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you you you Well good evening everyone welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church Take your songbooks and turn to song 146 We'll sing a shelter in the time of storm, and if you would stand we'll sing song 146 The Lord our rock and him we hide a shelter in the time of storm Oh He'll be tied a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary Land a weary land. Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm a Shade by day Defense by night a shelter in the time of storm No fears alarm. No foes of fright a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary Land a weary land. Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary Land a shelter in the time of storm the Raging storms may round us be a shelter in the time of storm We'll never leave our safe retreat a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary Land a weary land. Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary Land a shelter in the time of storm Oh rock Divine old refuge dear Time of storm Be thou our Helper ever near a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary Land a weary Land a weary Land Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary Land a shelter in the time of storm All right, let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again We just want to thank you Lord just for a good church to come to hear your word preached faithfully week in and week out Thank you Lord for the souls that have been saved Today and throughout last week I pray Lord now that you would just be with our pastor film with your power and spirit for it's in Jesus name We ask all of it. Amen. All right, baby seated and Turning your songbooks to song 327 Oh I'm sorry. Wait, sorry. I'm sorry. I was doing it like we practiced. Okay, take your mountain Baptist songbooks Mountain Baptist Spiritual Good night. I'm like losing my mind Psalms hymns and fears on books. It was cold outside today okay, my brain still hasn't thawed from this terribleness, which is called winter and We'll sing I so turn to page number five in your mountain Baptist songbooks and we'll sing Psalm 81 Sing aloud unto God our strength Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob Take us home and bring Heather the temporal the pleasant harp with the psalm to re blow up the trumpet In the time appointed on our solemn feast day for this was a Statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob As he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went down Through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not I removed his shoulder from the burden His hands were delivered from the pots Thou calls in trouble and I deliver The I answer thee in the secret place of Thunder. I Prove thee at the waters of Meribah See la Hear my people And I will testify unto thee. Oh his roof thou will hearken unto me There shall no strange God be in thee Neither shall thou worship any strange God. I Am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it People would not harken to my voice And Israel would none of me so I gave them up into their own hearts lost And they walked in their own Councils. Oh that my people harken unto me and Israel had walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies And turn my hand against their Adversaries the haters of the Lord should have submitted Should have submitted themselves Unto him, but their time should have endured for ever He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey Out of the rock should I have satisfied the out of the rock should I have satisfied the Amen so welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday evening Taunting me I Will find out though. I'm gonna test that out and see if the Canadians better than Americans, but I think we all know Which one's gonna taste better? As far as announcement we'll get to that in a second I want to get the solely numbers for the week What we have during the week do we have any during the week? One On Thursday, I Know we had some inclement weather. So I think that that was deterring us a lot of us did this week And then today what we have today. I know you had one Two so three. Is there any others? one two four That's five total for the week So Keep up the good job with the soul winning And then on the announcements here everything should be normal as far as the church times is no church time this week so on Wednesday We'll have our normal service time going through the book of 1st Samuel and Then at regional sewing times just be on the lookout here on the church group Hopefully, I don't think we're expecting to get a whole bunch of snow or anything like that But you never know as far as this week when it comes to inclement weather But just beyond the church group there when it comes to that. How did the Did the prayer meeting go? Okay, was it like this big bust like with all the children? Not Sure, okay. Well, what's that? So anyway, I guess we'll figure that out see if that will be okay or not But we do have the men's prayer meeting come up this Friday. So at 6 p.m. This Friday And if you can make it out to that, that'd be great And then we have the soul winning marathon that we're gonna be doing in Kingwood on the 10th of February. So If you get out of that, that'd be great. Hopefully the weather is okay going up there, but I'm excited to go up there We actually have a Kingwood map up there on the wall. So we can actually We'll take obviously little maps that you can mark off but then we'll mark it off on that map out there as well. So I'm I know we're not gonna get through the whole place of Kingwood in one trip so this will be something that we'd be going back to so And then as far as our Bible memory we have Genesis chapter 1 is a memory chapter for the month John 16 33 is remembering verse for the week and we are gonna be Coming to the end of January here soon dealing with Going through the New Testament in one month. So if you've done if you do that We're gonna have a prize for you at the end of the month there. So Keep chugging along if you're going through that I'm a little behind on mine But I think I can still get it don't get it because I'm like getting through the all the Gospels and everything and Really the the chapters I'm gonna be doing are all gonna be shorter chapters after this I think I can plow through it after that. So And then birthdays we'll get that next week and then pregnancies Being prayer for Alyssa and a stage and tabby on the pregnancy list there And be in prayer for all of them, but I know that Alyssa is obviously coming up Sooner than later here, so be in prayer for her I Think that's about all I have for announcements offering boxes in the back there if you want to give tithe an offering and mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only I want to thank the guys and those that helped with clearing off the The drive out there so that's that's always fun So we do have that snowblower we need to kind of fire up. So because that definitely should work so anyway, I Have a feeling where you get more snow But Dave doesn't like it. But you know what no bugs out there. There's no mosquitoes There's no bees We were out there So, you know, what's that fresh crisp air that I smell out there there's no bugs I like winter You know what So I don't want winter to be all the time but you know what I like it and I'm not just gaslighting you like you Do with the Waterloo so But you know what it makes me like spring even more, you know when it comes around so So brother Dave will come and sing one more song who's reading tonight brother Joseph Romans chapter 12 and Yeah getting all tangled up here Mm-hmm. All right, take your song books and turn to song 327 327 in your song books will sing higher ground song 327 I'm pressing on the upward way new heights. I'm gaining every day still praying as I'm onward bound Lord plan my feet on higher Ground or lift me up And let me stand by faith on Heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found Lord plant my feet on higher Ground my heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise And fears dismay though some may dwell Where these abound my prayer my aim is higher ground or lift me up and let me stand by faith on Heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found Lord plan my feet on higher Ground I want to live Above the world though Satan starts at me are hurled Has caught the joyful sound the song of saints on higher Ground Lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on Heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found Lord plant my feet on higher Ground I want to scale the utmost hide and catch a gleam of glory bride But still I'll pray till heaven I found Lord lead me on to higher Ground Lord lift me up And let me stand by faith on Heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found Lord plant my feet on higher ground All right take your Bibles turn to the book of Romans chapter number 12 book of Romans chapter number 12, and we'll have brother Joseph come and read that for us Romans chapter 12 Romans 12 and you found your place there. You'll say amen. I Beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body's living sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world But ye be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone everyone is one body in Christ And everyone everyone members one of another Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy let us Prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us all Let us wait on our ministering or he that teaches on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation He that given that giveth That giveth Let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness Let love be without dissimulation Aboard that which is evil cleave to that which is good be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor referring one another Not slothful in business fervent spirit serving the lord rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation Continuing instant in prayer Distributing to the necessity of saints given to hospitality bless them which persecute persecute you bless and curse not rejoice With them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep Be of the same mind one toward another mind not high things but condescend to mean of low estate Be not wise in your own conceits recompense to no man evil for evil Provide things honest in the sight of all men If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peacefully with all men Dearly beloved avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the lord Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirsts give him drink for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire upon his Head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good. Let's pray Lord father thank you for this time. We're able to gather again this uh evening lord Thank you for your pure and holy word you've given to us. We're asked to be with pastor robinson edifies tonight in jesus name. Amen Amen so you're there in roman chapter 12 and i'm continuing to study through Spiritual gifts and actually this will be uh, the last gift i'm going to be preaching on although i'm going to do another sermon That's basically kind of uh brings it all together and then um, I gotta find another series. So but uh anyway, uh The the last one we get hitting on is the one on governments or ruling And I want you to see that here in romans chapter 12 and verse 4 It says for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office So we being many are one body in christ and everyone and everyone members one of another Having them gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy Let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry let us wait on our ministering Or he that teaches on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation he that giveth let him do it with simplicity He that ruleth with diligence he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness so we hit it last week on helps or on ministers dealing with the idea of Those that are greatest in the kingdom of god are going to be those that serve here in this life But then it also hits on the fact of ruling so those that are rulers that do it with diligence Now go to first corinthian chapter 12 first corinthian chapter 12 and verse 27 and I want you to see that in in first corinthians 12 dealing with spiritual gifts he uses the term governments and that's kind of a A bad taste in your mouth when you see that, you know government, um, especially just because a lot of times we're we're just surrounded by wicked people in government, but The the idea though of of government or people in authority is not bad inherently It's actually a good thing. But the problem is that there's evil people that get in those positions. So um don't like because evil people take uh Take over government. It doesn't mean government in general is bad right government's good. We're not anarchists um We believe that there should be due process that there should be a government that there should be people to execute judgment against evil doers That government has its proper place and the powers that be are Are of god, but the people that are in those positions of power aren't necessarily of god So that's what you have to understand is that God didn't ordain everybody that's in a in a government authority position right now, but he did ordain the government he ordained the power But he ordained the power to punish evil doers and the and for the praise of them to do well He didn't ordain the government to tell you what you could eat and what you can't eat He didn't ordain the government to basically be this uh, this welfare state from cradle to grave right there You know what god ordained with government is that Those that commit murder are put to death, right? That's kind of just the the brass tacks of what you're dealing with what god ordained So that being said is that government's not a bad thing people that are ruling other over others Or having authority over others isn't a bad thing Um, and so when you see this as a gift at first glance you're like governments, you know, who wants that? You know, what's that? What's the purpose there? But the idea is that in church there are people that are in different positions of authority facts There's gifts based off of that. Okay, and that this isn't a free-for-all where it's like, uh, no one is calling the shots. Okay Um, and so i'm going to be getting into that as far as well who would be in that position? What what governments would you have in church? I don't believe this is talking about some deacon board that tells the pastor what to do. Okay, let me just say that Okay, that is not what this is talking about but uh Let's let's look at the verse here in first corinthian chapter 12 verse 27 says now ye are the body of christ and members in particular And god has set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles then gifts of healings helps governments diversities of tongues Are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers are all workers are miracles Have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret and obviously there's a rhetorical question meaning like no Not everybody's an apostle. Not everybody's a prophet not you know, so going down the line is that It's not like these get like, uh, we all need to have every single one of these Um, but it says but covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way So when we're talking about governments here actually it's very low on the list as far as priority but at the same time what I want to get into is that uh, it is it is a gift meaning this is that it is something that some people are more gifted at than others being Someone that's going to call the shots, right? Now i'm going to say this that it doesn't mean that if you're not a ruler that you're not an alpha male But the idea is like that kind of mentality Of someone that's going to rule has to be able to call the shots. They have to basically make a decision and then Go with that decision and have people follow and that's something that not everybody is is prone to do okay and uh, so that's something that You know, you may look at it may look at it and be like i'm not that guy I just I know that there's some some guys that i've talked to in our church that Has straight up told me I don't ever want to pastor. I don't ever want to be in that position of authority I just want to follow someone that's going in the right direction And that's great. I think that's great. It's just they're different people have different personalities people have different gifts in those types of areas and I think that that's Listen, we can't you know, you don't want too many chiefs and no indians, right? You know, is that racist? To say that is that like is that like am I canceled now because I mentioned indians Indians That's a term that we use a lot actually in the workforce, you know too many chiefs not enough indians Because there's too many people that are like calling the shots and no one's actually doing the work, right? so, um So anyway when it comes to this is that this is a gift I believe on when it comes to being a ruler now What what i'm going to be getting into though is that there's different levels of rulers within the church. Okay Now let me just show you that the pastor is A ruler of the church when it comes to Uh how the church is run and all of that so we don't believe in some deacon board Okay, that that basically votes on what the pastor should or shouldn't do This is a pastor led church But let me show you some verses on this first timothy chapter three first timothy chapter three But I also do believe that the deacons have rule, okay But what i'm going to be getting into really is that there's a there's a tier of leadership. Okay, there's A hierarchy if you will A patriot and i'm just kidding. Um, but obviously when it comes to being a pastor and a deacon obviously you need to be a man but um There is there is this hierarchy of leadership And if you want to look at it Maybe that maybe that's a term that you would more so probably associate with this is leaders in the church. Okay? Now the term, you know, obviously i'm the leader of the church right i'm the pastor of the church I'm also rolling over