In Peter Allison's sermon, 'Portrait of a Pastor - His Example,' the speaker delves into Acts chapter 20, highlighting Paul's journey and his address to the Ephesian elders. The sermon outlines seven key aspects of a pastor's role: example, calling, method, message, motive, self-examination, and power. Emphasizing humility, Paul serves as an exemplar for pastors by demonstrating selflessness, perseverance through trials, and deep personal connections with his congregation. His humility is shown not just in service but in living transparently among his followers, enduring hardships, and maintaining a focus on Christ. Paul also stresses the importance of personal prayer and reflection. The sermon underscores the necessity for both pastors and congregants to understand these roles to align expectations with God's intentions for church leadership. This understanding aids in supporting and praying for church leaders while recognizing that all believers are called to some form of shepherding within their communities.

Our scripture reading is Acts chapter 20. Again reading at verse 13. I'm going to read to the end of the chapter. Paul has left Choaz where he raised the young man from the dead who had fallen, and now the next day he's beginning his journey onward. Verse 13, Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board, for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.

And when he met us at Essos we took him on board and came to Mitlin. We sailed from there and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogillium. The next day we came to Miletus, for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem if possible on the day of Pentecost. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.

And when they had come to him, he said to them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you. Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed, Now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

So now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them all and then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke that they would see his face no more, and they accompanied him to the ship.

May the Lord be gracious and merciful to us according to His Word. Almighty Heavenly Father, we lift up our souls to You and ask that You would rejoice us in Your Word. We ask that Your Holy Spirit may give faith as we hear Your Word. And that we would be transformed and our minds renewed and our obedience sharpened through Your Word. And I ask that You would sanctify my lips and to proclaim the riches of Your grace.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I didn't grow up knowing about essential oils. They appeared on my horizon much later in life. Now maybe they were all around and I just didn't know about it, but I think today they are definitely quite common. And they're made by distilling various plants and herbs, as you know, so that only the volatile organic compounds, or the essence of that substance, remains without any of the bulk, or the fibers, or the cell structure of the plant itself.

Of course it takes enormous amounts of the plant to produce just a very small amount of an essential oil. It takes, for example, to produce one small bottle of cedarwood oil, about a tablespoon of oil, takes about 61 pounds apparently of cedarwood. It takes 188 pounds of lemonwood to produce a tablespoon of the lemon balm essential oil. Over 300 pounds of rose petals to produce just one tablespoon. Or 125, 000 jasmine buds to get one tablespoon of the oil.

Or 47 pounds of the melaleuca tree leaves to get a tablespoon of that oil. So you see very, very concentrated essence of the plant. Well, this message is like the essential oil of shepherding. It distills down into just a very few words the essence of a pastor's calling. His duties, his life, his purpose, his qualifications, and so forth.

And so we'll spend a few weeks here looking at this essential oil, if you will, of a pastor's calling, of his shepherding. We'll look at Paul's exhortation and farewell to these elders with whom he had labored so long and so fervently in Ephesus. Because we have here a portrait of a pastor. A portrait of a pastor. And this portrait is composed of a number of themes that I have summarized under about seven headings so far.

There might be a few more that get added, but so far seven headings here. And first is his example, the portrait of a pastor, his example. Secondly, his calling. Third, his method, preaching, teaching, declaring, testifying, proclaiming example, and so forth. Fourth, his message.

So his example, his calling, his method, his message. Fifth, his motive. Why? Why is he doing this? What moves him?

What's his goal? 6th, his self-examination. And 7th, his power. Paul commends them to God and to the power of his spirit. And since Many of these themes are just woven throughout this portrait, this passage, this very condensed passage.

My plan is to look at this portrait thematically, according to the seven headings that I just listed, as opposed to trying to sequentially work through the verses of this verse by verse. And so today, we'll be looking at Paul's example. Portrait of a pastor, his example. Now this is a passage, as you just heard, that speaks specifically to elders. It was the elders that Paul called for from Ephesus.

