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Alright guys, take your Bibles and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3, please. 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6. Of course, we're doing the Bible qualifications for the bishop part 4, and I'm going to be covering today verses 6 and 7, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 6 and 7. The Bible says, Alright, so, Bible qualifications for a bishop part 4. So this is, like I mentioned, this is the final references that we have in 1 Timothy chapter 3 about the qualifications for a bishop, and then we get on to the qualifications of a deacon. As I told you, this is not the end of the series on the bishop, we'll be taking, next month we'll be going through the differences that we see in Titus chapter 1 with the qualifications there. So let's start off with verse number 6, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 6. The Bible says that a bishop should not be a novice, not a novice, the Bible says there. So what is a novice? What does it mean to be a novice? Novice basically means to be new or inexperienced, to be someone that's new or inexperienced. I mean, would you want to go to a church of an inexperienced pastor? No, you wouldn't. Of course you wouldn't. But, you know, I've, you know, some people might say, well, you know, Pastor Kevin, you're inexperienced. You've only been pastoring for a year and a half. You know, you're not an experienced, you know, you know, pastor. But here's the thing, you know, the experience you gain should be before you become a bishop. Okay, you gain experience prior to that. And that's why a lot of this stuff, a lot of experiences that we see here is like being a family man, being a father, being a, you know, a husband of one wife, all these things because just living your life in general will give you a lot of experiences in your life and that's what you take with you when you become a pastor. Now, when we talk about a novice being a new person, you know, there's several ways we can look at someone being new. Obviously, the first one is someone that is newly saved. You know, someone that is newly saved, they've just come to believe the gospel, understand it all. That person's not ready to be a pastor. That person's not ready to be a leader of a church and to teach the Word of God because probably all they know right now is the gospel, all right? But it's funny because, you know, you say, well, that's obvious but I see this happen. I see people get saved, you know, people are novices in the Word of God but, you know, when you get saved, it's such a revelation. You learn so many things, all of a sudden you understand the Bible more, all of a sudden the Bible's a lot more open to you and I can see why someone might feel, well, now I'm ready to pastor. You know, I get it now. I get the gospel, right? I've got it. I'm ready to pastor. But hey, it's a big book. It's a big book. There's a lot more in this Bible than just the gospel. It's a huge book, all right? So obviously, someone that's newly saved is not qualified to be a pastor yet, you know. It needs several years, several years. That's why, you know, one of my minimum requirements before I ordained a pastor was that they've been saved for at least seven years, you know, at least seven years. And hopefully those seven years, it wasn't just being carnal and being a babe in Christ. Hopefully during those seven years, they've learned and growed and matured and gotten to know more the Word of God. But the second thing is, you know, people, the next thing is being someone that's new is someone that's a babe in Christ, someone that's a babe in Christ. You say, well, isn't that the same as someone that's newly saved? Not necessarily. Okay. There are Christians that have been saved for 20 years, you know, or 40 years, or their whole life, and they're still babes in Christ. Okay. Just because you've been saved for 50 years doesn't mean you're a mature believer. In fact, there's a lot of believers that are still just babes in Christ. Take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians, please. First Corinthians. Actually, let's, can you first go to Hebrews chapter five? Go to Hebrews chapter five. I'm sorry, guys. No, go to 1 Corinthians. I'm jumping ahead too quickly. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter three. Sorry, guys. 1 Corinthians chapter three. Let's go there first. Babes in Christ. And of course, you probably already know where I'm going with this because we did a whole series on the Corinthian church. But 1 Corinthians chapter three verse one, what does it mean to be a babe in Christ? What's the problem with that? In 1 Corinthians chapter three verse one, Paul writes to the church and says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Okay, so what is a babe in Christ? A church, a people, a person who is carnal. You know, Paul says, I can't even speak to you as a spiritual person. I've got to come to you as a carnal Christian. So you see, look, do I think all these people in this church were brand new believers? No, I'm sure many of them were saved for many, many years. And Paul just says about the whole church, you're all carnal. You know, that makes you even as unto babes in Christ. Okay, so you see, even someone that has been in church for a long time can still be a babe in Christ. Look at verse number two. Paul says, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. So what's the problem with being a babe in Christ? Nothing wrong with it. If you're a new Christian, you start as a babe in Christ. There's nothing wrong with that state, but there's a problem if you stay in that state. And that's what Paul's saying, look, I came, I gave you the milk, and I still have to give you milk. I can't give you the meat of the Word of God because you've not grown, you've not matured. You know, you're still that carnal babe, and he's criticizing this church, all right? So if you have a babe in Christ pastor, the only thing he's going to be able to do is dish out more milk. He's never going to get into the meat of the Word of God, all right? Look at verse number three. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you, envy and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? You pretend you're men. You pretend you're mature believers because you're carnal babes in Christ. And because of that state that you're in, you're someone that's envying, you cause strife, you cause divisions. Is that the pastor you want? No, the pastor should be someone that can unite the church. Now someone that can give a vision to the church and everyone's on board and walking in that way. But a carnal pastor will cause envy and strife and divisions, all right? That means wherever that pastor goes, he's going to be causing divisions and strife everywhere he goes. Verse number four. And while one sayeth, I'm of Paul, and another, I'm of Apollos, are ye not carnal? So that's what the babe in Christ is, favourite preachers. I'm of this preacher, I'm of that preacher, and we can't get along because we have our differences in our preachers or whatever it is they taught. So you see the problem there, a babe in Christ, nothing wrong with her. If you're newly saved, you're growing, but these people were walking as men. They thought they were all mature, no, Paul has to bring them back to reality. You've not grown, you still need the milk of the word of God. Obviously a babe in Christ is not suited to be a pastor. What else is a novice, and obviously like I said, a novice also means someone that's inexperienced. Someone that's inexperienced. Now please go to Hebrews chapter five, verse 12. So there can be someone that maybe has a lot of knowledge, knows the Bible pretty well, has been saved a long time, but they're lacking experience. Now let me recommend to you guys, try to get as much experience as you can. Even if you say, I'll never be the pastor, that's not for me, look, you don't know. You don't know, as long as you're not disqualified. You don't know, there might be a time in your life where the desire does come upon you to be a pastor. There might be a necessity at some point where you just have to be, hey, no one else is stepping up. We've got to keep this going. Hey, I'm probably the best suited one here. Just be mindful, try to get whatever experience you can. And even if it's not to become a pastor, just gain the experience because it's going to help you in life anyway. Just serving the church is going to serve the brevity, serving Christ, serving the body of Christ. You get your rewards in heaven. I mean there's a benefit to just getting experience even if it's never your ambition to become a pastor. Why were you looking at Pastor Callum? I got distracted there. So, you know, someone that's inexperienced, someone that's inexperienced at preaching, you know, you need to get the experience of preaching. I want you to get up here and preach. I want you to do it. I want you to serve. I want to listen to what you have to say. I want to get you out of your comfort zone and open up the Word of God, study it a little bit, you know, more than you normally would in your daily life and come and teach us something in the Word of God. I look forward to you guys teaching because I know you're gaining experience. And I guess let me sit down a little bit to be with my wife because I miss that part of life. I miss, you know, just sitting in church with my wife and the kids. I miss that. But look, gain experience with your preaching. You know, even though I wasn't in favour of the Sunday school in my old church, I appreciate the fact that I could every week prepare a little lesson, study out a little bit, you know, even if it's 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it was, and I was able to do something and get the experience of knowing my Bible more and teaching little ones. So gain experience, you've got to get the experience of leading. This is why it's so important that a pastor is a family man that is married with a wife and kids, because that's where you get the experience of leadership, okay? Now that means when you get married, you have to decide, hey, I'm going to be a leader to this woman. Okay, I'm going to be a leader to this children. I've got to show this family unit that I'm worth following, that I'm worth listening to, that I'm worthy of the respect and honour that my position gives me as the head of my home. That's why it's the best place to gain leadership. It's not that, Bible college is not going to give you leadership skills. In Bible college, you're just sitting there behind a desk, listening to a lecture, filling out the answers and doing an exam. It's like going to high school. What leadership experience do you get in primary school and high school? Just sit there. That's what Bible college is. You just sit there. Listen, you're not gaining any leadership experience, okay? Now