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1 Timothy chapter 3

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We are 11 lessons into this chapter and we're all the way down to verse four.

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So we're making good progress.

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Let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.

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Gracious Father in heaven, we...

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come before your throne grateful for your blessings, grateful for your tender mercies and
your love, your care, and your kindness.

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We thank you for the rain that you send on the just and on the unjust.

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We are grateful for the sunshine as well.

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Lord, we are mindful of all of the blessings that we have in this country, in this world
of abundance, and we pray that you will continue to bless this nation, but also to bless

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this area.

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We pray that you be with us as we strive to serve you and to uh be faithful to you, to
remain sound in doctrine, but also to remain faithful in heart.

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We pray that we will be diligent in these matters, but also we pray

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for your grace that we might stand before you justified, sanctified, and holy.

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Lord, we thank you for your Son who came and died on the cross for our sins.

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Through His salvation and through His blood is our atonement.

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and without Him there is no remission of sins.

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Lord, we pray that we might always remember the debt that He paid that we could not pay.

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Lord, we pray for the world around us.

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We know that difficult situations arise daily throughout this world.

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We pray that Your uh will will be done in all of those matters.

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All this we ask and pray in Jesus' name, amen.

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Paul writes concerning elders, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of
a bishop, he desires a good work.

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A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate,

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sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to whine, not
violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome.

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What does it mean to be quarrelsome?

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Argumentative.

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that mean that an elder who is the type of elder that they should be

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will never get in an argument.

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No.

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He will never insist on establishing the truth of Scripture and standing up against those
who would argue for false doctrine.

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No.

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Does it mean that he does not insist on winning every verbal conflict?

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Yes it does.

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This man is a man who realizes that there are some battles that should never be fought.

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He is not ready at the drop of any moment in any hat to make sure that he wins a verbal
confrontation.

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And therefore as a result of desiring to win them, generates them.

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You see,

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When an individual is quarrelsome, it's not just that they will occasionally at some
moment in their life end up in an argument.

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It is that they are always looking for an argument.

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If they say hello to you as you walk into the building, they're looking for a reason to
have an argument.

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If they say, Why,

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Isn't this beautiful weather today?

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They're looking for an argument.

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Their personality is one that is argumentative and they have chosen not to control it.

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They have developed a character trait of quarreling whether the subject is worth the
argument or not.

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Yeah.

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So there's a movie scene that comes to mind whenever I read this term.

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uh There is a movie years ago about the Vietnam conflict called We Were Soldiers.

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And it deals with the helicopter uh squadrons and people that were involved in the Vietnam
conflict.

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uh Sam Elliott, who most of you probably would recognize that name, deep voice, know, very
guttural uh tone of voice, is greeted.

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The first time you see him, he's walking across one of the training complexes on the grass
back in the U.S.

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He's walking across the yard and a private is walking by him and says, good morning, sir.

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And he says, what's good about it?

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That's kind of the personality type.

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This person has nothing good that they can focus on.

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They have only negative.

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And when you're led by someone who only sees the negative, how are things going to turn
out?

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Needless to say, there's not gonna be a lot of hope in the leadership, okay?

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And certainly not a lot of trust.

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When someone is of a mindset and of a disposition to always win no matter what.

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Are they going to have a lot of trust that they build with those who are weak and
unlearned and unknowledgeable?

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No, as a matter fact, they're going to destroy them.

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Turn over to Romans chapter 14.

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Romans chapter 14, we can see this borne out in Paul's discussion about the eating of
meats.

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If you go back to 14 verse 1, you read, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not,
watch this, not to disputes over doubtful things.

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What are disputes?

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Arguments.

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He says, for one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

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Okay?

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Somebody tell me the background of this.

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What's in view, what two groups of people?

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Jew and Gentile, okay?

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Why would the Jews have a problem with eating?

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All right?

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What did the Old Testament law forbid them from doing?

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eating certain foods that were considered unclean under the law.

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So if a type of animal had a certain type of hoof, they weren't allowed to eat it.

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If a certain type of animal was involved in a certain type of thing, they weren't allowed
to eat it.

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All right, they had a number of laws and ordinances that involved things they could eat
and things they could not.

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Go back and read the book of Leviticus, you'll read all of them, okay?

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But...

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Were they still under that law?

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No.

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But had their conscience been trained up under that law?

