Timothy Deaton Ordination Service

You may be seated. If you would turn to Acts chapter 20, if you would like to follow along, it will be slightly different in my version, but we will start in verse 17. Would you please stand in honor of the reading of God's word? Now from Miletus. Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.

and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Creator of the ends of the earth, I am so concerned now that we are bowing our heads and praying because it is that time to pray, that this is when we're supposed to pray rather than everybody within the sound of my voice contemplating your omnipresence, your ubiquity. Where can we flee from your presence? You are here.

And we are coming before you asking the giver of every good and perfect gift to do something that will not happen if we don't pray. And so, Heavenly Father, I ask that we would understand the weight of what is taking place today. We have entered into the sanctum to do a sacred work. The weight of laying our hands on a young man and setting him aside for the ministry. He has been tested by this congregation. They have seen that he bears the fruit of a child of yours. And he has served doing the work of an elder. And now they're recognizing that he should be placed in the office of an elder. Heavenly Father, we pray because there is a temptation on Timothy's part today that he will think that he has now made it, not to the end maybe, but to a resting place.

May it never be. May he say with Paul that he has run the race, that he has poured himself out as a drink offering to you, God. May this be a springboard for his ministry. And may he serve this church well. Heavenly Father, those that are here today are also agreeing to participate in being an encouragement to him. Like Paul, if you were there for him, that was something that was meaningful. I pray that this church would be there in those moments when Timothy may get discouraged and he needs... a word of encouragement, or even a gentle prodding God word. And God, I pray for myself that the words of my mouth and the meditation of every heart in this room would be acceptable in your sight. Oh God, our rock and our redeemer and all God's people said, amen. Please be seated. So I don't think that I am going to say anything new or staggeringly profound this evening. So I'm going to kind of give you an overview of what I'm doing. We're just going to go through Acts 20.

And I'll explain why in a second. And then I'm going to give some Coram Deo. Coram Deo means living before the face of God or in the presence of God. And that it implies according to the word of God for the glory of God. So I'm going to speak to Timothy directly as part of Acts 20, Coram Deo. This is how you ought to live in light of what you have just heard. And then the congregation. Somebody one time told me what we hear today for Timothy, he has to be that as an elder. In fact, if he's not that, it's disqualifying. But we all ought to act like this. He has to, we ought to. These are good things for all of us. And then also to understand what he has been called to. So can we go to Troas for just a minute? Because this is a total aside in this service. But just before the passage we read, Paul is in Troas and he's giving a sermon late into the night and it's hot and warm. Has anybody ever fallen asleep in church? If you've fallen asleep in church, I don't want to make this light, but there's going to be some interaction. This is a weighty thing that goes on. Has anybody ever fallen asleep in church? Raise your hand. Okay. How do you fall asleep in church? I've done it before with a phenomenal pastor. It's nothing to do about the pastor. I kind of set my hand on my knee and then I started kind of snoring, right? Anybody else?

The man that we're recognizing today went away on a youth retreat for Boy Scout, and I have never seen anybody fully laying across the back of a chair snoring and just out, taller than anybody else in the congregation falling asleep. So in Troas, you have Eutychus that falls out of a window because he falls asleep, and then Paul revives him, and they come back in, and they pick up preaching where they left off. So that's kind of a total aside. Then Paul wants to get back to Jerusalem. to be back for Pentecost. And there are various reasons as to why, some speculative reasons as to why he needs to be back in Jerusalem for Pentecost. So Paul goes from Troas and he's making a beeline to Jerusalem, but he wants, he'd been in Ephesus for three years and he wants to talk to this group of elders at Ephesus, but he doesn't want to get caught up and delayed in Ephesus. So my first Coram Deo, Timothy, when Paul sets his eyes to Jerusalem,

and he wants to do something that's good, but he cannot be delayed. As a pastor, you're going to have a lot of people that want a lot of things from you. As an elder, you have to determine based on God's word, what will bring most honor and glory to him and what will be best for the people. And that is not mutually exclusive. In Acts 6, there were some Hellenist widows that were being neglected. And so this need was brought before the apostles and they said, hey, there's some widows that are being neglected and you need to take care of this. And do you remember what they did in Acts 6? They appointed seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit. And they said, you seven men go take care of, actually, they didn't appoint them. They said, you guys pick them and set those men to take care of this problem because we are about the word and prayer.

