Understanding the Role of Deacons

And go to the Book of Acts, chapter number six.

Been a long time since I preached from Acts, chapter number six.

And I want to try to be very practical tonight.

You were told, as we was here last Sunday night, that you're going to be voting on a deacon, a new deacon to take the place of another one.

And then he's just, whoever it is, gonna finish out the rest of this year.

And then I think around, is it January or end of December when you vote for new deacons?

And so I want to talk about that a little bit tonight.

And in the Book of Acts, chapter number six, we find the first time that deacons are mentioned.

How many of you have ever served as a deacon, are serving now or you've ever served as a deacon?

Serving now or ever served.

Okay, good.

After over 50 years of ministry and most of those pastoring, some of my greatest blessings were my relationship with my deacons.

I mean, that they're some of my closest friends that ever had.

And I emphasize relationship.

We had a good relationship.

We at one time had 28 deacons serving at the same time.

They weren't just a few and all on a big list.

And they took turns.

At one time, we had 28 deacons in the deacons meeting, and I look forward to them.

I want to be positive tonight, but I've met with lots of pastors who can't say what a blessing it was to them.

They've had some difficult things happen.

Don't have to happen.

Every church is different and situations are different.

But it's some of my greatest blessings.

But I'm gonna be honest, there were some times when they were burdens.

I'm gonna be very plain tonight and hopefully practical and helpful and make it positive, and you can think about that and put it into your own life.

God can use deacons.

The great potential of a deacon, if he's the kind of man he should be.

It's amazing.

God can use deacons, and the devil can use deacons, just like God can use preachers and the devil can use preachers.

Mm.

Same thing with Christians.

But it's a very sobering and serious matter to choose deacons and to serve as a deacon, which is what the word means.

Deacon means servant.

Okay.

Are you with me?

Sure.

It's getting quiet awful fast.

But a deacon is a servant.

They're not rulers.

They're not necessarily businessmen.

They're there to serve, to help, to encourage, to be a blessing.

Don't answer this question.

Don't raise your hand, but when's the Last time a deacon here just came up to you for no reason, shook hand, said, can I just have a quick prayer with you?

Just pray that God will bless you and use you and help you.

Don't raise your hand, but wouldn't that be something to have a church full of deacons?

And they just went around praying with everybody.

Now, I know we pray for everybody, but I'm talking about getting off to the side with someone taking their hands.

So let me.

Let's just have a word of prayer together.

I have only a few opportunities left here to preach at Heritage, and I don't mind telling you, it's going to be very difficult to leave you people.

I tell you what, we have gotten such a blessing being here, but at some point, you know, it's time to move on.

And you have been such a blessing and such.

We got some memories we're going to take with us, and I hope we'll get to see you from time to time.

Still, we're not going to go hide anywhere and stay in touch with you.

You've been such a blessing.

But I want to make the messages as led by God to help and encourage and in light of what's going to be happening here.

So in the book of Acts, chapter six, we find the very first time that they're mentioned and God put it in there for us.

There's only two offices for the church as mentioned in the Bible.

One is pastors and the other are deacons.

And so in Acts, chapter six, it says, and in those days, this was the early days of the church, it had been started by Christ himself during his earthly ministry.

The church did not start at Pentecost.

It was altogether before Pentecost.

Yes, most people, they say, yeah, it was Pentecost when the church started.

No, that's when the church was empowered.

That's when the Holy Spirit came into those believers.

And there were some great things that happened, but the church was in existence.

And so in those days, watch this.

When the number of the disciples was multiplied, now there were many disciples.

There were only 12 apostles.

Apostles and disciples are not the same.

You may refer to the twelve apostles as disciples because a disciple is.

Is not only a follower, but a learner of Christ.

We get the word discipline from disciple.

When we discipline our children, they ought to understand why we're doing it and they ought to understand the lesson from it.

Amen.

So many kids get spankings and they don't really know what they did wrong.

Or they may know, but they don't know why.

It was wrong.

And there's a fine line between child abuse and disciplining children in love and teaching them and sitting down with them.

And then if you have to, you don't always have to spank them.

Sometimes you can just counsel and talk with them.

