1 Timothy 3:1-2 | Episode # 1200

May 22, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

1 Timothy 3:1-2

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive, where we apply God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama, on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like to sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes, where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life, that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today. Word of God, please speak to the hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Foreign. Now let me give you some. Now remember, if we're going to study chapter three, we got to study it in its context, which means you got to remember what's already been said. Okay? And so. So then it's going to inform you greatly about how. Because he's fixing to talk about something that's real important. He's going to talk about qualifications for doing ministry. Okay, he's going to talk about qualifications for doing ministry. Now, there's a couple things I need to teach. First of all, when we deal with qualifications, I want you to hear me. When we deal with qualifications for ministry, they must be present tense qualifications. Now, I want you to hear that because it's important. Why? Because everybody before the blood of Jesus is disqualified. All right? So you can take a person that's disqualified, and over a short period of time of spiritual growth, they can become highly qualified. Are you following me? And then they can wander away like the prodigal son and they may become disqualified, meaning they're not acting like they. They're not meeting the qualifications, and then repent and become qualified again. Okay, now that. That's an important understanding, because if you remove the grace of God and the mercy of God from the qualifications, you're going to end up disqualifying everybody. And what gets so ugly about it is you're disqualified in some way anyway, and you're going to focus on the things that make you qualified and not focus on the things that make you disqualified. Okay, like I may have, out of a list of 10 things I may be really good at five, somewhat good at three, terrible at one, and just. I ain't even doing one. I'm just out, okay? But if I major on the five, minor on the three, and don't discuss the other two, well, I seem like I'm qualified as I can possibly be, right? All right? That's not how it works. And so these qualifications are present tense. And the teaching I'm about to give you is going, if you're from any of the areas, the denominationalists, the Pentecostalists, even the nerds, okay? If you're from any of those groups, you're not going to like. If you want to live legally about it, you ain't gonna like what I say tonight. I'm just gonna be honest with you, okay? You ain't gonna like it. Because I tend to try to place all of God's word. Focus it on this passage. Now, it's dealing with what is scripturally two offices, okay? One of them is an office that is very amorphous because it has multiple titles in it, multiple names. And you go, well, why does it have multiple names? Because if really, if you think about all the names that we use for it, if you only used one of the names, it would really not identify all the responsibilities of the position. Just like if God. If we only had one name of God, then we would only know really one aspect of God. God's got hundreds of names because there's more than just one human word that can describe God, and that gives us an understanding of God. Likewise, for the office of. I'm going to just use the word pastor because we use the word pastor, okay? For the office of pastor, there are five words that are used interchangeably in the New Testament. The other word is the word decana, or the word we get deacon from, okay? Deacon's a transliteration of that word. And what you go, why do we have transliteration? Usually because they didn't want to use the term like Angelos, they wanted to make angels, something mystical, rather than identifying them as messengers from God, meaning they are ambassadors to God for us. And so they use the word Angelo. Angelos or baptism is one of them, for sure. Baptismo means to immerse. Well, if they'd have translated the original Bibles into immersion, said he was John the immerser, they'd all lost their heads. So they just said, well, let's just call it baptism, okay? And that's what they did. All right? And so this word is best translated minister or servant, okay? And that's what decana means. It means a minister. All right, so you have this office called pastor. Now, the office called pastor uses. Well, it's the word episcopy here. And it's used interchangeably in Scripture. I just want to give it to you so you can go back and think through it when, when you have time. These words are used interchangeably in the New Testament. Overseer, elder, bishop, shepherd, pastor. Okay, you go. Well, how is that so? Well, the, the. The word pastor and shepherd are used interchangeably In Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11, Bishop and overseer are used interchangeably as if it's the same position describing the same word. In Philippians 1:1, he actually describes himself as that. Okay. As a bishop and an overseer. Elder. James 5:14 and Acts 15, the title of elder is used interchangeably with these other four. Okay? And elder is found in the Apostle Paul. And by the way, one of the best ways to translate episcopy, which is the word we're using here, is elder. Okay? All right. Acts 20:17, 35. Paul speaks to the leaders at the church of Ephesus, calling them elders and overseers in different contexts, emphasizing the role as leaders and overseers of the church. All right, Titus 1:5:9. Paul gives qualifications for elders, which are often used interchangeably as pastors or overseers. All right, so we got elders and overseers, pastors and overseers. Notice how the words are being used interchangeably. First, Peter 541-514. Peter instructs the elders to shepherd the flock of God, which is the term used interchangeably with pastor and overseer. Shepherd is used interchangeably with pastor and overseer. Okay. Notice the passages indicate that there is a position of leadership, a spiritual position of leadership. That's important. Okay? And so