The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - How To Love Your Pastor ｜ Hebrews 13_7-19 Pastor Brian Sauvé

00:00:00.000 In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month

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00:00:16.360 and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a

00:00:23.480 five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks. Thank you, Pastor Webin,

00:00:29.860 if you would. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13, and we'll be considering

00:00:36.900 verses 7 as well as 17 through 19 this morning. And as you're turning there, let me briefly orient

00:00:46.080 you in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is really all about one thing, though it says

00:00:52.320 many, many things and many glorious things. It's really about one main thing and that is that Jesus

00:00:57.900 Christ is greater than all of his forerunners and he's better than all of his rivals. He's ruling

00:01:06.400 the cosmos from the right hand of the father as our great prophet, priest, and king and that as

00:01:13.360 our great prophet, priest, and king having thrown down all of his enemies he is sending his people

00:01:19.200 out into the world to conquer a new Canaan, which is every nation for his glory. So that's the heart

00:01:27.120 of the book of Hebrews. Christ is better. Christ has conquered all of his enemies, fade before him, 0.86

00:01:34.680 all of his forerunners, though they were great, great prophets, great priests, great kings. Christ

00:01:40.780 is better than all of them. He's the substance that all of them were pointing to. He's the

00:01:47.600 substance that was casting the shadow that all of them really were. And so now he's making this

00:01:54.480 new humanity in his own image. And he's making those people, the father's making those people

00:02:00.940 through unity with Christ, union with Christ in the holy places. And as his representatives on

00:02:07.080 earth, he's transforming his people and sending them out to do his work, to convert the nations,

00:02:13.580 to disciple the nations, baptize the nations. And maybe one of the things that you might think

00:02:19.880 if you understand that message is, okay, Christ is, he's the better prophet. He speaks forth

00:02:26.720 the word of God. In the former times, God spoke through various mouthpieces, but now he speaks

00:02:33.200 through his son and he's the better high priest. The old high priest died and they had to be

00:02:39.740 replaced? Well, Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He never dies. He lives to 0.91

00:02:46.860 make intercession for us forever. There were good kings. There's David, the man after God's own heart,

00:02:52.540 and he ruled over the people. And yet Christ is the true king. He's the king of kings. He's the

00:02:58.940 one who never dies and lives and reigns forever. And so as we go out into this great mission that

00:03:06.080 God has sent us to accomplish, one of the wrong ideas that we might draw from that

00:03:12.160 central message of the book of Hebrews is, well then, as we go out, we're basically going to be

00:03:19.760 this great big egalitarian lump. We no longer need any human rulers or leaders or nobody needs

00:03:28.320 to speak forth the word of God. Nobody needs to command like a king. Nobody needs to, in a priestly

00:03:33.580 way, remind you of God's grace. In fact, we're a kingdom of priests. Now we're all priests.

00:03:38.660 And there's an aspect of that that's glorious and true. But if you really stop there, you'd

00:03:46.640 be completely muddling it. That's not how God operates at all. He's not just the king,

00:03:52.220 he's the king of kings, right? And he appoints leaders in his church to go out and to organize

00:04:00.060 and lead and send and he gives them true authority and real authority. And so at the end of the book

00:04:05.640 in Hebrews 13, what the author does is he begins to turn and apply the text, as Pastor Webin just

00:04:12.660 so eloquently put it. He begins to apply the text and he tells the Hebrew Christians how to do many

00:04:19.040 things, how to relate to one another in the church, to strangers, to marriage, to money. But in the 0.96

00:04:25.540 sections that we're looking at this morning and focusing particularly on, verse 7 and then verses

00:04:30.600 17 through 19, in light of that, the author of Hebrews is going to orient this new humanity

00:04:36.980 to her earthly and human leaders within the church, elders and pastors and those who speak

00:04:44.560 to the people of God, the word of God. Because as we go out, there are going to be subunit

00:04:51.360 commanders. They're going to be pastors. There are going to be men in the church that God has

00:04:57.940 commanded for the allegiance of the church to be given and honor to be given. So we're going to

00:05:03.260 talk about what that looks like this morning. Pastor Webin bribed me to preach on this this

00:05:08.880 morning. He said, please tell everybody to listen. I'm just kidding. He didn't say that at all.

00:05:13.060 I picked this sermon. I didn't really ask him for permission on it. He just said, preach a sermon

00:05:18.620 from the Bible, I said, okay, I'll do this one. So let's look together at Hebrews chapter 13,

00:05:24.720 verse 7, and then verse 17 through 19. And this is the word of the living God.

00:05:30.080 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of

00:05:36.160 life and imitate their faith. Verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping

00:05:43.480 watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and

00:05:48.880 not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure

00:05:54.760 that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more

00:06:00.420 earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. Thus ends the reading

00:06:05.740 of God's holy word may he write it on our hearts by faith and thanks be to God let's pray father

00:06:13.580 we thank you for speaking to us authoritatively through your word through your son and we thank

00:06:19.800 you that in your word you've not left us blind and wandering in the dark but that you have appointed

00:06:25.180 and given to us everything needful for life and for holiness lord we thank you for the leaders

00:06:30.620 that you've raised up in your church father we ask that you would raise up many more many many

00:06:36.880 more godly and zealous leaders who would be clothed in humility who would have great compassion and

00:06:43.620 tenderness towards your flock that you've purchased with your own blood men who would

00:06:48.640 have a weightiness and feel the gravity of the charge that you've given to them in these people

00:06:55.240 Lord men who would be bold and courageous and not shrink back from the battle

00:07:00.140 but would follow you Lord Jesus into the fray

00:07:04.540 Lord we pray that you would give your sheep humility and courage as well

00:07:10.260 as they do battle with their own flesh and with the world and with the devil

00:07:13.840 Lord we pray that you would teach us how to submit and honor our leaders

00:07:18.540 Lord that you would teach us how to be a teachable people

00:07:21.780 who would not be hard-hearted and stubborn and kick against your leadership, even through your

00:07:28.160 people. Lord, we pray that you would give us patience as we know that all human leaders

00:07:33.100 under Christ are clay-footed and have their own weakness. And so we thank you that Christ

00:07:39.120 has none whatsoever, but that he rules and reigns even now, and it's in his name we pray. Amen.

