Qualifications of a Deacon (1 Timothy 3:8-16)

First Timothy chapter three verses eight through sixteen.

Deacons likewise should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

They must also be tested first.

If they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.

Wives likewise should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything.

Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing the children and their own household competently.

For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Will you please pray with me?

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for the direction and the guidance that you've given us in passages like these.

Lord, I pray that you would work in our hearts today, that you would keep our eyes and our ears and our minds open to the things that you have for us, keeping our hearts soft and pliable and moldable for whatever it is that you want to do in each one of us here this morning and for our church as a whole.

Lord, have your perfect way in us, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So last week, as I was talking about, we talked about the office of elder.

This week is the office of deacon.

And if you're wondering if we have deacons currently in our church, we don't officially have deacons at this time, but we have some people that are definitely serving in that capacity so far.

You know, this has actually been a very large topic of conversation in our elders' meetings over the last couple months.

And we came to the point of agreement that it's not quite time to establish those roles in our young church, which I'm gonna explain a little bit later as to why, but just wanted to kind of give you a heads up if you're thinking, like, wait, do we have deacons?

Do we not have deacons?

Why is that?

We're gonna explain a lot of that today.

Now, Paul starts this section with deacons should be, as if we already have this understanding of the definition of a deacon.

So I just simply want to talk about what that definition means.

It simply means servant, and is sometimes translated in the New Testament simply as servant.

So I want to show you the definitions from the BDAG and from Strong.

So BDAG says, one who serves as an intermediary in a transaction, agent, intermediator, courier, one who gets something done at the behest of a superior, assistant to somebody.

And then Strong says, one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister, the servant of a king.

So when I personally think about deacons, I think about the worker bees of the church, the ones that are always buzzing around, a lot of times in the background, just getting things done.

You know, we have a great example in Acts 6, verses 1 through 4, when Stephen and six other people are chosen to serve the tables of the widows.

Acts 6:1–4

Hopefully you're familiar with that story.

If not, go back and read Acts 6 when you get home today.

But if you remember, there was this dispute to kind of sum things up.

And it was about the fairness of the widows being served and how the widows were being treated in this young early church in Jerusalem.

So the disciples came together to discuss this.

And Acts 6 1 says, In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

The twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.

Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of God's word.

So the twelve disciples saw a need that they couldn't fulfill on their own.

So they appointed people to serve.

And these people were people that were gifted to serve really as deacons.

You know, as I said last week, the elders typically serve primarily the spiritual needs of a church, and the deacons primarily serve the physical needs of the church.

You know, I love that definition.

I want to use it again.

Elders serve by leading, and deacons lead by serving.

It's just a great way to kind of remember what those roles are.

But there is and there should be some crossover between those two things.

Like I said last week, elders should never be above emptying a trash can or vacuuming a floor or whatever it might be.

And deacons on the other side should never hesitate to minister God's word to somebody.

You know, Stephen is the perfect example of this that we see in Acts.

Stephen was one of those seven that was appointed to serve those tables for the widows.

And right after that section, if you read through it in Acts 6, we see some people start arguing with and actually bringing accusations against Stephen.

And then it says in verse 10 of Acts 6, it says, But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the spirit by whom he was speaking.

This guy knew the word.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

So Stephen's brought, if you remember the story, he's brought before the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish religious council in Israel.

And he just gives this incredible summation of the Old Testament.

I mean, from Abraham all the way to Solomon.

And then we see him rebuke the Sanhedrin.

Think of the guts that takes.

He rebukes the Sanhedrin, calling them stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears.

Some boldness, isn't it?

And then he asks, which prophet that they and their ancestors did not persecute and kill.

All the way up to Jesus Christ.

Which led to them killing Stephen.

And he became our first known Christian martyr.

All that to say, being a deacon or a servant, if you will, it's not for the simple.

It's not for those that lack the ability to be an elder, or it's not for those that can only do menial tasks that just kind of need to be pushed into the background.

This is a distinct, beautiful, wonderful, glorious calling that really should be honored.

And it has an incredible effect on the church when people are serving in this capacity.

It just tends to be more in the background.