If you are not interruptible, that's a problem. If you won't help people, that's a problem. If you have no servant heart, no desire to walk along people, whether it's cleaning garbage or raking leaves, that's a problem. But don't get distracted. You're a minister of the word of God and what people need more than anything else, more than food. Man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Don't get distracted. So now from Miletus, he's sent to Ephesus and he calls the elders. Now, here's why I'm preaching this message because Paul says, I want to speak to the leaders of the church. So he gathers the elders around and he's basically saying, if I have one message, I've got one message to preach to you. If I've got one message to preach, this is going to be it. So if I've got one message to preach to you, guess what? I'm stealing from Paul. This, 18.

And if I don't keep your nose in the scriptures, I have failed. So let's keep coming back to verse one. When I say 18, I'm in Acts 20, 18. When they came to him, the Ephesian elders, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me. You know what that means, your quorum deo, how you should live in light of that? They're all watching. And a good elder does not lead from the back, whipping the congregation. Yes, you are to provoke. Don't neglect the assembling together as it's the habit of some. And we need to be provoking each other to love and good deeds. And that's kind of cattle prodding each other to love and good deeds. But a good elder does not lead from the back, whipping people. He leads from the front. You have been called not to be domineering over the flock, but to set an example. 1 Peter 5.

Lead from the front as an example of what people need to be doing. And you know it comes from a place of humility. You're not the Pied Piper of arrogance and saying, watch this. This is how it's done. You're a humble leader from the front and tears. We're going to get into this a little later, but there's a primacy effect and a recency effect. People remember the first thing you say and the last thing you say. So I'm going to move it up a little bit. Love. You are not called to be a dispassionate leader. You are not called to be a robot. Love is filled with tears. So one way that helped me, I hope this helps you, is to understand love in three ways. The love of benevolence, beneficence, these are not mine, I'm stealing them from somebody else. Love of benevolence, that's goodwill. Just to make sure we're all paying attention. How many of us are called to have goodwill towards other people? All of us.

Then you're called to have beneficence. That's good actions. You should have good actions towards everybody. Now, they don't get to decide what good actions is. Hey, your pastor just said have good actions toward me. I want a car. That's not what it means. Don't leave here. I don't have time to get into every nuance. That's not what it means. It means, let me say this, good is Godward. And you should ache to see people go Godward. You have goodwill. That means you want what is best for them. And what is best for them is God himself. And you work them towards God. And then you're an example of them towards God. And then good actions, whatever it takes. And I've said this before to people, and I've said it directly to Timothy before. Sometimes you need to love people enough to say, here is my last penny. Take it for whatever you need it for. And sometimes you need to love people enough to say, I will not give you a dime because I love you.

so much. Sometimes a church loves people by walking them through a sinful period of their life, and other times church discipline is the greatest declaration of love that a pastor can have. Love of benevolence, love of beneficence, who here is called to those things? But we are not dispassionate. There's a last one, and it kind of gets a bad rep because it doesn't mean the same in modern day, the vernacular as it used to, but the love of complacency. God takes pleasure in his people and calls you to take pleasure, deep abiding pleasure in people. And you should want for them more than they want for themselves. As an elder pastor, tell me that you don't weep sometimes over some of the decisions that people make. You're broken and why won't you turn back to Christ? He's for you, not against you. Have you ever seen somebody when they get into sin, flee from God and out of the church? Church, flee to God. He's a loving father.

And you need to care like God gives us the example of being willing to die for people. You need to love and weep over your congregation and care for them. As an example, verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. What's profitable? So I was talking this morning when, is Christian here tonight? Okay, he goes to another church. Oh, then we can talk about it. All right. When he's preaching, verses should be going through your head. You should be testing what he says like a Berean against, I mean, he's saying stuff and you should be verses. For me, when I hear like Paul saying, I didn't hold back anything that was profitable from you. What verse maybe goes through your head? All scripture is breathed out by God. It's theanutas or theapnustas. Any of you professors, how do you pronounce it? Theapnustas? I'll go with his. God breathed.

And all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. You want to know how somebody holds something back that's profitable for you? They don't preach from a book of the Bible. And just in case, well, let me finish this. And teaching you in public and from house to house. Okay, this is another quorum deo for you. There are people in this church. I don't know who they are. You may know who they are. Don't raise your hand and please don't point at somebody else. There are people in this church, when you go house to house, they're going to give you a list of their prescription medications.

