How is the Church Led?

Introduction:

5 Musts for Church Leaders: (Titus 1:1-9)

  1. You must see yourself as Entrusted by God. (Titus 1:1-3)
  1. You must be pouring into Specific People . (Titus 1:4-5)

    Acts 20:28 - Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

  2. You must start in your Home . (Titus 1:6)

    1 Timothy 3:5 - for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

  3. You must be Blameless in your walk. (Titus 1:7-8)
  4. You must love God's Word . (Titus 1:9)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 00:47-00:48

    The book of Titus, are you there?

    00:49-00:59

    Titus is a letter from an older pastor, encouraging a younger pastor how to be a faithful pastor.

    01:01-01:12

    And Paul tells Titus, in the church, you need to establish leaders, and you also need to deal with problem people in the church.

    01:12-01:17

    and those two aren't exactly separate issues.

    01:18-01:20

    And today we're going to talk about leadership.

    01:22-01:30

    Because if the church is going to carry out her mission, she's going to need strong leaders.

    01:34-01:40

    And in Titus chapter one, this passage is addressing leaders specifically.

    01:42-01:53

    But I gotta say this, I don't want you to sit back and be like, you know what, I'm not an elder in the church, so none of this stuff pertains to me.

    01:54-02:03

    So this is the week that I can probably, you know, doodle on my sermon outline or text or scroll through Facebook while he's preaching, 'cause this really doesn't apply to me.

    02:04-02:05

    No, you can't do that.

    02:06-02:07

    And I'm gonna tell you why.

    02:10-02:21

    Have you ever been in a restroom at a restaurant and see the sign on the wall that says, employees must wash hands?

    02:22-02:23

    You know what I'm talking about?

    02:25-02:26

    Employees must wash hands.

    02:26-02:36

    Now let me ask you, have you ever stood at the sink and looked at that sign and said, oh, that's for employees, that's not for me.

    02:36-02:41

    And then you walk out without washing your hands, Raise your dirty hands, who's done that before?

    02:42-02:42

    (congregation laughing)

    02:43-02:45

    Just wanna thank you, Jay, thank you.

    02:45-02:46

    Thank you for your honesty.

    02:47-02:49

    Okay, and you're getting zero handshakes after service.

    02:50-02:51

    (congregation laughing)

    02:53-03:03

    Obviously you wouldn't look at that and say, "Well, that's not for me, that's only if you're an employee here." Like washing your hands is a good idea for everybody, right?

    03:04-03:14

    And the truth is with these principles that he gives leaders, you can go through the rest of the New Testament and see these commands for all followers of Jesus.

    03:17-03:20

    So there's something here for every one of us.

    03:22-03:22

    Right?

    03:22-03:25

    The standards for leadership in the church are very high.

    03:27-03:32

    But again, all of these things that we're looking at this morning are things that all believers are called to.

    03:32-03:40

    It's just that, listen, church leaders, especially must obviously exemplify these things.

    03:41-03:42

    All right?

    03:44-03:45

    So pay close attention.

    03:47-03:51

    And if you're a leader in the church, you have to really be dialed in here.

    03:53-04:00

    All right, so on your outline, if you're taking notes, which we always encourage, five musts for church leaders.

    04:02-04:04

    Number one, write this down.

    04:05-04:09

    you must see yourself as entrusted by God.

    04:12-04:13

    Look at the first three verses.

    04:14-04:46

    Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness and hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in His Word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God, our Savior.

    04:51-04:56

    You know, you look at the ministry of the life of Paul, and our church spent three years going through the book of Acts.

    04:59-05:01

    He dealt with a lot.

    05:04-05:06

    and he worked hard and he suffered much.

    05:06-05:11

    And you could read the book of Acts and ask yourself, what made Paul so faithful?

    05:13-05:16

    What made him stick through it in hard times?

    05:19-05:20

    Some might say, well, it was the need.

    05:20-05:22

    It was the need for the gospel to get out.

    05:22-05:24

    He saw the need, that's what motivated him.

    05:24-05:26

    Some people would say, well, it's his conversion story.

    05:26-05:28

    I mean, Jesus showed up to him.

    05:28-05:30

    That's probably a big motivator.

    05:30-05:34

    And some would say, well, maybe it was all the Bible knowledge that he had.

    05:34-05:35

    And I think all of those things are true.

