There is a place in the ancient story of Israel called Shiloh. For generations, it served as the central sanctuary of God’s people — a place where sacrifices were offered, where a desperate woman named Hannah poured out her heart in prayer, and where a young boy named Samuel first heard the voice of God. It was a place where heaven touched earth, where grace was extended, where prayers were answered, and where a future was promised through God’s Son, Jesus Christ!

But Shiloh is not just a place on an ancient map. It is a condition of the heart. And the question worth sitting with today is this: Have you been to Shiloh?

When the Word of God Becomes Rare

The third chapter of 1 Samuel opens with a sobering statement. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Visions were infrequent. The spiritual leadership of Israel had grown corrupt. The priests were dishonoring the sacrifices. The people were in decline. And yet, in the middle of that darkness, God had not abandoned his people. He was quietly, faithfully raising up a young servant through whom he would speak.

That contrast is worth pausing over. When the word of God grows rare in a culture, it is not because God has gone silent. It is often because the people entrusted with proclaiming it have grown unfaithful, distracted, or comfortable. And God’s response to that silence is not to abandon his mission. It is to raise up someone willing to carry the message.

This pattern has not changed. The word of God is still the greatest need of every person alive today. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. People in remote villages and people in comfortable suburbs share the same deepest need — not better infrastructure, not more programs, not more impressive religious experiences, but the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The message that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, as Romans 3:23 describes, and that the wages of sin is death, as Romans 6:23 declares, but that Jesus Christ came to bear that judgment in our place, rising from the grave so that all who repent and believe might receive forgiveness and eternal life.

That is the word people are hungry for. That is what makes the word rare when it disappears — and glorious when it returns.

The Cost of Saying Yes

When God called to Samuel in the night, Samuel’s first response was simply to show up. Here I am. He did not know yet what the message would cost him. He did not know that the first word God would entrust to him would be a word of judgment against the very man who had mentored him. When Eli pressed him the next morning to reveal everything God had said, Samuel told him everything and hid nothing.

That is faithfulness. Not the comfortable kind. The costly kind.

There is always a cost to obeying God’s word. James 1:22 challenges us to be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. It is entirely possible to sit under biblical preaching week after week, to affirm the Great Commission intellectually, to believe in missions in theory, and never once cross the street to share the gospel with a neighbor. Jesus himself asked the penetrating question found in Luke 6:46 — why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?

The Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 is not a suggestion for a spiritually elite few. It is a command for every follower of Jesus. Making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded — this is the calling of every person who bears the name of Christ. The missionary is not an exotic category of Christian. Every believer is sent.

Obedience will look different for each person. For some it will mean boarding a plane. For others it will mean knocking on a neighbor’s door, initiating a conversation at work, or praying faithfully for the lost people already in their lives. But it will always require something. It will always cost something. And it will always be worth it.

The God Who Speaks

Here is the most important truth in 1 Samuel chapter three, and it is easy to miss if we focus too much on Samuel. The chapter does not ultimately celebrate what Samuel accomplished. It celebrates the God who spoke. Verse 19 tells us the Lord was with Samuel. Verse 21 closes the chapter by declaring that the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

The word of the Lord was rare at the beginning of the chapter. By the end, God was speaking again. What changed? God raised up a willing servant and began to work through him. The power was never in Samuel. The power was in the God who called him.

This is where our confidence must rest. Not in the abilities of the messenger. Not in the size of a congregation or the resources of an organization. Paul declared in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The same gospel that transforms lives in one language transforms lives in every language. Cultures change. Circumstances change. But the Savior does not change, and neither does his word.

The Question That Remains

Centuries after Samuel, God pointed back to Shiloh as a warning. A history of faithfulness does not guarantee a future of faithfulness. Yesterday’s obedience cannot excuse today’s complacency. The church in every generation must choose again to preach the word, make disciples, and take the gospel to the nations.

So the question returns. Have you been to Shiloh? Not the ancient city. Not a place on a map. But that place of surrender where grace is received, where prayers are finally answered, and where the promise of the Son — Jesus Christ — becomes personal and real.

If you have never placed your faith in Jesus, today is the day. And if you have, the call is the same as it has always been: be a doer of the word, not just a hearer. The fields are ready. The message is true. And the God who spoke at Shiloh is still speaking.

(This past Sunday at Fusion Church, I continued our series from 1 Timothy titled “Set In Order”. This blog post is the synopsis of that sermon. To listen to that sermon, CLICK HERE.)

There is a question worth sitting with before you ever volunteer for anything, sign up for a ministry role, or put your name forward for a position of leadership in the local church. The question is not “What can I do?” The question is “Who am I when no one is looking?”

That distinction matters more than most of us realize. And it sits at the heart of what the New Testament teaches about servant leadership within the body of Christ.

