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Thank you. A hand clap. Yes. Congratulations. Blessed. Astair. You and Juan here for just a minute before while they go off the platform. I want to share our prayer for us. Is that okay? Uh God has blessed us with precious saints from other nations. Juan in a stair came here on an asylum visa. Probably 2018. And they've done it legal in every way. thousands of dollars and they go back before because of the immigration situation our nation faces a week from this Tuesday. Go to Dallas, go to Dallas, uh to see the outcome. Uh so some of the things that came on have changed. So we're praying for God's will to be done. They're submitted completely to the will of God, right? But at the same time, there's a chance, the attorney, that costs thousands and thousands of dollars, and two people stepped up to help cover. There's a 50-50 chance or a better chance. There may even be a better chance that they can get a year or two extension. So would you guys be praying that the will of the Lord be done for them? And then, of course, also in January, Tony and Daisy will be facing the same thing. So let's pray for our Hispanic family. Would you reach your hand towards them right now? Father, we pray that the purposes I remember in the scriptures, Lord, when Claus demanded that all Jews leave out of the area of Rome. And Aquila and Priscilla was sent to Corinth, and there they met Paul, the apostle, in great ministry. We trust in the same way, our lives do not belong to ourselves. But yet at the same time, we say, Lord, your will be done in every area before you the way it ought to be done. Be a testimony of Christ in every way. Lord, we thank you for the provision that has come in for this time and for what's needed in the future. We just trust you. We give all the glory and the praise for all of our families that walk uprightly before you. In Jesus' name. If you agree with that, say amen. Love you guys. Give our family one more. God bless you. Thank you. What a blessing. What a blessing. Blessing. Wow. Wow, wow.
Well, if you're a guest today, we're so glad that you're here. If you're relatively new today, this might be a good day for you to be here because we are starting into a new series, but we get an opportunity to address a subject that we don't often get a chance to address. We've been in the book of 2 Corinthians for the whole year with the theme of stand, standing firm. And now we are picking up for the last 11 or 12 weeks the book of Philippians. And the book of Philippians will take us right up to the Advent season. The book of Philippians is all about joy and rejoicing. Somebody say, Amen. 2 Corinthians has been kind of heavy at times, but it's been really good. But in that passage, there's like 16 times in those four little chapters that either joy, joy, or rejoicing is mentioned. And what's so interesting is this book of Philip, the Philippians, to those in Philippi, has such significance. It shows you how God takes something that's maybe not well known. Maybe you don't know this, but Philippi would have only been about 10 to 15,000 people. About half the size of Claremore. Sometimes we think for God to do something big, it has to be a big place. But God delights in doing things in small areas, doesn't he? Whether it's Nazareth or whether it's Bethlehem or where it might be. But it shows you that God's work is big wherever he works. And that includes you in this room. And I so I love this whole book we're going through because if you want to read out of Acts 16, you can kind of go over and read about how all this came about. You might remember some of you that know the scriptures, you know, over in Acts 16, where Paul was headed one way and the Holy Spirit forbid him. And he had a vision from a brother from Macedonian and say, Come over here. And so they head them that direction. Was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go where he thought, and was led by the Lord to go to that area. And when he gets there to that area, they end up in Philippi. And so, just like Paul on the Sabbath, he goes looking for prayer meeting. And so he goes down to where it says the gate that leds down the river, and there's some ladies there. Thank God for women. Come on, somebody say amen. There's some ladies there serving God, at least hungry for God. One of the name was Lydia, and he preaches the gospel. He shares the message, it says, and she believed, and all her household was baptized. And they stayed around and just preached many days. How long? I don't know. It's many days. Because there was a gal which in witchcraft that followed Paul around going, These are men of God. They're preaching the way of salvation. She'd be welcome in anybody's service. Something caught on, you know, as long as you get an amen, right? Well, after many days, which proves you it was by the Holy Spirit showing Paul wasn't his own idea. He discerns this is not the right spirit. So he turns and casts the demon out of the woman, and it messed up the economics of the slave owners who owned this safe, was getting rich off of her telling fortunes. Now she doesn't tell fortunes, she's a believer, she's free, and so they get upset and have Paul and Silas and Timothy's there and Luke. Now, does it mention Luke? But he's writing it. It doesn't mention uh Timothy at first, later on it does, but apparently there was they were there. But Paul and Silas at least end up in jail in the inner cell. Y'all remember that? But they were scourged severely. So I don't know if Luke and Timothy was not in prison. I don't know, but they were scourged severely, and they began to praise God and magnify him in prison on somebody. And while they're doing that, no doubt preaching the gospel, because the other prisoners heard him. And we know the jailer must have heard them because of what happens later. And while they're doing this in the middle of the night, there's a great earthache that blew every door open. And the jailer, thinking he's going to be killed severely because all the prisoners