God's Ordination Through Men's Hands Roy Austin 6-4-23

Foreign thank you [Music] very much [Music] foreign thank you foreign good morning church oh man good morning church can y'all hear me okay this is Mike eight by the way can y'all hear me okay no a couple of you yeah turn it up turn there you go all right hey there we go all right hey it's good to see you here at First Baptist Church my name is Cody I'm the pastor here and if you were new Welcome to our church be sure to fill out one of those connection cards that's in one of the chairs in front of you good news today I am not preaching and so just kidding actually we have brother Pastor from First Baptist Church in Iberia that's Roy Bryant that's going to be preaching today because we have ordination today and ordination is a processed that has taken at least for our deacons a year for Austin over two years and what we've been doing is just developing them into leaders and what we do is we ordain for Gospel Ministry and at the end of the service if you are ordained and you want to come up and just lay hands on these men that God has placed in the leadership in our church during the response time that's how we are going to respond and so if you are an active or an inactive Deacon or perhaps you've you've been emissions and things like that and you were wanting to come alongside these guys it'll be a really special time Roy is going to be praying over Austin Steve is going to be praying over brother Tom over there we've got is Spencer here I didn't see Spencer this morning oh he's greeting of course he's greeting so I'll be I'll be praying over him and

Where's Jim there you are he's going to be praying over Craig and so it's just a really special time in the meantime we've got a whole bunch of stuff that's coming up I don't know if we got so many people that are here that aren't a part of our email list it's a really great way it's just once week email sometimes or vid there's a video sometimes there's not but it's a great way to stay in the loop on all the things that are happening in the life and Ministry of our church one of those things is tomorrow night is women on Mission and women on mission is they get together they talk about missions they do missions activities they're educated on missions they bring in speakers about missions it's a really wonderful way for you to as a woman be equipped and empowered to know about missions and that's 6 30 tomorrow night they're gonna be packing bags for the Youth World Changers trip that's taking place at the end of this month and so be sure to talk with one of those ladies that's in leadership if you want to be bring something for that or if you just want to show up and help pack bags that's okay too we have registration for vacation Bible school that's up get your kids registered I know that we're already deep into it of course we've got a couple we got like over 100 kids over here on we care that are going to be registered a bunch of kids from the community it's gonna be great time child dedication is next Sunday so if you've never dedicated your children talk to me about it okay we want to get you in here to pray over your child to dedicate them to the Lord it's good process that we and it's a good thing to do and we get that from the book of First Samuel and we can talk about that also we got baby dedication next not baby dedication baby shower next week and that's for Rachel Taylor right over here we're so excited to celebrate that

Baby with you and when's that baby due August 10th and then we got the gust of sins that's also due sometime during that time we just had a baby shower for them and we're making babies here at First Baptist Church and so praise the Lord Joy group is at the end of this month you can register for that up until the 25th of this month also I received a note on Thursdays during the school year padeo homeschool Co-op uses our facility and they just wanted to tell you thank you so much for opening up their this facility to them we got 115 120 150 I'm sorry I messed that up that are that are active here in our paidea Co-op they also gave a good check for us that goes towards things like keeping the lights on and things like that and so very appreciative for their Ministry and empowering us to meet a desperate need in our community and that's what we're all about amen we're all about loving God loving each other and loving our community and world now you might be looking around you might go you know I don't I haven't gotten a chance to say good morning to that person or I haven't seen that person yet if you could maybe just stand up stretch your legs look at that neighbor and say welcome to First Baptist Church thank you foreign thank you all right well it's good to see you here this morning and this is a portion of our service where we just spend time preparing our hearts for corporate worship now over the last couple of well months year really we've been doing this for a while and I think that's important for us to clarify something real quick worship is

