Commissioning Jeremiah Nortier as an Elder

The Apologetic Dog

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Good evening, good evening

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Man thank y 'all for coming out tonight. I know the weather is not ideal. It's dark.

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It's it's rainy It's foggy but it means a lot to us to know that we have a church family that understands the weight and the gravity of what's taking place tonight and this is this is a

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Historic night for our church, you know, we've we've been Growing out of infancy as a church and as you look around you see

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You see God at work. You see God at work in an individual's lives You see people coming and being a part of this body

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You see all the blessings that that God has has bestowed on us his people

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And one of those blessings over the past two years has been pastor

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Jeremiah and his wife Ally Amen Amen they have been a tremendous blessing

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God has been has been so gracious in bringing them into our path and and over the past two years

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We have we've have treated and looked to pastor Jeremiah as that that very thing as a pastor as an elder of 12 -5 church

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I've I don't think I've made a single decision in this church that I've not Run by you and talked through and and we've made that decision together and so from a practical perspective

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God has just has been faithful through that but during that we we took this process of getting to tonight very seriously

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Pastor Jeremiah has gone through a rigorous process over the past two years

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All of the books that got piled on him to read all of the all of the things that he had to write the things that He had to answer

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We did quite a due diligence in his life and I'm so grateful that he was willing to walk through that process and Continue to serve here without the title

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If that makes sense that shows me the heart of this this man that has been serving us

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So faithfully and diligently and and miss Allie Sacrificing hours and evenings and mornings and nights and and and weeks and days and all the things that she she lets us have him and So, thank you for that.

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That's a tremendous blessing and we honor that And so we are so grateful

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I want to make sure that you know that tonight is not as you would typically understand an ordination service

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For pastor Jeremiah has been ordained. He is an ordained minister into the ministry of God What tonight is is tonight is an official official?

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commissioning of him being identified marked and acknowledged by us the people of the church as the second elder of 12 -5 church and so I Have the privilege tonight of introducing and many of y 'all have gotten to meet pastor

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Jerry Pastor you've known me since I was what about that tall

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That's right his daughter put me in a garbage can that's how long he's known me

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So I'm so honored to have have you here and then Aaron Johnson you look in the back

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I know y 'all have gotten to meet them these men have traveled a thousand miles to be here for this event for this night because Because pastor

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Jerry and the other elders at Riverbend a church that has been in our corner since day one

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That has supported us that has come alongside us that has has been a tremendous help

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In the life of this church They are invested in this because all those books and all those papers and all those things

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Got to be sent to those elders and they got to sit and read through it and evaluate and and see

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Pastor Jeremiah's life from a distance and so we get to have them here Helping us commission him, but I would like to introduce pastor

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Jerry if you come up He wants to share a few words with us about leadership and eldership as we get tonight started

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It's a special treat for me to be here because it's like coming home Now I went to school at Arkansas State for four years

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Graduated and went off into the army ended up Eventually coming back to ASU and worked in the athletic department there for 20 years and I Only lived about a mile from this location

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So I have a vested interest. I've spent A Close to a third of my life investing in this area not only raising a family and all that but spiritually

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So it's a special treat. You know, I'm married a girl from Jonesboro. I Adopted a girl in Jonesboro.

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I Had another girl daughter in Jonesboro. So this is a special place for me and I used to drive through these areas before there were even roads here.

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I think and Some of you may remember back there, but it's this is fun So this is really a treat for me

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I'm now at River Bend Started there with pastor

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Roy Hargrave Nathan's dad who became one of my best friends and Pastor Roy Was the pastor at Philadelphia Baptist north of Jonesboro When I started dating the girl

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I married that was her home church, but that's how I got the connection and It's been a long road and pastor

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Roy told me one time. He said Someday, I'm going to invite you to be on my staff and sure enough he did so he had me ordained and Sent me through the mill learning doctrine and So I have been serving as an elder at River Bend in Ormond Beach, Florida for the last 29 years

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So it's it's fun to be back home I have to put on these glasses or I won't see my notes.

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Pardon me as pastor

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Nathan said we're here to commission formally Jeremiah as an elder in this church

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I've spent a little time with him most of today and a couple of times when he's been in,

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Florida and I've gotten to know him and I'll tell you this if he's not listening

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He's the real deal If you've heard him preach and teach you've been around him, you know that don't you?