the flock, right? I'm i'm the overseer i'm the bishop and Uh, but then there's other people that are that are leaders in in certain areas in the church. Okay and so, uh, that's where it gets into You know, you may not be one that one maybe wants to be a pastor But maybe you want to be a leader in this area, right? You think of like evangelism you can think of missionaries you can think of music You can think of different things like that right where there's different avenues within the church where you can lead up something Even leading up a soul winning time You know during the week, you know regional sewing times that's that's a leadership position You're basically there there's a different There's a there's an authority structure there because whoever's leading that up is the one calling the shots of where you're going What time you're going? All of that, right? So these are types of things that that are kind of governments that are set up And it's something that I think is important to know because I think for a church to really be a well-oiled machine that's doing great things for god, especially as you get bigger this needs to happen Okay, meaning that it can't all just come to me. Okay as the pastor of the church uh because and i'm going to be getting into a story with that at the end of uh, you know how that Well, obviously eventually if you get big enough the word you're just not gonna be able to handle it So, um But in in first timothy chapter three verse one It says this is a true saying if a man desired the opposite of a bishop he desired the good word A bishop then a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife Vigilant sober of good behavior given the hospitality apt to teach not given the wine. No striker not given the filthy lucre But patient not a brawler not covetous Notice this in verse four one that ruleth well his own house Having his children in subjection with all gravity so I mean we can see right now outside the church there is a government Set up within your family and that's the husband wife children The wife is to submit unto the husband And the children are submit unto the wife and to the into the husband right to the mother and father but the the The husband needs to submit unto christ, right? That's the that's the authority structure And the governmental structure of a family, okay but The pastor or the bishop needs to rule. Well, it needs to rule his house Well because notice what it says in verse five for if a man know not how to rule his own house How shall he take care of the church of god? So notice how that's being coupled together of ruling your own house And taking care of the church of god and what i'm going to show you is that It does use that term rule when it comes to the church as well Okay, you say well it says take care of it doesn't say rule Well, go to uh, first timothy chapter five first timothy chapter five verse 17 first timothy chapter five verse 17 First timothy chapter five verse 17 says this let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine for the scripture said thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn And the laborer is worthy of his hire. I mean this is basically telling you that that Well one that a pastor it definitely biblical for a pastor to be paid And to to get a salary, right? But not only that but if you do it well To get a double portion right is that like you could also get double, you know a double portion of what you're what's due to you If you do a really good job, right? So it's kind of that that idea but it's notice that the elders that rule well Well elder is another term that's used for a pastor now There's three terms that are used dealing with that position is elder bishop And pastor okay now pastor Is really just a shepherd right? So if you think about a pastor You know out there with his flock in a pasture, right so Basically pastor is a shepherd You know of a flock go to first peter chapter five now The thing is is that you can rule the flock without being lords over the flock Okay, and I think that's where some people think well you're not really ruling because you're not to be a lord of the flock Well, there's a difference between ruling And lording over okay Because overseeing something is ruling over it By definition, I mean to be a a a bishop literally means to be an overseer And there's other passages talking about how the holy ghost have made you overseers, you know over the church of ephesus and getting you know dealing with that and but In first peter chapter five verse one It says the elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder so peter's saying He's exhorting elders, but he's also an elder And a witness of the sufferings of christ and also a partaker of the glory that should be shall be revealed now You can say well, they're just old right i'm I exhort you old people you old men because i'm an old man too, you know, that's not what he's saying here. Okay He's obviously talking about elder in the faith as far as like the elder of the church Okay, just as john was saying the elder unto the the elect sister, right? So uh elder as far as you don't have to be old but you need to be old in the faith essentially right an elder in the faith and the fact that You you're not a novice in the faith. You're you're you're mature You're a mature saved christian and so He's stating here that he's exhorting them. He's also one Notice what it says in verse two because this is how we know we're talking about A pastor or a shepherd because it says feed the flock of god, which is among you Taking the oversight thereof now, what does bishop mean an overseer right? So he's saying feed the flock of god taking the oversight thereof Not by constraint, but willingly not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind So he's kind of giving stipulations here as far as how you should be doing that Neither as being lords over god's heritage, but being in samples to the flock And when the chief shepherd shall appear he shall receive a crown of glory that fate is not away So jesus is the head of the church he's the chief shepherd i'm the under shepherd And all the other pastors that are out in the world that are pastoring churches They are the under shepherds. They are the ones that are underneath the chief shepherd and He's stating that here's what we should do as as the shepherds as the over take the oversight But don't be lords over the flock and what that means is that i'm not lording over your life I'm not I am here to preach to you and oversee how the church operates, but i'm not Going to your house And saying hey, you know, what are you doing watching this? What are you what is this doing in your house? You know, i'm not lording over your life I'm not lording over what you do. I don't tell you. This is the car you must buy This is the house you must buy. This is what you need to wear This is what I mean if you're close if you're not naked, okay, we're okay But i'm not lording over like hey, this is the dress code you must cut you must do your hair like mine you know Next time everybody all the men are in here. It better be like mine, you know, i'll show you how to do it later, you know You need to wear the same kind of tie I wear you need to wear the same type of shirt I wear and then we're gonna have kool-aid afterwards To just basically bring us all together, okay There's a comet that's going by and then we're all gonna die and go on that comet so What was that Hale Bopp or something like that? Some of you are too young to know that one Those that were born in 2000 or late 90s when did that happen like mid 90s or something anyway So when it comes to being a ruler Also, I do believe that the Ephesus had multiple elders Multiple I believe pastors or overseers if you had a church that was really really big i'm talking thousands I believe that that is a case where you'd have that but you'd always have a senior pastor And even in jerusalem when they brought all the elders together all the apostles and elders James, I believe the lord's brother who was an apostle, but I believe he was the senior pastor there because the buck stopped at him Ultimately, he said here's what we're going to do And this idea of having like some democracy I think is ridiculous You got you have to have A pastor or you know, it's got to stop somewhere and with the seven churches in asia There was one angel that that was written to You know the angels of the seven to the seven angels of seven churches And he says I have a few things against thee he wasn't talking about some angelic being that he had a problem with Right. He was talking to the overseer of that church And evisus had multiple overseers, but there was one man That he was talking to Right. So that being said is that there's rulers, but there can be also rulers that are just under that okay and This isn't a sermon on multiple pastors But i'll say this that most of the time when you have multiple pastors, it's done wrongly I believe I believe it's not done in the manner that it should be it turns into a deacon board essentially It's just they call themselves pastors but uh So but you I think you really have to be in a big church