Not just what happens between the hours of 10 30 and noon on Sundays amen in other words when we when we prepare our hearts for corporate worship it's just naturally a time for us to sit and reflect on all the things that the Lord Our God has done in our lives and maybe maybe there's just some stresses that you're dealing with or maybe there's just some heartaches or things like that this is the time for you to just get your heart ready for corporate worship it's just natural overflow of the things that you've been doing in your Christian walk over the past week and so if you would just bow your head and close your eyes and take time to thank the Lord that you don't just Worship the Lord for an hour on Sundays but every single day we are called to be worshipers of God perhaps there is something that you need to surrender to the Lord or take to the something like that why don't you just take some time and ask and invite the Lord into that situation and so God we do thank you so much for this time that we get to just prepare our hearts and our minds Lord help us to be more intentional especially throughout the week as we have different jobs and responsibilities and things vying for our attention Lord give you the best Lord of our affections Lord we pray that we would know you that not just on Sunday mornings that as we gather and we sing We just pretend like things are fine Lord we know that you don't desire the pretending or anything like that you desire our true hearts and our true affections and so I just I pray for this congregation here that today Lord that you would work on our hearts as we talk about calling today and surrounding ourselves with people that

Affirm that Lord help us God to always seek out your approval first and foremost above everything else or constantly saying God are you pleased with me and in my life Lord if there's areas even in my own heart God please just burn those things away cut them out of my life and I pray that for my brothers and my sisters here Lord that we would just be conformed into the image of Christ and I pray that today our worship is pleasing to you and that you find such Delight in it we love you in Jesus name amen I'd like to read you out of the first chapter of the book of Ephesians it says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as Sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious Grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved in him we have Redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished Upon Us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to Hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him you also when you heard the truth the Gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the

Promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory I'd invite you to stand and join us as we sing together thank you [Music] go [Music] comes in glorify Our God the father of our Lord in Christ Tierney Realms His blessings on us board for pure and blameless in his sight he's destined us to be [Music] and now we've been adopted through his son eternally [Music] to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the praise of your glory you are the saves come praise and glorify Our God who gives his grace in Christ our sins are washed away redeemed through sacrifice in him God has the mystery of his will that Christ should be the head of all his purpose to [Music] to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the praise of your glory you are the God who saves come praise and glorify Our God for we believe the word and through our faith we have a seal the spirit of the Lord the spirit guarantees Our Hope until redemption's done until we join in Endless praise to God the three in one [Music] of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the praise of your glory you are The God Who is saved to the praise to the praise of your glory

The praise of your mercy and grace to the praise of your glory you are the God who saves he's the God who saves amen that's who we worship this morning [Music] alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin lost without hope with no place to begin Your Love made a way to let Mercy come in when death was arrested and my life began [Music] Ash was redeemed only Beauty remains my earthing heart was given a name my morning grew quiet my feet Rose to dance when death was arrested and my life began oh your grace so free washes over me you have made me new now life begins with you it's your end less love pouring down on us you have made us new now life begins with you [Music] release from my chains I'm a prisoner no more my shame was Ransom he Faithfully more he canceled my daddy he called me his friend when death was arrested and my life began oh your grace so free Watches Over Me made me new now life begins with you it's your Endless Love pouring down on us you have made us new now life begins with you [Music] Our Savior displayed on a criminal's cross Darkness rejoiced as though Heaven had lost but then Jesus rose with our freedom in hand that's when death was arrested and my life began oh your grace oh your grace so free watches over me you have made me new now life begins with you

[Music] it's your Endless Love pouring down on us who had made us new now like be ings with you oh we're free oh we're free forever sorry if you're free forever amen When Death was arrested and my life began oh we're free forever we're free come join the song of all the reading yes we're free forever amen When Death was arrested and my life began when death was arrested and my life began when death was arrested and my life began he has called us out of death and into life and that's why we celebrate this morning you can be seated as the rushers come forward to take the offering let's pray dear Lord we thank you for this wonderful day this nice weather we've had we thank you for everything that you've done for us and we hope that we can focus on you and remember that it's all for you everything that we do in Jesus name amen as we continue to worship this morning you're welcome to stay seated or to stand or to kneel in prayer or do whatever you need to do to worship [Music] thank you I hear the Savior say thy strength indeed is small child a weakness Watch and Pray find in me thine all in all Jesus Paid It all to him [Music] sin had left her Crimson Stain he washed in white as snow [Music] Lord now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the Heart of Stone Jesus Paid it

