Church Leadership (8 of 10 Non-Negotiable Elements of a Healthy Church)

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Discipleship (9 of 10 Non-Negotiable Elements of a Healthy Church)

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If you'd go ahead and turn to John 10, that's where I'm gonna be starting today briefly. I've got a lot of scripture to cover and I do not apologize for that.

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After all, I was telling Jeremiah that I had a lot of scripture and he said, well there's one thing that you know for sure is that your sermon's gonna have a lot of truth in it.

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So I praise the Lord for that. But first I'd like to pray. Lord, I just thank you for this opportunity that you've given me.

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Father, and I pray that you would just speak the truth through me. Father, I wanna be your servant.

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I wanna speak your word, Lord, and so just give me the strength and the confidence to communicate what you've set before us.

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This day I pray in Christ Jesus. John 10 talks about the good shepherd.

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This is one of my most favorite section of scripture as a lot of them are. But there is so much truth and doctrine and foundational principles packed in this one section.

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I mean, you could preach sermon after sermon after sermon just out of what he says here, but I wanna use it to set the stage for what

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I wanna talk about today, to kind of set the foundation. And I'm gonna do a little commentating as I go along.

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So I'm not gonna speak all the way through it. I'm gonna start in verse two, if you would.

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It says, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd.

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That's what he's talking about. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice.

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Why do the sheep hear his voice? Because he speaks the truth. He does not speak false.

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He does not speak a lie. They recognize the truth that he speaks. They recognize his voice from that because they are the sheep.

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And he calls his own sheep by name. He knows his sheep and leads them out.

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Not only do they hear his voice and know his voice, but they follow him because they know he is the way.

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They know that he speaks the truth and he's gonna show them how to lead life. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him and they know his voice.

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So they not only know the truth, but they recognize the truth. They have studied.

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They know what the truth is. So when he speaks it, they know that it is the truth. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of a stranger.

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And now if you'll skip down to verse 12. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, which is important.

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So we have the good shepherd and we have the false shepherd who does not own the sheep.

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He has no connection to the sheep. Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

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Now why are they scattered? Because they don't know where to go. They haven't been given the truth.

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They don't know what lies ahead or they don't know what the right direction is, so they're scattered. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

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The false shepherd. And this is a contrast. This is the great contrast of the

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Bible that starts off at the very first of the Bible and is carried through to the very end of the page.

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It's what is true, what is false. What is right, what is wrong.

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What is the truth, what is the lie? What is light, what is darkness? And that's what

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I wanna bring to you today when I talk about leadership. I wanna talk about what is the good shepherd or a good shepherd when it comes to being leadership within the church and what is the false shepherd?

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What is the hired hand? So as a church, we've been going through these non -optional marks of a healthy church and Pastor Jeremiah and Nathan have been talking to us.

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They've preached about expositional preaching, gospel doctrine, conversion, evangelism, church membership, church discipline.

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And they've asked me and today, I'm gonna bring godly and biblical -based leadership is what I wanna talk about.

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And you know, when they gave this to me, I was sitting there thinking, I have to be honest.

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Gosh, can I not talk about maybe gospel doctrine? You know, I want some meat to sink my teeth into.

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And as I got to praying about it and studying and considering it, I came to a conclusion.

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I came to a conclusion that church leadership, if not the most important characteristic, is definitely way up there for a church.

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It's important to have a healthy, biblical -based, god -honoring, Jesus -following, spirit -led church if you are gonna be healthy.

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And if you don't have it, most of those that do not are on life support, are on life support right now.

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I also came to another conclusion, and not just by that, but through some of the things that I have come in contact with while I've been studying this, is there is a great deficiency of sound biblical belief in the church today.

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I'm talking about the universal church today. And this is a result of a crisis of good, biblically -based leadership within the church.

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And not only just within the church, but those that are training the seminaries has the same problem today.

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They've drifted away from biblical structure and qualifications for church leadership. They have let the pews dictate the pulpit.

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Or you have a board of directors running the whole church, and sometimes these board of directors are called deacons.

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And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with deacons, but maybe y 'all have experienced that, where you have a group of people who are popular, have a lot of money, have important jobs, and they're on the board, and they run the church and what the church says.

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Or you might have just the pulpit running the whole show by itself. But in this case, or in many cases, no one is guarding the door, no one is guarding the word, and no one is tending the sheep in churches today.

