Qualified: Not a Recent Convert | Pastor Marc Cogan

Marc Cogan: Well, good morning, gentlemen.

I told Pastor Rod that you never know, maybe Julia will go into labor again.

Maybe we had twins.

You never know.

You never know.

Well, I want you to consider with me a racing team, a racing

team, whatever it is, FF one, nascar, maybe something smaller.

Any racing team is made up of a lot of different people to make a.

Victory possible on the lap.

There needs to be lots of people who make up that team.

There is a privileged position on that team, that being the driver, the, the

one guy who gets to get in the seat of the car, gets to actually turn the

steering wheel, gets to get the car from the start line, back to the start line.

Um, he's the guy who gets to go on the podium when the race is won.

And he's also the guy who, uh, goes in the record books when, when the race is lost.

In order to make that possible, there has to be a lot of people that support him.

There's mechanics, there's engineers, there's designers, there's all sorts

of people that make it possible for him to turn on that car and actually race.

Uh, maybe even payroll people, maybe there's even payroll people on these

big teams that get paid to everybody.

Why are those people there?

They're not there.

The payroll person isn't there because he expects to be racing.

Sitting in the driver's seat, the next time the team goes out to the

track, he's there because he cares about being part of something great.

The mechanics, the pit crew, all those people who make up the

team wanna be there because they wanna be part of that victory.

They wanna be part of that victory would be ridiculous if you had the

best pit crew in the world who was working to eliminate microseconds.

Of time from a tire change to then go out and hire a driver who'd just gotten

their driver's license last week and was learning how to use a blinker.

It would be an absurdity to do that.

It would waste all of those skills and all of that effort.

And likewise, it would be absurd to go out and get the best driver there is

who's passionate about what he does, who's got a great work ethic, who

has a record to back up all of that.

And then to go out and hire a pit crew who is kind of lazily putting on

a tire, uh, that would squander all of what that driver is able to do.

Um, doing either of those things, even as they're somewhat absurd,

would result in losses assured losses, in fact, devastating losses.

The church is at risk of doing a similar thing.

I, I'm thankful that our church here at Compass Bible Church is not an

immediate risk of, of these things, but the church is at risk of putting

into leadership and putting into pastoral roles, men who are not mature,

who don't care about what they're doing, who are not serious about it.

And, um, that will, if we fail to do that rightly.

We'll have consequences, we'll have devastating consequences.

And the passage that we're turning to here in one Timothy three is Paul's

warning to the church to make sure that the leaders of the church are

mature, Christians are mature men.

So will you turn with me to First Timothy three?

First Timothy three is

the series that we've been working through.

Related to the qualifications of an elder.

I'm gonna read the whole passage starting in verse one, so that perhaps

the previous sermons on this will will be recalled in your mind, but also to

give you the context of where we'll be landing today, which is in verse six.

So read with me in first Timothy chapter three verse one.

The saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Okay.

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober

minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a

drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping

his children submissive.

For someone does not know how to manage his own household, how

will he care for God's church?

And we arrive at verse six, which is where we will be this morning.

Verse six, ver verse six says, he must not be a recent convert, or he may be

become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Paul, the apostle in this passage is giving Timothy the pastor.

A caution, a safeguard, and he is warning Timothy that he needs to be

dedicated to installing mature believers into leadership roles in his church.

We want to be a church who has mature leaders in the pastorate,

but we also want to be a church that has mature leaders throughout all

the different roles that we have.

Whether that's community group leaders, whether that's small group leaders in

true North or even in kids' ministry, we would love to have mature leaders.

So this passage is Paul's exploitation to Timothy that he installed mature

leaders, but we want to be a church that is inculcating future pastors.

The reason that we've been preaching through this sermon series is we

desire that our church is full of men who are qualified for pastory.

That doesn't necessarily mean that everybody will be called, and in

fact, if everybody were called, that would probably be an issue.

But we would love to be a church full, a hundred percent full, even of men

who are qualified for the pastorate.

So what does Timothy need to know?

Uh, the first point for this morning is that he needs to be,

and we need to be champion, mature, championing, mature leadership.

In our church, we need to champion mature leaders.

That applies both to, uh, the desire that you should have

to be led by mature pastors.

And again, I think you can be very thankful that that is the case here.

But we also need to be building a culture.

We need to be building a church that is indeed, uh, able to

raise up great godly leaders.