we're a church that doesn't have a lot of ministries, but I would say try to take whatever leadership in whatever ministry you can. For example, we have our brother Sam, who's taken up a leadership position in organising the maps for the soil winning. I don't have to worry about that now. Someone else is doing that. Hey, he's taking on a leadership position in that sense, and obviously, that still requires you to co-ordinate, still requires you to get people together, still requires you to think ahead of time. Just that experience is doing those little things will help you one day be a leader in a church. And of course, finally, why do you want inexperienced people? It's because the pastor is supposed to set an example to the brethren. Now I know a lot of my faults. I know a lot of my shortcomings, okay? It doesn't matter. I've still got to try to be an example to the believers. If you can't set a good example, I mean, if your family's just falling apart, let's say my family's are falling apart, you know, my wife and I are on the brink of divorce and I'm getting here behind the pulpit preaching about marriage, what are you going to believe what I have to say? You can't even put that in place. What experience? Like, you're no example to us. You know, I'm saying, you guys need to get out there soil winning and you never see me knock a door. What kind of example is that, you know? So you know, a novice is an inexperienced person. You can get all these experiences today. You can have the opportunity to get experience of preaching. I'm more than happy to give you those opportunities, you know, to get out there, be an example of a soul winner. You can do that. If you find something in the church, you're able to put your hands to say, hey, I'll take this. Do it, you know? Do it to serve the Lord. Do it to gain some experience. Okay? Now you guys are in Hebrews chapter five, verse 12. Hebrews chapter five, verse 12. Because look at this. For when, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers. Okay, so now he's talking to a group of people, he says, you ought to be a teacher now. You should be teaching other people the word of God. You should be taking up a position of the leadership of authority, right? And then he says, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and have become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that use of milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Okay, so try to get as much experience in your life as you can. Try to be a full aged Christian, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So why is experience important? Try at the end there guys, so you can discern both good and evil. Because the more you've lived your life, this is why the Bible uses the term elders, you know, as pastors, because you shouldn't be some young guy that's just, you know, come out of high school. You know, you ought to be someone that's lived a little bit, you know, you've worked something, you know, you've had to work hard, you've had to put some effort in, you've gotten married, you've had the kids, you've had to do some life, some life experience, right? And by the experiences that you live in your life and growing and knowing the Word of God, you're going to be better able to discern between good and evil. Okay, good and evil, whereas someone without experience, you know, they may not realize if I do this, it's going to be harmful to the church. They might not realize if I teach this, it's going to cause, you know, people to backslide or whatever, they won't be able to discern what's good and evil. So, you know, we don't want pastors that are newly saved, that was number one. Number two, we don't want pastors that are babes in Christ. We don't want pastors that are inexperienced, all right? And the last one that I've got here, when it comes to being a novice, is someone that is new to church, okay? Now, let me say this, if you've, let's say someone wants to come here, they want me to send them out to be a pastor, and they've been like, they know the Bible better than me. They've read the Bible more than I have, you know, they've been saved longer than I have, and they've been a deacon at this Baptist church or at that, you know, church, and they come in, and they're like, you know, three months into it, please ordain me to be a pastor, look at all my experience and knowledge, but you're new to my church, you're a novice in my eyes. If you're new to my church, I don't know you, you're a novice in my eyes. Because my view is, if you're so effective in the church you came from, then why aren't you a pastor now, okay? Why are you coming to this church now, three months into it, and now you think, you know, because you're better than me in many other ways? Well, you could be, okay, and you want to be sent out as a pastor? Hey, no, you're still new to the church, I don't know enough about you. This church doesn't know enough about you, we need to get to know you, we need to get to prove you, we need to have that opportunity. For me, I don't care how experienced someone is, I need to know that person before I lay my hands on them, and give that recommendation from me, because if I lay my hands on someone, I recommend that person, if I send them out as a pastor, and I find out later on they're teaching some heresy, I'm going to have to speak out against that. I'm going to have to say, hey, I did approve that person, but I cannot approve that person anymore, okay? So I want to make sure I know you. Now, take your Bibles and turn to 1 Chronicles 29, please. 