    05:36-05:43

    But I think one of the biggest motivators that Paul carried with him is right here in verse three.

    05:45-06:02

    "He saw himself entrusted by God." Listen, if you're a leader in this church, it's not a matter of, hey, hey, Pastor Jeff and Pastor Taylor are counting on you.

    06:04-06:11

    It's not, hey, Harvest Bible Chapel is trusting you, and it's not even, hey, North Pittsburgh needs you.

    06:15-06:21

    God has given you this calling, and God is trusting you to be faithful with it.

    06:27-06:29

    If you're a leader, you've got to see yourself like that.

    06:30-06:36

    I mean, imagine if I entrusted you with this giant pile of money.

    06:36-06:41

    I just had this giant stack of cash, and I said, "Look, hey, I'm going to give this to you.

    06:42-07:00

    "What I want you to do is tomorrow, "I want you to go across the street to the bank, "and you're going to meet Jillian there, "and she's going to wire this money to Thailand." Now listen, this is very important because you realize there are so many families over there that we support.

    07:01-07:07

    And those families and their children and the ministry, everything depends on them getting this money.

    07:07-07:11

    If I handed you that money, I'm trusting you with it, what are you doing with it?

    07:12-07:14

    You ain't going to the casino with it.

    07:17-07:25

    You ain't gonna set it down and say, "Well, I'll just leave it there, "I'll come back for it later." You'd be like, "No, no, no, Pastor Jeff, entrusted this to me.

    07:25-07:31

    Pastor Jeff trusts me enough that he gave me this money because he's trusting me to get it where it needs to go.

    07:33-07:34

    And do you see the point?

    07:36-07:39

    God has entrusted something to us.

    07:41-07:46

    See, God says, hey, people are sinful and selfish and rebellious and wayward and they're heading to hell.

    07:47-07:49

    But God says, I have this glorious gospel.

    07:49-07:59

    I have this, you know, this account of my son who died and rose from the dead, died to take away sin and rose from the dead to give eternal life.

    07:59-08:06

    I have this gospel message and God could, He could broadcast it from the sky.

    08:06-08:08

    He could write it in the clouds if He wanted.

    08:08-08:10

    He could do whatever He wanted, but you know what He's chosen to do?

    08:11-08:13

    He's chosen to say, look, I'm entrusting this to you.

    08:14-08:16

    I'm giving this to you.

    08:16-08:19

    I'm trusting you to be faithful with this.

    08:24-08:33

    And if you're in ministry, any type of leadership, you're gonna follow Paul's example here and take it to that level of seriousness.

    08:34-08:39

    That, hey, I'm not doing this because, hey, there's people down at the church kinda wanting me to help out.

    08:39-08:42

    So God's trusting you with this.

    08:45-08:48

    And listen, when you're in ministry, hard times are going to come.

    08:49-08:50

    It's not always fun.

    08:54-08:55

    And it's easy to bail.

    08:58-09:05

    It's easy to bail when it gets rough or when people go sideways on you or all the complaining wears you out.

    09:05-09:06

    It's easy to say, you know what?

    09:06-09:08

    I don't even know why I'm doing this.

    09:08-09:10

    Here's why we're doing this.

    09:10-09:13

    This is because God's entrusting us with the ministry.

    09:17-09:20

    That's what's going to motivate me to stay with it when it isn't fun.

    09:20-09:22

    That's what's going to motivate me to go the extra mile.

    09:23-09:27

    That's what's going to motivate me to serve the King of Heaven with excellence.

    09:27-09:28

    He's trusting me.

    09:30-09:32

    You've got to see yourself that way if you're in ministry.

    09:34-09:39

    God is trusting me with this ministry.

    09:40-09:43

    Finally, five must for church leaders.

    09:43-09:48

    You must see yourself as entrusted by God, but also you must be pouring into specific people.

    09:51-09:56

    Again, these first two, they're just following Paul's example, but look at verses four and five.

    09:56-10:03

    He says to Titus, "My true child in a common faith, "grace and peace from God the Father "and Christ Jesus our Savior.

    10:05-10:15

    "This is why I left you in Crete, that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

    10:18-10:21

    Paul tells Titus he needs to appoint elders.

    10:23-10:29

    Here again, very clearly in God's word, this is how God says his church is to be led.