00:07:46.180 So as we make our way through this text, there are five specific instructions that I'd like to

00:07:51.360 highlight and examine together commands that the author of Hebrews gives to us concerning the

00:07:59.780 leaders that God has appointed in the church. And what the author of Hebrews is primarily,

00:08:04.740 I believe, talking about here is the kind of leaders that Paul was establishing when he went

00:08:09.320 to the island of Crete, and he's telling Titus, hey, Titus, you're going to go and you're going

00:08:14.220 to appoint elders and establish congregations on this island, and you're going to see that

00:08:18.900 right order is established and find men with these kind of qualifications and give them

00:08:23.720 the charge and establish congregations, those elders and leaders that God has appointed to

00:08:30.100 lead in his local church. The first instruction that he gives us is to remember your leaders.

00:08:37.580 This is remember your leaders. And then he makes sure that we understand who it is he's talking

00:08:42.760 about. Remember your leaders, but not just any leaders. The first half of verse seven reads,

00:08:47.560 remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Remember your leaders, those who spoke

00:08:54.360 to you the word of God. See, one way that we could characterize the world that we live in

00:09:00.860 is with a rhetorical question that the Lord Jesus Christ asked in Luke 6, 39. He said,

00:09:08.120 can a blind man lead a blind man? Will not both fall into a pit? And it's a tragic picture. 0.71

00:09:17.960 It's kind of a funny picture if you think about it. If you were to watch a blind man try to lead 0.97

00:09:24.220 another blind man around a field full of holes, and I know we're not supposed to laugh, but

00:09:32.560 it could be kind of funny. I mean, they would definitely fall in the hole. And the thing is, 1.00

00:09:40.100 though, humanity in Adam is just one long succession and procession of blind guides

00:09:47.020 leading blind men into various pits. Without the regenerating light of God's grace,

00:09:54.300 mankind is spiritually morally politically epistemically blind we can't see what is real

00:10:02.560 and true and good and beautiful rightly when we do see what is good and true we hate it we don't

00:10:10.300 love it we hate it we fight against it and so of course one of the implications that we cannot rule

00:10:15.600 or lead ourselves or others into green pastures and good futures but this blind humanity is also

00:10:22.580 marked by an arrogant confidence that he sees quite clearly. Humanity in Adam is not a blind

00:10:30.080 man who knows he's blind, but rather he's a blind man convinced of his great vision and wisdom

00:10:36.420 and keen insight into things. So it's blind guides leading blind men into various pits

00:10:43.140 with a high degree of confidence, with an extreme amount of confidence. In fact,

00:10:48.400 selling courses on Twitter. Let me teach you how to activate your potential and fall into the

00:10:56.860 biggest pit that you can possibly find. How to full send with high T right into the deepest

00:11:02.800 possible pit that you can. And the thing is, all of us have this instinct in two directions. All

00:11:09.180 of us have, on the one hand, a much higher degree of confidence than our competency and sight

00:11:17.000 actually would justify. All of us, this is just pride. All of us do this. And I also mean this

00:11:23.200 is something God is sanctifying out of us as people, even though I'm not saying that we're

00:11:27.140 blind and that Christ opens eyes. He is truly a God who saves and heals and redeems. But what

00:11:34.560 our pride says is, no, I know what I'm doing. I've got this. In fact, we look at everybody else,

00:11:42.380 we say, man, what a bunch of grifters and idiots. They're all just trying to, you know, they're so 1.00

00:11:46.000 confident. If they would all just listen to me, everything would be better. We also, though,

00:11:53.120 at the same time, we have a deep desire to be led. So we all want to be the guide. We want to

00:11:58.260 be out front. We want to say, follow me. But we all also, we're longing for somebody to tell us

00:12:03.320 what to do. Why? Because we were created to be ruled by the King of Kings. We were created for

00:12:09.560 worship we were created to follow our God and so we all have a desire for strong leadership

00:12:16.460 history could also be told as an unbroken chain of men seizing leadership and stirring up

00:12:24.760 followings to follow them into some glorious future that never quite manages to arrive but

00:12:31.620 also of masses of people following those leaders and saying this is not going to be like all those

00:12:38.500 other times. This is not going to be like all those other times. This time we're going to end

00:12:43.040 up in utopia and glory. This is true of the great tyrants of history. This is the Pol Pots and

00:12:47.960 Stalins and Mao's, but it's also true of a billion lesser tyrants all the way down to the town drunk 0.98

00:12:54.200 who is following his own tyrannical and foolish heart into the gutter and into death. Everybody 0.98

00:13:01.660 has this instinct in them. It's a God-given instinct to obey godly leadership twisted by sin

00:13:08.960 so that we don't stop obeying, but we just obey fools. What cures blindness? Well, the scriptures 0.99

00:13:16.320 are quite clear in their answer. New eyes is what you need. You need better lamps. The Lord Jesus

00:13:21.500 gives new eyes along with new hearts. He said in John 9 39 that he came into the world that those

00:13:27.160 who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. There's both sides of that paradigm.

00:13:34.200 Here are these men, these shepherds of Israel who say, we see quite clearly. In fact, we see so

00:13:39.680 clearly, Jesus, that we can tell that you have a demon. They applied their considerable intellect

00:13:46.640 to the problem and came to exactly the wrong conclusion. They were blind. They were going to

00:13:54.040 fall into a pit. And Jesus came not to make them blind where they really saw, but to reveal the

00:13:59.540 folly of their leaders that they were blind. But then as well, that men who were blind would come

00:14:05.840 to him in faith, who would humble themselves and follow the true king, that they would see, they

00:14:11.820 would be given new eyes. So many self-appointed leaders who claimed great spiritual wisdom and

00:14:16.900 insight were proved blind by the coming of the light of the world. But many who were blind began

00:14:23.660 end to see. God gives new eyes. And so confidently blind, Paul becomes humbly seeing Paul after the

00:14:31.420 Lord is done with him and the scales fall away from his eyes. Those new eyes also need the lamp

00:14:37.120 of God's word to see with new clarity. Psalm 119, 105 teaches us to sing. And there's this song that

00:14:44.240 I remember all the way back to Sunday school at Washington Heights Baptist Church in South Ogden

00:14:50.980 or Washington Terrace, Utah, and there was this Sunday school teacher I had.

00:14:54.980 She was like 158 from the look of it.