1 Chronicles 29. And this is why another qualification of my bishop is that you are in, under my authority, in my church for a minimum of three years. I need to know you, the church needs to know you, okay? In three months, you can fool everybody. In three years, it's much harder, okay? To keep that mask of, you know, mature a Christian for three years is very difficult, if you're not that way, okay? 1 Chronicles 29, verse 1. So someone that's new, and look at this right here in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 1. Now, when Solomon became a king, he wasn't a young, he wasn't like this young, you know, young guy, this teenager or anything like that. He was already a full-aged man, but in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 1, this is what David says to the congregation of Israel, it says, Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender. And the work is great, for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. Now when God says about, when David says about Solomon that is young and tender, what he's talking about is his young and tender for this position of being a king over the nation of Israel, okay? Obviously, you know, David's still the king, and Solomon's still learning the ropes. Solomon's still trying to learn what it means to be the king of Israel. And because the work is great, he says in verse number two, David says, Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, oink stones and stones to be set, glistering stones in diverse colors, and all manners of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Now the reason I wanted to bring up this passage is if you know the story, they told me out here about constructing the temple of God. And King David was not allowed to construct a temple for God, but God said he would allow Solomon to do that. Okay, he would allow Solomon to do that. But when David looks at Solomon, he sees someone that's young and tender. He's not ready to step up and take on these massive tasks. So David says, you know what, I'll help prepare. I'll get things started. I'll get the materials, the stone, the wood, and all the things that's required for the temple. So when Solomon comes in, he'll be able to use all those resources that we've accumulated over all these years, and finally build that temple for God, okay? So the lesson there is, guys, is that someone that would like to be a pastor, they still need time to be under the authority of another man. Under the authority of someone who is experienced, someone who can help them prepare, the same way that King David was able to help Solomon prepare. He saw him as a young and tender person, taking on a massive role. And let me just say, being a pastor is a massive role. I don't care what size of church it is. If it's a small church, a larger church, it's still a massive role. It's still a significant position that very few people have. Very few people have, and God has great expectations on a pastor, because they're there to feed the flock of God. They're there to feed the children of God. So I don't care what all the experiences, or how old you are, how long you've been saved. If you're new to church, you need to prove yourself first. You need to be under my authority, and I need to be someone that can help you along to get to where you need to be, all right? Now, the next thing about being new to church, we need to see that you're someone that is stable in church. Maybe you've turned up and you've only been a few months, but your history in the past may be that you're a church hopper. Maybe you're someone that's just gone from church to church. You disagreed, gone, disagreed, you're gone. You don't like that person, you're gone, you're gone. And you've come here and you're like, let me just start a church. And this is where you get yourself ordained pastors once again. You just get in there like, you know what, it's too hard. I just don't fit in anywhere, I'm just gonna start my own church, I'm gonna ordain myself. The Holy Spirit told me to go and start a church, I'll do that. So that person is unstable in church. How are they gonna be a stable hand in the congregation which they're to lead? So, and actually I did have one other point as to what a novice can be. And I wouldn't ordain a newly married man, okay? A newly married man, to me, is a novice. Because you're a novice at marriage, you just got married. You just got married, you're a newly married man. And that's why, again, one of my qualifications was that you would have children, plural, right, children. And with the youngest being at least three years old. Is that what I said last time, three years old? Anyway, I was two or three, I can't remember what I said last time. But around that age, you're youngest, okay? That means you've got an older child. Because then you've proven to be someone who can lead a home. You've got a happy marriage, you've got obedient children, and those kinds of things. And again, if you look at 1 Timothy 3, 5, it says, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? So God, once again, I've covered this already, but just quickly, God uses the family as that place of experience. The family is a place where you can make mistakes and then fix them. So that way, when you start a church, you don't make the same kind of mistakes. You learn from the mistakes that you've made as a family man. So