In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 8 through 13, the apostle Paul lays out a series of qualifications for deacons, the recognized servants of the local church. What is immediately striking about his list is where it begins. Not with ability. Not with availability. Not with influence, experience, or even enthusiasm. Paul begins with character. And everything that follows flows from that foundation.

The Office Does Not Create the Servant

Before we examine what Paul says, it helps to understand what a deacon actually is and why the role matters. In Acts chapter 6, a practical crisis arose in the early church. Widows were being neglected. The need was real, the tension was growing, and the unity of the church was at stake. Qualified men were recognized and set apart to address that need, freeing the apostles to remain devoted, as Acts 6:4 describes, to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

That pattern tells us something important. Deacons do not compete with the mission of the church. They strengthen it. They protect unity. They meet needs. They create the conditions in which the gospel can advance without unnecessary friction or distraction.

But here is what Paul wants us to understand clearly: the office does not create the servant. The office recognizes the servant. A man should already be serving, already be faithful, already be trustworthy, before he is ever given a title. The title should follow the testimony, not precede it. As Jesus said in Luke 16:10, one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.

Character Before Competence

Paul describes the deacon as someone who must be dignified, a word that points to a life worthy of respect. From there, he addresses three specific areas: speech, appetites, and money.

A deacon must not be double-tongued, telling one person one thing and someone else another. His word must be reliable. He must not be controlled by substances or appetites of any kind, because a man who cannot govern himself is not yet ready to serve others. And he must not be greedy or dishonest, because deacons will often be trusted with sensitive information, financial needs, and the private struggles of real families.

The point is simple and sobering: before you ask whether a man can do the job, you must ask whether he can be trusted. Ministry places precious things into people’s hands. Character must come before competence.

What You Believe and How You Live Must Agree

Paul adds another layer in verse 9. A deacon must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. The phrase “mystery of the faith” refers to the revealed truth of the gospel, the truth centered on Christ and His redemptive work. A deacon does not necessarily need to be a teacher in the formal sense, but he must know what he believes. And more than that, what he believes must shape how he lives.

The image here is of a restaurant kitchen. The dining room might look spotless. The plating might be beautiful. But if the kitchen behind the scenes is in chaos, none of that presentation means anything. Paul is calling for consistency between the front of the house and the back. Conviction is what a man says he believes. Conscience is whether his life agrees with it. Both tracks must be in place, or the whole thing comes apart.

The Home Is the Testing Ground

Perhaps the most revealing qualification Paul lists is this: a deacon must manage his children and his own household well. He must be a one-woman kind of man, marked by faithfulness and integrity in his marriage.

Why does the home matter so much? Because the church sees you, but your family knows you. They know how you speak when you are frustrated. They know whether your faith follows you through the front door. They know if you are present not just physically, but actually engaged and leading. A man can look polished on Sunday and live in a completely different way the other six days of the week, and his family will know the difference.

Paul is not demanding a perfect household. He is calling for faithful leadership. The man at church and the man at home should be the same man.

Serving Without Applause

Paul closes this passage with something worth pausing over. He says that those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing and great confidence in the faith. Notice what he does not promise. He does not promise recognition, influence, or public praise. He promises something far more durable: honor before God and a deepened confidence in Christ.

Much of what a faithful servant does will never be seen by anyone in the congregation. Visiting the hurting. Meeting needs quietly. Navigating conflict. Protecting unity. These things rarely happen on a platform. But Hebrews 6:10 reminds us that God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have shown for His name in serving the saints. God sees what men miss.

The Servant Who Served First

Every qualification Paul describes ultimately points back to one person: Jesus Christ. In Mark 10:45, Jesus said that He came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. John 13 records Him wrapping a towel around His waist and washing His disciples’ feet. The one who deserved to be served, served. And His greatest act of service was not the basin and the towel. It was the cross.

Christianity does not begin with what we can do for Jesus. It begins with what Jesus has done for us. We do not serve to become Christians. We serve because we are Christians.

That is the foundation everything else is built on. And it is worth examining today, honestly and quietly, whether the life you are living reflects the faith you claim to hold.

This Blog Post comes as a result of our current preaching calendar and study of 1 Timothy. I actually preached this sermon on Sunday, September 13, 2026 at Fusion Church of Madison. If you are completely bored, you can listen and watch HERE.

There is a question that gets asked far too often in the wrong way when a church considers who should lead its people. The question tends to sound like this: “What can this man do?” Can he preach well? Does he have charisma? Does he draw a crowd? These are not entirely irrelevant questions, but they are the wrong starting point. The right question, the one God himself asks, is this: “What kind of man is he?”

The third chapter of 1 Timothy lays out a standard for overseers, elders, and pastors that cuts straight through the noise of personality and platform and goes directly to the heart of the matter. It is a standard rooted in character, and it is not ours to negotiate or lower. The church belongs to Jesus Christ, purchased by his own blood. That means he gets to set the terms for who shepherds it.