00:14:57.080 That's how I remember her, just one wrinkle all the way from top. 0.96

00:15:01.720 And she was the sweetest old lady. 0.92

00:15:04.040 She was a classic Baptist, just a classic old-school potluck,

00:15:08.720 loved the Lord, zealous prayer warrior,

00:15:12.280 probably prayed more people into the kingdom of God from her prayer closet

00:15:15.600 than many, many a pastor.

00:15:17.960 and she would sing in our like third grade little class there in a croaky little old lady voice and

00:15:25.480 it still rings in my ears when I hear this thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my

00:15:29.760 path thy word is a lamp unto my feet the light unto my path she would sing that and it's one

00:15:37.360 of those things that wormed its way into my my mind and comes out all the time when I'm thinking

00:15:42.020 about the folly of some of what joel was talking about earlier um that we would treat the word of

00:15:48.040 god just as a springboard as quickly as possible to just get to how christ fulfills it all for us

00:15:53.700 so we don't stop thinking about it well no it's a lamp it's a light and to what unto my path

00:16:02.120 reminds me of ephesians 2 10 where paul says that god set good works before you

00:16:07.360 that you would walk in them?

00:16:10.020 There's a path in front of you of good works.

00:16:12.600 You know, Jesus said, you're a city on a hill.

00:16:15.320 The goal is that people would see this city

00:16:17.620 that's lit up with good works

00:16:18.760 and glorify our Father in heaven.

00:16:20.440 Those are all verses that apply to us today.

00:16:23.000 How do we see this path in front of us?

00:16:25.700 Okay, we have new eyes.

00:16:26.440 We can see, but how do we see?

00:16:28.140 By what light?

00:16:29.300 It's the word of God.

00:16:30.180 The word of God is a lamp unto my feet.

00:16:32.560 The word of God is a light unto my path.

00:16:35.640 So remember your leaders. Which leaders? Well, those leaders, not as the world defines leaders, those leaders not with homemade self-assured visions of grandeur, not with cheap plastic knockoffs that they came up with themselves, not really creative gurus with their new vision for church growth, but those who spoke the word of God.

00:17:03.040 those who received God's word as light

00:17:06.140 and followed it personally

00:17:08.980 and beckoned for others to follow.

00:17:12.460 So remember your leaders.

00:17:13.780 Remember those who minister the word

00:17:15.280 in season and out of season.

00:17:18.060 Remember those in your life

00:17:19.640 who've poured the scriptures into your life

00:17:22.000 over the years,

00:17:23.400 whether here in Texas

00:17:24.360 in this outpost of God's kingdom

00:17:26.260 or whatever local church that you come from

00:17:28.920 maybe far in your past.

00:17:30.040 I do, I still think,

00:17:30.820 I can't even remember her name,

00:17:31.820 that little old lady 0.89

00:17:32.940 that buried that Psalm 119, 105 in my third great heart.

00:17:38.040 And there it is still today, leading.

00:17:41.960 Remember those leaders who have spoken the word of God

00:17:45.360 into your heart.

00:17:46.740 Remember them with thankfulness and pray for them.

00:17:48.940 And as you do so, number two, we read in verse seven

00:17:51.160 that we are to consider the outcome of their way of life

00:17:55.900 and imitate their faith.

00:17:56.720 Hebrews 13, seven B says,

00:17:58.720 consider the outcome of their way of life

00:18:00.180 and imitate their faith.

00:18:02.940 See, over and over again, the Lord told us that his kingdom, this kingdom that had arrived with

00:18:08.880 his own arrival, would be utterly unlike the kingdoms of the world. That was one of the

00:18:15.840 things he meant when he said, my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom isn't of this world.

00:18:22.340 It didn't find its playbook in the kings of Persia. Jesus didn't study politics at the empires

00:18:31.620 of fallen men. He didn't come and say, well, I have all of the qualifications because

00:18:37.380 I've read all about how Artaxerxes managed his court. And so I'm qualified. I'm ready to lead

00:18:46.280 the executive branch here in Israel and take things over. No, the kingdom of God is not of

00:18:53.660 this world, meaning its origins are elsewhere. It's a heavenly invasion. It's the way of the

00:18:59.600 kingdom of God. It's the way of heaven invading earth, and so it will be marked by the economy

00:19:06.040 of the elsewhere that is invading. It'll be marked by the economy of the leadership of God

00:19:13.340 in heaven as it invades and conquers all of the sinful kingdoms of the world. Now, side note,

00:19:20.080 I hope you're hearing that and not the perversion that many people, you know,

00:19:24.220 mangle that verse with when they say that his kingdom's not of this world vote democrat

00:19:29.700 his kingdom his kingdom's not of this world guys so so you know mask up love your neighbor

00:19:36.500 it's not what it means just as a side note it's not of this world but it is invading and conquering

00:19:42.820 and colonizing and transforming all of this world that's the whole point it's the stone that strikes

00:19:47.760 the statue which becomes dust and the stone becomes a mountain that covers the earth as

00:19:53.200 pastor wilson put it last night it's it's uh the end jesus reaching to the end of history

00:19:59.140 and grabbing hold of resurrection and glory and bringing it there to the middle of history there

00:20:03.640 it sprouts up and becomes a tree that swallows the whole world over and over again the lord told

00:20:10.100 us that his kingdom would be unlike the kingdoms of this world listen to how he instructed his

00:20:14.940 disciples this is matthew 20 25 to 28 he said you know that the rulers of the gentiles lorded over

00:20:21.740 them, and their great ones exercise authority over them, shall not be so among you. But whoever

00:20:28.200 would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your 0.62

00:20:34.780 slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a

00:20:40.820 ransom for many. See, the rulers of God's church are to be utterly unlike the rulers of the world.