But I think if you do spank them, I think it's a good thing to give them a big hug afterwards and say, dad loves you, Mommy, your mama loves you, and we're going to always love you.

And I got spankings when I was a boy.

Cause my parents loved me.

And parents need.

I mean, kids need that.

You don't hear it very often anymore these days.

But it says the number of the disciples was multiplied.

That's talking about the church, the early church, the disciples, the members of the church.

And there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews.

You know, the Greeks and Hebrews were in the same church.

The Gentiles and the Jews were together.

And that had never happened before.

And it took some adjustment, but they got.

There was murmuring.

Remember, if you don't, in case you forget, let me tell you again.

Murmuring is when you complain to the wrong person.

When you complain to somebody and they don't know and they don't have all the facts or they can't do anything about it, then you're talking to the wrong person.

Okay?

Murmuring doesn't have a good connotation in the Bible.

God takes it.

He gets offended very easily.

By the way, we need to get more worried about what offends God instead of what offends us.

Amen.

That's what it means to fear God, is to be careful about God and not not offend God.

But there were murmurings.

The church was growing and growing and growing.

And there was murmuring.

Why?

Well, because they're widows.

Can you imagine that?

Their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

The Bible has a lot to say about widows and how we're to take care of them in the church and through the church.

And so they had been neglected.

And so there was murmuring.

Why don't somebody check on them?

Why don't somebody take care of them?

Why don't somebody feed them?

Why don't somebody do something?

There's some that are sick and no one's checked on them.

And the bigger a church gets, sometimes the easier it is to overlook people.

Okay, and I'll share this with you in a moment, but one of the many.

To me, the Bible bears this out of the responsibilities of a deacon Is to just go around and check on people, make sure they're doing okay.

A lot of churches do what we did there at Victory.

And every church is different.

That doesn't mean you have to do it.

But one reason I wanted a lot of deacons is because we took our church membership and we divided it up between all the deacons.

And so every deacon had.

Because we had a large number of deacons, they would have like 20, 15, 20, 25 families.

Each Deacon would have them to check on them, to pray with them, to call them to make sure they're doing okay.

And if they were having a real serious problem, they would come to me and say, preacher, I don't know if you know this, but brother and Mrs.

So and so are going through a very difficult time.

Because preachers can't really remember.

Everybody can't think, check on everybody.

And one or two deacons, you've had three recently, I think, and now two.

For just two men that are deacons now, to check on everybody and to call on everybody, that would be quite a challenge.

Amen.

It's a lot of work.

And so that's what happened.

So then the twelve, there's the apostles, called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.

Now, they were not saying, we're too good to do that.

No, they were serving tables.

They were taking food of the widows, and they were taking care of the children, the orphans and other people that were sick.

But they also had to study and they had to pray and they had to counsel and they had to do a lot of other things.

And they said, the church is growing so big.

What they were saying is if we don't get some help, you're just gonna show up in our preaching.

Cause we're not prepared.

We're not spending enough time in prayer and studying of the word of God.

Does that make sense?

I think it's pretty logical.

Wherefore, brethren, they said, look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost.

You know, every time now I read a scripture or think about the Holy Ghost.

I think of Dave McCracken because he did such a marvelous job on explaining the filling of the Holy Spirit.

And so he's speaking to these, to the church.

Pick out seven.

I don't know why I picked seven.

I'm not sure what size the church was.

I don't think the Bible means that every church has to have seven.

No more, no less.

Depends on the size.

Of the church and the needs of the church.

Do you agree with that?

So it happened that they thought seven would do it.

Full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.

I don't know about you, but I always need more wisdom.

And wisdom comes from God and God's Word.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally, whom we may appoint over this business?

You give us seven names, seven men.

We'll meet with them and we'll appoint those men to do certain things.

Okay.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

And the saying pleased the whole multitude.

And they chose Stephen.

Oh, yes.

Now we remember Stephen.

We forget sometimes he preached one of the greatest sermons in the Bible.

And he was not a preacher.

He was a deacon.

Does that mean every deacon should preach?

Well, I don't know that it necessarily means that.

But I think a deacon ought to be ready to stand up if he's needed.

