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All right, Titus, chapter one, I'm going to be preaching today on the Bible qualifications for a bishop. Part five, part five. Say, man, there's so many qualifications. Hey, it's a big task. There's a lot to you know, when you're picking out that man for the role to head up a church, it's a big responsibility. There's a lot of qualifications that this person needs to meet. OK, and one thing that I wanted to cover today, we've gone for the qualifications in first Timothy, but I wanted to now look at the book of Titus because we have another list of the qualifications of a bishop. A lot of it are very, very similar. But then there are some additional things in Titus that I wanted to cover today as well. OK, so Titus chapter one, verse five, Titus chapter one, verse five, the Bible reads, Now, before I keep reading, I just want you to notice what Paul says to Titus here. He left him in Crete, the island of Crete. Why? To say in order the things that are wanting, wanting. You see, in the time here that, you know, of Paul and Titus, there was a need. You know, there was a want for pastors. There was a need for bishops. OK, and so we would have these congregational people, these believers, maybe even some churches that have really established themselves through the guidance of Paul the apostle. But there was a need. There was a want for pastors. OK, it's no different today. OK, we have a satellite church down in Sydney. Guess what? We have a need for a pastor over there as well. OK, now let's keep reading verse number six. He gives us the qualifications, the list of qualifications for the bishop. He says, or the elder, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly, not given to one. Sorry, did I skip something over there? Yeah, sorry, verse number seven, verse number seven. OK, for a bishop must be blameless. Now, we've looked at all these things before for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. So we're going to start off here. The steward of God. All right. Let's have a look what the Bible says of a steward. Again, keep your finger there in Titus and turn to Genesis 43, please. Genesis 43. I think this gives us the best indication of what a steward is in Genesis 43, verse 16. Genesis 43, verse 16. And this is the story of Joseph. Of course, Joseph being taken into Egypt, he became a powerful man, you know, only second in power to the pharaoh. And of course, the story comes where he meets his brothers. Once again, they come into Egypt because of famine. He meets his brothers and he asked that they would bring Benjamin along with him, which was his full blooded brother. But look at verse number 16. Genesis 43, verse 16. It says, And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house. OK, now, obviously, Joseph is a rich man. You know, he's a powerful man. He's got a big house and he's got a ruler over his house. He's someone who he's got someone who manages the affairs of his house, because obviously there's a lot to do. There's a lot of servants. You know, there's a lot of things to take care of. Then it says, Bring these men home and slay and make ready for these men shall dine with me at noon. So it tells the ruler of the house, get the food ready. Now, of course, the ruler of the house is not the one cooking, but he's got, you know, cooks under him. He's got servants under him and he's directing them to get the meal ready. Drop down to verse number 19. It says, And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house. So I just want you to notice here in Genesis 43 that we see the term the steward of Joseph's house being used interchangeably with the ruler of his house, the ruler of his house. Now, think about this. We're looking at the we're looking at ordaining bishops. We're looking for someone who would be a good steward. OK, that is someone who would be a ruler of the house. And of course, the church is known as the house of God, isn't it? The house of God and the bishop is also given the title of the ruler. So this is something that's really significant. OK, the bishop or the pastor that we're looking for must be someone that can rule God's house, not just Joseph's house. And that would have been a big, big task. OK, but how much more fearful would it be if God asked you to look after his house? All right. Now, go to 1 Timothy, chapter three, please. Go to 1 Timothy, chapter three. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 13, 17. The Bible says, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, that they must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. OK, so you see there in Hebrews 13, 17, it's telling the people of God to obey them, that have the rule over you, referring to the pastor of the church, referring to the bishop, the one that's overseeing their souls. And you guys are in 1 Timothy, chapter three, verse 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long, that thou mayst know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So I just want to show you that because we have the reference of the church of God here. The church is also called the house of God, right? And these are the instructions that Paul has left Timothy, who was the bishop, who was the ruler of God's house in that sense. OK, so we see how when we're looking for someone that would be a steward of God, it's someone that is looking after the house. So if you're someone that wants to be a pastor, OK, you need to start asking yourself the question, what is it that I can do in the house of the Lord? How is it that I can start serving, you know, and taking some responsibility upon myself? Because we're not asking, you know, these are qualifications. This is what we're looking for in someone prior to being a pastor. They're already getting involved. They're already doing the work. They're already putting their hand up and offering their assistance. And if you're doing that and you're doing the best job possible, how you're putting a good foot forward as a candidate to be ordained as a pastor. All right. Now, can you also go to Luke 16 now? Luke 16 verse one, Luke 16 verse one. And this is the