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

All right, well, we're there in 1 Kings Chapter 19. And we've been going through a series on Sunday nights called The Times of Elijah. And we've been preaching through the life of Elijah. And if you remember last time, last week on a Sunday night, we were in 1 Kings 19. And we dealt with this famous chapter in regards to the discouragement and the depression that Elijah is going through. And of course, I knew that this week was Brother Stuckey's ordination service. And I was considering what I should preach about. And I, of course, thought that I should preach a sermon. Initially, I thought that I should preach a topical-type sermon or a standalone sermon in regards to the ordination. So I took a second look at 1 Kings 19. And I thought about it. And I realized that the next passage, the next kind of story we're looking at, is an appropriate story to preach through at an ordination service. Because if you notice, when we talked about last week all of the discouragement that Elijah is going through and how God helped him with that. But in verse 15, if you remember the last part of last week's sermon, we talked about how God gave Elijah some things to do. And in verse 15, the Bible says this. And the Lord said unto him, go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shall thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphad, of Abel Meholah, notice what it says, shall thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. One of the things that Elijah was given to do in his list of things to do was that he was to anoint Elisha to be the next prophet to take the place of Elijah. And that anointing in the Old Testament, where they would anoint a man into the ministry of being a prophet, or they would also anoint a man into the position of a king, would be basically the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament laying on of hands and ordaining someone for the ministry. Basically, Elisha is going to be ordained for the ministry. And what we learned in this chapter, we learned some things about Elisha. When Elijah meets Elisha, I want you to notice how he finds him in verse 19. The Bible says this, so he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphad, who was plowing with the 12 yoke of oxen before him. And he with the 12, and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And this is an important thing that we're going to come back to, because if you remember when Elijah gets raptured into heaven, basically, by a whirlwind, he drops his mantle. And Elisha picks up the mantle. And basically, that's where we get the terminology of picking up the mantle from the next generation. And he takes the mantle from Elijah, and he continues on in his place and in his stead. So here we see, we meet Elisha. And we meet Elisha when he is going to be chosen by Elijah. And he's going to be chosen to be anointed to be in the room of Elijah as a prophet. And there's a few things we see here about Elisha. And I want to point those out to you tonight. I don't want to be very long. But we learn some attributes of Elisha that God highlights for us. And these are the attributes that are needed for the ministry. And of course, today, we are ordaining Brother Stuckey into a new ministry. He's been in the ministry already for years now, working with us here at Verity Baptist Church. And everything that we're going to look at tonight, this is what Brother Stuckey has been. I can say about Brother Stuckey, and of course about Brother Oliver as well, working here, that these are some great men that I get to work with on a regular basis. And I just want to kind of show you some attributes needed for the ministry here from Elisha, realizing that Brother Stuckey has met these attributes and has these attributes. But I do want to remind Brother Stuckey that these are things that he's going to be, have to need for the ministry. When he's in the Philippines, it's going to be obviously a little different. He's not going to have me with him all the time or looking over his shoulder. And I tried not to do that, but he's going to be kind of on his own. And of course he's not on his own because it's Verity Baptist Church Manila, but he's going to be out there. And these are some attributes that he had here that he needs to take those with him. And things are going to help him be successful, things we see here in the life of Elisha. I'd like to show you just four attributes from Elisha that were needed and that were highlighted for the ministry and for you young men who would like to go into the ministry one day, or if you're training for the ministry now, these are some attributes that you should be looking at in your life and develop these in your own life and make sure that you have them. I'd like you to notice, first of all, tonight, as we're talking about the attributes needed for the ministry, first of all, we see that Elisha was willing to work hard. Elisha was a hard worker. Notice how we meet him again in verse 19. The Bible says this, so he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, notice what he's doing, who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. It's really interesting to me, and I'm not gonna run the verses tonight because I don't wanna take the time to do it, but it's really interesting to me how oftentimes when we find men being called into the ministry, they are often called into the ministry while working their secular job. Here we have Elisha, and he's just out in the field. He's plowing with 12 yoke of oxen, and Elisha comes along and says, you, come with me, you're gonna be the prophet in my stead, and he casts his mantle upon him. If you studied in the New Testament, you'll