SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_02: This is a unique morning in the history of Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_02: We are gathered to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, what he's done for us, and to be built up together to encourage one another to love and good works and to be spurred on, then to take the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting world.
SPEAKER_02: That's not the unique part of this morning, though.
SPEAKER_02: This is special because all of us gathered together, participating in worship of the Lord Jesus Christ while officially recognizing the Lord's work of setting apart a man for his work.
SPEAKER_02: That's only happened a handful of times in this church's history.
SPEAKER_02: Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is called to take up their cross and follow him.
SPEAKER_02: That is without exception.
SPEAKER_02: But there are some whom the Lord uniquely sets apart to serve him in vocational ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And in this setting, the local church then acknowledges that yes, God has indeed set someone apart for himself, and we gather to ceremonially charge that person to follow Christ faithfully.
SPEAKER_02: At the same time, we seek the Lord's empowerment and blessing for that work.
SPEAKER_02: In our case, Jeremy Gonzalez.
SPEAKER_02: Jeremy, would you stand?
SPEAKER_02: Everybody may not know who you are.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm jealous that I didn't come up with the bearded Baptist.
SPEAKER_02: Jeremy has shown himself to be faithful to the Lord in our midst.
SPEAKER_02: When I was seeking our student and family pastor five to six years ago, I told our elders I did not want a youth pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I did not want a youth pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted somebody who could step in and fill any given role in ministering to the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted somebody who could lead students and be crazy with students.
SPEAKER_02: He can be crazy with students.
SPEAKER_02: You may not see it in the pulpit.
SPEAKER_02: He can be crazy with students.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted somebody who could lead students in the worship of our great God.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted somebody who could lead students in understanding the Word of God and applying that to their lives.
SPEAKER_02: At the same time, I wanted somebody who could go to the hospital and be at a bedside.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted somebody who could sit down with somebody in need of counsel.
SPEAKER_02: And I wanted somebody who could stand in this pulpit and accurately divide the word of truth.
SPEAKER_02: Over the last four and a half years, Jeremy has shown himself to be faithful to the Lord in our midst in all of those areas.
SPEAKER_02: Jeremy, I, and I think we are extremely proud of you because of what Christ has done in you.
SPEAKER_02: The elders jointly recommended Jeremy for ordination through the EFCA, which involves a process of biblical and theological evaluation.
SPEAKER_02: We'll learn more about that in our time together following this service.
SPEAKER_02: But in all of that biblical and theological evaluation and questioning and examination, Jeremy has displayed that unique setting apart from the Lord for the work of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Now, the pressures of ordination, both the trial of the process and the commitment to serving Christ in the local church, reside mainly in the one being ordained.
SPEAKER_02: The preparation is trying.
SPEAKER_02: It's extremely trying.
SPEAKER_02: You add to that the burdensome nature of the work of ministry, and it again become overwhelming.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason the scriptures warned that not many should be teachers of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_02: For it says those who do so will incur a stricter judgment.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's appropriate to go through an evaluation process to examine is someone indeed fit to be presented and set apart to the Lord for ordination for the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_02: But we, as the local church among which Jeremy has served, we also bear a responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: We don't get off the hook today.
SPEAKER_02: We're all involved in this.
SPEAKER_02: Part of our responsibility is to acknowledge the Lord's work in Jeremy's life.
SPEAKER_02: But like Jeremy himself, we also have the unique calling as part of the Lord's work to serve with Jeremy and actually to serve him.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to consider three passages of Scripture this morning to explain what I mean when I say we are all called to serve Jeremy.
SPEAKER_02: And what it means for Jeremy to serve Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The first passage that I'd like to like us to consider is the short New Testament book called Philemon.
SPEAKER_02: If you can't find it in your Bible and you have to use the index, that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: Don't be embarrassed.
SPEAKER_02: It's only generally one page in your Bible.
SPEAKER_02: It's right before the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_02: It's the shortest New Testament book, only about a page long.
SPEAKER_02: Philemon is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a man named Philemon, who lived in the ancient Turkish city that we know today as Colossae.
SPEAKER_02: The church and Colossae met in Philemon's home.
SPEAKER_02: So this is a personal letter.
SPEAKER_02: And then our interest isn't so much in what Paul wrote to Philemon.
SPEAKER_02: I want us to notice a particular detail that is included in the letter, and it's in the introduction to Philemon.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have your Bible open, you can follow along as I read.