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Now you might say, surely you exaggerate, Keith. But I don't think so. And let me give you some information that I came across.

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You may have heard of Legionnaire Ministries, and I may have pronounced that wrong. R .C. Sproul created this.

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Every two years, they do what's called a theological survey. And they go out and they'll ask evangelicals, these are people that attend evangelical churches, they're members, and they attend.

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So they believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what they worship. And so these are people like us that's in churches.

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And they'll make series of statements to these people. It's a survey, and then they'll ask them if they agree or they disagree with these statements.

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They do it every two years so they can monitor whether, you know, what any trends are. But I picked out six of these statements that I believe makes the point

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I'm trying to make. The first statement is,

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God learns and adapts to different circumstances. So in other words, sometimes

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God's surprised and he has to make a different plan. Like maybe go to plan B or plan

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C. 48 % of evangelicals agreed.

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God changes. Number two, everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.

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So in other words, there isn't such a thing as total depravity. What we were reading up today in Psalm, then

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David said, I was born in sin. 68 % agree.

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Number three, God accepts the worship of all religions. This is Islam, Jehovah's Witness, all of them.

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In other words, what they're saying is we all worship the same God. We just do it in different ways. And he accepts that.

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He accepts that worship. 56 % agree. Number four, the

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Bible is not literally true. So what we have is people saying, well,

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I'm gonna choose which part of this is true and which part of it is not.

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26 % agree. Number five, religion is a matter of personal opinion, which is pretty much tied to the one

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I just got through with. 38 % agree. And number six, the last one

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I'm gonna say today is Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not

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God. 43 % agree.

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I hope I've made my point. These are people that call themselves evangelicals and attend churches today.

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This was startling when I read it. I was sitting there going, how can this be?

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What does this mean? And I believe John said it best in the epistle we just got through studying in 1

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John 2 .22 when he said, who is the liar but he who denies

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Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist, he who denies the

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Father and the Son. And I believe this is telling us what's going on in a lot of churches today.

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Now, I know there's a lot of really good churches, but this says there's a lot of churches out there that's on life support and are not teaching the truth.

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And the leadership is not expecting the sheep to believe the truth.

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There's a void, there's a void out there. The door isn't being guarded. The word is not being guarded.

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And the sheep have not been tended. And in many cases, the shepherds are just hired hands.

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You know, you talk about the wolf in sheep's clothing. I think in a lot of cases, we have a wolf in shepherds' clothing, misleading the churches.

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Jeremiah 23, one and two says, "'Woe to the shepherds who destroy "'and scatter the sheep of my pasture,' declares the

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Lord. "'Therefore,' says the Lord, "'the God of Israel concerning the shepherds "'who care for my people, you have scattered my flock, "'have driven them away, and you have not attended them.

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"'Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds,' "'declares the

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Lord.'" That's sobering. Boy, for the false shepherds out there, that would be extremely sobering if I was one of them.

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So where does this leave us concerning leadership of the church? Where does this leave those that may be out on the internet watching today who are attending churches that may have poor leadership?

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Well, what I wanna do is I wanna ask a series of four questions, and the answers I give, I think, is gonna help guide us in what we need to be thinking about and what we need to be expecting from biblically -based church leadership.

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First question I've asked and I'm gonna answer is what is the basis and the foundation for leadership?

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You know, what is the basis just for leadership itself? Then second, what is the biblical structure for leadership in the church?

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What does this book prescribe for leadership within the church? Third, what are the qualifications for godly leadership within this biblical structure?

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So what are the qualifications that this book here says about the people who assume leadership within the church?

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And then what should you, as sheep, do as an active church member?

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What should you expect from your leadership? What should you be seeing from your leadership? What kind of leadership should you have?

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So the first question was what is the basis and the foundation of leadership? Psalm 11, one through three says, in the

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Lord I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird from your mountain?

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For behold, the wicked bends the bow. They have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright of heart.

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If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

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If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? So I wanna give you a few definitions so you kinda know what

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I'm talking about when I'm talking about leadership. The first is leadership. It's the ability to influence and guide others.

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The ability to influence and guide others. And this ability is tied to authority.

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You have to have some sort of authority to be able to be a leader in order to influence and guide others.

