WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:08.160 This podcast is brought to you by Grant Parkway Baptist. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.480 Helping people to know, joy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:19.280 Amen. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:20.000 Amen. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.399 Sometimes the best way to lead worship is by being the lead worshiper. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:27.120 That's what you've just experienced, okay? 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:27.920 Let's pray together. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.280 Lord Jesus, thank you for the freedom that is ours in Christ. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:37.759 Thank you, Lord, that uh we you you didn't just come to make bad people good people, more morally determined people. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.880 You came to spiritually dead people and brought us back to life. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:46.399 So when the alarm goes off inside of us, we're just gonna lean even further on those everlasting arms. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:51.439 In a world that is always changing, we're gonna build and bank our lives on that which is unchangeable. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:53.520 And so that's why we're gonna open up the Bible today. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.000 And we're gonna say what it says the way it says it, and we're gonna hold ourselves to the standard. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.000 As that great theologian Mike Tomlin says, the standard is the standard. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:08.000 And so, Lord, we've lowered the standard so we have uncalled, unequipped men leading churches in America nowadays. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:12.239 So we just want to hold the standard back up and just say, here's where it is, boys. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.159 Put your big boy pants on. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:19.840 And if that's not you, then go sell insurance or give trips to the Holy Land or do whatever you can do. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.400 Called men can only do one thing. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.680 And thank you that we see a picture of that in the text today. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.680 God, let it be convicting and let that conviction start with me. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.159 Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:36.879 Let it find a resting place in head and heart, and let it find expression in our hands this week. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.680 In Jesus' name, what everyone says, Amen. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:40.079 Amen. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:41.359 You can have a seat if you've got a Bible. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.599 I invite you to take it, open it up to the book of Acts. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:48.079 If you're our guest today, we're preaching and teaching through the book of Acts, and we're up to Acts chapter 17. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:49.920 Excuse me, Acts chapter 20. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:56.560 I'll start reading verse 17 to the end of the chapter, and I want to talk to you this morning about what you should expect from church leadership. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.799 What you should expect from church leadership. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:01.280 Now, when you say, What do you mean church leadership? 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.719 I mean your church staff. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:04.000 We're at elder-led church. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:05.359 I'm not in charge of this church. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:14.560 Uh, and the reason we're in elder-led church is that it's called the plurality of leadership, is that we don't see anywhere in the Bible where one church is any church in the Bible is led by one person. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.319 The scripture says in a multitude of counsel, there's wisdom. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.919 Uh, and so I have six bosses, they're called elders. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:26.479 Uh, and and so when I say uh church leadership, I mean your staff and elders. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:28.000 So let me just ask this question. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:35.120 If you're a part of our staff here, or you're an elder here at this church, or you're in the elder development pipeline, would you stand up right now? 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:36.400 See, we'll see. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:37.199 Some of them are gone. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:37.599 There we go. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:39.599 Just stand up, look around. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:43.759 These are the people that you should look at through the lens of what we're talking about today. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:45.039 Me included, okay? 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:46.080 You should look at us. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:48.159 This should be the filter, the grid. 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.599 You should check us out and kind of go, hey, do you do these things? 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:53.840 Because if not, what are you doing in leadership? 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:54.400 Okay? 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:56.479 All right, now you guys have a seat. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.879 Uh and you say, Well, what do you mean? 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.039 Uh let me say this simple statement. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:06.400 Authority without responsibility means people will get abused spiritually. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:07.520 Authority. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:14.400 Anybody that leads a church and they're all about authority, well, because I said so, but they don't have this deep sense of responsibility. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.199 In that environment, people will get abused spiritually. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.439 And it's one thing about the Apostle Paul, he lived daily with a sense of his responsibility. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.039 He never played the authority cards. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.840 Matter of fact, there's one time he kind of listed out his pedigree. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.960 These people were bragging, and he said, Oh, if you guys got things to boast about, I got a lot of things to boast about. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:35.759 I mean, I I went I went to the right schools, I was born in the right time to the right people. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:41.199 But he said this: he said, Listen, I want to be governed by my responsibility, not just play the authority. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:42.319 I'm the Apostle Paul. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.800 Because he he was it was so out of character, he said, I am talking like a madman here, okay? 