SPEAKER_02: If not, it'll be on the screen for you.
SPEAKER_02: Says Paul, Apostle Paul's writing this, a prisoner for Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He is in prison as he writes this, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archipus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house.
SPEAKER_02: There are three recipients to this letter.
SPEAKER_02: Philemon is the direct recipient, and Aphia and Archipus are also included.
SPEAKER_02: Now we don't have any specific or in detail historical elements to identify who these people are or anything really in detail about them, but what we do know tells us that it is likely that these three individuals were from the same family.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's a husband and a wife and a son.
SPEAKER_02: But please notice the third name: Archipus.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that Paul calls him a fellow soldier?
SPEAKER_02: It says, our fellow soldier.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul's in prison, Timothy's with him, and he's writing to three people, one of whom he identifies as our fellow soldier.
SPEAKER_02: That description is significant because it's only found twice in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: It's a term that implies struggling together, working and serving together under challenging circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: And it also implies someone who has committed their life to that kind of service.
SPEAKER_02: You might say that this is a ministry family.
SPEAKER_02: In the times before church buildings, this family hosted the church in their home.
SPEAKER_02: And one of them appears to have devoted his life to serving the Lord and his church.
SPEAKER_02: Now I mentioned that this family lived in Colossae.
SPEAKER_02: The Apostle Paul also wrote a letter to the church there, likely the very same church meeting in Philemon's home.
SPEAKER_02: So look with me at Colossians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: The end of this book, so we go from the introduction of Philemon to the conclusion of Colossians.
SPEAKER_02: And beginning in Colossians chapter 4, verse 15, we read these words.
SPEAKER_02: Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
SPEAKER_02: And when this letter has been read among you in Colossi, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.
SPEAKER_02: These communities were not very far apart.
SPEAKER_02: And see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
SPEAKER_02: And say to Archipus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: There is Archipus.
SPEAKER_02: Church tradition built off of verses 16 and 17.
SPEAKER_02: And there is a tradition that reports that Archipus was the pastor of the church in Laodicea.
SPEAKER_02: He served faithfully at the church in Laodicea until his death by stoning.
SPEAKER_02: He was a martyr, according to church tradition.
SPEAKER_02: And his service was the same kind as Paul's service.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, he was called a fellow soldier.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody who is a soldier serving alongside of another soldier.
SPEAKER_02: As a fellow soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, Archipus received his ministry from the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: His ministry was not one necessarily of being in charge, of leading, or of directing, although he may have done every single one of those things on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_02: His ministry is one of service.
SPEAKER_02: That's what ministry means.
SPEAKER_02: Same word from which we get the word deacon.
SPEAKER_02: It's someone who serves.
SPEAKER_02: Archipus served Christ first, and Christ's people in the church second.
SPEAKER_02: Here we find two components of Paul's statement that I want us to focus on for a few moments.
SPEAKER_02: One is the command for Archipus to fulfill his service, and the other is the context in which that command was given.
SPEAKER_02: Both of those components are significant for this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Let's consider them in reverse order.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: First, think about the context in which this expectation is expressed.
SPEAKER_02: The expectation is fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: The context in which that command was given is in a public letter to a local church.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe even the local church that met in his own home in Colossae.
SPEAKER_02: We don't know that for sure.
SPEAKER_02: We know that it's in a local church.
SPEAKER_02: We know that it's in this letter.
SPEAKER_02: Paul could have written a letter directly to Archipus.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't.
SPEAKER_02: He wrote a letter to Philemon.
SPEAKER_02: If he wrote a letter to Archipus, we don't have it.
SPEAKER_02: He could have written a letter directly to Archipus.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have that.
SPEAKER_02: He could have included the instructions in the letter to Philemon, but Paul didn't do either of those.
SPEAKER_02: Philemon was a private letter that apparently became public.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, Paul included the command to fulfill his ministry in a letter to be read publicly to the church in two different communities.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, don't just tell the church in Colossae that Archipus is to fulfill his ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Tell the church in Laodicea that he's supposed to fulfill his ministry, too.
SPEAKER_02: Jeremy, you can run, but you can't hide.
SPEAKER_02: I think this tells us at least two things.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, the expectations for Archipus, the faithful soldier, were known publicly in the local church.
SPEAKER_02: And to some extent, the church was to encourage and to exhort him to fulfill his ministry.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think this is corrective.