And they're going to tell you about each of their doctor visits. And they're going to talk to you about how their toe hurts like it never has hurt before. And they don't know if they'll be at church this Sunday. Okay, that's fine. You're a pastor. You can care about that. But that's not why you're going house to house. You're going house to house to serve a good meal. You're to give them the faith once delivered to the saints. You're to give them the word of God, which is not only able to make them wise unto salvation, but is able to sanctify their soul. You're to prepare them for heaven. Does anybody know one of the, this is another aside, my mind does this way too often. Does anybody know one of the reasons we have a Sabbath? That's a general question. Do you know one of the reasons that we have a Sabbath and that men that say, well, I haven't taken a day off in 17 years, no longer impresses me. I say, that's rebellion. Take a day off. Do you practice longing for heaven?

Because your Sabbath is a type and shadow of the eternal rest, and we've lost the anticipation for our Sabbath days. I don't know where I was going with that, so let's jump back in. We're going to go from verse 20, because I think it's directly related, and hop out of order if you look down at your Bible into verse 26. Therefore, I, Paul, testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you. If you're an elder, I don't mean by age this time, I mean by office, would you put up your hand? This is an elder church. Any of you want to be guilty of the blood of somebody? Man, that's a heavy. Timothy, they say anything you say can and will be used against you in a sermon illustration. So I hope that you can get somebody back for this, not me. So last night I was talking to Timothy. We were talking about today and he said, I'm not worried about today. I'm actually more nervous about teaching Sunday school than I am about tonight. And I went like, uh-oh. And he went, but I feel the weight.

No matter how much I pace, no matter how much we smile, don't lose the weight of what's happening tonight. Do you feel the weight of the innocent? Paul said, I'm innocent of the blood of all of you. Why? Because I did not shrink back from teaching you the whole counsel of God. You want to be guilty? Pull up a few. I'll give you an example. And we're going to get into the word in just a second, more of it. But I'll give you an example. There was a young lady that went through a divorce. And regardless of what she had done or didn't do or anything like that, her husband said, there's nothing you can do, no counseling we can go to, nothing. And she was going, please, I'll do anything. I'll do whatever it takes. And he just walked out. There was nothing she could do. She called people and me and tried to get it reconciled.

So she drifted from church for a couple months. And the very first day that she came back to our church, do you know what the passage was? Matthew 19 on divorce. God, I can really quickly come up with something else. I promise you I can. It will be no problem. And I don't believe that God spoke to me audibly, but man, it felt like it. I heard, do you love her more than I do? And I went, no, God. Then preach my word. Don't shrink back from preaching anything. There's some stuff not fun to preach. Judges was a hoot this morning. Or maybe not. The whole counsel of God. So here's another thing that's going to be a little tacky. And we're going to practice it. It's going to be tacky. And I hope this drives a point home more than it's distracting. Every time I kind of do this or whatever, make a motion, you say word. So in the beginning was the... And the... Was God... Was with God and the...

Was God. So we get it. Sanctify them through thy truth or in thy truth. Thy is truth. Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted. How does a young receive the word which is able to make you wise unto salvation? How does a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your. I have hidden your. My heart that I might not sin against you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the. Everybody said God. I don't know the NASB. I know God is KJV and I know Christ is ESV. What's the NASB? It's God? I usually can break down. Oh, that's KJV. God. What else are we? Oh, the spirit gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The that I have spoken, they are spirit and they are life. How about the two times that psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are used? Here's one of them. It doesn't have the word in it.

Do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. So you want to be a Spirit-filled pastor, right? I want to be a Spirit-filled pastor. The only other time that the manifestation of this call is used in Scripture, Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is one other place. It's Colossians 3, where it says, let the of Christ dwell in you richly. You want to be Spirit-filled? Be word-saturated. The sword of the Spirit, which is the of God. And it's over. and over, and over. You say, Pastor, you didn't say a single verse we didn't already know. And that was a little tacky. Maybe not for you, Eric. Maybe not for some of you others. But the temptation to get up here and entertain, or the temptation when someone leaves the church to compromise.

Or the temptation to say, did God really say? Or the temptation like the devil offers that I can determine what right and wrong is. Well, maybe that's not exactly what that passage means. The temptation to set the word down and to preach Gary Chapman. I have literally had people say, yeah, is there anything else you can give me about marriage other than God's word? No. So yeah, it was tacky, but you need, this is what a pastor needs. The word, the word, the word, the word. It's again in Acts 6. We're about the word and prayer. We're about these things that must happen for people to grow. Verse 21. He said, I'm supposed to teach for an hour and a half. I love that because I just divided the church. I've stirred up division. Yes. No, he better not. All right. We're going to jump just to.