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I Don't have to say that to you. I just want to stress the seriousness of what this is tonight

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What we're doing the office of elder is a sacred office

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The Bible does not take it lightly and it's up to the church in this case 12 -5 church

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To guard the office of elder. You don't just take someone off the street and put them in there and say go to it

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It's someone Who God has called and he has proven himself and that seems to be the case with Jeremiah The character and effectiveness of any church

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Is directly related to the quality of the people who are its elders

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Who are its leaders? the biblical norm for any church is Plurality of elders each elder contributing a lot to what goes on in the church

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In fact, it's the only pattern for church leadership that is given in the church given in the

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New Testament That the church be done this way nearly every reference to the church in the

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New Testament mentions elders and nowhere, do we really find a local church in Scripture or in church history that has

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Proved to be what it could be if it's not run or governed by eldership

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You probably know that the term elder originated in the Old Testament goes back to the days of Moses When he had 70 tribal leaders who made decisions served as judges resolved conflicts just Exercise general oversight

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The word elder in the New Testament is used 70 times and about half of those refer to an office in the church the others refer to Someone like me who is elderly

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In fact at Riverbend they call me the eldest elder Also the laying on of hands, which we will do at the end tonight comes from the

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Old Testament sacrificial system When people were offering a sacrifice back in the

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Old Testament days They would place their hand on the sacrifice to signify that it was from them to make it official

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They identified with it and that's what Will happen tonight you having your representative up here to lay hands on Jeremiah will identify with what's going on In describing the qualifications

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The Apostle Paul focuses on the character of the elder not the function of the elder

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This is important. A man is qualified because of who he is and what he is

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Not because of what he does or what he has done his character, it's all about character a

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Man should never be an elder unless these three things are true first his greatest love has to be the

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Lord and the Word of God The Lord and the Word of God He needs a deep faith and passion for both of those

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Psalm 138 to says the psalmist is saying to the Lord you have exalted above all things

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Your name which refers to his character and your word very important A man should never be an elder unless he loves the church with unquestioned loyalty because an elder

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Actually serves for the rest of his life Matthew 16 18

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Explains that the church is the only institution of the four institutions God created. It's the only one

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That will be sustained forever The church is who Jesus will come back for Also, the church is the only earthly earthly expression of what heaven is like And if you look at the

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New Testament Much of what is written in the New Testament is to churches or to pastor elders of churches

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And the third thing a man should never be an elder unless he believes he is called by God There has to be a calling on his life

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And if this is true, he can't be successful at anything else as as he would be as an elder

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And if God calls someone God will see that he meets the qualifications Otherwise, it's not really a calling

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Seminaries can help equip people for positions Boards and committees can help prepare people for opportunities

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But only God can call a man and make him fit and if God calls someone to eldership

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God will get him qualified Every elder of every church, especially the elders of the twelve five church

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Will give an account For how he conducts his eldership his ministry

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The very high standards in Scripture are not negotiable The Bible is the gauge on what an elder is and if he is really called

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So why did God set these standards so high? Because whatever the elders and leaders of a church are the church and its people will become

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The Prophet Hosea said in chapter 4 people will be like their priest

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Jesus said in Luke 6 Everyone after they are fully trained will be like their teacher

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I've been in 11 churches in my life and I can Unequivocally say that is true.

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I have seen that the way the elder the way the pastor the way the

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Overseer the way the bishop the way it goes. That's the way the church the way he goes is the way the church goes

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In Scripture, we have four different words You know, I'm sure y 'all understand this but the word elder the word bishop the word overseer and the word pastor

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Synonyms, they all refer to the same office the same person. This really kind of depends on the

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The translation you're looking at in some cases first Peter 5 kind of brings three of these terms together

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I want to read that passage verses 1 & 2 Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory

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That is to be revealed Shepherd or pastor the flock of God among you exercising oversight

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Not under compulsion but voluntarily according to the will of God and not for assorted gain but with eagerness 1st

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Timothy 3 1 through 7 I'm sure you've had studies that outline

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The spiritual qualifications of men in leadership, especially elders. There's a parallel passage in Titus 1

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Just in summary. I want to mention these to you and then I want to come back To one of these for for a little deeper explanation

