Equipping Eve: They Had Been With Jesus

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Abendroth and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

Well, hello, ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve. I am your host, Erin Benzinger.

We are going to dig right into the Word today because I'm kind of excited about this.

So I read something in my devotional today, and we're going to get to that, and it was like a little light bulb went on, and I said, hey, we need to talk about that because that relates to something

I've been wanting to talk about. So it was the perfect scripture passage and perfect devotional thoughts from Charles Spurgeon, so you can't really go wrong there.

And so, all right, let's let's dig in. So I want you to turn, ladies, to Acts chapter four with me.

Turn to Acts chapter four while I figure out what verse to start with.

I'll let you turn there. I'm actually going to just start at verse one, I think. And, ladies, today

I'm actually reading from the ESV, so I know that's a little bit of a change.

I think maybe in the last episode I did this as well. I'm not sure. But I'm kind of going back and forth between NASB and ESV, and that's just kind of where I am right now.

So today I'm reading from the ESV. I've been enjoying having a little change from the

NAS, and the bottom line is they are both good translations, and neither one is more sanctified than the other.

Let's just put it that way. One is better in some passages than the other, and vice versa.

This is not a salvation issue, unless I was reading from the message, in which case then maybe it would be.

I don't know. But we're not reading from the message. We're reading from the ESV. The only time we read from the message on Equipping Eve is when we are making fun of the message, or pointing out how it's just wrong.

I'm not a fan. That's another show. Okay, Acts chapter 4, ladies.

So here's a little bit of context, because otherwise I have to turn back to chapter 3 and read all of that, which is not a bad thing, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me read that much.

So back in chapter 3, Peter and John healed a lame beggar.

So you see back in chapter 3, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple.

Seeing Peter and John—I'm skipping over some parts of these verses, so it's not my translation. It's me. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms, and Peter tells this lame man to look at him and John, and it says the man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something.

And Peter says, I don't have silver and gold, but what I do have

I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. That's kind of amazing, right?

And so, of course, all the people gather around, and Peter begins preaching. And so then we come to chapter 4, verse 1.

And as they, Peter and John, were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the

Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5 ,000.

On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family.

That sounds daunting. Verse 7. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did you do this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom

God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Verse 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

And we'll end there because that is the verse I want to focus on, believe it or not, because there's so much in those verses, right?

So, so much we could talk about. There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

You know, we can talk about that. We can talk about Peter's little mini sermon there or his previous sermon in declaring the

God of Israel and Jesus Christ, his son, who died on the cross and was raised three days later and still lives seated at the right hand of God the

Father. I mean, there is so much that we could talk about, and yet I want to focus on verse 13.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

I think there's a couple of elements to this verse here.

They recognized that they, Peter and John, had been with Jesus. And if we look at the sentence before that, it comments on the fact that these are uneducated men, but look at their proclamation, look at their speech, look at their boldness.

And so they recognized that they had been with Jesus. First of all, I think we can say because of the content of their message, because their message was perfectly aligned with the message of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in him alone.

And I think we can see also that they recognized that they had been with Jesus because of their character and their conduct.

It says right there that they saw the boldness of Peter and John. And no doubt, they also saw other characteristics like perhaps compassion.

I mean, compassion certainly was a driving factor in the healing of that lame beggar.

And even in the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ alone, even if you reject it, you must recognize the compassion that leads a man to proclaim that.

It's because a man has a concern for your soul. So whether you reject it or not is really immaterial to the fact that it's a compassionate plea for you as the unsaved center to repent and turn to Christ.

They recognize that they had been with Jesus. That really struck me this morning when

I read that. And that's what I want us to think about today, ladies.

They recognize that they had been with Jesus. Do people recognize that you have been with Jesus?

There's a couple of aspects that I hope that we can take our conversation to today, but I want to start by looking at ourselves as a means of self -examination, not as a means of, hey, let's talk about us.

And we've talked about this so many times in the past. And so I actually don't want to belabor this point because I think we've already done that.

There are some good resources available to you on the Equipped Unive website, including past episodes, where we talk about this notion of sanctification and what happens when we're saved and what that looks like.

When God saves us, when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, we're changed.

Our minds, our hearts, our wills, our desires, they're all renewed.

And they're brought into conformity with that of our new master,

Jesus Christ. Our previous master was sin. Our father was the devil, and we were slaves to that.

And now when we are saved, we're slaves to Christ, and there's a freedom in that.

And so we don this whole new wardrobe, which we've talked about. You can actually search on that at the

Equipped Unive site, because we have been transformed and our minds have been renewed.

And we seek and desire different things. We aren't perfect, of course. I think we can all attest to that.

Some of us might be closer to perfection than others, but no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Do not take that soundbite out of context.

I'm totally kidding. We'll never be perfect, this side of heaven.

We know that, but we also know that we are being sanctified day by day to look more and more like our

Savior, aren't we? I mean, you can look back, if you've been saved for more than a week, you can look back and see how you've grown.

When you first get saved, there is an immediate change. And it's not like all of your sins disappear, but oftentimes,

I think there are certain sins that do kind of disappear overnight, whether it's language or maybe even something like drinking or certain friends you hang out with.

Suddenly, you don't really want to hang out with those people anymore. And suddenly, you aren't using those four -letter words anymore, or you aren't just lying with no thought about it whatsoever.

Things like that, those changes often happen very immediately.

And so, if you're newly saved, you can look back and see that transformation, and that's some evidence. But even if we've been saved for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, you can look back and see how

God has been good and gracious to sanctify you because He keeps revealing our sin to us, doesn't

He? Because the sin never goes away. There's always another one, just when we think we get rid of one.

And so, God is constantly revealing our sin to us as He polishes us and puts us through that refiner's fire, right?

But we can see a growth. We can see a pattern of growth over the course of our Christian life.

And so, I wonder, ladies, when we are out and about in the world, when we're in our workplaces, or in the grocery store, or in our children's schools, or in our own school, if you're a student, would people say of us,

She has been with Jesus? Maybe they wouldn't say those words, but would people say,

She's kind of different. She doesn't join in with our jokes, or our language, or our gossip.

And this isn't just a Sunday thing. This isn't something that, you know, you leave church on Sunday, and you're super holy, and then it kind of wears off by Friday.

And by Saturday, forget it, you have to go to church again on Sunday because by now, you've lost it all. And that's not how that works.

When your mind, and your heart, and your will, and your desires are transformed, it's a change in who you are.

Again, not perfect, but being sanctified day by day.

Our Christ -likeness grows daily through prayer, through study of the scripture, and through that progressive sanctification.

But there's more than just, Are you sinning less? That sounds very legalistic, and so I don't want us to just focus on that.

There's so much more. I mean, think about it. Look back at verse 13 there in Acts 4. They saw the boldness of Peter and John, and they recognized that he had been with Jesus.

So how can we be with Jesus, like we just said, through prayer daily and through study of the scripture?

There's an interesting verse in Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the

Bible. Psalm 119, verse 99 says, I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation.

Isn't that interesting? I have more understanding because I've studied your word, Lord. As Lewis Johnson said in talking about these verses in Acts and commenting on this verse in Psalm 119, he said,

The greatest education that a person could possibly have is education in the word of God.

So if we want to look more like Jesus, we have to know who he is. And how do we know who he is? Well, he's revealed to us in scripture.

So we need to spend time with him in his word. And when we do that, we start to look more and more like him.

Just like Peter and John, even in their boldness. Okay, this devotional that I referred to earlier, it's from Charles Spurgeon's Morning by Morning.

So this is a great devotional. Some people don't like devotionals. You know, they think, oh, that just gives you a gospel nugget, and that's no good.

You have to spend, you know, 26 hours studying the Bible every day instead. I'll let you figure that out later.

And, you know, you shouldn't read these little devotional things. I think that's ignorant, quite honestly.

Because, of course, these do not take the place of regular Bible reading and study and, you know, just digging into the word.

But a devotional is always a nice way to get a little insight into a verse, to have a little thought for the day that you kind of reflect on and chew on.

So no, it does not replace Bible study. But there's nothing wrong with it.

And I find people who say, who dismiss such things, particularly when there are so many good devotionals available out there.

There's a lot of bad ones too, but there's a lot of good ones. But I find people who, you know, have a reaction like that to be wearing their pride on their sleeve, if you will.

And I find it unbecoming. But anyhow, needless to say, I've come up across those people before.

So Spurgeon writes, and he's reflecting on Acts 4 .13.

He writes, A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and actions of his people.

If we were what we profess to be and what we should be, we would be pictures of Christ. Yes, such striking likenesses of him that the world would not have to hold us to the mirror and say, well, it seems somewhat of a likeness.

They would when they saw us exclaim, he has been with Jesus. He has been taught by him. He is like him. He has caught the very idea of the holy man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and everyday actions.

A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness. Never blush to own your Christianity. Your profession will never disgrace you.

Take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very valiant for your God. Imitate him in your loving spirit.

Think kindly, speak kindly, do kindly that men may say of you, he has been with Jesus.

Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his master? So should you be going about doing good.

Do not waste time. It is too precious. Was he self -denying, never looking to his own interest?

Be the same. Was he devout? Then be fervent in your prayers. Did he defer to his father's will?

So submit yourselves to him. Was he patient? So learn to endure. And best of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your enemies as he did.

And let those sublime words of your master, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, always rain in your ears.

Forgive as you hope to be forgiven. Heap coals of fire on the head of your enemy by your kindness to him.

Good for evil, remember, is God -like. Be God -like then, and in all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of you, he has been with Jesus.

Well, as usual, Spurgeon gives us a lot to think about. And there are so many admonitions in these words from him, convicting ones.

And so I want us to take that and reflect on that.

You can find these devotionals online, ladies. There are several places where you can get

Spurgeon's morning by morning and evening by evening free online. Truth for Life actually publishes,

I think it's the morning ones every day as their daily devotional. So you can look it up and take a look at it a little bit more.

But I just loved Spurgeon's encouragement in this.

Be like Christ in your boldness and in your speech and imitate him in his loving spirit.

And all of that got me to thinking about something that I've been thinking about. And this goes beyond our application.

Let's look at ourselves. Are we like Christ? That would be the number one important application, because we don't want to stand around point fingers when there's three pointing back at us.

But at the same time, we can use this as a tool of discernment.

This idea of being like Christ and recognizing when someone has been with Jesus.

And what I mean by that is we can use this to look at, I don't want to say other

Christians, because I don't want us walking around judging everybody because they're having a bad day. And we say, oh, there's no

Christ like fruit. You're not really saved. That's not what I want us to be doing. So I want to be really careful here. And I'm probably not going to end up being careful enough.

I already feel myself getting myself in trouble, but I'm going to keep talking anyway.

We can use these principles and this teaching as a discernment tool when we're looking at Bible teachers.

And I'm actually not naming names here. That's not at all my point. In fact, I'm reminded of something that John MacArthur said to me years ago.

I did a brief interview with him for the website I was writing for at the time, and we got on the topic of discernment.

And I asked him, how could discernment ministries, legitimate ones, avoid being stereotyped alongside those that are kind of like a gossip rag?

Because I was much more into the discernment writing at the time, things that I've moved away from since then. But what he said, there are times to name names.

He's not against naming names as long as it's done rightly. We see the Apostle Paul doing that and this and that.

But he says more importantly, quote, we need to lay down principles because you can't keep up with the names.

And he's right. You can't catch them all. So what you want to do is always be teaching people the

Word of God so that they have the substructure of theology and sound doctrine to be able to do the discernment, end quote.

And so that's what I'm trying to do here today, ladies. And that's what I'm trying to do with Equipping Eve in general, by God's grace and God's empowerment through His Holy Spirit, because if I did it, it would not go so well.

But we're here to lay down principles. We're here to look at God's Word so that you have the tools to do the discernment on your own.

Because not every false teacher is really evident, you know, is really blatant about their false teaching.

And not every poor teaching is false. So when

I was looking at this teaching and thinking about Acts 4 .13 and looking at Spurgeon's teaching on, you know, recognizing that they had been with Jesus.

First, I took that to myself. Do people recognize that I have been with Jesus? And I fail in that a lot.

So, you know, full disclosure, there we are. I think we probably all feel like that.

If we don't, then we might need to examine that a little bit more. But I thought, do our

Bible teachers look like Christ? Do our, and I am going to focus here on pastors, and I'm not trying to pick on pastors, because that's certainly not something

I want to be doing. But do our pastors look like Christ?

I ask that question because we are in an age where spiritual abuse is rampant, aren't we?

Perhaps it's just as common as it's ever been. It's just that with the media and the internet, we hear about it more.

I don't know. But we are in a time where that question is really important.

It's really important for us to ask that question. Do our pastors look like Christ? Would we or an outsider say of this man who has been charged to look after our souls that he resembles

Christ? And the thing is, ladies, that goes deeper than just what he's saying from the pulpit, what he's writing on his little pastor's blog, or whatever other public forum he's using.

Those are part of it, but that's not the whole. Because our pastor in our local church, we should be able to see him in daily life and know him and his family.

And that's why these people who have internet pastors, no, you don't, because they don't know you, and you don't know them.

But if you're looking for a new church, something to consider when you walk in there and you look at the teaching and you listen to the teaching, you meet the elders.

This goes beyond just the man behind the pulpit, the elders, the leadership. Do they look like Christ? Paul wrote to the

Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11, verse one, he says, be imitators of me as I imitate Christ.

So he's calling on the leaders of the church to imitate him because he imitates

Christ. If you turn really quickly, ladies, to 1

Peter chapter five, right there in verse one,

Peter writes, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

That talks a little bit about the role of the pastor as a shepherd, doesn't it?

Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, not for shameful gain, not domineering over those in your charge.

And it's so sad that nowadays we hear so much more, and it's because of the media and everything that's so public of pastors who are like the complete opposite of all of that.

And they're domineering and they're mean and they're angry and they're in control of every little thing.

And eventually it bites them, doesn't it? John MacArthur wrote an article at the

Master's Seminary blog back in 2015 called

The Pastor as a Shepherd. And he writes, the New Testament often depicts spiritual leaders as shepherds of God's flock.

It is an appropriate image because a shepherd leads, feeds, comforts, corrects, and protects the sheep under his care.

Those same responsibilities belong to every church leader. In fact, the word pastor means shepherd.

In biblical times, shepherds were without status. They occupied the lower rungs of the social ladder.

For spiritual shepherds, that fact serves as a fitting reminder. Pastoral ministry is not intended to be prestigious or self -exalting.

As our Lord explained, whoever would be first among you must be slave of all, Mark 10, 44.

By God's design, leadership in the church is a position of humility and selflessness. Church oversight is ministry, not management.

Those whom God designates as spiritual shepherds are called not to be governing monarchs or slick celebrities, but humble slaves.

In submission to Christ, they must exemplify sacrifice, devotion, submission, and lowliness.

There's a list. There's a list. Sacrifice, devotion, submission, and lowliness.

The apostles wholeheartedly embrace that perspective, often referring to themselves as slaves in the master's work.

Even Christ himself took on the form of a slave when he came to give his life as a ransom for many. We are called to imitate his supreme example of humility and love.

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul uses seven different metaphors to describe the rigors of leadership. He pictures the minister as a teacher, a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, a workman, a vessel, and a slave.

Those images evoke ideas of self -sacrifice, labor, and hardship. Again, there's a picture to think about.

They speak eloquently of the complex and varied responsibilities of spiritual leadership, but not one of them.

Makes it out to be glamorous. After all, genuine ministry is hard work. It demands initiative, diligence, patience, and perseverance.

Moreover, it requires the humble perspective of a servant. That is what it means to be a shepherd.

Yet the task is more than worth the effort. For one day, when the chief shepherd appears, every faithful shepherd will be bountifully rewarded for the service he has rendered.

And so you're kind of seeing my train of thought here as I came across this teaching this morning from Acts 4 .13,

and then I started thinking, oh, I've been thinking about this. I've been thinking about the fact that does, do our

Bible teachers look like Christ? You know, and we're kind of looking at pastors today, but, you know, pick your

Bible teacher, your Sunday school teacher, your, if you're watching someone on a video, it's really hard to tell if they look like Christ or not, but look at their teaching.

Are they talking about themselves or are they talking about Christ? Does your Bible teacher look like Christ?

And I started reflecting back on a teaching that I heard again years and years ago.

It was really talking about false teachers, but the principles, the principles translate, you know, across that boundary of just false teachers, quote unquote.

And I was thinking about, you know, one way, there's a few ways that we look at the fruit of a shepherd or a teacher.

And of course, first, you know, the first way would be their character or their behavior.

And of course, how do you know what kind of behavior are they to exhibit? Well, of course, everyone first goes to 1 Timothy 3, right?

And the qualifications for pastors or elders. And Paul writes that if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

So an overseer or a pastor or an elder in a church must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober -minded, self -controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, and it goes on.

It's okay, there's some characteristics that you can look for. We can look at, you know, the fruit of the spirit.

Characteristics of every Christian, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

You know what that list reminds me of? It reminds me a little bit of Jesus, doesn't it?

Huh, crazy. Perhaps because we as Christians and even our shepherds should look like Jesus.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control. And that self -control, that one really gets me, you know, because that spans so much.

You could say self -control in terms of, you know, addictions, so, you know, like 1 Timothy 3 is saying, not a drunkard, or in terms of anger, you know, and how they control themselves in tense situations.

And I would argue that the characteristics of a shepherd are the characteristics of a Christian in general.

Now, maybe day -to -day Christian doesn't need to be able to stand up behind a pulpit and preach.

Us ladies certainly aren't going to do that. But these characteristics, they reflect

Christ. And so we're all called to them. Think of the Beatitudes. You know, there's another look at characteristics of a

Christian and therefore a shepherd, a pastor, a leader, a teacher.

But much of this speaks to behavior. Now, I would argue that the fruit of the

Spirit is not all behavior. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Eventually, you can't counterfeit that. Other behaviors you can. And so something else you can look at is the followers of a teacher.

Now, some of us may have experience dealing with other ladies who are fervent followers of a certain female

Bible teacher who has her own shrine in every Lifeway store. And those followers are not nice people.

And you try to point out the biblical errors of this woman's teaching. And they are...

Can I date myself with a weird saying here? They're all over you like white on rice.

I don't know where that comes from. But you know, they are just like, rah, you know, wolves. They just do not touch their

Bible teacher, nevermind the fact that she's completely twisting God's Word. And so the behavior of that particular

Bible teacher's followers tells me her fruit is not so hot, right?

So we can look at the followers. If you walk into a church and everyone is really snobby and stuck up and no one wants to talk to you, well, that trickles down from the top.

You know, this is a principle that's true across all areas of life.

You know, I work in the corporate world. And, you know, the way that a boss manages the department, that trickles down.

All things do, whether it's, you know, acceptance of new people, if you come in and you're new and you're not really welcome.

Well, that's kind of a reflection on the boss and the management, you know, the organization of the department and, you know, all of that.

It's a trickle down effect. And I once wrote on the

Do Not Be Surprised blog a long time ago, something to the effect of a teacher's defects will often show up even more pronounced in his or her students because imitation becomes exaggerated.

And think about that. That's kind of true, isn't it? You know, like when you're a kid and you're kind of trying to be like someone who you look up to and you admire, you kind of exaggerate the things that you see in that person.

And so if a teacher's followers are angry people, they're bitter people, they're not self -controlled, there's no love, there's no joy.

That's a reflection on that teacher and on the teaching that's coming out of that pulpit or class or whatever.

And then we need to look at the content of the teaching as well. So even if there's no heresy coming out of the pulpit or class or whatever, what is being stressed?

Is Jesus Christ being exalted or is he merely just given lip service to?

Because as we've talked about before, even in doctrinally sound settings or doctrinally sound on paper, we have to watch out for things like legalism.

I think it's more prominent in these quote unquote doctrinally sound churches than it is in not doctrinally sound churches is legalism, not as a means of obtaining salvation, but as a matter of defining the

Christian life by the law of works. And if I'm not careful, I'm going to start going into some of the reading

I've been doing lately on the marrow controversy. So I'm going to stop there because that's a whole other show. But do you recognize that someone has been with Jesus?

And if we're talking about a leader, do we recognize that that person has been with Jesus through their own character, the character of their followers and the content of their teaching?

And I'm touching on this today, ladies, not because I want to throw skepticism on our teachers. That is certainly not at all my point or my desire, but I want us to grow in true discernment.

Discernment is more than just saying, hey, Joel Osteen doesn't teach the

Bible. That's not discernment. I mean, that's like, I just, people who do that,

I just want to be like, duh. And I used to do that. So I feel like I can say that now. Duh, no kidding, really?

I never would have guessed. The man never opens his Bible when he preaches. That's not discernment.

That's just like being kept in obvious, okay? True discernment, like we just talked about, is knowing

God's word and having these principles of the truth of God's word so that you can see where's their error, where's their truth, or where is there maybe just a twisting of the truth, whether it's intentional or not.

I'm not trying to throw leaders and teachers under the bus. I'm a teacher. I'm sitting here as a teacher, and I hold myself to these same standards, but it's a necessity to say, hold everything we say up to the word of God.

And I've always known that pastors are considered under shepherds of Christ and that they should resemble

Christ, and I'm sure you've always known that, but quite honestly, it wasn't until recently that this became kind of an active knowledge to me to a point where I went, okay, do my leaders look like Christ?

Is this teacher, whomever he or she is, someone that I want to approach because I feel like I can see that this person has been with Jesus, and it's not just because they're saying all the right things, all the

Bible -y things. It's so much more than that. It's the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

I can look at my pastor and my elders and our little tiny church and no man's land up there in the central part of the state, and I see

Christ. I see compassion for the members of the congregation. I see temperance.

I don't see anger coming from the pulpit and coming from the leadership. I don't see a need to control every little aspect, but having self -control.

I see that they're approachable, that they love the congregation, that they want to talk to them and counsel them.

I see joy. I see patience. I look at some other well -known pastors whose personal lives

I don't know, but who I've maybe had some contact with, and I observe their attitude in the pulpit.

I see how they handle God's word. I see how they speak to their own congregation, and I see that same love and compassion.

I see Jesus. I recognize that that man has been with Jesus, that he spent the week with Jesus in his word so that he could bring his word to his people.

I'm just watching from the outside if I'm watching online or listening, but I can see that.

But then there are others who stand up behind a pulpit or get behind, get in their

Sunday school class or whatever, and they're angry, and they're screaming, and they're telling you that you need to do this, and you need to do that, or don't do this, and don't do that.

Pray like this, and I see them beating their sheep, and I think of Isaiah 42 .3

talking about Christ, the ultimate servant.

Isaiah 42 .3 says, a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.

And sometimes I listen to teachers who are further damaging those bruised reeds, who are smoldering those burning wicks.

What did Jesus look like? He was humble. He was compassionate. He was kind.

He was bold. He was honest. He was loving. He was tender. He was zealous, and toward corruption, he was angry in a righteously angry manner.

But to those who came to him, he was gentle. A bruised reed he did not break.

And so when you look at a teacher, when you listen to a teacher, when you see the life of a teacher, do you see

Christ? I want us to close with the compassion of our Christ. Mark 5 .24,

and a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse.

She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch even his garments,

I will be made well. And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling. And fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

That's our compassionate Christ. Okay, ladies, like I said, we are way over time.

So until next time, ladies, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.

Thanks for listening. Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy biblical resources for women,

No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's word.