If there's no preacher today, something happened and there's nobody else.

At least he can get up and read some scripture and pray.

Amen.

I don't think you have to be a preacher to be a deacon.

But in this case, Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Ghost.

And then there was Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles.

So the Church picked out seven.

They set them before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

I'll take.

I'll explain that here in just a few moments.

They weren't given special power through their hands.

Some of our Pentecostal friends believed that they were kind of zapped with power.

And by the way, you can have as much power as they have through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

But it was something that they did publicly to know that these men are set apart for this particular thing.

Now, verse seven.

The Word of God increased.

There you go.

And the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.

And a great company of the priests, that had to be Jewish priests, were obedient to the faith.

They got saved when the preacher had more time to prepare and study for the Word of God.

And these seven men were called out and started holding down the murmuring.

Right?

That was the first reason there was murmuring.

If there'd been no murmuring, there'd been no deacons.

So in a way, a deacon was to be a peacemaker.

You agree with that?

I mean, there was problems There was some arguing over who's going to do.

Why isn't somebody doing this?

Well, why don't you do it?

Me?

Why do I have to do it?

Why don't you do it?

That was the kind of stuff going on.

But it happened and went so well that the Bible says even a lot of the Jewish priests were born again, became saved.

Wow.

Does that mean that if people are being taken care of and we're all a family and we're growing together and when one weeps, we all weep and when one laughs, we all laugh and we rejoice and we check on each other and we hold each other up in prayer, does that mean that possibly more people would get saved?

Absolutely, that's what it means.

Sometimes churches can get so selfish and self centered and want everything my way and nobody gets saved because it's all about us.

It can happen something.

We have to be on guard all the time.

So a great company.

And then it says verse eight.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Now remind you, the book of Acts was a transitional book.

They didn't have a Bible yet.

They didn't have church.

And everybody opened their Bible.

They didn't have one.

They had the Pentateuch, they had some of the Psalms, they had the prophets.

They didn't have the doctrines that you and I have in this Bible.

And so because of that, God allowed the apostles and here one of the deacons actually had the gift of miracles that would impress people, not say look at me, but it was to authenticate.

Is that a good word?

They could authenticate that these men were of God because of the miracles they performed.

And gradually when the Bible began the canonizing of the scripture and all scripture came together, well, gradually those gifts ceased.

That's what the Bible says.

When that which is perfect is come, that that which is done in part shall be done away.

It's talking about the word of God.

And so we're not to copy Pentecost.

That's a lot of the churches today that are mixed up on this point.

Denominations, they want to copy, they want to speak in tongues, they want to do miracles, they want to do this, they want to prophesy, they want to stand up in front of the.

And they think that's they're more spiritual and all that.

Well, there were apostolic gifts.

They were not for everybody today.

Why do we need tongues today when we have a Bible?

I had a man sometime come to me in the morning service, kind of interrupted the service and he Said, God has sent me here to say something.

I said, well, I didn't get the note, and so I'll talk to you after church.

And thank God there was no problem.

He sat down, left in the middle of my sermon.

But they're men like that.

But, you know, one time I remember talking to a man.

He said, God told me to come by.

They just came by the office.

And he said, I had a vision last night.

And God said, I need to go to Victory Baptist Church and talk to the pastor and tell him what he said.

And there wasn't anybody else around.

I said, okay.

What did God tell you?

He said, jesus is coming again.

I said, really?

Back then they didn't go, duh.

And that many times is the case.

People will prophesy and share something that's in the Bible a lot of times.

But they're mixed up, and we need to pray for people like that.

Doesn't mean they're not saved.

Maybe some of them are, maybe some are not.

Maybe some Baptists are not saved.

Amen.

Just because you're Baptist don't get you to heaven.

So there were miracles.

And now watch this.

It happens every time.

Verse 9.

Remember, we already got the murmuring fixed.

But now it says, then there arose certain of the synagogue that was the Jewish temple, the Jewish place, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

Well, it didn't take long.

I mean, you solve a problem and another one will come along.

You don't get much time off.

If it's the right kind of church.

If a church is taking stands and preachers preaching the word of God and people are praying, witnessing, and the church is staying the course.