setting to have that, you know To to really need that To where you're running thousands to where you really need Multiple overseers and I think then it gets into that hierarchy, you know, jesus is at the top You're going to have the senior guy that the buck stops at him and then you're going to have other ones going down the line now I think that's very clear when it comes to church that the pastor would be the be the ruler as well But I want to show you some other verses on that as far as this is concerned that Go to hebrew chapter 13 hebrew chapter 13 is that there are people that are ruling over you spiritually and it's just something that you just You need to know, you know, if you're going to church there are people that are that are Obviously christ is the ultimate ruler, right? So This is not to say, you know, follow me wherever I go and whatever I say is gospel truth No, you need to check that with the bible You need to check that with you know, obviously the holy you have the holy ghost inside of you So you can discern whether what i'm saying is from the bible or not. So ultimately jesus is the ultimate rule But in the end when it comes to church, you need to follow my lead unless it goes against the bible That's what's that's what being a ruler of the church is is that you follow the pastor? As he's following christ and as long as the pastor is not Going against the bible Then you need to follow his lead that that's how You know, that's what's going on here now Because there's going to be a lot of things That are not necessarily black and white thus saith the lord, okay This goes for marriage, too there's gonna be a lot of things in your marriage where Maybe your wife wants to do something and it's not this black and white like thus saith the lord. This is right. This is wrong Both could be right And in the end the husband has the final say on it and The wife may say I don't think that's the best way. Well, you got to follow your husband's lead You know, you may you may think maybe it isn't the best way but in the end he's the leader And you have to follow that lead Now man, I do think it's wise to take advice from your your wives Because You know when you have big decisions to be made or or maybe there's something that hey We're going to go down this route. Here's these two paths. Let's talk about it You know, there's there's many times that that You know decisions need to be made And i'm like almost dead set i'm like i'm going to do this and this isn't anything biblical at all This could be like buying a vehicle. This could be whatever And i'm like in my mind i'm like i'm going to do this i'm going to pull the trigger on this i'm like Dead set there and I talk to my wife and i'm like, yeah, she's right I'm, not gonna do that not right now or i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do something else, right? But that's not my wife wearing the pants That's just my wife putting her two cents in and I agree with it Right and i'm like, yeah that makes sense. Uh, yeah Yeah, that's the way i'm gonna go The buck still stopped at me, but at the same time you know I can so for example when it comes to leading a church It's not like i'm you know, like a church member comes up to me and said hey We should do this and i'm like listen i'm the pastor you need to sit down shut up and just follow what i'm doing Like no, I mean I could take You know, I can take thoughts or like or I can take you know, like hey here's I think this would maybe be better Maybe I pick it up. Maybe I don't Don't get your feelings hurt if I don't okay If like someone says hey, I think we should do it this way and be like thanks for the thanks for the thought You know But i'll take it under advisement or nah, we're just not gonna do it that way right now You know, don't take offense to it Just as much as my wife if she says something like I think we should do it this way I'm like nah, we're gonna do it this way. I don't want her to be offended and be like And think that I think she's an idiot or something like that because I don't do it that way But ultimately the buck stops at the leader now What you have to understand with that Wives that you need to understand when it comes to your uh, following your husbands is that we have to give an account for our leadership The bible says not to be many masters Because we shall receive the greater condemnation Those that are leaders Are accountable for what those that they where they lead somebody to do something they're accountable for that whether it be good or bad So obviously if I lead the church well And many people get saved Well, I mean that's a good account, right? I mean that that kind of goes towards the leadership that hey that that they're leading in the right direction But if I lead And i'm leading them down the wrong path And i'm leading them in a direction that's not good and then they fall into that Buck stops at me too I don't just get to take the credit for the good stuff. I got to take the credit for the bad stuff As well that makes sense. So what you understand is that With being a leader, it's not all Just accolades. Okay. Actually, there's a lot of responsibility and maybe even condemnation Toward the leader notice that the church the churches that uh, the seven churches in asia who was jesus talking to the leader Notice the these and the vowels when you read that again When you read through revelation two and three, I have a few things against the The Right i'll i'll remove my candlestick from the Right, those things are directed right at the leadership and so hebrew chapter 13 and verse 7 here It says remember them which have the rule over you Who have spoken unto you the word of god whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation So notice that those that have the rule over you he's saying God's saying to basically follow their faith and basically You know remember them Go down to verse 17. It says obey them that had the rule over you and submit yourselves For they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief For that is unprobable for you Obviously, there's there can be bad rulers, okay But ultimately You should be going to a church where the pastor actually cares about the flock, right? They're not just trying to lead them down a cliff So what you have to understand is that What the pastor what the ruler is trying to do? at least to him Believes to be a good in the best route for the people right? That's that's the idea now that is is a pastor Always right is he always make the right decisions? No, I mean we're all human And the fact of the matter is is those those pastors in the seven churches of asia A lot of them weren't doing exactly what they should be doing or how they should be doing it but at the same time, uh The church needs to follow the lead unless it's explicitly obviously stated in the bible to not do that, right? Obviously if I tell you to do to sin you should say no Right. No, i'm gonna follow what the bible says But if I tell you hey, we're gonna go out soul winning And I and you know, I want you to do this exactly, right? Let's say let's say it's like putting an invite on the door or not putting an invite on the door Or how you put the invite on the door or you know, whatever the case may be or we're gonna go to this place And here's how we're gonna go about it. Here's how we're gonna attack this, right? it's it's Not there's no bible verse saying like here's how you got to do this But it's a matter of following the lead of the leader Right and that's where it gets into the idea of government and rulers And I think when some people see that they just think of like cults like they think of like, you know Following the man to the t no matter what happens no matter if it's completely against the bible. That's not biblical Okay Nowhere is a bible teaching you just to follow. No, even paul says follow me as I follow christ, you know, so Obviously if the pastor is out of line, then you don't follow him in that area okay, and but If if it if there's no bible verse against what he's saying as far as this is the direction we're going then you follow his lead And that's that's how you Deal with proper leadership proper, you know, obviously those that are in the church on how to deal with that now a lot of people You know, obviously reprobates the spies dominion. I want to show you Um, uh a specific one which is quorum, okay And this is something good. Uh, jude go to jude in verse eight jude in verse eight now What I want to say here is that obviously reprobates despise dominion, but we as christians can also get into that state where we despise Leadership or dominion we don't want anybody to tell us what to do And or have this mentality of like I know how to do best I know better than anybody else and this mentality of like my way is the best way That type of attitude isn't going to help you in any situation. It's not going to help you at work It's not going to help you at church. It's not going to help you at home Right, you need to have the idea here is to have kind of a have a humble attitude And the pastor and the leader needs to have a humble attitude, too Because if I was just prideful, for example, if