He didn't call for the whole congregation. He just called for the elders to come. But don't make the mistake of assuming that what Paul has to say here to the elders doesn't apply all that much to you. When the Apostle Peter addressed the elders in 1 Peter 5, he does so in the context of a letter that was written to all the saints. But even his exhortation to the elders in that letter is addressed to the whole church.

He says to the whole church, the elders who are among you, I exhort. You, the you is the congregation. He's addressing the congregation while he's exhorting the elders in their midst. And so likewise, Paul's address to these Ephesian elders is inserted into the middle of a historical account of his trip hurrying to Jerusalem for Pentecost. If we were to go on to the next chapter, it immediately picks up this trip that he's on and all the places that he stops in this trip.

And I think this is intentional because this message to elders is relevant to all of us, to all God's people. It's relevant in different ways, certainly, But it is necessary for all of us if we are to be thoroughly equipped for every good work, if we are to be equipped for the work of ministry. And there are several reasons why this is part of God's Word for all people, and therefore something that everyone should listen to and understand. And I think one important reason is so that our expectations of God's under-shepherds match God's expectations of His under-shepherds. And that we don't expect or require of these men any more than what God requires, or expect from them any less than what God requires.

And you'll only be able to know that if you know what God requires and God expects of His shepherds. I think the second reason for it being important to understand God's instructions to pastors is so that you'll be able to better understand how to pray for these men who are to shepherd you and to be able to encourage them in their work. Because shepherds are, we are after all, men with the same weaknesses of the human flesh that everyone else has. We as shepherds have, under shepherds have the same nature as every other person has, the same fallen nature, the same temptations are ours as are the sheep in God's pasture. We're the shepherds, under-shepherds are the sheep in God's pasture just as much as anyone else is.

And so pastors need your prayers as much, if not more, than anyone else. And so this portrait of a pastor is placed in the middle of this historical account of the growth of the church in the New Testament age. But there's another reason too that this is important. Because everyone here is either a teacher or a mentor or should be preparing to be one. Husbands and fathers are to be shepherds of their wives and their children.

Mothers and grandmothers are shepherds in their families. Older women are to be teaching younger women. Older siblings are teachers and examples to their younger siblings. And don't think for a minute that younger siblings don't look up to their older siblings. They either are doing it with respect, or they are doing it with, I don't ever want to be like that when I grow up.

But older siblings are an example. They are relevant teachers of their younger children, whether they intend to or not, it's a question of what you're teaching your younger siblings. And you unmarried people or singles or younger people, now is the time to be learning how to shepherd, how to teach. It's too late when the babies are being born to try and learn then. I shouldn't say it's too late.

It's late to be starting at that point. It's much better to start when you're young. And the things that you learn when you're young are a much deeper part of who you are. If somebody wants to be very skilled as a skater, when do they start? Do they wait until they're 18?

No. They start when they're 2 and 3 on skates. Very young. Same with other areas of skill. So I think this message, this portrait of a pastor that Paul gives should be very relevant to all of us this morning.

And I trust that God will make it relevant and useful to us. The setting of this address, before we look at the address itself, the setting of this address, as I've said, is Paul's journey to be at Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, and he's hurrying. And there's a sequence of port calls on this journey that Luke gives out in detail. And All of the places that he mentions, that we read some of them, are very typical of what a merchant ship would take, or they're typical of all the stops a merchant ship would make in making the journey to Syria. The recorded stops are either islands or settlements on port cities on the coast of the Aegean coast of the Asia Minor.

The only sea exception to the sea route is Paul's going on foot from Choaz to Asos. He came from Asos. They then went, they took Paul on board and they went to Middeline. The harbor city of Middeline is the main city on the eastern coast of Asia Minor. It's on the eastern side of the island of Lesbos.