You're going to have trouble with the devil if you don't.

Something's really wrong.

I know.

I'm like you.

Why don't the devil just leave us alone for a while?

Well, that would be a bad sign if the devil said, I don't need to worry about messing with that church.

I believe that since the first time I came here, man, the way the devil slammed into this church, he wanted and still wants to hurt it as much as he can.

Because this church is different.

They believe the word of God literally.

We got more and more every day, even Baptists, quote, unquote.

I don't think they're probably really Baptists, but they're changing their doctrines and changing this and changing that.

And so the devil leaves them Alone most of the time you take a strong stand for God and right in truth and love.

The devil's going to sit down beside you and he's going to try everything he can to distract, to disturb and to destroy.

Well, that's what happened here, Stephen, a deacon doing the work of God and began to dispute.

But look at verse 10.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

They were talking about, see, when they thought they was gonna, hey, what do you think you're doing?

They started attacking him.

And so he started talking back and they go, oh.

They didn't know what to say.

They couldn't dispute anymore because of the wisdom and the Spirit.

By the way, that's a little S, not a big capital S. Their spirit, not just the Holy Spirit, but their spirit.

Stephen was preaching the truth and doing the things of God, but he did it in a right spirit, a Christ like spirit, a humble spirit, a serving spirit, a sweet spirit.

I mean, you've probably, some of you I'm sure have known this for years.

You can take, take a stand and have a bad spirit about it.

We need to take a stand.

We need to speak for right, but we need to do it in the right spirit.

Amen.

So they didn't leave.

It says then they sub born suborned men which said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.

Moses was their hero and they thought they were worshiping the right God.

They were mixed up and it says they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him, Stephen the deacon and caught him and brought him to the council.

And it says in verse 13 they set up false witnesses which said, this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against the holy place and the law.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth.

There's the problem.

They didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah.

They said, we've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

And all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him.

Watch this.

They saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

What does an angel look like?

Have you ever seen an angel?

The Bible says sometimes we entertain angels and we don't know it.

So they must not look like aliens.

They must not look weird or whatever.

Maybe some of you have met somebody and they disappeared.

And how did they know that?

And how did they know this and that and the other.

And you never heard them or saw them again?

You asked somebody?

No, I didn't see anybody.

I'm just telling you.

The Bible says sometimes angels can be right around us.

Maybe sitting in the chair beside us, maybe riding in the car.

We don't know.

But I would remind you too, that Satan has angels.

He was an angel.

And a third of the angels followed him and fell with him.

And they too are unseen.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

It's very possible that we might even pass them in Walmart and not even know it.

A demon or maybe an angel of God.

Now, I don't think we ought to worship angels.

I don't think we ought to pray to angels.

That's another trick of the devil.

Babies don't turn into angels when they get to heaven.

A lot of people, several years ago, especially man, that was a big new fad.

Now to buy angels and little things, angels and set them up on the mantle.

No, but there are angels.

And I don't know if they.

What did they think?

An angel.

It said that they.

They saw his face and it reminded them of an angel.

I don't know where they got what an angel looks like from now, right here in chapter seven is when Stephen took off and won a great sermon.

We're not going to read all that tonight.

It's 53 verses long.

But boy, he covered everything.

Now look in chapter seven and look in verse 54.

And when they had heard these things, this sermon preached by a deacon named Stephen, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

You find that several times in scripture.

It's not a pleasant thought that someone be so angry they gnash with their teeth like they're going to bite you.

But he, verse 55, being what, full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God.

And look at this.

And Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

Wow.

He did.

Nobody else saw it, but Stephen saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

I've often wondered why the liberals are called the left wing and the conservatives are called the right wing.

Jesus on the right side of the Father.

That wasn't very funny, was it?

And he said, behold, I see the heavens open.

Now he's saying this in front of this great crowd of people.

Behold, I see the heavens open.

And the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

So he said it twice and they said, amen.

No, they did not they cried out with a loud voice and they stopped their ears.

Can you picture that?

And ran upon him with one accord.

They attacked Stephen.

And then the Bible says they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul, who later became Paul.