escaped, pulls out his sword to kill himself. And Paul says, Don't do yourself any harm. We haven't left. We're still here. And that jailer falls down on his knees and says, What must I do to be saved? That means he had to have heard the gospel preach through the night while they were worshiping and praising God. And the scripture says he and his whole household was baptized. Consequently, the prisoners were released. Paul and Silas were released, and the scripture said they went back to Lydia's house. Guess what? The church and Philippi was planted in Lydia's house. Believer meeting together. Here's why this is so important. I want you to see in that early church how they function. Paul's right back now, about 10 or 11 years, in Rome, now in prison, writing back to them because one of the brothers, Paphrodus, has brought an offering to help him in the midst of this. And so he sends this letter back with a Paphrodus to read to the church in Philippi. And let's start right there where he opens up the letter. We're going to only be in two verses today: Philippians chapter 1. Verse 1 and 2, it says, Paul and Timothy. I love how Paul includes Timothy. Timothy didn't write this, but you would know it. He includes him as a real sponsoring, as a real spiritual father sponsoring Timothy. Paul and Timothy. Not celebrities. What were they? Servants of Christ Jesus. To all of God's holy people. Some translation says, to all of God's saints. If you're a Christian, you're a saint. Biblically, you're a saint. You've been washed, cleansed, sanctified, and you're growing in that sanctification, right? But he says here to all of God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi. It is important that we look, excuse me, at Philippi, together with all the, what's this, overseers and what? Deacons. Two things are mentioned here, along with all of God's holy people. There's overseers and deacons. He says, Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I believe I'm reading from the NIV there, and here's what I want to emphasize: the word overseer in some translation is mentioned bishops. It's plural, not just one bishop. Sometimes after the first century, man began to get a hold of God's order and change it to put men over men. So by the end of the century, you had bishops over Antioch, bishops over Philippi. But when Paul's writing them, it was bishops. It was an Asian. So a lot of times when you use terms like this, people think of hierarchy. That the bishop's a guy with a big robe, with a tall hat, sits in a big chair. He's the bishop. No, bishops were the same as elders. We're going to talk about that. Then he talks about the deacons. So in this passage, it's important that we see that he's talking to what? God's, say it with me, holy people. Say it with me. God's holy people. Then he makes the distinction. Not better then, but for role responsibility. So let's talk about some things out of this house. We believe in a New Testament church, a New Testament ministry. That's why we're taking the opportunity. We looked ahead and saw Philippians was be we're going to be, and we thought on that Sunday, we're going to do something we wouldn't get a chance to do very often. We're going to talk about God's order and God's government in his house. So get out your sheet of paper, you're going to be given a test. There's going to be a classroom this morning. It is going to be more teaching, okay? I want you to hear the word of the Lord because it's important that we function. According to the New Testament, and not just as we decide to do. So we see here that we have a New Testament. So one of the mandate we have is every member a minister. So we're coming from that focus. You'll see that as one of our values. Every member a minister. That's not how you grew up. You grew up minister was going off to seminary. I'm not taking anything away from those who labor in the doctrine. We'll talk about that here in a minute. But in the New Testament, they did not have the division of clergy and layman. That was not a part of the verbiage. In fact, the word layman, you won't find it. Maybe I found it in the Amplified. I did find the Amplified in the Old Testament. It means those who cannot participate in the holy things of God. So to call you a layman is an insult. You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation. So we don't have lay ministers here. We have every member a minister. Are you with me? And you say, Well, I don't think I understand that. Hang around if you will, okay? It's a part of the equipping, it's a part of the discipleship through the Christianity. 101, the 201, the 301, the DNA is to it takes a long time because we're swimming upstream against church culture. For people to really say, wait a minute, God has a place for me. We have separated. In most places in America, I got my pastor, I got my attorney, I got my banker. And I just go give them all money. That's how they think. I attend church. No, you're the church that attends. We've got to switch this thing around. Somehow we got to get a hold of understanding what we mean, otherwise, our people won't be equipped. I know everybody's not going to be equipped at the same level, right? At the same time, the same place, but there's got to be a place for them to be released and equipped. Well, this is part of it to understand that it's the model is relational. It's a relational model. So let's take time. It's not positional. It's not organizational. It's organic. It's relational. How do you discern Christ in people? I want to tell you something. When you discern Jesus in people, you start loving them. You look past the flesh and you see the gifts and grace in them. That changed me. It changed me. I can disagree with you and still see Christ in you and love you. Does that make sense? Because it's different. Even when we know we have this treasure in earthen vessels, right? Earth and vessels, but Christ in us. So it's related. Then team ministry, of course, is the method. We talk a lot about team ministry. Paul and Timothy. Paul had a team. And