Great mature leaders.

Uh, men who love God.

So what exactly is Paul's exhortation?

Well, in some ways it's very simple, right?

He must not be a recent convert.

That, in some ways is a very simple thing to understand.

But why is that something that Paul is concerned about?

Why is that something that Paul is calling out?

He's not necessarily calling out the recent convert, but he's

calling out them specifically and saying that they are not qualified.

For pastoral leadership.

Will you turn with me to Matthew 13?

Matthew 13.

We're gonna be looking at the parable of the sower to better understand some

of the risks that recent converts face.

Matthew 13.

I hope you're turning there.

This is a little bit of a longer passage, so please be reading along with me.

Starting in verse one, it says The same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat

beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and

sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach and he told them many things

and parables saying a sower went out.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground.

Where they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up

since they had no depth of soil.

But the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had

no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and grain.

Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30.

He who has ears, let him hear.

Jump down to me to verse 18 where Jesus explains this parable in verse 18.

Jesus says here, then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it,

the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sewn in his heart.

This is what was sewn along the path.

So perhaps in, in our church, that's somebody who, who perhaps likes the

community, likes the friendship, likes.

Um, certain aspects of church life, but he does not understand the gospel.

God has not worked in his heart to give him an understanding

of the gospel in a right way.

And so when the evil one comes, he's snatched away.

Verse 20, it says, as for what was sewn on rocky ground, this

is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but he endures for a while, and when tribulations

or persecution arises on the account of the word, he immediately falls away.

What's fascinating about this is that this new convert is expressing joy.

There's joy at under, at hearing the words of the gospel.

There's joy, and we can look at somebody and say, yeah, they're expressing joy.

Ultimately, this person though, is not expressing joy

that comes from a transformed heart, but nonetheless, joy is.

Part of the convert's experience 22 says, as for what was sown among

thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world

and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

Again.

You may have known somebody who expressed that they were saved,

expressed that they were converted to Christianity, but then as time passed,

they got trapped in their job, they got enthralled with, um, perhaps.

Some lady, um, and the cares of this world choked out their faith,

uh, proving that it was not real.

Verse 23 says, as for those who, as for what was sown on good

soil, this is the one who hears the word and and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred fold in another 60

and in another 30, the one who sows.

Sows the seeds and watches those seeds turn into seedlings.

He's the farmer who can look out at his field and he says, well, maybe

the seed that landed in the path is more likely to get eaten by a bird.

Maybe the little seedlings that are growing next to the weeds at

the edge of the field might be ones that get choked out, but the

farmer doesn't know which seedlings.

Are going to be destroyed.

He doesn't know which seedlings are gonna be burned by the sun.

He doesn't know which ones are going to be choked out by the weeds until

they mature, until they produce fruit.

God knows, God knows these things.

He knows the new converts.

Those who are truly saved, who will go on to produce fruit,

who will go on to produce some a hundred, some 60, some 30 fold.

But us, we don't have the sovereignty.

We don't have the insight or wisdom.

Of God.

And so when we look at new converts, we don't know necessarily which

ones are expressing joy, that comes from a transformed heart or joy

that comes from just, um, the first initial experience of the gospel

that will get destroyed, uh, with the trials and tribulations that come.

Maturity is in part at time.

There is an element of maturity that is time.

The trials, as you can see in Matthew 13.

Are what come about just because time has progressed.

Those are trials that God has brought upon Christian lives and those trials

clarify and help for the individual and for the church, uh, to, to see if the

faith that the person expresses is true.

Those trials are very important, but I also want us to recognize

that, um, even as we look out at new converts and are not able to

distinguish necessarily which ones.

Will be, uh, producing fruit or not, um, that, that God does, and that he

brings those trials and he brings those trials in his timing and in his way.

Um, what do we see here though, is that Paul is saying that he

must not be a recent convert.

He doesn't specify that.

The recent convert is somebody who has been a Christian for six months.

He doesn't say that converts somebody who's been a Christian

for a year or five years.

He doesn't give a timeline.

He leaves ambiguity in that.

And that's because God brings about trials in his own way and his own timing.

So we know it can't be about age maturity can't just be about the number of days

who that have passed in someone's life.

Um, it has to be something else.

Um, Timothy.

For example, in one Timothy four 12 is exhorted by Paul to not be ashamed

of his age, to not be, uh, somebody who thinks that his age means that he

is not qualified for the pastorate.