Off all to him sin had left a Crimson Stain he washed it White and snow for nothing could have I whereby thy Grace to claim I wash my garments white in the blood of calvary's lamb Jesus Paid It All to him [Music] sin had left a Crimson Stain he washed it white as snow [Music] snow and when Before the Throne I stand in him complete Jesus died my soul to save my lips shall still repeat Jesus painted all to [Music] sing and left a Crimson Stain he washed it white as snow sin had left a Crimson Stain he washed it wide as snow at this time we're going to enter into what we're we call Family Worship time you can have a seat I just wanted to take a moment and kind of explain what we're going to do once a month we have all of our kids from our children's ministry down in service with us and that's today which we think is awesome and one of the things we try to do to serve families and to serve our children is to give a time and a service for families just to get together and talk about Jesus that's pretty good isn't it yeah so if you wouldn't mind to pull up that's green Dale so over here there's going to be kind of a prompt for you to work off of I'd invite you to get up from where you are move around families this is a great opportunity for you to move to be

With your family unit to talk about Jesus but guess what we are the family of God that's who we are that is our nature if we are believers so take a moment move to be with your community group move to be with people you don't know people that you don't know people who are new here take a moment just to move yourself to be with others and to discuss the work of Jesus thank you foreign thank you anymore it is [Music] Jesus is my life let's sing that again Hallelujah all I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus Is My Life I once was lost in Darkest Night yet thought I knew the way the sin that promise joy in life had led me to the Grave I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will and if you had not loved me first I would review still but as I read my Hellbound race indifferent to the cost you looked upon my help estate and led me to the cross and I beheld God's love displayed you suffered in my place you bore the Wrath reserved for me now all I know is Grace Hallelujah heavy is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life now Lord I would be yours alone [Music] in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only most easier

[Music] all I have is Christ Jesus is my [Music] life has he seen my life Hallelujah all I have is Christ [Music] Jesus Is My Life Lord help us to be true disciples help us to follow you help us to give everything over to you because Lord it's yours Lord help us use our ransomed lives in any way you choose you have purchased us with your blood Lord help us to serve Faithfully it's in Jesus name we pray amen well if we're getting kiddos that would like to come up here and I got to our children's ministry lesson today yes thank you honey I really do appreciate that come on buddy all right yeah come on up here guys come now can anyone tell me what the Bible is what is the Bible yes Miss Sophia the Bible is God's word it's what we call the word of God now in Psalm 119 a guy who wrote that we call him a psalmist right in Psalm 119 it says this how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth you guys like honey I love honey you like caramel honey normal honey okay that makes much more sense and so I asked I was thinking what is the best part about God's word if we know that God's word if the Bible is the word of God and it's sweeter than honey what is the very best part about God's word what do you think

What is the best part about it what's your favorite part about God's word how about that he died on the cross for our sins that's a good answer good job in the sound Elise yes Lily that he gives us eternal life absolutely yeah go ahead David and Goliath is a really great story all right two more you can always point to it something there yes Mr Jace that he loves us no matter what how wonderful is that Chloe you want to contribute to one more jump on the whale Jonah and the whale that's great you know the my favorite part about God's word is all of that you know it's that it helps me know what God's desires and God's plan is for my life it also helps me know what makes makes him happy what makes him what brings him Joy you know because I love the Lord and I love because he loved me and the psalmist and that's the guy that we were talking about he says that God's word is sweet to his taste and that it's sweeter than honey and that means that the psalmist really likes God's word and so it got me to think about some of the things that I like that are sweet now what's your favorite candy come on guys you guys all right what's your favorite candy peanut butter fudge you started out with a heavy hitter there there you go all right what you got for me bud yeah every kind of candy there's not a bad one last one a Hershey's chocolate bar you know I started thinking about that and I started thinking what are some really good things that's really sweet and really good and I know my kids they really love gummies and so I got a whole bunch of these for you guys because I think y'all are pretty special too now before I give

