Christian Ministry: Who Should Be In It?

Introduction: The Confusion Around the Call to Ministry

0:00 Father, we bow in your presence, so thankful that we have the scriptures as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. We're grateful that we're not left at the mercy of our own silly notions as to how the church should be ordered in her life, what the function of the overseers is, who should be recognized for that solemn responsibility. But we thank you that the scriptures are sufficient to make the man of God complete unto every good work. Guide us then in our study of your word in this hour as we consider together this very weighty second question of who should be admitted to that office of a pastor and teacher and elder and leader among your people. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

1:00 Well, brethren, having sought to answer the first question in the last hour, precisely what is the Christian ministry, we now come to the second question, who should be in that ministry? The Christian ministry, who should exercise it? Now, here's where we see again great confusion. A young man comes with the seriousness of the judgment.

1:30 A all over his face, and he says to his pastor, Pastor, I'm convinced I'm called to preach. Well, if the pastor has courage to even question his statement, which many don't, they feel to do so would be blasphemy. They say, now, son, if you're old enough to call him son, and it's great when you get to that age. It gives you a little more sense of clout.

1:56 You say, now, son, I'm glad you're excited about the Christian ministry, but what makes you think you're called? Well, in my devotions yesterday, I was reading through such and such a passage, and when I came to such and such a verse, it leaped right out of the Bible, and I just knew God was calling me to preach. And the whole thing is based on the holy leap of a verse of Scripture.

2:22 Somebody else, he comes saying, I believe God's called me to preach. And you say, well, what makes you think so? Well, I was awake the other night, three o'clock in the morning, and when I was lying in my bed, I was thinking about you and about the ministry and all the blessing you've been to me as a minister, and all of a sudden, my heart skipped a beat, and I felt a flutter in my left ventricle, and I knew the Lord was calling me to preach. I felt it in my heart.

2:49 Well, I mean, there's reasons just that silly that people think they're called to the ministry. Well, what are you going to tell a man like that? Someone who says he's heard a voice, he felt a flutter, a verse jumped out. Well, you see?

The Foundational Principle: Christ Furnishes His Ministers

3:03 We need to come to the conviction that only those whom Christ has furnished with the gifts and the graces and the holy desires to do the work of the ministry are those who belong in the ministry. It's just that simple. The Christian ministry, who should be in it? Only those whom Christ has furnished with the necessary graces, gifts, and holy desires to do the work of the ministry, only those belong in the ministry.

3:44 Now then, where do we find the necessary graces, gifts, and holy desires described in the Bible? Well, we have three key passages. 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 and following. Titus 1, 5.

Biblical Passages Describing Ministerial Qualifications

4:07 1 Peter 5-9 and 1 Peter 5. And what I want to do is I want to quickly read through these passages and then we're going to try to organize what they say under three basic headings. All right? 1 Timothy 3.

4:28 Faithful is the saying, if a man seeks the office of a bishop, an overseer, a pastor, a preacher, all of those, all of those terms we use synonymously, he desires a good work.

4:46 The bishop, therefore, now I want you to look at the next two words, must be.

4:56 Now, in the Greek, there's a little particle called the particle of necessity. And for some of you that at least have had a little remembrance of your Greek, it's dei. D-E-I. And that little particle of necessity, it's the particle that is used when Jesus said the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and must suffer and be rejected and rise from the dead on the third day.

5:29 In other words, it is a particle of necessity that allows for no flexibility. Now, look at this passage. If a man seeks the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. That's a faithful saying.

5:48 It was one of those sayings, there are five of them in the pastoral epistles that had apparently become common sort of holy cliches in the church of the first century. And Paul says to Timothy, that is a trustworthy saying. If a man seeks the office of a bishop, if a man has desires to be a shepherd and a pastor of God's people, he desires a good work. But, but, the desire is not enough.

6:16 The bishop therefore must be,

6:21 and then he lists, without reproach. Doesn't say sinless, but no just cause to censure him. And what's that mean? Then he goes into detail.