when we get to chapter three, he's going to give the qualifications for that. Now we understand what the qualifications are, that they're present tense qualities that are necessary for a person to function in this role. Well, now, don't you hear me? Because it's very important that you get this, because some people will say to a person, and I'm teaching this for the future, for people to hear this in the future. And for the people here, some people say, well, he disqualified himself from ministry, or she disqualified herself from ministry. I want you to hear me. The call of God, which would be a call to one of these positions, comes from the throne of God. And the giftings which enable the call come from God. So there's a gift, there's giftings, and there's a call. And everybody has a call on their life. And everybody has an anointing, and everybody has a gifting, and every person has a ministry. You following me? All right, the Bible says that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable or without repentance. And you go, well, why two words? Well, without repentance is a spiritual, an Old Testament idea, which means God doesn't relent from it. All right? The call of God is irrevocable. That's a legal term. It's a New Testament idea, which means once God sets it out, he will not pull it back, he will not revoke it. Okay? Now, understanding that if I'm called and I'm gifted and now I'm disqualified, that means that it would have to mean that God's call and gifting is being revoked or he is repenting from it, all right? So when we deal with people who may have disqualified themselves at some point in time in some way, remember, these are qualifications that are present tense, okay? Then we're saying that there's no way for them to get back to the gift and call of God, which means by functionality, God has revoked them. That's not biblical, okay? There's no way to get there with that, all right? And you say, well, he don't need to be a pastor right now, okay? Or she don't need to be over that ministry anymore for this time period, all right? Maybe so. You might be right. Okay. All right? But remember, we got to deal with each one individually and we got to realize. And we got to always deal with it with grace. We gotta always deal with it with grace. Because in the dealing with it with grace, what we're doing is we're giving God a chance to glorify himself in a situation, okay? Because the main reason human beings glorify God is that we were broken, we're redeemed, and we're able to do God's stuff in these broken lives that we live, all right? Now if God can't do that, then we need to all go home and just not come back anymore, okay? Because if he can't do that, then there is no redemption and he's not God just being real with you. So that's very important in understanding when you start going into these, because then it gives you the opportunity to allow the grace of God to be at work at your life and hone your qualifications so that your qualifications make you more powerful, make more powerful qualities in your life which God can use. That's why I can tell anybody who walks in this building, anybody who walks into this building, no matter how bad you've been, no matter how terrible you are, no matter. And I'm the chief. As Paul said last week, he's the chief of. The chief of the sinners, okay? I'm the worst of them, all right? I can say to them that God can redeem you to the highest place. Now, if he can't do that, then we. We have a message that's. That's empty. And if he can do that, then he can do that with all. With all. And, boy, if you don't understand that, I. I just don't know, you know, that's where my chicken's buttered. You know what I'm talking about? I mean, that's some good stuff. No, I like chicken. Buttered chicken, you know, dripping with butter. Chicken. And put them on the mashed potatoes and runs off in there. I don't know. I already ate tonight. I got no reason to talk like that. All right, this is a faithful saying, meaning. This is a word of faith. Okay? Now this is something I've had to wrestle with. I've already told you I had to wrestle with. If a man desires the position of bishop, episcopy, overseer, elder, pastor, shepherd, whatever word you want to use, it's used interchangeably. All of them point to an. And pastor. That looks like a. That looks like Episcopal Church. We ain't no Episcopals. Okay, okay. Well, just letting you know Episcopal came from somewhere. All right? John the Baptist wasn't Baptist either. Okay, if that hurts your feelings, all right, you followed me. It's just the way it goes. I mean, Baptists are like John the Baptist, but it's not the same Baptist. Okay? All right. He says here. He says here a bishop then must be blameless. All right? Now, I want you to hear me. That doesn't mean that he ain't never done nothing wrong. That means the word for blameless means somebody's coming and binding them up, making them bound up. That's the idea of this picture here. He's. Which means he ain't bindable anymore. Meaning that the. The schemes of the enemy are not effective on him to cause him to do things that he shouldn't be doing. All right? That's what blameless means. It doesn't mean that you're not. Don't. That the enemy can't come along and blame you, all right? In fact, the enemy's going to keep on doing it. You did this in the past and you just can't do it no more. You're out. All right? And if you don't think the devil does that, in your back of your mind, he does you. Sorry, you can't say that you can't do nothing for God anymore. You're out. All right? But remember, the qualifications are now, am I blameless now? Is it hard for the enemy? Get me. Get me in a bind. He can't spider monkey me. Okay? Can't happen. All right, the husband of one wife. Now, I want you to notice. You go, well, Pastor. Pastor, why are you using them words? Okay, because that is gune and anay. I mean, yeah, aner and gun, the same word that we just used, notice. It's in the same book. So when I use those, rather than man and woman, would I be right to use it? Yeah, because he uses it literally a few verses later. All right, A pastor has to be the husband of one wife. Okay. Some people translate that the man of one woman, which would that be right, too? Yeah, it means that he's the man of one