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And in leadership, there's a principle that I really like, and it's a concept that's called jurisdictional leadership.

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Jurisdictional leadership. It's from right here. Jurisdictional leadership.

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Jurisdictional means it relates the official power to make a decision and judgments.

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It is the right to exercise authority. Now there's foundational principles to this jurisdictional leadership.

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And the first foundational principle is the one who creates or establishes an entity has jurisdiction over it, and the right to appoint sub -jurisdictions.

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So the person who creates a jurisdiction. I'm creating a club or something, and I have members come and join the clubs.

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I have the right to have jurisdiction over that.

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It's my creation. And I have a right to appoint sub -jurisdictions. In Genesis 1 .1,

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first page in the Bible, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

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There's the creator over our jurisdiction. There's who has the right. And this verse here, this 10 words, has so much backed into it.

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I mean, it's not just telling you what the beginning is. What it's doing is telling you that there was something before the beginning, and that was

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God. He's just giving us a reference because we are bound by time, and we need to know when the beginning was.

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He's also setting up a foundational principle from the very start. I have created this.

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I have created you. Therefore, I have sovereignty over you.

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I have jurisdiction. I have the right of leadership over that. The second foundational principle is a jurisdiction is administered by words.

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Whoever creates makes the rules and speaks. Genesis 1 .3,

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and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And you go on reading in Genesis, and God said, and God said, and God said through his creation.

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He has administered his jurisdiction by words. And God said, there it is.

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You wanna know if something's truth or not, or something's right or not? All you have to do is look and see if God sent.

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That's the foundation right here. This is him revealing himself to us and communicating to us.

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The third foundational principle is a leader of a jurisdiction is responsible to speak what is right and what is truth.

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Psalm 33 .4, for the word of the Lord is upright and all his work is done in faithfulness.

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He has to speak the truth, or you're gonna be based on something false. It is not gonna be righteousness.

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It's gonna be sin. The fourth foundation, and this moves away from the

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Lord, are the leader of a jurisdiction to those who are in the jurisdiction. Those in a jurisdiction have a responsibility to do and think what is right.

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As sheep, we have a responsibility to do and think what is right. Romans 12 .2,

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do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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That is our responsibility. The fifth principle, a jurisdiction fails when those within a jurisdiction, sorry, jurisdiction, speaks what is wrong or lives for themselves.

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Romans 13 .2, so anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against God and what he has instructed, and they will be punished.

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So God has set up these jurisdictions, and he's also set up sub -jurisdictions within it, and one of those sub -jurisdictions is the church.

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We are to be priests to society. But I wanna make one note, and the note is

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God has given the right of his jurisdictional leadership to his son. Hebrews 1 .3,

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he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

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After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand on the majesty on high.

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So Jesus Christ is his jurisdictional leadership in our lives, over the church, and over creation.

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So here we have the foundation. This is the foundation of the leadership, and of course that foundation is

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God and what he has spoken. He is sovereign, he is the creator. So the second question, what is the biblical structure for leadership within the church?

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So if you would turn to Acts 20, please. Now as you're turning there,

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I'm gonna be speaking on biblical eldership. And there's a book by Alexander Strach, I wanted to show you, called

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Biblical Eldership. And this book is 300 pages, and it goes through about every scripture in the

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Bible that has to do with church leadership. Eldership, deacons, and it all.

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If you wanna go deep into what eldership is, get this book, I highly recommend it.

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And I'll come back to this in just a minute. But in Acts 20, I'm gonna start in verse 17,

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I'm gonna skip around just a little bit in here. This was Paul's last missionary journey. He's on the way back to Jerusalem, and he stopped off in Ephesus, which is one of the churches that he created.

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And it says, now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church to come to him.

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And when they came to him, he said, therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring you the whole counsel of God.

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Pay careful attention to yourselves, and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

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I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away disciples after them.

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Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years, I did not cease night and day to admonish everyone with tears.

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So I want you to notice that he has called the leaders of the church, the elders, to come to him, from the church at Ephesus.

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He also says that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. So here we see two words that describe leadership within the church used together.

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We have elders, and we have overseers. And we'll also see in other scriptures that they also use pastors, interchanged in this, and also shepherds.

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So basically, these four terms are used in the Bible to talk about the leadership within the church.