really, he was a leader of that team. So we would say we have a team that has a leader. It would be Acts chapter 15, where James would be the leader of the team. And so we're it's a difference. It may sound like the same if you're a leader that has a team. Or a team with a leader, two different things. If he's a leader with a team, he's not accountable. Yeah, I'll try that over here. See, if it's a team and he's a leader among them, he's accountable to those brothers. Now you can have leaders outside of the congregation have the input and accountability, but the day-to-day stuff, you only can deal with that and have the authority to deal with that if it's local. So there was a team. Notice already in this church, 10 years old, probably only a few hundred people that were in the church of Philippi had elders. They didn't have a pastor. Sorry. Now there might have been one among them that had the gift of a pastor, but we've made that a position and a title. We got a pastor over media, pastor over cameras, pastor over this. I'm joking. But I'm not joking. Right? Like the guy came home and said, I'm vice president down at the grocery store. They said, Really? Yeah, I'm vice president over the prunes. And he said, They don't have that. He said, Yeah. They called down there and said, Could I talk to the vice president on the prunes? He said, You want the fresh prunes or the older prunes? Well, the vice president for both of those. Sometimes we go for titles. If you just give me a title, I'll be somebody. That is so non-New Testament. If we could discern and discover the gifts of Christ in people, we will see them grow into what God has, and you're not picking and choosing, you are discovering. So, team ministry. There's two offices. In the New Testament, there's the office of the elder, and there's the office of the deacon, and that's it. I know in the 80s you heard teaching about the office of the apostle, the office of the prophet, the office of the pastor, the office of the teacher, the office of the evangelist. But in the scriptures, those are not called offices, those are gifts given to the church. An office is something you get in and get out. A gift is given by Christ. Two different things. You see, Paul said, I magnify my office. Well, that word there is diocania, which means ministry or service or deacon. So it's really saying I magnify my service. He wasn't saying he had an office. The only offices in the New Testament is that of an elder and that of a deacon. What I want you to see is the elder has two job descriptions, and let's talk about that. What is the office of the elder? The office of the elder is the office, and the task or responsibility is to shepherd or pastor, watch this, and to oversee or bishop. So, bishop is not a title for someone who's over other elder. It is a job description responsibility of an elder. I had a friend years ago. I traveled with him, and uh I called him one day, and somewhere he became a bishop. I called him, and his wife said, the bishop is not available. I said I called him by his first name. Tell who it was that Glenn called. He never called me back. Some people so held so they're tied on their position. When God has brought in probably what, a dozen, two dozen guys, couples who have pastored in other places over the year come into the house here, they go through a major shift and change because they're not in that position, but their gift and grace that changed. So once they discover that, they start growing in the health of God, and they have more honor than they ever had with a title. Now, back in the children's ministry, let me add this. Back in the children's ministry, I would rather for the kids to call us Pastor Glenn than Glenn. Or Mr. Glenn. Or brother Glenn. I'm not getting amen. Because they need respect. But that's not asked of you. How many understand what I just said? I don't think I've ever said that. I think I think I need it. It's amazing what you say when you're under. I think it's important. I want us to be as one, but our children need to learn respect, don't they? So it can be brother or missus or mister or whatever. Okay. All right, Glenn. That wasn't even in my notes. It just to say it was right. There's two offices of the elder, he has two responsibility have two responsibilities. Look at Titus one. The reason I left you in creeped was that you might put in order what was left unfinished. I believe that's why Titus and Timothy both were apostles. They were setting things in order and appoint elders, plural, notice that, in every town. So we live by that model in this house, but every pastor do that air courts in this community would be an elder in the city. You understand that? Because there's only one church in the city. Sometimes people ask me, how come there's so many churches in Claremont? I said there's not, there's one. There's many congregations because there's many shepherds. He allots sheep to shepherds, according to 1 Peter chapter 5. But there's only one church. And he said, You ordain elders in every town. As I direct you, an elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since the overseers, notice that word overseers. He's talking about elders and overseers. I want you to see it's one and the same. That word is episcopal. So the elders, now he calls them, since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless. So let's look at what an elder does. An elder's office does those two things. Look at Acts chapter 20. I want you to see this. Paul is calling for the elders of Ephesus. That would have been about a few hundred people at that time, and they would have had plural elders. They would not have had just one pastor. They would have elders. And he called for the elders of the church. And watch what he says in Acts 20. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops or overseers. You see that? And be what? Shepherds. Pastors. The two job descriptions of an elder is to bishop and to shepherd. How many following me so far? Okay, so that's their job. We've made those into titles, haven't we? We made the job description of a bishop, a title, I'm a bishop. Or made it into a shepherd, I'm a pastor. Well, you have the gift. You may not. You may be a evangelist, you may be a teacher. We want to deliver your gifts, and you serve in that capacity. As a result, you do the two things. Look at first Peter chapter 5. Peter, who is an apostle, watch this in verse 1 the elders who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder. So Peter was an elder in Jerusalem, and he's talking to these here, Peter's writing, and he says, Keep watch over yourselves. Excuse me, I'm missing the place there. Who a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory to be revealed. Watch what he says to do. Shepherd, that's poimio or poimain. It means to feed, okay? The flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers or bishops or episcopals. So what do these elders do? He said, I want you to do two things to shepherd, feed the flock. Then I want you to guard and oversee them as bishops. Here's the two things elders do. Number one, mention a shepherd. Here's what they do as a shepherd. They must be able to teach. Now, there's hundreds of you that can teach, but they must have the ability by the gift and grace of God to feed the flock week after week after week by the calling of God that's upon them. That makes them able to teach. Encouraged by what? Sound doctrine, it says in 1 Timothy. So elders must be solid and sound doctrine. You must be when you go and gather on Sunday morning, there should be substitutive that you're receiving. Because you're studying the Bible through the week, but you need substantive and sound doctrine. We want two things here. We want a move of the Holy Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit, but we want sound doctrine. So many places you have one or the other. You have a move of what they might say spiritual experiences, but not sound doctrine. Or they'll have sound doctrine and not open to the gifts of the Spirit. We want to marry those together, right? So you have both the moving of the gifts of the Spirit and sound doctrine. Why? Because the responsibility of a shepherd is to be encouraging the saints through sound doctrine, working and preaching and teaching. Now, not all of the elders have the same measure of responsibility. I spend approximately 15 hours a week preparing a message. So there's a lot of laboring in the word and doctrine. There's other things that take place, but he said they have to be able to do that. And watch this give attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. Now you're going to see that that's one of the reasons that we have deacons, is for there's a need to care for the saints. But there must be time given to the ministry of the word. My call right now to the elders is that we up our prayer, we up our time of intercession, up our time in the word. Can I get an amen from somebody? Pray for your elders, pray for your leaders. They need prayer. We're earthly vessels like you, right? Walking through and growing like you. So we need the prayer, but that they must labor in that. That's a shepherd. Also, as a bishop or an overseer, watch this, they direct the affairs of the church. He said, those elders who direct the affairs of the church in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and Acts 20, they guard the flock, guard them from false doctrines, guard them from other things. We need to stay focused on the scripture and the gospel. Because you can get off on everything else, but we need to stay focused on the scriptures and the gospel. Why? Because you're guarding the flock and to correct and rebuke. Huh. So we like the shepherd who feeds us. I don't know if we like the bishop that corrects us. But after all, isn't Jesus both the shepherd and the bishop of your soul? Right? That means he feeds you and he corrects you. Right? So even if the correction takes place, it should be dealt with long suffering and tenderness, but there's a place. So here's what I want you to see. Eldership, watch this. If they're going to do these things, requires a grace. If you're going to equip people, you got to have a grace. So over in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 and 12, it says, and he gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, pastors, and teachers for what? The equipping of the saints. What does that mean? It means like setting a bone in order, medical, putting people in their proper place by the grace that's in them, not because of something they've learned to do. It's not something I've learned to do or somebody's learned to do, it's because the grace that's in them. They got to have that grace. Now you could say God gives the gift of the evangelist, but that's not what that says. It doesn't say God gave them a gift of evangelist. It says they gave the evangelists as a gift of the church, right? Gave the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher as a gift to the church. Why? Because what does it do? It equips the saints. Equips the saints for who they are, not necessarily for what they do. Yes, they we're the disciple, but everybody's to make disciples. But when I'm around someone that's a true five-fold ministry of gift, something shifts in me. God aligns me. Why? Because it's his grace. I need to discern his church. So that's what an elder does. In fact, there's probably a slide that would show you that any of the five gifts could serve as an elder in the body if that's the will of the Lord. We don't have all, everybody here's got a fivefold ministry serving as elders. They might, but that's not required. Some of them might travel in and out. I mean, Jerry, where's Jerry and Teresa? Jerry and Teresa, they sit with us. They serve as elders because we've not ever ordained them as elders, but they sit with us, they had a voice with us. He's got 50 years of ministry. They have 50 years of ministry. If he says anything, we listen. Are you with me? And maybe God has put that down, but because the mission, that call they have, we don't require that. The local elder