So people tend to think about it a little bit less or tend to think of it as not quite as important maybe as what the elders are doing.

You know, one of the things that I really want to highlight today as we go through this passage is making sure that we don't think of a church as a hierarchy, you know, or even worse, as a corporate ladder that can be climbed.

It's not like you go from a volunteer, then maybe you can be promoted to a deacon, and if you do that, well, then maybe you can, you know, be promoted to an elder and then you've arrived, or anything like that.

You know, Colossians 1.18, Ephesians 5, they tell us that Jesus is the head of the church and that we as the church are the body of Christ.

So we all serve for the glory of Christ.

All of us, every single one of us.

And just because somebody is called to be a pastor does not make them more important than a deacon or a children's ministry volunteer or an usher or somebody that's actually cleaning the church.

It's just a different role.

You know, God has gifted us for completely different roles so that we could come together as a body and then function completely as a body.

It's by each and every single one of us that call this our home church at least, functioning in the gifts that God has given each one of us, that the body is then complete and then can function well together.

So please hear me.

Each and every one of you has a gifting.

One that God has given you.

And it's specifically given to you to serve the body of Christ.

Every single believer that God has given a gifting to, and it's to bless the body of Christ.

You know, we can look at this, or we shouldn't look at this and think, well, I'm gonna start off as a toe, but then maybe someday I'm gonna graduate to a finger.

And then if I do that well for 10 years, maybe I can become an ear.

When you're thinking of that from anatomy, you know, in a physical state, you're like, that is ridiculous.

Like, I need my big toe to stay there.

I it functions for me.

I need it there.

Please don't ever try and become one of my fingers.

It sounds ridiculous.

We need to take the gifting that God has given us and then function in that gifting for his glory and to bless the body of Christ.

You know, God has uniquely gifted each one of us, and he wants us to use that gifting for his kingdom.

He wants us to use that gifting specifically for his church.

You know, my calling, my gifting is not more important than your calling or your gifting.

Please believe that with all of your heart.

I don't even know.

I didn't look because I didn't want to know.

Whoever is the children's ministry helper today, that's behind these walls, whatever they're doing right now is just as important as what I'm doing right now.

I want to ask you, do you believe that?

Good.

I'm glad that you believe that because it's it's the truth.

The body is functioning in that way.

So, with that, you know, as we look at the deacons, don't think of them as serving a lesser calling than the elders.

Think of them as serving a different but equal calling as anybody else in the church.

You know, when we started this church, we had a team of 13 that were sent over from Shoreline.

Everyone was doing everything for a long time, including the elders.

We were doing some very deacon things in the beginning, and still are, to be honest with you.

Um, but that's just how it is with the church plan.

Everybody does everything, at least for a season.

But we've slowly been trying to identify those that are gifted in certain areas that we can delegate some of those more deacon responsibilities to uh in order for our meetings to not become budget meetings and for our meetings to not become real estate meetings, you know, or things like that.

And in a lot of different ways, we've just been trying to slowly delegate those things off.

You know, it's why we have a business board.

We have people in our church that love spreadsheets.

Praise the Lord for those people that love spreadsheets.

Yes, I see people raising their hand in the back.

Absolutely.

It's like, yeah, they have a gifting, they have a passion for that.

That shouldn't be what the elders are doing in their meeting.

You know, we have a building committee, people that love keeping their eye on real estate and dreaming about the possibilities of real estate, you know, in the future, where our future meeting places might be.

Praise the Lord for those people.

Let's let them run with that so that doesn't take over our elder meetings as well.

You know, it has been such a huge blessing to the elders of this church, and it's really changed the way that our elder meetings have gone, because now we can focus more on the leading, feeding, and the protecting, and a little bit less on those deacon, more deacon responsibilities.

Um, so anyway, that's just kind of our church and some definitions and kind of how things are functioning at this point, but I'll still continue to unfold these things as we get into the passage.

So, longest intro ever.

Let's look at verse 8.

Let's jump right in here.

It says, Deacons likewise.

And I'm just gonna stop there because likewise is pointing back to the elders, actually.

So it's saying, like the elders, there should be some qualifications for this office.