So it can't just be the passing of days.

Um, instead it is the maturity that God brings about through trials.

Yet it is also, it is also about the Christian's willingness.

To grow the will.

The Christian's willingness to accept the sanctification that God has

brought to the, the willingness to be somebody who grows in maturity.

Maturity does not necessarily match the same progress of days that age does.

If you have kids, you feed them and kids grow at generally the same rate.

You can even go to the doctor and get those charts that show

the projected growth of your kid.

Um, and that partly is because of the number of days that have passed and

because of the food that you fed them.

Maturity in Christ does not work necessarily the same way.

In fact, it does not work the same way.

Um, and that is evidenced by the fact that Timothy, a young guy, has

the maturity necessary by Paul's evaluation to be a pastor, but don't

also forget that it is the trials.

It is the trials and the tribulations that we go through

that we can see in a passage like.

Um, Matthew 13 that produce maturity, um, through the Christian's life.

So a recent convert.

How do we determine who is a recent convert?

Well, the first thing is when it comes to the direct application of this

passage, as Apostle Paul is telling Pastor Timothy who he should put in the

pastorate, uh, we need pastors who are wise and mature making these decisions.

Uh, we need pastors who are, who are.

Faithful, diligent, paying attention.

And when new pastors are installed, they need to be installed by mature pastors.

I think there's something, I think there's something even ironic about

the fact that I'm preaching the sermon.

I, I'm not a recent convert, but I am the youngest of the pastors here at Compass

Bible Church, and I'm newly installed, and by my count, I'm also the most recent

in terms of days, uh, as a convert.

There's something that's, there's something funny.

About that, but you can trust that Pastor PJ and Pastor Rod were careful

with that decision to install me as a pastor, they were slow to do that.

They were thoughtful.

They paid attention to my life and to all sorts of aspects, um, so

that they could, they could say with confidence, for your sake, that I was

qualified according to what we see here throughout one Timothy three.

So a little bit funny, a little bit ironic, and perhaps even a little

bit awkward for me to mention, but I think it's worth, I think it's worth

mentioning, um, there's also an aspect of what's going on and we can see in

scripture that this maturity and that the requirements for maturity are,

are different depending on the church.

Take for example, a new convert.

Somebody who saved just maybe a year ago, if you put them into

eldership at Grace Community Church.

John MacArthur's Church, if you're not familiar with that, if you put

them into eldership at that church, um, they're joining a staff of pastors

who have decades of experience.

They have collectively probably hundreds of years of experience

as elders in that context.

To, um, maybe, you know, the Eubanks, they're headed out to Chad.

Uh, their, their goal right now is not to support an existing church.

Their intention is to go and make initial relationships and to make, uh,

initial, uh, proclamations of the gospel to people who have never heard it.

Um, their intention, their hope.

And if the Lord blesses them, they'll be able to start a

church in a handful of years.

Um, their team will be, um, the intention is that their team will pick pastors from.

The nomads from the people who are there.

They're certainly not gonna look for the worst candidate.

They're not gonna look for the most immature candidate, but they are going

to be looking for, uh, the most mature amongst that group of Lord willing,

new converts, and would be appropriate in that setting for them to pick

somebody who perhaps was even, uh, just saved maybe a year or two prior.

We could see that even in the scripture.

What we're looking at is Paul's.

Uh, instructions to Timothy and Timothy is an Ephesus, a

church that has some maturity.

Uh, certainly this is early in the church's history, but

it's a more established church.

It's a more mature church.

And so Timothy gets this specific instruction and this specific warning.

If you look at first Titus.

Titus does not get this instruction.

Titus does not get this instruction, and from what we can tell is

that Titus is working in more of a world of church plants.

He is going about instituting elders, um, at younger churches.

And so I think it is, uh, appropriate that Timothy gets this instruction.

Um, and Titus does not.

Again, Titus certainly is not looking for the least mature.

Titus is looking for the very best candidates to lead.

To lead that church.

So we, we, we need to be a church that has, uh, pastors

that are mature in Christ.

We need to care about that as a church, but it's something that comes down to

all of us that is not just something that you need to say, well, that's taking care

of, because I trust Pastor pj, pastor Rod, and, and, and hopefully myself.

You shouldn't just throw that out then because Paul is intentional

to give this warning to Timothy, but to us, to all of us.