my wife came up to me and gave me a suggestion that was actually better And i'm just like nuts to you I didn't think about it we're not doing that Right, that's that's a that's a prideful type of attitude to say I always know best I mean, I know best probably 98 percent of the time, you know, but But all joking aside, um, you know, none of us always know best There's always there's always room or we're not thinking straight or maybe we didn't think of something, right? There's a lot of cases where i'm just I wasn't even thinking of that i'm like, yeah, that's yeah That just throws that out the window And so we need to have that humble attitude to say hey, you know what I can take some advice or criticism Obviously with a pastor or a ruler you need to do that in a in a good manner meaning that you need to do that With not rebuking but in the tree and treat him as a father all of that But and jude 1 1 1 verse 8 it says likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh Despise dominion and speak evil of dignities one thing that you'll notice especially in the old testament Is how it'll talk about the sons of belial And how they say this man will not roll over us Right. It's just like this constant theme of like he's not going to roll over us And we're not going to be under dominion over this person. They just despise dominion. They despise people telling them what to do I mean think about the sons of belial out today in in our world They can't stand for the government to tell them that they they can't do certain things That they they are told that they can't do abominable deeds right And so that is something that they can't stand and we need to not be like that I understand that our government is wicked. I understand that a lot of governments are wicked meaning that there's a lot of wicked people in the government I'm not saying that we shouldn't despise certain people That are in the government, but we should not despise the government itself the institution the idea of dominion the idea of Of law and order and you know all that right that's been ordained by god as far as the powers that that be But that doesn't mean that I need to love everybody that's in leadership because there's obviously wicked, you know haters of god and leadership but So don't get me wrong here. Don't take it the wrong way When they're talking about despising dominion, they're just fighting dominion Not those that are in dominion necessarily, but just obviously they are too, but they despise just dominion in general Okay And then it says yeah, uh yet michael the archangel when contending with the devil He disputed about the body of moses does not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the lord rebuked thee. So michael the archangel Wouldn't even accuse the devil And when it says railing accusation what I believe you're dealing with there is basically Accusing of something that you maybe can't prove right? It may even be right But he can't you know, he's not going to even disputing about the body of moses. There's some specific thing they're disputing over and You know even michael the archangel isn't going to so This kind of reminds me of the idea of like, you know, the devil gave me a flat tire Maybe you know But do you know that for sure? right Maybe time and chance happen to you, right? So we got to be careful on that stuff that we're not just throwing out an accusation that's not founded or that Even if it is true if we can't prove it We don't want to do that right even if even michael the archangel wouldn't do that. Okay and meaning that You know what? You know what michael the archangel does here? He appeals to the higher power So you just say the lord rebuked you then right let's say there's some wicked person in a high office But you don't know for sure that they've done something you just say the lord deal with that, you know Put it in the lord's hands Because the lord knows what's going on And if the lord, you know the lord and a lot of these cases Let's just be honest when it comes to government. Are you going to be able to do anything about it anyway? I mean in most of these cases, it's just the lord rebutes you right? You're just like the lord take care of this person the lord strike this person dead whatever the case may be You know let their days be few and another man take their office That's that's pretty much the prayer you should have for a lot of people in office today But keep reading there it says but these speak evil those things which they know not But what they know naturally is brute beast and that's kind of the point there is is speaking about things that you don't know You know, basically making an accusation of things that you don't know That would be considered. I believe a railing accusation Even if it's true If you don't know for sure, right? So that's that's the idea there is that you don't want to make those kind of accusations Um But it says in those things they corrupt themselves woe unto them for they have gone in the way of cain and rained greedily after error of balaam for reward and perish in the gainsaying of khor now There's three different people that are brought up and they kind of all have their own problems When it comes to you know them being they're obviously children of the devil. They're children of the wicked one all that but The gainsaying of khor now in the old testament khorah some places it does say khor but um But khorah is is a great example of somebody that despised authority, okay um and Go to go to numbers chapter 16. I'm just i'm not going to read the whole passage But in your homework, you'd read all of number 16 on this story with khorah dathan and abiram But But also in second peter, it's a parallel passage to jude instead of saying despise dominion it says despise government So you can see that same correlation we're dealing with governments in the church and there are people that just despise leadership in government Christians that'll just despise leadership in government and I you know, I i'm not saying those christians I'm obviously not everybody that that doesn't like government It doesn't like basically being told what to do or or taking the lead or basically following the lead of somebody not saying the reprobate But the idea here is that these things are obviously attributes It's kind of like the reprobate is as a false accuser Like that's kind of like a main attribute of them is that they falsely accuse people think about jezabel When she wanted to get that vineyard or that, you know for for eight, uh for um ahab What'd she do find me some sons of belial? To falsely accuse, you know, they naboth jezerolite, right? Why was he why was she trying to find sons of belial because they're known to be false accusers Right, that's just that's just like an attribute of a child of the devil is that they falsely accuse It makes sense because the devil's a false accuser You know, so I mean, that's literally what that word means is basically an accuser But obviously he falsely accuses he falsely accused job like and he's accusing the brethren night and day And so So when it comes to this Cora i'm just going to show you a little the the beginning of this passage, but I want you to see here in verse one it doesn't end well for cora just so you know, but What is it? It's called the game saying of cora. So it's obviously what he's saying is what's going is the problem here But in verse one it says now cora the son of ishar the son of kohath the son of levai And dathan and abiram the sons of Eliyab and on the son of Peleth the sons of ruben took men And they rose up before moses with certain of the children of israel 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown so they basically have this posse behind them Of like all these men that they're going to come up and basically start Uh, basically trying to assert the authority of moses Okay, it says in verse three it says and they gathered themselves together against moses and against aaron and said unto them Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy And every one of them Are i'm sorry, um are holy every one of them and the lord is among them Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the lord So, what are they what is he saying he's saying You know, we're all the same, you know, why are you lifting yourself up as if you're to be a lead basically? For him to be the leader for them to be the leaders because moses is obviously the leader The judge the deliverer of israel and aaron is the high priest And so they're basically coming up and questioning their authority and basically saying who are you to be the leader? It's basically what he's saying. Who are you to be the leader? Because we're all we could all be leaders. We're all holy and it's this idea of usurping the authority of The church in the wilderness essentially there is moses is that shepherd of the church in the wilderness now it's a little different obviously than the new testament church, but It's definitely a picture and so This is a story and it doesn't end well with them because obviously it's not that they listed themselves up. Moses didn't want to do it Moses is telling god you picked the wrong