These out I want to tell you about something real quick God's word is better and sweeter to our souls than anything else in this entire universe and so as you go back to your chairs and you open these up and you eat on them and stuff like that one don't leave the trash in the chairs secondly I want you to remember that God's word is better than even these sweet things okay and so as you're sitting there and you're eating on it think about how good God's word is okay can y'all do that for me awesome well let's pray and then I'll invite brother Roy up to the pulpit Lord thank you for each one of these little kids that's here I pray that your peace would be on them and that you would guide them Lord I pray they would know that your word is sweeter than honey and good for our souls God father I pray that these children would know you that they would love you all the days of their lives in Jesus name amen all right y'all go ahead and grab some of those okay there you go all right mind if I set this right next to you at this time I'd like to invite brother Roy up to the stage and to deliver the preaching and the ministry of God's word would y'all just welcome him to First Baptist Church thank you I don't think anybody's ever applauded for me before now for the next two hours we're gonna a few years ago Tom Hanks started a movie all about Fred Rogers I don't know if you remember the how many of you grew up with Mr Rogers Neighborhood I'm a little older than some of you so I grew up with Mr Rogers we watched it all the time on PBS and Mr Rogers as they were studying for the role and going through all of the things that takes to put the put the movie together they realized that Mr Rogers

Was Mr Rogers so where he was off screen same guy on screen he was never any different when he was little he was bullied we would call it today he just says teased but he was overweight he was often sick often missed school and so he was teased by his friends he found his soulless his comfort in his God and so in religion in Christ he began to overcome some of the obstacles in his way and that's why he put together the Mr Rogers show it was to teach kids to love and be kind to one another he was later ordained as a presbyterian Minister and that's kind of his he actually has a counseling degree he would wear a different sweater on the show each month did you know that I didn't know if you know that he would take a different sweater his mom knitted those sweaters one per month for him and he would wear them and she until she died one month before she died she was still knitting sweaters for Fred Rogers so he wore his mom's sweaters on the show he also trusted her color choice because he was colorblind so Fred Rogers had lots and lots stacked against him but he found a Solas in Christ his ordination went to somebody that was behind us or in front of the scene somebody that we would least expect to be a leader and yet he was ordained as a presbyterian Minister and led many children to know what it means to follow Christ even without uttering the Gospel much on his show behind the scenes while no one was looking God was there proving and improving Fred Rogers you have candidates today who are being ordained and they're not just being ordained to eldership or to any kind of specific office although I think they have specific offices the ordination here is a blanket ordination which is a good one we should ordain those who are going to lead in various ways you and I may have

Meant essential Parts in our lives but God is shaping them always ordination has some distinct meanings and we often think of it in two forms first ordination means to order or decree now we think of this when we think of God ordains all things whatsoever come to pass in other words God is the ordainer of the things he decrees them to come to pass as they come to pass you may not like it all but God's the one who is in charge of all things that's the con that's the first kind that we have the first kind of ordination we have the second kind is ordination to Holy service Catholic priests Protestant ministers deacons service group leaders and others share in this form of ordination and today we celebrate that kind of organ ordination as a microcosm of the grander ordination of God over all things and over the men over the lives of men the churches was given the power to ordain by the apostles they were the ones who built the church on the foundation not of Peter but on the foundation of Christ and Jesus commissioned the apostles to go into the world and preach the Gospel this would lead to new churches and new church leaders We Gather today on the shoulders of those who have gone before teaching teaching us to follow the teachings of Christ and just like Timothy was told train up men who will in turn train up other men that's what ordination is all about so let us look at one of the very first instances of ordination in the Bible if you turn in your Bibles or on your phones or wherever you have your Bible app or you might even have that really rare paper Edition where you can actually turn the pages and look at it to Numbers Chapter 27. Beginning in verse 15 it says this Moses spoke to the Lord saying

Let the Lord the God of the spirits of All Flesh appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them who shall lead them out and bring them in that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no Shepherd so the Lord said to Moses take Joshua the son of nun a man who in whom is the spirit and lay your hand on him make him stand before Eliezer the priest and all the congregation and you shall commission him in their sight you shall invest him with some of your Authority that all the congregation of the people of Israel May obey and he shall stand before Elijah the priest who shall inquire for him by the Judgment of urum before the Lord at his word they shall go out and at his word they shall come in both he and all the people of Israel with him the whole congregation and Moses did as the Lord commanded he took Joshua and made him stand before Eliezer the priest and the whole congregation and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses this is a simple passage to Exige to take apart it's pretty self-explanatory Moses is coming to the end of his life and he will not be able to lead the people into the promised land we already know that God has cut him off in the next few chapters he's going to go up into the mountains and Moses will be no more if Moses leads with no leads with no one else in charge the Bible says here that the people will be like sheep without a shepherd and so Moses still yearning for the people to follow God asks God to set up another leader so Joshua is chosen Joshua is given the authority of Moses so that he can lead a congregation now here the congregation means all of Israel and he stands before the congregation so