So we need to be a church that has a culture of developing and bringing

up people who are mature in Christ.

The question I want to ask you is, are you somebody who has a physical

age that matches your spiritual age?

You need to know if you're a recent convert.

And that's not a bad thing.

That's not a bad thing, but you need to know if you are a recent convert

and you need to heed the warnings of scripture, like in the parable of the

sowers, you need to recognize that if you're a recent convert to Christianity,

your faith is gonna be tested.

Your faith is gonna be tested by trials and tribulations and temptations

from the world, and needed to prepare yourself for those coming things.

You need to be part of a community group.

You need to be invested in the lives of people in your church.

You need to be coming and hearing Pastor PJ preach on Sunday.

Taking notes and applying.

Applying the word that he preached in your life throughout the week.

You need to be praying for your church.

You need to be serving in your church.

You need to set yourself on a trajectory so that you can be mature in Christ.

It's not wrong.

It's not bad to be a recent convert.

In fact, we all were at some point, but we need to be a church that.

Has people who are recent converts who are dedicated and care about becoming mature.

Perhaps you're older, perhaps you've been saved for many, many years.

I think we have to be careful when we compare ourselves to

other people in the church.

But I do think if there's somebody in the church who inspires you, who in

maybe you're similar age, and you look at them and you go, wow, they are mature.

They know their Bibles well.

They pray well.

They're eager to serve, and I want to be like that.

Perhaps your spiritual age doesn't match your physical age, but don't be

alarmed because remember that maturity doesn't happen in the same steady

progress that your age happens in.

You can accelerate your maturity by the grace of God, and you can even

decelerate your maturity by the grace, not by the grace of God, by your sin,

right through your sin and through your resistance to to God's instruction and

to the trials that he brings you through.

You can.

Uh, slow it down.

You can slow it down.

So if you look out somebody and you're like, ah, this guy is awesome.

This guy is awesome.

He's mature, he is wise.

Go talk to them.

Um, be inspired by them.

Um, you can certainly fall to sin when we do comparisons.

Um, but if we're guided by this sermon series and the qualifications of an

elder, if you're looking at somebody and saying, wow, they have those abilities,

they have the fruit of the spirit, they have those things that I want.

That ought to inspire us.

That ought to drive us to, to, to increased faith.

We, that ought to drive us to prayer.

Asking God that he will, he will bring that about in our life.

Um, if you're somebody who was saved later in life, also don't be despair.

Don't, don't be in despair.

Don't give up hope.

Don't give up hope.

God saved you at the point in his timing that he chose.

Um, and again, be encouraged by the fact.

That maturity is not in Christ, is not just something that

happens in a systematic way.

It is something that happens in, uh, in the choosing of God and by

your willingness to submit to him.

Um, so do that.

Do that of course, continue in the things that we, uh, know are true.

Go to your community groups, listen to preaching.

Um, serve in our church.

But also don't be dis discouraged and ask that God will, will grow your maturity.

That will grow your maturity.

So what happens to the person who is a recent convert, who

gets puffed up with this conceit?

So we need to be careful that we're not being people, um,

who are flippant about this.

But what does happen?

There's a, there's a serious warning that Paul gives Timothy here in this passage.

Look back with me at first Timothy three.

I'll just read it again to refresh our, our memory.

It says he must not be a recent convert or, or he may become puffed

up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

It's an interesting way that Paul chooses to explain this.

It is a passive, there is a passive element in this.

Um.

It is ultimately the one who sins and conceit who faces

the devil's condemnation.

But we wanna be a church who is striving for the spiritual maturity and the safety

of others in the church, specifically your leaders, in the context of what

we're studying here in one Timothy.

So our second point for this morning is don't flatter your leaders.

Don't flatter your leaders.

The most immediate application of this passage is that through

the process of a new convert.

Quickly moving up the ranks in a church, uh, that he may

become puffed up with conceit.

So maybe there's somebody with joy, maybe there's somebody with joy in our church,

and you say, wow, look at that joy.

Let's get them serving here.

And then they do a great job there and you can say, oh, well,

let's get them serving there.

Um, and then suddenly they're up in the higher ranks of our church and

maybe they're even being installed as a pastor, which of course is the warning

here that we ought not to do that.

But, uh, we need to recognize that that happens because of other

people's, other people's mistakes and perhaps other people's sin.

