WWUTT 1400 Q&A John C. Maxwell's False Teaching, Better Leadership Devotionals, Baptized by a Pastor

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Responding to questions from listeners about the problems with John C. Maxwell's teaching, better Christian devotionals to use about leadership, and do you have to be baptized by a pastor. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

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What are the problems with John C. Maxwell's teaching? What are some better devotionals that talk about Christian leadership?
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And do you have to be baptized by a pastor? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.
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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of God. For he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it on the day of Christ.
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Let your friends know about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is
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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Guess what? What? We have hit 2 million downloads of the podcast.
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Thanks everybody. 2 million. You guys are awesome. That is 2 million times the world wide web has heard you say when we understand the text.
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And they like to listen to you for at least 20 minutes. Hey, I don't get it either, but.
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I do. We sure appreciate it. And thanks so much for telling somebody else about.
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Thank you. Yeah, about what? We've never invested any money in. Advertising.
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Yeah, nothing like that. So it's just by word of mouth. And you've let folks know about it and that's brought people here.
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And we continue to get listeners and emails from people all over the world. Yeah, it's awesome.
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I love it. And so on Friday, we answer questions from the listeners and you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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Before getting to our first question, Parkland RCMP, the
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Royal Canadian Mounted Police have now announced charges against Grace Life Church in Parkland County under the
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Public Health Act. Last week on March the 4th, the legal counsel for Grace Life Church was served with a summons to attend
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Stony Plain Provincial Court on May 5th, 2021.
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Lots of regional government language that we don't use in the United States. So this is all in Canada.
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Grace Life Church was charged as an entity for exceeding the 15 % allowable capacity for the services held on February 21st and 28th contrary to section 73 -1 of the
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Public Health Act. The Parkland RCMP supported the AHS investigation at Grace Life Church this past Sunday.
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The church was non -compliant with the public health order in that it was over the allowed capacity.
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The RCMP members were present for public safety and to support AHS and did not go inside the church.
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Investigation continues into the church by AHS and supported by the Parkland RCMP. These charges are now before the court and further comments will not be available.
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This is the same church of course that James Coates was pastor of. He is currently in jail.
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Yeah, still currently pastor of this church. He's just in jail for preaching and bringing his church in when the rules are that you cannot have over 15 % capacity.
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Two sexual offenders have been released from the jail where he's being held but he's still in jail until May.
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I don't get it. I thought it was a recommendation. I didn't think it was a law, like they passed it as law.
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That's what it was supposed to be, I know. I mean, anywhere it's supposed to be that way. Right, and they also have the protection of freedom of religion too.
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Right. So I don't understand. It just, it feels like it's all wrong.
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Like it's all wrong. Well, I mean, any sort of written documentation it's almost like it's pointless now.
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As soon as you have some sort of thread of a disease we can throw all that out the window and do whatever it is that we want.
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No joke. So we need to pray for continued steadfastness for Grace Life Church.
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And thank you for being a witness to the whole Western world with what has been going on with your church.
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And we pray for James Coates as well. And his family. Yeah, his wife Erin was on Tucker Carlson last night.
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Oh, right. On Fox News. So it's great that they're able to get this coverage and the gospel is being proclaimed.
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But of course we want James Coates out of jail. Yeah, because our, I mean, even
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Canada laws, Canadian laws protect him. Should be. So it just doesn't make sense.
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We get to our first question here today. It's from Steven in Paris, Texas. Awesome, not far from us.
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Not far away. And we've been there. We've seen the Eiffel Tower with the cowboy hat. Dear Pastor Gabe and Becky, I just want to let you know that I love the daily readings and expository teachings through God's word.
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It is such a great delight to hear God's word preached in such a way that convicts, inspires, and pushes me to stay focused on what, and more importantly, who it is we serve.
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Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My question and more importantly, I guess, concern is that in my job site, we go through a daily devotion every morning before work begins.
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I have no qualms with that part, but it is on the devotional that we're going through. We are using
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John C. Maxwell's leadership promises for everyday daily devotion.
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I'm sorry, Steven. Upon my research of Mr. Maxwell, Dr. Maxwell, actually, he goes by that.
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He says, I've found some disturbing things and I was wondering if you might have any input or info on him yourself.
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And if my findings are correct, what would be the best course of action to bring this to my employer's attention and set things straight?
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What daily devotional besides yours, of course, would you recommend so that I could make sure we are doing biblical leadership is what they are more focused on, devotions.
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I truly need help. Thank you for all you do in this ministry. Keep up the great work and God bless. Well, I don't think
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I've ever done really like a response to John Maxwell's teaching.