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Yes.

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So Peter, in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 10, is dwelling in Joppa in a city

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and someone has been told to send messengers to him so that Peter will come and teach that
individual in his family the gospel.

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Who was it that was told to send for Peter?

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Cornelius.

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Is Cornelius a Jew or a Gentile?

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He's a Gentile.

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He's a Roman centurion.

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He's not a Jew.

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So, Cornelius is being told by God

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through an angel to go and send to Peter in Joppa and bring him so he might learn what he
ought to do in order to be obedient to God.

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While the messengers are on the way, Peter is up on the rooftop of the place where he is
staying and he sees a vision.

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What does he see in the vision?

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All types of animals, specifically unclean animals.

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And what does God tell him in the vision to do?

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Rise, kill, and eat.

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What is Peter's reply?

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I've never eaten anything unclean.

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In other words, Peter is saying my whole life until now, I have never broken the law and
the covenant and the ordinances concerning clean and unclean meats in his entire life.

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And yet God is telling him to do what?

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rise, kill, and eat.

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So he sees it once, he sees it twice, sees it a third time.

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Is God really concerned about Peter's diet?

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No, he's not.

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He's not worried that Peter's starting to lose a little bit too much weight being around
the Gentiles.

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He needs to go find some more Jewish houses to spend.

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No, it's not what God's concerned about.

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After that third time, the messengers from Cornelius arrive.

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Peter realizes what God has been talking about all the time is the Gentiles hearing the
gospel and being obedient to it.

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That what God declares clean, no man has a right to declare unclean.

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According to the Jewish traditions, and especially the Jewish religious leaders, if they
walked into the marketplace where the Gentiles were and they shopped in the marketplace,

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they had to ceremonially cleanse themselves before they could even eat dinner.

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because if they didn't, they were unclean because of their proximity to the Gentiles.

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They didn't have to have touched anything unclean, just be in the marketplace with
Gentiles.

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And they considered that enough to make themselves ceremonially unclean, okay?

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Which by the way, was not something the law taught at all.

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Now, Paul says, let him who eats, let not, verse two, verse three rather, I'll get it
right here.

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Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat.

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And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him." Here's Jew
number one.

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Jew number one has been a Christian for 15 years.

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He's learned the restriction of the old law.

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He grew up under it.

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but he now has been a student of Christ and a disciple of Christ for fifteen years.

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He knows what the Holy Spirit has taught by Revelation.

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He knows the example that has been set by the Apostles.

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He knows that the Gentiles have received the Gospel, that they are part of the body of
Christ and they are accepted just like He is.

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And he knows that the food restrictions of the Old Testament no longer apply to him.

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They're no longer binding.

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By the way, before you get to Romans 14, Paul wrote about Romans chapter 7.

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Go back there real quick because I want us to see this.

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I want us to the clarity with which Paul has already dealt with this to make it very clear
what laws do not apply.

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Or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has
dominion over a man as long as he lives.

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For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives,
but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

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So then if while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an
adulteress, but if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she's no adulteress,

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though she's married to another man.

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Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead.

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to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another, to him who was
raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

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Paul just said in Romans chapter 7 verse 4, you Jews who are now Christians are free from
the law.

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You are as equally free from all the ordinances of the law as a wife

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who was married to a husband who is now dead.

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She is entirely, not partially, she is completely free from her attachment to that husband
and her binding to that husband.

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Why?

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He's dead.

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Okay?

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Now, chapter 14 verse 4, who are you to judge another's servant?

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To his own master, he stands or falls.

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Who's the master in this scenario in this statement?

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Who?

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God!

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Paul is addressing a Jew over here who's been a Christian for 15 years and knows I don't
have to eat according to the Old Testament restrictions anymore.

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And he's looking as a 15 year old Christian at a one year old Christian who's only just
now learned the gospel and has spent the last 70 years, because he's 71 years old in the

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scenario, he's spent the last 70 years keeping the ordinances about food.

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How quickly can you change a 13-year-old?

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quick.

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How quickly can you change a 70-year-old?

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Not so quick.

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So here's a 70-year-old, he's been a Christian for one year, and he sits down at a meal
with good Christian Gentiles, and they put a plate of pork in front of him.

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and his conscience is killing him.

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And this well-meaning 15-year-old Christian over here starts badgering him, why, you
should know better.

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You should just eat it.

