\n
<\/p>\n
3\u00a0<\/span>The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.<\/span> 2\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore an overseer \u00a0must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,<\/span> 3\u00a0<\/sup>not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.<\/span> 4\u00a0<\/sup>He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,<\/span> 5\u00a0<\/sup>for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?<\/span> 6\u00a0<\/sup>He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.<\/span>7\u00a0<\/sup>Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.<\/span><\/p>\n This words “must be above reproach,”<\/span> literally means, \u201cNothing to take hold upon.\u201d There must be nothing in his life that others can take hold of and attack the church.<\/strong><\/p>\n 8\u00a0<\/sup>Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,[c<\/a>]<\/sup> not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.<\/span> 9\u00a0<\/sup>They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.<\/span> 10\u00a0<\/sup>And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.<\/span> 11\u00a0<\/sup>Their wives likewise[d<\/a>]<\/sup>must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.<\/span> 12\u00a0<\/sup>Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.<\/span> 13\u00a0<\/sup>For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0This goes for all the work of servant-leaders in God\u2019s family is pointed towards building among God\u2019s people the faith which is in Christ Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that,<\/span> 15\u00a0<\/sup>if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.<\/span> 16\u00a0<\/sup>Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:<\/span><\/p>\n He[e<\/a>]<\/sup> was manifested in the flesh,<\/span> When he says \u2018without controversy,\u2019 I suppose he means that there ought to be no controversy about these facts, though controversies have arisen concerning them, and always will, since the most self-evident truth will always find self-evident fools to contradict it.\u201d (Spurgeon)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6864,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861\/revisions\/6864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Qualifications for Deacons<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Mystery of Godliness<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>vindicated[f<\/a>]<\/sup> by the Spirit,[g<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>seen by angels,<\/span><\/span>
\nproclaimed among the nations,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>believed on in the world,<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>taken up in glory.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n