In fact, if you'll go two chapters ahead, in chapter nine, you'll see for the first time, Paul.

So they stoned, and Saul was watching.

There's places in Scripture where we get a strong indication that Paul never got over that.

It had an impression on him.

He brought it up several other times.

In fact, he was ashamed that he actually held the coats of the men who killed Stephen, who was a great godly man.

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God.

In other words, they're saying as he was being stoned, Stephen was calling upon God and saying, lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

Does that sound familiar?

Who else said something like that?

Anybody remember Jesus?

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Here Stephen is being stoned to death.

So he kneels down.

He doesn't fight back.

He's not attacking.

And cried, not with a little murmuring, soft, little voice, but with a loud voice.

Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Anybody here like to die like that?

Fall asleep?

I think probably most of us say, yeah, that would be pretty nice.

The only thing better than that would be the rapture, that they just pray and enjoy God those last few seconds and fall off to sleep and wake up in heaven.

How about that?

That's quite a story, isn't it?

But the point is, it was all centered on a deacon.

And so when you get to the place that you're going to maybe make a recommendation of a deacon, somebody you think either has, or even if he never has, what might make a good deacon?

If I were you, I would read this again and again.

Everybody's different.

I don't think he has to be a superman, a super deacon.

I don't think he probably wouldn't have the stature maybe, that Stephen did.

He was specially blessed to do miracles and all these kind of things.

But you need to remember that the qualifications of a deacon are found here in Acts, chapter six, and then in quite detail in the book of Timothy.

The scripture kind of speaks for itself.

But there was a problem, and the deacons helped solve it.

That's the way it's supposed to be Amen.

But sometimes not just deacons, sometimes people, leaders, Sunday school teachers, preachers, preachers, wives, all kinds of situations.

They make problems, they don't solve problems.

You don't want to be a part of a problem, do you?

I'm just asking, saying, well, no, I want to be part of the solution.

Well, amen.

Ask God to use you to be a problem solver, not a problem maker.

You think he'd say, well, I'll get back with you?

No, God will say, well, I'd like to answer that prayer for you.

We're not going to get into it today, tonight.

But there was also qualifications for a deacon's wife and a pastor's wife.

First Timothy 3, 8, you need not turn there, but you ought to jot it down.

And I put some handouts back there on that little carousel in the corner.

And we're going to try to fill up the other one if we can in the next few days.

Just some things that I thought you might enjoy having.

You may not agree with everything on there, and I'm not saying you should, but it might give you some insight.

A lot of topics and subjects and things.

What does the Bible say about this and about this?

They're back there.

They're no charge.

But the point I want to make is the role of a deacon.

If he's rightly, if he understands what it's all about and if he undertakes it, he doesn't just read it, but he says, that's what I'm gonna, with God's help, I'm gonna do.

They can make a deacons, a group of men, godly men.

Now I wanna stop right here and slam on the brakes.

Are you listening?

Very important what I'm about to say.

There are men that say, well, I don't think I'm ready to be a deacon.

That doesn't mean that the deacons are superior to those men.

I'm going to say that again.

A deacon is not way up here.

And the rest of the men are a little bit under the deacons.

I've known some men that didn't ever feel like they could measure up to be a good deacon, but they could have been if they wanted to.

And they did everything a deacon would do.

They would serve and check and pray and help and hold hands with people and pray with them and weep with them.

I want you to understand that some of you men don't have peace about it doesn't mean you're a second class member at Heritage Baptist Church.

You May be a first class member being a deacon, something that between you and God and you have to pray about it and you may say, well, I'm not ready, maybe next year or the next year.

But I want you all to try not to forget that.

Sometimes there's can be very.

There can be dangers.

Don't have to be.

Some men deacons feel like they're controllers.

They have a lot of pride, they think very highly of themselves.

But I'm going to say it again.

I think they should be among the pastor's best and closest friend.

A deacon ought to be among the best and closest friends a pastor can have.

If he's heartbroken and got problems, he can call on a deacon.

That's the way it ought to be.

That mean he has to agree with everything.

You know it better than that.

I don't have to tell you that I don't even agree with myself sometimes.

No, a deacon doesn't be a yes man and agree with every single thing a pastor says.