man And so It's not that moses is like i'm gonna do this. This is my job, right? No god put him in that position. Okay and When it comes to a pastor, you know and don't get me wrong This is definitely taken way out of context and and all of that as far as like how far people take this but The pastor is the person that has been put into that position of authority and And obviously if it's rightly done it's by another church and by another pastor that's laying hands on him To start that church meaning that he has the authority and it's been by another church setting that up Congregate a congregation of believers have ordained and the pastor has ordained a man to basically start a church But god ordained moses to lead them in the wilderness and he ordained Aaron and he proves it with the rod that budded right and that was kept even later on In the ark of the covenant to prove that aaron is to be the high priest And if you know that kohat is the father, you know that that's descendant of aaron or moses and aaron It's just the fact that it had to be that the priestly line wasn't just through kohat that had to be through aaron And that Cora though he was of kohat Was not of aaron, obviously so God chose the leadership and And when it comes to this, it's just something it's something that We need to think about when it comes to churches is that you don't have this kind of church split kind of like um, what's the what's the term i'm looking for like, uh, Mutiny I don't know that's probably not the best thing it's like, um, You know, that's isn't that like that happens like by pirates or on the ship or something like that, right? But um but when it comes to leadership, uh or just Government in general is just to not despise that because basically what he's trying to do here is just Disassemble the government and that it should be just be we all basically just roll together Like we're all the same here and all that but what you have to understand is that that just does not work It just does not work well And even if you have two leaders that are Saying they're completely equal you're going to have a two-headed monster I mean think of marriage, right? I mean you can't say that Like me and my wife we're on the complete same level as far as authority or it's going to be a two-headed monster Because in the end who has to say Where does the buck stop? And so There has to be a different level there to where that leadership and even within a church that has maybe different leaders Is that there's one where it stops at that? That at that man now, obviously to all the the church members that that buck stopped ultimately at the lord Right. The lord is the ultimate leader So if the leader is doing something that's outside the bible or against the bible as far as You know going off the rails Then obviously you go to the higher power right you go to the leader that's above them And so, you know, that's where it's not a cult, you know, it's not following somebody that follows christ is not a cult following somebody no matter what That is okay And same thing goes for wives, I mean listen, obviously if I told my wife to go kill somebody in cold blood she shouldn't do it Right, i'm her i'm the leader i'm the boss but you know, i'm not You know, I I she can't just go break god's laws to follow me, okay so um Now the story I want to give you and and honestly i'll be done. I think this is something that's good to know When it comes to leadership and this is going to go back to moses as well Is go to exodus chapter 18 exodus chapter 18. So you say governments? Okay. Okay. Is that just the pastor? No, it's not Pastors definitely in that group right obviously You would hope that your pastor can rule to a certain extent has some kind of gift in that area to a certain extent And again these gifts one may be better at it than another But if If someone is not good at rolling anything Then you can't be a pastor by definition because you got to rule your own house. Well That's a prerequisite. So if you're not rolling your own house, well, then you can't be a pastor So you at least have to be gifted to that extent And all of us should be striving to have that level with our families But also you can go above and beyond that even outside your family within the church, okay as far as leadership positions are concerned and Go to exodus chapter 18. This is a story where jethro Um, moses father-in-law is going to give him some advice And verse 13 it says and it came to pass on the morrow That moses sat to judge the people and the people stood by moses from the morning until the evening And when moses father-in-law saw all that he did to the people he said what is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sitest thou thyself alone? And all the people stand by thee from morning until onto evening So get the picture he's going from morning to evening and people are just coming to him all day long And it's just him alone is doing this It says and and moses said unto his father-in-law because the people come unto me to inquire of god When they have a matter they come unto me and I judge between one and another and I do Make them know the statutes of god and his laws And moses father-in-law said unto him the thing that thou doest is not good And it's not that he's saying it's not good that you're teaching them the law, right? It's this it says thou wilt surely Wear away both thou and this people that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee Thou are not able to perform that it thyself alone and this the idea is that there's so many people He can't one-on-one deal with every issue that's going on So you can imagine And you say well how many people are there? Well, there was six hundred thousand footmen that were 20 years old and older that were in the army That's just those that are in the army I mean at least double that to get the women right and then you have children on top of that You're dealing with Probably you know over two million As far as what he's dealing with and he's the only one judging every single matter So you can imagine that jethro's looking at it's like there's no way there's no way you're gonna be able to handle this I mean so We're not in that case right now, right? We don't have that many to where it's like Hey, we need some other leader. We need some other people to judge between matters, but at the same time This is a good principle. I think that we should have as a church for things to run efficiently in verse 19 It says harken now into my voice. I will give thee counsel and god shall be with thee but that uh, I'm, sorry be thou for the people to godward that They thou mayest bring the causes unto god And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk in the work that they must do Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear god men of truth Hating covetousness and place such over them notice this to to the rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds And rollers of 50s and rollers of tens notice the hierarchy here And this is where you get into like a centurion. What's a centurion someone that's over a hundred men, right? And so you get down to like a cap, you know, like captain centurion quarturion, right? There's different levels as far as leadership is concerned within an army but also within uh You know this group here and when it comes to the a nation you have different tiers think about the government as far as you have The national government, but then you have state government then you have you have uh county and city going down the line To deal with authorities, okay magistrates all that stuff And so this is something that is is very well needed in moses's case It says and let them judge the people at all seasons and it shall be that every great matter They shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall judge So shall it be easy for thyself and they shall bear the burden with thee if thou shalt do this thing and god command thee So then thou shalt be able to endure and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. I love how his father-in-law says and if god Command thee so it's kind of like i'm giving you this advice, but if god commands you to do this, right? It's kind of like here's the advice but obviously if god wants you to do this do it this way And so I love his attitude there when he's telling him this But it says so moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said and moses chose able men Out of all israel and made them heads over the people rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of 50s and rulers of tens and they judged the people at all seasons and the hard cases Or i'm sorry the hard causes they brought unto moses, but very but every small matter they judged themselves. This is very smart Okay, meaning this is that you don't need moses for every little problem that you have There are men like moses Isn't the only one that knows anything about the law or how to deal with these situations and so but The really hard matters the really hard matters where it's like hey, we don't know what to do in this situation bring that to moses And so this is something that in the church go to go to act