SPEAKER_02: Paul knew Archipus as a fellow soldier.
SPEAKER_02: He has given that commendation.
SPEAKER_02: He's already shown that he has endured hardship like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: History does record for us that Christian life in the city of Laodicea wasn't exactly easy.
SPEAKER_02: But maybe Archipus needed encouragement to continue enduring.
SPEAKER_02: Perhaps Paul knew that Archipus would need the encouragement and the exhortation of the church.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe, just maybe, there was an element of apostolic exhortation to the church.
SPEAKER_02: If you know your servants, your ministers, your fellow soldiers, encourage them and urge them to fulfill their ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Those parts of the body need the rest of the body.
SPEAKER_02: You don't just need them, they need you.
SPEAKER_02: I suggest that we find a crucial element of ordination in the life of Archipus in the churches at Colossae and Laodicea.
SPEAKER_02: There is a mutual expectation and dependency between the churches and their shepherds.
SPEAKER_02: As Archipus heard this exhortation from Paul, as the letter was read in the gathering of the church, he is also to hear it again from the people in the church.
SPEAKER_02: Likewise, Archipus was to fulfill his ministry, his service to the same people, encouraging him to do so.
SPEAKER_02: And say to Archipus, say to Jeremy, see that you fulfill the service that you've received in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: What does it mean to fulfill one's ministry?
SPEAKER_02: To some extent, that depends on the ministry one has received from the Lord and location and context.
SPEAKER_02: In our situation, it means serving Christ in the middle of North Dakota winters.
SPEAKER_02: You know that God is behind it when Jeremy moves his family here from Colorado in December.
SPEAKER_02: But beyond that, what does it mean to fulfill your ministry?
SPEAKER_02: Here's our third passage, 2 Timothy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Timothy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: This is a primary text for the church that wants to know what to expect of their pastor teachers.
SPEAKER_02: It's a primary text for the man called to be a pastor teacher.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 1, the apostle Paul says, For the time let me see here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm missing of.
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: I charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
SPEAKER_02: Be ready in season and out of season.
SPEAKER_02: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
SPEAKER_02: And they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
SPEAKER_02: As for you, Timothy, always be sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Endure suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: Fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: There are only three places in the New Testament that we find the phrase, fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Two of them directed to Archipus, one directed to Timothy.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 1 here tells us the standard of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: He says, the judge of all the earth is returning.
SPEAKER_02: He's returning to establish his kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And he will be the ultimate evaluator.
SPEAKER_02: The Apostle Paul says to the church at Corinth, it's nothing for me, for you to judge me.
SPEAKER_02: Well, why does he say that?
SPEAKER_02: It's not that he's diminishing the role or the place of the local church or of human beings.
SPEAKER_02: It's that he understands there's a much greater judge before whom he stands.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 2 tells us Timothy was to act accordingly, proclaim the word of God in all readiness, reproving, rebuking, exhorting, with impeccable patience and instruction.
SPEAKER_02: Verses three and four provide the reason for churches to possess these expectations and for the pastor teachers to carry them out.
SPEAKER_02: The way the world is, people will drift away and care nothing for the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: So if the desire was for less Bible and more philosophy, Timothy was to give them more Bible.
SPEAKER_02: If the desire was for less doctrine, Timothy was to give them more doctrine.
SPEAKER_02: If the desire was for less preaching and teaching, Timothy was to give them more preaching and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: This is what the church is to hold out as the standard for Jeremy.
SPEAKER_02: This is the standard that Jeremy is to pursue.
SPEAKER_02: And verse 5 then gets personal.
SPEAKER_02: As for you, always be sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Endure suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: Fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Now a careful listener automatically hears parallels to archipelus, not only in the fulfill your ministry portion, but also in the soldiering aspect.
SPEAKER_02: Sober-minded is a term that means being under the control of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: Why does it mean being under control of the Spirit of God?
SPEAKER_02: Because the tendency of sinful human beings is to be under the control of something else.
SPEAKER_02: We are to avoid submitting our minds to substances and the impact of distractions and discouragement and worldly things.
SPEAKER_02: The first century Jewish historian Josephus used this term for Roman soldiers who had endured significant battle losses.
SPEAKER_02: He wrote, and I quote, he is the The best warrior who is of sober mind under great misfortunes, so that he might continue in the right mind.