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Above reproach that's the one we're going to come back to you. Remember. These are qualifications of an elder think of pastor

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Jeremiah as These are read and see if you do not define him

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With these terms the husband of one wife, which means he is a sexually pure M a l e

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Male Read this passage there are no no such thing as female elders

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Nine times The pronoun is he There's never a mention of it or she it's always he

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He's sober minded which means he never lets anything cause his mind to get unclear

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Because at any time he may need to make a decision and if his mind is not clear

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He'll have trouble doing that Self -control this means he's prudent and self -disciplined

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Respectable means that he's orderly steadfast and systematic And I've seen some of these qualities and in pastor

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Jeremiah today Hospitable know what that word means

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Loves strangers If you think you're hospital and hospitable and you don't love strangers and you don't have the right definition that might not be your gift

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Able to teach I've already heard from some of you you appreciate his teaching someone mentioned all ago

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I'm back there in the back about his Teaching on apologetics has been so outstanding

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Not a drunkard or addicted In other words, he doesn't frequent bars. He doesn't have a drinking lifestyle

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Not violent means he avoids fights You ever gotten into a fight

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He's gentle which means he has a forgiving spirit He easily pardons mistakes by human nature not quarrelsome

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Means he's a peacemaker Not a lover of money He has no greed in him, he's not covetous he manages his household.

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Well, I understand he has a brand new child I'm gonna hold that child up Hey And what's the child's name

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JJ, okay Not a recent convert a mature

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Christian with growth and spiritual wisdom I'll tell say this in talking with pastor

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Jeremiah today. He is mature beyond his years. He has a better concept of Spiritual things and a lot of people my age and I'm way up there

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He has a good reputation. He is well thought of by people outside the church

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That's very important a walking testimony of integrity

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So there are in this passage there are 15 qualifications and I want to focus on The one that says must be above reproach.

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I Believe the other 14 explain What being above reproach means?

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In the in that verse verse 2 of 1st Timothy 3 the verb note the verb must be

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Must if you translate the word must It means required

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No exceptions allowed No exceptions allowed

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That means it's excuse me Absolutely necessary and The helping verb there be that's present tense.

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That means now Above reproach means he is a unquestionable character.

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He is living in a state of Blamelessness Blamelessness There's nothing in his life that would indict him against scripture

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Not just actions, but also attitude This does not mean he is a perfect person

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It just means that he has no obvious lingering character character issues that he does not take care of He is a model of godliness.

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He sets the example his life brings honor to the Lord Is this a picture of pastor

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Jeremiah Richard Baxter an

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English Puritan pastor from the 1600s Must have been thinking of Jeremiah when he listed these three things

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These are pieces of wisdom Take heed Wow take heed lest your example contradict your doctrine

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Sure, you've heard that And then he said don't unsay with your life what you say with your tongue

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Do so and you become the greatest hinderer of your ministry and Then Baxter said one proud surly word one needless contention one covetous action may cut the throat of many a sermon or lesson taught and Blasts the fruit of all you have been doing

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You know what he's saying Practice what you preach and I'll say this to pastor

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Jeremiah When something goes wrong People are going to jump on it and blame you

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You you probably already know that I'm sure you've been through some of that in 29 years. I've seen a lot of it

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The elder is one of the chief targets of Satan and trying to undermine a church

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He goes after the leadership then he goes after families which was one of God's institutions that he created

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Elders must carefully guard against wrong thoughts because those thoughts lead to actions

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The elder must be resolute and unashamed Regardless of what is thrown at him

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Now, how does an elder protect himself from the onslaughts of the enemy three tools and I'm speaking to pastor

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Jeremiah here The rest of you just get to listen. Okay The first tool is the scripture

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Psalm 119 11 your word have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you

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The Psalm is speaking to the Lord And Embedding scripture guards us against Yielding to temptation doesn't guard us against the temptation, but it will help us put up a defense against yielding to it

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And a daily dose of scripture will help us Prevent from prevent ourselves from becoming complacent which is easy to do in the ministry

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And That's Satan's goal is to implant complacency in the heart and lives

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Of people who are supposed to be leaders because then it carries over to everyone else

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So the second tool is prayer You should always have the

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Lord at the forefront of your heart so he can be the first thing off your tongue when someone needs to be interceded for and You don't have to ask an elder for prayer

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All you have to do is let him know a problem you have and that's one going to be one of the tools he uses

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To help you through that situation The elder needs to issue himself a declaration of dependence on God and This happens through yielding in prayer real humble

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Submissive continual praying Doesn't mean you pray all the time.