parable of the unjust steward. OK, the unjust steward. OK, so look, you know, just remember, I mean, like my responsibility as a pastor is to do a good job, is to rule this house well, you know, to make sure everything's organized, you know, make sure all the tasks are being handled and that, you know, we're not coming up short, you know, that things are being provided. And then in Luke 16 verse one, we have the parable. It says Jesus speaking to his disciples and he said unto his disciples. There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. OK, so this steward that this rich man had in this parable had wasted the goods of the rich man. You know, and we need to be aware as people of God, you know, as people that actually belong to a church, that we don't waste the goods. We don't waste the resources, the, you know, the blessings that God has given us to me in this place. You know, this is why I'm always very careful with money. I'm always careful with the Lord's money, how we spend it. You know, I get frustrated when I've made some, you know, I've had to pay for some things that I wish I didn't pay for because I'm more expensive than what I could have done if I had my head put on straight, you know, on straight. But we've got to manage the affairs. It's really important. OK, it's really important. A lot of people are relying upon the pastor to make sure church is running orderly and efficiently. And then he says in verse number two, Luke 16 verse two, because of this bad steward, he says, and he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee, given account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward? So, look, obviously, we need good stewards. We need people that are going to look after the house of God. Otherwise, you mess it up, you waste it. OK, you waste the resources, you waste the the efforts that everybody else is putting in. You don't manage affairs well. Jesus might say, hey, that mayest no longer steward. Hey, Jesus Christ may fire you from the job. OK. So that's something we need to be aware of. OK, now, if you guys can go back to Titus, please. Titus Chapter one, Titus chapter one and verse number seven. Titus chapter one, verse seven. We looked at the steward of God. That was something that was not mentioned in Timothy. But we see here in Titus, Titus chapter one, verse seven. The next thing that's that's mentioned there as the steward of God, then it says not self-willed, not self-willed. OK, now, I don't have a lot to say about this right now. OK, but obviously we all have a will. OK, as you know, independent people, we all have a will to do certain things. And you know what? Our flesh has its own will. In fact, our flesh has a will that is different to the will of the new man, of the spirit that lives inside of us. And if you're going by the will of the flesh, that's basically being self-willed. OK, and the best example, you don't need to turn there. I'll just read it very quickly. The best example of this is, you know, the example that Jesus Christ left us in Luke 22, verse 41. This is prior to Christ being crucified. It says, And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. OK, so we're looking for men, pastors, these pastors-to-be must be men where they've demonstrated that they are not self-willed. OK, demonstrated that they are seeking the will of God. You know, even many times, like I've had to experience this. I've had to do things where I don't really want that to be the case. But there's a need. There's a gap. You've got to step in and fill that gap. The Lord shows you this needs to be done. And you need to say, you know, to the Lord, well, you know, not my will, but thine will, thy will be done. OK, and we see Jesus Christ gives us this best, you know, the best example of this. And of course, Jesus Christ was obedient unto death. But if that's something you're struggling with in your life, if you're struggling, you've got your own will, you realize you want to go and do things your own way rather than relying on the Lord to lead you. We see the answer to that. And that's what Jesus Christ gave us. Just the example there. He said, and he was withdrawn from them a bed of stones cast and kneeled down and prayed. And if you're someone that's struggling with your own will, you know, you'd rather pursue your will rather than God's will. You need to kneel down and pray. You need to do that and ask the Lord to guide you and to lead you and to help you overcome that will of the flesh. But of course, you must then be walking the Spirit. When you're walking the Spirit, then you'll be doing things perfectly aligned with the will of God. All right. Now, back to Titus chapter one, verse seven again. So not self-willed. And it says, not soon angry, not soon angry. Now, I'm reminded when I look at this qualification, I'm reminded of one of my old pastors. I won't mention who he was, but he would often you know, he was very open and honest about this. Quite often he'll be preaching. And he would always say, you know, before he became a pastor, he was a very angry man. You know, he had a short temper. You know, he'd get very angry. And that's something he's had to work with. You know, he's had to just work on it, work on it throughout his ministry, throughout later in his life. It's just that was one of his key issues that he struggled with. But, you know, in all the years that I knew him, I barely saw that come through. There were some times, a few times I did see him get soon angry. A few times, a few times. But, I mean, compared to how long I was actually under his, you know, under his leadership, it was something that was very minute. And I could tell he was really trying to fight that. You know, it was really trying to seek after the Lord and helping him overcome that part of his life. And I think that's going to be the key thing for a lot of these things. Some of these things might come naturally. Some of these qualifications might be easy for you to accomplish. And then there'll be other qualifications that you're just going to battle with forever. Okay. But you know, I need to be this way. And if you can show, you know, that pattern and, you