woman. He ain't got two women. Okay. I heard a comedian say one time is. He's hilarious. I love comedians. I don't know if y' all know that or not, but I love them because they take the. They take the most absurd things that go on in our society, and they just point them out. He said he was a good Christian boy. He couldn't be a Muslim. He couldn't have three or four wives. All he needed was a wife and a girlfriend. He'd be good to go. He's a good Christian boy. Just busted out laughing because it's funny. But you can't disqualify a person who. A man who, who, who, who, who has more than one woman. Or it could be multiple wives. But, but the principles deeper than that. Okay, we're not. You can't be a polygamist. That would fall in this thing here, too. It'd be one of the things you'd say, he can't be a polygamist, but he also can't have a girlfriend. That would disqualify him. Okay, all right. Or he can't have two girlfriends if he's not married. And that goes on in the church, too. Am I right? Don't. It would mean he would be disqualified. All right, now you're going, well, Pastor, what about women? Hold on. We get. We don't get to that. Now, what's interesting is the next two words are actually in the. In the Greek. The words used are better or you would almost swap them in your understanding. He's got to be temperate, which means he, he is sober minded. Okay? All right. Which means he does nothing he does causes him to be unsober. All right? Now you can use that in the, in the term of alcohol, but you might use that also in drugs. He is always of a sound mind. All right. Not only that, the next word is sober minded, which it means. I don't know why we translate it this way. It's the. I'm just being honest with you. In, in, in studying Timothy over the years, and I've studied a lot because I'm a pastor. Why we use translate it these two words opposite, I don't know. But sober minded doesn't mean not, not drunk. It doesn't mean that. It means not emotional. So I'm supposed to be clear headed and my thinking can't be ruled by my emotions. Okay, so that's. Now listen, every man in the room is not clear thinking all the time or not emotional all the time. So what he's saying is, is when you think about this person, he's level headed and he's not emotional in his decision making. What if I found him on the, you know, basketball court and my dad one time was playing, he loved, used to love playing basketball at the Southeast wide. Montgomery played at 6 o' clock in the. Eventually he got his pastor to start coming to play. And there was another pastor that had been playing with him for five years. First time his pastor came there, my dad got fouled and he took the ball and slammed it to the ground and cussed. And he said, oh, I can't say that. My pastor's here. The other pastor looked at him, says, what am I? Swiss cheese? Chocolate cheese? I mean, you've been cussing in front of me fast last five years. You know, it's just ridiculous. All right? What he's talking about is talking about not, not being emotional. Not being emotional. I'll be real with you. That's why I quit watching college football, okay? Because I cannot be emo. I cannot not be emotional when I'm watching it. I'd be honest with you, if that defensive end don't hold the corner, I'm gonna cuss. I just better off not watching it. You with me. If the, if the guard doesn't push off and catch the linebacker coming through the hole when he's right there coming at you, I have, I have a conniption fit, all right? I do. I mean, I lose my mind. I need to be sober Minded and self controlled, not emotional. Right? Okay, well, if I can't do that watching football, I need to be watching football and I can't. If I don't care about the team, I can, I can enjoy it. I just say, well, he just missed that altogether. He terrible. If Alabama guard does it, then I lose my mind, okay? So I can't do it just being real with you. I can't. I disqualify myself on Saturday. How can I disqualify myself on Saturday and then come in qualified? That's just a real question. How can I walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit and not walk in it the day before? He says a bishop then must be blameless. Husband of one wife, temperate, sober, minded, of good behavior. Now you go, well, Pastor, what does that mean? Good behavior act right. All right. Hospitable meaning sorry. You can't just sit there and be quiet and not talk to people. If you're going to be. If you're going to be a leader, a pastor, a shepherd or bishop or Episcopal, whatever, you got to talk, you got to be welcoming to people. You got to be hospitable. If you're not hospitable, you're not asking in qualification. He says able to teach. He didn't say good at it. He just says, you got to be able to speak teach. What do you mean? What does that mean then? Well, you got something to say, you got a spiritual truth to be given. Remember, prophecy is the relating of spiritual truths in all forms and fashions. Well, if you're going to be prophetic, if you're going to speak spiritual things, then you need to speak spiritual things. And that may take. I may take all kinds of forms, okay? That may work itself out in all kinds of ways, but you got to be able to do it. And if you're not willing to do it, if you don't ever aren't able to express spiritual truth, you're disqualified. Because you got to speak them don't mean you have to be great. Look, I got onto the third grade, the theologians, am I right? There's nothing wrong with a third grade theologian. If they're looking to be go to the fourth grade. If they want to stay in the third grade. Big problem with the alo. Third grade theologians, okay? There's going to be a lot of men that got it. You got to go through third grade theology, you get to fourth grade theology, you can't get your PhD until you go to college. Okay? Just the way it goes. So you better be growing. And as you're growing, you're going to have things to say. Don't have to say a lot. Don't have to say them necessarily well, but you need to say them. And let me tell you, a man called by God to function in the office of pastor or shepherd who says something spiritual has great power and great influence. And they don't always have to say a whole lot to get there. As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.