Mike Mazzalongo #3 – Elder: Character Profile

Review… Church roles based on responsibility, aptitude, and appointment.

Review… Church leadership rests with Christ

Review… This is not simply an academic exercise.

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word.

and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; - II Timothy 3:15-16

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, - Ephesians 5:25

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church. 3.Elders know how to worship God.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church. 3.Elders know how to worship God. 4.Elders work well with others.

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. - I Corinthians 3:5-6

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. - I Corinthians 3:7-9

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church. 3.Elders know how to worship God. 4.Elders work well with others. 5.Elders know how to make decisions.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. - Acts 15:4-6

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, and they sent this letter by them, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. - Acts 15:22-23

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church. 3.Elders know how to worship God. 4.Elders work well with others. 5.Elders know how to make decisions. 6.Elders are dependable.

Elder: Character Profile 1.Elders accept the Bible as God’s Word. 2.Elders love the church. 3.Elders know how to worship God. 4.Elders work well with others. 5.Elders know how to make decisions. 6.Elders are dependable. 7.Elders are empathetic.

When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship. - Acts 20:36-38

Next Lesson: Specific Qualifications of Elders