Deacon Qualifications

Camp and this is the 3rd year that we've done this. We're really excited about this just this event. It's just a great way to reach out to our community, both children and parents that live in this area and what we do is we for 5 nights we host a soccer camp where we teach soccer skills but really use that as the opportunity to just invest in these children's lives and just really put the gospel on display for them, show them the. Of Christ and teach them about who Jesus is.

And so last year we had over 100 kids. We're hoping for about 140 children this year and that includes a lot of their parents who stick around to watch the event. Some of those are Cornerstone kids as well, but we want to just put this before you because we're still in need of some volunteers and we've been talking about deaconing and serving over the last few weeks. This is an opportunity for you to deacon.

to serve, and there's a couple of ways you can do that. We're still in need of just general volunteers, so people to just come out and serve, just be hands willing to just do whatever we need to do, tear down, set up. and there's other specific ways you can serve by being a coach or an assistant coach, and you might say I don't have any idea how to play soccer or even coach it. Don't worry, we will teach you everything you need to know to, to, to be involved in these kids and, with these kids and it's really an opportunity not just to be a coach but to be a mentor and to just be one on the ground level with the children, just showing them the love of Jesus.

we have some opportunities to serve on the worship team as well as, in the hospitality area where we just really minister to the parents who, who stick around and watch, giving them stuff to snack on and drink. So there's a lot of ways to, to, to serve. There's going to be a meeting this Sunday right after, after this service, for those interested, and then also a meeting next week. You can attend either one.

You don't have to attend both. some items that we're looking for as well are anybody has a pickup truck that they'd be able to to use or to allow us to use or to make available in the evenings. We have quite a bit of equipment that we're going to be taking back and forth each day and then if you have any pop-ups that you could let us borrow just to shade people from the brutal August sun, that'd be great. and lastly, we have some immediate needs for some canvassing help.

We want to get the word out. We want as many kids as we can to be there. And so this, we had a canvassing event yesterday, but we have one this Wednesday. If you get off work and are available at about 6:30, we're going to canvass the neighborhood this Wednesday, the 29th, and then also on Saturday the 1st, we're going to be in the neighborhood from 9 o'clock to about 3 o'clock in the afternoon just getting the word out through flyers and word of mouth.

So that's that's the big stuff. If you're a parent and want to sign up, you can see there's going to be a registration table where you can sign your children up for a small fee, and that money goes to make actually it available to the community kids for free. So we want, we want this totally to just be a free outreach and event for the children. So just be in prayer also if you're not able to serve or attend, we can appreciate your appreciate your prayers as we kick it off in about 2 weeks.

And Tim Nicodemus is the guy you want to see if you have more information information. If you need more information, he'll be out after the service. So thanks so much. OK, that's what happened before.

Can you guys hear me? Now, can you hear me? Can you hear me now? OK.

Can you hear me now? OK. OK. I want to begin this morning by saying that I believe that We all desire to be great at something.

Raise your hand if you, if you don't desire at all to do anything well. If you don't desire at all to do anything well, stand up, raise your hands. OK, we got one person in the back, doesn't want to do anything well, 2 people. I, I actually believe that you're wrong.

I think that, I think that we all desire to be great at something. I believe that we're hardwired by God. To be great at something, to do something well. We, we want our lives to amount to something.

We want when we die and people are celebrating our funeral, if you will, we want folks to say nice things about us. We, we want, we want people to, to see us as having been, people that have done things well. this is, this is why we get upset when we fail at something. Have you ever failed at something and have been upset about it or discouraged about it?

it hurts when others let us know that we did a poor job, that we did our job badly. On the other hand, we feel good when complimented for a job well done. I think it's just built into us. It feels good when someone encourages us by saying, what, what you said encouraged me.

What, what you did was awesome. We see this, this desire to be great. I see it in my children, for example. My children bust out the board game and before it, by the time the game ends, one is upset at the other because the other won.

You see, they, they want to win the game. They, they want to have success in playing the game. I have observed from my son, I'm going to pick on my boy, Andrew, my 10 year old, I, I have seen him get visibly upset. After striking out in a baseball game.

On the other hand, I have seen him elated after hitting that ball and driving in a few runs to help his team win the game, and there he is standing on second base, and you can just see it. He's beaming, he feels good, and the dads in the crowd are waving their fists in the air and screaming and yelling, and of course I'm the one going the most nuts of all. And, and he feels good about that. You can just tell, it's nicer to hit a ball than to strike out.