SPEAKER_02: That means that no matter what's going on around you, your mindset is clear, your mindset is right, and you are able to focus on the things of God.
SPEAKER_02: Peter wrote similarly in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13, therefore, preparing your minds, speaking to Christians in general, preparing your minds for action.
SPEAKER_02: Does that not sound like battlefield language?
SPEAKER_02: And being sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot be properly prepared for action if you are also not sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you.
SPEAKER_02: If your mind is not prepared, and your mind is not sober, and you will struggle at setting your hope fully on the grace that is brought to you.
SPEAKER_02: So, my friends, our responsibility is to urge Jeremy to be sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Because he has a part in leading us into battle.
SPEAKER_02: His responsibility is to exhort you and me to be sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Because he's leading us into battle.
SPEAKER_02: Again, Peter wrote in the end of his book, be sober-minded, be watchful.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_02: Resist him.
SPEAKER_02: Being firm in your faith.
SPEAKER_02: Because you know that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
SPEAKER_02: We can also see then that being sober-minded is linked to suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Both in 1 Peter chapter 5 and in 2 Timothy 4, verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: This is battlefield language, friends.
SPEAKER_02: Archipus, Timothy, and every pastor-teacher is to be a faithful soldier who is always sober-minded, always prepared for the enemy, and advancing the king's cause by proclaiming the word of our commander.
SPEAKER_02: But in the battle, that may come with suffering of many kinds.
SPEAKER_02: It may be lacking physical nourishment.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when Paul said to the Philippians, I've learned to be content in whatever situation I am.
SPEAKER_02: I've learned to be content if I'm hungry or if I'm full.
SPEAKER_02: Endure suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Jeremy, you've been a marine.
SPEAKER_02: You've endured suffering.
SPEAKER_02: But you have to prepare your mind for sufferings that you don't expect.
SPEAKER_02: Endure them.
SPEAKER_02: And beloved, you need to pray for this brother.
SPEAKER_02: Because he will endure the onslaughts of the enemy unlike anything we might know.
SPEAKER_02: He will suffer.
SPEAKER_02: Weep with him and rejoice with him, strengthen him and encourage him, and exhort him to fulfill his ministry by enduring suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: When we hear the word evangelist, we picture someone like Billy Graham or maybe you've seen a street preacher here and there or on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02: That's not wrong.
SPEAKER_02: That's not wrong, but but the word merely means being a proclaimer.
SPEAKER_02: Do the work of proclaiming the king's message.
SPEAKER_02: That means, Jeremy, that you are to know the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It means you must labor to study and to learn.
SPEAKER_02: It means that a shepherd teacher is a lifelong learner of Christ's word.
SPEAKER_02: It means the message proclaimed is not our message, but his message, no matter the cost to you.
SPEAKER_02: The church must hold its pastor teachers to that standard.
SPEAKER_02: A church must expect and provide for its pastor teachers to learn, to study, and to proclaim and to come along and support when it is painful and laborious work.
SPEAKER_02: Because they lead the church in proclamation.
SPEAKER_02: They lead in proclaiming publicly so that you too might have the encouragement and the strength and the boldness to go out and to proclaim publicly as you're going, making disciples.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: As for you, always be sober-minded.
SPEAKER_02: Endure suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: Fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Timothy and Archipus and all pastor teachers since then are to be faithful soldiers of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: They're to be sober-minded, enduring, proclaiming servants.
SPEAKER_02: That is what it means to fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: So, Jeremy, this is a day of renewal of your commitment to that end.
SPEAKER_02: Over the course of the years, Jeremy has gone through our local church licensing process in which he kind of did a mini-ordination.
SPEAKER_02: Or we evaluated.
SPEAKER_02: Does he know doctrine?
SPEAKER_02: Does he know his Bible?
SPEAKER_02: He has served alongside of us counseling some of the most difficult counseling situations that we've encountered.
SPEAKER_02: He has taught all ages.
SPEAKER_02: He's done funerals, he's done weddings.
SPEAKER_02: And Jeremy, this day is a renewal of your commitment to the end of fulfilling your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_02: This is a renewal of your commitment to hold the standard high for Jeremy.
SPEAKER_02: Not only to hold the standard high, but to encourage and to exhort him to fulfill that ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And as you do that for him, he is encouraged and exhorted to return the favor.
SPEAKER_02: To do the same for you.