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It means you're ready to pray at a moment's notice Regardless of the need and Fellowship is the third tool

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It's hard not to help someone When you are like family with them

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And that's true. That's true with your family Realizing that teamwork and ministry togetherness is a

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Byproduct of doing your eldership properly Above reproach does not mean

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That you are perfect If it did there would be no elders because no one would be qualified It just means that you are a man who strives to have unpeachable integrity

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There must be no sinful blight that taints one's reputation if he is an elder or His character gets put into question

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There are a lot of things and some of these you may have already experienced I just want to share some of the things that I've experienced as an elder that I never expected the middle of the night phone call from people when they're having a problem and you have to You know get out of bed and go to their home and help help them through it if you can

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Being subpoenaed to a courtroom because of conflicts between two people stopping a fight between a dad and a stepdad over where their daughter was going to go to school and Getting marked up a little bit and in the struggle

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Being told I'm gonna get you and I'm gonna get your job if you don't baptize my daughter

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I Didn't want to baptize the daughter because she didn't understand salvation. She didn't even understand what sin was

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Yet, I got that threat. I Was accused once of Illegal drug use

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Never used drugs in my life Praise the Lord I've learned how to do church discipline

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Matthew 18 is the lead passage in that and a Lot of people when you do that, you know, you're trying to get someone to Come to repentance over a problem in their lives that affects not only themselves, but other people and you're seeking repentance

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You're not trying to kick people out of the church you go through three steps before You get to the excommunication process and 99 % of all of those cases end up in repentance

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The Bible is foolproof it works even in something like that I'm sure

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Jeremiah in your role of counseling with people Who are near death or have families like that?

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You've held the hand of people dying The first time you do that, that's that's a strange experience

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But it means something To that family. It means something to that person

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Right before that happens I Was accused once of embezzling money

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And I know of another man who was accused of that as well And it proved to be false people will do anything to attack someone

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Who is in that role of elder? So Just remember that the future of the church

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Depends on the quality of the leadership The elder is one of the leaders and what

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I can tell You should be You should consider yourself blessed

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That you have someone like Jeremiah to join up with Nathan and there may be some more of you who feel the call later

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But that their characters both fit well for this church Jeremiah Jeremiah will have five pieces of instruction for you

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Number one stay true to the gospel no matter what anybody says no matter what pressure is put on you

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Because you're going to answer to God whether you did or not Shepherd the flock of God Treat them as though you would treat yourself and your own family

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Intercede for the people and you know of a need take it to the Lord first Be a caretaker

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Be a volunteer when whenever there's a need in someone's life And you recognize it your role as an elder is to go take care of that need whether you're asked to or not and then protection protection from naysayers

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People outside the faith who would try to sway people away from the truth happens all the time

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It's happened in this town. I've seen it myself I've seen it in Florida. I've seen it everywhere

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That is your role You have to be a great protector and you do that by throwing the scripture in Satan's face

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And saying I'm standing on this and you'll not sway me And to 12 -5 church

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I would say this Be submissive to pastor Jeremiah and to pastor

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Nathan They're here out of a calling from God to serve you, but ultimately they serve the

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Lord first If you do something that wants to make them go astray, they're sticking with the Lord.

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I can tell you that So you be submissive to them Clothe yourselves in humility

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Get to know the Word of God and you'll get to know that you should follow these guys and Allow them to serve you with joy

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Don't give them all kinds of headaches give them support and encouragement That's what they need

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So I thank you for allowing me to be here and just to share with you a little bit about what an elder is and what an elder is all about and to encourage you to be supportive and Our church wanted me to present this book to Jeremiah.

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So I'll have this up here. We'll give that to him later It's the book on leadership by dr.

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John MacArthur You may have studied that book If you already have one of these you can give it to somebody else, okay

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So all these people might fight over who gets it. All right So, let's pray and then we'll move forward.

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All right Father thank you for this time that we have shared together.