He, he desires to do well. He wants to do well, he wants to contribute. He, he wants to make the game saving play or to get that game-winning hit. And like him, I think we all want to be successful.

We all want to experience greatness in our life. In the movie, for those of you who are movie buffs, in the movie, Nacho Libre asks, asks to, I knew I would get some people excited. Nacho Libre asks Escaletto the question. Don't you want to taste some of the glory?

Don't you want to experience greatness? Just, just one time in my life, I want to experience greatness is in essence what he is communicating to his skinny sidekick. You see, this desire to be great. is built into us.

It's not a bad thing. It's not necessarily a bad desire to want to be great at something. Remember Jesus with his disciples, they were arguing with one another about who was going to be the greatest. They, they were all bent out of shape over who was going to be the greatest.

And so Jesus comes along and what does he do? Does he slap them upside the head and say, you guys aren't supposed to be talking about being great? No, on the contrary, he helped them to understand what true greatness really is. He gives them a perspective of what greatness is that is meant to help them so that with their desire to be great, they match it with, with the right things to be great in Jesus in Mark 10:43 says, whoever wishes to become great among you, shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for all.

There is the mark of greatness. You wanna be great, Jesus says, be a servant of all. If you want to be exalted in the mind's eye of God, God, then be a servant of all, lay down your life like Christ laid down his life for you in service to other people. Look not merely after your own personal interest, but also the interest of others.

Have this mind in yourself, this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he was God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, he humbled himself, he became a servant to all. It's an amazing thought, isn't it, to think that the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the creator and sustainer of the universe, entered into this world in service to us. He served us, an amazing thought. The importance of being a great servant is underscored by the fact that one of the two church offices involves servanthood.

We have two offices in the church, right? Essentially, we have the office of elder and we have the Office of deacon and the word deacon literally means servant. We have the office of the servants. These are the two offices in the church and knowing that one of those offices is servant, is deacon would suggest to us the importance of serving.

This morning with the time that we have, I want us to look at the deacon. I want us to look at the servant, and I want to address the question, what qualifies a man to serve in the office of deacon? What is to be true of a man serving as a deacon? What are some of the deacon qualifications as put forth in 1 Timothy 3:8-12?

Go ahead and turn there if you would like. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8, and in this passage, we will discover keys to greatness. In this passage, we will unpack what it is that a servant should look like. In this passage, we will understand, I hope, more fully, the qualities, the characteristics of a deacon, of a servant.

What does being great in the kingdom of God look like? It looks like being a servant, and this passage will unpack for us the qualities of a deacon, the qualities of a servant. Would you join with me in prayer before we look at the passage. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would illumine the eyes of our understanding.

We find in this passage, Lord, a blueprint. There is a blueprint here for us as to how we should live our lives. There is a blueprint, Lord, in this passage for us in terms of how we should want our brothers and sisters. around us to live their lives.

We want greatness, Lord, for our brothers and sisters. We want our brothers and sisters to be great in your eyes. We want it to be said that on the day in which our brothers and sisters meet you face to face, we want to hear you say those words to them, well done, thou good. And faithful servant, enter into the joy of your rest.

Father God, we have a blueprint and we pray that as we look at the blueprint, you would help us to, to gain a vision for what we would want for ourselves, for those to whom we minister, for our children, Lord, we would ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So you're in 1 Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 8. Let us read through the text, read quietly as I read aloud.

Deacons likewise must be in the same way that the elders had to meet certain qualifications, so also deacons must be men of dignity, not double-tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain. in the deacon's public life, these are descriptions of him. These are the things that others should see of him. Then he goes on to say, not these things, but holding by way of contrast, we put off those other things, and here we put on, what do we put on, what do we hold on to, we hold on to the mystery of the faith, the gospel with a clear conscience, and let these also first be tested.

Let them be examined and approved by others as others look at their lives. Let these also first be tested. then let them serve. This is an imperative.

This is a command. They are to serve, let them serve. They must serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. This is the catch-all phrase, right?

Beyond reproach. This encapsulates all of the other qualifications. At the end of the day, this is the bottom line is the man above reproach? If he is, then he is to serve as a deacon, filling the office of deacon.