    10:30-10:34

    Elders, plural, shepherding the church.

    10:36-10:38

    That is the biblical model for church leadership.

    10:39-10:41

    Okay, not voting.

    10:42-10:44

    You don't see voting anywhere in scripture.

    10:44-10:50

    That's an American democracy concept that we try to force upon the church.

    10:50-10:57

    Everybody gets to say, look, like Lee Greenwood, I'm proud to be an American, right?

    10:57-10:58

    Do you want me to sing that?

    10:58-11:00

    I'm not going to, but yay America.

    11:00-11:04

    But that idea of democracy, it's just not biblical.

    11:06-11:07

    You don't see it in Scripture.

    11:09-11:12

    Nor do you see one man running the show.

    11:13-11:23

    And I've seen so much damage in churches where it's one guy calling all the shots, no questions asked, you know, get in line or get out.

    11:26-11:27

    That's not the biblical model either.

    11:29-11:34

    The biblical model also is not secular business strategists.

    11:34-11:45

    Let's get people who know how to build a corporation and we'll do these corporate events and these secular leadership things and who's up for a trust fall?

    11:45-11:47

    Like that's not it either.

    11:49-11:51

    Is anyone up for a trust fall?

    11:53-11:55

    You're like, no, because Jay didn't wash his hands.

    12:01-12:01

    (congregation laughing)

    12:01-12:04

    Biblically, here's how leadership happens in the church.

    12:05-12:09

    Holy Spirit filled men shepherding the church.

    12:10-12:13

    That's the biblical model of leadership for the church.

    12:15-12:22

    Acts 20, verse 28 says, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock." Look at this next phrase.

    12:23-12:26

    This is Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders, by the way.

    12:27-12:49

    He says, "Pay careful attention to yourselves "and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood." So, the Holy Spirit is the one who, He prepares and equips people for leadership, for eldership.

    12:51-12:58

    It's our job just to recognize and affirm those whom the Holy Spirit is preparing and equipping.

    12:59-13:06

    That's why at this church, if you're new here, or maybe you've been around and just haven't heard this spiel, this is how leadership works in this church.

    13:06-13:16

    We have a group of elders, a group of biblically qualified, spirit-filled men who are in charge of doctrine, discipline, and direction of the church.

    13:17-13:17

    Those are the elders.

    13:18-13:21

    We also have a ministry team.

    13:21-13:27

    Those are leaders that lead the teams that carry out the work of the ministry.

    13:27-13:39

    That's worship, that's hospitality and children's, all the various ministries, they all have a leader that oversees the discipleship and the work done in each ministry.

    13:40-13:43

    We covered that way back in Acts chapter six.

    13:43-13:47

    You see people were appointed to carry out the work of the ministry.

    13:47-13:49

    Some churches call them deacons.

    13:49-13:51

    In our church, we call them the ministry team.

    13:51-13:52

    It's the same role.

    13:56-14:01

    But that's how the Bible tells us as a church that we should be led.

    14:03-14:19

    If you're a leader, what I want you to see here is that Paul is showing us by example, one of your primary jobs as a leader, you have to be intentional about discipleship.

    14:21-14:25

    In other words, you need to be pouring into someone specifically?

    14:29-14:30

    Because Paul had Titus.

    14:33-14:35

    Now, let me ask you this.

    14:37-14:43

    Could Paul himself have appointed the elders at Crete, got everything what remained in order?

    14:43-14:45

    Could Paul himself have done that?

    14:45-14:46

    Of course he could have.

    14:49-14:52

    But then what about Ephesus?

    14:52-14:53

    What about Thessalonica?

    14:53-14:54

    What about Corinth?

    14:57-15:03

    You see, the gospel was spreading and people were coming to Christ and the ministry was growing.

    15:03-15:06

    Paul couldn't be everywhere doing everything.

    15:06-15:08

    That's why he had Titus.

    15:09-15:10

    That's why he had Timothy.

    15:10-15:11

    That's why he had Apollos.

    15:11-15:17

    He was multiplying himself by pouring into them so more kingdom work could be done.

    15:19-15:20

    See, Paul had Titus.

    15:21-15:25

    And if you're a leader in this church, I have to ask you, who do you have?

    15:26-15:35

    At any time, leader in the church, somebody should be able to come up to you and say, "Who are you pouring into?" And you should be able to give a name.

