All right, well, good morning and welcome.

Second service is our sermon and our Bible teaching through 1 Timothy,

and we're going through this epistle verse by verse.

And today our text will be chapter three and verses one through 13.

You can turn there if you're not there already.

And for those of you that are here, I'll ask you to stand if you're able.

If not, that's all right where you're seated.

You can follow along as I read.

The Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, a young pastor. He's in Ephesus. And he says,

verse one, here is a trustworthy saying. Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now, the overseer is to be above reproach,

faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness,

verse three, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well

and see that his children obey him and must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. And then we're

told parenthetically in verse 5,

if anyone does not know how to manage his own family,

how can he take care of God's church?

He must, verse 6, not be a recent convert,

or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

In the same way, verse 8, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine,

and not pursuing dishonest gain.

They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

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