That's an island with an ancient reputation for eroticism. In fact, the ancient Greeks even had a verb, lesbiasine, which meant to imitate lesbians. And that implied there was a sexual shamelessness among women. And that's where our word for lesbian comes from. So the ship moored overnight there on Middeline, this eastern city on the island of Lesbos.

And the next day, they continued about 28 miles to the island of Chios. And the following day, they touched at Samos, which is the next main island south. And it's a mile off the coast of Asia Minor. There's even a Jewish community that's mentioned in Samos in the period of the Hasmoneans, which would be a hundred years before this time or so. So there's Jewish settlements throughout this region.

But Paul didn't stay. Samuels is the island. He didn't stay the island. According to the text, he went a mile across the strait to Trogillium, and that's where they stayed. And that's on the mainland.

And then the next day they traveled another about 28 miles to Miletus. That's a port city with a river right by it. It's about 30 miles south of Ephesus. And again, according to inscriptions in theaters, there were Jewish settlements, because they had seats reserved just apparently for Jews and God-fears. So there are Jewish settlements in Miletus.

And then Paul stayed at Miletus, probably a couple days, because it took a day. He called for the elders from Miletus. It took them time to get down there, probably a couple days for the messenger to get up and the men to come down to him. This could have been due to the ship needing to offload cargo and so forth, but the ship was there for a few days. So Paul invites the elders down from Ephesus to Miletus.

And then after that, we go into the next chapter. This journey continues. They go to the Greek islands of Kos and Rhodes, which are the next islands south on this chain of islands in the Aegean Sea. And this would have been where it's all these islands in there that where The von Trapp, Captain von Trapp became famous in World War I with his submarine. This is the same area where he's a very primitive submarine that he's driving around.

But he became a national hero defending his country there. So from that city, there's historical significance in all these cities that Luke mentions in Acts 21. So cost to Rhodes, and from Rhodes Paul journey to Patera, it's another harbor town on the southern coast of Lycia, about seven miles from a river. And from there, prevailing winds made sailing, directly sailing to Phoenicia possible. So leaving Asia Minor, Paul finds another ship that's going to Phoenicia, and they sailed in sight of Cyprus, but went south of the island.

Then they came to Tyre, and Paul stayed in Tyre for seven days with a community of Christians there. And these were Christians that attempted to dissuade Paul from going to Jerusalem. But he continued, and the ship stopped at the biblical port of Acre. That's a city that's mentioned in Judges, but by this time it had been renamed Ptolemaeus. It became a Greek city and was renamed Ptolemaeus, so Luke records it as that, by that name.

Ptolemaeus. And then after that they continued down to Caesarea and from there he went over land to Jerusalem. But it's in the middle of this journey that's taking about seven weeks because it went from Passover, which he celebrated in Philippi, to getting to Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, which is about 50 days later. So we know this trip's taking a fairly long time. Seven weeks is a long time to be on the road.

And it's in the middle of this trip then that this meeting with the Ephesian elders takes place. And so with that background, we then come to Paul's meeting with them and his address. And he begins his address by pointing to his example in verse 18. And when they had come, after these elders had come to him, he said to them, you know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you. That's how he opens.

And so we're opening our look at this portrait of a pastor by Paul's example. What is the example that he points to in himself? And the first thing that he notes in his example is serving the Lord with all humility. Serving the Lord with all humility. Humility is really not something we do, it's something that we are and something that characterizes everything about us.

Pride in a person can manifest itself as either thinking too highly or too lowly of oneself. See, humility is not necessarily going around saying how lovely everyone else, or how unlovely we are, how bad we are. It's not going around saying how great we are either. It's somebody who you don't realize is there because they're not thinking of themselves. They're not pointing themselves out.

Pride in a people that think too low of themselves leads to an intensive or excessive introspection. A feeling of always failing, or doing things wrong, or always disappointing others. I can't do anything. I'm useless. I'm a terrible example.

I'm not perfect. And if they are corrected, the pride in people that think too lowly of themselves, they become depressed over their failure or over the shame of their fault. See, humility says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It says I've been forgiven of all my sins and cleansed of all unrighteousness. My shame has been taken and borne by Christ." That's what humility says.