We're skipping verse 11 because it focuses in on, on the women, the deaconesses, and we're advancing to verse 12. Again, I'm focusing here primarily on the male deacons. Verse 12 says, let deacons be husbands of only one wife and good managers of their children and good managers of their own households. And then here is a promise.

there is reward for those who served well. Verse 13, he says, for those who have served well as deacons, for those who have served well in this office of servants, obtain for themselves 1, a high standing, and number 2, great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. And so this morning you Using this passage we are answering the question, what are the qualifications of deaconship or if you will, what are the marks of greatness. This list is a list that serves as a list of great qualities.

These are marks of greatness. These are the things that must be true in the life of a person occupying the office of deacon. Now some of these are reviewed. We're backtracking.

a little bit, Milton covered a few of them last week. We're gonna cover those briefly and then we're gonna add to the list so that by the time we're done, we have this list of deacon qualifications as Paul describes them for Timothy here. OK, so number one qualification, number one, the deacon is to be respectable. The deacon is to be respectable.

If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, be a respectable. person. This is a person whose moral and spiritual character evokes esteem from others. This is the type of a person when you, where, where you are in awe of how it is that they live their lives.

They live lives, gospel-centered lives in such a way that you are, you admire their life, you are in awe of their life, and that I believe is what it means to be respectable. If someone were to view the video of your life, Let's say over the past week, or the past month or the past year, would they conclude that yours is a life worthy of emulation? Would they conclude that the way you live your life is the way in which they would want to live their lives as well? Would they see from you these deacon qualities?

Would they see from you that you are a man to be respected? Would they discover that your life is an obvious overflow of gospel realities in which wisdom and spiritual fruit are being expressed, that is the bottom line question. Well, this is qualification number 1, the deacon is to be respectable. We see that in verse 8A.

Moving on to number 2, the deacon is to use his tongue for good, not evil. We see this in verse 8B. The deacon is to use his tongue for good and not evil. The idea here is that the deacon is to speak in such a way so that the net The effect of what he says to people around him is that grace is ministered into their lives.

The deacons are not to be double-tongued, they are to be single-tongued, and out of the overflow of that single tongue and a heart rooted in the gospel, there should be grace ministered. Now, this grace can come in various forms. It can come by way of exhortation. It can come by way of correction, and we would do well to receive exhortation, to receive correction as, as an expression of God's grace in our life.

This grace can come by way of encouragement. Someone comes along and they encourage you. That is a form of grace. And so grace can come through the mouth in various forms.

The bottom line here is that the deacon is using his tongue. To minister grace. You see, God can powerfully impact others through what you say to the other person. The power of life and of death, the scripture says, is in the tongue.

And so God help us to all be deacon-like in that we speak words of grace to our brothers and sisters so that as a result, our brother Brothers and sisters grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus that they become practically speaking more and more like the savior. Moving on to qualification number 3 then, the deacon is to stay free from addiction to wine. The deacon is to stay free from addiction to wine. You see, the deacon is a man who is not overcome by any desire or compulsion that would interfere with his ability to serve effectively, OK.

A deacon is not to be overcome by addiction to wine, but I would submit to you that, that by way of extension, he is not to be overcome by any addiction that would render him ill able to serve others effectively. We will continue on then with number 4. The deacon is to have nothing to do with unethical gain. Again, when you get below the surface of this, it reveals a deeper issue related to materialism and even deceit that brings one's Moral character into question.

The deacon is to have nothing to do with unethical gain. I said we're gonna review this briefly. Number 5, and I will spend a little more time on this simply because it's a topic that deserves, camping out at, right? Number 5, the deacon is to hold to the gospel all the time.

The deacon is to be one who by the pattern of his life is holding on to the gospel. He is clinging to the gospel. And brothers and sisters, this I believe is the bottom line. You see, the person who is laying hold of the gospel is the person.

that will meet the other qualifications. You see, I don't think God wants us to look at these characteristics and, and, and say I got to focus on that and be more like that. I think what God wants from us is to focus in on Christ and Him crucified, risen again, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and to behold Christ and as we behold him, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians at the end of chapter 3, we are being transformed from one level of glory. to the other.

