Guidelines to a good leader (Mini series #3)

In this episode of the Bible Gal podcast, we finish our mini series breaking up the scripture 1 Timothy 3:1-13 into chunks, and diving deep into the guidance and instructions God has given us on how to be good church leaders. 

In this episode we cover: 

1. 1 Timothy 3:8-13
2. Ephesians 5:23a
3. Ephesians 5:32
4. What a “deacon” is
5. What to look for in a head pastor
6. Practicing the behaviors to become the head pastor

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Bumble Gumma Coming House and I'm a gamble amber. I'm just a concerning one woman, empowering women to step into their own humber for the Lord mentality. I'm encouraging us to live in their faith, to grow, and to believe in the common that come house for us. My vision is to help women break the chains of their past and inner struggles and fears to create new chapters that only our mother can write for us. I'm on a mission and passion to empower you and all the women out there. This is going to be your new favorite podcast for daily devotionals and Bible study chats.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hey guys, welcome to part three of our little mini-series, um, The Guidelines to a Good Leader. Um, before I jump into the message, I always like to start in prayer, just uh um really our bookends to our time with the Lord. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you so much um for trusting me with this podcast, and I thank you so much for each and every listener, Father. I just pray and I lift every single one of them up, Father. I just pray that their hearts are open, their minds are open, that they are ready to receive your Holy Spirit, that you speak through me today, Father. Um, and that they walk away um different, that they walk away changed after this message, that there's something that they are able to take away and and change, Father. And I just pray that over them, and I pray that wherever they are right now, that they will get there safely, safe travels over them, amen. All right. So um we are going to be finishing up the scripture today um in the mini-series that we have of the guidelines to a good leader. Um, and um, you know, our scripture was first Timothy chapter three, verses one through thirteen. Um, and today we are going to be looking at the last verses, um, verses eight through thirteen. So before we get in the word, I really want to go over a definition of uh uh a word that is used in scripture. Uh it's the word is deacon, um, which means an ordained minister. So it's nowadays our head pastor at our church, right? The person who leads the whole church in, you know, the sermons and the services and stuff, um, who overlooks the church. So the rest of this word is really um it goes into the instructions and the guidance for the deacon or in modern terms for the head pastor. Um and a lot of people I think overlook this message or overlook this scripture um because it is instructions for, you know, that head pastor, and so they kind of like, oh, this doesn't really apply to me. Like, I'll read it, but like I don't really get into it. Well, I want to say that even if you're not a head pastor, the scripture is still super important to read because you know, it sets the standard for the kind of church and the kind of pastor that you want to follow and that you want to be under. Um, you know, and things in a pastor we want to be looking for. Um, or if being a head pastor is, you know, the route in the ministry you want to take, um, then the guidelines, this is what we should be looking at and studying um for what God has to say, the guidelines on becoming that head pastor one day. Um, you know, so that as your time slowly approaches and as you, you know, um work your way up in in that ministry ladder, that you know, you are preparing yourself. And so that way when that time comes, you are ready and equipped with that godly character that is required for the job um and what God says about it. So we don't have to wait for the opportunity to start acting or behaving like a deacon. Um, right? Because we need to be working on ourselves now so that when the time comes for us to step up, um, then we can be looked at as ready to take on the responsibility of leading the whole church. If you think about it, you know, uh at work when you get a promotion. You don't get the promotion without being that super great employee first, right? Like, think about um trying to figure out how to word this. That person who's always like coming to work lead, they call out a lot, like they do the bare minimum, and you know, you might hear them say, like, oh well, I I deserve that promotion, you know, like I've been here for five years, my seniority stands, like, oh, I've done this for the company, I've done that for the company, right? That person's not gonna get the promotion, honestly. It's gonna be the person, it doesn't matter how long you've been there. I mean, it does matter how long you've been there, but like overall, like other things are more important, right? Like, are you showing up to on time? Um, you know, are you really doing your job to the fullest? Are you really being as helpful and um as diligent as you can with your time? That person who goes above and beyond in their job is only an assistant, that person's gonna be the one who gets promoted because they're gonna be like, oh wow, this person is already becoming that kind of person that we need for this next role. So they're gonna be the ones to get the promotion. And that's um how this concept is is looked at, right? Like we need to start acting, we need to start behaving and um becoming that personality and and the behaviors of um this deacon so that way we can be ready in spirit for when um you know our time comes to be this head pastor and and to continue to move up in ministry. Um, so I'm gonna jump on into the word here. And first Timothy Timothy, wow, that's embarrassing. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 8 says, in the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity. They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with their money. So this first starts out by laying down the expectation that we should respect our pastor, right? It says the deacons must be well respected and have integrity. So this means not talking or gossiping behind your pastor's back on things that they should be doing differently, or maybe you weren't a fan of Sunday's message, and so you know, because of A, B, and C, and so you're talking about it with your other church friends. Um, you know, we shouldn't be doing things like that. We shouldn't be speaking about our head pastor saying things like, oh, well, he's just too good to come socialize. He just gives his message and then like I don't know, I never see him again. Um, or you know, I don't even know where he puts his money, but I bet you he spends it all. You know, things like that. That is not giving your head pastor respect. That is not giving your head pastor uh the standard that they should be able to stand on. Um, but yet we should be respecting our pastor. Um, of course, there might be things that we uh uh um, you know, disagree on from time to time, but that does not mean that we are should ever be bashing them. But at the end of the day, we should be giving them our utmost respect um in the way we speak about them and the way that we go about um addressing them, right? We should be addressing them as um pastor, blah, blah, blah, whatever their name is. I know that sometimes I catch myself doing this when I'm talking about like the pastor, or they're like, oh well, um, I'm gonna use my own name because I don't want to throw up my pastor's names like that. But um, you know, I'll be like, oh yeah, well Amber said that they said they can bring taco meat, you know, for the girls' prayer night. But and I'll catch myself and be like, wait, no. Pastor Amber said that we should be, you know, that I can bring taco me for tomorrow's night or whatever, right? But and making sure that I'm addressing them with pastor, blah, blah, blah, because that's that's the respectful term. They deserve that respect, right? So if anybody else is gossiping about them and they're just using their, they're throwing out their, you know, their name, like, oh, like that's their bro, right? Like you should, as a friend in Christ, as a as a fellow Christian, you should, you know, in in the nice way, right? Like, be mindful how you pres present it, but you know, just be like, hey, like, Pastor deserves, you know, that um proper addressing. Um, and you know, and and making sure that if you catch somebody else gossiping about them, then you can stand up for them and and again in a nice way, like, hey, like, you know, Pastor Amber really does a really good job and they you know, they really put their whole heart into this church. And yeah, there might be some times that we don't agree, but they they're a really great pastor, and and sticking up for them and giving them that respect. Um, you know, instead of just going along with it or being quiet, like we need to be also better that when other people do it, um, that we are being encouraging to give our pastor more respect. Um, for example, um, like you should when they come on stage, you should be standing up and clapping for them um as they come and give the message, especially your head pastor. Um, I'll say that we have uh a head pastor over our churches and in the United States, but that we also have like a head pastor from another country who comes over. Um, and sometimes they'll come over and guest speak. And I'd be a little like feel some type of way when I'm like the only one standing up clapping for them. Like they are the head pastor of the head pastors of the church. They deserve nothing less than me standing up clapping, you know, like that is something that you should be giving again respect for um as they come on to give the message. Um, and another way you should be respecting your pastors, you're praying over their lives and their families' lives, right? Asking how you can help serve in the church, speaking about them with kindness and respect for who they are, you know, and in your morning prayer when you're giving your big morning prayer about praying over everybody for the day, they should definitely be somebody that's in your prayer. And if I'm gonna be real honest, I definitely forget and don't do that every day. Um, but I definitely do try to be diligent about praying for my head pastors because you know their job is a is a pastor Monday through Sunday, and so yeah, we have our jobs, but that's also that's their job. So yes, they preach on Sundays, but your pastors are preaching in jails and colleges and um they're going to other places that you know they are really putting their their themselves out there and on the line sometimes, and so they really deserve again that that highest respect and of praying over them and their family, um and all the things that they do for us um and do for the church. Um, and so then it