6:33 The husband of one wife, temperate, that means self-controlled, sober-minded, got his head screwed on right, he's not a scatterbrain, orderly, a man who has structure to his life and his thinking, given to hospitality, he loves people, apt to teach, no brawler, no striker, but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money, one that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. But if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, not a recent convert, lest being puffed up, he fall into the convent, condemnation of the devil. Now look at verse 7. Moreover, he must have a good testimony from them that are without, his neighbors, the place where he works, the women in the office, the kids on the street. From the outside, unbelieving world, he must have a good testimony, lest he fall into reproach and snare of the devil.

7:46 Now, anyone who becomes, an elder who doesn't pass the test of that passage, has intruded himself into the office, contrary to the will of God. That's it. Plain and simple. Titus chapter 1.

8:04 Get a feel for these passages. Titus chapter 1. For this cause, verse 5, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, appoint elders in every city as I gave you charge, if a man is blameless, if a man is blameless, if a man is blameless, and a different word in the original, with a little different shade of meaning, but the same basic connotation, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, bad translation, should be translated, having trustworthy children that are not accused of riot or unruly. No elder can put grace in the hearts of his children, but he must have sufficient control over the children under his roof, that they are trusted, trustworthy, and that means they are not accused of riot or unruly. They are basically respectful to the rule of that home. For the bishop must be blameless as God's steward, not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine

9:31 and to convict the gainsayers. Now that old English word gainsayer means one who speaks against. That is, one who speaks against the truth, he must be able, not only with healthy words to build up the hungry people who desire the truth, but to shut up the mouth of those who oppose the truth. That's what exactly it is.

9:51 That's exactly what it means. And then first Peter Chapter 5, first Peter chapter 5. He writes to the elders verse 1 and then he says this, Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you exercising the oversight. And here's the part that is vital, not of constraint, not because you're forced into it, not because it's the only way you can make a living, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God, nor, yep, for the sake of money, nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as warding it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. All right, now, in the light of these passages, we ask the question, the Christian ministry, who should be in it? And taking these passages, putting them all together, boiling them down, let me suggest we come up with three categories of the requirements for those who would assume this office. Number one, there is an underlying assumption in all three of them.

Underlying Assumption: A True Work of Grace

11:05 First Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, there is an underlying assumption as far as the requirements are concerned. The underlying assumption is that the man being considered for the office of an elder, a shepherd. A bishop, a pastor, has experienced a real work of grace in his heart, and is truly in a vital, saving relationship to Jesus Christ. Now, that is assumed, because all of those graces, self-control, not soon angry, not a hothead, all of those things, where do those come from? According to Galatians 5, 22, and 23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. You see, there is an assumption in every one of these passages that no unconverted man should ever take on himself or be pushed into the office of the ministry simply because he is a Christian. He's got the gift of God and knows enough of the Bible to hold people together while

12:32 he talks about God and Jesus and sin and salvation and heaven and hell or whatever else is in the Bible. You see, one of the great tragedies recorded in Scripture is the tragedy of blind leaders of the blind cursing God's people, both in the Old and the New Testament. You read Jeremiah 23. In that horrible description of the false prophets, the false shepherds, Ezekiel 34, the false prophets, Matthew 23, the Pharisees who were blind leaders of the blind, and Jesus' words in Matthew 7, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons? And in your name do many mighty works? Then will I say unto them, Depart from me.

13:26 Depart from me. Depart from me. Depart from me. Depart from me.

13:28 I never knew you, ye that work iniquity. Oh, they could preach up a storm. I mean, they could whoop for hours on end. They could get the crowd blessed to the point where they were all ready to weep and shout.

13:44 But he said, I don't know you. Why? You are workers of iniquity. You never partook of my saving grace that changed your heart from a sin-loving heart to a righteousness-loving heart.

13:59 You knew nothing of my grace in you, though you knew much success of my word being preached by you. That's frightening, men. But that's in the Bible. Many are going to say in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not preach in your name?