That the congregation recognizes who Joshua is what power is in store is given to him and what he is to do he's not only standing before the congregation but he stands before the high priest Eliezer and the idea is that all of the congregation and all of what God has instilled on the congregation would know that Joshua was the leader so we come to a time of commissioning of ordination here in your church and we're doing much the same thing we look at men who have grown up have grown up in the faith have been tried and tested and then we lay our hands on them and we give them authority to lead not we me I'm not part of your church but your congregation together gives them Authority so we can take away a few ideas out of this passage as we negotiate our way through ordaining these men for service the first is only God truly consecrates only God truly consecrates in the first few verses of Numbers chapter 27 Moses speaks to God Moses doesn't decide on his own who will lead Moses inquires of God well why because God's hand enables leaders Moses didn't seek the counsel of men but God this is not to say that men did not advise Moses or that Moses did not seek Godly wisdom we know that he did his father-in-law Jethro had asked him to set up other people to help him judge over Israel so we know there were others that Moses conferred with but God did speak with Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend according to Exodus so you and I are not Moses it behooves us to think of ordination not from the our point of view but from God's from God's point of view as the one who ordains all things whatsoever come to pass Moses relied on God and so should

We that seems simplistic but it is the way the Gospel works leaders hands endorse in the New Testament the Apostle the apostles commissioned Paul and Barnabas John Mark Matthew Matthias Paul writes to Timothy reminding him to seek Godly men it is leaders who endorse other are gathering here this morning is more than just a formality your church will soon endorse what you see as the hand of God doing something in these men's lives that sets them apart for service in other words the church asks for God's Direction in revealing leaders for commissioning then as the Lord reveals who these people are you the church endorse what God has done in your midst and your leaders like Moses lay hands on the candidates pray over them and ordain them to go and practice the ministry to which God has chosen them yes only God truly ordains but God chooses to use the local church and her leaders to confirm and endorse what God has already done I think it's really amazing that you can say these candidates have been a year in the making or two years in the making that means they've been tried and tested that you're not going through this lightly and only congregations truly Commission in numbers 27 beginning in verse 18 we find them we find the people standing before this new leader Joshua now I'm sure they knew him Joshua was mighty in battle but the congregation had not endorsed him as leader I remember back several years ago there was a First Baptist Church of Arnold had a pastor who had been there for some 30 plus years now he win the next Pastor was coming along he asked the congregation to get permission for him to seek out a man that he could trade train and put under his wing for about five years that man's name was Kenny Qualls who is now the

Pastor at First Baptist Church of Arnold and the transition was incredible almost no bumps in the road because they had taken a man from within grew him up into leadership and made him the leader over the church the church endorsed him the church was the one who put him in charge the duty of the congregation then after ordaining you're not going to like this one but it's obedience I know we don't like the word when we're kids when your parents said obey we always well I always did exactly what was right when what are you guys laughing at when my youth pastor Ray Chapman who's sitting on the second row said this is the way we're going to do it I always did it yeah see obedience is the call of a congregation but when congregations respond to the Lord's leading and appoint leaders then those same congregants are responsible and obliged to obey their leaders listen to the words from Hebrews 13 17 obey your leaders pretty clear and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account let them do this with joy and not groaning for that would be of no advantage to you may think this is some sort of proof text that I'm using this morning but it's not it is the Gospel centered it's what they do what congregations you are Gospel-centric do when they ordain leaders they commit themselves to obedience to those same leaders congregations obey their leaders obey deacons As Leaders of concern in the Bible we are often told that Deacon means table waiter and so you read these words in the book of Acts where there are pointing the first deacons and you go table waiter I get it they're just table waiters but that's not what the word Deacon means what