    15:36-15:48

    You should be able to say somebody specifically, not something generic like, "Well, I have some people on my team and I'm kind of..." You should have somebody that you can name like Titus, like that guy.

    15:48-15:49

    That's the guy that I'm pouring into.

    15:50-15:54

    That's the guy that I'm reproducing, you know, this ministry role.

    15:54-16:01

    I'm teaching him everything so that if something happens to me and I can't be here or whatever, this guy can do it all.

    16:01-16:04

    You should have somebody like that in your ministry.

    16:06-16:15

    The mission of this church is to make disciples and leaders, that's a primary function of your job, pouring into specific people.

    16:17-16:18

    The church is growing.

    16:19-16:29

    And the only way that it's going to continue to grow in a healthy way is if you leaders are pouring into specific people.

    16:31-16:34

    All right, so these first two, these are more by example, right?

    16:34-16:40

    This is things that are must for leaders because we see it in the Apostle Paul.

    16:41-16:46

    But what follows, we go from example to commission.

    16:50-16:55

    He has a high standard, God's word has a high standard for leadership, right?

    16:55-16:56

    We're not just looking for warm bodies.

    17:00-17:02

    So five musts for church leaders.

    17:05-17:07

    Paul tells Titus, you gotta appoint some elders.

    17:07-17:10

    Like who, who should I appoint?

    17:11-17:13

    Let's get specific here, number three.

    17:14-17:15

    Here's a must for a leader.

    17:16-17:20

    If you're a leader in this church, you must start in your home.

    17:24-17:26

    You must start in your home.

    17:27-17:33

    Your ministry starts in your home.

    17:36-17:37

    You understand that?

    17:39-17:43

    Your ministry starts in your home.

    17:45-17:47

    Like, why do you keep saying that?

    17:48-17:52

    Because I think a lot of people in ministry get this idea like, I'm doing this for God.

    17:55-18:02

    And the stuff that I'm doing for God in the church is the most important thing, and home is secondary.

    18:02-18:17

    And you know what, my wife is just gonna have to understand, and my kids are just gonna have to understand, And if they feel like they're second in my life, well, they're just gonna have to understand that because my primary ministry is in that church.

    18:17-18:18

    That is not biblical.

    18:23-18:24

    It has to start in your home.

    18:26-18:28

    Look at what he says, first part of verse six.

    18:30-18:34

    He says, again, qualifications for eldership.

    18:35-18:38

    All leaders really need to pay close attention.

    18:38-18:42

    Every follower of Christ needs to pay attention, right?

    18:43-18:53

    He says, "If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife," stop there, the husband of one wife.

    18:55-18:59

    You're like, is Paul saying that you have to be married to be an elder?

    18:59-19:03

    No, because he could have just said an elder has to be married.

    19:04-19:06

    But this is a very interesting phrase in the Greek.

    19:07-19:10

    Literally, he's saying, an elder should be a one woman man.

    19:14-19:24

    Meaning elders in the church, it should be obvious to all of us that you only have eyes and affection for one woman.

    19:25-19:27

    And that's the one you're married to.

    19:29-19:30

    It has to start there.

    19:34-19:37

    What it means, leaders, you're not flirtatious.

    19:39-19:41

    Not in your conversations.

    19:43-19:47

    Not in sending suggestive Facebook messages or texts.

    19:48-19:59

    Something that, you know, flirty, winky face, smiley face emoji, just trying to test the waters to see how flirty we can get.

    19:59-20:01

    That is completely inappropriate.

    20:04-20:05

    You're a one-woman man.

    20:10-20:11

    Your ministry starts in your home.

    20:12-20:13

    Look at what he says going on in verse 6.

    20:17-20:33

    He says, "And his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination." He says, "If you're a leader in the church, elders, "that means your home has to be in order.

    20:34-20:41

    "You can't lead a congregation "if you can't even lead your family." Right?

    20:42-20:44

    That's what he says, 1 Timothy 3, 5.

    20:45-20:48

    This is Paul telling another pastor, same message.

    20:48-21:13

    "For if someone does not know how to manage "his own household, how will he care for God's church?" So you see, when you're evaluating an elder, when somebody is being considered to come on as an elder, the question is, well, can he lead confidently?

    21:13-21:16

    Can he disciple people?