You see, transformation happens not by looking at the things to do and then doing them, but by looking to Christ himself and as we behold him, he is the one who brings about transformation in our lives. And so this is the most important of all, because from this flows all of the other qualifications that we're talking about here. We need to lay hold of Christ, we need to lay hold of the cross, we need to lay hold of the empty tomb, the resurrected. Christ, the one ascended onto the right hand of the Father, and as we see this and behold it, we experience the Bible says transformation.

Paul to the Colossians says keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, keep seeking him, lay hold of the resurrected Jesus Christ, understanding that the power that raised him bodily from the dead is the power that has been availed to believers so that they too can live resurrected lifestyles, they can live lives of victory. The deacon understands and as he is laying hold of the gospel, it is clear to him that as many sins have been forgiven, that all of the wrath of Almighty God that should be poured out upon him was poured out upon Christ.

Christ was judged in his place so that he might be forgiven and freed from the guilt and the power that sin has over his life. This is the mindset of a deacon.

He holds to the gospel all the time. He is able to effectively connect the truths of the gospel. He connects gospel truths to his life and as a result, he is experiencing transformation of life. He is becoming more and more like Christ and then by way of extension, he has been able to be a source of blessing so that through his mouth, the counsel and the wisdom The insight and the perspective he gives to brothers and sisters proves to be helpful to them.

They are helped by what he is able to say to them. I'm not saying that deacons are supposed to be teachers in the same way that the elder is called to be a teacher, but I do think that to some degree the deacon by his example, by his lifestyle, by his clinging to the gospel, he ought to be able at Some level to minister the gospel in a relevant and effective way. Again, not in the same sense that the elder is called to teach, but I do think that deacons ought to have an ability to connect the gospel truth to life.

You see it in their lives.

They are demonstrating it in their service to people and they're able to build others up in the gospel as well. And so number 5, the deacon is to hold to the gospel all the time. This brings us to number 6. The deacon is to seek diligently to maintain a clear conscience.

And remember last week Milton explained to us that the clear conscience really is the. box inside of which we are to download the gospel. And so what happens when the box is full of garbage. It makes it much more difficult to download the gospel into it.

And so you see, God has given to us this gift, this blessing called the conscience. And, and any time in which your conscience is telling you that you have done something wrong or sinful, any time at which your conscience is telling you, you need to be reconciled to that person who has sinned against you or that person whom you have sinned against, anytime your conscience gets the better of you and bubbles up to the surface, something that you need to deal with, guess what? need to deal with it, because failure to do so will make it more difficult to experience the gospel in its fullness.

And what the antidote is to a person who is struggling with that hardness of heart, is to encourage them to lay hold of the gospel and to obey its demands on their life.

The gospel tells them that they are to offer their body as a living sacrifice and so of God through their conscience The spirit is telling them you need to go and ask forgiveness from that person you sinned against. You need to go to your son, to your daughter and ask forgiveness. You need to go to your mom and dad and say, Mom and dad, I sinned against you. Will you forgive me?

And when the conscience tells you to do that, you do it. Otherwise you'll make it to where the gospel is gonna be, it's gonna be more difficult for the gospel to fit itself inside the box of your life to where you experience the gospel. So, the deacon is to seek diligently to maintain a clear conscience. This will bring us to number 7.

We're halfway there, but I was wanting to spend more time with the second half. So, here we go. The clock tells us it's 3:30, so I guess we have to finish the service. It's actually 11:27, so I'll try to be sensitive here, but, 7, the deacon is to live transparently.

The deacon is a man who lives transparently, allowing others to observe and evaluate his life. Look at verse 10. These men must also first be tested. They must first be tested.

The idea here is examined and approved. Now, you show me a man who is closed, you show me a man who is not transparent, you show me a man whom others do not know him. I will show you a man who is not transparent. I will show you a man who cannot be tested or examined and approved.

Implicit in this, qualification, that the deacon is to be examined and approved is the fact that he is living a life of transparency. He is allowing others to observe his life. He's allowing others into his life. If he is struggling in whatever way, there are others who know about it and they're praying for him.

He is not hiding from others, but he is walking in the light and he's being true with himself, true with the Lord and true with others. Others are able to, to know what is going on in his life. We're not here saying that deacons are to be perfect, but what we are saying is that deacons are to be examples of servanthood. And one way in which a deacon can express that, one way in which the, the deacon can be an example of servanthood is through being open and honest and transparent.