But there ought to be a bond and a love and a trust.

That a pastor can lean on.

I know we're supposed to lean on God and we do that.

But if I was here and wasn't a pastor and I was praying about it, I'd say, lord, if you want to be a deacon, I want to be the best help I can to my pastor.

I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

Deacons are sounding boards for a pastor.

A pastor values opinions and godly men that's on their knees and says, preacher, have you ever thought about this?

And the preacher say, well, no, I haven't thought about that.

That's a good idea.

I think there's something wrong with a pastor who doesn't want some input.

Amen.

But they're not rulers, they're servants and they should be prayer warriors.

I'm going to speed up here real quickly.

We're almost done.

But everybody here should be a prayer warrior.

If somebody asks you what do you do in that church over there, you're not a Sunday school teacher, you're not a deacon, you're not in the choir, you're not a greeter, you're not an usher, what do you do?

You ought to have a good answer.

Ought to say, well, I'm a prayer warrior.

I'm a prayer warrior.

I don't tell everybody when I'm praying, but I pray a lot of times behind the scenes and in private.

A prayer warrior already said a deacon ought to be a peacemaker ready to defend and if they can't, something's wrong.

They should be examples.

You agree with that?

A deacon ought to be a good example.

Other young men ought to look at, and not just young men, any other man.

If he's never been a deacon, he goes, you know, brother, so and so's a deacon.

And I hope one day I could be as good and godly a man as he is.

I want to be like him.

I want to follow him.

He's different.

I can tell he loves the Lord.

He's got a peace and a sweetness and a kindness and a Christ likeness about him.

An example.

I have heard deacons say I'm a sheepdog.

I'm not the pastor that's the under shepherd, but I'm a sheepdog.

I go around and protect the flock from the wolves and help move them in a different direction, the people and the sheep.

I think that's a pretty good idea.

I don't know if you deacons ever thought about being a dog or not.

That'd be a sheepdog.

And a deacon's wife should be meek and of a quiet spirit.

The Bible says that's of great price to the Lord.

Did you know that's in the Bible too?

All women really, not just a deacon's wife.

But women are to have a meek and quiet spirit.

They're not to rule in the church or rule over man.

And they're definitely not called to preach according to the Bible.

We believe the Bible.

Deacons should be humble.

They should be ready to help at the altar.

You may have never been called on to do that, but you never know somebody dealing with several other people and there's nobody else left.

And you're sitting over here and you're Deacon Joe.

And Joe, come over here and show this man, this young man or woman, show him how to be saved.

Your wife, your deacon's wife, come over here and pray with this lady.

You say, well, I don't know how to do that.

Well, you can learn.

It may not be your personality, but if you're a deacon or deacon's wife, I don't think that necessarily means that that's not in the Bible as far as one of the qualifications.

But I think every deacon, one of their goals is to know how to lead someone to Christ.

You may not be as suave and smooth as some others that have done it a lot, but if you never have make it, put it on your prayer list.

Lord, I want to be able to lead someone to Christ at the altar or outside in the parking lot or on the job or my neighbor over the fence.

A deacon should be alert and know what's going on.

Now, again, don't make this.

Don't hear me say something I didn't say.

But I think not just deacons, but I think all of us should.

And you'll agree with that.

And when I tell you what it is.

But the Bible says we're to be students of the Bible.

Study.

Study.

You say, well, I don't read too good.

That's not to be ashamed of.

A lot of times it's the way you were taught to read.

Some were taught to read by memorizing, others by syllables, how to sound it out.

But God can help you do that.

That's.

That's not a problem for God.

But you ought to learn the Bible.

No one ever graduates be a student of the Bible.

A deacon ought to say, I'm learning more every year.

You don't have to go to Bible college to study the Bible.

I think a preacher ought to.

But there's nothing wrong with.

Anybody else in the church says, I want to learn more about the Bible.

And a deacon should never be too good for menial tasks.

That shouldn't have to be said.

But sometimes you get this idea, well, we got people that do that.

I don't do that.

I am a deacon.

I don't clean the commodities.

I think a deacon ought to be the first one in line to do whatever is needed.