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I pray Lord that you would Bless this church beyond its own imagination we thank you for the way that you have taken it for from scratch and moved it to People who love you and who are supportive of the leaders and who are willing to stand on your word

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May that be something that never changes and we pray Lord that you would usher pastor

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Jeremiah into this role formally and Pray Lord that he will stand true to you and not be wavered by all those

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Onslaughts that are going to be coming his way In Jesus name we pray. Amen Reminder it's always encouraging to me and I know

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I've spoken with some of you when we hear from The guys at Riverbend and know that we have brothers and sisters that that are in support of what?

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God is doing here and I couldn't help but think is as you were up here speaking the process of how

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God Uses Pastors and overseers of people's lives like yourself in my life

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And God teaching me through that in that example, and I know as I've spoken with pastor

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Jeremiah He's had men that he's been able to look to and and glean from and God has used a shepherd and helped mold

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Him but at this time what I would like for us to do is I know most of you have heard pastor

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Jeremiah's Testimony in his life But I would like for him to come up here and just for a moment to share with us and lay out

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The calling that God has placed on his life both Coming to to the

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Lord, but then also the process of God calling you into this office

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So we'd love to hear from you Well, I just want to begin by thanking you all for being here on a very special evening

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Like you said a little bit about my testimony begins when I was 14 years old

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I really feel like that is the the moment where God awakened me to receive his gospel of grace

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And so I was 14 years old But I don't feel like there was a lot of sanctification going on in my life at the time until I turned 21

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I was in college I was going through a major change in my life and I praise

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God because I think he really Started to grab hold of my heart and begin that wonderful road of sanctification

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And so during that summer when I turned 21, I went off to camp Canna cook that was one of the best things that ever happened to me because I didn't know anyone

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I was in a place that I was unfamiliar and So I was forced to spend alone time in the

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Word of God and deep prayer and to meet with other like -minded Christians going through similar stages of life

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And so God used that in a mighty way and that momentum came back with me when I went back into college

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And so I began my junior year in college and I found myself just loving the study of the

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Word of God I wanted to not only know what the Word of God said But I wanted to study it to know what it means in my life

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And I mean, I was in those financial classes and I couldn't tell you one thing The professor was saying I was I was studying the

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Sermon on the Mount, you know I mean so I know that was by the providence of God and I started to feel that call to ministry and it scared me

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To death because I hated public speaking I couldn't have imagined a context like this just sharing my my heart with a room full of people

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And so I was starting to go through that like man I love going to be with the people of God to be in Situations of discipleship.

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I loved Listening to sermons and to lectures and it's just this new profound

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Thing in my life and I was like, well I think you're calling me to ministry because I was I was that student in college that changed my major like seven times

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I could Not figure it out. I was like mom dad. I'm gonna get these general education classes out of the way and then hopefully it'll land and so the only thing that stuck in with me was something that Pastor Jerry was saying is

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I couldn't see myself doing anything else other than pursuing after ministry in some way

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Right, and so I believe that was when the big up the calling to ministry began was in my junior year in college

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And that's where I started dating my lovely bride Allie, and I told you very on early on I was like I feel the call to ministry and you're just like hey

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I want to support you in that whatever it looks like so you have meant the absolute world to me Allie in this whole process and so As I graduated college we got married and I started working at Academy part -time but it was it was meant to be temporal to Begin because in my in my heart

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I was like, okay, I think I'm supposed to go to seminary That's the next step and being called To ministry and I remember

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I bumped into a local pastor in Academy and he invited me out to lunch We had a wonderful time and he let me know they were looking for a youth pastor

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And I told him that's cool and all but I feel like I should go to seminary before I start doing Ministry work like that He just said man will come in and mold you and be there with you and we'll do this together

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And I was like, hey, I'm all in and so that was my first step into the realm of ministry

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And I really am so thankful for that time I could tell where my heart first began was just Bible study connecting with youth students discipleship

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But just being in the word being the word and preaching a sermon just seemed like there's no way

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I could do that So we'll we'll figure that out down down the road. And so in this church, I made wonderful connections relationships

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And I had so many ministry opportunities and then things started to happen That was so confusing to me because there were there were trials even on the backside of ministry people weren't getting along there were problems and Ali and I talked with her about all these things and it's like I think it's time to go

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We can no longer be at this church, but something stood out to me during this this trial

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I knew this is exactly where God wanted me to be at was to be in ministry and serving in the church

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And so that was really good because I think those types of things really make or break if this is your calling or not

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Oh, I didn't sign up for all the problems that come with ministry But you know, I kind of had that misperception like maybe it's all roses and we just all get together and do all these things

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No There's real -life problems that you have to suffer alongside with with people in and so that moved us to another church where I had

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Opportunity to also minister to the youth and this is where Just over time.