a newly married man is not ready, is not qualified to become a pastor. He needs to have some experience. He needs to be a leader to his wife. He has to be able to maintain a good and healthy marriage and have good, obedient, faithful children. All right, now if you guys can go to Job 12, please. Job, chapter 12, Job chapter 12, verse 12. Because what's the opposite of a novice? Say this person's a novice, but you don't want a novice, you want the opposite of a novice. You'd say, I want a person of experience, right? Someone that is experienced. And Job chapter 12, verse 12, these are the words of Job. It says, with the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding, with him is wisdom and strength, he have counsel and understanding. All right, notice it talks about wisdom, understanding, strength. And he associates these qualities with someone who is ancient, okay? People that have lived a bit of life, okay? Someone that has got the experience. And so Job associates the longer you live, the longer you've been about, the greater your knowledge, the greater your understanding, the greater your strength. So that's why you don't want a novice. Because if you get the novice, you're gonna get a guy that's lacking in understanding. You're gonna get a person that's weak, who's not strong. You're gonna get someone who doesn't have the wisdom that he could have accumulated during his life. So of course, when you select a pastor, you want someone who has definitely gone through some life experience, someone that has some ancientness in them, all right? They've experienced certain things in life. And so that's the opposite of being a novice. You want someone that is experienced, okay? So start thinking about if that's something you'd like to do. Again, even if you don't want to be a pastor, just try to find areas that you can gain experience and God can use that in your life. Now, the next thing in 1 Timothy 3, it said, not a novice. It said, not a novice. So, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Lest being lifted up with pride. So what Paul is saying here is if you do take on a novice, they're gonna be people that are filled with pride. They're gonna be easily filled with pride. And I don't want to make a whole sermon of pride, but let's just look at a few key things here. Go to Proverbs 8, Proverbs 8, verse 13, please. Proverbs 8, verse 13. The Bible says in Proverbs 8, 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance, and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. What does God hate? He hates pride. He hates arrogance. He hates the evil way, the froward mouth. He says he hates these things. You want a pastor that God hates? Hey, if you take on a novice, you're guaranteed he's gonna be lifted up with pride. You want God to hate your own pastor? You don't want that person. A novice is not someone that should be leading a church, neither should a prideful person. Now, if you see a pastor that's full of pride, that's lifted up, guess what? He's a novice. That's why he's full of pride, okay? Oh, he's been pastoring for 20 years. Oh, is he full of pride? He's a novice. He's been a novice for 20 years behind the pulpit. He was ordained as a novice. That's why he's lifted up with pride. And if you guys go to Proverbs 13 now, Proverbs 13, verse 10. Proverbs 13, verse 10. It says, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. You want a pastor who has wisdom, or do you want a pastor who brings contention? All right? Well, the prideful one, the novice, he will definitely bring contention. What kind of church is that? That's gonna destroy your church. You're gonna have people leave the church. It's going to destroy the church when you have an inexperienced pastor behind there, okay? So a pastor of pride brings contention. He's not a peacemaker, you know? And so be careful about the people you decide to be put under. I know we went through the session of, you know, if there were other churches and attending those other churches, you know, you ought to also be looking at that man, the pastor, and say, how well does this guy line up with the word of God? If he's full of pride, full of contention, you don't want to be under that pastor, all right? Now, if you guys can, let's see how pride is. We'll go to Psalm chapter 10, please, Psalm chapter 10, and we'll see the dangers that pride can have. But think about this in the context of your local church, okay, Psalm chapter 10, verse two. Let's look at this in context of your local church, speaking about prideful people, Psalm 10, verse two, it says, the wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. Okay, so that means if you get a pastor who's a novice, who's prideful, they're going to persecute certain people in the church, okay? People that maybe are poorer, maybe they're weaker in their faith, maybe they can't provide the offerings or tithes as much as other people can, they're going to feel the pressure of being under a pastor who is a novice, okay? They're going to feel persecuted by that person. And it says, let them be taken into the devices that they have imagined, for the wicked boasteth, okay, that's pride, boasting of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, hey, he blesses the wrong kinds of people. You know, he wants the covetous in his church, whom the Lord abhorreth. Says the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. Man, you ordained the wrong person. God is not in his