14:19 So the underlying assumption of all these passages is, brethren, that if we cannot testify to a true work of grace in our own hearts, if we have not come to the discovery of the world, if we have not come to the discovery of our own sin, of our own guilt, of our own wretched, hell-deserving condition, and if we have not discovered the glory of God in the face of Christ crucified as our only hope of salvation, if we have not been brought to behold in Christ our only hope, and in that look of faith united to Christ, if we cannot say that our God is the only God, then we cannot say that our God is the only God. We cannot say that our God is the only God. We cannot say that our God is the only God. Our greatest longing is to know him, to please him, to obey him, and to serve him. We've got no business in the ministry. The underlying assumption in all these requirements is that a man has experienced the real work of grace in his heart. But then secondly, the basic qualifications, what are they?

Basic Qualification 1: Consistent Personal Godliness

15:24 The basic qualifications, the underlying assumption, we're in a state of grace. Secondly, the basic qualifications, what are they? Number one, a consistent and high standard of personal godliness before the church and before the world. A consistent and high standard of personal godliness before the church and before the world.

15:58 Now, where do I get that? Well, that's just summarizing 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, isn't it? If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. The bishop must be without reproach.

16:14 He must be a one-woman man. There must be no question about his morals. One woman in his eyes, one woman in his heart, one woman in his bed.

16:29 Just that simple.

16:35 I know a little something. I've lived long enough to see the tragedy, the tragedy of man after man falling in love. In the area of morals. My friend, it doesn't start overnight.

16:50 It's when a man begins to have more than one woman in his mind that he ends up having more than one woman in his bed.

16:59 Doesn't happen overnight.

17:02 And I don't care who you are sitting here this morning, if in the presence of Almighty God with Judgment Day honesty, you can't say that you are the husband of one wife, one woman, not only on the marriage certificate, but in your heart, in your eyes, and in your heart. You can't say that you are the husband of one wife, one woman, not only on the marriage certificate, but in your heart, in your heart. You can't say that you are the husband of one wife, one woman, not only on the marriage certificate, but in your heart, in your heart. You've got no business being in the ministry.

17:21 Self-control. That doesn't mean just with wine. It means self-control with your food, not a glutton.

17:30 Self-control in your whole manner of life. Because the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. And we must manifest as ministers the power of the Gospel before we ever open our mouths to be its official spokesman. That's why this consistent and high standard of personal God before the church and the world is put first.

17:55 We must be those who are orderly, sober-minded, people that rule well our own houses, having family life that is an example of godliness, having family life that indicates we know how to be loving and yet firm and firm and yet loving. We know how to take care of nurturing our wives while filling all our other responsibilities, to nurture and care for our wives, to nurture and care for our wives, to share and give direction to our children, to be intimate with them so that they love us as their dads and yet to be such leaders that they have that respect for our authority. And Paul argues if a man can't order his household with that wonderful combination of foresight and responsibility and authority and love and humility, if he can't make it in his house, his little church, how is he going to make it in the bigger house of God's people? You see how he argues? If a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? And yet, brethren, ministers are notorious for having spoiled brats and either bitter or bossy wives.

19:08 I've met them all over the country, preachers' wives that are bitter and resentful because their husbands are so busy with their almighty ministry they have no time to nurture and cherish their wives. And their wives sit there Sunday afternoon after Sunday and have to bite their lip to listen to that character preach.

19:31 I tell you, if I can't preach with my wife's eyeballs on me and my kids and even though they're all married, two of them sit there with their spouses every Sunday morning and look their dad straight in the eyeballs and the day I can't preach, they're right through to the back of their retinas and know that their conscience is, listen to me with peace, I'm through. I'm done!

19:53 I'll quit the ministry.

19:57 And I've taken that position for over 30 years. And it's been called extreme. Well, until I can read my Bible otherwise, I say it's biblical. A man know not how to rule his own house, how should he take care of the church of God?

20:14 And that consistent high standard of personal godliness must not only be seen by the church, but verse 7 says he must have a good testimony for them that are without. The bank where you got your loan to get your set of wheels, you got a good testimony?

20:30 You make your payments on time and you get second and third notice. Good testimony from them that are without. What about your neighbors? Do they know you to be thoughtful, sensitive, caring?

20:45 Or if somebody says, hey, I go to such and such a church, who's your preacher? I'd never come to hear that guy, please.

20:53 You ought to be his neighbor.

20:57 Yeah, that's what Paul's saying, isn't he? How can the gospel have any credibility if it doesn't make you a good neighbor?