find that when Jesus chose his 12 disciples and when he went to James and to John and to Peter, and we're gonna look at that text later on in the sermon, and when he said, follow me, he found them working. They were fishing, and that was their job. When he called Matthew into the ministry, the Bible says that he sat at the table and he was a tax collector and he was working. It's interesting to me how God always uses men who are already working, who are already good workers and that developed a character of hard work, and they're working their secular jobs, they're working hard at what God has given them to do, they're learning to work hard, and it is those men that God chooses. God doesn't choose these lazy bums that are chronically unemployed to do anything. If you want to, you say, I wanna be used of God and that God would put his hand upon me and that God would use me in the ministry. God is not gonna use a man who doesn't learn how to work, who doesn't learn how to, and we're talking about just going to your secular job, your regular job, and work hard there, and be a good employee, and go up in the ladder as a career and get those promotions, develop those leadership skills, because here's what you need to understand. The ministry is hard work. Keep your place there in 1 Kings 19 and go with me just real quick into the book of Ephesians in the New Testament. Ephesians chapter number four, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and I'm thankful that at Very Baptist Church, we've got men around here that know how to work. They know how to roll up their sleeves and get things done, not only in their secular jobs, but just around church and as volunteers and ministry as well. But Elisha was willing to work, and this is the first attribute that's needed for someone in the ministry. They need to be willing to work. Ephesians 4, 12 says this. This is talking about the leadership that God gives to local churches, and he says that he gives this leadership for these reasons, for the perfecting of the saints. The perfecting of the saints means the maturing or the completing of the saints. Brother Stuckey, something you're gonna need to do in the Philippines is you're going to have to minister to the people that you serve there in such a way, you're gonna have to preach sermons to them that is gonna help them become whole, become complete, become perfect in their walk with God. For the perfecting of the saints, but I want you to notice this phrase, for the work of the ministry. You say, why would God say for the work of the ministry because the ministry is work. And look, today you've got a lot of lazy pastors out there, and I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure what these liberal pastors that hold one church service a week on a Sunday morning and then literally are doing nothing else all week long, I'm not sure what they're doing all week or what they're accomplishing all week, but I know this, the men who hold the positions of pastors and evangelists in this type of church or in the churches of like faith and practice, we're all busy at it, we're all busy working. You gotta preach three times a week, and we're making videos and we're leading soul-winning marathons and we're starting other churches and we're doing these things. And you say, what does that mean about the ministry? Here's what it means about the ministry is that the ministry is work. It's not something that we just kinda sit around and do nothing and we just work one day a week. No, it's something that needs to be, it needs to have people in it that are willing to roll up their sleeves, that are willing to get to work. Go to 1 Timothy chapter three, 1 Timothy three. Were there any Ephesians? You're gonna go past Philippians, Colossians, first stack of Thessalonians, into the book of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy three. Do me a favor, when you get to 1 Timothy, put a ribbon or a bookmark or a bulletin or something there because we're gonna leave 1 Timothy and we're gonna come back to it throughout the sermon. 1 Timothy chapter three. Now I want you to notice what the Bible says about the ministry. 1 Timothy three one, this is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, notice what it says, he desireth a good work. Look, if you are pastoring, if you're leading, if you're leading a ministry and it's not work, you're not doing it right. Because the Bible says that it's supposed to be work. We're supposed to be laboring. We're supposed to be working in the ministry of God. 2 Timothy chapter four, 2 Timothy chapter four. Let me show you this, because tonight we're not ordaining Brother Stuckey as a pastor. One day, Lord willing, we'll be able to ordain him as a pastor and he will pastor a church there in the Philippines. Tonight we are ordaining him as an evangelist. But I want you to notice what the Bible says about an evangelist. 2 Timothy chapter four and verse five, it says this. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, notice, do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of the ministry. If you're gonna be in ministry, you're gonna have to learn to work. You're gonna have to learn to get things done. You're gonna have to learn. And here's what's interesting about Elisha. If you keep your place there in 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy and go back to 1 Kings 19, I want you to notice a phrase in verse number 19. The Bible says this, 1 Kings 19, 19. So he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphan. Notice he's a hard worker who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him. But I want you to notice this little phrase. The Bible says this, and he, talk about Elisha, with the 12. It says he was plowing with the 12. Now I've thought a lot about this little phrase, and I'm gonna just be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure what that phrase means. I've listened to people preach about this and talk about it, and I'll kinda give you some of the opinions that people have. Some people believe that the idea here is that when it says that he was plowing with the 12 yoke of oxen, what that means is that Elisha was kind of the leader, and he had men that were working under him that were kinda, he had basically 11 men that were working with him, and they were the ones that were actually in charge of each oxen and making sure that the work got done, and he was missing one of those. He was the supervisor, but he had one oxen that didn't have someone to plow with it, so when it says, and he with the 12, what that means is that he himself took on the responsibility of that 12th oxen. He had guys to work the other 11, but someone needed to work the 12, and he took that responsibility himself. Some people I've heard teach this and preach this, and I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure. It doesn't really make a difference because the point is the same, but some people believe that Elisha actually, when it says that he had 12 yoke of oxen, that he actually had 12 yoke or 12 positions, enough yokes for 12 different oxen, but that he didn't actually have the 12 oxen and that he just got in that yoke himself and was plowing with that ox. Now, I don't know if that's true, but if that's true, that's pretty awesome. You got Elisha, he's just with that, in a yoke with an oxen, because he's missing the 12 oxen, and instead of sending the one home, he says, I'm just gonna get in there myself. Now, whether it's the fact that he got in the yoke with the 12 and got that last group out there, or if it means that he was leading the 12 because he didn't have an employee, the point is the same, that as Elisha was working hard, he was willing to do whatever needed to be done to get the job done. He was willing to do, you say, well, that's not my position, and one thing that I've been thankful for with the men that I work with here is that oftentimes I go to these men and I'll say, hey, I need you to work late tonight, or I need you to work early, or I need you to work on your day off, or I need you to do, and something that I've been thankful with Brother Stuckey and with Brother Oliver, of course, as well, but tonight we're talking about Brother Stuckey and his ordination. One thing I've been thankful, both of these men are smarter than I am, more educated than I am. As far as the secular world is concerned, they could be way more successful and way more successful as far as careers and things like that out in the secular world, but one thing that I'm thankful for is that there's no job beneath them. If bathrooms need to get clean, they'll clean the bathrooms. If someone needs to push the vacuum, they'll push the vacuum, and they'll stand up and preach sermons, and they'll sweep the floor. They'll go out and make visits, and they'll mop and pick things up, and we see this with Elisha that he was willing, whatever needed to be done, whatever that phrase means, and he with the 12, he was willing to kind of just get in there, and whatever needed to be done, he was willing to do it, and this is an attribute that's needed in ministry, because in ministry, we cannot get high-minded with positions and say, well, I'm the pastor, so I would never. Well, I'm in charge, or I'm the evangelist. No, we need to be willing to come in on our days off or come in on our nights off or do whatever needs to be done for the work of the ministry. Why? Because the ministry is work, so we see the first attribute of Elisha here that he was willing to work, but secondly, I want you to notice, the second attribute, if you're there in 1 Kings 19, it's not only that Elisha was willing to work, but it's also this, that Elisha was willing to leave his family. 1 Kings 19, look at verse 20. The Bible says this, and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah. This is after Elijah cast a mantle on him and said, now, he knew what that meant, what that mantle of Elijah landed on him. He knew what that meant. That meant, you've been chosen. Elijah's gonna train you now for the ministry, and I want you to notice what Elisha says. He says, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. Elisha immediately knew that the calling upon his life meant that he had to leave his mom and dad, that the calling upon his life meant that he had to go with Elijah to be trained by him. And he says, hey, let me just say bye to my mom, and let me say bye to my dad, and then I will follow you. The response from Elijah is this, and he said unto him, go back again, for what have I done to thee? Basically, what Elijah is saying, you know, you don't owe me anything. I haven't done anything for you yet. You know, you go ahead and say your goodbyes. But I want you to notice that Elisha was willing to leave his loved ones. Elisha was willing to go from his family. Elisha was willing to do whatever the ministry called him to do. Go to Matthew chapter number 10. Matthew chapter number 10. And tonight, when we ordain Brother Stuckey to go as a missionary to a foreign land, and of course, it's wonderful that Miss Tan is from the Philippines, but Brother Stuckey's not. If you can't tell. And you know, here we have a man tonight that we're gonna ordain that he's willing to move away. Not only was he willing to move away from his family just to come here to be trained for the ministry, but he was willing to move away as a result of going to start a church in the Philippines. And this is exactly the type of