Deacons do is they minister to the church so that those who are Elders who are handling the word of God and preaching to their congregations have the time to handle the word of God it would be great I think Cody if on Sunday morning you've had an entire week without a break where you could just study study study so that you could get up and actually preach from a filled heart but that's almost impossible in Baptist Churches because we don't do plurality of Elders well I hope you're doing it here and deacons don't deep well deacons think that they are table waiters and they show up when it's time to wait tables but deacons are made to lead in service that's their job they lead out and service and Lead others to serve the duty of the congregation is also observation which you've done over the past couple of years the congregation should observe those they ordain in at least two ways first they should observe the consignment and by now you should know that I'm an alliterator so consignment's just a fancy word for me it's power that is passed from one leader to the next like a baton and a long relay race leaders continue to lead others to lead and then the congregation is to observe the charge the whole congregation should have should observe the charge given in ordination the affirmation of the congregation seals the deal so to speak when it comes to ordaining new ministers God's Commission of individuals by means of the church demonstrates God's great power to sovereignly assign people to leadership within the church Cody do you ever feel like that's way far away over there so they observed the charge and that's what you're doing this morning

Next only leaders truly confirm in numbers 27 beginning in verse 22 and Moses did as the Lord commanded he took Joshua he made him stand before Eliezer and the whole congregation and he laid his hands on him the word commonly used in the practice of laying on hands in Hebrew is say mac the word you the word juice occurs most often in connection with the sacrificial system now I don't know how much Cody's talked to you about sacrifice but I'm sure it's come up several times because you're Gospel-centric but the idea is you take an animal usually a sheep and you take it to be slaughtered for the sin of yourself for the sins of your family and what the father would do they'd go through the outer courts where the Gentiles were they'd go through the courts of the women and they go through the courts of men they take it to the court of the Levites and they would lay their hand on the top of the head of the Sheep and they would say some things they would talk back and forth with the priests but the whole idea was all of my sin now rests on this sheep the leader the levite would slit the throat drain the blood and kill the sheep on behalf of the person who brought the sacrifice the idea of laying on hands was conferring my sin to the Sheep so that my sin could be atoned for obviously not a very perfect system because as Martin Luther would later find out he left the confessional only to think of thought and they think I need to go back and confess because now I've sinned again and I can imagine those Hebrews going into the court slitting this throat of a of an animal or ringing the neck of a bird and then walking out and going oh no I've sinned again I've got to get another sacrifice

So that's the first type of laying on hands that's when it's most commonly used but here's the deal only a perfect sacrifice will do for sin Martin Luther found that out he looked in the book of Romans and he's reading through chapter one and he comes to this place the righteous shall live by faith alone or by faith and so Martin Luther begins to investigate and finds that placing your faith and trust in the only perfect one was his only solution to his sin problem only a perfect life lived by A Perfect human can actually substitute for you and I in other words we could lay our hands on all the sheep in the world and we'd still have sin left over but if somebody lives perfectly on our behalf then we can lay on him our sin only a perfect life that knew no sin could rightly bear God's justice and die under the weight of God's Wrath as a substitute and only Jesus did that only a perfect sacrifice could be honored with Resurrection from the dead and bestow that same Resurrection on those who believe and only Jesus did that so those who Trust In Christ Alone by faith alone through grace alone finds salvation and peace with the God they've alienated by their sin that's incredible that's the first type of laying on hands so those who trust in Christ they have sin that is Forgiven and they stand righteous before God you see in life death burial and Resurrection in Jesus God laid his hands and bestowed on us who he bestowed on us three things an alien righteousness perfect Perfection lived out by Jesus but attributed to us an alien purification wrath that was meted out on Christ instead of us and an alien resurrection

Resurrection obtained by Jesus instead of us in other words he did it all and we did nothing and yet we are declared righteous before God because he laid his hands on us that's incredible he may be unclean in a similar way the laying on of Hands by one leader to the next leader it bestows on this new leader certain facets of leadership namely affirmation and assurance leaders lay on hands to confirm calling when a person like Joshua needed affirmation and Acumen the laying on of hands gave both Moses affirmed Joshua's Readiness to follow the call and lead the people and Moses also affirmed Joshua's ability to do that so Moses says two things he says first of all this is the guy and second of all he's perfectly able to do it He Did It Before the congregation so that they too could affirm this new leader and leaders lay on hands confirming Criterion prayer is not the only thing that leaders do in calling candidates to ordination in a moment we're going to lay on hands we're going to pray over candidates and you're going to have probably this is probably the shortest sermon that I've preached in a long time I'm almost done Michelle the candidates are observed by church leaders they've been they've been run through the ringer so to speak so that we know who they are we know what they're like and we can see the leadership potential in them by this point in the ordination process it should be clear that these candidates possess the criteria to be Gospel ministers that's what you're saying today that's what you the congregation are saying through your leadership to those who are called