know, and the Lord can strengthen you and guide you, you know, you'll be able to overcome or meet some of these qualifications, even though internally, you know, you're battling that. But, you know, you're battling that with the Lord, you know. Now, please go to Proverbs chapter 14 verse 17. Proverbs 14 verse 17. That phrase, soon angry, there's just two words side by side like that appear twice in the Bible. And in Proverbs 14 verse 17 is the other time that it's mentioned. Proverbs 14 verse 17. The Bible says, he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. So here's the reason. I mean, the Bible tells us the reason. Look, of course, I don't want to be under a pastor that never gets angry. Okay. I mean, there are times to get angry. Okay. Well, you know, they ought to get angry about false doctrine, get angry about people that are in grievous sin, you know, having to kick someone out of the church. Look, what's going to drive you to do that is to get a point of righteous anger. Okay. There's nothing wrong with anger. We've looked at that before in previous messages. But see, the problem is someone that, you know, gets soon angry. Okay. And the issue there we see in Proverbs is someone that is soon angry, someone that has a short temper, someone that's not patient. It says he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. Okay. Because when you've lost your temper, you're going to be foolish. You're going to make foolish decisions. And as a pastor, your decisions don't just affect you. It affects everybody else that's decided to be part of your church. Okay. You make a stupid decision. It could hurt the church, could destroy the church. Okay. So a pastor needs to make sure that they consider the rest of the congregation. They consider the rest of the church prior to, you know, losing it. Okay. So we got to be mindful that we're looking for someone that is not soon angry. Okay. Someone that's patient, someone that is slow to wrath, someone that is slow to anger. All right. Go to Proverbs chapter 29, Proverbs chapter 29 verse 22. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 22. The Bible says an angry man stirreth up strife. Look, every church is going to have some element of strife. Okay. Because as I've mentioned it before, as soon as you put a bunch of people together in one place for several hours, there's going to be conflict. There's going to be some level of strife within the congregation. Or there might be strife just by what we preach, by what we preach and what we believe. There might be strife that comes externally onto this church. You know, some type of persecution or some type of accusation, those stripes can come up. Okay. So look, a church without any strife, you know, is, is, is, you know, it doesn't exist. Okay. It doesn't exist, but you don't want the pastor to be the one that's bringing strife, right? The pastor to be the one that's putting out the fires, the pastor to be the one that's keeping things organized and centered and working along. Man, if the pastor is bringing strife to the church, I mean, who's going to sort that out? I mean, the pastor already has the rule over everything else, right? He's bringing strife, man. It's, it's, it'll, it'll be a disaster. And so then again, we see the importance of, you know, making sure we ordained someone that is not soon angry. Back to Titus chapter one and verse seven, Titus chapter one, verse seven, the Bible continues saying, not given to wine. We've covered that. No striker, not given to filthy Luca. We've looked at all those qualifications and then verse number eight, but a lover of hospitality. We've looked at that one as well. And then it says a lover of good men. Okay. The next one is a lover of good men. Now I'm going to get to turn to first Corinthians 15, verse 32, first Corinthians 15, verse 32. Okay. So this is a, this is a great way of judging somebody is by who they hang around with. You know, who are their friends? Do they love good men? You know, do they love to be in the company of good men or other friends, the wicked, other friends, the foolish, you know, other friends, worldly and carnal, you know, because you, you, you, you'll know somebody really by, by the friends that they, they, they, they, they have, you know, and you guys, so where did I get to turn first Corinthians 15, first Corinthians 15, verse 32, first Corinthians 15, verse 32. Now, if you remember this chapter, this one's the one where people are denying the resurrection of Christ. They're saying, well, it never happened. You know, and basically, you know, Paul is saying, well, if it never happened, then our faith is in vain. You know what I mean? There's no points really, but then look at this in first Corinthians 15, verse 32. It says, if after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what's advantage of it me, if the dead rise not, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Okay. So it says, look, if the dead doesn't rise, if there's no resurrection, what's the point? What's the point of our faith? What's the point of this religion? What's the point of starting churches and preaching the word of God? There's no point. There's no resurrection. We're just going to die. We're just going to be six feet under. And that's why he says, you know, sarcastically, he says, you know, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. It doesn't matter. Just enjoy yourself now. Just enjoy the pleasure of this life now, because you're all going to die tomorrow anyway. Okay. But then it says here in verse number 33, be not deceived. Okay. So be not deceived. Why? Because there was deception in the church. Okay. People were, were, were deceiving about the resurrection. It says, be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Okay. Evil communications. That's basically if you have evil friends, you have evil people that you, you, you put yourself under, you know, you build friendships around, it's going to corrupt your good manners. It's going to corrupt your good manners. Okay. So this is important because, you know, you might say, well, you know, pastor needs to be around, you know, sinful man. And, and, and, cause he's got to work with them and not look, if you're, if you're around bad people, it's going to have an influence on you. It's going to corrupt your way of living. Okay. And so pastors ought to be people that are mindful as to who they spend time with, you know, mindful with the type of people they're hospitable toward, the people that they spend time talking about the word of God or other forms of, you know, whatever other business that goes on in life, you've got to make sure you surround yourself with good men and not with evil men. All right. Go to Proverbs 13, verse 20. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 20. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 20. Okay. Proverbs 13, verse 20 says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise. Okay. Not only shall be lovers of good men, but we also should, you know, be lovers of wise men. Okay. Wise men. Why? Because if you walk with wise men, then you shall be wise. All right. And this is important because, you know, the pastor doesn't have every answer. The pastor doesn't have, you know, you know, have an answer to every verse in the Bible and every situation, but if he's around other godly men, other wise men, he can learn from those wise men as well. And he can then be an influence and teach those other men to be wise. So you've got to be careful with the kind of friends that you make. And the rest of the verse says, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. A companion of fools shall be destroyed. Guaranteed. Okay. It's not you might be destroyed. Man, if you make friends with the wrong kinds of people, the Bible says you're going to be destroyed. They're going to lead you to destruction. So you need to make sure you make good friends. And Proverbs chapter 27 now. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17. This is one that we're all very familiar with. The Bible says iron sharp enough iron. Okay. So a man sharp enough the countenance of his friend. Okay. Iron makes iron sharper. You know, if I want to be sharp as a pastor, I want to increase in knowledge. I want to have better answers. I want to preach better. I want to have greater knowledge. I need to make sure I gather myself with other people that are iron. You know, other people that will sharpen me and I can sharpen them in return. Okay. And that's why, you know, we have the men's breakfast sometimes, or the men's, you know, Bible study. We get together. I just love listening to you guys speak. I just, cause I know what I believe, you know, and you guys get to hear me preach all the time anyway. I know what I believe. I know what I think, but I like hearing what you guys have to say because I want to be sharpened. Okay. I want to be sharpened. When I get up to preach, you know, I'm the main preach in this church. And I spend a lot of time sharpening you guys, but I also need to remember to be sharpened by others. And this is why I also sometimes listen to, you know, godly men that preach online. I listen to other preaching, some from my previous churches, some from other pastors that I've met or even pastors that I don't know. Even one pastor that's up here on the Sunshine Coast. Once in a while, I'll listen to his preaching. Why? Because I want to be sharpened. I want to gain knowledge. You know, I don't want to just be satisfied with what I know, but this is important that you put yourself under the influence of good friends, of good company. And if you guys can go to one more passage now, this is Psalm 1, 1. Some of you guys have memorized this one already, but Psalm 1, 1. Why? Why is this so important? Because the pastor must preach the law of God. The pastor must preach the word of God and know the word of God, right? But look at Psalm 1, 1. It says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the sea of the scornful. So we have three groups of people here that you should avoid. If you want to be blessed by God, you should avoid the company of these people. It says the ungodly, it says sinners, and it says the scornful, okay? Ungodly, sinners, and the scornful, all right? And if you avoid these groups of people, now, of course, you have to interact day in, day out. You've got a job, you've got to get through life. You're going to come across these kinds of people. And by the way, when the Bible mentioned sinners, of course, we're all sinners, okay? But often when the Bible just mentioned sinners in that term, these are people that are exceedingly sinful, okay? They're exceedingly sinful. And we want to be blessed by God. We need to avoid the wrong kinds of company. And why is that so important? Because verse number two, it says, but it's delight. Hey, the things that this man loves, the thing that this man enjoys, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Man, one thing I've noticed about becoming a pastor, I wasn't expecting this. Maybe I should have, but I just realized how much I spend time meditating in the word of God, okay? Partly because I'm just preparing sermons all the time, like all the time, you know, all the time. Sometimes I wake up at night and my brain's already preparing a sermon and I've got to catch up with my brain. What was that again? What were you thinking? You know, but constantly just day and night. I mean, that's what you're going to need from a pastor, someone that delights in the law of God. I love it. It's awesome. Okay. And I want to love it more even. I really love it. I want to love it more. Okay. And I want to be able to meditate on it, you know, memorize passages or think about passages, think about sermons, start preparing things, start preparing the meal comes church time so I can feed the flock. Okay. I want to be blessed. And look, you see the contrast. Okay. Of course you want to be under a pastor that loves the word of God. You want to be under a pastor that, you know, meditates on it day and night. Hey, but if he's around, what did it say? The scornful, if he's around sinners, he's around the ungodly. If you see that's the kind of friends that he makes, well, he's not going to be someone that loves the law of God. Okay. He's not going to be someone