chapter 6 dealing with the first deacons I believe that were put into position is the fact that they were put over things that needed to be done but If you think about it, there are certain things that need to be done, but it doesn't necessarily take the pastor to have to do it Okay Meaning it's not like you need the qualifications of a pastor in order to do this job over here, right? and what you have is delegation of Of work that needs to be done and you set people as leaders in those positions, okay So actually after six and verse one just to show you what they're doing here It's very similar to what moses does because what did it say about the men that they need to fear god They need to be able men They need you know that they men of truth hating covetousness. So it's kind of like these qualifications They not anybody but people that know what they're doing know what the truth is They know how to judge these matters Get those men in act chapter 6 and verse 1 it says in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied Notice they were multiplied so this needed to be done There's more people that need to be taken care of there are rows of murmuring of the grations Against the hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration then the the The 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said it is not reason that we should leave the word of god and serve tables Now the thing is is that serving tables is not it needs to be done, right? This this ministry or this ministration that needs to be done needs to be done, but he's basically saying We need to do this over here And we don't want this to lack so this gets done over here And it says wherefore brethren look you out Or look you out among you seven men of honest report full of the holy ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business And obviously you have the seven that were uh that they lay the hands on And obviously you have the famous stephen, but also philip the evangelist that's of the seven And these are leaders that are in the church So when you think about a deacon a deacon is a leader, obviously the buck doesn't stop at the deacon But he is an authority over a lot of the other people in the church, okay? So it's kind of like you get pastor deacon going down the line that you have these different this authority structure that's there Okay And they have to be qualified Right. There's a there's a list of qualifications that need to be met and And also know this is that those qualifications It's not like you meet them one day and then then you don't have to worry about them anymore No, if you break those qualifications, then there can be disqualification, you know, if if uh, if it's if it's grievous enough now When when it comes to you know governments in the church This can be dealing with obviously pastors deacons and offices like that, but this can also just deal with The music music ministry for example, right song leader Or just dealing with that music program in itself that you have people that are leaders in that because let me ask you Well, just think about this if i'm like hey, I want a song I want us to do a song A certain song right? Let's say, you know, it's some kind of a spiritual song or maybe it's a christmas song Christmas song That you know who I talk to I don't just I don't have you know, I don't have to gather everybody around That's that's dealing with the music. I just tell brother dave do this song right? Hey, I want you to do this song Why because he's the one that's leading up the singing right? He's the one is you know, the and obviously He's not just saying we're only doing this song and then he says nuts to everybody that's in the the music ministry, right? Because i'm sure there's some like hey I want to do this song and he's like, okay, let's practice that out But ultimately he's the one leading it all up, right? And so that's just an example think about soul winning missions trips Anytime we do a missions trip, I always make sure that there's a leader Of that mission trip that there's someone leading it up Right. Someone's going to call the shots. Someone's going to basically make sure that everything's done the way it should be done And that's just the way You know you set up those type of things You have those leaders and you know, the beautiful thing about that is that my hand doesn't have to be in all those pots that means i'm freed up to do other things and There's so many other things that are getting done That I didn't have to directly deal with Okay uh, there's many so many marathons and and i'm just you know praising those that That in our church that that have just gone out of their way to do these to where There'll be so many marathons. I'll forget about it. I'll just oh, yeah They're doing a soloing marathon over there because my hand's not in every single one of those pots. Okay That's not to say that like obviously this one going up kingwood I'm going to be i'm involved in this one and i'm going to be you know me and brother richie are leading that one up and we're going to be going out there and doing that but uh Look at how much more can be done because I only have so much time That I can do all that stuff right and you only have so much time too, right? So uh When you spread it out like that and spread that the leadership out like that Then a lot more can get done And so when it comes to the there there's going to be things where uh Let's say there's a mission trip Well, if I want to know what happened and how things went i'm usually going to go to the leader like how did it all go? And I get it from them or maybe there's a problem I'm gonna go to the leader i'm gonna say what went down what happened, right? I don't need to go to every single individual person. I could just go to the leader and say hey what happened? What what what you know or you know great job, you know did well and that That's going to be uh a case that's going to help things move along Or even in the case of okay Someone has a has a bible question for example And i'm over here talking, you know, maybe i'm talking to someone else about something And someone has a bible question ask brother dave about that You know Or ask so-and-so about that You know, there's gonna be cases where i'm just gonna say hey go talk to them if they don't have an answer for you If he doesn't have an answer for you, he doesn't know what to tell you in this then come back to me eventually And you know what just to be honest there are cases where Uh, someone asked my advice or asked my ask a question on how to deal with something and I don't know Imagine that That I don't know everything when it comes to how to deal with situation. I'm obviously not talking about like Okay, I need to know how to explain uh that by that water baptism. It doesn't save you. I don't know That's not what i'm talking about okay i'm talking about like life situations, okay Even in cases of marital issues, you know, sometimes things get brought up to me and I never even thought of it before I'm, just like I didn't know that was a thing. I didn't know like what to even deal with in that situation Now what I usually do in those situations is that i'll give you some bible verses But you know what i'm usually doing i'm Appealing to authority and saying you really need to get into the bible You need to get into this and you need to get into prayer on how to deal with this situation because You know, I don't always have the best answer now. There are some cases where I've gone through a certain situation and i'm like, hey, here's how I dealt with it. Here's how I got through that But you can't expect your pastor to go through every situation that you've gone through Like that's unrealistic And You know, it just is what it is. But um, so when it comes to governments and rulers Uh, this is biblical one in the church setting that there is a hierarchy of leadership and authority structure And I think that's needed to I think people need to know that there's this this idea of this, uh, Kind of freelance type of churches where there's no like known leader or who calls the shots and and all of that No, someone needs to ultimately call shots And there are other people that can call the shots to a certain extent Okay Right, I mean For example, uh, sometimes on sundays, uh, Dave will get up here and say hey, we're gonna go over here soul winning Guess what? He didn't run it by me Where we're going soul winning and that's okay right Like that that's fine. Like I don't need to know Because you know what? We'll go soul winning anywhere, right? It's like when people are like, oh where are we gonna go? It's like we'll find a place to go like there are there there is not a want for places to be knocked in america right now Especially when you go out on these soul winning marathons And it's like well, you know this might Hopefully this place is this area is good. Well, we'll find a good place then We went to pittsburgh that one time remember we we I I picked out these places and this is against me. Okay We picked out these places And I think brother I think rob you were there when we went to pittsburgh and it's like all these places were like