    21:20-21:22

    The first group you have to look at are his children.

    21:23-21:25

    Like, well, is he discipling them?

    21:29-21:36

    And right now, you know, as many of you know, like about a third of our church is little children.

    21:37-21:40

    And right now I can see a look of panic on a lot of people's faces.

    21:42-21:49

    Because there's some young dads out there right now looking at me, with that look, and they're like, I'm never gonna be able to be an elder.

    21:50-21:58

    And Pastor Jeff knows this because he's been back in the kids ministry, and he knows, he knows my kids are wild.

    22:00-22:01

    I'll never be an elder here.

    22:01-22:07

    Look, calm down here, because look at what he says.

    22:08-22:24

    Again, verse six, he says, "The children are believers "and not open to the charge of debauchery "or insubordination." In other words, he's not talking about toddlers, okay?

    22:25-22:31

    It's not like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, my kid spilled juice on the church carpet.

    22:31-22:34

    Now I can never be an elder." He's not talking about that.

    22:36-22:38

    He's talking beyond the toddler years.

    22:40-22:44

    When things like debauchery and insubordination are possible.

    22:46-22:56

    when your kids take a hard, rebellious stance, when they live a wild lifestyle.

    22:58-23:22

    Look, if you can't disciple in your home, if you have no discipleship influence on the people that you are closest to, the people you spend most of your time with, If you can't make disciples in your most important relationships on this earth, then you are going to be no good in here.

    23:25-23:28

    So leaders, listen, your home is your resume.

    23:31-23:35

    And if you're sitting here and you're like, yeah, someday I wanna be a leader in the church.

    23:35-23:39

    If you're aspiring to leadership, here's where you gotta start.

    23:39-23:40

    You gotta get to work in your home.

    23:43-23:44

    Five must for church leaders.

    23:44-23:48

    Number four, you must be blameless in your walk.

    23:52-23:55

    Okay, we need leaders, we need good leaders.

    23:55-23:56

    What are we looking for?

    23:56-24:08

    Well, before skill, before talent, before any resources that you may have, number one is you must be godly.

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    You must demonstrate that you have an intentional, committed walk with Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

    24:22-24:27

    By the way, he says the same thing to deacons of the ministry team.

    24:28-24:30

    Same thing in 1 Timothy 3, verse 10.

    24:34-24:42

    But before you can help somebody else with their walk, You have to have a strong and sincere walk with the Lord.

    24:42-24:45

    You can't lead somebody to where you are not.

    24:48-24:52

    We should see Christ's likeness in your character, if you're a leader.

    24:54-24:58

    You're like, "Christ's likeness, "can you be more specific about that?" Sure.

    24:59-25:05

    He gives five negatives and six positives in what follow.

    25:06-25:09

    And I just plan on spending 15 or 20 minutes on each of these.

    25:11-25:13

    You're laughing like you think I'm kidding.

    25:16-25:18

    No, each one of these could be a sermon.

    25:20-25:21

    But that's really not the point.

    25:24-25:25

    Look at the big picture here.

    25:26-25:27

    First of all, five negatives.

    25:28-25:30

    In other words, don't be this guy, all right?

    25:30-25:30

    Don't be this guy.

    25:32-25:33

    Don't be this guy.

    25:33-25:48

    Verse seven, he says, "For an overseer as God's steward "must be above reproach, he must not be arrogant." First of all, don't be arrogant.

    25:49-25:56

    That's, it's all about me, it's my will, regardless of how it affects you.

    25:56-25:59

    I'm the most important person here, everyone should cater to me.

    26:01-26:05

    My ways and thoughts are always best, And if you don't agree with me, you're obviously stupid.

    26:06-26:07

    And that's arrogant.

    26:09-26:10

    And that's unbecoming of a leader.

    26:12-26:20

    Secondly, he says, or quick-tempered, short fuse, easily provoked.

    26:21-26:23

    As soon as things don't go his way, he snaps.

    26:27-26:29

    No place for an elder.

    26:30-26:31

    He says, or a drunkard.

    26:32-26:34

    It's an interesting phrase in the Greek.

    26:34-26:39

    It's literally continually alongside wine.

    26:42-26:44

    It's just like, oh, you're an elder in the church.

    26:44-26:46

    I didn't even know that.