that meditates day and night. So this, this is a contrast. Okay. So please, if you've got, you know, your mindset on becoming a pastor, you've got to get the right kind of friends. You've got to be gathered around with the right kind of friends. And that means you're going to have to make that hard decision. And look, here's the thing more often than not, it's not you making the hard decision of saying to a bad friend, Hey, I don't want to spend time with you. It's normally, if you just become more godly, you start talking about the Bible. Those bad influences are generally going to get away from you. Okay. Hopefully you can get them saved, but you know what I mean? If they don't want to hear that, they're going to run away from you before you have to get rid of them. So go back to Titus, please. Titus chapter one. Let's keep going through some of these qualifications that are left. Titus chapter one, verse number eight. We said a lover of, a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men. We've covered that sober. We've looked at sober. And then it says, just, just, what does it mean to be just? You know, basically it means someone of good judgment. Okay. Someone that takes corrective action. Someone that knows what's right and knows what's wrong. Right. And you can pass good judgment. Quite often you've seen the Bible, the terms justice and judgment put together because they do go hand in hand, but please go to Proverbs 16, verse 11. Proverbs 16, verse 11. The reason I just brought that up is because as a pastor, you're constantly passing judgment. Okay. Constantly you're, you're, you're judging the words of God before you preach, you're judging what, what you read, right? You're making judgment. Hey, what does my church need to hear? What does it need to hear? How, you know, that's going to drive you to prepare certain sermons, you know, or, you know, someone comes with questions. You're going to have to make the best judgment, the right judgment in accordance to God's, God's word. So these things go together, but look at Proverbs 16, verse 11. We're looking at just first justice. It says here, Proverbs 16, verse 11, a just weight and balance are the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are his work. Okay. Now this is talking about, you know, finances. This is talking about, you know, making sure that, you know, if you were to sell something or buy something that you would pay fairly, that you would pay correctly and God likes it when there's a just weight and balance. Okay. God, look, we're all a little bit unbalanced. Even me, even me, we all have a bit of, you know, we're unbalanced because none of us are perfect. None of us are perfect. There are times we all, you know, walk in the flesh and when we're walking the flesh, we're unbalanced, where we're lacking the justice that is in the new man. And of course, you know, once again, I mean, the Bible is the key to everything. The more, you know, the word of God, the greater balance you will be. You'll be balanced with how the Lord sees things, how the Lord feels about certain things. You'll be balanced in his sight. And that's why it says a just weight and balance are the Lord's. That's what the Lord loves. He loves to see a just person. All right. And please go to Psalm 89 now, Psalm 89, verse 14, Psalm 89, verse 14, 89, Psalm 89, verse 14. The Bible says justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. So we see the throne of God. And it says the throne of God is basically that which habitats the throne of God is justice and judgment. Okay. Justice and judgment. And so as a pastor, if I'm going to pass judgment on something, I must be just about that, right? If I'm going to pass judgment and kick someone out of the church, I need to make sure the decision is just before I pass judgment. Hey, there's a lot of pastors today, a lot of churches that pass judgments. Hey look, passing judgment is actually the easiest thing. The harder thing is to be just in your judgment. Okay. And there's a lot of unfair, unscriptural teaching out there. You know, you know, unscriptural actions of churches, things that are extremely unbiblical, things that are wrong, that are happening in many churches today. They don't have any reason. They don't have any scriptures. They can point and say, the reason we're doing it this way, the reason I'm preaching this way is because the Bible says, no, it's not what they're doing. Hey, they're just doing this. They're just putting their finger out and seeing which way the wind blows and goes, well, if it's blowing that way, we're going to do it that way. And they pass judgment. They do it. They do it all the time. They pass judgment and they say, Hey, we're going to, we're going to judge and we're going to go in accordance to the way the wicked world wants us to go. They go that way. Okay. That's why you need justice. You need justice in order to pass correct judgment. And we see that it is basically the throne of God. No, God is interested in justice and judgment. And of course he will want his pastors to be the same in his house. Go to Proverbs 21 now, Proverbs 21 verse three, Proverbs 21 verse three. And again, this is another very familiar verse. Proverbs 21 verse three. It says to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Well, we know that sacrifice is super important to the Lord. Okay. Super important. You know, and the kind of sacrificing, of course we don't give the sacrifices of the shedding of blood of, of goats and bulls and, and animals like that, like they did in the Old Testament. But our sacrifice of course is the works that we do for the Lord. The praises that we sing, the thanksgiving of our lips that we give to the Lord. That's our sacrifice to him. Okay. Walking in the paths of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our sacrifice to him. But more important than that is that we would be, that we would do justice and judgment. Okay. More important than that is that we will do justice and judgment. And again, you know, pastors are constantly sacrificing themselves to the congregation, given all their time, given on themselves. Hey, but more