has to be responsible for you and will stand before God and give an answer for yourself. And there's nobody who cares for people more than the Vaughns. You understand? And maybe God will give that to them, but we're not trying to make everybody something. Are you with me? That's positional. I had a guy ask me one day, when will I be ordained as elder? I said, as long as you ask that question, you never will be. Sounds rough, but sometimes you have to be rough. Y'all are a hard group this morning. I'm just really serious. Because you see it as ambition. We can't even teach on this. Because people aspire to be one. How come you don't teach on this all the time? That's the reason. I'd rather teach you the three on in the different places in our books so people can grow in their grace. We can value you because of Christ in you and not alter one above the other. Why is one more valuable than another? Just because their great gift is different. Yes, they may get different honor. I'm not taking away from honor of those who labor here. Double honors give it to those who labor in the word doctrine. So we don't pick them. You know, I think you no, but we don't. And let me tell you why you think you do we do. Look at the five yeses we look for. Number one, that person has to know they have a definitive call from God Himself. Now if you recognize it. You might think somebody's picking up, but no, they've got to hide that because they're gonna have to carry the load. That's a yes they have to say to God. A second yes they have to say, they say say yes to people. I I'm I'm I've seen people come in here with great gifts, but they don't like people. They like to preach and teach, but they won't give of themselves to people. That's not an elder. We don't even have a green room. No place to run off and hide after we preach. I'm messing today, aren't I? That's not even supposed to be preached. But I'm making a point. Because that's not that's not ministry. Ministry is people. You cannot have ministry without people. You say I would have a great ministry, Father, that has put up with people. I mean, there's nothing like pouring your life into someone, pouring your life into someone, and then they twist off with the stupids. You say, I'm not gonna do that anymore. I'm gonna get on the circuit and run around preach. Are y'all getting it? They gotta also say yes to the vision. Really for what order? Authority. To authority. And that's why they really are spiritual sons and daughters, aren't they? That's why they look like they're picked. You know, some of us have so much resistance in us. I'm not going to become a yes, man. You know, it's like, well, no, I don't want you to be. I want you to be who you are. You have a right to disagree. But spiritual sons and daughters carry the load of the house, don't they? And deny though. And so that's where the inheritance is. Yes to the vision of the house. They know God has placed them there to carry the burden of the house. I don't ever have to put something on them. They're carrying for the load of the people. They're praying on the load of the people. They're carrying it. Then the last two yeses have nothing to do with them. It has to do with others acknowledging and seeing that whether it's in the house, I'm sorry to say outhouse, or those from outside of the house that would see the gift and grace and confirm it. Or here's the most important thing, number six, is that you all would see it. You know, by the time we ordained somebody as an elder, people go, Well, you could have done that three years ago. Well, they were probably just right on time. Because you see it. If ordained somebody as the elder, you go, why didn't we ordain them as an elder? Either we're real far ahead or you haven't been around here for a while. Because there ought to be evidence, right? There ought to be carrying, ought to be already doing it. Now, Paul didn't have that luxury to wait, because They're all new colours. Yet he would go away and come back, wouldn't he? If they grow. And then he would set like Titus to ordain those elders. Now, with that being said, listen to the office of the deacon. Because this is where we're going to focus the rest of the day and pray. The office of the deacon, we've got to take it back to the New Testament. We've got to revive the ministry and the office of the deacon. Because when you mention the word deacon, we couldn't even teach on deacon for nearly five years because people thought it was somebody that had money to sit on the board. Or they thought, well, our ground needs some good help. Why not? He's got a landscape business. Let's make him a deacon over the ground. It was terrible. New test deacons are men like Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of wisdom, that can articulate the gospel so clearly that they could not argue against him. Give me some Stephen. The first martyr of the church. Sorry, deacons. It wasn't the apostles or elders of Jerusalem. Stephen. I hope you hear what I'm saying. Come on. Listen to the biblical understanding of God called deacons. I'm so sorry that we've made deacons less than elders. Because we as humans have this hierarchy mentality, don't we? How can you have God the head of Christ if headship diminishes Christ? He can't be God if headship diminishes his divinity. And that just didn't happen when Jesus was born here. He's been eternally the Son. Are you with me? Headship in the home and marriage does not make the wife less than. God help us. It's not less than, it's just order. Not even duties, it's roles. Right in our house, we share all the duties, don't we, baby? Because physically, sometimes all the duties, she can't do them. That's not my role. That's my duty. Do y'all get that? Roles. However, there's different roles for husband and wife. There's different roles for elders and deacons. It's not less than, it's different than. Are you hearing my point? I mean, you get somebody like Philip. A fivefold evangelist as a deacon? There's four daughters that prophesy. Some women of God. See, look, we've