SPEAKER_02: Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John, which makes his instructions in this kind of situation among the earliest instructions we have outside of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what Polycarp said about church elders.
SPEAKER_02: Let them be compassionate and merciful to all.
SPEAKER_02: Bringing back those that wander.
SPEAKER_02: Visiting all the sick and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man.
SPEAKER_02: Abstaining from all wrath, abstaining from the respect of persons and unjust judgment, keeping far off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting a bad report against anyone, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin.
SPEAKER_02: If then that we if we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also to forgive.
SPEAKER_02: For we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and must everyone give an account of himself.
SPEAKER_02: Let us then serve him in fear and with all reverence, even as he himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord, let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from all causes of offense from false brothers and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord and draw away people into error.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We begin this morning singing praises to you for who you are and what you've done.
SPEAKER_02: You are a great God who calls us to yourself, who justifies us, who satisfies the wrath of a holy God against our sin, who fills us with your spirit, so that we might go out and proclaim that good news.
SPEAKER_02: In that same vein, we give you praise and thanks for doing all of that in Jeremy.
SPEAKER_02: And even more, we give you thanks and praise for the work that you've done in him.
SPEAKER_02: To prepare him for this day.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for his family.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for their patient endurance throughout this process.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for their encouragement and standing beside him.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for bringing him to be amongst us, to serve with us.
SPEAKER_02: And so we recognize that all that we honor today, we are doing so because of your work in him.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for causing him to be receptive to your leading, to be open to your instruction.
SPEAKER_02: And now, in a way, we give him back to you, asking that you would refresh him, that you would renew him in his commitment to fulfilling his ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And that you would refresh us too in our encouragement of him and our our willingness to exhort him to fulfill the work of ministry that you've given him.
SPEAKER_02: All of this, Lord Jesus, we commit to you because it's from your word which you've given to us.
SPEAKER_02: And by it we honor you.
SPEAKER_02: In Christ's name we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: At this time, I'd like to invite Jeremy to the pulpit to give a word of response to this exhortation.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jason.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that this was this part of the service was coming, uh, I talked with my wife about what I would say.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I just settled on yes, which is uh Pastor Jason's favorite response to us when presented with things.
SPEAKER_01: Uh today is an important day for me, uh, not just because of my ordination, it's also the only day I can recall that every single member of the pastoral staff is wearing a tie.
SPEAKER_01: It's very, very important.
SPEAKER_01: Uh brothers and sisters, in your affirmation of me, I'm something that has been at the forefront of my mind since my calling into ministry is is this just something I want to do?
SPEAKER_01: Many men aspire towards ministry.
SPEAKER_01: But ministry, the pastoral office is not something you can just study for.
SPEAKER_01: It's not something that you can just make yourself good at.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a vocation that you pursue.
SPEAKER_01: It is a gift.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't say that in a way that you think of me as a gift to you, although I think the pastoral ministry of this church is a gift to this church according to Ephesians 4.
SPEAKER_01: But if we go back to what Paul tells Timothy and 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, he says, Don't neglect the gift that is in you.
SPEAKER_01: There is a gift in Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: Some intangible that couldn't be measured, it couldn't be studied for.
SPEAKER_01: There was a gift within Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: And I think he aspired towards ministry, but there is that aspect of is this just something I want?
SPEAKER_01: Is this just something I'm pursuing and aspiring towards?
SPEAKER_01: He goes on to say, it was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.
SPEAKER_01: This morning is not just me pursuing the affirmation through the EFCA or through our district.
SPEAKER_01: Church, this morning I'm hoping for the affirmation of you.
SPEAKER_01: This is something that I aspire towards, but I've always been very cautious in seeking out what I think is best, and seeking out what I want and what I desire.
SPEAKER_01: I believe I've had the gift, and I've always aspired to have the affirmation of you of our church elders.
SPEAKER_01: And in that, uh earlier on in 2 Timothy, Paul also says, again, going back to the gift, therefore I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.
SPEAKER_01: Again, there's that gift of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not something you just came up with, it's not just something you're good at.
SPEAKER_01: It's a unique gift given to you by God, but it's affirmed by others.
SPEAKER_01: And in that, Paul exhorts Timothy to fulfill his ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Church, if you will affirm that in me, I will affirm that I will do so long as it depends on me, everything within my strength and power as the Lord allows to be sober-minded, to be self-controlled in everything, to endure hardship, and to fulfill my ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jason.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.