important than that is to make sure you're just and you have correct judgment. So of course, of course, you've got to be someone that knows the word of God and you can apply the word of God to the everyday situation that occurs, you know, in church and, and the kind of questions that come your way from different people. Now, the next thing in Titus, Titus chapter one, verse nine, sorry, no, verse number eight, we looked at just, and then it says, holy, holy. That's something else that's, that's not mentioned in Timothy, but holy, what does it mean to be holy? It basically means to be separated. Okay. Something that is separated. We talk about the holy God, right? Because he's, he's separate from all creation. He's separate from this world. You know, it's about the holy Bible. It's something that is different to every other book. You're going to find it on the bookshelves, right? Separate, it's holy, you know, and where it called to be people that are holy. When we're choosing a pastor, this pastor must be holy. He must be separate, meaning he must be different to the world. Okay. He's not someone that's, that's, you know, filling his life with the entertainment of this world. You know, he's not someone that's just, you know, just, he's just the same as anybody else that's worldly. He's the same as anybody else that's, that's wicked and sinful. And he goes about just in the same way of life. No, there's got to be something different about that person. All right. I mean, you'll know this about yourself immediately. You'll know if the people you work with, the people you interact with that are non-Christian, if they're saying things like, man, you're different. Why are you different? You know, I mean, have you had that? I've had that many times, right? You're different. Why are you different? It's well, it's because I'm holy. I'm separated from the way the world thinks. I'm trying to live in accordance to God's way. You know, I'm not allowing myself to be influenced and my family to be influenced by, by, by the world and, and by the devil and, you know, chasing after the lust of this life. No, I'm keeping myself separate. I'm keeping myself holy. This is all very straightforward. Please go to first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter one, verse 14, first Peter chapter one, verse 14. How is it that we can be holy? Well, the answer here is in first Peter chapter one, verse 14, first Peter chapter one, verse 14, speaking of ourselves as, as God's children, it says obedient children. All right. So how, how can we be holy? To be obedient children, to be obedient to the word of God. And how else? It says, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, your former lusts, prior to you being saved, prior to you having the Holy Spirit living in you. Hey, you need to no longer walk in that way. You know, you need to no longer walk after that former lust, but you fashioned yourself, you know, differently. You are different. Okay. You're now obedient to the word of God. Verse number 15. But as he which have called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation. That's challenging. All manner of conversation, basically all manner of your life. In every aspect of your life, you're being called to be holy. You know, and I can say just, just with honesty, that I, there's something I'm trying to work on, you know, I, I am obviously holy in many areas, but it says here, let me just say, in all manner of conversation, all manner, in every area, I need to say, Hey, am I being holy in this area of my life? Or am I just like my former self? You know, that, that flesh, the way of the world, right? Verse number 16, because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. That's why God is holy. He says, because I'm holy, I'm calling you to be holy. And again, you know, of course, this is about walking in the Spirit once again, you know, we've covered a lot of that before, but this is, this is what we need to think about these things, right? It's not about being sad. Look, we do get satisfied when we can say, wow, there's been changes in our life. We're now living for the Lord in this area, in that area, in that area. That's great. But there's always those areas still left out that you're still the same way. You're still worldly. You're still not aligned with the Lord and you need to be holy in all manner of conversation. Okay. So now I'm expecting the, the person that I lay my hands on and ordained is perfectly holy in all things. I don't think that's possible. All right. Until we have, we get rid of that flesh. Okay. But it should be quite obvious that that person is not like the world. He's, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's godly. He's seeking the ways of the Lord and that, that shines through in the way he lives his life. Titus chapter one, again, Titus chapter one, verse number eight. So there's a few things here in verse number eight that I knew. So after holy, it says temperance, temperance. And of course I won't preach too much on this because not long ago I preached on temperance as a fruit of the spirit. So I don't want to rehash all that once again, but I am going to read to you from first Corinthians nine 25. If you have time to turn that you can otherwise just listen. It says first Corinthians nine 25 and every man that striver for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we and incorruptible. Okay. Now we can apply this in many ways. Of course, I just want to apply this to the, to being a pastor. Okay. And we already saw that a pastor is someone that has a rule that there is a ruler in the house of the Lord. Okay. They're a master. Now don't call me master. That's one of the things that Jesus says, don't call me, but you are, you are, you know, a master over, you know, or a master in the church. And so when it says here that every man that strived for the mastery, let's put, let's put it this way. Everyone that's striving, so everyone that's seeking to be a Bishop, to be a pastor, to be a rule in the house of God, it says is temperate in all things, in all things. And of course, when we looked at temperance, we looked at someone