installation service for PACCI officers

Here are the notes to my installation service for the Philippine Advent Christian Conference officers, on may 17, 2017.

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29  “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31  “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς – Hold
yourselves accountable!

The word translated “be on guard” is προσέχω which combines the verb “to have or hold” with the preposition for “to”
or “with.” The idea is to hold yourselves as a team to the same standards. That
entails not only keeping yourself strong and mistake free, but also having the
same concern for the other members of your team. I charge you to hold
yourselves to your agreed standards. These include:

• maturity
• integrity
• credibility
• authenticity
• holiness

 

ποιμαίνειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν – Shepherd
the church!

 

A shepherd’s
job description is that he risks his life in
order to…

• feed the flock
• provide rest and security for the flock
• prevent straying from the flock
• restore the lost to the flock

When
Paul told the Ephesian elders to shepherd the church, all of these activities
were implied. So, today I charge you to take on that shepherding responsibility
for the conference and its churches.

 

γρηγορεῖτε τῶν λύκων – Watch out for the wolves!

 

Paul also warned of dangers that the
Ephesian elders would face. There would be dangers from outside the church and
dangers inside the church. Paul described those dangers as wolves.

 

• Wolves
  in wolves clothing

• Antichristian religions

• secularism

• Politicians and parties seeking
  endorsement

• Wolves
  in sheep’s clothing

• movements demanding exclusive loyalty
  and betrayal of others

• theologies watering down the gospel

• philosophies dangerous to the
  conference’s identity

• people seeking to divide and separate
  the conference.