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Those who have oversight over the church, elders, pastors, and overseers.

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Now that's pretty different than most churches use today, especially if you've come from any Baptist churches.

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Typically, Baptist churches are led by a board of deacons. And I'm not saying that's not wrong, but what

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I'm saying is that's not what the Bible dictates should be done. That's not what the Bible is showing us should be biblical leadership.

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Not that deacons do not have an extremely important role within the church leadership.

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And I'll talk about that more in just a little bit. First Peter 5, one and two says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock.

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So here he's using that term shepherd. That is, shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight, being an overseer.

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Titus 1, five says, this is why I left you in Crete. Here's Paul talking to Titus, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

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So I think it shows plainly, and there's many more scriptures, that elders are to lead the flock.

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First Timothy 5, 17 says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

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So here we said, the elders are responsible for preaching and teaching within the church. Now this word, this

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Greek word for rule means to influence others, is to cause them to follow a recommended course of action, to guide, to direct, and to lead.

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So we see that elders lead, direct, govern, manage, and care for the flock of God.

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Just like the good shepherd, they are a good shepherd, or they should be a good shepherd within the church, leading and guiding the flock.

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They are God's stewards of the church. Now going back to deacons, deacons are to facilitate.

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They're to serve the ministry of the church within the flock. This is, you know, the first part when deacons, it's mentioned in the

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Bible, sorry, is in Acts 6. And I'm not gonna read that whole thing, but you can go read verses one through four.

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That's when they were having trouble. The membership had grown really big, and they were having trouble serving the

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Hellenistic Jews. They weren't getting served like they should be. And the apostles said, we do not have time to do this.

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We need to be concentrating on preaching and prayer. So they told them to appoint seven to serve the church, to serve those that was not being served.

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And so basically deacons are to watch for and to meet tangible needs within the church, protect and promote church unity, and to serve and support the ministry of the elders.

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This does not mean they're not important. They are incredibly important. They take a lot of the load off the elders of the church so they can do the function that they were appointed to do by the

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Lord. So what is true biblical eldership? What are they supposed to do? So let's start off with what they're not supposed to do or what they are not.

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They're not a board of directors to advise the pastor. That's not what they are. They're not separate from the elders who do most of the preaching.

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So there's not just one elder that is the preacher, and then the others are separate from them.

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They're all together. They should all be preachers. They should all be teachers. They are not rulers who sit above the flock.

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They are not the ruler of the church. They're the leader. They're the shepherd of the flock.

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Elders are a biblically qualified council of men that jointly pastors and oversees the local church.

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I want you to hinge on that word jointly, sees and oversees the church.

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They are under the headship of Christ and the authority of his word, and they are

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Christ's under shepherds over the church. Eldership, as I've said, is a group.

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It is a council. It is a shared leadership. In 1 Timothy 5, 17, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

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So Jesus gave the church a plurality of leadership. From the very start, you had the 12 apostles.

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And when Jesus left and left them behind, they became the council of the church in Jerusalem.

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So you had a plurality of leaders and they were the apostles. And then the apostles are seen time and time again throughout the

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New Testament as appointing elders over the church. This was an apostolic, sorry,

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I get twisted on that word. This was an apostolic direction. Paul telling Titus to appoint elders.

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Paul appointing elders. Peter appointing elders over the church. It's plural whenever you see elder used.

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Most of the time, unless it's just talking like Peter says, I am an elder. But it always talks about the plurality, the plural elders.

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And that's what it is. The elders should be a group. It should be a plurality of elders.

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But you might think, well, doesn't that kind of get confusing? Who's in charge?

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I mean, which one is in charge? All of them. Which one of the apostles was in charge?

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All of them were in charge. It was a plurality. And there's benefits from having a plurality of elders.

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The first is it lessens the workload. Not one person, not one pastor has all the weight upon him to do everything in the church.

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So it lessens the workload. It provides accountability. So if you have an elder that's being led astray, he can be held accountable by the others.

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And I think a perfect example, and you may not have heard of this, but there was a church called Mars Hill out on the

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West Coast. And it was led and started and founded by a man named

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Mark Driscoll. Okay, and this church just, and the reason why I know about it,

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I listen to a podcast, I wanna say that. You can go find a podcast on it, but if you wanna listen to it, it's like 10 podcasts that are an hour, an hour and a half, two hours long.