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I started really thinking man. I need to be more than just the theological mind I need to start learning how to be engaged with the people of God And so this is where I think the calling of being a biblical elder started to form in my heart not just somebody that loves to Study the

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Word of God and then talk about it openly in the group people and that's wonderful And so I was able at in this particular place go through eldership training and Really refined some of those points that it's like it's not only an inward desire that has to be present

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That must be a qualification for someone who's above approach But you also have to aspire for that world.

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And so what was what was so wonderful as I was getting these confirmations that those external disciplines are

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Manifested in your life And so really that that heart that calling of God with the men that I look up to so much affirming those external disciplines saying

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Oh, yeah, these are expressions of who your your character is And so in that situation just really becoming an elder for the first time and understanding these things

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Once again, another big problem happened in a church and kind of broke my heart in the process

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But once again, it confirmed this is exactly where God has called me to be and so then by the providence of God I was able to come alongside with pastor

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Nathan in the church plant of 12 -5 church and I was here the second Sunday that 12 -5 officially launched but I believe my heart was with 12 -5 and The partnership of Nathan before 12 -5 was even a church

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So I just look back and I'm so thankful For everything that God has done in my life and has been shaping me and molding me and I just want to thank you so much 12 -5

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I love y 'all so much y 'all are my church family and We're here to live life together and do this with one another and so just thank you again so much for this opportunity.

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I Keep this microphone Already got this one going on you can grab a stool here.

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It's gonna get serious Now we y 'all y 'all know pastor

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Jeremiah's theological Should say we all know that but we we want to as we take this evening very seriously we want

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To take a moment and I've come up with three questions kind of ranging across the board.

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Thank you Can you see us? Ranging across the board of some some things that I would like to present and I would like to ask

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That pastor Jeremiah can give a response to it as as is you the people

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Affirming pastor Jeremiah as an elder here. You see that this man not only aspires to the office

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Not only lives a life that is above reproach But as a man who who is a student of the

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Word of God a man that can give an account Right a man that is ready in season and out of season

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And so this is what this practice is all about and I want us as a family to be able to be a part of This so my first question pastor

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Jeremiah. It comes from a category. We call theology Theology proper right and the question is list and explain some of God's Communicable attributes and why it's important to distinguish those

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Right. So the communicable attributes of God are things like love Mercy Compassion things that we as image bearers of God.

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We also have those things right you can all think about loving Relationships that you have with one another.

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Well, that's a communicable attribute meaning that God also loves right? We know in first John 4 that God is love

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Okay, so that's something that we can strongly relate to but we have to understand that there's also

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Incommunicable attributes right and so those are things like God being omnipotent all -powerful.

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God is omniscient He is all -knowing. Those are things that we can't do because we are created creatures finite

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Right, so that even helps us inform the communicable attributes that we have with God because even our love is a finite love

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It's a created love. It's an impure love And so I think when we start thinking about who

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God is he is the creator of all things And so we're creatures right we're created in his image

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And so when we have a good grasp of who God is and his transcendence and his holiness

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Yes, we can communicate relationally with him very similar how we communicate with one another

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But this puts us in our proper place What we worship the one who knows all things who created this world and spoke it into existence

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And so understanding communicable attributes I think further drives our worship to who

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God is and it keeps going because he's trying you and he is a community in A and of himself and he's created us for community in that way

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So good. How'd I do for that? I think you did. All right, right Now some of you may be thinking well, what does that have to do with tonight?

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That's kind of kind of out there different question You got to understand for someone to be able to help shepherd the people of God into godliness

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Into the life that God has called them to be These are the these are the things even some of the nuanced things in Scripture the things about God a man of God needs to Be able to give an answer to so that's why we're asking these so thank you for that answer

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My next question comes from a category we refer to as pneumatology this is the study of the

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Holy Spirit and my question is Establish the deity and personality of the

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Holy Spirit from Scripture One of the clearest places that we see about the deity of the Holy Spirit I believe comes out of Acts chapter 5 where you had in a nice and Sapphire in the early church

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They lied right and Peter was made aware of this and he was saying you've not only lied to us

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But you've lied to God you've lied to the Holy Spirit And so I love that passage because it tells us that the

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Holy Spirit is God right and You don't lie to rocks.