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It's fine.

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You're free from the law.

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Stop that, all that worrying about.

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Is that Christian helping this Christian?

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Is that Christian judging this Christian?

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All right, go forward.

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Verse 14, I know, verse 14 of Romans 14, I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that
there is nothing unclean of itself.

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But to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

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Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love.

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Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.

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If you have an elder who is quarrelsome, will he destroy with his accurate arguments the
weak Christian for whom Christ died?

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Yes, he will.

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Because he will not give them time to grow.

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He will not give them time to learn.

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He will not give them time to come to an understanding and

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to deal with their conscience on matters of indifference.

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Now, what is this not teaching?

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This is not teaching that an elder who knows the truth and knows the difference between
the truth and error will not ever, because he's not quarrelsome, he will not ever

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vehemently

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stand up against false teachers.

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That's not what this is teaching.

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Far to the opposite.

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But he will only do so in a way to protect the flock, not to win points in an argument.

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And there's a difference.

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Sadly, too many times in what we would call structured debates,

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The truth wins the argument, loses the audience.

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which means they lost the debate.

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Not because they presented the truth, but because of how the person argued the
presentation of the truth.

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In being quarrelsome, in being derogatory, in being critical on a personal level instead
of arguing the truth.

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Eddie.

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Mm-hmm.

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their self control.

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that is considering the whole of the situation and not just his thoughts or feelings on.

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Very good point.

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I wanna add something to that, because we've had a lot of discussion in this explanation
about new Christians.

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There's a reason why a lot of this has been framed in the discussion of new Christians,
and there's a time in which an elder or an apostle needs to be very confrontational.

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with those who should be mature Christians, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

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1 Corinthians chapter 2, writes,

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Paul is describing the scenario in which he was in their presence, the things he went
through when he taught them, the things that they observed in him now go to chapter 3.

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He says, I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as
to babes in Christ.

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Paul says, I want to write to you to talk to you about spiritual things.

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to write to you about spiritual things, to encourage you and explain to you spiritual
things, but I can't teach you like spiritual people.

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I'm having to teach you like those who are fleshly people.

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I'm having to teach you like those who are not spiritually minded, because you're not
spiritually minded, he says to the church at Corinth.

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You have given yourself over to continuing to think the way the world thinks." He says,
while I want to talk to you as spiritual people, I'm having to talk to you like babies.

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Notice he says, I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you were not
able to receive it and even now you are still not able.

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I wanted to give you some real food, some real meat that you could sink your teeth into
and really grow from it.

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You put a 14-year-old on a milk-only diet, what's going to happen?

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Well, he's got all that protein in it, right?

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It ought to be fine.

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Not going to work out all that well.

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They're going to be malnourished.

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00:23:05,873 --> 00:23:06,714
Why?

218
00:23:06,714 --> 00:23:10,577
They need more substance than liquid.

219
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,983
Now, he says, for you are still carnal.

220
00:23:16,081 --> 00:23:18,332
What's his definition of carnal?

221
00:23:18,332 --> 00:23:20,394
What's his definition of fleshly minded?

222
00:23:20,394 --> 00:23:23,455
What is his definition of babes in this?

223
00:23:23,455 --> 00:23:31,860
He says, where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and
behaving like mere men?

224
00:23:32,821 --> 00:23:36,283
Like only the flesh matters?

225
00:23:37,213 --> 00:23:41,924
He says, "'For when one says, am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not
carnal?

226
00:23:41,924 --> 00:23:43,125
Who then is Paul?

227
00:23:43,125 --> 00:23:44,155
Who is Apollos?

228
00:23:44,155 --> 00:23:48,086
But ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one.

229
00:23:48,086 --> 00:23:59,709
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.' So then neither he who plants is
anything nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." He's saying, if you can't

230
00:23:59,709 --> 00:24:06,771
move past following men to following God,

231
00:24:07,943 --> 00:24:10,565
you're always going to be babes.

232
00:24:11,286 --> 00:24:19,392
You're always going to be those who are unable to consume the meat of the word.

233
00:24:19,392 --> 00:24:34,373
So, when Paul criticizes them and calls them carnal and unspiritual and babes, the fact
that he's using terms that might hurt someone's feelings when they read it and go, what?

234
00:24:34,843 --> 00:24:37,024
What does he mean we're babes?

