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The Excellent Minister (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

By Lewis C. Lampley

 

The purpose of this paper is to show readers from Scripture how an excellent minister/pastor-teacher behaves.

 

Introduction: First things first. Consider two things about the excellent minister/pastor-teacher:

A.   The pastor-teacher’s qualifications (1 Tim. 3:1-7)

Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.  2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,  3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.  5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)  6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.  7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

 

B.   The pastor-teacher’s major responsibility (Eph. 4:11-16)

In the following passage, the apostle Paul charges his son in the ministry, Timothy, thusly: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:  2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.  3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4: 1-5).

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