Paul talks about his trials. Elders, particularly Timothy, all those desiring to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. To this you have been called. Christ gave us an example of suffering going to the cross and you are called to follow him. You must have a robust theology of suffering. It has not only been granted to you to believe, but also to suffer for his name's sake. More than this, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance, character, character, hope, and that hope doesn't put us to shame. There is, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Do you understand that there's just over and over in this life, you will have tribulation.

over and over and over. And as a pastor, I promise you there will be a day where you say, God, I've given you everything. Like Peter, we've given up everything. And you're gonna be like Paul who goes to grab wood after he was shipwrecked. And I mean, can't you just give him a break and he gets bitten by a snake? It just seems relentless, relentless. And if you're not careful, and if you don't have a good theology of suffering, and if you don't know that you have a loving God that is working all things together for your good, you're gonna get bitter, or you may take it out on the people around you. Instead of saying, God, I don't know what you're doing, but I know you reign. You still sit on that throne, and the only thing that happens to me, like Job, is what you have ordained for my good and for your glory. Trust him. Next, what is your goal in life?

Verse 24, but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish the course, may finish the course. Today is a starting point. Today should be encouraging. What did you say? Happy. Today's a joyful, happy day. Aristotle wouldn't make a difference. Joyful, happy, happy, joyful. Today's that day, but it's the start of a race. It's not the start of your faith. It's not, but how are you going to finish? How many pastors today? There's a book in my office. There's a book in my office. Timothy, there is a book in my office where four out of the five people that have recommended this book are no longer in the ministry. Finish. Hebrews 13 is helpful in this. Consider those in your life that have finished well and imitate them. It's a slight paraphrase. I'm forgetting some words there. Get around men that not only will drive you, but be an example of finishing well.

Paul was all about, that only I may finish the course. What are your goals? It cannot be comfort. It cannot be money. It cannot be a church size. It can only be God, I'm yours, use me. I'm offering myself a living sacrifice. That is part of what you're doing today. The church is recognizing your gifts and setting you aside. You're saying, God, I am surrendered. Use me. Nothing will drive me except for your glory and the good of the people around you like Philippians 2. I consider other people more important than myself. To wrap it up, let's go to verse 28. Pay careful attention to yourselves. I've met a lot of people. I hate to say it. I don't remember most of your names.

And it was, I'm an elder, I'm an elder, I'm an elder. Pay careful attention to yourselves. Because the outside world obviously doesn't like that we're Jesus lovers. They have enmity with God, and we are to minister to them. I love the challenge today. Your first thought towards the outside world is what it, remember what love, benevolence, and beneficence? First thought towards the outside world is how can I provoke them Jesus word? I don't mean word, W-R-R-D, I mean W-A-R-D, word, like. God word, Jesus word. But there's going to be some people, that makes sense. There are going to be some people from this very congregation that will try to lead people astray. And while you can never be divisive, Titus 3 says, warn them once, then twice. If the divisive people warn them once, then twice, then have nothing more to do with them, they're self-condemned. You can be, those people need to be silenced. People that rise up in this church that lead people astray and cause divisions, other than long sermon, short sermon, that's an acceptable one.

Silence. I'll close with this. I don't know if he hasn't given me permission to share this story. His parents will probably cringe. He got to preach one time at North Lexington Baptist Church as a young man and he stood up and he stood behind the pulpit and he preached a sermon and it was good. You know those sermons that you go, that was good for, what were you, 19, 18, 17? I don't even know, you were young. You know what I'm talking about? Well, we're all in for a ride then. He was a young man. And you know those sermons where you go, that was good. And it was. It was good. It was good. And somebody out there stood up and said, yeah, but you said something wrong. And it was wrong. And he and I have talked about it. I don't know if you remember this. And I just said, listen, when you stand here, when it doesn't matter if it's house to house or behind this pulpit or in a classroom down there, it is a grave and serious thing to make sure that no unwholesome word, ungodly, ungodward word proceeds out of your mouth.