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It's the whole story of the church. This guy started a church. It started with great intentions. And it just,

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I mean, it just went crazy with growth. They planted churches all over the place.

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And basically, he was young and he got too big for his britches, to use a

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Southern term. And certain things started to happen. He refused any accountability.

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In fact, he was quoted as saying, why should I be accountable to somebody that doesn't have a church as big as I do?

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Because basically nobody did. And I was gonna use the term a minute ago that he started this church and it blew up.

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Now I'll say it, it blew up. I mean, it literally imploded on itself.

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I mean, it was like one week, it was there going, and I'm not gonna say going strong. There was a series of things that happened, but within a week, it was basically wasn't an entity anymore and had all these people left out there wondering what in the world happened.

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And it was pride. He didn't have anybody that he was in authority under or anybody to help hold him accountable.

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And that's one of the most important things and one of the good things about having a plurality of elders is you have others to help hold you up and to make sure you're doing what you're doing is right.

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And then another benefit is more than the sum of the whole. So you have three people and it's gonna be more than just one plus one plus one equals three.

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It kind of goes with that scripture that says a cord of three strands is not easily broken. I think that really applies here.

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So you have strength in numbers. Okay, so what about elders? Are they just to lead me?

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And I'm supposed to follow everything that they say? By no means, as Paul would say.

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You have a responsibility as a church. And Nathan's been saying we are all theologians.

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That is our responsibility. We are not just supposed to blindly follow those who lead us.

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We should be in tune with the word, know the word. The sheep hear his voice.

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The sheep recognize his voice. That is our responsibility in their scripture that even goes further to point out our responsibilities.

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Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them. Not just following them blindly.

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For they are keeping watch over your souls and those who you will have to give account.

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Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you.

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So what it's saying here is submit to your leaders and don't complain about them.

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Because how are they gonna have joy if you're just complaining? If there's a problem, go talk to them. But don't go gossiping to other people about it.

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Hebrews 13, 18, pray for us. Paul says, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.

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So there's a responsibility of our congregation. Pray for your leaders. They're men who still have a sin nature.

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These men are going to make mistakes from time to time. But as Paul said, they desire, they should desire to act honorably in all things.

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1 Timothy 3, 8 and 10, deacons likewise must be dignified, not double -tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest grain.

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They must hold the mystery of the faith with clear conscience and let them also be tested first.

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So before this section, Paul was writing to Timothy, talking about the elders.

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So what he's saying is the deacons also should be testing, inferring back that the elders should be tested.

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That's a church's responsibility. Before an elder takes a place of being an elder, the congregation should test him to make sure that he's qualified, that he has the right characteristics, the right character traits to be an elder.

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So that's a responsibility of the congregation. 1 Timothy 5, 19, 20 and 20, do not admit charges against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that they may stand in fear.

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That's pretty stern. And if you want more commentary on that, go back and listen to Nathan's sermon of last week.

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I think he did a great job talking about discipline. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 and 13, we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the

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Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly and love because of their work.

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So you should respect them. You should love them. You should honor them and what they're trying to do, what they're trying to do for you.

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You see, the goals of the elders and the congregation are actually to work together, not one lording it over the other.

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We're to act as a united community together. We are all grafted into his vine.

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We all abide in him. He abides in all of us. We are all the same brothers following the same leader as sheep.

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So the third question, what are the qualifications for godly leadership within this biblical structure?

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So there are certain qualifications if you want to become an elder. So if you turn, please, to 1

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Timothy 3, this saying is trustworthy.

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If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

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Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober -minded, self -controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

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He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

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For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

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He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into combination of the devil.

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Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil.

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Now, I was gonna read Titus 1, five through nine. It gives a list that closely parallels this.

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There's a place you can go if you wanna know more, but actually in Titus, he uses the word elder instead of overseer.

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So he's talking about the same one, the same person, the same leadership.

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And I wanna note, when you're reading this, this isn't just for elders. This is for all the sheep.

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This is for the whole congregation. This should be what we're all striving for. It's called sanctification.

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It's just that an elder should be far along in the process of sanctification. So what's the first requirement that he has here?

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It says, the saying is trustworthy if anyone aspires for the office of elder.