00:20:44.980 That's why the New Testament scriptures devote 99% of the qualifications for elders to godly

00:20:50.480 character, not to gifting. This is why in our church, we spend an enormous amount of time

00:20:56.560 assessing the character of elder candidates at refuge. Not a single elder in our church. I don't

00:21:02.560 say this is like actually a good thing. This is just the times that we're in. But not a single

00:21:06.780 elder in our church has an MDiv. Not one at refuge church. We have an elder candidate now. He might

00:21:13.340 ruin our record, but not yet. And yet, I don't think that every elder on our team is disqualified

00:21:21.020 because the MDiv isn't listed there in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus. It doesn't say that. It's not what

00:21:28.640 it says. 99% is godly character. Are these the kind of men that I want the men of my church to

00:21:35.700 be like? And are they qualified to teach? Those are the two things. And an MDiv could be very

00:21:41.660 helpful that and theological education is very important and I'm not denigrating it whatsoever

00:21:46.220 but it's instructions like Jesus gives in Matthew 20 to the church that render the life and

00:21:54.500 qualification of an elder to be a very sobering thing that Jesus says the rulers and there are

00:22:01.300 going to be rulers those who rule well Paul says are worthy of a double honor rule is not a bad

00:22:05.480 word. Rule is a good word. We're allergic to authority in America, but we ought not

00:22:10.320 be. Rule is a good thing. We want godly rule, therefore. It's a sobering thing who leads

00:22:17.420 you because think about what Hebrews 13, 7, 17, and 19 are telling you. Well, this verse

00:22:22.540 is commanding you to look at the way the elders of the church have set up their lives to see

00:22:29.820 how their faith in the Word of God and the Son of God has impacted how they deal with

00:22:33.980 marriage and money and child rearing and vocation and everything else and to imitate that same faith

00:22:39.940 in the way that they set up your own life and that you set up your own life it doesn't just say

00:22:47.220 listen to what they say and do what they say they should say to do good things too but that's not

00:22:54.260 enough it says imitate the outcome of their way of life look at the way they're living now now live

00:22:59.080 like they do. This means that the qualifications of elders really, really, really matters.

00:23:04.620 It's one of the most important things that you can assess as you decide, will I submit myself

00:23:11.480 and my family to these elders? Do I want to look like them? Do I want my sons to grow up

00:23:17.460 like these men and look like them? Do I want my daughter to marry men like this?

00:23:24.780 Those are the questions that you should be answering.

00:23:28.100 And if you can't answer that question with yes, then you probably shouldn't be in that church.

00:23:34.500 You probably should not be in that church if you can't answer that question with yes.

00:23:39.520 Why?

00:23:40.160 Not so that you can be a really perfectionist, graceless, nitpicky, I saw them sin once, therefore I'm leaving.

00:23:48.060 No, they're not omni-competent, therefore I'm leaving.

00:23:52.540 One time the pastor said something that turned out to be an error from the pulpit.

00:23:57.320 And he corrected it and said, yes, you're right.

00:24:00.140 Or I have a theological disagreement with him somewhere on some downstream issue.

00:24:05.620 No, no, I'm not talking about that kind of nitpickery.

00:24:09.360 Only the Lord Jesus can stand up to the scrutiny of that kind of inspection, and he does.

00:24:16.980 But if you can't answer yes to that kind of question, do I want to be like these men?

00:24:21.280 Do I want my children to be like these men?

00:24:22.780 Do I want my daughter to marry men like these men?

00:24:25.440 Then you probably should not be in that church.

00:24:29.160 Why?

00:24:29.540 Because God tells you to imitate your leaders.

00:24:33.960 So you don't want to be in a place where you're constantly having to disobey that command because they're not qualified.

00:24:42.060 Imitate their way of life. 0.99

00:24:43.140 But Lord, I can't because they're foolish. 0.99

00:24:45.840 I can't because look, look, look, look where it's going. 0.99

00:24:48.340 Look at the outcome of their way of life.

00:24:49.660 qualifications matter you should feel free to ask the elders hard questions to assess them soberly

00:24:56.800 to bring issues to be appropriately dealt with an elder's life and doctrine must be in harmony

00:25:03.300 such that you can confidently imitate them as they imitate christ getting more specific about

00:25:09.980 what this looks like number three obey your leaders and submit to them because they're

00:25:15.220 keeping watch over your souls and doing so as those who will give an account. Verse 17, obey your

00:25:19.960 leaders, submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an

00:25:27.920 account. This instruction tells us something about what elders are called to do and then what the

00:25:34.480 church is called to do in response to what they are doing. The elders are called to keep watch over

00:25:40.120 the souls of the people in such a way that they will be ready to give an account to god for how

00:25:45.540 they shepherded the people and then on the other hand the people are called to obey them to submit

00:25:51.420 to them which is very strong language it means the church is called to do what the elders say

00:25:57.440 when they say to do this means do that when they say obey this you're to obey that when they get

00:26:06.540 up and they preach and they say, God says to you, do this. It's not like a grab bag. You're like,

00:26:11.480 you know, okay, I'll take that 60%. I really liked that. This other 30% really did. I'm an Enneagram

00:26:17.180 wing seven, purple number five and wing seven, purple number fives. They don't have a personality

00:26:22.800 to obey that command. He doesn't understand. I'm Irish, right? We, we beat our family members

00:26:29.160 with objects. It's how we express our love. Well, no, the people are called to obey them.

00:26:36.420 It means the church is called to do what they say.

00:26:38.140 This is one of those verses that ought to make you tremble if you're a pastor.

00:26:41.640 It makes me tremble.

00:26:42.860 It makes me tremble to think that I will give an account to God for how I taught the Bible to my people for how I lead the church.

00:26:51.720 I think of the task that the elders have at my church to our congregation like this.

00:26:57.760 I constantly ask, did we point you to Christ again and again?

00:27:00.200 did we clearly and boldly name sins not just sin generally but sins with names like the taxonomy

00:27:09.340 of sin did we say this is not just a sin to be repented of generally but are you a liar are you 0.50

00:27:15.780 a gossip do you disrespect your husband husbands do you refuse to lay your life down for your wife 0.99

00:27:21.020 are you not raising your children in the discipline of the lord are you greedy are you selfish 0.97

00:27:25.820 real sins are you a drunkard are you enslaved to your passions are you unself-controlled

00:27:32.420 are you does your temper boil over are you given a fits of rage do you think the anger of man

00:27:36.780 accomplishes the righteousness God requires like names uh sins with names did we clearly and boldly

00:27:44.560 name them and call you to be ashamed of them and then drive you to the cross in the throne of God's

00:27:49.380 mercy and grace for help in your time of need did we get the gospel right all of it gospel of the

00:27:54.640 kingdom of God, from beginning to end, what it means, what it says? Did we faithfully teach what

00:28:01.700 the Bible teaches, regardless of whether it would be popular or not? Did we do this with sexuality 0.98

00:28:07.600 and marriage and child rearing and politics and money and everything else? Did we tell them the 0.96

00:28:13.600 hard texts? Or did we do everything we could to soften them and make them more culturally

00:28:18.800 appropriate and easy to hear. Every time we get to a text that our culture wouldn't like,

00:28:25.740 do we spend the first 15 minutes of the sermon giving asterisks about why, you know, this text

00:28:30.860 might be really hard for you. Did we do it in a really soft voice? This text might be really hard

00:28:35.940 for you guys to hear because I know some of you carry deep wounds around wanting to sleep with

00:28:43.360 people who aren't your spouse. I know you're really going to want to do that.