And he came back years later. And this is where I want to end. This is where I will conclude. He came back years later and he preached an iceberg sermon. Have you known what an iceberg sermon is? Someone that has worked hours and years to develop rich theology. And every once in a while, as he's preaching to the congregation, the tip of the iceberg, I could hear the work that he had put in to know God and to preach him well. And I was like, hallelujah, that's a man that's ready to be a minister who will study to show him. self-approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And that word is good. Amen. That fan was nice, but a bit hindering. Thank you, brother. So brothers and sisters, we should have done this before Pastor Pratt preached. This is one of the pastors of the church that Timothy was part of as a young man. You heard some of those stories.

And he came up from North Carolina. Yes, sir. So what's the name of your church? North Lexington Baptist Church. There you go. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Presbyterian Baptist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a Presbyterian Baptist sitting right over there. Truly. Truly. Okay. Well, this has been a long time coming. Timothy. God has been working on Timothy and with Timothy for a long time. As you've even heard from Pastor Pratt, he has been heading in this direction for a long time, haven't you? Not just since you've been here, but from before that time. And when Timothy became a part of this church, and then he started studying at New Geneva Academy and was mentored here by the pastors here and the elders, long years, right?

and by the teachers and your professors at school. He's been examined both through those years of schooling, but also by the presbytery, you know, in committees and councils and on the floor of presbytery and a lot of work. And he has been accepted and he has been called by this church. And so now we are moving into the time when he will make vows. Have you ever made vows before? When I joined this church. Is that all? When I got married. I was hoping you would think of that one. I had to think about that one. Yeah. So vows are very serious. And you're making these vows in the presence of God and in the presence of this congregation. So Timothy.

You can answer these questions. Do you believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as originally given to be the infallible word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice? Do you sincerely receive and adopt the confession of faith and catechisms of this church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures? And do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, You will, on your own initiative, make known to your presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow. I do. Do you approve of the government and discipline of Evangel Presbytery in conformity with the general principles of biblical polity? I do. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord? I do. Have you been induced as far as you know your own heart?

To seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote his glory in the gospel of his son. I do. Okay, good. Sorry, I was confused by the question. And do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account? I do. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the gospel in your manner of life and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?

And lastly, are you now willing to serve this church, agreeable to your declaration when accepting the call of the session? And do you, relying upon God for strength, promise to discharge to it the duties of an assistant pastor? Amen. So now I have questions for the congregation. If you're a member here at Clearnoat Church, would you please stand? And I have questions for you. Do you, the people of this congregation, profess your readiness to receive Timothy Deaton? whom the session has called to be your assistant pastor. So say we do. We do. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love and to submit to him in the due exercise of discipline? We do. Do you promise to encourage him in his labors and to assist his endeavors for your instruction and spiritual edification? We do. And do you engage to continue to him?

while he is your pastor, that competent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and to furnish him with whatever you may see needful for the honor of religion and for his comfort among you. Amen. Please be seated. And now, if the commissioners would please come forward, and all who are ordained as elders or pastors who are present with us today, including, yes, Pastor Pratt. I'm telling you, there's a Baptist right there. Among others, there's another Baptist right there. Thank you. And so we are going to, Timothy, we're going to have you kneel, and we're going to pray and call down God's blessing on Timothy. And so several of you pray. You can pass the mic here, and I'll close this, and we're done. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you on this glorious...

and very serious day. Father, we pray that you be with Timothy in the work that you have willed him. Father, that he knows, understands the authority of the office that he has been willed to do. Father, we pray that you be with Timothy in this work to continue to give him strength and endurance. Father, we pray that you protect Timothy. from not having confidence in himself. Father, we pray that Timothy knows grace for himself, that he won't be perfect in all that he does, that not only does he preach the word of God to the sheep that he is shepherding, but also that he hears the gospel that he preaches to himself.

Father, we pray that you be with his wife, Paige. We pray that you be with her, not only to be a godly wife, godly mother, and a Titus II woman to the other women of the church, but Father, also to support him in the ministry that he does. Father, we pray for him to continue to grow, to prosper, and to finish well. Heavenly Father, we thank you for growing Timothy and for this day that we have to give thanks to you for putting him in this position as under shepherd. You are the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, and may Timothy be a faithful and faith-filled under shepherd, loving your flock, warning them, encouraging them, loving them, Father, not shrinking back but preaching your word and with patience and with faith and with boldness may he be an example to the flock and may he not fear man but may he fear you and have a true love and concern for the souls here we pray in jesus name almighty god we come as humbly as we know how before your throne of grace and i pray that timothy would

Do justly, walk humbly, love mercy and walk humbly with you, our heavenly father. My prayer for him is that he would be sufficiently humbled, that he would find grace, rest in a sanctuary under your mighty wing. Not praying that he would be weak, but that he would be firm. He would not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. But heavenly father, that he would not, that he would not. think more highly of himself than he ought. He is so tremendously gifted. May he use that for your glory. May he use it for the good of this congregation. In Jesus' name we pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for Timothy. Thank you for the love that you've given him for your church and for your people.