thoughts, okay? He will not seek after God. You come to church, you want to know more about God, you put yourself under a pastor who's a novice, who's prideful, they're not going to teach you about God. You're going to get a twisted view of who God is. You need a twisted view of the Bible, okay? I mean, pride with a pastor, and pride does not mix. Okay, it does not mix. Now, it's said there about the condemnation, lest he be lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. You don't need to turn there, I'll just quickly read from Isaiah 14, verse 12. What's the condemnation of the devil? What's that about? How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast set in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. Hey, that's what these wicked prideful pastors are thinking. I will stand behind the pulpit. I will teach the word of God. I will be respected. I will be honored. You know, everyone will come and please, you know, come and serve and please me. He says, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Then says, yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pits. What's the condemnation of the devil? You know, he'd be brought down from heaven, down into the pit of hell. Now I'm not saying a novice because he could be a true believer. Hey, but they're going to destroy themselves. They're gonna be brought low and they're gonna face that condemnation that the devil faced. He'll be brought from his heights and brought down very low. All right, so if you guys, are you still in 1 Timothy? Go back to 1 Timothy chapter three, verse seven. 1 Timothy chapter three, we looked at verse six there. About not a novice, not lifted up with pride. But verse number seven. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without. So moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without. All right, and then it says, lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil. So the reason I wanted to look at these two verses together is they both refer to the devil as a problem to these people that are underqualified or disqualified. All right, so when it says here, he must have a good report of them which are without, that's saying outside of your assembly, outside of your church, outside of your common family and friends that you normally interact with. You know, someone, look, you can be someone that's great at church. You might be someone that everyone says, my brother so-and-so is awesome. Look at his family, they're wonderful. But then you might have a seriously bad reputation in your workplace, a bad reputation amongst your family, a bad reputation in your previous churches. If that's you, you have a bad report, you don't have a good report without, you're not qualified to be a pastor either. You know, be thoughtful about these things, all right? Don't go around burning all your bridges, right? You know, trying to, you know, just destroying every relationship you know of because before I ordain you, I'm gonna check up on those that know you without. I'm gonna check up on your past, okay? I mean, this is no different to, you know, when you go and apply for a job. You know, you send in your resume, don't they normally ask can you send through free references? You know, free people that have known you. You know, maybe your previous employers or some friends or some families, just somebody that I can ask a few questions so I can see if you're a legit person, right? If you're just a decent person. And so I will, you know, before I ordain a person, I need some references. I'm gonna check, I'm gonna call. I've done this in my workplace. I've hired people, I've rang for references so I know what kinds of questions to ask. So you're going overboard, Pastor Kevin? No, that's what the Bible says, you need a good report. You know, if you got a bad report, I'm not gonna ordain you. I don't care how much I like you, okay? I don't care how much this church likes you. If you got a bad report outside of the church, I'm not going to do it. Look, the word of God has this in here for a reason. I'm not just gonna overlook what the word of God says. All right? So who am I gonna check with? I'm gonna ring your employer. I'm gonna ring your employer and say, can you tell me about brothers, you know, so and so? And do it, we don't have any Toms in here. I'm gonna ask about brother Tom, all right? You know, Tom, what's he like as an employee? You know, does he have a good work ethic? You know, is he normally, you know, at work? Or, you know, if Tom were to resign, you know, or, you know, you had an opportunity to rehire him, would you take him on again? You know, would you take him on again? You know, can you give me some examples where he's gone above and beyond in his current role and he's been able to be a, you know, great service to the company? I'm gonna ask those kinds of questions, you know? And, you know, if Tom were to continue in your business for the next two years, where do you think he'd go? Do you think he'd still be in the same place? Or do you think he'd be in a new position? What are your thoughts about that person? I want to know what they have to say about you. Now, if they say, well, Tom, you know what? Yeah, we don't like him here because he doesn't like the homosexuals. That's fine. You're good, you're good. I'll be like, all right, good. You got a good report. I'm happy with that report, okay? So don't, you know, I'm not saying that if they say something nasty, it doesn't mean that's