You can't just appoint anybody that you want to this office of deacon.

So what's to come is who you should be looking for.

These are the qualifications.

If you're gonna appoint somebody as a deacon, this is the qualifications that you should be looking for.

And really, just like last week, these are all things that all believers should try to mature in.

At least everyone that applies specifically to you.

So again, like we did last week, I want to ask ourselves as we go down this list of qualifications am I succeeding?

Am I struggling, or am I failing?

As we go through each one of these things in this list, all of these deacon qualifications.

And you'll see actually that they're pretty similar to last week.

There are some differences, but they're pretty similar.

So please ask yourself those questions as we go over each one of these.

So let's take verse eight again.

Deacons, likewise, like the elders, should be worthy of respect, not hypocritical, not drinking a lot of wine, not greedy for money.

So these are all character traits that a deacon must have.

It's not like as long as he's got, you know, two out of four or three out of four or whatever it might be, all of these things should be present.

They should be known for these things.

So let's start off with the first one.

Worthy of respect.

This means evoking special respect.

The way that they live their lives all week long, every year, it's in a way that evokes a special respect from others.

This is very similar to what we talked about last week with being above reproach.

The next one is not hypocritical.

Some of your translations may say not double-tongued.

They keep their word, they have integrity.

Like with elders, you know, they are the same person on Sunday as they are Monday through Saturday.

The next one, not drinking a lot of wine.

So these people, they don't get drunk, they don't get buzzed, they don't get tipsy, whatever you want to call it.

Some of your translations will say not given to wine or not addicted to wine here.

So it really shouldn't have any control over your life.

Either, you know, you can't be an alcoholic, but no matter who you are, even if you're like, oh, I I don't get drunk that often.

Like you can't be one of those people.

It cannot have a handle on you, it can't control your life in any way.

Let's look at the next one.

Not greedy for money.

So they aren't living their life for the purpose of gaining more money or keeping money, really.

Why would that be a requirement for a deacon?

Well, because they need to be living for the purpose of God's kingdom, not for the purpose of money or for their own kingdom.

Deacons need to be people that store their treasure in heaven, not that store it here on earth.

The other thing, too, is deacons often will handle church finances, you know, to help with the physical needs of others.

And the thing is, this isn't saying they can't be rich.

It's not saying they can't be poor either, but they cannot live their life for the sake of money, either acquiring it or keeping it or building their own kingdom.

Now look at verse 9 with me.

Holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

They know the word and they're surrendered to Christ.

Really, like Stephen, as we just saw.

And they need to believe in the mystery of Jesus Christ saving us, and they need to believe that with all of their heart.

So they can't be filled with doubt about salvation or the mystery of Christ.

They can't be one of those people that's always constantly doubting their own faith.

Now, they don't have to be able to teach the Bible, but they have to know it.

They need to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and then they have to be able to live that out on a daily basis.

Look at verse 10 with me.

They must also, like again, like the elders, be tested first.

If they prove blameless, then they can serve as deacons.

There has to be some experience before being appointed to this office.

Just like too quickly appointing elders, like we talked about last week, how that can not only lead them into sin, but then can cause a ton of hurt in the church as well.

So they too should be serving for a period of time before they are recognized as deacons.

They need to be proven.

They need to be proven blameless along with that.

It doesn't mean they don't ever sin.

Like all of us sin all the time.

But it means it needs to be something that they are known for.

They have to have to be proven.

They have to have uh been doing these things for a while before they are recognized before the church.

You know, I have this guy who's an older gentleman in town that I've gotten to know a little bit, and he was telling me a story about when he first got saved in Southern California.

And this very well-respected man, most of you probably know him uh here in town.

But anyway, he got saved.

He started going to this church and didn't know much about anything, hadn't read the Bible, you know, a whole lot, but knew he loved Jesus.

And he jumps into this church, and um, and it was right when the church was transitioning, and they got a younger pastor, and the older pastor moved on, and so there's a lot of changes going on, and the younger pastor started to get to know this guy a little bit, and and he says, Hey, I want you to serve as an elder.

And this guy is a baby Christian, and he didn't know any better.

He's like, sure, that sounds great.