21:05 And that's the first requirement. It doesn't say nothing, about the gift of God. It doesn't say nothing about anything except a high consistent standard of personal godliness before the church and before the world. In fact, the only thing that's even hinted about gifts here in 1 Timothy 3 is it says apt to teach.

21:33 And there's question among exegetes as to whether that means having an ability to teach or having a heart to teach. And it's a question of ability to teach. And it's a question of ability to teach. And it's speaking more of a servant's heart rather than ability.

21:46 It's a debated point. And then it says he must have an ability to rule. But you see how the great emphasis falls not upon gifts, but upon character. And the same is true in Titus chapter 1.

22:01 And the same is true in 1 Peter chapter 5. A character marked by a willing servant's heart. Not a desire to get into the ministry so you can, go around and crush people and have your own way and push people around. Not lording it over God's flock.

22:20 But making yourself an example. When people say, preacher, if I believe what you preach and if I obey what you preach, what will it make me like? You ought to be able to say it will make you something like me. Be followers of me even as I am of Christ.

22:37 Making yourselves examples to the flock. Well, I thought, we're only supposed to follow Christ. He's the only perfect example, but the Bible says you're to mark those which so walk as you have asked for an example, Paul says in Philippians 3.17.

22:55 Making yourselves examples to the flock. Every one of your people has a right to come to you and say, preacher, if I really take serious what you're preaching, what kind of lifestyle it will produce. Come and live in my home for a week and watch me. This is what it's producing.

Basic Qualification 2: Proven Ability to Lead in the Home

23:13 Making yourself an example to the flock. Basic qualifications, a consistent and high standard of personal godliness. Secondly, a proven ability to lead others with wisdom, grace, and authority. A proven ability to lead others with grace, wisdom, and authority.

23:38 That's 1 Timothy 3.5. I'm sorry. If a man knows not how to rule, his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

23:51 A man must have a proven ability to lead with wisdom, with grace, and with authority. And your home is the great proving ground.

24:04 I'm glad my wife's not a wimp. She's got a good head.

24:10 She thinks. She thinks critically. I couldn't lead her with any kind of authority if I didn't lead her with wisdom and with grace. But I lead her.

24:24 There's only one set of pants in our family. Not two. Only one. But I would not be embarrassed to have my wife come and stand here right now because I ask her periodically.

24:40 And it hurts. It hurts. We try to have a practice at least once a year, having what we call our personal judgment seat. Well, we get away for a few days, and one of the questions I ask her and she asks me is if there's anything about me you could change as far as you see the Word of God, what would it be?

25:00 And I tell you, she zinged me just two weeks ago. And it was hard to listen. A couple of things that she pointed out that I wasn't aware of. And it stung me.

25:12 She was right. And I've had to deal with the issue. It takes grace to lead a wife. It takes wisdom.

25:24 Husbands, dwell with your wife according to knowledge. And just when you think you're getting to understand what that complex, human being is, called a woman, and we have one here, so I have to be careful what I say. Just begin to think you're learning how to dwell with her according to knowledge. And lo and behold, she starts into the change of life.

25:49 And all the hormones cause all kinds of disruption. And then you've got to get all your knowledge of her all rearranged. And just when you think, then she becomes a grandmother. And then she's a whole different character.

26:02 And then you've got to look. So it's an ongoing thing. But you see, isn't that true of your people? You don't put them into little boxes.

26:10 As they grow and develop, you learn to respond and be sensitive to your sheep. For man knows not how to rule his own house, starting with his wife. How can you take care of the Church of God? You see, that's why it's so essential that we have this proven ability to lead others with wisdom, grace, and authority, proven in the home the same way with our children.

26:36 You can't lead children. You can't lead children. Without wisdom, you certainly can't lead them without grace. Oh, how you need tons of grace.

26:46 And you can't lead them without authority. You let your kids run all over you, and they will. And they won't even say sorry for the footprints they leave on you. But you see, mere authority isn't enough.