a bad thing about you. It's just as worth the nasty things in line with the word of God. I'm all for it, okay? But like, if they say, hey, this has a slack work. I should honestly, you're gonna get into start a church. You know what? That church might only last for two months and then he'll quit, you know? Because he's done that to us. We've gone to start projects and then, you know, he's quit. We've had to give that work to someone else to finish off because he just won't finish what he, you know, that's not a good report. That's not a good report. I'll check with your employer. You know, ask about your work ethic. And if I feel necessary, if I feel it's necessary, I might even ask your former church or your former pastor or someone that you've been under the authority, especially if you've been an employee in that previous church. Now, today, you know, you might have a set of beliefs that are different to what they believe. And so that might come out. They might say, well, you know, Tom, he's all right, but he believes in the post-trib rapture. You know, we're pre-trib rapture. So, you know, we couldn't allow him to continue serving here in the church because of his position. I'm like, oh, okay, that's good. I'm happy. I'm happy that he's aligned with what I have to teach. Obviously, I'm not going to hold that against you, okay, for the things that you've changed. But if that person says, you know what? That Tom, you know, there was some scandal and, you know, he was getting involved with, you know, single girls here and, you know, he's a married man. Look, that could come through, you know, but you might have been a genuine, awesome person for the last few years in this church, but there's some horrible situation that's happened. You know, that's a bad report. I'm not going to ordain you if I hear stories like that from your previous church. I don't care if it's a Pentecostal church and that's happened. That's not fitting for a man of God to be involved in some horrendous scandal, okay? So he's got to have a good report without, not just within the church. Look, if you can't get a good report within the church, you're probably not going to have a good report outside of the church, right? So, I mean, you've got to start here and make sure you have a good report here with everyone else before I check with the report outside, but I will. I'm telling you the truth. Before I ordain anyone, this is serious for me, serious, serious business. I'm in trouble with God if I don't do the proper checks and measures. Now, if I do everything in the list and I've checked everything and everything's on board and you still turn out to be a failure, at least my conscience is clean, right? I did everything I possibly could, God. You know, I did it in accordance to your word, you know, and I'll let you just deal with, you know, with Tom. So let me continue. Sorry, my notes are a bit of a mess right now. Sorry, 1 Timothy chapter three, again please. 1 Timothy chapter three, verse seven. 1 Timothy chapter three, verse seven. Just the end of there. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. You see, if you're a pastor, a man who has a bad report, the Bible says you're going to fall into the reproach and the snare, that means a trap, the trap of the devil. Okay? Now I would like to think that I'm a problem to the devil. I'd like to think that the devil would like to take me down. You know, because I'm trying to serve the Lord faithfully and that's a problem for his kingdom and I'd like to know that the devil would like to get at me. Now whether he can or not, whether how much the Lord's going to protect me from that, I don't know. I like to think that the devil's trying to get ahold of me because then I know I'm doing something right, okay? But here is someone that's not doing something right and they're an easy, easy prey to the devil. I mean, it's just this easy trap. You know, the devil sets out the trap and that person falls into it, okay? Someone with a bad reputation, a bad report is easy prey for the devil. You know, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're easy prey to the devil and they yell out persecution. I'm being persecuted for God and maybe you're being persecuted because you've got a bad report. And maybe you're being persecuted, maybe you fell in the trap of the devil because you're of bad behavior, bad reputation and you weren't qualified to be a pastor in the first place. So that's what I wanted to cover. It's just those two verses there, 1 Timothy 3, 6 and 7. You know, once again, guys, before I lay my hands on anybody, I wanna make sure I've done a thorough job. I will call your workplace. If there's any references that you think are gonna help you and that's relevant to your position of being ordained as a bishop, then I would like to know those names and numbers and I will call them and I'll ask them those questions. And of course, I'll keep certain things in mind. You know, I understand that, you know, there might be people that don't like you, you know, but usually they're gonna give me reasons they don't like you. And probably if we're on the same page, they're not gonna like you because you believe like I do anyway, right? I mean, they're probably not even gonna like me because we're aligned in the same way about certain beliefs or certain practices or things like that. So anyway, we'll leave it there guys and we'll continue the series on qualifications next month. Let's pray.