key card type of entry And it's just like we couldn't get into anything and it was more high end and we were at chipotle And we were asking the guy that was working at chipotle. We're like we need the ghetto Like where is the poor place in pittsburgh and they're like, oh, this is the place I think it was like mount oliver or something like that or wherever we went And when we got there everybody's just like what are you doing out on the streets? You know, like Be careful out there like people that live there along the streets and you know what a lot of people got saved so all i'm saying there is that sometimes you know, uh when it comes to To to that type of stuff, you know, you'll just figure it out But all that i'm all that i'm saying with that is that my hand isn't in every little detail of the church It used to be When I first started church My hand was in everything The offering not that not my hand was in the off That sounded really bad like all judas over here's got the bag I mean I counted the offering so Not by myself I had other people there with me but you know what But praise the lord. I don't deal with the offering at all, right? I don't count it I just you know, I give my tithe and then just let them deal with it, right? But what i'm saying though is that like everything from from cleaning to the offering to the you know Whatever the case may be when it came to the church like in administration. I paid the bills I you know was set making sure everything was up to date on everything that was going on with the church as an entity the insurance like all this stuff right and praise the lord I don't even know what the bills are anymore. Like I don't know what they cost. I don't know and uh, You know, not that I don't If I need to know i'll know right but they will be like hey our water bill was this we need to talk about this You know or our electric bill was this, you know, we need to talk about this but the idea there is that There are other people that can take care of that and brother dave For example when it comes to certain things doesn't have to come to me and ask me about every little detail about what we're doing right Now sometimes i'll say hey, you know, we need to buy this. Is that okay? And I don't know if i've ever told you no on that But uh But some will you know and I get that, you know, they'll be saying hey, can we buy this? could we buy that or whatever and uh And it's whatever the buck stops at me. I'm obviously the pastor But there's many things That it doesn't come by me. It doesn't come through me. I don't need to give the okay on that Do you know when my wife orders groceries? She doesn't run it by me and praise the lord for that Because I don't want to go through all I don't want to read the list of things that we're buying just whatever you think We need just put some uh, some of that cascadian uh Cinnamon toast crunch, you know organic cereal in there You know, then we'll be good You know as long as I got that and some reese cups But in the end, you know that there's authority structures that are set down even with my kids i'll set up certain things that The older ones will do certain things and and i'll even give them the authority to tell their their siblings you must do this Right and so that that type of authority structure needs to be in the church and there are some that are really good at Dealing with that and there's some that just aren't There they There are people that will will be the president of a company and then there are people that just want to crunch the numbers Let me put it on a very visceral like kind of company level There are people that just want to crunch the numbers and they don't want to deal with they don't want to talk to people They don't want to do anything but just crunch the numbers And those people are needed, right? It's not saying like that person isn't needed or that person's less than the other person It's just that there's certain people that just aren't made for that type of position. They're just not that's not the personality That's not their gift And then there's certain people that are that take charge. Like I want to like run this machine, right? It's not even a prideful thing. It's just saying I think I could run this thing. Well, let's do this And you need both you need the guys that are going to take the charge and you need the guys that are going to just Crunch the numbers and just be the the worker bees, right? And it's not to diminish either one. It's not to say the one's proud because they're in that position It's not to say the other one's insignificant because they're in that position because we're all in the body together And we all may have different offices But we have the same value The pastor is not in any shape form or fashion More valuable than anybody else in the church Okay The authority structure is different But the value is still the same And the same thing with all these gifts The value of every single person has these different gifts. The value is the same They may look different they may one may look more glamorous than the other but they're all the value is the same And that's something that we need to understand as a church and I think to really have a good cohesive unity in church is not Not obviously to despise others because they have certain gifts that you don't have or maybe they have a certain authority that you don't have Whatever the case may be know this is that there's always pros and cons to all of that. Okay There are pros and cons to being the leader and there's pros and cons to just being the follower in the church And so there's pros and cons to being the husband and there's pros and cons to being the wife And we can both look at each other and be like I wish I could do this. I wish I could do that But that's different roles and Uh, so anyway this uh, i'm gonna be doing one more sermon to kind of just wrap all this together But I do think this is an important one to understand Uh that there is leadership ordained leadership in the church and that the leadership can also set up other leaders And that as our church grows this will happen, okay as our church grows there will be There will be others that are set up as leaders over certain things. Okay, and It's obviously going to be dealing with the work of the church, right? but you can think about like, okay, we have A fellowship hall we have this or that or you know there as our church expands we get different portions You know, we get a bigger building other things that are going to be going on missions trips Marathons there could be someone that is just their sole purpose Is just to find soul-winning maps and get soul-winning maps made And to just do that and that's like their job Okay And that you know if i'm going to talk to somebody like hey, you know, what have we hit? What haven't we hit? Like bring up this rolodex on their computer like here's what we need to do and and coordinate that You know, there's i'm just thinking out loud as far as just different things that can be done But as our church grows there's going to be stuff like that that's going to be done. And so, um, there could be doorman There can be ushers, right? I know some churches have that, you know, like we have doorman you'll have ushers you'll have different things We already kind of have that to a certain extent But as the church grows there's going to be a lot of that type of stuff There's going to be leaders that are going to be dealing with certain things within the church And so that is all a good thing because that's going to help everything run smoothly and that You don't want just one guy running everything and have his hand in like every little thing because he'll wear away It's not good for him or the people and that's what it's that's what jethro said It's like you'll wear away and the people with you And so setting up those type of governments and rulers is a good thing just like an army just like uh, just like a nation The church is the same way in that This is its own kind of congregation and authority structure that's here And so just something to look forward to I guess because right now we're a small church obviously So it's not like that big. It's not like some stark thing that you see But it's already there is already leadership and there's different positions. It may not be very well known but it's there Okay, so that's the end of the word of prayer. Dear heavenly father we thank you today. Thank you for your word Thank you for these passages and lord Thank you for the souls that were saved today and throughout the week and I pray that you would just help Us to be a witness throughout the week Keep us healthy. Keep us safe be with those that aren't feeling well And lord just pray to bring us back at the appointed time in jesus christ's name. Amen Right, they will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed You All right, take your song books and turn to song 155 Song 155 in your song books. We'll sing doxology if you would stand we'll sing song 155 And 55 Praise god from whom all blessings flow Praise him all creatures here below Praise him above ye heavenly host Praise father son and holy ghost you are dismissed