I know wisdom has to be exercised in doing that. I know that, but nevertheless, he is a man who is frank with others about the, the issues that are going on in his own life. Moving on to number 8. Qualification number 8, if you want to be great, you, you are to demonstrate the strong commitment to service.

This is deacon qualification number 8. The deacon is to demonstrate a strong commitment to service. We see this in verse 10 again, Let them serve as deacons, let them serve. If these men are qualified, if they are indeed beyond reproach, then let them serve.

Give to them the office of deacon, give them something that they can do to which they can serve the body of Christ. Jesus himself says that if you want to be great, You shall be a servant to all. If you want to be first, you shall be a slave of all. And then he presents himself as the example of service.

He says, even the Son of Man. did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Christ came as a servant. He washed the disciples' feet for crying out loud.

He came and he gave himself over to death in service to us, and he tells us that We are to be like that and so the deacon is to demonstrate in light of the gospel on the foundation of Christ and who he is and what he has done. The deacon is to demonstrate a strong commitment to service. He observes what is going on in the lives of his brothers and sisters, and when he sees need, he is quick to want to meet that need. God allows him to.

He recognizes that there may be people who are, who are, having difficult times and they, they, they need someone to come along and to help them. They need someone to come along and serve and the deacon is quick to serve. Young person, you can, you can be deacon like if you would like to, if you would like to be great, you can serve. There's many ways.

You can, you can serve your brother. You can serve your sister, you can serve your parents, or maybe you're old enough to where how to mow grass and that there's the old widow lady in the church who is unable to mow her own grass and you note that the weeds are getting pretty high and the grass is pretty thick. She needs someone to come alongside and help her out by mowing the grass. You can be great.

By mowing the grass for the old lady, you can be great in demonstrating service to other people. You see, this is what the deacon does. Demonstrates a strong commitment to service. Moving on to number 9, the deacon is to be above reproach.

We see that in verse 10 C, let them serve as deacons if here's the condition, if they are beyond reproach. Like I said before, this is the catch-all. This is the bottom line. This encapsulates all of the other qualifications.

All of the other qualifications fall under the general category of being above reproach. The deacon is to be above reproach. This means to be free from any offensive or disgraceful blight of character or conduct. Deacons must not have any blot on their lives, nothing for which they could be accused, arraigned, and disqualified.

We're not talking about perfection, but we're talking about models that we can look up to, models of what serving looks like. This is what we're talking about, not perfection, but good godly examples of servanthood, of deaconship. Moving on to number 10, the deacon is to be a one woman man. And what we begin to discover, beginning with this qualification and the next one is that God has a heart and a passion for what is going on within the context of family.

If you can read through those verses and not leave with a sense that God is concerned about family life, that God is concerned about fatherhood and fathers having an influence on their children, that God isn't concerned about the way husbands treat their wives. If you read through this passage and you don't get a sense of God's concern about the family, then, then you're missing something. Because that I believe is what this passage says. In verse 12, deacons must be if you want to be great.

Must be a husband of only one wife, a one woman man, if you will, and a good manager of their children. The deacons must be good managers of their children, but here we are at, at the 11th qualification. He has to be a one woman man. Boy, there's a lot that could be said.

When we went through elder qualifications, we spent a whole sermon on one woman man. So, if you want some more detail, go to that message. We preached it back here maybe two or three months ago. I don't remember exactly when, but, we dealt with the one woman man.

But let me, let me say just a few things before we move on. This is an issue. That should raise concern in the church. Because the statistics in the church would indicate that men of God are struggling in this area of their lives.

A couple of years ago, a CNN report said 70% of Christians admitted to struggling with porn in their daily lives. There are many other statistics, but that one I think captures it well enough. The bottom line is this, that immorality is an issue, that there are men who are struggling to be one woman men. What do we make of this qualification?

Well, deacons are not to be men who act lustfully towards other women. They are not to look lustfully at other women, and now let's get into the heart of things here. They're not even to think lustfully about other women. That is stated negatively, positively stated, this is what we're going after.

Deacons are to be men who demonstrate absolute loving commitment to their wives and their wives alone. They are to cleave to their wives as their God-given gift as their supporter, as their helper, they are to appreciate their wives and love them as Christ loved the church, using their wives as the person for whom they demonstrate service. They are to serve their wives, to lead their wives, and to love their wives. This is what it means, I believe, in part, to be a one woman man.