continues to go on in that verse and it talks about having integrity, right? So our pastor integrity is let's start there. The definition of integrity is to have honest and good moral principles. So you want your pastor to be honest, you want your pastor to have good, godly moral principles. Um, you know, that they're doing the right thing, that they're being that person, that they should be, that they're having that godly character even behind closed doors. Um, we want our pastor to be sober, continues to go on about drinking, right? We we don't want them to be getting drunk with us. We want to make sure that they're not heavily drinking, talking about how they, you know, got plastered Saturday night and here they are preaching Sunday morning, right? But that they're sober, that they have that self-control, to have a sober mind and a sober body. Um, you know, and also speaking about how they handle their money, they um, you know, that they're using it to give back to the church, that they're um if they have any staff employees, you know, that they're paying them properly, or giving to the homeless shelters or schools, or helping people, um, other people in the church, you know, like for example, I don't know, maybe there's uh somebody who goes to the church who needs a new roof and it's leaking through their roof, but they don't have money to fix it, you know, the pastor is is is um a very generous giver. Um, you know, like this is something we should be looking for in our pastors. Um, I definitely also want to say that be mindful is all I'm gonna say um about how your head pastor approaches money. It's definitely a good thing to like share God's blessings and to share what he has done, but I just encourage you to be mindful um when churches are b boasting about the money that they've brought in, um, or you know, the you know, be careful with that, um, is all I will say. Um so then it goes on to say, um that in verse nine, sorry I don't figure out where I was. In verse nine he says, They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience. Let me read that again, because I clearly can't talk today. First Timothy chapter three, verse nine. They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience. Okay. In another translation. Um, I pulled a different a couple different translations, um, and I encourage you to do this if there's like a a verse that's more challenging to understand. Um, or it maybe it's just one that you want to get a different explanation on. Um, and I just thought that this one could be one of them for for some people. I know it kind of was for me. I understood the verse, but I, in order to explain it, I I wanted to hear it from another translation. So I pulled it up. And from another translation, I don't remember which one it was because I didn't write it in my notes. But it says they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. So this is saying that they must have a full confidence on what faith is, they must have full confidence on what it means to have faith in God, how to and and to not just how to have faith in God, but how to explain the faith having faith in God, um, you know, knowing, eating, breathing the truth of the word, embedding it into their brain and their soul without any doubt. They know what faith is. They know how to explain it, they know how to encourage you to have more faith, right? They know the word, they can they know how to speak the word and the truth, and um it's something that they're pretty professional in, right? Especially as somebody who's leading the church, we would hope that they have amplified knowledge in this area. Um, and then in verse 10, it says, before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons. So this means that your pastors have been tested first to see how they handle struggles, how they handle trials, tribulations, hardship, right? Things like that. You know, where they stood in their faith and how close to God they stood in their tests that made them, you know, stronger. Um and if we are hoping to be a head pastor, that we also must expect these tests and these trials and hardships. Um, and it's not because God is is like letting things happen to us, right? But he is seeing how we handle these trials to see how we can come out stronger. Um, because he wants us to be able to trust us with more, right? Like if you if he can't trust us with a donut, he's not gonna trust us with a puppy, right? I don't even know where that example came from, but you know, if you can't, you know, think about it like a kid, right? If you can't trust them with a you know a plastic cup with a straw in the living room, you're definitely not gonna trust them with a open glass cup, right? They have to be able to earn their way up, they have to continue to, okay, cool. You can handle a plastic cup of a straw. Okay, so maybe now they get an open plastic cup, and then they handle an open plastic cup. So now maybe they get one of those like glass cups that have the little wooden tops with a straw in it. Okay, now that's glass, okay. Maybe they they can handle that. So okay, they got a little bit stronger in handling things. So now, maybe now then they finally graduate to an open glass cup in the living room, right? So using that example, I don't know how I tie that into the message, but I did. Um tying that into a head pastor, right? Like they have to go through things and they have to continue to get stronger to see how they handle faith because you know you can't they you want to be make sure that