00:28:52.060 And I just want you to know that the Lord, he sees that you're dust and he does not quench

00:28:57.860 the smoldering flax. I'm drawing from memories of sermons that I feel like I sat through. Didn't

00:29:05.300 we've all sat through these. No. Did we fear God and not the sheep? Or were we scared of the

00:29:14.120 congregation? And we were scared of them, so we didn't tell them things that we thought would

00:29:18.440 make some of them leave the church in anger. Because it's sometimes easy to attack cultural

00:29:22.540 sins. That's easy. In a lot of our churches, hopefully in your church, it's easy for me to say

00:29:29.060 feminism is evil. That we joke in our church, because maybe five, six sermons ago,

00:29:34.160 I went off my notes for a second. I was like, you know, this is a good application here. Guys,

00:29:39.540 you know, the 19th Amendment was a mistake. And then, all right, great. And then, you know, 0.97

00:29:43.640 let's pray. And I didn't even explain it or asterisk. And nobody in the church was offended.

00:29:47.840 I didn't even get one email. So in our church, I can say stuff like that, obviously, but it

00:29:54.980 actually cuts both directions. What if I say to our church, hey, let's be gentle because you can

00:30:02.500 sin by not being gentle. Let's be gentle. Are we being gentle in our speech?

00:30:11.160 Hey, the Lord says not to speak crassly. Do we need to repent of that anywhere?

00:30:19.460 See, the minister's job is very difficult because oftentimes, all the time, let's put it this way,

00:30:25.460 he's looking in a mirror as he's preaching. He knows that he has clay feet. He knows he's a

00:30:29.840 sinning. He's among the sheep and he's telling the sheep to repent. And so often, did he fear the

00:30:35.360 sheep, including himself? Was he cowardly because he himself knows that he needs repentance in some

00:30:39.900 of these areas? And the sermon study convicted him that week. Did he go and he said, I'm going

00:30:45.220 to do my confessing and then I'm going to go do my preaching? Or did he shrink from it?

00:30:48.820 so being frank with you being honest with you your church this church if you go to this church

00:31:01.680 you're probably in a weird church um compared to 98 of churches around you our church is like that

00:31:09.160 we're very weird compared to most churches around us i know that pastor webin knows that about

00:31:13.900 your church. We do things very differently from most churches in our area. This church does

00:31:19.100 things differently from most churches in its area. A lot of your churches are probably like that.

00:31:23.460 You're maybe doing things differently from the places you grew up in. And I want you to know

00:31:27.820 that this text and texts like it are why we end up being so weird. Because we do not want to stand

00:31:35.040 before God and say, Lord, I know we didn't tell them that part of the Bible. We avoided it because

00:31:40.400 people would have left. Our attendance would have been lowered. It would have affected giving, Lord.

00:31:46.120 People would have been unhappy with us and would have disliked us. God forbid that your elders or

00:31:52.980 your pastors would do that. So take it seriously when they say, obey this. And especially when it's

00:32:01.260 an area that you look at, if you have a bold and courageous and godly pastor, he tells you something

00:32:04.900 and you're like, that's just, that's not what I'm used to.

00:32:08.780 I didn't grow up with that.

00:32:10.860 Feels wrong.

00:32:12.380 Before you knee-jerk say, you know what, I actually decided I'm the Pope

00:32:16.180 and I'm not going to listen to that.

00:32:19.820 You need to think about it.

00:32:20.860 You need to take it to the Word of God.

00:32:22.920 You need to evaluate it and say,

00:32:24.880 is my pastor actually telling me something that feels weird

00:32:28.160 because the world is insane and so righteousness is going to be weird?

00:32:33.020 It's a question to ask.

00:32:34.900 or maybe do I need to ask them to expand and understand.

00:32:39.080 But we approach our elders through the knee-jerk instinct to obey them

00:32:45.540 and to honor them and to submit to them.

00:32:47.900 The language this verse uses is that elders are called to keep a watch over your soul.

00:32:52.640 And one of the things that means is that we're called to try to get up high enough

00:32:56.700 to see what idols and snares the people in this flock are in danger of being ensnared by,

00:33:01.500 and then bringing the scriptures to bear in pointing out that danger

00:33:04.780 and calling you away from it and to Christ for his help and mercy.

00:33:09.780 And so that means that pastors are called to say and preach and counsel hard things

00:33:13.820 because it's precisely in those areas where the sheep are vulnerable to attack

00:33:18.360 that we're called to go, right?

00:33:21.160 It's not enough to just bring the word of God to bear to the idols of our neighbors.

00:33:24.500 We need to make war with the word of God,

00:33:27.880 with the idols that we're tempted to believe in.

00:33:31.820 so pastors are trying all the time to get up high enough over the congregation to see here's an area

00:33:38.540 where we've got sin growing there's some gossip over there growing in that group and and and

00:33:45.020 maybe there's some there's some envy over here growing and and there's some there's some anger

00:33:49.800 stewing over here and there's some there's some pornography issues stewing over there to get up

00:33:54.920 high enough to see where those things are and then they're called to go you know the air war of the

00:33:59.840 pulpit and drop you know strategic aimed missile fire at that camp that needs it and so sometimes

00:34:08.600 they're sitting in the congregation and you're like is he talking about me right now and and

00:34:15.400 one instinct your flesh will have is to say how dare he do that that was a private conversation

00:34:21.320 it was a private conversation well two things first of all that's literally what the lord

00:34:26.540 tells him to do. To shepherd you out of sin and into righteousness for the sake of Christ. And

00:34:31.940 second, don't assume that he's just being passive aggressive and talking just to you, but was too 0.96

00:34:38.340 cowardly to say it to your face. Some of the time when something comes up in a couple sermons in a

00:34:43.160 row, the reason it does is because you don't see in his counseling meetings that he just met with