Certainly, certainly the judgment here in this passage is against

the one who becomes conceited.

But we want to be a church that cares about our leaders,

that cares about our pastors.

There's a number of ways that we ought to care for our leaders

and care for our pastors.

Um, they're all good things, but they can also go astray very quickly.

So think about this.

Um, you should be thanking the people who lead you verbally

in whatever way is appropriate.

You should be thanking the people who lead you.

Um, you should be doing that regularly.

You should just, uh, you should not assume that others have done that, um, and so

that you have no need to do it yourself.

You should be thanking them, but that can also go astray

pretty quickly, pretty easily.

Um, when you thank your leaders, don't, don't flatter them.

Don't tell them falsehoods.

Uh, don't do things that may cause them to become puffed up with conceit.

And certainly if you lie to your pastor and your thanks to him, God

will, will, will judge you for that.

Um, but we also want to be people who care about our leaders and are generous

and our thanks, but also recognize that there are risks entailed, and to do those

sort of things with a genuine heart.

Uh, be generous with your leaders.

Be generous with your small group leaders.

Get them a Christmas gift.

Get them a Christmas gift, but don't go about it with a heart attitude

that wants to give a lavish Christmas gift to your small group leader.

So that you can win their favor.

You don't want to be, um, somebody who has a heart attitude that is,

is trying to do that, or, or with your pastors, uh, give them gifts.

Be generous and I'm thankful to have experienced some of that.

But make sure that your heart is, is caring for your pastors and that you are

intentional about, um, being generous with them in a godly and good way.

Um.

When it comes to requesting your pastor's time, it is good that you have pastors.

It is good that you have pastors so that when you're dealing with hurt,

when you're dealing with pain in your life, uh, that you have somebody

that God has given you to turn to.

Uh, you should do that.

You should do that.

But be careful that you don't imply or outright say that only

one guy can solve your problems.

If you go to somebody and say, you're the only person who

can solve any of my problems.

Um, either again, through implication or through outright saying it, it may be the

grounds by which that person, that leader, that pastor becomes puffed up with.

Conceit again, are, are you guilty if you do that of the condemnation of the devil?

No.

It is the pastor.

It is the leader who is conceded and it is his sin.

Um, certainly we sin, um, in ways, uh, as we interact with people.

And we're guilty for those sins ourselves.

But you should be somebody who cares about that, cares about the spiritual health and

maturity of leaders throughout our church.

Um, again, it's worth saying, it's worth saying that this passage specifically

talks about the conceited pastors who are recent converts who fall

into the condemnation of the devil.

What, what is that punishment?

What?

It can't be a good thing, right?

The condemnation of the devil.

It can't be a good thing.

What exactly does that mean?

Why is that the threat?

And I think we can obviously think, wow, that doesn't sound good.

But I think there's, it's actually a more serious implication than we

probably are inclined to even think.

The condemnation of the devil could be a number of things.

For example, it could be punishment that the devil himself carries out

on these people who are conceited.

Um, I think that's hard to substantiate that Satan is, is glad he's happy

when pastors or leaders or anybody falls to pride, and I don't think this

passage substantiates that directly.

Rather, this passage refers to a, a condemnation from God that is

like, or of the same type as the condemnation that Satan received.

You may know that Satan was in heaven with God and that he

fell, uh, because of his sin.

He fell because of his sin.

There's plenty of places in the Old Testament that have allusions

to that or echoes of that telling.

People will go to Isaiah 14, for example, or Ezekiel 28.

Um, and I think, I think there's certainly lessons there about pride and the fall

that comes from pride, but I think it's a hard place to go directly to clearly say

this is the condemnation of the devil.

In the New Testament, there's places like Jude verse six, or places in two

Peter, where there's descriptions of angels, plural, angels who have sinned

and who God has bound in chains and in darkness in this time, uh, I don't think

that matches the description of Satan that we have who roams to and fro on

the earth and is not at this time bound.

So where do we go then to understand the condemnation of the devil when.

Paul uses this phrase, how can we understand exactly what that

means and the intensity of it?

Well, I would like you to turn with me to Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

Certainly, Satan's condemnation began when God evicted him from heaven

before the fall of Adam and Eve.

His condemnation certainly started there, but in Revelation chapter 20, we see.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

The conclusion of that judgment.

Look at verse 11 with me and read along as I read out loud.

