New Home Baptist Church - Deacon Ordination - January 16, 2005

Deacon Ordination services were held Sunday afternoon January 16, 2005 at New Home Baptist Church outside of Taylorsville, MS.

Thanks to Pastor Ron Swindall for inviting me to offer a challenge to the Deacon candidates, the existing Deacons, and the local body at large.

Acts 6:1-7 was the platform off which we launched our discussion, looking at the reason for the first Deacons being chosen, the requirements those men had to meet, and the results of the brethren choosing the right men...Revival!

We decided that from this passage, it was plain to see that Deacons were to be servants, not masters, so we turned our attention to the characteristics of a servant by looking at the servant heart of our Lord, Jesus, in Philippians 2:3-11.

Look at the words & phrases in that passage:

• "nothing through selfish ambition or conceit"
• "lowliness of mind"
• "esteeming others"
• "interests of others"
• "of no reputation" in v7
• "bondservant"
• "likeness of men"
• "humbled Himself"
• "obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross"

Get the picture? Those phrases describe what it means to be a servant, so they also describe what it means to be a Deacon.

Having settled the issue of what it means to be a servant, we turned our attention to Stephen and Philip, two Deacons who understood their roles as Deacons and who had tremendous ministries...so much so that two chapters of Acts are devoted to them!

From their lives and example we learned of these Deacons the following:

• They were men with hearts full of the Word.
• They were men with hearts full of Worship, and
• They were men with hearts for Witnessing.

From Acts 7:2-53 we learned that Stephen was a man who was filled to overflowing with the Word of God. Those verses are, for the most part, an account of Stephen quoting the word off the top of his head...under considerable pressure I might add. How was he able to do that? He had filled his heart with the Word during the good times, so that it was at the ready when the pressure came.

It's also evident from vv54-56 and following that Stephen was also one whose heart was full of worship, for as the crowd "gnashed their teeth" at him, he didn't gnash back - he turned his eyes upon Jesus and worshipped Him. Oh that we would be so ready to look to the Lord rather than bite back when folks gnaw on us.

As Stephen was dying from the brutal death of stoning, he displayed his heart for witnessing as he asked Jesus to forgive them. He was more concerned for their salvation than he was about vengeance.

Philip hits the ground running in chapter 8, following the scattering of the believers from Saul's persecution, as he turns up in Samaria, preaches the Word with the accompanying signs and wonders, and they had revival. Then an angel sent him to an Ethiopian eunuch and he got saved. Then the Holy Spirit "beamed him up" and dropped him off in Azotus and from there, every where he went he preached the word.

As Deacons, as believers, we are to preach the gospel everywhere we go. We must learn to do so effectively.

That's the purpose of Perfect Law Ministries - to equip the saints to share their faith effectively, the way Jesus did.

On a technical note, I brought my digital voice recorder with me and had hoped to record the message and perhaps have it posted to the website. However, having pushed only one of the two buttons required to turn the thing on and place it in "record" mode...I got nothing. Sorry.

Pray that the seeds of the gospel sewn this day will produce a harvest 30, 60, and 100-fold.

Judgment Must Begin at...the bottom of our web page!

1 Peter 4:17 says, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?"

The Ninth of the Ten Commandments is in essence, "Thou Shalt Not Lie." In an effort to be "market savvy," we have violated that commandment right on our own web page! The counter at the bottom was set to start at 1001. That's a common practice, kind of like with a new checking account - nobody starts with "1" as the number of the first check. It's usually 100, or 200, or something. I guess that's to give it the appearance of being an established account, with a history and therefore more credibility. I further guess that's what we wanted to do with the web counter. No, I really don't "guess." I know - it was my call.

Sorry about that.

As soon as our able web guru can get to it, the counter will be reset, not to zero, but to the appropriate figure representing the real number of hits so far.

One of the great things about being a Christian is that the Holy Spirit is faithful to point out inconsistencies...okay, code word for "sin." Without Him, there's no end to the hypocrisy of man...uh...me.

Forgive us, please.