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So this is the first qualification. You should want, you should desire, you should aspire to be an elder if you're gonna become an elder.

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It should be something that you're led to do. It should be spirit -generated. And not be, it says, don't do it under compulsion.

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It should be something that you do willingly. And I can speak to this. About three months ago,

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I went to the pastor and told him that I aspired to be an elder. I had been an elder in another church, and actually,

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Nathan Jeremiah, about a year or so ago, talked to me about it. Didn't ask me if I wanted, they were just talking if I'd ever considered it.

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And I told him, you know, not really. And actually, I wasn't, didn't feel like I was prepared or ready to do that.

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But there's a lot, been a lot of water into the bridge, I guess I could say. And through a lot of praying, talking to my wife, talking to men that I respect.

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And like I said, the leading of the Holy Spirit, I felt like that's what I was being led to do. So I went and told him that I aspired to be an elder.

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Well, Nathan gave me this book. Biblical eldership said, read this, pray about it, and come back and talk to us.

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And so I read it. I was overwhelmed by what the qualifications was.

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I said, I'm not Jesus. But you don't have to be. You just wanna aspire to be like him.

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And told him, no, I still, I'm not Jesus. I still want to be an elder. So they gave me an application. About 15 pages that I've already written four essays on.

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And then listing and recommendations and the part that your wife feels out about you, which is pretty scary.

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And so on top of that, he gave me a list of books that's required to read.

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These are two of them right here, Church Elders and Deacons, along with all the others in this series.

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And Mark Deaver's book on the nine marks of a healthy church, along with about 25 other books.

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So you can say, wow, like I did, wow. This isn't a short process.

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And I respect that. I mean, I highly respect it. I became an elder of other church.

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They came and asked me if I wanted to serve. I prayed, I sought counsel. And I told them

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I did. And a week later, I was an elder. No training, you know, and no anything.

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I was just thrown into it. But here, there's a process that you go through to make sure not only that you're qualified, but that you are confident that you're ready to serve as an elder.

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And that's why I respect it so much. Well, after reading the books or during reading the books, then

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I've been told I will be given a questionnaire to fill out on doctrine. What I feel and what I think about doctrine.

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Then after that, they'll read that, and then I'll have several meetings with them where they will interview me about what

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I wrote, wrote on that. And then if that all goes well, and the

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Lord is willing, then they'll present me to the church as a candidate for an elder.

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And the church will interview me. And then the church will have 30 days to pray about it, maybe come back with other questions for clarification.

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Then, like I said, if the Lord's willing, then I will be ordained as an elder. So it's a very serious matter.

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It's something that you can't just jump into or let somebody talk you into. You have to aspire to be an elder.

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The second qualification, I'm putting these in my order, not in the order that they're listed.

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But this one's probably one of the biggest things right now that we face in evangelical churches.

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And that's male leadership. You know, this has been the thing that has caused most churches that have steered wrong or on life support to go down that road that got them there.

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This is typically the first thing that they have caved on. If you go do studies, and you'll look at what's happened.

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Not that they haven't caved on a lot since then, but usually they've let culture get a hold of them here.

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The truth is the Bible teaches that women and men are fully equal in personhood, dignity and value, but are distinct in gender roles.

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It doesn't mean that males lead and the women have no value. In fact, at work, there was a lady that was in a department

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I worked in, and she was over an area, and she came and asked what my wife did.

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And I told her. And she said, well, that's kind of demeaning. And I said, no.

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She has the most important job on this earth, not me. I'm just out there earning money so she can do what she's supposed to do.

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I'm really, when you think about it, supporting her. And so women are incredibly valued.

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I mean, after all, they're creation by God. Just because God put males over women is not a demeaning thing.

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And I could go on and on. I don't want to get too sidetracked on this. But the first argument they say is, well, that was written in a different culture.

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Women were demeaned back then. They didn't lead or have a say in anything.

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And the thing is, if Jesus, when we were going through the Sermon of the Mount and the Beatitudes, we talked and talked and talked and we talked how

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Jesus was going against the culture at every turn, turning everything upside down, is what we said.

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If he meant for this to be done, where women served in leadership, he surely had plenty of opportunity to do it.

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He could have appointed a woman apostle. Or they could have appointed a woman deacon.

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But they didn't. But I'm gonna let Paul speak, because I think he says it.