Sounds like, you know, I'd be honored to.

Jumps in on the board, and uh, and this uh young pastor inherited all these guys, and this young Christian was the the only one that that he had added to this board.

But then as as he started reading scripture and he read 1 Timothy, he was like, Oh man, I don't qualify to be an elder.

Like I really shouldn't be serving one.

I haven't been tested, I haven't gone through all these different things.

And so he went to the pastor and he said, Look, he's like, I'm reading 1 Timothy right now, and I don't think I should be an elder.

I don't think I'm qualified, I don't think I've been tested enough.

And the pastor said, Please stay on the elder board because right now I think you're probably the only one that's saved.

It's like, oh gosh, this church was not practicing the the tested part of this and making sure that they've qualified themselves.

And I don't even know what church that was, I don't need to know, but I thought, man, what an example of how things can just kind of start going whichever way if you're not looking at these things here in uh in 1 Timothy, like we are today.

But it's important that they are tested, you know, in a lot of ways.

Now, here comes the big question that maybe some of you are already thinking about.

Can women be deacons?

This is an age-old debate.

You know, I don't plan on solving that age-old debate, but I will tell you where we stand with it.

But I want to show you before we get to that, I want to show you both sides of the argument of why some people believe women can be, and why some people believe that women cannot be deacons.

And a lot of it is just how this verse is interpreted, you know, and then I'm gonna tell you at the end how we interpret it.

But I want you to see it for yourself and go through this for yourself and uh and understand it really for yourself first.

So, verse 11.

Wives, likewise, should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything.

So the the question is here that causes so much of the debate is are these special requirements for women deacons, or are these requirements for the wives of deacons?

Even though there's no requirements for the wives of elders.

So here's really where it gets tough.

The word for wives is gune in the original Greek, and this word translates 129 times as women and 92 times as wives.

So I want to show you the definitions again.

The BDAG, an adult female person, woman, virgins are included, a married woman, wife, a newly married woman bride.

That pretty much covers every woman on the face of the earth, right?

To some capacity.

The strong's definition says a woman of any age, whether a virgin or married or a widow, a wife.

Of a betrothed woman.

You know, if you're holding a translation of the Bible that says their wives, notice that the their is in italics, which means it wasn't in the original text.

It was added by the translators to try and gain some clarity there, but it was not originally there.

So some translations will straight out say women likewise should be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in every way.

See how this can, you know, people can start to argue both ways.

So can you uh let's see here.

Actually, no, let's go here first.

So some argue, you know, well, this is a position of authority in a church.

Paul just said in chapter 2, verse 12 that women can't be in a place of authority over a man.

Therefore, women can't be deacons.

The other side of the argument is well, deacon means servant.

It's defined as carrying out the commands of another.

So there is no authority in the role of deacon.

Showing you both sides here.

So therefore, women can be deacons because they serve under the authority of the elders, and they're just carrying out the elders' desires.

Also, something that that that side, the pro-women can be deacons, they look at Romans 16, verses 1 through 2.

Romans 16:1–2

And that's where Phoebe is referred to as a servant.

And it's the same Greek word that we're looking at for deacons.

She's referred to as diaconos.

So Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, called Phoebe a deacon, really.

When another word easily could have been chosen at that time to describe Phoebe and what she was doing.

So Paul saw no issue in calling her that.

Now, some people use verse 12 as a reason why women cannot be deacons.

Okay?

I know it's getting a little technical.

Hang with me, but look at verse 12.

Deacons are to be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households competently.

Basically the same as elders, isn't it?

But people look at this verse and they think, well, deacons can only be men because it says they have to be husbands of one wife.

Problem with that, if you take the same line of reasoning, then you would also have to believe that deacons have to be married.

And single people can't serve as deacons with that same logic and line of thinking.

You know, that means telling somebody that's called to singleness that they can't serve, you know, as a as a deacon or as an elder because they have to be married, because it says the husband of one wife.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tells us that it's better to be single.

You remember that?

So you can serve God really to a greater capacity, having less concerns in this world.

Paul is single when he's writing this to the uh to the Corinthians.

He's serving as an apostle and an overseer, and he's not married at this time.