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You don't lie to impersonal objects Lies only make sense in the context of person -to -person relationship.

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And so that's why all throughout Scripture. We see the Holy Spirit given personable attributes and John chapters 14 through 16 the

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Holy Spirit is referred to as a he because the Holy Spirit is personal, right? He desires to give gifts to the body of Christ and so we see that the

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Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and So all throughout the book of Acts the

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Holy Spirit speaks with the Apostles and the people of God and another really clear place Well, not only do we see also triadic expressions right at the end of the

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Great Commission Go into the world baptizing them and name the Father Son and Holy Spirit And so there is a strong unity within the

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Godhead and that's the deity part Okay, and we see those triadic expressions throughout Paul's letters and so forth

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And so I believe it's 1st Corinthians chapter 2 where we can only know the things of God by the

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Spirit of God right So this is strong this Establishes the deity the Holy Spirit and we see all throughout the whole

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Council of God how the Holy Spirit is personal is a person He's person Pneumatology the study of the

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Holy Spirit I'm not making up words All right So the last category that I've chosen a question from being that you're becoming an elder here at a church

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Is the category of ecclesiology, right? This is the study of the church. This is what is

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God prescribed for the church? What does the church look like? This is ecclesiology. So my question is what is the relationship of the church to the

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Old Testament Saints? I believe this is a really good question because anytime we ask a question like what's the relevance of Israel or things like that?

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There's always continuity and discontinuity between we see in the New Testament Saints Old Testament Saints New Testament is the fulfillment of the

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Old Testament So we can glean many principles the Apostle Paul a number of times says we learn examples from these people of old right and so a lot of Discontinuity is we see the people of God bringing about a lineage a

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Messiah Right and and a people right that constantly fall flat, right?

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They're constantly needing a Savior and so the way this relates to the

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New Testament churches, we do glean many principles like with Moses right needing to Deliberate or to give leadership not carry everything everything over with himself

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And so what pastor Jerry talked about earlier as we see a plurality in the

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New Testament when it comes to the structure of the Church, right? This is something that we see men are called by God.

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We see those external Applications of those external disciplines, but it always stems from the character of that person.

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So We learn many things when we compare the Saints of old with the Saints of today

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And so the leadership we glean many principles, but they're not one -to -one identical. Does that make sense?

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So, how about that? Is there anything else? That'd be good there. I think it's all right Thank you, thank you for bearing with us with some of these questions

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This is this is an important element of what it is that we're establishing here

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With overseer with a plurality of men that are qualified called and equipped for this work

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So I would like to do something I wasn't planning on doing and I hope you're okay with this and actually

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I know you well enough to know that you are Okay with this Do we have any questions?

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Does anyone have a question that is pertinent to this evening that you would like to have pastor

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Jeremiah answer? Speak now or forever hold your peace

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Adam sitting there like I've got a question, but I can ask him any time now. Go ahead Adam We're lying

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So no question, huh? I've got a thank you Adam. No, that's that's so true That's one of the things that I've been

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I've been praising God over is because pastor Jeremiah has tremendous strengths in areas where I'm tremendously weak and So that is that's exactly what

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God is has done One one last opportunity if you've got a question, you can ask it now

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Christy Probably Something that Nathan is phenomenal by the grace of God is

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I See him relating to the people of God so much like when I talk about with him it's about y 'all and our relationships and the hurts and pains and I love that because How I've kind of stepped into ministry is more through the theological bent

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Right and what I've by the grace of God is cultivating that pastor's heart

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And so I see that so much in this man, and I love that and I need that And so I feel like he's just really in tune with the pulse of the body and so much

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So I'm like man, I'm weak in that. I'm so glad that you brought us together I really thought you were gonna say it's like Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute thing going on with the office

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The question is is which one is which that's the problem Well, we've come to this time now where I want to give you the members if you're a member of 12 five church

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We in our bylaws Say that this is one of those areas that you play a part in Affirmation you play a part in this decision -making of pastor

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Jeremiah becoming an elder We've done all of the due diligence Pastor Jerry the other elders at Riverbend have come alongside and helped with the due diligence

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Aaron and other staff members at Riverbend playing a part you yourselves have played a part, but now comes a time when we show together as a family

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Do you members of Riverbend See this affirm this

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Riverbend I'm already talking about Riverbend and I totally slipped up You know what?