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John Calvin Maxwell, his middle name is Calvin. I don't think he wants to use that.
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Well, not that he says C. Yeah, hence why he puts the
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C in there. It's John Calvin Maxwell. That really is his name. But anyway, I've not ever done like a long response to some of Maxwell's teaching.
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So I'll do a little bit of that here. Just confirming probably some of the things that you've already looked up,
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Stephen. And then I have some recommendations for you here at the very end. So first of all, what is the problem with John Maxwell's teaching?
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Well, it really is the epitome of taking scripture totally out of context. And making them little platitudes and stuff that would be encouraging and lighthearted.
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And you throw it on your little happy verse calendar. What's my happy verse for the day? Where they often use like quotes from the devil instead of quotes from Jesus.
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All this will be yours if you bow down and worship me. Yes. That's the devil that said that.
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Mistakes happen when you're just Googling. Yeah, right. So yeah, that's the kind of stuff that John Maxwell does.
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I find that a little bit funny, but I'm sure whenever you're actually serious about it and you're going through it, that it's like astounding that that actually happens.
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Well, you'll be astounded at the way that he takes some of these passages. I've got some examples here, and this is from two of his books,
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The Indisputable Laws of Teamwork and The Winning Attitude. So in one of the devotionals, he's got
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Proverbs 29, 18, where there is no vision the people perish. Is that what that verse says?
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A lot of these guys, Joyce Meyer included, they like to use the King James because it just contains language we don't really use regularly anymore.
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Oh, okay, yeah. And so it's easier to kind of take stuff out of context and make it mean what you want it to mean. Oh, yeah.
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So this passage, Proverbs 29, 18, this is an often misused passage, especially by those name it and claim it sorts of people.
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Here's what it actually says, and I'm reading from the ESV. Here's the whole verse. Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
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Well, that says something completely different than just without vision, people perish.
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That also happens on those little cards that you can color and whatnot. That happens a lot.
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Oh, the little coloring? Yeah. Like even the little verse coloring books that they'll have and stuff like that? Yes, it happens a lot.
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So if you actually look up the verses, it explains just looking up that one verse.
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Yeah, just that one verse. You read the whole verse, says something different than just where there is no vision, the people perish.
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So you can probably guess where John Maxwell takes this. You just have to have a vision.
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You have a vision board. If you don't have a goal, then you're gonna perish. But what that verse is actually saying is that you need to know the word of God and obey it.
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Right. Just like what James says in James chapter one, don't just be hearers of the word and walk away from it and deceive yourselves.
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Do what it says. Right. That's not the lesson that you hear from John Maxwell. It's always very lighthearted sort of stuff.
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He doesn't talk about the cross, never confront sin, doesn't talk about the sovereignty of God. It's all just taking a bunch of verses out of context.
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And by lighthearted, you mean like feel good. Like it just warm and fuzzy. Oh yeah, just to give you the feels.
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Lighthearted, I mean, I can say a verse and be lighthearted about it. Oh sure, right, definitely.
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You know, that sort of thing. But you can say John 3 .16 and be lighthearted about it. Sure, but yeah, you mean like warm and fuzzy.
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Like they're going after the feels. Yeah, exactly. Purposely. That's what he's doing. Then he makes a reference to John 2.
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This is in the winning attitude. Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana.
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Now, John Maxwell takes this as a lesson on good leadership. Okay. Because Jesus, he had a plan.
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And even Jesus' mother said, do whatever he tells you to do. And so you gotta have a leader.
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You gotta have a plan. You gotta have people who are willing to follow. Right, okay. And then you can turn water into wine,
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I guess. That's... Miracles happen. Right, miracles happen when you have a leader and when you've got people following the leader.
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Right. You know, nothing about the fact that this miracle was showing that Jesus is the son of God.
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Right. First of his miracles. 1 Samuel 17, this is another one from the winning attitude.
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Do you remember what story is in 1 Samuel 17? David and Goliath. Oh yeah. Okay, so you got
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Goliath coming up against the Israelites and Maxwell says, the soldiers all thought, he's so big we can never kill him.
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David looked at the same giant and thought, he's so big I can't miss. No. So this is a story.
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Everybody takes David and Goliath a different route. Coloring books.
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I'm sorry, I'm with kids all day. You keep going back to the coloring books. I do, I do.
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Coloring is very important in our daily schedule. Anyway, but yeah, like everywhere you turn, it's like, my problem is
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Goliath and I am David, you know, conquer that giant. Yeah, right. It's like, no, no.