Whether a person serves as a deacon or an elder or whatever capacity when we ordain them we are saying that we affirm both their ability and their calling in other words what you're saying is we believe they're actually called that's what you're saying in ordination and that they can do the task just like Moses and Joshua the church and its leaders affirm those ordained by the church that they possess the conduct conscience and conviction to serve the Lord as called out ones when the leaders lay their hands on the candidates they are affirming both the calling that these men have and their satisfactory conduct so do you get it do you understand what we're doing this morning it's not merely a ceremony and it's not merely a prayer you are actually instilling on people the ability to lead you and your saying I will obey their leadership that's kind of a scary process or a thing to process when we start to think about what we're actually doing in this service it would be easy for us to stand up here just put our hands on some people send them out and nobody say anything but what I want you to understand this morning is that's not what you're doing what you're doing as a congregation is affirming their calling and their ability to lead would you pray with me father you've given us space space to lead space to understand you and to call leaders from within our own congregations as the Hebrew writer says it makes it a joy to serve and Lead when we have obedient followers I can only imagine what Moses went through

With 40 Years of people who disparaged his every move and then 40 more years where the people were allowed to live and have clothes that didn't wore out wear out have water and food provided and yet still grumbled and complained I pray God that would not be this church I pray that instead we would call out leaders and we continue to build them up in the faith so that they may follow you well and we may go where they lead God help us as we ordain men this morning help us in the task and help us do what you've called us to in Christ and we pray amen this time those who are ordained I think Cody would like to call you up so thank you so much brother Roy and I would like to invite let's see here Spencer and Tom and of course Austin and Craig to come forward as well as our deacons that are active and Steve and Jim yeah just here along the front Spencer I know that you're not being ordained today you've already been ordained but I figured you could use some prayer anyways we love you man all right and Roy I want you to pray over your son as well as well as any others that are ordained in our congregation maybe you just received it at another church and you want to lay hands on these men you come forward and you pray over them and join us Steve I'm going to have you start us out as well and then we'll move down here in Roy you'll close us out sound good all right father we come before you just thankful that you do

And dwell us and you choose those of us that you want to give this ministry of service and Leadership we want to pray specifically right now for Tom thank you for what you've done in his life and what you're going to continue to do in his life we pray that as he serves you in this ministry of being a deacon a servant of the church that he will serve faithfully and we pray that as he serves and as he leads we will recognize that and follow his leadership so we commit him to you in this ministry and thank you for the privilege of doing it father help us to serve alongside him as your body and we thank you for that privilege as well in Christ's name amen father we want to continue praying for Craig and we ask that you would fill him with the knowledge of your will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that as to walk in a manner worthy of you fully pleasing to you bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of you being strengthened with all power according to your glorious might and with all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the father who has qualified Craig to share in the inheritance of the Saints in light he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son Lord I just thank you so much for Spencer and Lord the clear calling that you've placed on his life to serve Lord we entrust him to this service thank you for his faithfulness thank you for his giftings thank you for the blessing that he has been thank you for his wife thank you for his children thank you for his grandchildren Lord It's just such a blessing to know him and I pray II Peter 3 18 over him Lord that he would grow in the grace and the

Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Lord fill his cup may he pass that blessing of a full cup of a relationship with you on to other men thank you Lord for him we just thank you in Jesus name father we lift up Austin to you he knows how serious ordination is and he wants to be the man you've called him to be so I help I pray that you would let him see you as his Shepherd help him to lie down in the abundance that you've given to him may he realize that you're rod and staff are our comfort growing him in faith I pray God that he would dwell in peace and be able to sit before his enemies at a table prepared by you and I pray God that he would never lose sight of your Everlasting Joy that one day he will dwell with you and that he because of your spirit in him will be the instrument to draw others to the faith because God you not only ordain the ends but you ordain the means so I pray for Austin that he would rest in that may he find peace and may He lead well it's in Christ and we pray amen Well church takes some time hug these guys necks you know and we're just so thankful for what the Lord is doing in our church amen I love you Church go in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we'll see y'all later entertainment