    26:46-26:47

    I didn't recognize you without a beer in your hand.

    26:48-26:50

    Like that's not, it's not appropriate.

    26:51-26:53

    A leader shouldn't be known as a boozer.

    26:55-26:58

    He goes on, he says, we're violent.

    26:59-27:00

    I mean, that's pretty obvious, right?

    27:01-27:02

    That's pretty obvious.

    27:05-27:13

    You know, it shouldn't be, you know, we'll settle things in the ring.

    27:14-27:14

    No.

    27:15-27:22

    I think that's pretty obvious, but I think maybe sometimes less obvious is violence with words, right?

    27:24-27:26

    I think a lot of leaders are guilty of that.

    27:27-27:28

    Violent with your words.

    27:30-27:40

    You know, as a leader, you should be known, as a follower of Christ, you should be known as a peacemaker, not somebody constantly ready to fight.

    27:41-27:42

    It's not appropriate.

    27:46-27:48

    And next is a greedy for gain.

    27:50-27:51

    Greedy for gain.

    27:54-27:57

    Some people see ministry as a way to get rich.

    27:58-28:01

    So Paul's like, first of all, don't be that guy.

    28:02-28:07

    Instead, verse eight, be this guy, all right?

    28:08-28:09

    Verse eight, be what guy?

    28:09-28:11

    He says, but hospitable.

    28:13-28:13

    Hospitable.

    28:16-28:19

    Hospitable means you're willing to use your resources to help anyone in need.

    28:21-28:26

    And I'm always amazed in this church at how hospitable so many people are.

    28:29-28:33

    and taking other children into their home and pursuing adoption.

    28:34-28:37

    I was talking to Ryan Stroop last night and he was blown away.

    28:37-28:40

    A lot of you know they're fostering a baby.

    28:41-28:47

    And the support from the church has been almost overwhelming to them.

    28:49-29:00

    He said, "Can you tell the church?" I said, "Thanks." And I said, "I can think of a good place to do that." But you see, it's being hospitable, using your resources to help people in need.

    29:03-29:06

    Next he says, verse eight, be this guy a lover of good.

    29:10-29:12

    Probably don't need to explain that one, do I?

    29:14-29:17

    You sincerely love the things that God loves, right?

    29:18-29:20

    It's not a show, it's not a double life.

    29:20-29:22

    You sincerely love the things that God loves.

    29:23-29:24

    Lover of good, right?

    29:27-29:32

    And next he says, self-controlled, sober-minded.

    29:32-29:38

    You're not an addict to sex or substance or stuff.

    29:39-29:47

    You're just, you're consistent and you're steady in your words, in your temper, in your conduct.

    29:48-29:50

    You have yourself under control.

    29:53-29:57

    Next he says upright, that's, you're just.

    29:58-29:59

    You're just what?

    29:59-30:02

    You're just, you're fair.

    30:05-30:07

    You're always seeking to do the right thing.

    30:09-30:10

    Like what would God want here?

    30:10-30:12

    What's the right thing to do here?

    30:12-30:16

    Not what's best for me or what's to my advantage.

    30:16-30:18

    It's what would God say about this?

    30:18-30:19

    That's being upright.

    30:22-30:29

    Next he says, "Holy." Not worldly, but rather an imitator of God, holy.

    30:32-30:35

    And he says, "I'm disciplined." You're intentional about your walk.

    30:36-30:37

    You're intentional.

    30:37-30:38

    I'm disciplined.

    30:40-30:41

    I'm in the word.

    30:42-30:42

    I'm in prayer.

    30:43-30:44

    I fast.

    30:44-30:47

    I meditate on God's word.

    30:47-30:53

    I have personal spiritual disciplines that I'm constantly pursuing because I love God.

    30:53-30:59

    And this is, my primary concern is my walk with Jesus.

    31:00-31:02

    Should be a natural thing for an elder in the church.

    31:05-31:15

    Now, again, every one of these things could be a sermon, but really, honestly, they're all summed up in a phrase that he uses twice.

    31:17-31:20

    once in verse six and once in verse seven.

    31:21-31:25

    And that phrase is above reproach.

    31:28-31:29

    That means blameless.

    31:30-31:34

    That means there's no room for any accusation against you.

    31:35-31:36

    That's what it means.

    31:38-31:40

    Please hear me, it doesn't mean sinless.