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Yeah, where Maxwell takes this is that we just have to have a positive attitude. David had a positive attitude going against Goliath and it's moralizing or allegorizing the text where, you know,
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Goliath is your problem. Yeah. So you just have to have a positive attitude. And people, we are not
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David. Yep. We're not David. We're the people that are scared off to the side. David is
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David, Goliath is Goliath. Romans 10 .7, faith comes by hearing.
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Another one from The Winning Attitude. And that's all he gives of that verse, by the way. Romans 10, well, this says
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Romans 10 .7, it's actually Romans 10 .17. But it says, faith comes by hearing. He just has four words there.
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And then dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot, got an ellipse there at the end. All right, so go look up that verse.
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Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And what's the word of Christ?
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The Bible. But again, Maxwell takes this to mean you just have to speak positively.
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Don't use negative words. Negative words bring people down. Negative words don't get things done. You need to speak positive words because faith comes by hearing positive words.
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Anyway, that's John C. Maxwell's teaching. He just makes the
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Bible basically a series of independent proverbs that I can take out of context. A platitudes was the word
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I used earlier. I can make it mean whatever I want it to mean. And his theme is almost always leadership.
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He's like the leadership guru. Well, of course, he's trying to get an angle, but there's so many more verses that actually would apply.
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To being a good leader. Yes. Right. In fact, let me give you some good passages on leadership.
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Right. This is from - There's so many. This is, well, let me read to you first from 2
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Timothy 1. I'm gonna read verses eight through 14. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our
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Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
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So let me stop there for a moment. When we don't talk about the finer points of the gospel, which
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John Maxwell doesn't do, we're likewise demonstrating a shame of the gospel.
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So it's not just about, like whenever we say Romans 1 .16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
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We often think of that as, well, I'm not gonna say I'm ashamed of the gospel. So as long as I say that I love the gospel, then
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I'm not ashamed of it. But if you don't share it, that's also being ashamed of the gospel.
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If you're worried about the repercussions that could happen because you shared the gospel, that's being ashamed of it.
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And right now you have James Coates and Grace Life Church as a model of a church that is not ashamed of the gospel.
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And we need to remember, just as Paul says to Timothy here, we remember our brothers and sisters in the
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Lord who are in chains or are persecuted for the gospel. Because as one member of the church is persecuted, we're all persecuted.
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This was Jesus speaking to Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine and says,
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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Yes. If just a few
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Christians are being persecuted, then persecution is coming against the church. So we need to be lifting one another up in prayer.
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We need to be paying attention to these things. And when we don't share the gospel, when we shrink back from it, when we try to retreat from oppression that might come against us because we're worshipers of Jesus Christ, then we make the rest of the church vulnerable.
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Those that do have the courage to step out and declare the gospel are now fewer in number and are more vulnerable to that persecution that's coming against the church when we're not all standing together.
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That's right. We need to be the army of God in that spiritual sense that Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter six.
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So going on here, that's just one verse, not getting very far. But verse nine, God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior,
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Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which
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I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed for I know whom
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I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me, which is also one of my favorite hymns.
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Yes. That uses that verse. Verse 13, follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the
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Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
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There's a devotional thought on leadership for you right there. There you go. Now let me draw from 2
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Timothy four points that John MacArthur singles out as four points of leadership from 2
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Timothy, okay? Go for it. Number one, good leaders will take a stand for the gospel of Christ Jesus.
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Amen. Number two, good leaders will focus on the fact that they are suffering for Christ and his people.
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Amen. Number three, good leaders hold fast to sound doctrine.
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There's no other way. And number four, good leaders will duplicate themselves.
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Ah. So consider that. Making more leaders. That's right, making more, more disciples, more leaders.
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Consider that instruction that's in verse 13, follow the pattern of sound words that you've heard from me.
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Why would Timothy do that? So then he can share it with others. Yeah. And they can follow after this pattern of the sound words of the gospel of our
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Lord Christ. Amen. Sorry, I was a little enthusiastic there. I think I spoke over you a little bit.
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No, you're good. Carry on. You were just whispering your amens? Okay, there we go. I'm cheerleader.
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Now, Stephen, the other part of your question was, what are some other better devotionals that are more doctrinally focused, more doctrinally sound?
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So here's a few examples for you. Well, I just read from John MacArthur. So check out the book,
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Drawing Near by John MacArthur. I actually read that one. I think that publication is like 30 years old now.
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Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. I read that one a long time ago, but that's a good devotional book, Drawing Near.
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Another one - It just proves the word doesn't get old. That's right, that's right. It's applicable yesterday, today, and forever.