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I mean, this, to me, says it all right here in just one verse. First Timothy 2, 11 through 14.

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Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

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Rather, she is to remain silent. For Adam was formed first, then

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Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the women was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self -control.

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So basically what Paul is doing here is he's going back to the very start of the Bible and saying this is the authority structure that God has set up for society and for the church that the male has headship.

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You know, sometimes that responsibility is overwhelming. I mean, there's been some time

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I said, I wanted to say, let the woman lead. Let me follow for a while. You know, maybe

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I'll get a little more sleep at night. Well, there's a lot of other qualifications and I'm gonna go through these just a little bit fast, but I just kind of want to give you an understanding of what each of these requires because I will then want to get to the fourth question.

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Above reproach, be blameless. This does not mean sinless like I said. People are gonna make mistakes, but it does mean that you should not be suspected of wrongdoing or immorality.

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You should be self -controlled, sober -minded, temperate, disciplined, not controlled by anger or sordid emotions.

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You should be on an even keel. You should be gentle, not arrogant, not hot -tempered, not quarrelsome.

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You should be a peacemaker, not a fire starter. Not greedy, you shouldn't love money to excess.

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You should be one that gives freely and helps others. An able teacher.

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It's hard to be an elder if you're not in this every day, if you don't know it very well because I mean, one of the things that I've been talking about is you must be able to guard the word.

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You must protect this when you're in the sheepfold. It's vitally important.

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When people start twisting this, this is when churches goes wrong. You should lead your family well.

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The husband of one wife. Faithfulness to your wife exhibits faithfulness to church.

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If you can't be faithful to your wife, how can you be faithful in other things? An effective father.

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You must be able to manage your own household. How can you manage a church of sheep and somebody else said this,

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I didn't. Sometimes sheep are dumb. If you can't, manage your own household.

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If you can't, manage your own children. You must be hospitable. Able to deal with kindness, compassion, and care for those who are less fortunate than you are.

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And I added this one. This isn't in scripture, but I believe this is true. Okay, I believe this is true.

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You must be willing to accept the bullseye. Amen, Jeremiah? That's one of the best pieces of advice that a person gave me before when

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I was considering leadership in a church. There's gonna be a bullseye on your back.

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The evil one is gonna come after you if you lead the church in the way it should be led.

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So you must be willing to accept that. So this brings us to the fourth question. What should you, as an active church member, expect from your leaders?

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It's more than just qualifications. This just gets you to be an elder.

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Hopefully, if the Lord is willing. But what should you expect once that person becomes an elder?

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What should you expect from this leadership? You know, you can go and you can read all kinds of books on leadership.

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I love reading, and I've read a bunch of them. Not only the list that I've been given, but I've read about founding fathers, past presidents, generals, and all the majors at war.

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Probably one of the best is U .S. Grant. That was a really good one that I read.

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I've read a lot of them. MacArthur has an excellent book on leadership where he talks about Paul's journey from,

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I can't remember where he started, but when he went to Rome to be put on trial and had the shipwreck. They're all great books.

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And I was a leader at Richland Foods. And I do not say this to brag.

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The Lord blessed me beyond belief, but I was a director of quality control and food safety for the whole company.

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And there was one book I read on leadership that was heads and tails above the rest. And that's this one right here.

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There is more foundational principles and leaderships in here than any other book. And you follow this, and the

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Lord will bless you and show you truth on how to be successful as a leader. I mean, undoubtedly, it was there.

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And so that's where I wanted to go to, to exhibit what should you expect as a leader?

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And who was a better leader than Jesus Christ? He led 12 men that were no repute into changing the world.

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12 men, three years. It's incredible. And so what part do I pick of Jesus being a leader?

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And so I said, well, what was probably the most important things that he said? And so I went to the, it's sometimes called the farewell or upper room discourse.

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It's when Jesus has finished his public ministry, he has all the apostles gathered around him, and this is the last time he'll talk to them before he goes to the cross.

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So I'm thinking he's gotta have something important to say. I mean, he always did, but this has got to be, this is one of his last chances, to lead these guys, to let them know what is important.

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So I read through this, and I just picked out different scriptures that point to what a good shepherd should be, what he should do.

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And the best example is from the good shepherd. So when I say a good shepherd, I'm talking about eldership, the leaders of a church, following the example set by the good shepherd.