You are absolutely committed to the wife of your youth. And God help the church to be a church full of men who walk in purity, and God help marriages to be marriages that are marked by men who are faithfully and devotedly and unconditionally committed to Their wives, you get a sense of God's concern for the family, his love for the wife, and how he wants that love to be expressed through the man towards his wife. Well, let's move on to the other aspect of family from marriage to children.

The deacon is to manage or oversee his own children well.

He is to manage or oversee his own children well. Listen to what the text says. Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and they must be good managers of their children. Again, you get a sense from this passage that God has a concern for what is going on.

In relation to the father, deacon men, father, son, father, daughter, father child relationship. This is very important to God. We see God's heart for the family being revealed in this passage. What does it mean to manage?

His children, to oversee his children. What is implied by this? Well, here are some few thoughts. The deacon who is a father oversees the physical.

The emotional The psychological, if you will, the educational, and the spiritual development of your children. They are concerned that their child grows to become a great man or a great woman of God. The father is modeling for his son what biblical masculinity should look like so that his son, when he rises up, And when he grows up and becomes a young man, he is a young man indeed, or that the daughter she sees modeled from her dad, the marks of manhood, so that when she at an older age chooses a husband, the type of husband she chooses is one who is like her dad, who has lived out the faith before her in such a way that she will not accept anything lesser than one like her dad.

I believe God is wanting to speak to fathers and exhort us as fathers and encourage us as fathers and to give to us a vision as fathers of our calling, of our role as fathers in the lives of our children.

The deacon is to oversee his children well. He understands and he embraces the fact that he is the one primarily responsible for the discipleship of his children. He seeks to bring his children up in the nurture. and in the admonition of the Lord.

He wants to see them be champions for the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants them to grow into becoming men and women who demonstrate, who, who exemplify, who model these deacon qualities that we are talking about. And so he is a man who seeks to lead his children to the throne of God's grace, and perhaps this is done in the form of regular family worship. He sees his opportunities that God in His sovereignty ordained in order to minister truth to his children.

Just like to share I don't know, a couple of months ago, maybe a few weeks ago it was, I don't remember exactly when, but, but I had an opportunity to minister in this way to my son Andrew. You see, he had, he had made the all-star team at Colton Pony League as a 10 year old All-Star, and of course we were pretty jazzed about that. He began practicing and they began having their practice tournaments and whatnot and, and it became very obvious real soon. That coaches weren't going to play him.

He wasn't getting hardly any play time. One inning every 12 innings of baseball, they'd throw him in there at the end, always make him the last hitter and stuff like that. And it was as a dad who's looking at the other kids and who knows what his own kid can do and who's pretty convinced that his son has something to offer and he sees that the coaches aren't giving him an opportunity and he sees his own son struggling with that. it was, it was, it was tough for me as the dad and initially I was pretty fleshly in my perspective of it all.

It took me a while before I was able to gain a, a godly gospel-centric perspective of what was going on, but initially, my son would just be upset about it and I was upset about it and on one occasion we just clashed with one another. And I had to go to my son a little bit late and say, man, I, Daddy, Daddy was wrong. Daddy sinned against you, Andrew, will you forgive me for, for being angry with you about your bad attitude? And of course he forgave me and then I, I, I began to seize the opportunity to minister truth to him.

I said, what, Andrew? I said, they may not have you start the game at all. That's OK. I said, I'll tell you what, I said, I will be happier to see you be the number one bench warmer, be the best bench warmer you can be.

If that's all they're going to have you do is warm the bench, then you keep it nice and warm, son. You do it to the glory of God. And I said, what, if your chance to play comes, we'll see what the Lord makes of it, but what, this is where the Lord has called you right now. He has called you to warm the bench, and the Bible tells us, son, that if we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord in In due time, he will exalt us.

Son, be the best benchwarmer you can be, and Lord willing, he will give to you that opportunity to play. And when you have the opportunity to play, be thankful to the Lord and seize that opportunity, do the best you can, and we'll see what happens. Well, That opportunity eventually did come. I think he had grown in his understanding and practice of being a godly benchwarmer, and then the opportunity came.

I was unable to be at that game, but he gave me a call and he says, Dad, he says, and this was the official sanctified tournament finally. This was like the real deal. This was 2 and 2. You lose 2, you do a barbecue, it's over, OK?