Nothing that he wouldn't do.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and just.

This is for me.

Okay?

But you will agree deacons are to be examples.

I probably shouldn't say this, and it goes for women, too, women deacons.

But I think for everybody.

I think how we dress says a lot about us.

I don't think you have to wear a suit to be a deacon.

Amen.

That'd be kind of ridiculous, but I don't think.

Nothing wrong with it.

Nothing to be ashamed of.

But when we take pride in how we dress and how we look, it means we take what we're doing seriously.

We're not casual.

We have a plague of casualness sweeping across the churches of today.

They wear the same thing to church that they wear to the football game.

And I don't think that's.

Now, if that's all they have, praise God for it and let them wear what they got for the glory of God.

So don't go out here and say something that I said, something I didn't say.

Amen.

But I think we ought to look our best for God.

For the glory of God.

But also people look at us.

Visitors, new members, look at us again.

I'm not saying you have to have one of these in the suit, but they say, boy, they care what they look like.

Not to show off, not to put on a fashion show.

But we're going to the house of God.

You look in the Bible, get your information in the Bible.

When God said, I'm going to meet with the people, it would take them sometimes two to three weeks to get ready to wash.

Some of you looking a little bored, so I'll try to hurry.

A deacon ought to be a tither.

If he's not a tither and a giver.

Give, not just tithe, not just moving the decimal point over.

If he's not a tither and a giver, the Bible says he's a thief.

And a thief has no business being a deacon.

You don't have to give the same that everybody else gives.

Nobody gives the same amount, probably.

I don't know.

I never looked at people's records when I was pastoring.

I didn't want to know.

That was between them and God.

But I expected.

I've had in my years of ministry.

Not very long ago, I had staff members that didn't tithe.

We were paying them a good salary and they were robbing God and didn't give tithing and give money to the back of the church.

I didn't know about it until I found out from my secretary.

And she wasn't being out of line.

She just said, preacher is something you ought to know.

A deacon should be part of the vision of the church.

They ought to be positive.

They ought to look out there and say, one day this is going to happen.

By the help and grace of God, we're going to.

We want to see this happen.

They're looking ahead, they're not looking back.

A deacon seeks to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's faithful.

And I think a deacon ought to treat his wife with respect and gentleness in public.

And I think a deacon's wife ought to respect and honor her husband in public.

You're welcome.

You probably haven't heard some of these, have you?

A deacon should not flirt with other women other than his wife.

It's all right to flirt with your wife.

And a deacon's wife shouldn't flirt with other men.

Deacon ought to be a good father.

There is no perfect fathers.

But he's a good father and he's trying to be a better father.

I guess I could have shortened this, said we need deacons just ought to be Christ, like that'd cover it.

We can go home.

That'd cover everything.

Would it?

The deacon should have a sense of humor, but not be a clown.

He ought to have a good sense of humor.

You ought to be able to laugh a little bit and not show people that Christians are misery miserable.

A deacon ought to be approachable.

People should not feel like they can't talk to the deacon.

A deacon ought to be approachable.

All right, I'll quit.

Let's stand together, every head bowed, every eye closed.

You say, well, I already knew all that anyway.

Well, okay, good for you.

But I wanted to be practical and I just want to give you some things to think about as you will be considering some of these things.

And I didn't cover everything because of time.

I skipped some things and just wanted to share as God led.

So I'm going to pray if God's touched your heart about this or something else.

Maybe nothing to do with deacons.

Maybe you want to be a better student of the Bible.

You want to be a better soul winner.

You want to be a prayer warrior has nothing to do with being a deacon or a deacon's wife.

You want to set the example.

You want to see this church prosper, go forward victorious.

You have a burden on your heart.

Come and pray about it and go back to your seat when you're through.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together.

And Lord, I hope I didn't come across as a know it all.

I had to learn a lot the hard way and I'm still learning things.

But Lord, deacons can be such a blessing, such an encouragement.

And thank God for men and women who may never fulfill the office, but they're doing the work of a deacon or a deacon's wife.

They don't need the title.

Lord, I pray that you would lead this church in these matters.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Your heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed.

I've wandered far away from God, but now I'm coming home.