A Desire for the Work, Not the Title

Paul opens with something that might seem straightforward but carries a significant distinction. He says in 1 Timothy 3:1 that if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. The key word is task. Not title. Not position. Not platform. Task.

There is a real difference between a man who wants to be called a pastor and a man who wants to do the work of a pastor. Pastoral ministry means teaching the Word, praying for people, confronting error, counseling the hurting, protecting the flock, and carrying burdens that most people never see. It means being present at the funeral home on a Saturday. It means answering the call when grief arrives without warning. It means picking up the towel, not reaching for the crown.

A genuine desire for the work shows up before any formal recognition arrives. The man who is truly called is already serving, already caring, already feeding others from what God has given him. He is not waiting for a title to begin. He has already begun.

Character That Holds Up Under Pressure

From desire, Paul moves immediately to character, and the list he provides in verses two and three is comprehensive by design. An overseer must be above reproach, faithful in marriage, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not quarrelsome, and free from the love of money. He must instead be gentle.

Look at the breadth of what that covers. His sexuality. His thought life. His appetites. His relationships. His temper. His finances. In other words, a shepherd must govern himself before he can govern anything else. A man who cannot keep his own life in order has no business ordering the lives of others.

Talent can build a platform quickly. But character is what determines whether a man can remain on that platform. A gifted communicator who lacks godly character is not qualified to shepherd God’s people, no matter how compelling his delivery. Galatians 5 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit includes gentleness and self-control. These are not optional add-ons for ministry. They are foundational requirements.

Think of it like a foundation beneath a house. When the foundation is off, the cracks will eventually appear. They may be plastered over temporarily, but the weight of the structure will keep pressing down, and the damage will keep returning. The only real solution is to go back to the foundation and get it right.

A Man of the Word

Paul specifies in verse two that an overseer must be able to teach. This is the only skill-based qualification on the list, and it carries enormous weight given the context. False teachers were troubling the church at Ephesus. Timothy needed to identify men who could not only recognize error but faithfully explain and defend the truth.

A shepherd must know God’s Word well enough to understand it, explain it, apply it, and protect it. God’s people need to be fed, and compassion alone cannot feed them. A shepherd who loves his sheep but cannot find the green pastures has left his flock to starve. The church does not need storytellers or motivational speakers. It needs men who can open Scripture and say with confidence, “This is what God has said.”

The Home as the Proving Ground

In verses four and five, Paul makes a move that surprises some people. He says that a man’s home is the test of his fitness for leadership. If he cannot manage his own household well, how can he care for God’s church?

This is not a demand for perfect children. No father can regenerate a child’s heart. Only God saves. The question is whether the man faithfully leads, loves, and cares for those entrusted to him. Sunday morning may be the showroom, but the home is the workshop. The church hears a man’s sermons. His family sees his life. What happens around the dinner table matters deeply.

Maturity That Takes Time

Paul warns against placing a recent convert in leadership. The reason is simple and sobering: giftedness can appear quickly, but maturity takes time. You can grow weeds in weeks. An oak tree takes years. Roots take time.

Time is what reveals how a man handles correction, disappointment, temptation, suffering, success, and failure. It is what shows whether his faith is durable. A man’s witness must hold up not only inside the church but outside it as well. What does his neighbor say? His coworker? His community? They may disagree with his convictions, but they should have no legitimate grounds to accuse him of dishonesty or hypocrisy.

The Perfect Shepherd Behind the Standard

Here is the humbling and beautiful truth beneath all of this. No earthly shepherd fulfills these qualifications perfectly. Every pastor needs grace. Every elder falls short somewhere. The standard is high because the church is precious, and the church is precious because of the one who died for it.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He declared it himself in John 10:11, saying the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He never abused his authority, never compromised his character, never taught error, never neglected his people. He bore the sins of his sheep on the cross and rose from the grave. Our hope is not ultimately in finding a perfect pastor. Our hope is in the perfect Savior.

The standard exists to point the flock toward him.

Let’s Go!

There are some opportunities that come along in ministry that immediately stir your heart. This upcoming mission trip to Malawi is one of those opportunities.

This fall, a team of six men from Fusion Church will travel to Malawi, Africa, to partner with local pastors, church planters, and evangelists who are faithfully taking the Gospel to villages that desperately need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

For me personally, this trip carries an added blessing.

I will have the privilege of serving alongside my son, Caleb.

As a father, there are few joys greater than watching your child begin to embrace God’s calling on his life. Caleb has a growing burden for ministry, and the opportunity for us to serve together, preach the Gospel together, and witness God at work together is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

What Will We Be Doing?

Our days in Malawi will be full.

We will be partnering with established ministry leaders and church planters through several strategic efforts designed to strengthen local churches and advance the Gospel.