26:59 Hour your kids into the corner, and they jump when you say jump. But when you turn your back, they know, and God knows what they do, if that authority is not permeated with wisdom and grace, you're not really leading them. So there must be a proven ability to lead others with wisdom, grace, and authority. And then thirdly, under that heading of the basic qualification, a consistently high standard of personal godliness before the Church and the world, a proven ability to lead others with wisdom, grace, and authority, and then a proven ability to be a safe guide in the truth of God's Word.

Basic Qualification 3: Proven Ability to Guide in Truth

27:41 A proven ability to be a safe guide in the truth of God's Word. Titus 1-9, holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict those who speak against the truth, the gainsayers. What is the requirement for an elder, for a shepherd, for a bishop, for an overseer? He must hold to the faithful word.

28:15 He must have a grasp upon the word. And with that grasp, have a proven ability to be able to handle in such a way that he can take believers and encourage and build them up in sound doctrine, or sound or healthy teaching would be a literal rendering. And then, not only to do that, but have such a hold upon the word that when he sees some of those wolves that Paul talks about in Acts 20, the wolves that will prey upon the sheep with their false teaching, you must have a grasp on the word and be able not merely to point out the wolf, but to drive him away with the truth, to convict, to bring to the test, and to shut the mouth of the gainsayer. Now, a man must have a proven ability to be a safe guide in the truth, the truth of God's word, before he should ever be admitted into the office of an elder. Well, having looked at the underlying assumption that a man is converted, the basic qualifications, now then I close with this third heading, the God-ordained means of initiation into the office. By what means should a man be initiated into the office?

God-Ordained Means of Initiation 1: Sober Self-Assessment

29:42 And here I give you three, three simple headings. Number one, a sober self-assessment. Romans 12 and verse three. Romans 12 and verse three.

29:54 I say to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but so to think as to think soberly, according as God has dealt to each man a measure of faith.

30:15 Every man is responsible who aspires to the ministry to make a sober self-assessment of himself in the light of the word of God. Let me give you an example of one of the most wonderful examples of this we saw just recently in our own congregation. The dear brother, Belton Brevard is his name. I was talking with one of the brethren here earlier.

30:40 Dear black brother, that the Lord brought to us several years ago, and there were clear evidences that God's hand was upon him for the eldership. We were praying about it, his elders, and we approached him and his first response, he was absolutely overwhelmed. He just never thought that we would approach him because he doesn't have that high opinion of himself, his true humility. And I said, well, we want you over the next month, Belton, to pray about this matter, and then I'll get back to you.

31:08 So a month later, I got back with him and I said, well, Belton, tell me, where are you in your thinking in the light of our overture to consider the eldership? And he said, well, I'll tell you what I did. After you approached me on behalf of the elders, I completely restructured my personal devotions so that every morning since that time a month ago, I've been praying through Psalm 139. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.

31:38 You know my down sitting, my uprising. And he said, when I've come to the last two verses, search me, oh God, and know my heart. I've been crying to God that he'd help me to look at myself, with judgment day honesty in the light of the word of God. And then he said, after praying through Psalm 139 every morning, I've been taking one of the qualities of 1 Timothy 3, been using my concordance and my commentaries and doing an in-depth study on that requirement.

32:07 And then each night at family devotions, I've been expounding that requirement to my family. And his family consists of his mother-in-law lives with him. His wife. 22-year-old daughter, two teenage sons, and a teenage nephew.

32:24 He said, I've been expounding that part of the biblical requirement. And then I've been asking everyone in my family, with judgment day honesty, tell me, do you see that quality in me? Now that's what I mean by sober self-assessment. And I tell you, when that man was unanimously recognized as an elder, he knew and we knew that he had a grip, on the cunts of that whole congregation.

32:57 That there was a man that didn't push himself into the office. He didn't get some flutter at 3 o'clock in the morning or have some verse jump out. He did what Romans 12 says. He soberly assessed himself in the light of the word of God, with the quality control of his immediate family as the backup system.

God-Ordained Means of Initiation 2: Sanctified Desire for the Task

33:20 Secondly, there must be a sanctified desire for the task. Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task. Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task. Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task.

33:28 Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task. Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task. Not only a sober self-assessment, but also a desire for the task. 1 Timothy 3.1, Faithful is the saying, If a man seeks the office of a bishop, he desires, a good work. 1 Timothy 3.1, Faithful is the saying, If a man seeks the office of a bishop, he desires, a good work. Not reputation, good name, good position but a good work.