that's balanced, someone that, that, that is aligned with the, with the word of God. In many ways, I think we can apply someone that is just, you know, someone that passes right judgment. A lot of these things do go hand in hand with one another, but of course, you're not someone that is, you know, you know, off base with the Lord God. Okay. And you know, you love the things that God loves and you hate the things that God hates. You know, you, you're not soon angry, but you do get angry about the things that God gets angry about. Now you're balancing all those areas of temperate in all those areas. You're temperate in your relationships, you know, and you know, you're just a stable person, you know, you're stable and you're aligned to the word of God. That is someone that is temperate. But like I said, I've preached a whole seminar on that not long ago. So we'll just keep moving on in Titus chapter one, Titus chapter one, verse number eight. So we just read that temperate. So verse number nine, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught. We'll stop there for a moment. Holding fast, this is the next one guys, holding fast the faithful word. Now when it says fast there, it means firm. Okay. Holding fast or holding firm the faithful word. Someone that stands strong on the word of God. Okay. He doesn't deviate from God's word. Okay. He holds fast the faithful word. And then it says, verse number nine, as he hath been taught, as he hath been taught, I've got a few things to say about this, that a pastor ought not to be someone that says, you know, if you're preparing to be a pastor, you're not someone that ought to say to yourself, you know what, I'm going to do away with everything that I've learned. I'm going to start all over again. And I'm going to, I don't know, you know what, every doctrine, I'm just now I'm just going to put, you know, whatever I heard behind me, I'm not going to listen to that. I'm going to start all over again. And I'm going to start from all the foundational doctrines. I'm just going to read the word of God. And I'm just going to start building my doctrines, you know, all over again with my understanding of God's word. That's very prideful. We see here, there's an expectation that you've been taught by others. Okay. Now, am I saying that you never question what you've been taught? Of course, you know, we always start with the word of God. We always base it on the word of God. Hey, but you see, if you're someone that's getting ready to be a pastor, you should be someone that's been, that has been taught by others. You know, you've learned from other people. You know, I'm really thankful that I've been under the preaching of several good men. Okay. Some men had certain strengths. And I can think of one pastor that was very strong on doctrine, very strong and foundational truths, very strong, you know, on soul winning. You know, I learned a lot of great things that was really, you know, motivated to be a soul winner because of one pastor. And then I had another pastor that was really strong on the family. And he taught, you know, what it means to be a father and what it means to raise up godly children, what it means to guide, you know, a wife and, and this possible, you know, that was his passion. That was something that was very strong at, you know, something he was very successful of having a big, strong family. And then I had another pastor that just have a love for God. You know, a lot of his sermons were just upholding, uplifting the Lord God, you know, and just, just finding, you know, pleasure in knowing God more, you know, and, and that, that's what his heart was. And I learned from that pastor, you know, how to love the Lord and to really appreciate, you know, God's mercy and God's glory and his, you know, his long suffering and his love. And, and I just appreciate the fullness of, of knowing God more, you know, and that's, what's great because now as a, as a pastor, of course, I've got my little things that I like, you know, and I cover probably more often than not, but I've also got the influence of other godly men, you know, other preachers that I still listen to today, things that I'm learning, things that, that, that are, you know, making me a well-rounded person, you know, you need the influence of others, let alone the things that I, I learned some great things from my mom, you know, let some, you know, how to date a woman, you know, marry a godly woman, my mom said, you know, a believer, you know, don't make the mistake, like she was no different to Solomon's mother, you know, don't drink alcohol, marry a godly woman, you know, don't go around, you know, sleeping, sleeping around before marriage, mom gave me exactly the same advice, you know, that Solomon's mom gave him, you know, my dad taught me to be a hard worker, you know, my dad taught me these things, how to be manly, you know, how to, how to lead, you know, a house and, and these guys, look, there's a lot of influences around us, we need to value, we need to value, you know, the people that we've learned things from and not be someone that says, you know what, I don't care about all that, I'm going to start all over again, man, you're going to get into trouble, you know, and I know someone that's done that and they've gotten themselves into trouble, all right, so, you know, don't dismiss the things that you've learned in the past, you know, don't be someone that says, well, I'm just going to stick to this one pastor, I'm sure he's always right, no one's always right, okay, no one's always right, that's why it's valuable to have, you know, the teachings from different people, as long as, you know, the core beliefs are there, you know, salvation and the King James Bible and all these things as well, all right, so holding fast the faithful word, you know, you're standing strong in the word, you're not deviating from the word of God, when you come and you preach behind the pulpit, you're preaching straight out of the faithful word, you know, you're not preaching your opinions and, and the world's way of doing things, no, you're holding fast to God's word and then why is that important? Because