And so he called. Calls me up, says, Dad, we won the first game, really, son? I was expecting them to lose because in the All-Star tournaments, the practice tournaments, they were doing really bad. She says, really, son, you won the first game, he says, and Dad, and in the second game I got to play.

Really, son? Dad, I, I got a triple. And I got another triple and I got a single and we won 15 to 13 and I drove in 5 of the runs, Dad. Andrew, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, because the Lord has taught him, and the Lord has taught me that what, it ain't about hitting the home runs, it's about learning to be faithful to the Lord where he calls you, and it's about understanding that if you do the best you can, in due time, he will exalt you, and it's about observing the Lord work. In our lives in such a way that lessons are taught invaluable lessons are learned, and we see him doing neat things along the way. What a blessing from God.

But you see, this is just one small example.

of how deacon fathers are to seize the God-given opportunities in the lives of their children to minister gospel truth to them. Boy, there is so much that can be said. let me share a few passages underneath this, this, this qualification. If, if you don't mind, you see, God places great value on children, on having children, and I believe he has a passion for the rearing of a godly lineage within the context of godly families.

Again, there's countless passages we could go to to support this, but consider with me Psalm 127 verses 3 through 5. Psalm 127 verses 3 through 5, behold, Children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward, that is a good thing, like arrows in the hands of a warrior. Now a warrior without arrows is toast, right?

He needs those arrows, those arrows are used. They are a good thing, they are a blessing. The arrows allow him to be what he is supposed to be a warrior, and he says like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

There's a number of passages in First Timothy that would underscore the fact that God has a passion for rearing of a godly lineage within the context of family. He says that women are to be preserved, how? Through the bearing of children. This is a positive statement that God makes about the rearing of children.

We find in First Timothy 4:1 that there will be, in later times, some will fall away from the faith, and then he describes men who forbid marriage. These are men who forbid marriage and all that comes along with being married, part of what comes along with being married is this, brothers and sisters, be fruitful and multiply and raise up a godly lineage for the glory of God. He talks to the widows and he says, put the older widow on the list only and he has qualifications. Got to be 60 years old, a one-man woman, reputation for good works if she has brought up children.

It seems very clear to me that the issue of child rearing is important. We're talking about deacon men, but alongside of the deacon men are the women who are seeking to help them in their efforts to rear up the children in the ways of the Lord. In Deuteronomy, 49, we read. Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life, but make them known.

Make what known, God, make the things which your eyes have seen. What are the things that your eyes have seen Israel, you have seen a great and mighty and magnificent God deliver you from the Egyptians and bring you through the wilderness, and he's about to bring you into the promised land. You have seen a God who has been faithful to his promises to you. Make sure that these things which your eyes have seen, make them known to your sons and to your grandsons.

You see, the ministry to our children is a ministry that must be done by the parents in their lives. Again, God is saying to men who would be deacons, lay hold of the calling, lay hold of the role that I have given to you. As, as Father Deuteronomy 64, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your sons. I believe God is in part speaking to fathers, and he's saying, dads, you shall teach them diligently to your sons.

He is saying servants of the church, deacons of the church, you shall teach them to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up, all. of the time you are, tell your children about the glory and the greatness of Almighty God, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead, and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gate.

You should create an environment for your children so that they would be led to a saving knowledge of God, and they would be led to growing in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 6:20, when your son asks, When your son asks, and by way of extension, we can say when your daughter asks, when your children ask, but here specifically, when your son asks you in time to come saying, Dad, what do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean, which the Lord our God commanded you, then you shall say to your son, you shall say to your children, we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.

and the Lord brought us up from Egypt with a mighty hands. And to put that in the modern-day vernacular, when your sons come to you and they should come to you and they ask you about Almighty God, you begin to minister gospel truth to them, and you tell them about the greatness of the Lord, and you direct them to a vision of Christ crucified on the cross, and you show them how the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and transformed your life and has made you something that you weren't before, that you are a new creation in the Lord Jesus.

Christ and that he was ascended to the right hand of the Father, and Andrew, God is my advocate. He speaks on my behalf, he defends my cause before the Father, and he will come again someday.

And when he comes again, I will be ushered into his kingdom, not because of my own works, but because of His grace. God is a good God and greatly to be praised. See, these are the messages that God would want us to teach to our children and deacons who happen to be fathers. Understand this.