    31:43-31:44

    None of us are sinless.

    31:47-31:50

    We all struggle with something to some degree, right?

    31:52-31:52

    Right?

    31:53-31:54

    Just me, really?

    31:56-31:57

    You're like, we've been waiting to tell you.

    31:58-31:59

    Now's the time.

    32:00-32:03

    Am I the only one that still struggles?

    32:03-32:05

    Sometimes I'm not the person that I want to be?

    32:06-32:10

    Okay, thank you for not leaving me up here after that gentle prodding.

    32:15-32:16

    What does it mean to be above reproach?

    32:19-32:24

    That means that you're living in such a way that people don't call your walk with Christ into question.

    32:27-32:32

    It means there's nothing in your life that somebody could point to and say, "That guy's a leader in the church, really?

    32:33-32:34

    "That guy's a leader in the church.

    32:35-32:43

    "You mean that church doesn't care that he does?" That's living above reproach.

    32:44-32:47

    And right now you're like, yeah, yeah, you know what?

    32:47-32:49

    Yeah, but people shouldn't judge.

    32:52-32:54

    People shouldn't do a lot of things.

    32:57-32:58

    But this isn't about them.

    32:59-33:00

    This is about you.

    33:01-33:03

    This is about your integrity.

    33:03-33:12

    This is about you taking the high road whenever possible so that the work of Christ and his church isn't hindered by your foolish behavior.

    33:15-33:21

    And by the way, if your attitude is, "I don't really care what people think about me," that's an extremely immature attitude.

    33:23-33:26

    And I might look cute as a meme on Facebook, but that doesn't wash biblically.

    33:29-33:31

    We are to live above reproach.

    33:31-33:33

    You absolutely should care what people think about you.

    33:37-33:38

    Living above reproach.

    33:39-33:40

    You must be blameless in your walk.

    33:40-33:44

    And then finally, you must love God's word.

    33:45-33:46

    Look at verse nine.

    33:49-34:16

    It says, "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word "as taught, "so that he may be able to give instruction "and sound doctrine, "and also to rebuke those who contradict it." Hold firm, committed to the authority of God's word, committed to the teaching of God's word, committed to the protection of God's word.

    34:16-34:23

    All of that stuff naturally happens when you love God's word.

    34:26-34:30

    Listen, leaders, you have to personally be in God's word yourself.

    34:31-34:33

    And I don't just mean for lesson prep.

    34:34-34:45

    If the sum total of your time in the word of God is because you're preparing a Bible study or a small group or you're teaching in kids, if that's the sum total of your Bible study, that's a problem.

    34:49-34:57

    If you're not growing in your knowledge of God's word and your excitement for God's word, I have to ask, what are you discipling people with?

    34:58-34:59

    What are you discipling people to?

    35:03-35:09

    And I have a whole lot more that I could say about the word of God and handling it.

    35:10-35:13

    Pastor Taylor's going to be covering that next week.

    35:15-35:16

    I certainly don't wanna steal his thunder, right?

    35:20-35:25

    But listen, being a leader in the church is a high calling.

    35:29-35:33

    It's hard work and it's long hours.

    35:36-35:39

    And it's often a thankless job.

    35:40-35:47

    Leaders, I promise you, nobody truly understands how much time you spend.

    35:51-35:57

    People show up to eat the meal, but they don't see the work that was done in the kitchen.

    35:59-36:04

    And whatever ministry you're in, no one will understand what you put into that.

    36:08-36:09

    Leaders, people can be cranky.

    36:11-36:12

    People can be hard to work with.

    36:14-36:14

    I mean, I've heard.

    36:21-36:44

    But, when we turn our eyes on the love of Jesus Christ, When we consider his sacrifice and his glorious promises that he has for us, when we see what we saw here last week with people making their public profession of faith in Jesus Christ and baptism, when we see lives that are forever changed by the gospel, let me tell you something else about leadership.

    36:47-36:48

    It's worth it.

    36:50-36:51

    Because Jesus.

    36:53-36:54

    Is worth.

    36:55-36:58

    I'd like to call up the worship team at this time.

    36:59-37:01

    If you'd make your way forward.

    37:04-37:09

    And I would also like to call up our elders and our ministry team leaders.

    37:11-37:13

    Hopefully you were notified of this ahead of time.