00:34:48.680 10 families in the last month and counseled all of them the same thing. You know what we're dealing

00:34:53.600 with in this church today, we have women who are not respecting their husbands. So you know what 1.00

00:34:58.040 we're going to hear in a lot of sermons? Women, respect your husbands. We got a lot of men who 1.00

00:35:03.080 are looking at pornography. You know what you're going to hear a lot? Men. Fornicators don't inherit

00:35:08.140 the kingdom of God. That's what you're going to hear, right? So your pastors are trying to see and

00:35:12.680 then meet the need that they see pastorally. So when your pastor exhorts you to repentance and

00:35:19.480 faith to obey the scriptures. Have an attitude of eager readiness to obey and follow. Be Bereans,

00:35:25.500 search the scriptures, but don't be stubborn and unteachable. Don't be proud. Be skeptical of your

00:35:31.660 own resistance before you give into it, because your pastors are called to keep watch over your

00:35:37.380 very souls. And a word on that, I mention it in passing, but I do believe that one of the pitfalls

00:35:46.540 that we will be tempted to fall into is in this area of authority and submission and respect.

00:35:54.220 Because in our culture, have our leaders, generally speaking in America,

00:36:00.520 given us great reason to deeply respect their character?

00:36:05.620 Yes. Moving on.

00:36:07.960 No. No.

00:36:10.620 Our default assumption in state-level and national-level leadership, politically speaking,

00:36:15.500 and in almost every institution

00:36:17.820 is to just assume that if someone's there at the top, 1.00

00:36:21.640 they're an absolute scumbag. 1.00

00:36:24.480 They are probably one of the worst people 1.00

00:36:26.840 that you would ever meet. 0.94

00:36:28.440 That's just our assumption

00:36:29.440 because to play the game and get to that level

00:36:32.080 means that they've had to get the approval

00:36:34.120 of 17 powerfully wicked cabals

00:36:37.460 and so even being there

00:36:39.820 is often an indictment of their character.

00:36:42.080 Okay, so that's the background culture that we're in.

00:36:44.040 Now, ecclesiastically speaking, in the church, does the church tend to have a problem with respectable, bold, courageous, truth-telling leaders?

00:36:52.660 Yes, I think that's a big problem in the church today.

00:36:54.860 So one of the things that can happen is that we can develop a knee-jerk instinct to begin to disrespect the office itself and authority itself.

00:37:05.980 And we can begin to develop a defense mechanism whereby we are unteachable.

00:37:12.080 And so then maybe you get a good leader and a good pastor, but you still have this instinct with you.

00:37:17.920 And he's like, do this.

00:37:18.940 And the first time that he disagrees with you and tells you to do something, you didn't want to do it.

00:37:22.940 Your instinct is still there to say, over my dead body.

00:37:27.760 Over my dead body.

00:37:30.200 We haven't been discipled well to respect authority because we've had disrespectable authority in many, many cases.

00:37:36.940 But we need to cultivate in our hearts that once we've done the hard work of getting ourselves and our families into that place where we have godly leaders, that we would respect them.

00:37:47.600 This is why one of the reasons in our church that we encourage our people to address their leaders by saying things like,

00:37:57.520 Pastor Burkholder, can I ask you a question?

00:38:02.380 Pastor Burkholder, Deacon Garrett, can I ask you a question?

00:38:05.940 Not because, because there's another ditch where men love titles and Jesus rebuked that, he excoriated that.

00:38:10.720 It's absolutely a real temptation.

00:38:12.340 But there's an opposite ditch that we have tended to fall into in our culture,

00:38:15.600 where we do not have a culture of respect of leaders and authority.

00:38:20.020 And so we've tried in our church, and hopefully over the generations,

00:38:23.880 we will develop a tradition of respectable authority such that this becomes easier.

00:38:29.580 But to say, Pastor Khan, can I ask you a question?

00:38:31.760 to address our elders and our pastors respectfully

00:38:36.820 and to have an instinct of honor towards them.

00:38:41.600 An instinct of honor towards them.

00:38:44.400 Number four, the author urges us

00:38:48.580 to let them do their work with joy, not with groaning,

00:38:51.720 and that for your own sake.

00:38:54.960 He says, obey your leaders and submit to them.

00:38:56.820 They're keeping watch over your souls

00:38:58.140 as those who will have to give an account.

00:39:00.480 Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

00:39:04.440 Be the kind of sheep who are a joy to shepherd.

00:39:07.180 What advantage would it be to you to continually fight the local church elders?

00:39:11.940 Let me try to give you some very practical instruction on ways that you can obey this.

00:39:16.760 Pray for your pastors.

00:39:18.700 Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.

00:39:21.620 Pray that God would build the house.

00:39:22.900 Pray that God would bless the work of their hands and their teaching.

00:39:26.560 Approach your pastors when you have an issue directly and privately with your issue.

00:39:30.280 Don't put up passive-aggressive Facebook posts directed at nobody in particular

00:39:34.440 that are obviously directed at somebody in particular.

00:39:39.300 You know, don't send in anonymous and vague criticisms

00:39:43.420 through an untraceable email account you made on Proton.

00:39:47.220 Don't gossip about the elders to other families.

00:39:51.300 Well, you know, I've really had this issue with Pastor So-and-So's teaching this Sunday.

00:39:54.920 I think he really missed the mark here.

00:39:56.600 And, you know, I've noticed that his kids on Sundays, one of them, you know, bumped into an old lady and didn't even say excuse me and says clearly failing in family worship.

00:40:06.400 And don't gossip about them.

00:40:10.220 Be brave and not cowardly and come and talk to your leaders if you have an issue.

00:40:13.800 See, how many I can think, I mean, I can in my head inventory families or people have left our church over the last 12 months.

00:40:21.380 And in nearly every case, the reason was not because of a theological disagreement.

00:40:27.400 The reason was because of festering refusal to obey these simple commands of loving one another.

00:40:33.760 Instead of approaching my elder with an issue that I had and asking him directly first,

00:40:38.860 I let it grow up in my heart into a root of bitterness.

00:40:41.640 I talked to five other people about it, never to them.

00:40:44.180 And so the first time I scheduled a meeting was to say, I'm leaving the church and here's 17 reasons why.

00:40:49.500 Don't do that.

00:40:50.240 Don't do that even if your pastor's not the best, even if you really do end up leaving the church.

00:40:56.300 Don't do it like that because you'll be sinning.