Pastor Training

One of our first ministry opportunities will be serving in the Pastor Training School in Dowa.

Many pastors in Malawi faithfully shepherd churches despite having very limited access to theological education and ministry training. Earlier this year, our church funded a Pastor’s Training School and now have 14 pastors being trained. We will spend time encouraging, teaching, and equipping these pastors so they can more effectively lead the churches God has entrusted to them.

The impact of training one pastor often extends far beyond a single congregation. Healthy pastors lead healthy churches, and healthy churches reach communities.

Daily Village Evangelism

Each day we will travel into villages to share the Gospel with people who may have never heard a clear presentation of salvation through Jesus Christ.

These conversations will take place in homes, gathering places, and communities throughout the region.

We are praying for many opportunities to share the hope of Christ one person at a time.

Nightly Evangelistic Gatherings

In addition to personal evangelism, we will participate in nightly outreach gatherings where possibly hundreds of people from surrounding villages often come together to hear the Gospel through the Jesus film and preaching the Gospel.

These events create incredible opportunities to proclaim Christ publicly and invite people to place their faith in Him.

Our prayer is not simply for decisions but for disciples.

We want to see men, women, and children trust Christ and then become connected to the local churches that are being planted and strengthened throughout the region.

Community Ministry Opportunities

We also anticipate participating in practical ministry projects that meet tangible needs within communities.

One possible project involves assisting with fresh water well repairs, helping provide access to clean water for villages while opening doors for Gospel conversations and long-term ministry relationships.

Throughout Scripture we see God’s people caring for both spiritual and physical needs, and we are excited about opportunities to do both.

Why This Trip Matters

The cost of this trip is approximately $4,000 per person.

For Caleb and me, that means an investment of approximately $8,000.

For our six-man team, the total investment will be between $24,000 and $30,000.

When you first hear those numbers, it would be easy to say:

“That’s a lot of money.”

And honestly, it is.

But when I begin to think about what that investment represents, my perspective changes.

Many churches with annual budgets approaching $750,000 may see fewer than fifty people place their faith in Christ over the course of an entire year.

Yet through this investment of $24,000–$30,000, we have the opportunity to participate in ministry that could result in hundreds—and potentially more than a thousand people—hearing the Gospel and responding to Christ.

That is exciting.

That is Kingdom-minded stewardship.

That is an investment with eternal returns.

Jesus said:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
— Matthew 28:19

The Great Commission has not changed. The need has not changed. The Gospel still saves. And people are still waiting to hear.

How You Can Partner With Us

We believe missions is not something done by a few people while everyone else watches.

Missions is a partnership. Some go. Some send. All participate.

To help support Caleb and me, we are launching a 126-Partner Challenge.

We are asking 126 people to choose a numbered block and contribute that dollar amount toward our trip.

For example:

• Choose Block 25 = Give $25
• Choose Block 75 = Give $75
• Choose Block 126 = Give $126

If all 126 blocks are selected, the fundraiser will generate $8,001, which will fully fund our portion of the trip.

You may also choose to support the entire Malawi team rather than designate your gift specifically toward Caleb and me.

Ways to Give

Through Fusion Church

Write a check payable to:

Fusion Church Madison 2011 Athens Hwy Madison, Ga. 30650

Please note:

Memo: Alexander Malawi Trip
or
Memo: Malawi Mission Trip

Directly to Caleb

After selecting a numbered block, you may also give directly to:

Caleb Alexander

• Cash
• Personal Check
• Venmo- @Caleb-Alexander-58

Venmo

@Matt-Alexander-120

Please include:

“Malawi Trip” in the payment notes.

Would You Pray?

More than anything, we need prayer.

Pray that:

• The Gospel would be clearly proclaimed.
• Many would place their faith in Christ.
• New believers would be connected to local churches.
• Pastors would be encouraged and equipped.
• Church plants would be strengthened.
• God would protect and guide our team.
• The Lord would use Caleb and me as we serve together.

Thank you for believing in the Great Commission.

Thank you for investing in eternity.

Thank you for partnering with us as we seek to take the Gospel to Malawi.

For His Glory,

Matt Alexander
Lead Pastor, Fusion Church Madison

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Tentative Ministry Schedule

September 28

• Arrival in Malawi
• Team Orientation

September 29

• Pastor Training School – Dowa

September 30

• Orphan Ministry
• Village Evangelism
• Nightly Evangelistic Gathering

October 1

• Village Evangelism
• Possible Well Repair Project
• Nightly Evangelistic Gathering

October 2

• Village Evangelism
• Ministry Outreach

October 3

• Village Evangelism
• Ministry Outreach

October 4

• Additional Ministry Opportunities and Follow-Up

October 5

• Departure from Malawi

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” — Luke 10:2