235
00:24:37,024 --> 00:24:38,865
I've been a Christian for 10 years.

236
00:24:38,865 --> 00:24:40,836
What does he mean I'm a babe in Christ?

237
00:24:40,836 --> 00:24:42,707
I'm no babe in Christ.

238
00:24:44,188 --> 00:24:45,769
Is Paul being quarrelsome?

239
00:24:45,769 --> 00:24:58,216
Is Paul unqualified in his leadership because he's using terminology that is intended to
sink in and connect to the true scenario?

240
00:24:59,057 --> 00:25:03,303
You sometimes people who are weak,

241
00:25:03,303 --> 00:25:18,127
carnal and not spiritually minded, will accuse an elder who is not quarrelsome of being
quarrelsome because he made an argument that hit home with the reality of the matter.

242
00:25:18,787 --> 00:25:27,309
Or a preacher made an argument, made a statement about someone's spiritual scenario and
they didn't think he made it the right way.

243
00:25:27,450 --> 00:25:29,550
He wasn't loving enough when he said it.

244
00:25:29,550 --> 00:25:31,971
He didn't say it in the right tone of voice.

245
00:25:32,807 --> 00:25:35,488
That's not what this passage is talking about.

246
00:25:36,229 --> 00:25:38,990
That's not disqualifying for an elder.

247
00:25:39,551 --> 00:25:42,312
That's not disqualifying for a minister.

248
00:25:42,633 --> 00:25:54,879
That is someone who is recognizing a situation and is addressing it, and the person who
hears it has a responsibility to examine themselves and see whether or not it's true.

249
00:25:55,611 --> 00:25:57,002
not to argue against it.

250
00:25:57,002 --> 00:26:06,269
Now, you might find that the person who hears the argument and refuses to listen is
quarrelsome.

251
00:26:08,069 --> 00:26:12,032
and they are willing to fight instead of listen to the Word of God.

252
00:26:12,032 --> 00:26:17,827
Now, he says, not quarrelsome, not covetous.

253
00:26:18,808 --> 00:26:21,770
He's already said not greedy for money.

254
00:26:24,433 --> 00:26:27,295
What's the point here of saying not covetous?

255
00:26:34,199 --> 00:26:36,614
Is covetousness always about money?

256
00:26:38,373 --> 00:26:40,525
No, no it is not.

257
00:26:40,525 --> 00:26:51,773
Matter of fact, when you go back into the Old Testament, you look there at those 10
commandments in Exodus chapter 20, the covetousness that is described there is not

258
00:26:51,773 --> 00:26:54,335
specifically about money, but what?

259
00:26:56,255 --> 00:27:03,975
someone's home, someone's wife, the things that they have that do not belong to you but
belong to them.

260
00:27:04,935 --> 00:27:14,995
And so there's a monetary aspect, money for some people is a problem, somebody's wife for
somebody else is a problem, and it may not have anything to with money.

261
00:27:15,875 --> 00:27:17,475
But that can't be an elder.

262
00:27:17,955 --> 00:27:24,615
That individual is not qualified to be an elder if they are covetous of that which belongs
to another.

263
00:27:24,615 --> 00:27:25,843
Now is it?

264
00:27:25,843 --> 00:27:37,613
covetousness for someone to look uh at a great husband and wife and to see the
relationship they've built and go, you know, I really wish I had that.

265
00:27:37,613 --> 00:27:39,519
I would love to have that one day.

266
00:27:39,519 --> 00:27:44,239
I sure hope when I get married our relationship turns out like that.

267
00:27:44,239 --> 00:27:45,700
Is that covetousness?

268
00:27:46,020 --> 00:27:47,982
But wait a minute, you want what you don't have.

269
00:27:47,982 --> 00:27:49,563
How is it not covetousness?

270
00:27:58,289 --> 00:27:59,929
Absolutely, right.

271
00:27:59,929 --> 00:28:07,483
Covetousness is built into it, the desire to take what someone else has.

272
00:28:08,584 --> 00:28:15,586
And the willingness to take it for your own fulfillment of your own desires.

273
00:28:15,887 --> 00:28:25,981
Not the looking at what someone has and setting a goal for yourself to achieve what they
have achieved, okay?

274
00:28:26,141 --> 00:28:37,976
When someone looks at someone who can run the 40 meter dash faster than them and sets a
goal, do they have to break the legs of the other guy in order to meet the goal?