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I meant 12 5 and you people of Riverbend If you are a member here at 12 5 if you see this calling if you affirm pastor,

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Jeremiah Being an elder of this church. I would ask you to stand in affirmation

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Allie you're voting against him. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding I'm kidding.

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Yeah, that's that you you're a member you get to vote There you go Well, here's the thing pastor

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Jeremiah, I think you're in I think it's a I think it's a unanimous decision and I Knew that that was going to be the case from the get -go

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As we were preparing and coming towards this night. And so now what

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I would like for us to do is Pastor Jerry if you would join me up here

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Aaron if you don't mind joining me up here We are going to We're gonna lay hands on pastor

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Jeremiah And we're gonna we're gonna take a moment and praying for him up here and I would ask for you where you stand

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To be praying for him pastor. Jerry brought up some excellent points tonight of of the pitfalls and the target and and the fact that the evil one wants to destroy

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Anything good that is kingdom -minded and pastor Jeremiah is kingdom -minded and he would love to to put a he has a target on his back and We as a people we want to pray

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Pray for him pray for Ally pray for JJ pray that God would would strengthen him that God would work in him that God would mold and keep him and when we also want to pray that he would be

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Diligent that you would be committed to this body that you would be committed first and foremost to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and In being committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're most certainly gonna be committed to his bride

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And we've seen that in your life and we want to pray for that very end So if you don't mind just let's take this stool up here.

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Let's have you set here and And pray with me as we lay hands on him

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I've asked pastor pastor Jerry and Aaron to come lay hands on him with us and in solidarity with with this church

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So let us pray Dear Heavenly Father. We come to you for your good and Merciful timing.

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We're so grateful for your providence. We're so grateful that you

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Have raised pastor Jeremiah up for your purposes The Lord from even at long before he was born you had set him apart

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You had set your love upon him and you called him you awakened him as a young man And and you have you have sanctified him you have worked in his heart and in his life you have molded every every move and You have prepared him for this very task

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And God we know that he is not a perfect man as none of us are but we know he's your man

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And we trust you and even at times where we may not trust our own flesh.

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We may not trust his own flesh Because he is a fallible man. We trust you

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God and I pray for him right now. I pray that you bless his family Lord, I pray that you bless

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Ally. I pray that you give her the strength needed for the years ahead Lord, I pray for JJ that you set your love and affection upon him and save him

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And he's a young man and that he would grow up be a godly young man And I pray for Jeremiah to be the father and the husband that he's called to be and I pray that you would

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Use him that that Deuteronomy 6 Mindset would be permeating throughout his home that your word is written on the doorpost that your word when they awake when they go to bed

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Lord every ounce of that and that we would see that he he rules his household.

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Well But then more we pray for his work here in the church that you would work in that That you would guard him that you would guard me that you would guard us together

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Lord help us not to allow flesh to come in and for competition or for disagreement or Any any fleshly thing but God that you you would bring unity

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Grace and love Or use it mightily for your kingdom purpose for your glory and your glory alone father guard us

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Lord, I pray that you would Allow us your people to be a blessing to him

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God, I pray that that you would use us to encourage challenge edify and strengthen him

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Father I thank you for this church I thank you for how you are building your church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it and we trust that And we trust that in pastor

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Jeremiah's life And we pray that you use him mightily in Christ's name

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Thank you Guys, this is a great night, isn't it? I have I've been looking forward to this night for two years

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Right, this has been it this has been a tremendous time of of just Celebrating and we're gonna continue to celebrate tonight

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Erica and the girls have gotten some finger foods back there. We have sodas stay.

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Let's celebrate Let's let's uh, let's praise God for all that he has done for he has been so faithful to us

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Amen Faithful, let's celebrate now. Thank you Where's the the ice is in the freezer,

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I'll help you get it out you tell me where to put it I'll put the ice somewhere All right.