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Amen. R .C. Sproul wrote one called Making a
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Difference. Derek Thomas, A Voyage of Discovery. These are readings from the
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Psalms. And if you like those reading from the Psalms kind of devotionals, I have a better John Calvin book.
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Not from John Calvin Maxwell, but John Calvin himself. It's called
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Heart Aflame, Daily Readings from John Calvin on the Psalms. So consider that one.
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And if you like the classics, if you wanna go classic, there's The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennett, Prayers from Puritans, and Isaac Watts, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon.
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Right. Lots of good writing in there from some very classic men who have defended the faith in times of persecution as well.
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There's some good leadership for you. So I hope that helps, Steven. And maybe grab one of those other books.
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You can always take a look online and read some excerpts from it and stuff like that. Take it to whoever it is that's leading those devotionals at your work.
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And just - Who's in charge of it. Yeah, whoever's in charge of it. Just kindly approach him. Don't do it in front of everybody else.
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Just do a little one -on -one approach and give him some examples of some other devotions. Just say, and you can -
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Or maybe start out with reading one of those verses fully from the
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Bible. That's a great idea, babe. Yeah. And then that proves your concern for him twisting the scripture a little bit.
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And then you can like, you know, go into the, you know, like a smooth transition into -
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Here's another idea. Here's some ideas - That's right. That don't take scripture. And we can learn what the
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Bible actually says about leadership. Exactly. That's a good way to do it, I think. So look at that verse, you know, when you hear the verse done in the devotional, look at it in context and go, and just don't think that's what that means.
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Because more often than not, whatever John C. Maxwell is saying, that's not what that verse means. So then take it to whoever's leading the devotional and say, do you see how this doesn't work?
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Yeah. And he does this. And then you explain your stance on why he should change the devotional.
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Right. I think it gives you feet to stand on. And it's still gentle enough because you're concerned, you know, so.
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Yeah, yeah. You're coming out of concern for everybody there. Right, right. We want to be lifted up.
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We want to be encouraged and emboldened by the word of God. And only the word of God can do that. Not somebody taking from the word of God, twisting it into something they want it to say and then giving their own thoughts.
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You might as well be doing one of those fortune teller paper things.
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That's right, yeah. Fortune cookie, is that what you were thinking of? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I was thinking the, like the cootie catchers, the fortune tellers.
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Cootie catchers? That's what we called them. I don't know. Anyway, it's back from middle school.
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Well, that reminded me of kindergarten, cootie catchers. Scribble, scribble, dot, dot.
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Now you got your cootie shot. So once you fold up and you put your fingers in it and then you're like one, two, three, four, and then you take a letter and you know.
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Okay, I got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or there might be colors on some of them. Yes, colors and you spell out the color and then you open it up.
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And anyway, same thing. Yeah, or a magic eight ball. Yes, well, a magic eight ball is yes or no.
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No, it's got more options than that. Maybe. I used to love those things when I was a kid. Ask me again later. When I was a pagan, yeah, ask me again later.
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That's the one I always got. I think it was weighted. All right, this next question is from Stephen.
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Hang on a second. Oh yeah. Stephen and Stephen. That's right. Yeah. I have a question from Stephen and another question from Stephen.
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It was like. A different Stephen. I think it was last week or two weeks ago when you weren't on the program and I had so many
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Neils. Oh yeah. There was a friend of ours, Neil on Twitter that was going, I'm trying to count all the times
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I've heard the name Neil in this episode of the podcast. So yeah, this next
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Stephen. Greetings, is there a biblical argument for only ministers slash pastors to baptize or is this just a church tradition?
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That's a good question. Yeah, it's more of a tradition thing. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, there's nothing in scripture that says that it has to be done by a pastor but I think it's a good idea because of the witness.
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Right. And also that the people know that this person's confession of faith has been tested and affirmed by elders of a church or the pastor of a church.
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Right. So it's not just somebody saying, hey, I want to get baptized and then any Joe just take, splashes them underwater.
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And then it connects them to that church. Yes. And then they have that accountability.
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Right. And the people of the church have that accountability to that person too to make sure that their walk stays firm.
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Right. Stays on the narrow path. Which is why in the Baptist church, a baptism is a confession of membership as well.
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So it's a commitment to that church, becoming a member of that church. And then when you've been baptized and the body has witnessed that and now you're accountable to that body, there is the welcoming into participating at the
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Lord's table as well. So now you're taking of the other ordinance.
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So we have the two ordinances, baptism and the other one being the Lord's supper. And that's the order that they go in.