00:40:59.320 Be courageous.

00:41:00.780 Man, lead in your home. 0.51

00:41:01.880 If your wife, if you start hearing this from your wife, I just, I really didn't like what Pastor so-and-so said. 0.99

00:41:07.260 You stop me and say, let's talk about that. 0.91

00:41:09.460 If I can clear it up right there as a husband, clear it up, great.

00:41:13.760 Everyone's good.

00:41:14.320 But if not, right away, as quickly as is reasonably possible.

00:41:19.100 So I need to say, you know what, let's go talk directly to them.

00:41:21.580 Let's see if, I agree, that was off.

00:41:24.100 Let's go see if we can talk to them directly.

00:41:25.900 Let's get that cleared up.

00:41:27.900 And then, Pastor, you know, Monday morning you give them a call.

00:41:31.300 Pastor, can we talk?

00:41:32.540 I'd like to talk about this.

00:41:34.500 Don't do the, I'd like to talk about something.

00:41:37.540 I have concerns.

00:41:40.180 Just generally.

00:41:41.060 No.

00:41:41.540 You know, you said this in the sermon, and you don't have to answer right now,

00:41:45.320 but we'd just like to sit down and discuss it.

00:41:47.480 Would that be all right?

00:41:49.100 Great. Great. Maybe they were wrong.

00:41:52.440 Maybe you're going to be the means of helping them see that.

00:41:55.360 Maybe they will be hard-hearted and stubborn.

00:41:57.600 Maybe it's an offense you're going to be able to cover.

00:41:59.140 Maybe it's something that really will lead to, you know what, we can't fellowship here.

00:42:02.720 I don't want to break my membership vows,

00:42:04.260 and so we're going to seek to peacefully transfer our membership somewhere that we can.

00:42:10.280 Be teachable.

00:42:11.720 Say one of your leaders is teaching the scriptures,

00:42:13.760 and you disagree with an application of this doctrine or that. 0.55

00:42:16.720 That's okay. There's room for disagreement in the local church about lots of things.

00:42:20.640 But be sure that you're disagreeing on the basis of the Scriptures, not on the basis of your emotions, thoughts, intuitions.

00:42:27.200 Be ready to be corrected by the Scriptures, by your leaders, because all of us are to submit together to the Word of God.

00:42:34.500 I would say as well, be present and active in the regular means of grace in the ministry of the local church.

00:42:39.100 Don't be twice a month. Be present. Have your Bible open.

00:42:42.780 Be ready to hear and receive from the Lord and repent and rejoice.

00:42:45.540 sing loudly fellowship afterward don't run out don't compare your pastor to your favorite

00:42:51.160 podcaster it's not a competition please don't ever tell him you know pastor I was just you know you

00:42:57.180 were preaching on this and last week I heard a sermon from Joel Webin someone if Joel Webin is

00:43:02.720 your pastor you can say this the rest of us and he just made the point you made so good you know

00:43:08.880 and then one time Jeff Durbin preached at our church and it was like this great hour and no

00:43:15.740 three to four hour sermon on how Jesus is demonstrated in the Old Testament I just

00:43:21.600 finished preaching first Peter and one of the sermons was like demonstrating how every book

00:43:25.920 of the Bible points to Christ and and one you know wonderful the little old lady in the

00:43:31.280 congregation it's always little old ladies she said pastor so babe that sermon the Bible's all

00:43:37.760 about Jesus. And I was like, really? Can you go tell me more about this? I'm not really complaining 0.99

00:43:46.200 about that. That was great. But really, they don't need to have every sermon compared. Like,

00:43:53.520 are they feeding you? It doesn't need to be rhetorically brilliant. Are they feeding you

00:43:56.720 faithfully? Be easy to lead. Be kind to the wife and children of the elders. I know many leaders

00:44:01.880 in our corner of Christendom have small children. We want to be available all the time.

00:44:07.760 But a good pastor might be slow to schedule meetings on weeknights from 5.30 to 8.30

00:44:11.980 because he has family worship to conduct.

00:44:14.920 He has children to pray for and tuck in and sing with.

00:44:18.840 He needs to be a godly dad.

00:44:21.900 And again, don't take any of this as passive-aggressive correction.

00:44:25.760 Joel didn't supply any of these points for me.

00:44:29.060 Lastly, number five, pray for your pastors to have a clear conscience

00:44:33.840 and to act honorably in all things.

00:44:36.340 Verse 18 and 19 says,

00:44:37.560 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience,

00:44:40.860 desiring to act honorably in all things.

00:44:43.980 I urge you the more earnestly to do this,

00:44:45.880 in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

00:44:49.340 So in light of everything we've just seen together in this text,

00:44:52.560 I hope you do have a desire to pray for your pastors.

00:44:56.640 I love how Paul, who I believe is the author of Hebrews,

00:45:00.080 but that maybe is for a different time,

00:45:01.760 summarizes his goal here that he would urge them to pray for,

00:45:05.300 that he would have a clear conscience.

00:45:06.660 He says, I have a clear conscience.

00:45:08.360 We want to act honorably in all things.

00:45:11.180 Yes and amen.

00:45:12.160 That's what your pastors ought to want,

00:45:14.600 is to have a clear conscience to have acted honorably.

00:45:18.600 And some of the time,

00:45:21.160 there are things that you might look at and go,

00:45:23.000 what's going on here?

00:45:24.080 Like what?

00:45:25.100 I'm confused about this situation or that situation.

00:45:27.760 You have to understand that often pastors

00:45:29.240 are dealing with complicated pastoral situations

00:45:31.620 day in and day out that you don't know anything about

00:45:34.140 because you don't need to know anything about.

00:45:36.360 They're counseling multiple families

00:45:37.900 and there's some drama or disagreement

00:45:40.040 or there's a pastoral need.

00:45:42.300 There's some sin somewhere that's being rooted out

00:45:44.640 and it's difficult and it's weighing on the pastor

00:45:47.660 and they're trying to figure out how to act honorably

00:45:50.440 in light of all of it and lead well

00:45:51.940 and they know that they're not infallible

00:45:54.700 and they're trying to figure out a lot of things

00:45:57.360 and sometimes what we need is,

00:46:00.340 not sometimes,

00:46:01.260 What we need are congregants who will remember that.

00:46:04.620 It's a good and honorable and heavy weight that pastors carry.