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.520 Uh, because he was ruled by responsibility. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:54.240 And I just want to say there's not many people that lead churches nowadays that are ruled by responsibility. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:55.680 They play the authority card. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:56.719 I'm the pastor. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:02.479 If I ever say to you in response to one of your questions, because I'm the pastor, I want you to slap me, okay? 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.240 Seriously, stop blasting so hard, Lisa Deal. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:12.319 Anyway, uh again, authority without responsibility means people will get abused spiritually. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.680 All right, let me just read the text, Acts chapter 20, verse 17. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.319 Let's think biblically about what you should expect in church leadership. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:24.480 The Bible says this now for my leaders, he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church to come and to him. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:32.079 And when they had come to him, he said to them, This is the leaders, the elders of the church, people that are giving oversight and wisdom and direction. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:35.120 He said, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:54.879 From the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to the Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:06.560 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, but imprisonment and afflictions await me. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:22.000 But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only underline those two words, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.920 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:34.959 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:43.759 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock to which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:49.600 I know that after my departure, fierce fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:55.439 And from among your own cells will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:01.839 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish everyone with tears. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:10.959 And now I commend you to the grace of the I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.639 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.600 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:24.800 And all things I've shown you that by working hard, it's hard work, people. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.879 No cookie for the preacher that gets up and tells people how hard his week was. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.079 It's supposed to be hard. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:31.199 Come on, puddin. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:39.519 By working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.720 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and he prayed with them all. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:51.680 And there was much weeping on the part, and they all embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful, most of all, because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:55.600 And they accompanied him to this to the ship. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.279 Again, what you should expect from church leadership, there's actually eight things in the text I want to point to. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.879 And so I won't be able to go into a lot of detail, but I want to just point these things out. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.120 Number one, you should expect them to be knowable. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.800 You should expect them to be knowable. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:13.360 Paul says, You yourselves know how I lived among you since I set foot in this country. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:14.800 Now, why is that a big deal? 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:22.160 Because preachers sometimes can be competitive, jealous, they slander other preachers, they talk about other churches, they put them down to build themselves up. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:23.920 And this started way back in the Bible. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:28.639 Paul had come to this part of the country, preached the gospel, people responded. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:35.439 He went to another part of the country to preach the gospel over there, and other preachers and teachers came along and said, Hey, this Paul guy, he's not really sincere. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:36.720 He just says all this stuff. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:38.720 He says one thing and he does another. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.639 And Paul is not defensive, okay? 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:46.480 He just says, Hey, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.519 From the first day that I set foot in Asia, okay? 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.639 You yourselves know. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:54.399 He doesn't appeal to what he knows, he appeals to what they know. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:56.240 And he says, You know me. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:58.480 You should know the leadership of your church. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.920 One lady said to me, uh, before I came to pastor, I used to travel and preach uh all over the country. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:09.920 And I was in a church in the Metroplex or in the DFW area, and I said, Hey, so what's your pastor like? 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:11.120 She goes, I couldn't tell you. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.319 He's kind of like the president. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:15.360 I recognize his picture when I see it, but I don't really know him. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:20.720 And I just thought, well, my spirit just kind of was like, oh, I don't think it should be that way. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.160 You should know the people that give leadership to your church. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:27.120 So, first of all, we should be knowable. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:34.000 Uh, the fosterers have come in, slandered Paul, and instead of being defensive and slandering them back, he simply says, You know how I lived. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.399 Here are these two words among you. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.440 We are to be among you. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:45.440 Uh, we are to have dinner in your home by Marcy and I had dinner with a couple of church uh on Friday night, and it was great. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:49.039 We walked in, sat down in the kitchen, she was cooking, it wasn't quite ready. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:50.960 She picked the baby up, handed it to my wife. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:53.360 My wife played with the baby a little bit, handed the baby to me. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.759 I was like, this is awesome because this is what it means to be among them. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.519 By the way, before we left that night, one of their they have a four-year-old and a two-year-old boy, and then a six-month-old girl. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.519 I just remembered thinking, I'm glad I'm in the empty nest stage, okay? 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:11.360 Because man, the boy's like, I got a rock climbing wall in my room. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:13.759 I was like, shut your entire mouth. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.960 And he ripped his shirt off and went upstairs and showed me. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.279 And I was like, I am so jealous right now. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:24.480 The dude has a rock climbing wall in his bedroom and a horizontal bar. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:29.039 And I was just kind of like, I need to call my mom and tell her I was depleted as a child, okay? 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.960 But this is just this is what it means to be among people, okay? 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:36.639 We're not up on the shelf, these people that can't be touched, that can't be talked to. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:38.080 No, you got to be knowable. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:39.519 Secondly, you gotta be a servant. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:40.480 Verse 19. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:52.399 After he says, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:53.840 So you're not just knowable. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:59.440 You the reason you know them is that they live among you and they get this, they're not your servant. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.080 A lot of church members are kind of like, Yeah, you're my servant, Pastor. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:02.879 You gotta do what I want. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:04.320 Pastor, can you come cut my grass? 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:05.519 Hey, Pastor, can you come do it? 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:06.480 No, no, no, no. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:11.120 Here's the thing: all of us that are in leadership, we don't, we're not servants of the people. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:16.559 We serve the people, but we serve the Lord in serving and pastoring and leading our people. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:19.360 This puts our work in the proper context. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:20.639 Let me say that again. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:23.919 If we understand we are serving the Lord, we do what we do. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:33.679 Caleb Miller is gonna walk across the parking lot here in a few minutes and he leads our bridge ministry, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, and there will be a hundred of them in there. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.159 Uh it was so funny on Wednesday night, somebody thought, Sanctuary, oh, that's Clyde Clyde. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:38.960 I'm gonna go in the sanctuary. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.480 And they walked in that sanctuary over there. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:44.639 They grabbed the door and opened it and they shut it quickly and said, That's not what I was looking for. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:48.000 I said, Yeah, that's a cesspool of hormones you don't want in there. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:55.039 He's over in the new sanctuary, and they were like, Whoof! And I was like, Yeah, his name's Caleb, pray for him, okay? 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.679 Does a great job of leading that very uh strategic and important ministry. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:08.320 Uh, but but what puts his work in proper context is not what he gets from you, but it is in serving you, he is serving the Lord by serving you. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:15.600 Because if not, if if all of us don't embrace that, then we begin to kind of require something back from you in exchange for what we do. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:20.240 And I just say to that, no, we serve the Lord, that is our pleasure, and that is enough. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:26.480 Now, in this process of serving the Lord, you should expect from us humility, tears, and trials. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:36.399 And we should expect from ourselves that we're gonna have some humbling experiences, we're gonna have uh some experiences that just did break your heart, just tears and trials. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.399 And you say, I don't know what you mean. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:45.120 Because if you're not careful, if you don't realize that you're serving the Lord, when the trials come, you will quit. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.799 You will quit. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:49.840 You'll just say, This isn't fair, I deserve better. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.159 Just think back about three or four years to COVID. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:53.039 That's what happens. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:12:00.240 You realize that coming out of COVID, there was a there was like an 18-month period where 200 pastors a month were quitting. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:06.879 And one of them called me and said, Hey, I just man, I'm just I'm just fried emotionally, I'm just give out, blah, blah, blah. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.200 And and and I'm a compassionate person, okay. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:10.799 Let me just say that right now. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.440 I love everybody, okay? 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.240 I don't like everybody, but I love everybody. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:26.480 And what I do not like the most is pastors that think that it's a privilege, and everybody, see, here's the thing: it's not like here's the pyramid, the pastor's up here, and everybody should serve him. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.039 No, Jesus inverted the pyramid, the pastor's down here, and you serve everybody. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.279 So this we're an acquaintance, we're not really free. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:33.840 We're quaint. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.879 He called me and said, Hey, I just I just wanted to pick your brain. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.399 Somebody said, Hey, call McClendon. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:41.519 Anyone that calls me by my last name doesn't really know me, okay? 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.080 We're not on the 10th grade JV football team. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:48.480 And so the guy called me and said, Hey, bro, I'm like, we're not bros, okay? 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:52.559 I just, man, I'm just emotionally spent and my mental health is uh, blah, blah, blah. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.639 And this pastoral church of about 300 people. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.919 He said, we hadn't been able to meet, and people have been calling me and blah, blah, blah. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.080 And I just think it's time for me just to just to pursue uh uh another line of work. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.480 And I said, So you're quitting. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:06.639 Well, I mean, yeah, yeah. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.799 I mean, I just this is revealed to me that this isn't my gig. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:12.639 This this is not a gig. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:14.159 This never was a gig. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.039 So you're quitting because you were never called. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:18.480 Oh, come on, McClendon. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:19.679 No, no, come on, me. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.120 The Bible says the giftings and callings of God are irrevocable, okay? 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.279 It's not COVID's not just picking on you, it's hard for everybody, okay? 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:37.519 Well, I mean, I mean, uh, they starts giving me all the statistics and about emotional health and mental health, and but we got all that going on here. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.919 But let me just let me just reframe this for you. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.679 At the time your people need you the most, you're going to quit. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.639 And into the phone, I said, please do. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.759 I think the church will be better if we could just weed out people like you. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:53.840 What a jerk, right? 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:56.320 I'm just like, you're quitting. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:01.360 He said, Well, my wife's dad owns a company, and I've always had that as a fallback plan. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.840 And then I wanted to go through the phone and physically hurt this person. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:09.600 And if you're visiting today, I'm a nice man, okay? 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.200 I buy fundraiser junk from your kids. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:21.840 My favorite is Jack Collier, who said, Hey, if you could give me a donation right now, I could cut you in on some candy because I win a gift card and some candy. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:26.000 I'm like, you a little con man up in here, Jack Collier. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.360 And then I got distracted and didn't make a donation, but Jack, I got you. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:30.960 See me after church, I'll hook you up. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.200 And just, hey, you gotta be a servant. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:35.039 You're not serving the people, okay? 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:40.720 Uh, yes, you serve the people, but in the right context, what you're doing is you're serving the Lord, okay? 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.639 So you gotta be knowable, you gotta be a servant, and then thirdly, you gotta be honest. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:46.080 Look at verse 20 what he says. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:52.000 He says, Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.720 Verse 20, it's still one sentence, okay? 00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:05.840 How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying to both Jews and the Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:14.240 It's that part in verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public, anything that was profitable. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:15.919 I did not shrink back from that. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.679 And you say, Why do you mean honest? 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:19.519 Why should church leadership be honest? 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:27.279 Because lying is not just telling people things that aren't true, lying is also not telling people things that are true. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:30.240 And it happens in pulpits all over America all the time. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:35.120 We kind of shave the rough edges off of the word of God because we don't want to offend. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:38.159 And believe it or not, none of us here wants to offend, okay? 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.440 But we hear this consistently here at our church. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.559 And it's this quote, I've never heard this before. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.440 And this is not people who just stumbled in off the street. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.120 These are people that have been in church their whole life. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:50.320 I've never heard this before. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:16:03.120 And when I hear that, I just get a little sad because I'm like, hey, people that should have been teaching you the whole counsel of God's word, the whole gospel, have been holding back and just teaching and preaching and cherry-picking the parts that are palatable. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.159 And the Bible warns us about this, but we didn't listen, okay? 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.639 It warns us back in 2 Timothy chapter 4. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:22.960 He says, For the time is coming when people not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and they'll wander off in a bunch of myths, like the shack. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:37.679 A man came to my house, a friend of mine brought a friend of his to my house, and and he was referring to God as Papa and Papa and Papa, like he was like having like warm milk with a teddy bear or something. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.000 And I said, What's with the papa? 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.840 Um, and he said, Oh, the shack. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 I mean, you haven't you haven't seen the shack? 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:45.360 You didn't read the shack? 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.039 No, I don't get my theology from fictional books. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.679 He's like, Oh, but you know, I just think that really captures it. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:56.480 I'm gonna say no. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:01.919 And then it was just awkward because for the next hour and a half, he called God Papa. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:09.759 He was like, mmm, uh chummy for me. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.000 And yes, I I I believe in being intimate with God, but I also believe that he's a consuming fire. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:25.920 Uh now, when the Bible says right there in 2 Timothy 4, he says, people not endure sound teaching, it's not talking about the teacher or their style of teaching, it's not talking style, it's talking substance. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:33.839 It's about what's being taught, the body of work, this information that's being conveyed, these core beliefs, what the Bible refers to as doctrine. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:40.559 Matter of fact, if you have an NIV version of the Bible, it says the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:49.920 And beloved, that time is upon us and has been for years, and the church is asleep in the light because you got preachers that stand up and don't preach the whole counsel of God's word. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:54.079 And then you get somebody who does, and they come off as like mean or something. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:55.839 I'm like, don't be mad at us. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:00.960 Go back to the people that pastored you as a kid and say, Hey, why did you tell me everything that was in the Bible? 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:06.079 Why did you just beat the same drum over and over and over again? 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.440 And I don't have a holistic view of God, and I sure don't have a holistic understanding of the Bible. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.680 Doctrine is the first casualty of church conformity to the culture. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.400 This happened like 10 days ago. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.880 Someone said, Hey, what are you doing at Grand Parkway? 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:22.480 I said, Well, I'm the lead pastor. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:23.200 No, no, what do you? 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:23.759 I hear great things. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:24.400 What are you doing over there? 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:30.319 I said, Oh, we just try to we preach the gospel and we put a big emphasis on pastoring our people, being with our people. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.000 And the guy says, as most people do, that's it. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:38.559 Yeah, yeah, that's it. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.519 We didn't go to a church growth seminar and get some formula. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:43.920 And he said, So what do you mean you preach the gospel? 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:47.519 We just preach expositorily, it's not sexy, it's not cool. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.200 Uh, but we think that's how you nourish the faith of a congregation over the long haul. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.759 And the guy said, Man, people don't want to hear that. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.640 I'm sorry you were asking me a question. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.079 I was answering, okay? 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.640 You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.160 But he said, People don't want to hear that. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:06.960 They want they want you to speak to their felt needs, Neil. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:08.640 I said, Oh, okay. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:14.640 Well, he said, This is how they know the Bible's relevant when the Bible kind of speaks to their needs. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.880 And I said, Um, I'm gonna beg to differ on that. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:24.720 I think what happens is we produce people who are very clear on what they feel and very ignorant about what the Bible actually says. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.079 And I don't think that's loving people, I think that's actually hating them. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:33.359 He said, Well, I'm just telling you, man, I don't know how long you've been doing that. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:34.720 18 years. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.359 He said, Well, I just I mean, nobody does that anymore. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:41.279 I said, I, and that makes me sad. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:42.880 I don't feel like, yeah, we're great. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:49.279 I just feel like, why have we lost our confidence in God's word and have so much confidence in everything else? 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:52.559 So you gotta be honest. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.160 I I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.799 That means Ian Weber, you can't get out there and go, oh well, my kids don't want to hear this. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.000 Annie, you can't, Annie Fairley, you you can't get out there and go, well, you know, these kids are just in the tenth grade. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.960 It's never too young to start learning good theology. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:12.319 It's just never. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:16.240 By the way, he's talking about being among them, Ian's wife and daughter out of town. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:17.519 He doesn't have dinner plans. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.559 Could somebody have Ian to your house or take him to dinner tonight? 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:25.759 He's gonna be otherwise, he's gonna be in his apartment thinking, nobody knows the trouble I've seen. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:29.119 He just say, hey, Ian, we want you to be among us, okay? 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:30.799 Come to our house, see how we live. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.119 Maybe hand him a baby, he misses his. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.720 Uh uh yeah, honest. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:36.240 Here's the fourth thing: spirit-led. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:37.519 Spirit led. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.920 He says that he gets to the end of verse 21, and he says this in verse 22, and now, behold, there's a couple times when Paul says, and now, behold. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:52.720 It's kind of like he's changing the subject, and he says, And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:01.119 Here's this next part, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:02.640 I'm going to Jerusalem. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.160 I why are you going to Jerusalem if you don't know what you're going to do there? 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:06.960 What's going to happen? 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.759 Because I am constrained by the Spirit. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:14.720 This is what I mean when you expect your church leadership to be spirit-led, to be constrained. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:18.720 Constrained is a hard word for us to grasp because we don't use it this way very often. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.559 But basically, it refers to being under the influence of. 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.640 Constrained by the Spirit. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.759 Under the influence of, what do you mean under the influence of? 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:33.200 One of the translations of that word constrained, other places in the New Testament, is the word wind. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.079 Constrained by the wind. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:42.240 Constrained by something I couldn't see, and it's hard for me to explain, but I know it's happening, okay? 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.599 Because it is on me and it is moving me towards Jerusalem. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.039 I am constrained by the Spirit. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:48.559 I don't know what's going to happen to me there. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.799 Can you imagine men waking your wife up tomorrow? 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:54.960 Let us imagine your husband waking you up and saying, Hey, we're going to Detroit. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.720 What are we going to Detroit for? 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.599 I don't know, but the Holy Spirit said, Go to Detroit. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.640 Okay, you enjoy yourself. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:05.599 I ain't going. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.480 No, he's constrained by the Spirit. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:14.079 To be constrained is not to be forced against your will, it's to be propelled by the wind. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:17.680 It reminds me of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.079 Jesus is talking to this guy named Nicodemus, uh, who comes to, he's very religious. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:27.359 He comes to Jesus at night because you want people to see that, hey, I'm religious, but I don't have a relationship. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.400 Uh he comes to Jesus at night and he starts a conversation. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:36.160 And in that conversation, I mean, he's like, Rabbi, we can tell that you're a teacher because no one can do the things you do if God weren't with him. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.720 And Jesus just, I'm not here to be complimented, bro. 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.000 Jesus says, hey, marvel not that you must be born again. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:47.839 And he's like, how can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb go in this conversation about what does it mean to be born again? 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:53.119 And in that conversation, Jesus said, This do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:55.200 The wind blows wherever it wishes. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:59.759 You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.200 So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:05.599 Do you hear that? 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.480 The wind blows wherever it wishes. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.599 You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.839 So it is with everyone who's born of the spirit. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.319 The next time someone asks you, hey, what's it like to be a Christian? 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:18.400 Just say, it's like the wind. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:20.880 It's like the wind. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.920 You hear it sound, you don't know where it comes from, where it's going. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:31.519 Because the Bible says this is how leaders in your church, and by the way, Christians should be constrained by the Spirit. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:34.559 It's not just math, it's music, okay? 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:35.839 You should be constrained. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.519 This is what I mean by being spirit-led. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:41.599 Fifthly, you should be to put a start by this one because you'd be like, I don't get that. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.559 You should expect us to be if only people. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:46.480 If only people. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.559 You're like, what do you mean, if only people? 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:58.400 And now, behold, verse 22, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me, except the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:04.559 But, verse 24, I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:14.400 If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:17.599 You should expect your church leadership to be if-only people. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:27.920 You have to be clear about what your pastor and your elders, what they say is their if only, because if only this is happening, then they're content and they're satisfied, okay? 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:29.839 Notice that Paul's if only was. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.079 It wasn't his life or his comfort. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:38.240 He said, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that God has given me. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:39.519 Don't confuse the two. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:44.319 The guy that called me during COVID and said, I think I'm gonna quit, go work for my father-in-law. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.680 I say, okay, if that's what you need to do, oh well, you know, this is just hard. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:49.440 I didn't sign on for this. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.599 So let me guess, you just signed on to be listened to every Sunday? 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.880 Yeah, bro, I'm not getting to preach, and I just miss preaching. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:01.119 And I think I'm gonna take it as a sign. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:08.000 And I'm like, oh see, here's the thing. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:10.880 Some people's if only is very small. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:13.119 If only this happens. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.599 If your if only is very small, then your life will be very small. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:19.279 Paul says, if only. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:22.000 I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Holy Spirit. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:23.039 I don't know what's going to happen. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:27.200 The Holy Spirit testifies to me that affliction and hardships await me. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:36.240 But here's the only thing that matters: if only I may finish, if I may finish my course and the ministry. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:42.799 My course, this is my personality, my gifts, my responsibility being lived out, the ministry, I don't own that. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:43.759 I was called to that. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.160 I submit to that, I surrender to that. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.039 You gotta be, we gotta be if only people. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:57.359 If only this happens, because once you understand someone's if only, then and only then can you make sense of their life. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:00.960