Father, we ask that you would strengthen him, that you would give him courage and boldness and faith. We ask that you would fill him with your Holy Spirit and that you would be pleased to accomplish much good work among this people, among this congregation and for your kingdom. Father, thank you for our brother Timothy. And I pray that his confidence would not be in himself, but that his confidence would be in you and that he would have great confidence in you and that he would lead us in that. Heavenly Father, I do thank you for this evening in which we celebrate the call you have placed on Timothy's life. And we find joy in that. And we pray that you would strengthen Timothy for the work, that he would approach it humbly and with humility and with love for his people and for you. And we pray that there would be great growth to your glory.

in that. So just walk with him, I pray, strengthen him, protect him from the evil one, from any temptations, and we just pray that the work would honor and glorify you. In Jesus' name, amen. Father, we thank you for the joy that Jesus had in his suffering, in his ministry to us first, and for the fact that that joy came from seeing the Father at work and doing the work that the Father had given him. I pray, Lord, that as Timothy labors, you would cause him to see that he is working with his Father hand in hand. And Lord, would you give him the joy of solidarity with you, with your purposes, with your glorious joy that you've set in front of the ministry of the Word so that...

His eyes will be fixed on that joy as Jesus was. And Lord, we pray through this that you would give him joyful perseverance. Now, Father, we ask that you would pour out on Timothy every gift and every grace that he needs to faithfully carry out his work here as a shepherd of this congregation. Lord, fill him with your spirit and give him everything he needs. And we trust you. and believe that you will do that. You are so kind to your church, and we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Brothers, would you stand here for just a moment, please? I now pronounce and declare that Timothy Deaton has been regularly elected, ordained, and installed assistant pastor of this congregation, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the Constitution of Evangel Presbytery.

and that as such he is entitled to all support, encouragement, honor, and obedience in the Lord. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I'm going to do this a little bit strange tonight. Every ordination where I've given the charge, I've given my father's charge to me from 1983, which I do want to do with Timothy tonight, but then I have some words for both the congregation and him that are... A little beyond that. Timothy Deaton, I charge you as you enter upon your ministry, have faith in God who has called you. Seek to fulfill his expectations, first of all, not those of his people or your own. Build the church for his glory. Use the talents and training and gifts he has given you to the fullest, but don't depend on them. When your experience increases, don't depend on that. Depend on God.

who has called you to fulfill your calling. Depend on the Holy Spirit to work through you. Do the work of an evangelist as one who himself has experienced deliverance and redemption. Carry the keys to the kingdom of heaven in your hand at all times. Be ready to give your time in life for one lost sheep as earnestly and diligently as you would for a thousand. Tend the flock of God, seek the lost ones, the defeated ones, the soul sick ones, the wandering ones, and lovingly restore them. Then send them back into the battle. Preach the word of God, not avoiding those parts that are unpopular or that cut against the grain of accepted opinion. Be prophetic, but exercise judgment upon yourself and your own actions first of all.

Respect authority. Submit to authority as to those appointed by God. Be a careful counselor. Listen with your heart. Guard the confidences you receive. Avoid and discourage gossip. Pray for your people. When you work, you work. When you pray, God works. Never doubt that God can change people in situations, can resolve conflicts, and bring peace where there has been trouble. Love your people. Care for them. Have compassion on them. Encourage them to serve the Lord with joy and freedom. Share the Lord's work with them. Train your laypersons to work in the fields of the Lord with you. And enjoy your people. You are their servant, but you're also their friend. Share their lives, their joys as well as their sorrows, even as the Lord Jesus shared the lives of his disciples. Be a responsible citizen in your community.