And you see, Paul needed humility. Paul was a man who had killed many people. He made widows and orphans. And maybe even of some of these people that he possibly was ministering to. Because that was his past.

And he may have run into these people. But Paul had humility to recognize that his sins had been forgiven, that He had been cleansed of all unrighteousness, that He was a new creature in Christ, and that in forgiving our sins, Christ not only takes away their guilt, but He takes away the shame of our sin as well. And So Paul could dwell with these Ephesian elders in humility, knowing that he had been forgiven and living without shame in their midst. But he could also say he was the chief of sinners. You see, humility says, I've been forgiven of all my sins.

I've been cleansed of all unrighteousness. My shame has been taken away and borne by Christ. And this turns our thoughts and our heart back to Christ where they belong, and not on ourselves and what we've done and on our past or on our failings. Because Christ is our strength. He's the vine that nourishes us.

See, Pride that thinks too lowly of itself really thinks too lowly of God. Because God is the mighty God. He can make a donkey testify to the truth, can't He? He can cause 90-year-old ladies to have babies. He can stop the sun from advancing.

He can make it just stay there. In fact, He can make the sun go backwards. He can make sightless eyes see. He can make deaf ears hear. He can make lame people leap.

He brings the dead to life. And if He puts us somewhere, if He's called us to do something, pride would say, well, I can't do it. I'm not good enough, I can't talk. But humility says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It has a high view of God.

A low view of self. It says my God is a mighty God. It's not me. It's God working in me. You see, humility takes the focus off of us and puts it back on Christ.

He is able. He's the one that gives us life. Pride focuses on the failures of others. Pride is critical. It's fault-finding.

It's a fault-finding spirit. Humility is compassion because it recognizes that we have the same faults we're seeing in other people. Pride is self-sufficient. It doesn't need the Lord. Humility recognizes our utter dependence upon God in everything we do.

Even our ability to prepare food comes from the Lord. He's the one that teaches our fingers to do that. And so, it consequently asks humility, asks God for the power that He has promised to give, to do the things that He has called us to do. Pride has to be proven right. Humility is willing to yield its right.

Pride wants to protect its time and reputation. Humility is self-denying. Pride desires to be served. Humility desires to serve others. You see, Paul said he served with humility.

Pride desires to be a success. Humility is willing to help others succeed. Pride is wounded when others are promoted or recognized. Humility is happy when others are prized, appreciated, or promoted. Pride thinks of all the things that they can do.

Humility recognizes they can't do anything, except they can do everything through Christ. So it looks to Christ. See, pride is confidence in how much we know. Humility is recognizing how much we have to learn. Pride is self-conscious.

It's always focusing on self. Humility is others' conscience. It's not concerned about ourselves. Pride is defensive when criticized, unapproachable. Humility can be criticized.

Pride wants to blame others. Humility is willing to accept responsibility. Pride is concerned about having a certain image, being respectable and working to protect that image. Humility is concerned about what's really true and what God thinks and what God sees when He looks at us. Pride wants to cover up our failures.

Humility confesses specifically. It's willing to confess. Pride can confess generally, but humility confesses specifically. Pride is concerned about the consequences or social fallout of sin, whereas humility is grieved over the root of sin and that our sin has offended God. Pride is blind to our own heart and our own condition.

Humility sees the corruption of our own heart and our own condition. But see, in all these things, pride is always focused on itself, whereas humility takes the focus off of ourself and puts it on Christ. And So pride in a shepherd is deadly for the shepherd and for the flock. Pride in a shepherd is deadly not only to the shepherd, but also it's deadly to the flock that they are leading. Because pride in a shepherd results in them making disciples of themselves and not of Christ.