you're wise and you don't crack under pressure. Um, and if you do want to become a head pastor, you know, to encourage these things when they happen to you, you know, don't be discouraged or you know, think that it's never gonna happen, or that you're, you know, don't beat yourself up and say, like, oh, I'm not strong enough for this, or my faith is weak. Um, but just try to remind yourself, like, you know, these are meant to to bring me stronger in my faith, and these aren't meant to continue to, you know, help me get better so that God can trust me with more. Um, and then I'm gonna go to the next verse in verse 11 says, in the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers, but temperate and trustworthy in everything. So this is saying that the wives and the women are being respected by their church people. If we see this from the perspective of the woman who wants to become her, then she needs to earn her respect by speaking with kindness, not slandering others, not gossiping about them, not talking behind their back, but serving, helping the needy, helping the poor, extending a helping hand to the ones around her. You know, she looks out to people in prayer. She prays over people. She's got a strong, you know, prayer in the morning. She's praying over a lot of people. Um, and then it says that she needs to have self-control, right? Like not give into her sinful human worldly desires, but that she will remain faithful to God by having a godly character, not giving in tempting, not giving into temptation um of complaining or slandering or having that malicious talk about other people or gossiping or you know, criticizing, but reframing and having that self-control, um and speaking with love and and kindness, um, because she's also in one with the head pastor, right? So she's also the head pastor. So as all the other women in the church, we look up to her. We want to hopefully become her one day. Like, right? We look at her, and if she's not having godly character, if she is not um leading by example, how could we expect the rest of the church to act as that, right? Um, we've been talking about this now for a few weeks. Um, the idea of the way we need to act and the behavior we need to take on and the spirit we need to take on because we are leading and there are people watching us. So this is going the same thing for her, right? Like we she's being watched, um, and she is leading not just her family now, but her whole entire church. And so everybody underneath of her needs to be able to trust her and see that she is having godly character. Um so then in verse 12, um, he says, a deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and his household well. So I know we've previously talked pretty deeply about this in our last episode, um, back in verse 4. But last time we really dived into the idea of managing our home very well and being faithful to our spouse in the eyes of a woman, um, because that's well, most of my listeners are. Um, so we really dove into how we should manage our home as women. But now that we are talking about like the deacons and the head pastors, I just thought it would be a good idea to be able to look at and see how the man should be managing his home for the guy's image. Um, and it's and it's also good for us to know. So in Ephesians 5, um, verse 23a, because verse 23 is pretty vague, it says, for a husband is the head of his wife as Christ as the head of his church. So the scripture here is using an analogy in a way where the wife and her children submit to her husband and the man in the household, the way that people submit to Christ and church. The word submission uh so often gets like looked at in a condescending way, but that's such a miscommunication between people's understanding of the Bible and a lot of times people take their previous experiences and what they read and turn it into their understanding. But we need to look at the actual meaning of this women submit to their husband why, okay? He provides protection, he provides safety, he provides guidance for her and for his family. And if you're not getting this concept, think about Christ because that's the analogy it uses here. As Christ is the head of the church, what does Christ do for his church? Not necessarily the Building, but us as people as his church. How what it how is that correlation? Okay, how is Christ and his church? You know, what does he do? And so we think about it. Well, well, he provides protection over us, he gives us safety, he gives us guidance, right? By us submitting to God, by us submitting to Christ, he is able to be all these things for us and to do all these things for us, right? And so that's exactly the same for women and to submit to their husbands. It's never meant to be in a condescending way or that one is higher than the other or anything like that. But it is meant because the husband's role is protection, that he protects his family, that he um keeps them safe, that he's guiding them in the right direction, he's guiding them up to also be children of God, he's guiding them to serve everybody in the house that will serve the Lord, right? Um, and so as we look back, he uh is managing his family and his home well, and so he's providing all these things for them, he's providing that stability for his family just as he also would for his church, right? Because again, it starts like we've talked about before, it starts in the home. If you're not providing that guidance, that security, that stability, that you know, structure in the home, how