Let your influence for ethics and morality be felt, always remembering that the community cannot be held to the standards of Christ's church. I have a little beef with my father there, but I don't know how to express it. So those are his words and mine, sort of. Model love and care for your wife and children. Don't sacrifice them and your responsibility for them on the altar of your work and leadership of the church. Determine not to preach others and see your own children castaways. Guard your thoughts. Praise and worship God as a man, not just as a pastor. Don't covet another's position or possessions. Enjoy God. Look for his fingerprints in every part of life. Cast your burdens on the Lord. Don't bear them yourself. The battle isn't yours, but God's. Find joy in the service, the place, the people God has given you. Tonight, you are being asked, wilt thou? Someday you will be asked, hast thou? As an under-shepherd, serve the great shepherd so that you may answer in that day. Come on. I have run the race.

I have fought the fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Now, a few scripture passages for Timothy, but also for us. The elders, this is from 1 Timothy 3, 5, I mean. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. Now, look, the central reality now is what? We all know what it is, and we're not supposed to say what it is, but what it is is that David Abizara has stepped down.

And so right in front of us tonight, we have an example of a man who was called, who was ordained just as Timothy Deaton is, and who now has stepped out of this church and his duties. And so the question is, is that discouraging to Timothy? Is that discouraging to those of us that love David Abbasar? And we have to wrestle with this. We have to ask the questions that are in all of our brains. And if they're not in our brains, then we won't admit it. They're certainly in our wives' and our children's brains. Now, I want to say a couple of things about this. Do you notice how matter-of-factly as it's talking about elders, it talks about those who are in sin? Do you see this? Right? And then did you notice what it said? Did any of you notice what it said about these men?

These officers who are in sin, what did it say? I can't hear you. Rebuke in front of everybody. Well, here's what it says. Do not receive an accusation against another except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all. A little bit different than what you said. Those who continue in sin. Think about that. partiality. I'll finish the text soon. But now stop and think a second. How many of the priests and how many of the leaders of God's people and how many of the apostles in the New Testament sinned? Now, have you ever thought about this in connection with Timothy Deaton tonight? If Timothy Deaton, in his fulfillment of his call and his ordination tonight, if Timothy Deaton falls, will he be different than me? I mean, answer it. Come on, yes or no.

No, no, that was one time children weren't right. No, he won't be different than me. He won't be different than every single elder who is here tonight and every single pastor. Listen, there's way too much hatred of authority and too much expectation of perfection on the part of leadership of husbands, of fathers, of elders, of pastors. And it is inexcusable when we have the witness of the Holy Scripture showing us the weakness that we all will have until we're glorified and in heaven. And so we have mothers competing with each other to see who can be the best mother because her children don't have shameful things pop out into the open. What a horrible oppression to grow up under a mother like that.

And then we have fathers who protect their wives' reputation, even though they're popping out all over in front of the church. And then we have elders who are just perfect, and their wives are perfect, and the wife makes sure that the color of the pews and the music are perfect. And this is Timothy Deaton's danger. This is not the first time I've said this to you. Timothy must be free to sin. But really, I don't mean it that way. What I mean is Timothy has to be free to confess his sins. Timothy will lead you as a church when he leads you in repentance. Come on. Can we have repentance in our homes? Can we have repentance in our marriages? Can we have forgiveness? Make this a safe place for repentance and forgiveness. Okay?

Remember that Martin Luther's first thesis of the 95 Theses was, when our Lord Jesus Christ said, you must repent, he was teaching us that the life of a Christian is a life of repentance. Okay? And there needs to be Reformed pastors and elders and churches and families where repentance returns, where we come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't sound very novel or creative, what I'm saying, you know, but it's so hard to do. And so I want you as a congregation, my charge to you is not to go around repenting to make a show that people will know when your repentance is real and when it isn't. Okay, not because they're judgmental, but, you know, people will know. But then...

I'll leave you with one other thing. If you want to make Timothy Deaton and your pastor's present and future happy, do you know how you do it? You don't do it by paying them more money. I always tell young men, nobody works for money. We work for relationships, okay? And if you want to make Timothy Deaton and Eric Bierbauer happy, do you know how to do it? There's nothing that makes a pastor happier. than when somebody in his flock comes and confesses sin to him. Do you believe me? Do you? It gives us joy. And the Bible says that all heaven rejoices when one sinner returns in repentance. And so my charge to you is to lead the church in repentance, not make a show of it in your heart, although sometimes it's appropriate to tell them.

And my charge to you is love him and take your sins to him and trust him to deal with you tenderly and in love.