got to read, we've got to somehow. I want us to see the elders and deacons serving in the pastoral ministry of this house. Why? Because most of the things I do through the week as an elder, James, is deacon ministry. Nothing wrong with it. This week, when we helped somebody find, was that pastoral or was that deacon? I visit you in the hospital, that pastoral is that deacon. Why? Because the deacons are responsible for the physical and social welfare of the house. And we've not, even though we've reached this many years, we've not really seen it. So let's look at this, could we? What do deacons do? They care for the physical and social needs of the church. Now it doesn't say in Acts chapter 6 that those were called deacons. But it's accepted by everyone that that's the first deacons of the church. And the elders and the apostles of Jerusalem were doing the deacon ministry until it grew. The discipleship grew, and they needed others to do ministry. So they said, Why should we leave the word and prayer to care for this important ministry? So what she said, seek out from among you seven full of the Holy Spirit. Why full of the Holy Spirit? You better be full of the Holy Spirit if you're dealing with Grecian widows and Hebrew speaking widows, and you got to deal with social issues. You better be full of the Holy Ghost. You better be full of wisdom because you got to decide how's this going to work out. Are you with me? You got to be full of faith because you run out of money. God may send in certain places. We send you guys into the prison. You go in there and disciple, do what we do out here. You can send people to other nations and what they did, they make disciples there. But if somebody says, well, one of these days you're gonna send me someplace and I'll be a minister. No, if you're not doing it here, huh? We're not sending you anywhere. We're not gonna spend the money to see you if you're not doing it here. Does that make sense? It's the church. Jerry Teresa goes into Venezuela. What do they do? They start a Bible study in their home and build congregations out of it. Come on, somebody. When Reed and Margie went to Mongolia, what did they do? They started with one convert in their home. Everyone in this room can do that. I got one yeah over here. I'm no, this is heavy. Deacons. Deacons must be of a good report and full of faith. Deacons must be full of the Holy Spirit. Deacons must be full of wisdom. And yes, there's qualifications according to 1 Timothy chapter 3. But when they asked for those in Acts, they didn't ask for those qualifications. Paul made sure that was clear later. If you read those qualifications for Elvis and Deacons, it really ought to be for every disciple in this room. Honestly, right? That's a minimum. It's a minimum. Don't make that your height. That's a minimum. So that there have there are qualifications. However, they do the work of the ministry. I want to do something today. I want to introduce the deacons that are present. I know we have two campuses. I know we have two nine o'clock and eleven o'clock service. So I'm they may not have all stayed over, and I understand that. But I'd like for the elders first. Put the picture on the board if you would. And elders, would you come up here? I want to those of you that are present. Amy with me, so she's gonna stand up here with the team. Jonathan and Alicia. Y'all all know Jonathan Alicia. He's preaching over in Awasle. Uh Jonathan Cook is a Alicia's a real tremendous blessing. For what most of you probably know, God has really blessed us with them. We're a team with the leader, but honestly, uh Jonathan. co-leading with me and has been for more than the last three years. Most of y'all that are intimately involved, you know. He leads the staff meetings. I attend the staff meetings. I'm like a father in the house among them. But the administration of this house really is going on with Jonathan. And you do it that way so it's such a deal that there's no shift or no change. That's really so we'd see ourselves as really as co-leaders in that regard. And we may not say a lot about it, but if you're if you're aware at all, you'll see it happening all the time. So the blessing, and then Gene, you're here for this service as well. Tom and Gene, well, what a blessing to this house. Those of you that didn't have a chance to know Tom, man, having missed Tom all the time. No, you do too, Gene. Tom passed away 21, 2021 with leukemia. And uh Gene Sits with us. She's a mother in the house. We ordain them as couple. But in that situation, just Gene, you stay right there in the house, and you're a mother in the house and you pour in the lies. Come on, somebody say amen. Gene is a blessing. We don't put on her any more than what she wants, but she's still carrying out the care of the well. No, not this is ordered. Jim and Dorita, what a blessing. Came to us in the 90s, 1990, I think. When she had time to tell the story. What breaks? What a blessing. What a blessing they are to this house. Jeff the Lena Race, most of you will know them. They're part of the Owasso campus primarily, even though we're one church, two locations. Sometimes because of proximity, that's the case. James and Ruby Hudson. James is right here. James, raise your hand so they know the picture right up here. Add James. But James is the elder of elders around here. He's two years older than me, so I call him the elder of elders. He and Ruby and Gene, they and and you're you're in John, y'all moved in here 40 years ago next month. So we can celebrate that somehow and honor them. But James and Ruby, great testimony. He's the testimony that traveled every night of the week in Oklahoma. In Texas preaching every night of the week, and God told him in 1986 to come to Claremont. And I had never met him. I was gone two weeks before I ever met him. He thought he'd be here six months, and the Lord has not let him leave after 40 years. Tell him all the time, James, you're gonna have fruit that you don't know about. You ought to hear his story. Wonderful story. Dusty and Terry, main