attribute that is needed in those who go into ministry. They need to be willing to sacrifice and go away from their families. And it's interesting that the Bible says this. Matthew chapter 10, verse 37 says this. Matthew 10, 37 says, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and follows after me is not worthy of me. If you want to go into ministry and you wanna be used of God, look, sometimes God allows you to stay. I thank the Lord, you know, that I was allowed to start a church in Sacramento. This is where I grew up and I've got my family here with me. But there are lots of men that have to go somewhere else where their family is not. And sometimes, and look, here's what I'm saying. If you're gonna be used of God, you gotta be willing to leave your family. It doesn't mean you don't love them. It doesn't mean that you're against them. But if God is calling you, if God can use you, if God needs you somewhere else, the Bible says he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And if you're not willing to leave and sacrifice and move away from your family, then you may not make it in ministry. Because not only do you need to do that for your actual ministry, wherever you're going to serve as an evangelist or pastor, but you probably need to do that for the training just to get you to the place where you'll be a pastor or an evangelist. I want you to notice there that Elisha was not only willing to work hard and Elisha was not only willing to leave his family, but I'd like you to notice, thirdly, tonight, that Elisha was willing to sacrifice his past career. Elisha was willing to sacrifice his past career. Go back to 1 Kings 19. Look at verse number 21. 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 21. Notice what he does. He just got done saying, hey, let me say, let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And Elijah says, said unto him, go back again. But notice what happens in verse 21. And he returned back from him. Notice what Elisha does. And took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave them to the people, and they did eat. And he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. I want you to notice that Elisha took, remember, when we met Elisha, he is plowing with the yoke of oxen. But when the call of God comes upon his life and it's time for him to move away and go with Elijah, the Bible says that he took that same yoke of oxen and slew them. He took the animals and he slew them and he boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen. He took the physical wood that you'd use to yoke those oxen up and he destroyed that and he built an altar and he sacrificed these animals and he gave the people and they did eat. He basically sacrificed the tools that he needed for his prior career. Why? Because when you go into ministry, you need to be willing to sacrifice your past career. And this is a concept found in scripture. Now, before I show you that in scripture, actually, let's go to Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter five and let me just show you this from somewhere else. Look, if you want to go in ministry and one thing that Brother Stuckey has done is be willing, he has degrees and certain career field that he could go into, but he's willing to walk away from that and say, I'll be in full-time ministry. I'm willing to just, to take the yoke of oxen and slay them and boil their flesh and use the instrument of oxen and sacrifice that old life and work for God full-time. And I don't believe that everybody needs to go into full-time ministry, but I do believe that there are some of us that need to be in full-time ministry to be able to lead the churches and lead the soul wedding and lead the movement that is used of God. And you find this throughout the Bible. Look at Luke chapter five and verse 10. Notice what the Bible says. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon, that's Peter. I want you to notice, when it says they were partners with Simon, that means they were partners in business. They had a business, a fisherman's business. And this is what I was talking about, the fact that God always calls men when they're working. God does not call lazy bums that don't have jobs. God looks at men while they're at work and he says, there's a man that I can use in the ministry that I can use in the work of the Lord. And here we see James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon, and Jesus said unto Simon, fear not. And notice what Jesus said. From hands forth, thou shalt catch men. God says, Jesus said, up to this point, you had a partnership where you were catching fish and you were doing this for a living, but he says, from now on, I don't want you catching fish anymore. From now on, I want you catching men. And this was basically where Jesus was telling them, you need to quit your old job and you need to come into the ministry with me. Look at verse 11. And when they had brought their ships to the land, notice, they forsook all. They forsook the boats, they forsook the nets, they forsook their business and followed him. Now let me just say something because I want to make sure that you don't get the wrong impression. Go to the book of Acts. You're there in Luke. You're just gonna go past John and into the book of Acts. And let me just say this. There is nothing wrong with someone being in ministry and being bivocational. And what that means is that you're in ministry and you're working a secular job while leading a church. There's absolutely nothing in the world wrong with that. In fact, the apostle Paul had to do that. In Acts chapter 18 and verse one, we see this. Acts chapter 18 and verse one says this. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because that Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them, verse three, and because he was of the same craft, notice what it says, he abode with them and wrought for by their occupation they were tent makers. Paul was a tent maker on the side. He was bivocational. There's nothing wrong with that. But please understand this. In ministry, being bivocational should come as a result of a need, where you're leading a ministry or a church that cannot afford to pay you. The apostle Paul, we won't take the time to run the references, but we learn from other passages that there had churches that had promised to send him money and to support him financially, and those churches had failed to do so. So what did Paul do? Instead of saying, well, if they're not gonna support me, I'm gonna just quit and I'm gonna go back home. If they're not gonna send me the check, you know what Paul said? If they're not gonna support me, then I'll just go work a secular job and I'm gonna stay in the ministry. And that's the true heart of a minister. There's nothing wrong with being bivocational. When Verity Baptist Church started for the first several years, I worked a full-time job while pastoring this church. Many of the pastors, in fact, most of the pastors in what we call this movement are bivocational. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But here's what I want you to understand. That should not be the heart of a minister. The heart of a minister should be to leave the secular work and quit catching fish and catch men full-time. And by the way, churches should be, that should be the goal of a church, to get to the place where they can support their minister and their pastor and their evangelist full-time so that they can give their focus to the things of God. You say, why is that? Here's why it is, because we as men are meant to try to succeed in whatever we do. You want to know why men like sports? I don't talk a lot about sports. I don't really care about sports. But I'm totally for playing sports and that turkey bowl that we're going to have. I think things like that are great. But you know why men like sports? Men like sports for the same reason they like war, for the same reason they like fighting. Men, there's something in a real man, a true man, not one of these men going their own way, bunch of queers, but in a real man, there's a desire to want to go hunt something, or kill something, or win at something, or succeed in something. Men are, there's something in a real man that should make them want to accomplish something for God, accomplish something. And here's the problem with when you work secular jobs, is that those emotions are imbalanced. You want to succeed at work, and then you want to succeed in ministry. God just wants you focused on ministry. Now, if you have to work, work. If you have to get it done, provide for your family so that you can preach, provide for your family so that you can do the things that God has called you to do. But here's what the attitude should be of every minister, is I just want to give myself fully to the work of God. And I want you to notice that these men, they were willing to just leave the businesses they started, the careers that they had, the work that they were willing to walk away from it. And notice, Elijah's not asking, well, listen, Elijah. What's the benefits package here? You know, James and John, they're not asking, well, Jesus, how many vacation days are we going to get? I mean, what is the starting salary here? You know, listen to me. Unless you're going to be a false prophet, just mark it down. If you're going into ministry, you're going to be poor. If you go into ministry and you're making a lot of money, you're doing something wrong. You're preaching a false gospel. You're watering something down. You know, and obviously, I'm not saying that people should be dirt poor and just not able to feed their families. Obviously, I think that men in the ministry should get paid well and things like that. But here's what you need to understand. Our focus in ministry, the focus of Brother Stuckey as he's been here over the last several years, has not been let me just make more money and live in a nicer house and accomplish more. It's just been, you know what, Lord, give me what I need to survive so that I can serve you. And that is the heart of a minister, willing to say, I don't need the yolk of oxen. I don't need to catch fish. I don't need all of that. I'm willing to, in fact, I'm willing to sacrifice that so that I can work for God full time. And you say, well, what about the benefits package? I'll get that in the millennium. What about the vacation time? I'll get that in the millennium. What about all the other perks? You know what, just let God worry about that, and we're just going to serve God, and we're just going to work with God. So I want you to notice these attributes. Elisha was willing to work hard. Elisha was willing to leave his family. Elisha was willing to sacrifice his past career. But lastly tonight, I want you to notice that Elisha was willing to serve others. Go back to 1 Kings 19. Look at verse number 21, 1 Kings 19 and verse 21. The Bible says this, and he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them. And they boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people. And they did eat. And he arose, notice what it says, and went after Elijah, notice what it says, and ministered unto him. The word minister means he served Elijah. And here's what you need to understand is that every good leader is first a good follower. You don't get to be a good leader while skipping the following stage. You don't get to be a good leader while skipping the minister's stage. And one thing I've been thankful for