00:46:08.180 And to know that the people are behind you.

00:46:12.620 The people are praying for you.

00:46:15.460 That the people are asking the Lord, week in and week out,

00:46:19.520 Lord, please give pastor so-and-so 40 years of faithful ministry.

00:46:25.580 Please uphold him.

00:46:27.060 Please protect him from the fiery darts of the evil one.

00:46:31.260 Please protect him from his own flesh.

00:46:33.740 Please let him not be tested past what he can endure.

00:46:37.280 Lord, please bless his family.

00:46:39.580 Lord, please give his children vibrant and living faith.

00:46:42.920 Lord, please protect us as a church from division.

00:46:45.420 Lord, please give me a heart that would joyfully respect and honor and submit to my elders.

00:46:51.460 Lord, please help me not to be a clanging gong in his ear.

00:46:54.960 Lord, please help me to be a joy to pastor.

00:46:58.320 it's very very difficult for a leader to get anything done without that it's very very difficult

00:47:08.880 early on in my pastorate one of the things that i learned was that i had vastly overestimated my

00:47:14.620 own ability to persuade people to change their minds on anything i went into it and i thought

00:47:21.560 you know about five minutes into preaching expository sermons through whole books of the

00:47:25.120 Bible. I went from being a Calvary Chapel Arminian to a Calvinist. I got to Genesis, the end of it,

00:47:32.000 it was like what Joseph says, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. And I was like,

00:47:36.080 God meant for good? Well, this is a problem. I said, I'll resign if you guys want me to. I know

00:47:44.360 this isn't a Calvinist church. They said, no, let's talk about it. It took a year. We talked

00:47:48.520 about it. Most of the pastors became Calvinists. And I thought, okay, great. Give us three months,

00:47:52.780 some good pastoral leadership, everyone else will see this.

00:47:59.180 No, no, everyone did not see that.

00:48:01.820 Narrator, oh, how wrong he was.

00:48:06.280 No, and I'm sure there were things we could have done better,

00:48:08.320 and that's absolutely true.

00:48:09.600 But pastors are faced with this just day in and day out.

00:48:13.080 They run up against the brick wall of this.

00:48:14.900 I see the green pasture, and I want to get the people there,

00:48:19.420 but it's difficult leading a sheep, even one.

00:48:22.780 from one pastor to another.

00:48:24.160 It's very difficult.

00:48:24.840 It's very difficult to say,

00:48:25.960 put that sin down.

00:48:26.780 It's just hurting you.

00:48:28.120 Let's be at peace.

00:48:29.040 Let's put that down.

00:48:30.040 It's very difficult.

00:48:30.800 So pray for your pastors.

00:48:32.880 Pray zealously for your pastors.

00:48:34.280 Pray regularly for them, earnestly.

00:48:36.540 Seek to be a joy to them.

00:48:38.760 And I'll sum it up with this,

00:48:39.900 that no pastor is sufficient for the task

00:48:42.540 that God has set before him,

00:48:43.600 but for the grace of God

00:48:45.180 and the strength of God.

00:48:47.340 And good pastors know that better than anybody.

00:48:50.500 Good pastors know that better than anybody.

00:48:52.780 They feel their own insufficiency internally, day in and day out in the ministry that they're called to discharge within the body of Christ.

00:49:02.280 And so you and they both need to look together to the same source of strength and hope.

00:49:09.300 And who is that?

00:49:10.080 It's the chief shepherd.

00:49:11.320 It's the chief shepherd.

00:49:12.140 Maybe you're not in a good church right now.

00:49:14.220 Maybe you're in turmoil.

00:49:15.140 You're trying to figure out what to do with your family.

00:49:18.000 Maybe you are in a good church and you're just in a season that's difficult in your family.

00:49:21.980 or you're dealing with intergenerational issues

00:49:25.000 or you're first generation

00:49:26.120 and you're just getting started

00:49:27.300 or you were 15 years into having kids

00:49:30.040 and then all of a sudden you realize

00:49:31.240 I'm supposed to give them a Christian education

00:49:33.000 or there's a million situations

00:49:34.580 that you might find yourself in

00:49:36.160 that just like that pastor who feels his insufficiency,

00:49:39.160 you run right up against that wall

00:49:40.640 and you say, Lord, I can't do this.

00:49:42.780 I don't have it.

00:49:44.140 I can't do this.

00:49:46.020 We all turn to the same place.

00:49:48.240 It's the right hand of the Father.

00:49:50.340 The Lord is seated

00:49:51.140 and he invites us freely and he says come receive mercy and help in your time of need ask for wisdom

00:49:57.680 you have not because you ask not and do all of this in faith don't act like the don't pray like

00:50:03.320 the person who has no faith where as he's praying he doesn't believe the lord's really going to do

00:50:08.000 anything no pray and believe that the lord is hearing that he delights to answer that he's not

00:50:12.040 a father who gives a stone when we ask for bread pray to him in the kind of faith that says when i

00:50:18.360 ask in accordance with his will and I'm praying something he told me I should want, I know my

00:50:24.060 father's going to hear me. I know he's going to give freely. Whether it's in trial and tribulation

00:50:29.020 or excess and having enough and abounding, I know he's going to answer me in the fullness of his

00:50:34.600 wisdom and for my good. So he is your help. He is your elder's help. He's all of our help. And may

00:50:40.140 we grow together into a living structure built into the image of Christ for his renown in all

00:50:45.760 the places that he's planted us. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would give us

00:50:54.120 each the measure of faith to do those things that you've called us to very particularly in our place

00:51:01.080 and time. Lord, we give you thanks that you forgive us our sin through Christ, that you give us your

00:51:05.460 Holy Spirit, that you give freely to those who ask wisdom and grace and mercy. Lord, we come to

00:51:11.160 you as a people who are dust. You know our frame. And we thank you that you are a God who brings 0.99

00:51:18.220 resurrection and glory and that you've given us union with Christ so that his resurrection will

00:51:23.700 be like ours, that his glory will be ours, that we will share even and partake in the divine nature.

00:51:30.260 And we give you thanks that all of this is freely given and not earned by us who could earn

00:51:34.300 not one whit of it. And we give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.

00:51:41.160 You

The NXR Podcast - March 04, 2024

THE SERMON - How To Love Your Pastor ｜ Hebrews 13_7-19 Pastor Brian Sauvé

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