275
00:28:38,656 --> 00:28:39,837
No.

276
00:28:40,157 --> 00:28:41,817
They have to do what?

277
00:28:42,938 --> 00:28:44,399
They have to train.

278
00:28:44,399 --> 00:28:47,680
They have to do it the right way.

279
00:28:47,980 --> 00:28:53,152
So Paul will describe one who competes according to the rules.

280
00:28:53,152 --> 00:28:55,083
Okay?

281
00:28:55,281 --> 00:29:14,317
Someone who says, I think that the ideal scenario for me in my life is to reach a point
where I have freedom of time to teach the lost the gospel.

282
00:29:15,197 --> 00:29:20,407
And their goal is to achieve that by building uh some

283
00:29:20,407 --> 00:29:31,191
assets that have cash flow that are passive income so that they can focus their time and
energy on reaching the lost.

284
00:29:31,652 --> 00:29:36,734
Is it inherently wrong that they built those assets in order to do that?

285
00:29:37,654 --> 00:29:38,575
No.

286
00:29:39,195 --> 00:29:48,869
But by the way, just so we're clear, sometimes God will get you to the same position in a
way you didn't plan on getting there.

287
00:29:50,291 --> 00:29:55,834
Because some people have the mindset, I'm going to become wealthy so I have time.

288
00:29:57,095 --> 00:30:04,559
And God can sometimes take the same person who intended to be wealthy so they'd have time
and make them unemployed so they have time.

289
00:30:06,899 --> 00:30:10,280
God can get his goals achieved either way.

290
00:30:11,380 --> 00:30:28,065
Sometimes God can take an individual who was at home and at ease and put them in an
uncomfortable situation in order to let them grow into making a right choice.

291
00:30:28,225 --> 00:30:34,319
Now it's not wrong for the person to have assets, it's not wrong for them to have cash
flow and to use that to have time.

292
00:30:34,319 --> 00:30:46,969
I'm just pointing out that if we determine how we think it's going to work out and the
only way we're going to spend the time on the spiritual things that matter is if our plans

293
00:30:46,969 --> 00:30:48,590
work out.

294
00:30:49,531 --> 00:30:54,915
Careful, because God doesn't respect your plans a lot.

295
00:30:56,861 --> 00:31:03,626
So when you say God, what I desire is to be useful for your kingdom.

296
00:31:05,587 --> 00:31:08,091
That's kind of like asking for wisdom.

297
00:31:08,813 --> 00:31:11,958
My mother made a statement many times in life.

298
00:31:12,059 --> 00:31:14,874
She said, I've only ever prayed for wisdom once.

299
00:31:14,874 --> 00:31:16,196
I got three children.

300
00:31:16,196 --> 00:31:19,051
I haven't prayed for it again since.

301
00:31:21,693 --> 00:31:30,818
Sometimes what you ask for is not going to come to you the way you planned on it.

302
00:31:32,797 --> 00:31:51,377
When Jesus came to those disciples who were mending their father's nets and said, come,
follow me, which one of them said, can you wait until my business is self-sustaining?

303
00:31:55,389 --> 00:31:56,539
None of them.

304
00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:14,704
When the individual who desired to be his disciple came to him and said, Master, I will
follow you, Jesus said, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son

305
00:32:14,704 --> 00:32:17,425
of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

306
00:32:18,185 --> 00:32:25,117
Jesus knew about that individual that there was a problem that they were going to face
that they weren't prepared to deal with.

307
00:32:26,035 --> 00:32:30,479
And that was the insecurity of being a minister of the gospel.

308
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,143
The insecurity of being a disciple of Christ.

309
00:32:34,143 --> 00:32:39,748
The insecurity of traveling from place to place to place and never having a home.

310
00:32:40,830 --> 00:32:47,556
Because the only place Jesus had to rest was in someone else's home.

311
00:32:47,637 --> 00:32:50,259
Raise your hand if you love living in hotels.

312
00:32:51,935 --> 00:32:59,235
Raise your hand even more so if you can't afford to live in hotels and you have to stay in
someone else's house 365 days a year.

313
00:32:59,595 --> 00:33:03,235
Most of us in America are not comfortable with that.

314
00:33:03,895 --> 00:33:13,495
Now, give me a choice between a hotel and somebody else's house, I'll take somebody else's
house any day of the week because I'll take hospitality over hotels any day.