So this whole line of reasoning, yeah, I don't think we can just look at verse 12 and use that one way or the other.

Now, some also ask, now, if women can be deacons, why didn't Paul tell them to be the wife of one husband?

My guess, this is my guess, probably because it's a non-issue.

There's only a few cultures in the history of mankind where it was an issue for women having multiple husbands.

Just that's just, you know, kind of what I'm thinking.

And in the Ephesian culture, in the Jewish culture at the time, that was not an issue whatsoever, you know, for wives to have multiple husbands.

It's actually more common for men to have either multiple wives or they would have a wife and a mistress, especially in the Roman culture, uh, or to visit prostitutes at the time.

It was very common.

So one argument is that he addressed the men because that was the real issue, and he didn't address the women in that same capacity because it was a non-issue in that culture.

Again, just trying to give you both sides of the argument as we go through this.

And I realize it's technical, it's a little complicated, but I want you to kind of see why this has been in debate for so long.

So, what do we do with all of this?

As we go through this and with the arguments and how this verse is interpreted, how do we sort all of this out?

Well, I want to show you how both sides of the argument look at this passage and then break it apart a little bit.

So I have a chart that I made up here that I wanted to throw up.

So, men and women, deacons, argument, verse 8 through 10 is written to men and women.

Verse 11 is written just to the females, and verse 12 through 13 is written to male deacons.

The ones that say men only, verses 8 through 10 are written to the male deacons.

Verse 11 is the requirements for deacons' wives, and then verses 12 through 13 is continued instruction for the males.

So that's how both arguments break this down and look at it differently.

So here's the question: where do we land as a church?

Well, we haven't crossed this bridge yet because we haven't appointed offices of deacons in our church.

But like I said, you know, we've talked about this a lot lately in our elders' meetings for the sake of this morning, but also for the sake of maybe when it is time to do so, that we're all on the same page and we're all moving forward on the same page.

We decided for abide, it depends.

Because just by looking at this verse today, we don't think we can get a clear yes or no on female deacons.

That's why it's been debated, you know, since the first century, really.

You have to look at the greater context of this passage, you have to look at Acts, you have to look at Romans, you have to look at the Greek, you know, which is why we're gonna say for now it depends.

It and it depends largely on the church and the church government and really how the church is set up.

Remember, Paul started this whole section on authority by saying, I do not allow a woman to have authority over a man.

So we have to keep all of this under that context of what Paul said.

So if a woman can not be, I'm sorry, if a woman can be a deacon or not, it really depends on how the church defines a deacon.

Some churches see deacons as a balance of power to elders.

They're two different boards, kind of a system of checks and balances, kind of like the House and Senate.

They have equal authority and they kind of duel against each other to kind of keep each other in check.

Really having equal authority with the elders.

So in that case, we would say, no, we don't think women can be deacons in that system of church government.

They shouldn't have equal authority with the elders because of the context of this whole passage and this whole section on authority.

And then some churches see deacons from a strict biblical definition like we just went over.

Just simply one that carries out the commands of another.

In that case, we would say, yes, women can be deacons because they're not in a position of authority.

They are simply carrying out the desires of the elders and they don't have spiritual authority over man.

So in that case, we would say, yeah, yeah, if it's strictly in that position with zero authority, then yeah, that's that's totally fine.

So, like I said, we don't think 1 Timothy is enough to say yes or no.

I think it comes down, like we were saying, to the greater context and specifically to how deacons are defined within that system of church government.

But like I said, we haven't crossed that that road yet, but that's kind of as we talked about it, as we searched the scriptures, we read a book together, um, and we kind of came up with that.

It really depends on the definition and how it is applied within the church government.

I will tell you this though.

If we ever do have deacons, it would not be a balance of power.

It's really hard to make a case for church government in that way from a scriptural basis to have that balance of power between deacons and elders.

It's really just not laid out in scripture like that at all.

So if we ever come to that place, it will not be that way.

That's all I can tell you right now.

All right, but let's look at verse 13.

For those who have served well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

So he ends this with what the reward is for serving as deacons.

And I love what Warren Wearsby has to say regarding verse 13.