Brother Stuckey over the years that he's been here is that he's been a good follower. He's been willing to just do what I ask. And if it means sacrifice, he's willing to sacrifice. Ms. Tan has been willing to give up her husband at times and been willing to sacrifice and serve and get things done. And I realize that sometimes I make decisions. And Brother Stuckey and Brother Oliver, they may not agree. Or they may not understand. Or they may not think that I'm making the right decision. But I've always been thankful that they've just been willing to minister and to say, you know what? Whatever you want, Pastor. If that's how you want to do it, let's do it that way. If that's the choice you're making, let's make that choice. And what makes you say, do you believe Brother Stuckey's going to be a great leader in the full business? I believe he's going to be a great leader. You say, how do you know that? Here's how I know that. Because he's been a great follower. And a great follower is what you need to be before you can be a great leader, before you can be the prophet that is going to lead the rest of the prophets. Elisha spent time just ministering unto Elijah. And this is extremely Christ-like. Go to Mark, chapter number 10. Mark, chapter 10. In the New Testament, you got Matthew, Mark. Mark, chapter 10. Look at verse 45. Notice what the Bible says about Jesus. We talked about this recently in one of the sermons. I can't remember which one, but let's look at it together. Mark, chapter 10, verse 45 says this. For even the Son of Man, just talking about Jesus, notice, came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. See, the Bible says that Jesus did not come to be ministered unto. He did not come to be served, but he came to serve. And you know, that's what the word minister means. It means servant. Ministry means service. When we are in the ministry, we are serving people. Now, what does that mean? Exactly, to serve others. Well, you're there in Mark, go to Matthew, chapter 25. And let me just show you that from Matthew 25. What does that look like to serve? What does it look like to be a minister? In Matthew 25 and verse 35, notice what the Bible says. Matthew 25, verse 35 says this. For I was in hunger, and I just want you to understand, we're looking at this passage. This is an end times passage. We're just looking at this to get a definition of ministry and what it means to minister. He says, for I was in hunger, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came unto me. You say, what does it mean to be in ministry? That's what it means right there. I thought ministry was you got to get up and hit the pulpit and stomp your foot and yell and scream. Yeah, you know, that's part of ministry, too. That's the fun part of ministry. But this is the part of ministry everybody forgets about. When people are hungry, you buy them groceries. When people are sick, you visit them. When they're in prison, you visit them. When they need somewhere to stay, you try to help them. This is what it means to minister. And here's the interesting thing about this. When we minister to others, we're really ministering to Christ. Look at verse 37. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger? Because this is the Lord saying, you know, ye gave me me. Ye gave me drink. Ye took me in. Ye clothed me. Ye visited me. Ye came unto me. So now they're saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we be sick or in prison and came unto thee? They're saying, I don't remember all these things. Notice what he says in verse 40. And the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And what we're learning here is that when we serve others, we're serving Christ. And that's why we should serve others as though we are serving Christ. Because ministry means to serve. And Elijah, Elijah, when he chose Elisha, the Bible says that Elisha ministered unto him. This wasn't above Elisha to minister, to serve, to be there and provide a need and to try to help people in their need. Because when we do that for others, we're doing it for Christ. Go back to 1 Timothy, if you kept your place there, 1 Timothy chapter 4. So we're talking about these attributes for ministry. Elisha was willing to work hard. I've been thankful that Brother Stuckey and Miss Tan have been willing to work hard alongside us in ministry for these years. Elisha was willing to leave his family. I'm sure that it would be nicer and easier for Brother Stuckey to be around his parents. I'm sure his parents would love for him to be around them. But you know what? For the cause of Christ, I'm thankful that he was willing to leave his family and go to the Philippines and start a church and reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ there. Elisha was willing to sacrifice his past career. He was willing to walk away from it and say, you know what? I'm just going to serve God full time. And Elisha was willing to serve others. Now, tonight we're ordaining Brother Stuckey. And I just want to give you a couple of thoughts and verses in regards to the doctrine of ordination. Ordination is a term that is found in scripture. And sometimes we call it the laying on of hands. And all of that is found in scripture. It's taught through scripture. Let me just show you a couple of verses. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14 says this. Neglect not the gift that is in thee. This is Paul speaking to Timothy. He says, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy. Notice how it was given with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. The presbytery there is referring to the spiritual leadership of the church. And the Bible says here that the spiritual leadership is to lay their hands on a man. And when we lay our hands on them, what we are saying and what we are picturing is that we are putting our trust in this individual. We have seen their life. They met the qualifications. They are who they say they are. And we are giving them our authority. And we are commissioning them to go out into the ministry. 