there's another part to this in verse number nine, verse number nine and this might be, maybe for me, maybe, maybe for you guys, it's not what I think, but I think this might be one of the hardest things and this is probably more for me, okay, not that I've been unsuccessful at this, but it's just a challenging part because holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that's number nine, that, what's the reason for it, that he may be, sorry, that he be able by sound doctrine, yeah, to teach and preach to people in the church, yeah, that's important, but more, more so it is here, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers, wow, you know, to exhort and to convince the gainsayers, you know, what it means to be a gainsayer, well sayer, that's, that's the easy part of the word, the sayer is someone that says things, right, and the word gain, it's kind of thinking about the word against, you know, against, against, so someone that basically is against what you teach, against say someone that's against what you preach and what you believe, okay, now why is it important that you hold fast to the faithful word is so you can exhort that person, listen, if someone comes and they disagree with me, they have a different belief to me, am I to just kick that guy out straight away, am I meant to just make that person feel like rubbish and I'd say just get out of here if you don't believe what I believe, no, why was it like, oh, to exhort him, you know what it means, that's to lift him up, to lift him up, to make him, to make him known that he's valuable to me, okay, that he's important to me, that person, if someone comes into this church and he's not in lockstep with us, he has some different beliefs, he's a bit off here and there, you know, I ought not to be someone that says, hey, get out, so we say, hey, sit down, let me encourage you, listen to the word of God, let's lift up the Lord God and you know, if you're my brother and Lord, at least we can do that, at least we can go out soul with him, we can encourage one another in that, in that light, but not only to exhort him, but to convince him, to convince him, all right, now this is, listen, you need, if you want to be a pastor, you ought to have a track record of people you've convinced, okay, and that can be your friends, that can be your family, that can be your wife, that can be your kids, people that you've convinced, people that had a different belief than you and look, I don't want to go through the detail here, but I could break down people that I've come across, friends and relatives that I know that had different beliefs, you know, but I exhorted them and I was able to convince them, why, with my intellect, with my wisdom, no, holding fast the faithful word, because I could open the word of God and show them what the Bible says and if they're people that are truly just seeking the truth, they're just often and truly seeking the truth, now you ought to be someone that can actually open that and just patiently teach them, all right, not to lose it because they're not on the same page with you, you ought to be, show them where they're wrong, you know what that takes, it takes you to be able to listen to them, that takes you having to be patient, you know, they might be saying things that you don't like and you're starting to get angry, hey, but be patient, you got to listen to what they say, you got to take in their arguments so then you can give the best response forward, right, so this ought to be a pastor and I would recommend you want to be someone, because I might not know all your, you know, experiences, the people that you've interacted with, if you want to be a pastor, start thinking about, you know, is there anyone that I've been able to influence and convince that held a contrary view than me and I've been, I've been able to show them patiently and exhorting them, you know, this was a game saying now, now they're in lockstep, now they're on the same page on this doctrine, maybe not every doctrine but certain doctrines that you've been able to discuss, start thinking about that, start making a list because if you say I'd like to be a pastor and start seeing, hey, we have a need for it, these things are wanting, all right, I'll be asking you, hey, can you give me an example of when you've been able to convince the gainsayer, if you're like, man, every gainsayer I've come across, I've rebuked them sharply and they've got out of my face, well, you're not suited to be a pastor, I'm sorry, you're not suited to be, now, is there a call for that sometimes, absolutely, okay, but you also have a track record where you've been able to convince some gainsayers, you've got to have something, right, to show that you can actually teach and this is why, you know, one of the qualifications was apt to teach, someone that has the aptitude, someone that's able to teach, okay, instead of just telling them they're wrong, you've got to be able to teach them why they're wrong, you know, and convince them of the truth, all right, so those are the last few things that we could see here in the book of Titus, let me just refresh my mind again, make sure I've not missed anything, we'll just read verse number 10, verse number 10, so the gainsayers, we need to convince the gainsayers, four, why, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially day of the circumcision, okay, so if there are people and of course, you know, people in our church that have contrary beliefs, I ought to make the effort, this is why sometimes you'll hear me say, hey, I'm going to try to catch up with this person with over coffee or something, because, you know, I want to be able to convince them, you know, I don't want them to bring their their unruly and vain talking, their deceptions into the church, you know, I need to try to put a stop to that, okay, have an influence in that area, so anyway, those are the extra qualifications that we see in the book of Titus, of course, I could probably spend a lot more time and go through a lot more detail with these things, but I think that's efficient, that's the qualifications for a bishop part five, let's pray.