in the world could God trust you with more in the church? Um, so in order for the head pastor to create an atmosphere where Christ is in one with his church, he also has to be in one with his wife at home and for his family to understand and to practice this day and night. Because this is the same system that God has this this is this is a system that God has set up for us. And so, in order to, you know, be able to be trusted with more, we have to get the system down at a more basic level. I don't want to say basic because our family's not basic, it's very important, but at a more intimate level first. Um and then in Ephesians 5 32 says this is a great mystery, but in an illustration Wait, what? What in the world did I write here? Okay, it says this is a great mystery, but is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. Sorry, I had some major typos, and I was like, I wrote eBay, and that has nothing to do with the verse. So getting back to our main scripture here, let me wrap this up. So um, our last verse of our mini-series, the very last verse of this section, verse 13, says this Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus. So God ends a scripture about giving us guidance and instructions for being a good leader by telling us that we have great gain by being leaders that obey and serve him. He says we serve well and we lead well. We get to be rewarded, we get to have respect from our people, we get to, you know, have a better confidence and assurance in our faith in God, um, and that he is proud of his good leaders, he is proud of his good servants, he's proud of his good servers and his good children of God. And so he says that we will have good standing. Um, and that's truly the definition of being rich, you know, not rich with money, but to be truly rich in the spirit, um is to be forwarded by by God. That's all I ever do want to do in life is I when I get to heaven, I just want to hear good job, my faithful servant, right? Like that's all we should be working towards here is is to get to heaven and to hear that from the Lord. Um, and so just truly working towards having that increased confidence in our faith. Um so I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this all up in prayer. Um because like I said, I love my little bookends. Um but yeah, dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this message and thank you so much for helping me write it. I remember back when I wrote this message, I had no idea what to say. And I had asked you to open my heart and my mind and to speak through me, and then now now here I have five pages of notes. I'm just so thankful for you. Um, and so thankful for the way that you trust me to to lead this podcast and to speak um word into every single listener. And I just pray over every single listener. I live, I I lift them up to you, Father. I just pray over protection over them. I pray over um peace in their hearts that they will not worry about anything, but that they will come to you and they will seek your supernatural peace that washes over them. Father, I pray over this scripture over them um and this message. I pray this message over them that they are able to actually have a good takeaway, Father, that there was something that was changing their lives today and that you were speaking to their hearts today. Amen. All right, thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Um, don't forget, I would absolutely love for real, I really would love. I say that all the time, but like I'm not lying. There's nothing that makes me more happy than when I get like a prayer request come in. I like am so serious, like just hearing you guys connect with me, like just hearing other people, you know, go through life and need help, and to know that, like, you know, because I'm human at the end of the day, and like to know that, like, hey, I'm not the only one that needs help, and like, hey, I'm not the only one that goes through this, this, or that, or whatever it is that you're going through. Like, I love to pray with you and to be there to support you. Um, and it's really just nice to know that we're doing this together, and um, it's honestly really awesome to hear your testimony. Um, somebody shared a testimony with me recently, and I was like, that made my whole day, made my whole week, and I was like, that was just amazing. I love to hear um God's goodness and to share that. So um in my show links below, it's in my Instagram um highlight, you can find a form to fill out for prayer requests, and um it gives a spot for where you can put like your phone number or email or whatever, and I can pray over you that I absolutely love because then I can can actually pray for you and like connect with you and like get to know you. Um, so yeah, I encourage you to fill that out so that we could like get connected and I can pray over you and pray with you. Um, so thank you so much for listening. I uh am so sorry that I missed dropping my episode on Monday. Um, I had some account issues that had to get solved. Um, so thank you so much, and I'll see you all next time.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to hear more, there are new episodes that drop every Monday and Thursday. If you liked what you heard, please help me give a lum by leaving a review. You can also give using the link below. I'd love to pray for you. If you have any prayer requests, please send me an email to your bum and email. Which is summoning the links below social media. This week that is with you every step of the way.