They take it seriously. They want to manage their children well. Oh boy, so many passages to share, but not enough time to share them all. Again, the bottom line I think here is, is God does have a passion for the rearing of a godly lineage when in the context of godly families, deacons lay hold of this vision and make their and take their fatherly roles seriously.

I think I've got a link up there for you to look at when you get a chance. There's a Southern Baptist preacher named Vode Bakke. Milton has referred to him before, but he preaches a message on the centrality of the family, and it's the frontline message on his website. Go to that website, download that message and listen to it.

He has a lot of good things to say in connection to the topic of the family. Incidentally, guys, just Put this plug in on October 9 and 10, October 9 and 10th of this year, we're gonna have a guy, a pastor by the name of Kevin Swanson. He's gonna come out here to speak to us on the topic of marriage and family. I think the cost is gonna be roughly $40 a couple, and so just keep that in mind and be prepared to attend that conference that we're gonna have here in-house as well.

So moving on to number 12. Oh, I got to see the time. Number 12. The deacon is to manage the affairs of his household well.

He's, he, he's one who cares for the various issues related to his home. This is, this is not just the raising of the children, but it's the other issues connected to the home, the financial affairs and so on and so forth. But the deacon, he manages the affairs of his household well. His home is a home well ordered and well structured, well led, well directed, OK?

So, we've looked at 12 qualifications for those who would serve in the office of deacon. These are, 12 marks of greatness, if you will. What does greatness look like? What must be true of a person who wants to be great?

what are the deacon qualifications? Well, again, number one, the deacon is to be respectable. To be great is to be respectable in the eyes of others. The great person uses his tongue for good.

The great one, it stays free from addiction to wine. The great one or the deacon, the servant, if you will, has nothing. To do with unethical gain, holds to the gospel all the time with a clear conscience, is open to others, lives a life of transparency, allowing others to observe and evaluate, demonstrates a strong commitment to service, is above reproach, which again is the catch-all phrase. he is a one woman man, loves his wife.

He is a, a good manager of his own children, managing them well, and he manages the affairs of his household. What we have then. is a blueprint. For what we should want in our own lives.

Take a look at the blueprint. And ask yourself the question, am I lacking? And if so, ask the Lord to give you grace that you grow in these areas. We also have a blueprint for what we should want in the lives of the people to whom we minister and among whom we minister.

We should look at our brothers and sisters, and the thought in our minds should be, I want my brother to be great. I want my sister to be great. I want these qualities of greatness, these qualities of servanthood, these deacon qualities to be the qualities that I see in the lives of my brothers and sisters. And so we pray for our brothers and sisters and we come.

alongside us, the Lord might lead and we encourage them with the things we see that they're doing well, and if necessary, the Lord might use us to exhort them in the areas where perhaps they need an exhortation, but our desire for ourselves and for others and for our children is that they emulate the blueprint and may God help us here at Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church to be effective in the rearing of servants. Because as the Lord Jesus Christ said, if you want to be great, and I trust that you do, then be a servant to all.

As the ushers come forward to collect the offering. In your bulletins, you guys have, information slips.

If there's anything you want to say, any prayer requests that you have and you want to, let us know about that, please drop those off in the, basket as, as the basket is being passed around. And so here's your chance to, to serve by giving a small portion back to the Lord of what he has given. to you. So, let me go ahead and pray.

Lord, we thank you for, some of the reminders that have been issued to us through your word, I pray that you would transform us. That you would help us, To serve well. To be great in your kingdom. That you would be raising up within our midst, Deacon folk.

Men and even women who will serve well occupying this sacred high honor office. Lord, I pray that you would take what we give and use it for your glory for the advancement of your kingdom. And as we sing a final song to you, Lord, may we sing, with hearts full of joy and inexpressible. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Well, just a few announcements before we let you go. I just want to mention a few things. Again, there's a VBS meeting for those interested in volunteering right after our service in the modular next door.

So if you're signed up to, to help or you're just interested in getting more information, we'd invite you to that meeting. Also want to let about our Sunday evening service. you can mark your calendar for August 16th. We'll be having our Sunday evening service that Sunday, and we want to ask for you to pray for Team Arizona.

We have a team of about 13 people going to minister to one of our missionaries, Juanita Fike, in Arizona, and so you can pray for them as they do that. and also, if you're interested in in serving in our usher greeter.