1 Timothy chapter 5, you're there in 1 Timothy 4, just flip over to 1 Timothy 5. Look at verse 22, the Bible says this. Lay hands suddenly on no man. This is not something that should be done suddenly or should be done quickly. This is not something today, you know, people will go out and get ordinations that they can perform marriages. And they'll do it online. They'll read like a paragraph, and they'll take a quick test, and then they'll email them this ordination certificate or whatever. You know, the Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man. The Bible says lay hands should be done slowly. It should be something that we watch the lives of these individuals, that we've been watching, Brother Stuckey, we've been watching his testimony, we've been watching him with his wife, with his son. And we're proving him, and he's proving himself. And it says here, lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaking with their men's sins, keep thyself pure. Why does it say that? Because he's going to be an extension of our ministry as we ordain him, and we're saying we've watched him, we believe in him, we agree with him, and we are commissioning him and sending him out into the ministry. Acts chapter 13, if you would go there just real quickly, that's the last place we'll look at tonight. Acts chapter 13, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Passages we've been looking at here in 1 Timothy have to do with pastoral ordination, but I want you to notice the ordination of an evangelist or a missionary. In Acts 13, one, the Bible says this, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, which was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. Notice verse two, as they ministered to the Lord, doesn't that sound familiar? Why were these men chosen? Because they were ministering, because they were serving. And fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul. And by the way, neither one of these men is being ordained here for the pastorate. They're not going to be pastors. But the Bible says, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul. Why? For the work, notice again, it's work. The ministry is work where unto I have called them. And how did they separate them? How did they mark them and separate them and commission them and send them out? In verse three it says this, and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. The ordination process in scripture is this, that we pray, we place our hands on a man, we pray for them, and that is their ordination. That is their commissioning. And here's what we're saying. We're saying that we've watched you, we've watched your life, we know who you are, we know that you are who you say you are, and we are commissioning you to go do a great work in the Philippines. We're commissioning you to go do a great work, to be a great minister, to do something great for God. So this time I'd like to have Brother Stuckey come up here, and we're gonna go ahead and pray. And I'm just gonna lay my hands on him. I'm gonna pray. I'd like you to bow your head and pray along with me as we as a church together commission Brother Stuckey and ordain him for the ministry. Let's bow our heads and pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight thanking you for Brother Stuckey and Ms. Tan, for babies up in Iowa. Lord and I, you know that they've been a blessing to our church, you know that they've been a blessing to me and to my wife personally. And Lord, we've enjoyed having them here, and we consider them family, and we've enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them. And our hearts break as we see them go, but we're rejoicing in the work that you've set them aside for. And Lord, today we are praying your blessing upon Brother Stuckey. We thank you for who he is, Lord, but I'm asking for a fresh anointing upon his life, that your Holy Spirit would come upon him. Lord, that you would help them as they transition into this new chapter, this new ministry, this new role, all the changes that'll come with it. Lord, that you would help him as he not only preaches to the people there in Manila, but as he ministers to them, as he loves them, as he serves them, Lord, I pray that you would do great, great things. Lord, we ask that you would bless the Stuckey family, and we pray that you would bless them as we ordain him and commission him to this new work. Lord, we thank you for the great things that you will do with Brother Stuckey and with his family. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray, amen. Let's give him a round of applause. Thank you. Thank you. Amen, well we are, we're glad to see them go spiritually, but our hearts break to see them go personally, and I've just enjoyed having the Stuckey family here with us and working alongside us, and we have a time of fellowship now, but we're gonna go to pray to end the service. We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song, and then Brother Matt, if you would not mind praying for the food, and then we're gonna have a time of fellowship. Make sure you take some time to say goodbye to Brother Stuckey and Ms. Tan, and this is the last service they're gonna be in, so make sure you say your goodbyes tonight, and we're gonna fellowship with food, of course. Let's bow our heads and pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. Lord, we thank you for all the great works that are being started.