33:52 That's why Peter says, Exercise the oversight not of constraint. Not being prepared to need. pushed into it by others, not being pushed into it because there's nothing else you can do, but because God has given you a heart to live and bleed and die for the sake of Christ's sheep, that they might get to heaven safely. That's what I mean, a sanctified desire for the task.

34:17 Men, let me state it as bluntly as I know how. The ministry is either the most subtle form of personal indulgence in an easy job, or it is the most demanding, draining, flesh-wuthering task on the face of the earth. It's one or the other. If you've got a gift to gab and you can bluff it, and you've got people who've never heard real preaching, never seen real elders functioning, you can get by and collect your salad.

34:53 Don't worry, preach your sermons, be called Rev, and have a little bit of respect, and have a soft touch.

35:00 But if you take seriously what it is to be a shepherd to God's people, what you mean is you're willing to open your heart and take on all of their burdens and make them yours. You're willing to live transparently and pour your guts out for people only to have them to turn around and see your open, pulsing heart and stick a knife in it, spit on you, and walk away. God alone knows. The knife wound's here.

35:33 But how else are you going to live? If you say with Paul, we seek not yours, but you, we are willing, he says, to spend and be spent, though the more we love, the less we be loved. I tell you, that costs. That costs.

35:49 That's why Paul could say, laboring night and day. He said, I admonished you day and night with tears. In 1 Thessalonians, he says, I was with you like a nursing mother. Oh, the demands upon a nursing mother.

36:05 Every time the little one hollers, a milk comes in, she's got to get up, grab that little one, put her or him to the breast, lay him down. A few hours later, starts fussing again. Paul says, we were among you as a nurse, cherishing your own children. And then he says, we were like a father.

36:29 And oh, the task of being a father. Keeping on top of us. Keeping on top of us. Keeping on top of all of the areas of the needs of your children.

36:36 He says in that same chapter, as a father, we said, we're admonishing you and exhorting you and testifying to each one of you. There must be a sanctified desire for the task, a willingness to spend and be spent for the salvation and the maturity of God's people. And only God can give that desire. And then thirdly, there must be a recognition.

God-Ordained Means of Initiation 3: Church Recognition

37:03 A recognition by the church, acting under the rule of Christ's word. A recognition by the church, acting under the rule of Christ's word. No man can go to any group of God's people and say, God has sent me to you. You must take me as your elder, your pastor, your shepherd, your overseer.

37:26 No, a church must, in looking to the word of God, seek to recognize, recognize this man as a gift of Christ, because they see that Christ has furnished him with the gifts and the graces and the sanctified desire to give himself to the task of being one of their shepherds. And one of the great problems in our day is that men have not thought biblically about the work of the ministry. Therefore, they've not taught their people biblically. And therefore, churches are called.

38:04 They're calling men to become pastors, but not by the rule of Christ, but by the rule of their traditions, by the rule of their own notions, by the rule of their own whims and their own relatives and their own friends, instead of by the rule of Scripture. Brethren, if you do anything with your people, teach them, teach them how they're to recognize the gift of Christ. You may be preaching yourself out of a job.

38:37 Amen. You may say after you've preached, what a gift of Christ is. Hey, man, if that's what we're to look for, you sure don't see it in you.

38:48 Far better to face the facts and step down than go to God and answer before the day of judgment for being a false shepherd.

38:59 God says, I will give them shepherds after my heart who will feed them with knowledge and understanding. And what greater knowledge and understanding can you feed your people? And how to recognize a true shepherd? The world is full of false shepherds.

39:19 And the church has been cursed with the influence of false shepherds. And what a privilege you and I have to instruct our people on what a true shepherd is. And then by the grace of God, be made such men. Well, I said we were on very basic stuff today, men, but I think this is where we have to start.

39:39 Two questions we've looked at. What is the Christian ministry? According to the Scripture? As we have seen, we must think of it in terms of the office of an elder.

39:52 And then who should be in it? Only such as Christ furnishes with the necessary graces, the necessary gifts, and the sanctified desires to take up that solemn responsibility.