So I'm just gonna read you what he says.

He says, What an encouragement to a faithful deacon.

God will promote him spiritually and give him more and more respect among the saints, which means greater opportunity for ministry.

A faithful deacon has a good standing before God and men, and can be used of God to build the church.

He has a spiritual boldness that makes for effective ministry.

You know, as these servants, these deacons, faithfully serve, it says here they will receive great boldness in the faith.

We saw exactly that with Stephen, didn't we?

Amazing boldness after faithfully serving the widows.

Enough boldness to rightfully call out the highest religious authorities in Israel.

An incredible boldness to die for his faith.

And then while he's dying, while he's being stoned, to pray for those that are executing him.

You know, this position of service, as I was saying earlier, it's of great importance.

God honors it, God rewards it.

You know, serving in the background should not be looked down on or thought less of than any other position in the church.

Now, as we come to the end of this section on deacons, I think my concern is that we've gone through all of these requirements for elders and deacons.

We've self-examined, you know, and asked if we're if we're doing well, if we're struggling, if we're failing in all of these areas.

So we realize, wow, I'm really struggling.

Or wow, I'm really failing in some of these areas or all of these areas, or what whatever it might be.

And we come to the resolution in our heart of we just need to try harder.

I just need to dig deeper.

You know, next time somebody says something awful to me, I'm just gonna grin and bear it.

You know, I'm gonna have this self-control, or you know, I'm just gonna white knuckle it through my addiction or through my struggle or whatever it might be.

And I'm just gonna try harder, and this is no longer gonna have control over me.

Let me be the first to tell you the only way that anyone can be examined by these requirements and be worthy to be called an elder or deacon, it's by the grace of God, through the work of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit living in and through us.

This is not a grin and bear it type of list.

This is not a white knuckle it kind of list.

You will lose your mind.

I'm being dead serious.

It's by the power of the Holy Spirit living in and through us that we're gonna have victory in any of these things.

You could try and grin and bear it.

You might be successful for a week or a month with whatever your struggle is, whatever you feel like you're failing at, but you will then catastrophically fail and be so disappointed and so guilty that you'll probably just go all the way down that road of just like, you know what, I tried and it didn't work, so I'm just gonna give myself to whatever that thing is.

But I believe if you set your mind and your effort to, not grinning and burying it, not white knuckling it, but if you set your mind and your effort to surrendering to God, to abiding in Christ, and to walking by the Spirit, if you do those things, I think before you know it, you're gonna find yourself qualified.

You won't earn it, you won't effort it, you're not gonna white knuckle it.

This is about surrendering more deeply in our relationship with Christ and then leaving the results up to Him.

You know, if you desire to have these attributes of an elder or of a deacon and have those attributes attributed to you, then surrender to Christ.

And then continue to do that daily, moment by moment.

You know, this is really the attributes of somebody that's living a crucified life.

Galatians 2.20 tells us, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

These attributes today that we covered these last two weeks, they're about living a crucified life.

Saying no to the flesh and yes to the Holy Spirit, who's living inside of us, who's counseling us, who's guiding us along the way.

I want to encourage you, memorize Galatians 2.20 if you haven't already.

Meditate on it, believe it, live it out until you can say as confidently as Paul can, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much again for your word.

We thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ that washes away our sin and cleanses us and makes us holy and righteous in your sight.

None of this is possible without him, Lord.

But we thank you for your grace that you poured out on us by the gift of Jesus.

Thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus, and we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit living in us if we have accepted that gift of Jesus Christ.

That is here to help, Lord, our helper.

So we thank you for the Holy Spirit.

Help us to walk by the Spirit moment by moment to help us with every decision, with every step, with every word that we speak.

But we know that we cannot do these things that we've covered in the last two weeks on our own.

So we say we surrender more deeply to you.

Lord, help our effort go to loving you and receiving that grace and receiving the salvation of Jesus Christ and walking by the Spirit and not white knuckling things and trying to do things through our own effort.

But help us to just surrender to you and allow you to take care of those things in our life.

I pray that you would remain the focus, that you would remain the forefront of our thoughts at all times, and that we would just continue to surrender and surrender and surrender to you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.