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So I'm starting in John 13, verse one. Now, before the feast of the

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Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of the world of the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

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A good shepherd loves those who he's been called to lead. That's gotta be one of the first and greatest right there.

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You have to love the sheep. Verse three through five talks about him rising up from supper, and he goes, and he sets aside his outer garments, takes up a towel, ties it around his waist, pours water into a basin, washes the disciples' feet.

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A good shepherd is a servant, and he's always willing to set the example for others.

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Verse 21, after saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, "'Truly, truly,

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I say to you, one of you will betray me.'" A good shepherd is aware of the wolves that comes to destroy the flock.

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He always has his eyes open for the tares that's in the wheat. In John 14, verse one through four,

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Jesus says, "'Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

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In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

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And if I go and to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself. That where I am, you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going."

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A good shepherd shows the flock where they are being led. He lets them know where he is leading them.

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Verse five and six, Thomas said to him, "'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?'

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Jesus said to him, "'I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the

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Father except through me.'" A good shepherd shows the flock how to get where they are going.

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He doesn't leave it to them to find their own way. Verse 26, "'But the

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Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.'"

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A good shepherd equips the flock to accomplish the job he has asked from them. He has given us the

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Holy Spirit to help in our sanctification. "'Peace I leave with you,' in verse 27 he says, "'My peace

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I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.'"

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A good shepherd provides confidence and assurance during times of doubt. If you're suffering doubt, he will give you assurance.

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He will show you where the word can comfort you. Verse 31, "'But I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the

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Father.'" A good shepherd always keeps his focus and obeys the one that has ultimate authority over him.

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Always. In John 15, four and five, "'Abide in me and I in you.

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As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

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I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing.'"

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A good shepherd is focused on the spiritual growth of those he leads. He wants to progress their spiritual growth.

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John 16, "'I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues.

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Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the

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Father nor me.'" A good shepherd prepares the flock to make it through the storms of life, as there will be storms.

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Verse 28 and 30, "'I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I'm leaving the world and going to the

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Father.' His disciples said, "'Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech.

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Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.'"

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A good shepherd always speaks the truth. In John 17, when

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Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "'Father, the hour has come. Glorify your

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Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh and give eternal life to whom you have given him.'"

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A good shepherd glorifies God in everything that he does. Verse 17 and 18, "'Sanctify them in truth.

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Your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

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And for their sake, I consecrate myself, that they may also be sanctified in the truth.'"

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A good shepherd prays for the flock regularly. And if you're following along, skip ahead to John 19.

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Verse 30, when Jesus had received the soured wine, he said, "'It is finished.'

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And he bowed his head and gave up the spirit." A good shepherd faithfully completes what he has been sent to do.

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And a good shepherd has been sent if he's a good shepherd. Jesus said in John 10, "'I am the good shepherd.'

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The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And when the good shepherd laid down his life, he not only ransomed us from sin, but he redefined greatness and authority for the flock.'"

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A good shepherd should pattern his life after the good shepherd. A good shepherd is always willing to put it all on the line for his sheep.

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So to sum up what I've said, in a short time, I'm landing. They were all gathered around the lake.

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It was after Jesus was resurrected. And he's speaking to several of the apostles.

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And he turns to Peter and he said, "'Peter, do you love me? Do you love me,

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Peter?' And of course, Peter says, "'Yes.' He says, "'Then feed my lambs.' And he asked him again, "'Peter, do you love me?'

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And Peter replies, "'Yes, Lord.' And he says, "'Tend my sheep.' And then once again, the third time he asked

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Peter, "'Do you love me, Peter?' And Peter says, "'Yes.' And it says, "'Feed my sheep.'"

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A good shepherd is to guard the door, guard the word, and tend the sheep.

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That's what you should expect from your leaders. Now if you'll pray, Father, I just thank you for this time that you've given me.

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Lord, I pray for all the leaders that are out there, Lord. If they're not good leaders, Lord, I pray that you'd speak to them, that you'd open their minds to your truth, that members of the congregations would go to them and ask them why they are not teaching the truth that is written in your word.

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Lord, I pray for our leadership, Lord, that you would sanctify them, that you would guard them, that you would keep them safe.

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They do deserve double honor, Lord, for what they do, for they are tending us. I thank you for what you've given us.