And this is destructive for everybody who would follow that kind of a shepherd. We're to imitate our shepherds, but we're only to imitate them in that they imitate Christ. So we don't look to an under-shepherd and say, well, if He's doing such and such, then that's what I should do. That's what I have to do. It's to look at our shepherds and see them doing such and such, and it's to say, is that an imitation of Christ?

And if it is, then we imitate it. You see, that's a shepherd that leads us to Christ. He's pointing us to what Christ does and imitating Christ. And we imitate that kind of a shepherd. But we're not imitating Him.

We're imitating Him as He imitates Christ. We're not blindly just following a person. We're asking, is this person following Christ? And if so, then we follow. You see, there's a very critical difference in that imitation of the shepherd.

Pride in a leader leads them to make disciples of themselves, and not disciples of Christ. The other problem with pride in a shepherd is that you can't love others. The more pride we have in ourselves, the less we see it in ourselves, but the more we see and dislike it in others. You can't like other people when you see their pride and dislike it. You like people when you realize they're just like you are.

They're just like us. So pride is destructive to a shepherd's ministry Because at the heart of ministry is serving. Paul said he served with humility. You can't serve people that you don't love. You can't help people that you don't love.

People don't want your wisdom and knowledge until they know that you love them and care about them. You see, all these things are true not only of shepherds of churches, but they're true of shepherds of families and shepherds of any group, teachers in general. And thirdly, specifically, you can't restore others with the spirit of pride. Pride hinders and prevents us from being able to restore those who have been overtaken in a fault. And this is a central duty in the work of a church, whether you're a parent, or a church shepherd, or any other kind of a shepherd or leader.

Paul instructed the Galatians in Galatians 6.1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. And bear one another's burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. You see, going hand in hand with this admonition to restore people that have been overtaken in a fault is to do it gently, but to also do it recognizing that we can be tempted to the same fault. And if we think that we're anything because we haven't fallen into that fault at that time, then Paul says we deceive ourselves.

We deceive ourselves. Deceived shepherds are not good shepherds. The first thing that Paul points to in his example is that he served with humility. He also served with many tears and trials. Tears and trials.

That doesn't sound like something anybody would want to sign up for. Serving with tears and trials. And many pastors quit because of the sorrows and the trials that are part of their calling. In Paul's letter of instruction to Timothy, his second letter that he wrote near the end of his life giving Timothy instruction as a pastor, He gives a number of commands to Timothy. Preach, exhort, rebuke, and Timothy is probably in this meeting here because Timothy was an elder at Ephesus.

But he commands him to preach and exhort and rebuke and admonish and all those things that are related to a pastor's call. All those important aspects of a pastor's calling. But all those things were only commanded once in that letter. But the command to endure affliction and persevere through it is repeated three times in the course of that letter. Three times.

And it's not always just a passing reference. He says in 2 Timothy 1, 8, Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God. He says in the next chapter, you therefore must endure hardness or affliction as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he says in the fourth chapter, But watch in all things endure afflictions. Those are in the imperative.

Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. You see, Paul's example was the expectation of affliction, of hardship, of trials and tears. We have to be prepared for them as shepherds.

When the tears come, when people disappoint us, whether it's in our family, in our children, in our spouse, or in the church, We have to be ready to expect and to endure that. It doesn't necessarily mean we're doing something wrong. It may be that we're just doing our work of preaching and exhorting and rebuking and fulfilling our ministry. But God sends them to us for our own sanctification. Hardship is a necessary part of war.

Sometimes the good soldiers do their best and most effective work in the course of great hardships. Not in times of rest and ease. It's in the middle of a great hardship, in the middle of a great trial, that people exert the greatest powers and energies. Think of Many great military victories were won because of a willingness to embrace hardships. Hardships that the opposing side didn't think were possible.

And so therefore didn't prepare for them. I think of Thomas Jackson's great victory at Chancellorsville. There's one example of a general who embraced hardship, marching all night and showed up in a place that nobody expected him to show up. And he won a great victory because of that. But there was a hardship he had to endure.