part of the Owassel campus, probably. You'll see them some over here, Bob and Denby. Bob's over our school of our Christ calling. Denvy works in so many different areas, you probably would uh know them from the Owassa campus. I have the deacons come up. Deacons, would you come that are present? All of you deacons that are present, come up here if you would, the front. And it's good to have you back today from surgery. Bless your heart. We get a chair for you if you need to. You're just happy to be out of the house, aren't you? I know. Bless your heart. Good to have you guys here. Over here on Don and Cindy Maynus, they are primarily uh work with their youth as well as deacons on the apostle campus. So they go back and forth as well. Rick and Bonnie can, man. If you Google Deacon, you'll see Bonnie. She's on the serious, isn't it? She is, they live in Tulsa right down from the hospital, and I can't beat her to the hospital. I mean, they they do the work of the ministry. What a blessing, Rick and Bonnie. Rick, I can't say enough about them. Ed and Lisa, man. Man, they were here towards the first service, and Lisa, you probably saw her playing here. They probably slipped out. But Ed and Lisa came here in 1982. They're the only one of the old order. Meaning they were elected in way back in the early 80s. And they made the trip. Can you believe it? They've been so teachable in race. They've been a strength that Amy and I cannot tell you what the guilt's laws are. They're a big strength of this house. They carry the burden of this house in more ways. And if Lisa or Ed says something, we listen, right? I mean, it's just like, wait a minute, wait a minute. They they they're hearing something. Freaked them so much. John and Pam. John was here when I came, a teenager. Look what I did to him after 46 years. He became a man with me, older man here with me now. John and Pam, what a blessing. They are hospitable, have a care for the Hispanic ministry. That's just something they took from their heart. It's just naturally for their heart. And of course, Tim and Anna mentioned guys, what a blessing. There and let me back up to Cliff and Lisa on the far end, came from the 2000s somewhere, and there's a tremendous part of our discipleship caring in so many areas. I'm gonna tell you, this is a group. I know where everybody's a minister, but they're leading the way in it. Can you give them a big God bless you? I mean that. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. What I was saying, where's Ed and Shirley? Where's Ed and Shirley? And they said they're standing right in front of you, Glenn. And Honestly, and I use that as advantage. I'm gonna give it because they're both that's their life. They serve this body when nobody else sees them. I'm telling my I'm telling, I'm not saying this publicly. I used to try to get here and beat him at six. He's here at 5 30 on Sunday morning. Or before, working with the team, disciples' groups on Thursday night. Sure, man, for years. Surely through the school and through the church. Is the most giving. Anyone that we have in this house. Never ask for anything. Never ask for anything. Father, we bless them. We bless them. We bless them. We don't want to pick them. We want you to pick them. We give you the honor in Jesus' name. I'm going to ask you to stand with me if you will. We'll ask the deacons to come and stand here in the front, and we'll have the elders stand behind them. Would you do that? Would you all come and stand here at the front? I realize not all of our deacons here. Here's what we're going to do in two weeks from today, okay? I realize I've covered a lot of material. You go back and listen to this. But in two weeks from today, we're going to do an Acts 6. Not that we are looking for any particular quota or deacon. We just haven't done this in nine or ten years. And when we looked ahead and saw Philippians, we thought this is opportunity to do this. In two weeks on a Sunday morning, we're going to ask you to give us a name or two of people who are among us, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of wisdom that are not already ordained as an elder or deacon. I'm telling you, Jim and Doretha served for a number of years as deacons in this house because it was needed to prove to you it's not greater than or less than. It's just a different role of responsibility. So if they're not already ordained as elders and deacon, we're going to ask you, you want to put their name down, we'll take those and we will vet them and meet with them, so to speak, according to 1 Timothy chapter 3, and that kind of thing. But that's in two weeks. So what we're going to do now, I want the deacons standing here to be prayed over as we're praying over the future direction. We're gonna all of us as a group gonna pray for you, okay? So, elders, lay your hands on the deacons as we pray for the direction of this house, Lord, what you want to do in our midst. Lord, we want to be a New Testament church. We want to be a people that equip the saints. We want to walk out everything, Lord, that you've given us. And we bless, Lord, in this house the things that you're doing. And we bless the deacons who serve so faithfully. Lord, we ask you to strengthen them in every capacity. Lord, I ask you to show us how to really elevate the ministry of the deacon to the New Testament place. Lord, forgive us for relegating it to less than. Forgive us for making it less than that, O God. Lord, show us humble hearts that we're not powerful in our thought, but we are what you've called us to be, in line with you, O Lord, in every way in every way. I ask you, Father God. I pray for the gifts among us, Lord. Those who are among us, some serving in various gifts, they be equipped and moved in everything you've called to do, Father. We give you the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name. Now I'm going to ask the elders and deacons to pray over you. Would you just hold your hands out as if you're receiving this prayer? And we're going to pray that God's will be done in this house in every area. Lord, I ask you to stir up desires to serve, desires to care, desires to minister, and desires to be the church called us to be. Lord, in this house today, if there's anyone who's not surrendered to Jesus Christ, and they've not given their life to Jesus, and you're moving on them right now, Lord, they're living their own life. They're living a life apart from you. They know they're under judgment of God. They know if they were to die right now, they would not go to heaven. Holy Spirit, have mercy and convict their heart. Bring them into the kingdom of God, Lord, they may cry out to you and come to us to pray. For today in this house, pray that every heart hear the call of God. Not one person walk out of here the same way. They came in. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. We honor you, Father, in Jesus' name. Before you're seated, would you just give our tomb here before you be God bless you? Thank you for that. James is going to come. Give you a chance to worship with your tithes and offering, and we'll transition. Maybe see for just a moment. Thank you for allowing me to bring so much. Not want to go back and listen and just be prepared the next couple weeks for where we are. God bless you. Thank you, Glenn, for sharing that good word. People might think, well, that wasn't very spiritual. I think it is. Because we'll do as we see order of God, and God is a God of order. You don't believe that He's order? Just be thankful for gravity that keeps us on this earth. Otherwise, if God didn't have an order, you just never know what's gonna happen. But I thank him that he is a God of order and it is quote of quote spiritual and it brings about lie. Order brings lie. Chaos brings death. And I'm glad for the order of God that brings life. We want to give you an opportunity to worship the Lord with your giving. I say it just about every time that I'm here to talk in this particular area. It's not that we desire a gift, it's not that we're wanting money, but it's our desire that you may have fruit abounding to your account. We pray for you. We pray that God's blessings rest upon you. In abundance, and that's that's what we're at. We want the best for you, and so as you give this morning, there's several ways. If you're a regular here, you know, by text or my offering envelope or by cache, envelope caches and offering container as you leave the auditorium. And but we want you to be blessed in every area. Let me pray for you. A blessing, Lord, I thank you for your people. I thank you for what you're doing in the morning. Lord, I thank that you have called us to participate with you. And we honor you. We say thank you, Lord, for strength. Thank you, Lord, for help. Thank you, Lord, for the job that you have provided. Thank you for the business that you have provided. For it is you who has given us power, the ability to get well. And I thank you for your blessings upon your people. Those who have jobs or business, cause there to be an increase, cause there to be favor. Those who need jobs, I pray, Lord, that you would bring them into the right relationship and connections, that they may have that which they may work and labor with their hands to be able to give then to him that has a need. I thank you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen. As you prepare your gift or offering, Let's check out these announcements. Hey DLC, my name is Trisha, and we are so glad that you're here today. Let's check out these announcements. Our next college class on the Apostolic Church begins September 14th. This six-week course is designed to help you better understand the R as the Church, why DLC functions the way it does, and how you fit in Christ's purpose for his people. We'll explore the New Testament pattern for building a healthy, equipped, and fruitful local church. Sign up using the QR code on your seat flyer or visit Christcollege.us. DLC Women, you've got to save this date. Our next event will be Fall at the Farm on Tuesday, October 13th at Harvest Farm in Owasso. Stay tuned for more details. We really hope to see you there. If you are currently in Christianity 101, this reminder is for you. Our fall encounter retreat is coming up September 18th and 19th. Sign up at dlc.tv slash events. For any questions, ask the discipleship sponsor or call our office. We can't wait for this powerful weekend with God. Hey, our annual CCS Golf Tournament is right around the corner and is such a fun way to support Claremore Christian School. It's happening October 3rd at Heritage Hills Golf Course. For all info and to sign up, visit dlc.tv slash events or scan the QR code on your seat flyer. Don't forget our group spare is happening today in the lobby of both locations before and after service. Go check out the tables, meet some of our leaders, and see all the ways that you can get connected this way. Well, that's all the announcements we have for you. If you have a prayer need, please let us know. Have a great week, DLC. If you're new or relatively new and you'd like to get acquainted with people and have some times of fellowship, check out, make sure you check out the there in the warrior as well. Let me encourage you that if you desire more understanding, more teaching in regards to apostolic order in church and what Glenn just basically touched on. Get involved with the uh Christ College on Monday evening. Would you stand with us as we prepare to leave? Let me say this as well that if this time you're relatively new, would you mind taking one of the welcome cards that's in the uh seat back in front of you, filling it out and dropping it in the offering container as you leave? That way we have a record of your attendance and also have a way to keep up to date in what all is happening here at Destiny Live. Lord, I thank you again for your people. I pray your blessings upon them. I pray that you would make your face to shine upon them. They may walk in the fullness of your grace in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Go in the grace of the Lord. God bless you.