Verse 11 says, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it

from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small standing before the throne

and the books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the books

according to what they had done.

Keep phrase there according to what they had done, and the sea

gave up the dead who were in it.

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of

them according to what they had done.

Then Death and Hades, Satan, they were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of life, he

was thrown into the lake of fire.

Our third point for this morning is that we need to be thankful

that God will judge pride.

We need to be thankful that God will judge pride.

Satan stepped out of his God-given role.

Satan abandoned what God instructed him to do.

Satan.

Aspired to be greater than God.

It was Satan's sin of pride that led to his condemn condemnation

led to what we see in Matthew.

Uh, sorry, revelation.

Revelation 20.

This is a serious warning.

This is a heavy warning that we need to heed carefully.

Uh, James chapter three says that those who teach rightly.

Incur a stricter judgment.

The reason why Paul is equating a pastor who has fallen to conceit and the

punishment that he will face with the same type of punishment that Satan received

is because of the importance of the role.

When you're a pastor, people follow you.

People hear your instruction.

People do what you say.

They imitate you if you're a boss.

You know that to be true.

If you're a father, you know that to be true.

If you're a community group leader, hopefully that is true.

Um, you have responsibility that's given to you by God.

That's important.

That's critical.

That's serious, and it is right And it is good that God is a judge who

judges fairly right each according to his deeds, and the pastor who is

conceded and falls, hurts many people.

He directly hurts the individuals he sinned against.

He hurts their families, he crushes his church, and it is good that we have a

God who will make those things right.

It's good that we have a God who will judge pride and that he will judge

it in accordance with the sin and the gravity of the sin that was carried out.

You.

We will likely not be behind the pulpit on a Sunday morning, but you are part of

a church where we care deeply about men who are qualified, men who are godly,

who have the fruit of the spirit, and you will have responsibilities, Lord willing,

where you get to mentor and disciple people in your church, whether that's

people in your community group or maybe through partners, um, and you don't know.

You don't know what God has in store for them.

Perhaps even you will, will be discipling somebody who's a recent

convert who goes on to be a pastor, who goes on to be a leader in his church.

And that's an important role that we have.

All of us have as people who disciple in the church.

You should take that seriously because we do indeed want to be a church that

matures leaders, who grows leaders, uh, take that seriously and be glad.

That you are part of that, be glad that God cares about those leadership roles.

Be diligent in, in that effort

In the DFW area, in, in the recent, uh, 12 months, maybe even closer to

now, a year and a half, there have been an extraordinary number of pastors

who have, who have fallen, who have.

Uh, in, in sometimes very extreme ways been removed from ministry,

the police show up and arrest them.

It's a, it's a terrible tragedy that's happened in this area.

Um, and by my estimate, by my count, there are three of many pastors

just in the DFW area, just in the last year and a half, who committed

sins early in their ministries.

And those sins were against individual people.

Uh, they were against families.

They hurt their church and I don't know the number, but thousands

were hurt by what they did.

Um, these three pastors committed sins early in their ministry,

and I don't know all the details.

I don't know exactly precisely what happened.

I don't know who put them into their roles.

I don't know how they necessarily, um, got those, got those jobs.

But I do think that if the church and our church is careful to be glad

and thankful that God is a righteous judge who makes all things right,

um, we should be glad about that.

But we need to be a church who heeds the warning from Paul to Timothy

Heeds, the warning from Paul to Timothy that he, the pastor, the

leader must not be a recent convert.

Um, or he may become puffed up with conceit.

And fall into the condemnation of the devil.

It's a serious thing.

Um, I know I I don't want us to, uh, leave this without feeling a sense of the

warning and the care that God has for us.

Let me pray for us now.

Lord, thank you that you are God who cares about your church.

We're thankful that you're a God who, who loves this church, who, um,

has given us, given us instruction on how to be mature men in Christ.

I pray that we will, we will be thankful that you're a God who, who saves that

you are a God, who is, um, is in control, who loves us, but I also want us to be a

church that, um, is serious about these things, serious about our spiritual

growth, serious about our maturity for your glory, for your namesake.

Um, we pray that you will work, your spirit will work here amongst these

men, and that you will, you will make us a church that loves you.

That is mature in Christ and that, um, you will protect us from those who fall

to the pride of, to the sin of conceit.

Um, in Jesus name I pray.

Amen.