Marching all night and then fighting a battle is a hardship. Or Hannibal won great victories because his soldiers endured hardships that the Roman generals didn't think were possible. And so we're called to endure trials and tears, sorrows. Paul had many people who turned against him and caused him great harm. Sorrows and tears.

As I said, tears and trials are laid up for our own sanctification. The crown of righteousness is laid up. James tells us that the man who perseveres when he is tempted Blessed is the man who perseveres when he is tempted For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to all those who love him. You can say that if pagan Roman generals knew how to reward their generals, how much more does the Lord know how to reward His faithful followers? So we can say that Paul could say that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that's to be revealed.

The third thing we see in verse 19 is that He served the people. He served. Serving the Lord. He did what was good for them, not necessarily what was good for Himself. He says in verse 20, I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house.

He taught, his example also was teaching individuals. He didn't just show up to preach to big crowds and then leave to go his own way. No, he was busy going from house to house, person to person, speaking to them, and providing counsel and help and shepherding. Paul also lived a life like them, exposed to the same rigors of life. We saw that in his traveling in verse 16.

He had to hurry to make places on time. He took the same means of public transportation that everyone else did. There was no special privileges, no private jets to fly around in. No private carriage. His example also was consistent in life and doctrine in verse 33 and 34 and 35.

He didn't covet their money. He labored with his hands to support the weak. He supported himself and those who were with Him. And He did it so that He could teach them the need to support the weak. He was also a man of real emotions in verses 24 and 35, 36, and 37.

He labored to serve others because He said it's more blessed to give than to receive. You see Him kneeling down and praying with these elders. We see Him weeping freely and embracing them and kissing them. They kissed each other. You see, he had close personal relationships with these people.

He wasn't distant. He didn't put himself on a tier above everybody else. But he interacted with them as a real person with real emotions and real needs, sorrows, real tears. So he established deep and meaningful relationships with people. Not superficial, not professional.

Not like formalism of going to the doctor where you never know about the doctor, you tell him everything about yourself and he tells you nothing about himself. That's not the kind of relationship Paul had. He was transparent. He said that they knew in what manner he always lived among them in verse 18. We also see his example in verse 36 of him praying with these people.

He prayed with them. He didn't just pray for them, he prayed with them. And I'll close with this last example. It's from verse 13. He took time alone with God.

You know, it would have been a lot easier to get on the boat and sail from Troas to Isos, but instead, he gave orders for them to go on ahead. So he's giving direction. He's an overseer. And an overseer gives direction. But he goes on foot on land by himself.

Now why would he do that? Because he wanted to spend time alone. He wanted time probably to prepare for what He was going to say to these Ephesian elders. He wanted time to be alone in prayer to the Lord for Hisself, for His ministry. Jesus would often do the same thing, spending all night in prayer alone by Himself.

So Paul takes this time, even though he's traveling with a company of people and there's wisdom in that for accountability. You're going to places like Lesbos. But He carves out in the midst of traveling with these companions, in the midst of working with the ministry team, he carves out a section in this trip to be alone by himself, to have communion with the Lord, and to think deeply, to do his own self-examination of his own life, to think about the needs of the church and how he can meet them, to do this kind of planning that you just need to have time alone. Paul reserved that for himself. And this is all then part of Paul's example as a shepherd.

And all these characteristics, all these aspects should also characterize us as believers, as shepherds of one to another. Those who are ministering one to another. These are The qualifications that Paul gives to Timothy as an elder aren't just for elders. Those are qualifications that every man should be seeking to develop and grow in. So may God by His grace enable us to follow Paul's example that he gives to us as a shepherd of God's sheep.

Almighty Father in heaven, Your Word is clear and it's thorough in its instruction to us. Lord, it reaches the deepest parts of our heart, dividing asunder soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart. We ask, Lord, that You might examine us, that You would show us those areas that we can grow in. Show us those areas where we are ignorant and need to learn. And we ask that we may know your joy and your peace and your favor and your blessing in our lives this week.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.