. Oh, well, he's been to Bible college, shoving behind the pulpit. He can rehash some of Spurgeon's sermons, what could go wrong? Just re-preach Spurgeon's. The false prophet. Some new convert isn't qualified either. There's a few of those out there, they get saved, right, got saved, passed the time. Again, not qualified. Some babe in Christ isn't qualified. They could have been saved 20 years. They've never read the Bible through, never done anything for God. They're not qualified. Why? Because the pride easily goes up. And the more you read through the Bible, again, this just goes back to like some of the things that don't add up when you've got these so-called mature Christians, these people that claim to be men of God, saved for years, soul winning, Bible reading, going to church, et cetera. But the pride's up here still. It's like, what? That just doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. Because he says here, not a novice, less being lifted up with pride. The insinuation is that when you're not a novice, the pride should go down a bit, shouldn't it? Now, look, like I said, we're all going to have times where we maybe get a bit prideful and stuff, but there are people that get lifted up by their pride. That's weird, isn't it? It's weird if they're claiming to be not a novice. Now, if they're a novice, you just go, okay, well, they're a novice. They're going to get prideful, right? Okay, but you don't want that sort of person pastoring a church. He said, lest he fall into the condemnation of the devil. I just think that's the devil basically just condemning you to God, isn't it? And then it's time to get whooped. And then you've got all sorts of problems if your pastor's getting whooped by God for his pride. God hates pride. He hates it. I mean, these six things that the Lord hates, seven of them, abomination, a high look, isn't it? A proud heart. He hates it. Absolutely hates it, yet there are a lot of prideful people around and newbies, et cetera, there's more of that risk. Especially when they're behind a pulpit and they've got a load of people listening to them, it's easy to start getting carried away. I think, yeah, I'm the man, you know? Time to get the zip line out for my entry today. You know, we need some applause when I come. All right, everyone, next time I walk in to preach or whatever, clapping. I bet there are people out there getting their church to do that stuff because they're getting lifted up, aren't they? They're like, yeah, they're listening to me. They're having to pretend they're not falling asleep. They must love me. He said, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So obviously, if you're preaching the word, okay, living for God, you're going to have many people hating on you, okay? So you could think, well, how does this add up? Because if I'm preaching the word of God, 1 John 3.13 says, Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. I'm living for God, shouldn't the world hate me? But for me, okay, you shouldn't, go to 1 Peter 4, you shouldn't be getting persecuted for evil, though. Okay, so it's one thing if they hate you for Christ. It's one thing if they hate the fact that you're living for God, that you're preaching the word of God, that you're soul winning, that maybe you've tried to preach them the gospel, that all those other things that, you know, that your stance on certain just biblical issues, but you shouldn't be getting persecuted for your own bad doings, for your own wrong doings. 1 Peter 4.15 says, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters, okay? And I think this probably corresponds with Titus 1.8 being just. It says he should be just, okay? One of the things on the list, that's being upright, honest. Okay, we should be, if you're going to be a pastor, if your goal is to be a pastor, you should be an upright and honest person. The pastor shouldn't be going around ripping people off, should he? Conning the locals. I go in the shop next door to the church and he gives me too much change and I'm just like, and then I walk out and they're like, wait a second, he didn't say a thing, you know, et cetera. That's not how he should be. He should have a good rapport. People should come across, the only negative thing they should be able to say of you is that you're a believer, is your stance on Christ. Yeah, look, people are going to slander you, et cetera, but you should have a good report on general. They'll be the individual slanderers, but as a general rule, people should go, no, that is at least an honest person. That's a polite, honest, normal, kind person, not just some wicked guy that's just trying to get the better of me. Why? Because it just harms the cause of Christ, doesn't it? He said, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach, and the snare of the devil. So if they're approaching you for other things, well, then you play into the devil's hands, don't you? Who wants to accuse you, he wants to shame the name of Christ. That's his snare, isn't it? Look, he wants men of God, especially men of God, pastoring churches, he wants them to fall. He wants people outside to be able to go, yeah, so-called man of God, but he did this, he ripped me off over this, he conned me about that, he was dishonest about that. So-called man of God, but, okay, that's what he wants, that's the snare of the devil. Okay, and you're going to have temptations, if any of the men here decide, I want to be a pastor, you're going to have those temptations come in life, temptations to be dishonest, temptations to not have a good report of them which are without, and you've got to be able to just resist all of that, yeah? Because you do have a target on your back, you do have a target on your back. And that's a snare, that's a snare. And like I said, especially those in the ministry and especially pastors, however, it is, all of this still applies to every person in here as well, okay? Most of this applies even to the women, but all of this applies to every man in here, okay? This is all, this is all a benchmark that we should all be, that should all be our goal as leaders of homes, of leaders in, maybe in our place of work, of leaders in different positions in the church, but especially as a pastor, because so much damage can be done if a pastor fails on these things, because it's not just, oh well, you know, a little boxy, because it's because it's such an important job, right? Which is why the qualifications are so important, which is why the Bible not only lays them out, but if you've noticed as we've looked at Titus 1 as well, they pretty much just correspond completely with each other, don't they? They've gone, oh yeah, patient, yeah, that could be a good one. What else could be good? Let's go with it. That's not what Paul did. He gave a list which corresponds with the other list and fills in a few gaps that helps you understand a few points of it. So there is no doubt as to the qualifications of a pastor, because it's so important, yet how many wicked people just want to just throw it all out, throw it all out and go, no, we know better? Unbelievable, isn't it? Yeah, there are so many of those people out there. Well, that's part one of 1 Timothy 3. Like I said, there's a lot to get through there, because I want to break those down. I want to really go into those, because so many will just, you know, for many reasons, we might preach a little message, go to 1 Timothy, talk about a few things, but there are things to help people understand that, help people to understand what not only is the goal of myself here, as the goal of being a pastor here, but also what should be the goal of every man here, but also those that want to maybe pastor in the future as well, thinking, okay, that's a good list of things that I need to make sure I get towards, and it's for good reason, yeah? It's for good reason. And on that, we're going to finish up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, just for making it very clear what is such an important job and what you expect, what your qualifications are for that job. It's not about Bible college, Lord. It's not about theology degrees. It's not about, you know, any of these worldly so-called qualifications. It's about the biblical qualifications, Lord, and they're there for a reason. Help us, Lord, to not only, you know, get a good understanding of those, but also to all have a goal of being more like the sorts of biblical men for the men here that you want us to be, and for the ladies here, you know, to be able to support their men to be like that, and for those just, you know, generic qualifications which should apply to all of us, Lord, help everyone to just try and be more like you want us to be, Lord, to behave like you want us to behave, to be those, you know, those Christians out there just shining the light, Lord, and help us to be like that, be those people. Help us to get home safely this evening, Lord. Help us to keep you in the centre of our week, to remember the messages preached, to read our Bibles, to be in prayer, Lord, to get out soul winning as well, and help us to all return for the next service as well. In Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen.