F4F | Tavner Smith's Apology is NOT Biblical Repentance

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying and doing in the name of God to the

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Word of God. So if you remember back a few weeks ago, we covered Tavner Smith.

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Tavner Smith, well, he had his leadership team leave. They quit right before Christmas.

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Why? Because they confronted him regarding an inappropriate relationship that he was having.

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Married man with a married woman. You know, inappropriate kind of stuff. In fact, there was a video of him kissing said woman.

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And so they confronted him and did he repent? Did he step down?

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No. Instead, after the Chattanooga Press decided to run an article about the fact that you had large numbers of people leaving as a result of them confronting him regarding this inappropriate relationship and he didn't repent, they just up and left.

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And so it actually made the newspaper. Well, that happened right before Christmas. And then right after the new year,

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Tavner Smith disappeared and went on a five to six week long sabbatical. And apparently now he's restored himself to ministry.

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And we're going to take a look at his apology video, which is no longer available at the moment on the venue churches,

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YouTube or Facebook or anything like that. The only person who happened to capture it was a woman by the name of Julie Roys.

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So she's made this available on an unlisted link on YouTube. But we're going to take a look at this kind of stuff.

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And along the way, what we're going to do is we're going to ask ourselves, what is real biblical repentance?

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What does it look like? Because we have some outstanding examples from scripture of what it doesn't look like and what it really looks like.

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And then we'll compare to see whether or not Tavner Smith is truly a penitent and if he's actually qualified to be a pastor in Christ's church, my church, it's

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Christ's church. So let's whirl up the desktop and pull up our web browser and we're going to start.

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We're going to note something here. This is a little off topic, but Tavner Smith came back on February 6th,

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I believe. And he started off the service well with the praise and worship set and then asking for money, which is weird because this happens before the the apology.

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So let's just watch this for what's up Venue Church. So first thing, what's up Venue Church?

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There's Tavner Smith. He's back after having an inappropriate relationship, who is a married man with a married woman.

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Good to see you guys here at the 11 o 'clock. I'm so, so honored to be with you.

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As you know, we always move right from our worship, right into what some people call giving time.

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But we really believe it's bigger than that. It's our biggest act of worship. Biggest act of worship.

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So we're going to fleece people first. It's the time where we get to not just say, say to God, we love you with our voice, but we, we get to say something even deeper than I love you.

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We get to say, I trust you. We get to say, I love you with our voice, but we get to say,

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I trust you with our heart. Most important thing, you know, get money. And it's the time that we get to be obedient to him and show him our trust in our tithes.

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The first 10 % we get of anything in our offering, anything above that. And I'm just excited.

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Do you know why? Because I get to be in this building with literally a group of the most generous people

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I have ever met in my life. That's kind of interesting.

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So that was first. And then later, later in the service, then comes the apology.

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And we're going to do a little bit of work here. And we're going to start not with him and his apology, because I think we have to, we need a biblical standard from which to work from.

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So we're going to do a little bit of work. Number one, we are going to look at two accounts, two different Kings of Israel.

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The first King of Israel, Saul, second King of Israel, David. Both of them had spectacular moral failings.

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I mean, ginormous. And we're going to look at Saul's repentance, and we're going to look at David's repentance.

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And so we're going to actually dig deep here, because we need a baseline to look at what does real repentance look like?

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Because when somebody has sinned, they need to repent. And real repentance is an important bit.

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So if you were to think of this, our kind of our working definition, repentance is going to include two things in order for it to kind of be valid.

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Number one, true contrition and sorrow for sin. Second, confidence in Jesus or in God.

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In the Old Testament, they didn't have the name Jesus, but confidence in Yeshua and confidence in Yahweh for the forgiveness of your sins, faith in God for the forgiveness of sin.

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So true contrition and sorrow for sin and confident faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

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Those kind of comprise what true repentance looks like. And so let me show you from Scripture.

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So what we're going to do, we're going to start with, let's start with Saul.

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All right. So in 1 Samuel chapter 15, we have this account. Samuel, who is the prophet of Israel, he's the one who anointed

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Saul to be the king of Israel. God has had it with the Amalekites, and God is going to act in judgment against the

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Amalekites. Wants them to be devoted to destruction. Pretty simple, if you think about it. And here's what it says.

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So Samuel said to Saul, the Yahweh sent me to anoint you the king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the words of Yahweh, who speaking

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God is, who threw the prophet Samuel. So thus says Yahweh of armies, the

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Lord of armies. I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up from out of Egypt.

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Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have.

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Do not spare them, but kill both man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, donkey.

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God's going to use them basically as an example of his judgment, okay, of those who persist in sin and unbelief and opposing

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God. Now Amalek is going to, supposed to be held up as an example of what it looks like when

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God acts in judgment, you know, for the impenitent. So it's real simple.

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Who's supposed to die? Everybody and everything. Who's supposed to live? Nobody. It's, it's as simple as they get.

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So Saul summoned the people, numbered them at Telaim, 200 ,000 men on foot, 10 ,000 men of Judah.

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Saul came to the city of Amalek, lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, go and depart, go down from among the

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Amalekites lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.

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So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as shore, which is east of Egypt.

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And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.

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But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep of the ox and of the oxen and of the fat and calves and of the lambs and all that was good.

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And would not utterly destroy them. Yeah. You know,

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I think back to when I was a kid and used to watch cartoons. I can hear Scooby -Doo go ruff ruff. We've disobeyed

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God at this point. So all that was despised though and worthless. Well, those things they devoted to destruction.

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So the word of Yahweh came to Samuel. I regret that I've made Saul king for his turn back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

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And Samuel was angry and he cried to Yahweh all night and Samuel rose early to meet

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Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.

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He did what? Set up a monument to himself. Okay. That's not a red flag.

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Well, actually it is. So Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed be you to Yahweh.

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I have performed, performed the commandment of Yahweh. And Samuel said, well, what then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear?

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Which is objective proof that he hasn't performed the commandment of Yahweh. So Saul now is confronted with his disobedience.

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He's being confronted with sin. And what follows next is an example of not repentance.

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This is not repentance. And listen carefully, because this is going to help us out here, because repentance is going to comprise of real contrition and sorrow and guilt over sin and confidence in God for the forgiveness of sins.

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Okay. In order for this to be true repentance, Saul's going to have to own his disobedience.

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Does he? No. So what is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear?

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So Saul said, well, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to Yahweh your

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God and the rest we've devoted to destruction. All right.

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So here's what's happening. He's deflecting and he's gaslighting and it's all their fault.

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It's all their fault. They, they spare them because, yeah, yeah, we're going to offer them to God and sacrifice.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the ticket. We're going to sacrifice them. All right.

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So he's deflecting and he's gaslighting. And who is he blaming? Other people.

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Is he owning his disobedience? Not at all.

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So then Samuel said to Saul, stop. I will tell you what Yahweh said to me this night.

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And then he said to him, speak. So Samuel said, though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

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The Yahweh anointed you king over Israel and Yahweh sent you on a mission and said, go devote to destruction.

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The sinners, the Amalekites fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh?

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And this is objectively provable by the fact there are sheep and oxen mooing and bleeding.

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All right. Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of Yahweh?

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And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh. I've gone on the mission on which

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Yahweh sent me. I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the

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Amalekites to destruction. Was Saul supposed to kill Agag? Yeah, but the people, but the people, yeah, they, they, they took the spoil, the sheep, the ox, and the best of the things devoted to destruction.

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To sacrifice the Yahweh, your God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, has

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Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?

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Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. To listen than the fat of rams. Rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of Yahweh.

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He has also rejected you from being king. So, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned.

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I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

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Is that confession? Nope. It's shifting of blame. That's not a real apology.

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That's not a real confession. This isn't real repentance. So, he said the words,

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I, I've sinned. I've transgressed because I fear. It's their fault. They made me do it, right? Now, therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before Yahweh.

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But did he really repent? Nope. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you.

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You've rejected the word of Yahweh and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned to go away,

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Saul sees the skirt of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

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This is talking about David. And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret for he's not a man that he should have regret.

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So, then he said, I've sinned, but honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. I've sinned, but honor me?

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What? Who's Saul thinking about himself? Yeah. And return with me so that I may bow before Yahweh, your

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God. So, Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul bowed before Yahweh. And then Samuel said, bring here to me

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Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past.

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Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.

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And then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before Yahweh and Gilgal, which by the way, that was

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Saul's job, not the Samuel's. So, you get the idea here. Was Saul's repentance real repentance?

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Not in your life. When he apologized, he blamed the people rather than letting the blame fall where it should.

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Now, that's an example of not repentance. There's no real remorse for sin. There's shifting of blame.

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There's gaslighting. But what about David? David, if you are familiar with David, he sins spectacularly too.

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And here are the details of David's sin. Second Samuel chapter 11,

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David is now king. Saul is dead. And in fact, David's getting up there in age and too old to go out and fight with the army anymore.

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You know, he's starting to get gray hair and a little winded when he exercises. You get the idea.

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So, in the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel.

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And they ravaged the Ammonites, besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. So, it happened late one afternoon when

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David arose from his couch. He was walking on the roof of the king's house and that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful.

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David sent and inquired about the woman and one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the

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Hittite? So, David sent messengers, took her and she came to him and he lay with her. She had been purifying herself from her uncleanness and then he returned to her, she returned to her house and the woman conceived and she sent and told

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David, I'm pregnant. Now, a little bit of a note. At no point is Bathsheba ever spoken of as if she's guilty in regard to this affair.

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The way the text reads, she's a pious woman and this may in fact be a sexual assault on the part of David.

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That's the really gross bits about it. And she conceived as a result of it. So, David sent word to Joab, send me

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Uriah the Hittite and Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah came to him, David asked how

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Joab was doing, how the people were doing, how the war was going, how's the war going? And David said to Uriah, go down to your house, wash your feet.

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And Uriah went out of the king's house and there followed him a present from the king. And so, you can see what's going on here.

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David is basically trying to get this man to go home, sleep with his wife and then that'll cover everything up.

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And people always sit there and go, man, the son of Uriah looks so much like David.

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That's kind of the bit. He's trying to cover it up by basically saying, well, you came back and you slept with her and hey, that's how this all worked.

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But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his Lord and did not go down to his house.

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And when they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house. David said to Uriah, have you not come from a journey?

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Why did you not go down to your house? So, Uriah said to David, the Ark and Israel and Judah, they dwell in booths and my

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Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife?

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As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. So, then David said to Uriah, remain here today also and tomorrow

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I'll send you back. So, Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next and David invited him and he ate in his presence and he drank so that he made him drunk.

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And in the evening, he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his Lord, but he did not go to his house.

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Well, that plan failed. Plan B. So, in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, sent it by the hand of Uriah.

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And in the letter, he wrote, set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting and then draw back from him that he may be struck down and die.

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Isn't it sick? Uriah has done nothing wrong and he's going to, he's actually carrying his own death warrant.

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Unbelievable. And who wrote the death warrant? David, the man after God's own heart, that guy.

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So, as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there would be valiant men and the men of the city came out and they fought with Joab and some of the servants of David among the people fell.

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Uriah the Hittite also died. So, then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.

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And when he instructed the messenger, when you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then if the king's anger arises and if he says, why did you go so near the city to fight?

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Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech, the son of Jerubisheth? That did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebes?

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Why did you go so near the wall? And then you shall say, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

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So, the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.

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And then the messenger said to David, the men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate and then the archers shot at your servants from the wall.

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Some of the king's servants are dead and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. David said to the messenger, now he's comforting the messenger, thus shall you say to Joab, do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another, so strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it and encourage him.

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So, when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband, legitimate lament.

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And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son.

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But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh. Now it's time for David to be confronted with his sin.

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Saul was confronted with his, David with his. Let's see what real repentance looks like. So, Yahweh sent

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Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, one rich, the other poor.

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The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little lamb, which he had brought and he brought it up and it grew up with him and his children.

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It used to eat of his morsels and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

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Now, there was a traveler to the rich man and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd or prepare for the guests who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and he prepared it for the man who had come, for the man who had come to him.

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So, David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing in because he had no pity.

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So, Nathan said to David, you're the man. That's you,

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David. So, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

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I gave you to your master's house and your master's wives into your hands, arms, gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

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And if this were too little, I would add to you as much and more. Why have you despised the word of Yahweh to do what's evil in his sight?

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You've struck down Uriah the Hittite with a sword. You've taken his wife to be your wife. You've killed him with the sword of the

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Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you've despised me and I've taken the wife of Uriah the

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Hittite to be your wife. Thus says Yahweh, behold, I will raise up evil against you and out of your own house.

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And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the side of the sun for you did it secretly.

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But I will do this thing before all of Israel before the sun. David's response,

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I have sinned against Yahweh. Full stop.

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I have sinned against Yahweh. No deflection, no gaslighting.

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No projection, no dancing around the subject. No shifting of blame. Yeah, I did it.

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I have sinned against Yahweh. And what does Nathan say? Yahweh has also put away your sin.

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You will not die. He receives an absolution. Now, there are temple consequences that he's going to suffer.

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The child that is born to Bathsheba and him will die. Son of David dying for the sin of David.

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Who does that sound like? A type and shadow of Christ, right? But then we have a little bit more information about this from Psalm 51.

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To the choir master, Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me,

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O God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.

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Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

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And against you and you only have I sinned. And I've done what's evil in your sight. So that you may be justified in your words, blameless in your judgment.

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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being.

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And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. So purge me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

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Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all of my iniquities.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God. And renew a right spirit within me.

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Cast me not away from your presence. And take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

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And uphold me with a willing spirit. That's what real repentance looks like.

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True contrition, sorrow, doesn't shift blame. Owns his own sin, confesses his sin.

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And also has confidence in the forgiveness of sins. Those are your two components of repentance.

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And now the question that is on the table. Tabner Smith reads short apology statement from Venue Church, February 7th, 2022.

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Is this biblical repentance? Is this like David?

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Or is this like Saul? Let's do the comparative work. Here we go.

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I'm really honored to be with you today. And I've actually prepared. I want you to know

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I've really been praying about this moment.

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And the Lord's done a lot in me over this past month. And I have something

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I want to read to you. But as I read it, I don't want it to come across as just something that I'm just reading off the paper.

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I want you to know this is my heart. I didn't want to just speak and rabbit trail and get off point or take more time and say something.

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But I just wanted to be real and get this on paper. And I want you to hear my heart as I read this prepared statement for you.

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Venue Church, I just wanted to start by saying that I am so honored to be back with you today.

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Matter of fact, I might cry right there. So immediately, he's honored to be back with him.

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Should he be back with them? That's my question. The Apostle Paul in one of the pastoral epistles,

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Titus, listen to what the qualifications for a pastor are. In Christ's church, these are qualifications laid out long before I ever came around.

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All right. Long before Tabner Smith ever came around. So if anyone be blameless, the husband of one wife.

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So Tabner and his wife filed for divorce. We don't know who filed.

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I'd have to look on that one. Back in May of 2021, their divorce was final at the end of December.

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And here's the thing. The details regarding that divorce matter. And before that divorce was finalized is when the video was shot of him kissing that woman who was on the praise and worship team.

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So let's just put it this way. If a pastor, if his wife cheats on him and she commits adultery and she has an affair and rather than reconcile with her, he instead invokes his biblical right to divorce her.

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The idea here, the husband of one wife, the implication is that he's sexually moral.

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That's the point. But already we've got a problem because Tabner was in the process of a divorce when all of that went down.

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And the woman that he was having the inappropriate relationship with, those are the words he uses, uh, she was also, uh, in, in, in, in getting a divorce and the reasons matter.

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The reasons matter. So already there's some, there's some problems here.

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Husband of one wife having faithful, faithful children, not accused of right of right or unruly.

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Hang on a second. I'm going to switch to the ESV. There we go. All right, let me back up. So this is why

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I left you in Crete. If anyone is above reproach, husband of one wife, his children are believers, not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, an overseer as God's steward.

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And here's the idea. Pastors are not in charge of the church. God is. They are merely the stewards and there are, they have duties to fulfill in the pastoral office.

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As God's steward, he must be above reproach. Is Tabner Smith above reproach right now?

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Nope, not even close. He must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.

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Hospitable, a lover of good, self -controlled, upright, holy, disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradicted.

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Since Tabner Smith has been the subject of so many biblical critiques on fighting for the faith,

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I contend he was never qualified to be a pastor because he doesn't even know what sound doctrine is. He's incapable of rightly handling a biblical text.

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So, when it comes to the theological qualifications to be a pastor, he never met them. And morally now, he's morally unqualified either.

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He is not even close to anything approaching being above reproach.

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Okay? He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradicted.

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Tabner Smith is incapable of that either. So, he's not above reproach. And at the moment, we got a problem here, and that is that his relationship, which he's going to confess to having here, leaves a lot of questions that have to be answered because he was heading down the path of no longer being the husband of one wife.

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And the reasons why that's the case matter. Let's just say they matter a lot.

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So, we got some problems here, big problems. And he starts off by talking about he's honored to be back.

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He's not above reproach. He shouldn't be back. I also wanted to say thank you.

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Thank you for your kind words and your encouragement in this last few weeks.

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Few weeks. I believe this with my whole heart. You truly are the greatest people

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I've ever met in my life. He's been gone for a few weeks. I've had a lot of time to reflect and pray and seek

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God. The Lord has transformed me over these last couple of years in massive ways.

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And as I've been looking back, I don't even recognize many of the parts of who I was. The last month specifically, the

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Lord's taken me on a painful journey of realizing and repenting of the role that I've played and the hurt that I've caused to you in this church.

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The role he played in the hurt that he caused? Before I preach a word today,

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I've just come to say I'm sorry. For what? So many things

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I've said and that I've done and that I've not said and that I've run from were wrong. What exactly did you do?

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Things, things, things you've said and done and not done. What things? I was involved in an inappropriate relationship.

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And do you think that just six weeks away on a sabbatical is going to make it so that you are now above reproach?

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You just admitted that you had an inappropriate relationship, which is code talk, code talk for adultery.

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And six, six mere weeks, by the way, without any accountability,

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I'm going to point a few things out here. Chattanooga Times Free Press back on February 3rd,

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Venue Church Pastor Apologizes Denies Affair, describes internal problems in leaked video and leaked audio.

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So, his leadership team, when they confronted him regarding his now admitted inappropriate relationship, he's a pastor, okay, in his admitted inappropriate relationship, they confronted him about it.

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But one of the things they talked about was questions regarding his accountability, okay? And I find this interesting.

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So, divorce proceedings between Smith and his ex -wife, Danielle, began in May. Danielle has declined a

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Times Free Press request for comment. Smith told volunteers his marriage was over before 2015.

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And my immediate question is why? Why? Why was it over? That he met the employee in question, hmm, was the reason why your marriage was over?

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Because you are already, already emotionally, I don't know, connected to building the relationship with the woman that you had the inappropriate relationship with?

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Is that the reason? So, he said the divorce with his ex -wife was finalized on Monday before the meeting,

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December 13th. However, Hamilton County court records showed the divorce was finalized five days later on the 22nd, okay?

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So, when a volunteer questioned who was holding Smith accountable, all right? Now, by the way, I'm a pastor.

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You want to know who holds me accountable? The Clergy Commission of the Association, the American Association of Lutheran Churches, all right?

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If my wife and I were to have a divorce, guess who would I be getting a phone call from?

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And guess who'd be conducting an independent investigation to determine whether or not

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I was still qualified to be a pastor? My church body.

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And let's just say they take these things very seriously. But who's holding

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Smith accountable? Tavner was part of ARC. And boy, there are a lot of sexual scandals right now as it relates to ARC vision -casting leaders, right?

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So, when a volunteer questioned who was holding Smith accountable, the pastor said the church's board of directors.

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Three big -name pastors who were then not named, they had stepped down over the controversy.

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Other faith leaders were asked to join the board, but they declined. So, Smith said the church went several months without a board of directors.

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So, Ron Phillips Sr., pastor emeritus of Abba's House and now venue board member, is the main one providing accountability,

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Smith said. Well, here's the issue. Back on February 4th, this headline hit

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Yahoo News. Abba's House pastor resigns from venue church board, citing ongoing controversy at Chattanooga Mega Church.

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Okay, so Ron Phillips, pastor emeritus of Abba's House, resigned from the advisory board of venue church on Friday, citing the ongoing problems at the

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Mega Church on Lee Highway. So, when did he resign? Just before Tavner Smith basically reinstated himself, just a couple of days later, on the 7th.

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February 7th, Ron Phillips, the only person holding him accountable, resigned, which means nobody's holding

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Tavner accountable and holding him to the biblical standard. Not a single person, okay? Phillips' decision to step down comes after weeks of controversy for the church stemming from a years -long, years -long, watch this, years -long alleged affair.

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If it's a years -long alleged affair, then they were emotionally hooking up.

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I don't know if they were physically hooking up, but they were emotionally building this relationship while each of them were married, before there were any divorce proceedings, okay?

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Stemming from a years -long alleged affair between the church's pastor, Tavner Smith, and an employee.

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The resignation also raises questions about who's providing oversight or direction for the church.

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Answer, nobody, okay? In his four -sentence resignation letter obtained by the

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Times Free Press, Phillips told Smith he was stepping down because the situation at venue, quote, continues to snowball into more than the divorce.

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Quote, you are a friend to me and my hope was to help you and your wife and daughters settle amicably, your differences as well as preserve the church.

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Phillips wrote to Smith, unfortunately, it continues to snowball into more than the divorce.

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Due to these other things, I must submit my resignation as an advisory board member.

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Be assured of my prayers and desire to see God's best for you. The Chattanooga Mega Church has closed its

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North Georgia campus and has struggled to attract people in recent weeks. Nearly all staff quit

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December 17th after confronting the pastor about the alleged affair and asking him to step down.

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A request Smith reportedly refused. Yeah, and by the way, the people who confronted him also recorded the conversation, bits of that conversation are available at the

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Chattanooga Times Free Press. So, he has nobody holding him accountable.

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The one person that he brought on to be his accountability resigned, resigned.

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And he, just a few days later after the resignation of the only person who was holding him accountable, puts himself back as the pastor of the venue church and he's admitted here to having an inappropriate relationship.

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And now the question is, and how long was that relationship going on? Because your staff members seem to think it was going on for several years.

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And your marriage seemed to be kaput back when that employee started up at venue.

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Is this biblical repentance? Is this the type of repentance we saw from David?

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Or is this more like the repentance we saw from Saul back then?

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Many things I've said and that I've done and that I've not said and that I've run from were wrong.

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I was involved in an inappropriate relationship. And I want to say to you that I'm sorry that I put you through any embarrassment, heartache, or confusion.

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Listen to the words, okay? I was in an inappropriate relationship and I want to say

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I'm sorry. Sorry for what? For giving them embarrassment, heartache, or confusion.

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Is he repenting for the sin of adultery? Listen again, the details of the apology matter.

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That I've not said and that I've run from were wrong. I was involved in an inappropriate relationship.

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And I want to say to you that I'm sorry that I put you through any embarrassment, heartache, or confusion.

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He's sorry that he put them through embarrassment, heartache, or confusion. Are you sorry for adultery? I've wounded people and I've caused devastation that I know

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I can't ever take back. And as your leader and pastor, I come to you to publicly acknowledge my mistakes.

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Mistakes? Mistakes. Okay, so if I decided

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I was going to help my wife in the kitchen and we were baking cookies and I, well, accidentally put four eggs in the batch rather than the three called for by the recipe, that would be a mistake.

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A multi -year long affair with an employee is not a mistake.

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It's a sin. And it's a disqualifying sin.

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You're not above reproach. So, no, his apology, hmm, he's not exactly apologizing, is he?

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Okay, so let's say you and your spouse get in an argument and you finally get your spouse to say,

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I'm sorry, but your spouse says, I'm sorry that you feel that you feel bad.

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Is your spouse apologizing for what they did? Uh -uh.

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This isn't an apology. This isn't repentance.

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This is something really sick and very different. Listen again. Embarrassment.

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I'm going to back up just a little more. I was involved in an inappropriate relationship and I want to say to you that I'm sorry that I put you through any embarrassment, heartache, or confusion.

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I've wounded people and I've caused devastation that I know I can't ever take back. And as your leader and pastor,

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I come to you to publicly acknowledge my mistakes. Mistakes. Truly ask for forgiveness.

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What exactly are you asking for forgiveness for? For embarrassing them? Was that your sin?

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Embarrassing them? Grieves me to think that my pride and my selfishness could have caused anyone hurt.

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It still is. Through this last month and my - You were gone for six weeks.

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The only member of your board of accountability resigned three days before this.

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Counseling and my time with the Lord. I've made commitments. Commitments to put my focus on the Lord, my family, this church, and my health as my top priorities.

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Good on you, I guess. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing through the storm and the pain.

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I am committed to love you and serve you better than I ever have before. You're not qualified.

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You're not above reproach. Morally, you don't meet the standard to be a pastor.

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And I ask you for your grace and patience as we move forward together. You shouldn't be moving forward with them at all.

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You need to step down. Not every part of my story will be shared right away.

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Maybe some never. But out of deep respect for everyone involved, I take full responsibility that my actions were wrong and hurtful.

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Sinful and disqualifying. Hello? This man has nobody holding him accountable.

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Not a single person. As at this point, you all are very well aware,

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I'm not perfect. But I do love God with my whole heart. No, you don't.

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Your affair proves it. And I do love you. There's no excuse for my behaviors and the hurts

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I've caused. But I believe there is healing in walking out a brand new season.

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There's healing in walking out a brand new season? What? Again, who does this sound more like?

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David? Or Saul? Thank you for loving me, Venue Church. Never again will

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I take this platform to minister the Word of God and do life with you. Never will I take it for granted.

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I love you. I love you. I don't know why you guys are clapping.

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That wasn't real biblical repentance. He said he was sorry for embarrassing you.

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I've really prayed about today. And if I can be honest with you,

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I've been really nervous. You haven't really been honest or forthright at all.

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I didn't know what to preach or what to say. You shouldn't be preaching. You're not above reproach.

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It was in my head for a really long time because I just thought nothing I say, everything I say would be picked apart, all of this stuff.

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And I didn't come. I just wanted you to know this. I didn't come to preach to the situation.

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I didn't come to preach to get back at anybody that's anything like that. I just honestly got all of that out of my mind.

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And I just said, Lord, what is the word that you have for today? Oh, and God's still talking to you directly.

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And I really believe the Lord gave me this word. And I just feel like he's impressed. So yeah,

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God gave him this word. God approves of him breaking the standards for a pastor. And God's the one who's okay with him restoring himself and apologizing for embarrassing people.

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In my heart, Tavner, don't go up there and be anybody but you. God told you that really.

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God told you go up there and don't be anybody but you. So if you're challenging this, you're challenging

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God himself. Just go be you. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to be me. I'm going to give us a word that I believe that God has for us.

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I'm not just preaching to you. I'm preaching to me. And I'm believing with you that God's going to do something significant in our life through this moment.

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And now on with the show. Now I'm going to show you something here. I'm going to type in Venue Church. Okay.

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And we're going to go to their YouTube channel. I'm going to point this out. As the time that I recorded this episode, today is the 15th of February, 2022.

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You're going to note something here. That sermon's gone. It's not there.

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This apology that he gave, it's on an unlisted, it's an unlisted video put up by Julie Roys.

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So we got a problem here. And that is, is that if you truly are a repentant pastor for your inappropriate relationship, which is code talk for adultery, why is the apology missing?

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Why is the sermon gone? What's going on here? Yeah, I would note the one man who was left on the board because he was brought in was this fellow from Abbott House, Ron Phillips.

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He resigned because, well, if I could kind of paraphrase it, he resigned because citing the ongoing problems at the megachurch, obviously the problem of the years long alleged affair, that's part of it.

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But in the four sentence resignation letter, he said he was stepping down because the situation at venue continues to snowball into more than the divorce, more, which means the one person that could hold you accountable left because it was so much more than, what's the other more stuff here?

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All right. And the divorce and the affair haven't even been properly repented of, and Tavner is not biblically qualified anymore.

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He was never qualified to begin with because he couldn't rightly handle a biblical text to save his life.

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And now he's playing the God told me card. And if you challenge him, if you challenge his repentance, well,

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God's talking directly to Tavner. So you get the idea here. So what is biblical repentance?

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Well, it looks like what David did, taking full responsibility for the actual sin and confidence and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

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Here's the thing. The tragedy in all of this is that there is forgiveness in Christ for Tavner. That's the tragedy is that he can be forgiven.

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And he cares more about his status and being the vision casting leader of any church than he does about real repentance.

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And that's the scary bit. As a result of it, he risks hell and he risks sending his followers there as well.

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Let's pray for their real repentance and pray that whatever these other things that Phillips was talking about, the one person who was holding him accountable, that those other things start to come to light and that the venue church for the sake of the people there and for Tavner, Tavner's sake, his sake.

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There we go. It should fail. That's the best thing that could happen to him so that he can be humbled and brought to real penitence, real repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of these sins.

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So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.