    37:16-37:24

    But I would like our elders to come up on the platform and I would like our ministry team leaders to stand up here in front of the platform.

    37:30-37:35

    Because as has been said, we are embarking on a new year of ministry.

    37:35-37:36

    Our year starts in October.

    37:39-37:51

    And as God's word talks specifically about leaders, we wanted to take this opportunity to pray for our leaders.

    37:55-37:59

    Regarding our elders, we have a bit of a change.

    38:03-38:08

    Don Saber is stepping down, and he's going to be pursuing other areas of ministry.

    38:08-38:13

    And I would like us as a church to honor and thank Don for his leadership.

    38:13-38:14

    Dawn, if you would stand.

    38:33-38:39

    We love you, Dawn, and I've told you, and I'm sure I'll get an amen, but you're like everybody's dad here.

    38:40-38:41

    Can I get an amen?

    38:41-38:42

    Amen.

    38:42-38:44

    So thank you, Dawn.

    38:44-38:48

    We look forward to your continued service and influence in this church.

    38:48-38:51

    Thank you for all that you've done, and will continue to do.

    38:53-38:59

    So as Dawn is stepping down, we do have one new elder stepping up in Pastor Taylor.

    39:00-39:03

    And you can evaluate for yourself if that was a good trade-off.

    39:04-39:04

    (congregation laughing)

    39:09-39:13

    And regarding our ministry team, there is something new with our ministry team.

    39:13-39:19

    We are now asking for a one-year commitment from all of our ministry team leaders, one year at a time.

    39:20-39:20

    Why?

    39:20-39:27

    Because as elders, we realized we didn't have a good off-ramp for leaders.

    39:28-39:34

    Almost like if you were leading a ministry, you're doing that until you dead or Christ comes back.

    39:35-39:37

    But what was the convenient off-ramp?

    39:37-39:38

    So we thought, you know what?

    39:39-39:41

    People go through different stages of life, right?

    39:41-39:48

    All of a sudden you're newlyweds and then you have, you know, like a year later, you have like 20 kids and there's different seasons of life.

    39:50-39:55

    So we thought it'd be good to give leaders a chance to step back, maybe to do some ministry in their home.

    39:58-40:06

    So, Mike Wolski, we want to thank you for all of your work in the, leading the AV ministry.

    40:07-40:12

    You've been such a faithful and hardworking servant of Christ.

    40:12-40:14

    And Mike is stepping down from the leader of AV.

    40:15-40:16

    So let's honor Mike and thank him for his time.

    40:18-40:18

    (congregation applauding)

    40:27-40:28

    Thank you, Mike.

    40:29-40:32

    And we have some new ministry leaders stepping up.

    40:32-40:34

    And those ones I've asked to be on the platform, I hope they are.

    40:35-40:39

    James Murphy is going to be taking over the lead of AV.

    40:39-40:39

    Oh, there you are over there.

    40:40-40:41

    You're a hard guy to miss.

    40:42-40:44

    He's gonna be leading our AV ministry.

    40:45-40:49

    Mackenzie Blasco is going to be heading up our hospitality ministry.

    40:51-40:56

    And Ashley Satterwhite is officially leading our worship ministry.

    40:57-41:00

    So we wanna pray for all of our leaders.

    41:02-41:04

    As we saw in God's word today, It's a high calling.

    41:07-41:11

    And there is a lot that could derail, and there's a lot that can distract.

    41:14-41:19

    And we all need your prayers to be faithful to the mission that Christ has called us to.

    41:20-41:24

    So I had asked if Mark or if you would pray over our elders.

    41:26-41:28

    Somebody hand him a microphone, please.

    41:31-41:44

    And then after Mark prays over our elders, I asked Pastor Taylor if he would pray over our ministry team, and I would like the elders if we could lay hands on the ministry team leaders while Pastor Taylor prays.

    41:44-41:45

    So go ahead, Mark.

    41:45-41:46

    Lead us in prayer, brother.

Small Group Discussion
Read Titus 1:1-9

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. How would you define “leadership”? What characteristics do you personally look for in church leaders?

  3. Are these principles for elders only for church leaders, or are they for every believer in Christ? Explain your position.

  4. How should you confront a church leader who isn’t living by the guidelines Paul laid out for church leadership?

Breakout
Pray for the leaders of HBC!