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You get baptized and then you become a participant at the Lord's table as well. Right. That's just one of the reasons why it's good to come from a pastor or an elder.
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It doesn't have to. It's not like you have an illegitimate baptism now because a pastor didn't do it.
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Of course not. Right. But you want to take this seriously. Your confession in baptism. It's a serious confession.
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Exactly. It's a serious thing. Yeah. And so being done by a pastor in front of a church is further declaration that I'm making a commitment to follow
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Jesus, that I'm being buried with him in my sins and risen again to new life. That's the confession that we make when we are baptized.
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So consider the words that we've read. We just finished up our study in the book of Romans, but consider what we read back in Romans chapter six, verse one.
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What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means?
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How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.
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And so baptism is that confession that I have died to my sins and I am now alive in Christ.
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The being dunked under the water, of course, I'm a Baptist. So being submerged under the water is that indication
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I've been buried with Christ in my sins. Coming up out of the water is I've been cleansed, I'm washed,
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I'm risen again to new life. And the life that I now live, as Paul says in Galatians, I live not unto the flesh, but I live unto
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God, Jesus Christ who died for me and rose again. And we make that confession through our baptism.
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So that's why you wanna do that in front of a church and why there's some kind of an authenticity that's in that confession when it comes from a pastor.
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Yeah, it's encouraged. It's encouraged to do that. Yeah, but not required. That's a good idea because you have somebody who's committed to the preaching and teaching, giving confirmation that this person's confession is real.
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And so therefore in front of witnesses by their proclamation, we are saying this person is one of us.
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They have a legitimate confession of faith in Jesus Christ, a heart transformation that the
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Holy Spirit has done in this person's life. And now their confession of faith being done by baptism so that we can all say together, this is a brother or a sister in the
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Lord. So yeah, again, it's more tradition than anything. There's nothing in the
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Bible that says it has to be done by an elder or a pastor. It's just a good idea. All right.
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I concur. And as we have been doing only halfsies right now on the Friday podcast, that brings us to the end of another episode until we can get a studio at home and maybe spend a little bit more time answering some questions.
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Yeah. And folks, if you wanna help us out, because we actually, so we moved into our new house last week.
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Yes. But we need to construct a studio. We do. And unlike the last house that we lived in, there's not a place.
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Kind of came with one. Yeah. Just by the blessing of God, it came with a place for us to be able to do that. It was really good.
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But this one doesn't have that. So there's, we have to construct it on the outside of the house, on the back end of the house.
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And so if you want to contribute to that, if you wanna help us with that construction effort, we would appreciate it.
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You're more than welcome to. We won't turn you down. You can PayPal a donation to whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.
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So the same email address you send your questions to is connected to our PayPal account, and you can send a donation that way.
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Yeah. We would appreciate it. We know there's lots going on. You've got plenty of other things you could give money toward, and we would encourage you to support your church before anything else.
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Definitely. But if you got something left over that you can send to us, we would be grateful.
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That would help us with that construction project to getting a studio done on the back of the house. A little bit quicker. A little bit faster.
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A little bit more affordable. Yes. Well, let's conclude with prayer. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together, and thank you for giving us the time to be able to do this together, answering some questions, reading your word, being encouraged by the instruction that you've given to us, and the hope of the promise that we have in Christ Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the grave, so that whoever believes in him, we are forgiven our sins, and we have everlasting life, with God forever in glory.
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Fellowship with God even now, and living in the hope of the promise of your eternal kingdom that has been given to us through Christ Jesus.
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We pray for our friends in Canada, those who are being persecuted by the government because of these ridiculous orders handed down as a result of all the
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COVID panic that has been going on. We thank you for the witness of James Coates and his wife. Pray that you keep him steadfast and strengthened even while he's in jail, the family also while they have to see their husband and father in jail.
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And we pray for that church, that they would continue in steadfastness, in courage to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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May it be a witness to all of us. Let there be none of us that shrink back from what we've been called to do, and that is proclaim the gospel of Christ, to not be ashamed, to encourage and love and build up one another in this faith, not to tear each other down, as there are certainly professing
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Christians doing to James Coates, tearing him down because they think he should have just obeyed these orders.
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That's coming against many other pastors as well in the near future and churches and Christians, especially if the
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Equality Act passes. So I pray that in these days, we have good courage. We are devoted to the word of God because it is only here that we know of the promises that are granted to us in Christ Jesus.
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If we have those heavenly promises and we know that Christ reigns and is King, we have nothing to fear of anything that would be done to us here on this earth.
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Deliver us into your kingdom. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name.