315
00:33:13,535 --> 00:33:15,775
Those, that's not real hospitality by the way.

316
00:33:15,775 --> 00:33:19,075
If they get paid to do it, it's not hospitality, all right?

317
00:33:19,115 --> 00:33:21,555
So, he says,

318
00:33:22,107 --> 00:33:23,988
Not covetous.

319
00:33:24,489 --> 00:33:28,831
One who rules his own house well.

320
00:33:30,372 --> 00:33:44,199
I thought that marriage was a partnership where people had mutual respect for one another
and everybody was always on the same level in agreement and they always made decisions

321
00:33:44,199 --> 00:33:50,713
together and therefore there's cooperative decision making in marriage and in parenting.

322
00:33:50,713 --> 00:33:56,527
and therefore, what do you mean the husband has to be one who rules his own house well?

323
00:33:57,528 --> 00:33:58,989
What does this mean?

324
00:33:59,363 --> 00:34:01,711
I'm gonna let y'all answer it so I don't get in trouble.

325
00:34:03,709 --> 00:34:05,185
What does this mean?

326
00:34:18,715 --> 00:34:30,238
So I'm going to take from that that what this means is that the husband and the father
makes all the decisions and every important decision must be run by them every single

327
00:34:30,238 --> 00:34:30,508
time.

328
00:34:30,508 --> 00:34:36,180
if anyone makes a decision without their input, they're going to get an earful.

329
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,821
Okay, I might have taken it the wrong direction.

330
00:34:41,602 --> 00:34:47,363
This is about responsibility, direction, and authority.

331
00:34:47,803 --> 00:34:56,950
Responsibility, direction, and authority don't mean that someone has to micromanage
everything under their rule.

332
00:34:56,950 --> 00:35:05,195
Imagine a king sits on his throne and from sitting on his throne he sends out a directive.

333
00:35:06,036 --> 00:35:10,739
All seeds will be planted exactly one inch deep.

334
00:35:11,540 --> 00:35:16,043
All seeds will be planted within one week of this calendar year.

335
00:35:16,164 --> 00:35:22,465
and all seeds will be harvested and produce 100 % yield.

336
00:35:24,349 --> 00:35:28,027
You think the fact that he sent out the directive means it's going to work out that way?

337
00:35:29,959 --> 00:35:38,331
No, maybe he's not fulfilling his role as king by issuing all of these decrees.

338
00:35:38,331 --> 00:35:40,282
Okay?

339
00:35:41,022 --> 00:35:46,783
Because someone has authority doesn't mean they can't delegate authority.

340
00:35:46,804 --> 00:35:59,965
Because someone has the authority and the responsibility does not mean that they can't
entrust someone else with making decisions and enacting the right.

341
00:35:59,965 --> 00:36:01,396
decisions.

342
00:36:02,117 --> 00:36:09,924
Are elders supposed to do everything themselves?

343
00:36:09,924 --> 00:36:10,675
No.

344
00:36:11,346 --> 00:36:15,909
They are those who have, as bishops, what's the term?

345
00:36:16,109 --> 00:36:17,671
Oversight.

346
00:36:19,073 --> 00:36:22,065
Oversight is not the same as micromanage.

347
00:36:23,759 --> 00:36:31,381
Elders have to instill in others the ability, the confidence, and the responsibility to
take action on their own.

348
00:36:31,881 --> 00:36:36,642
So if the elder does it all himself, he's not ruling his own house well, is he?

349
00:36:37,142 --> 00:36:47,645
If an elder believes that in his house he must make every decision and every decision must
ultimately pass through him, is he ruling his own house well?

350
00:36:48,465 --> 00:36:49,445
No.

351
00:36:49,545 --> 00:36:52,646
Matter of fact, he will be quite destructive to his own house.

352
00:36:53,106 --> 00:36:54,907
because he doesn't trust anyone.

353
00:36:54,907 --> 00:36:59,749
And if he rules his house that way, he certainly will rule the church that way.

354
00:36:59,990 --> 00:37:03,572
How's that going to come when he's got another elder he's got to agree with?

355
00:37:04,313 --> 00:37:06,704
Or four more elders he's got to agree with.

356
00:37:06,704 --> 00:37:08,254
Is there going to be a problem?

357
00:37:08,875 --> 00:37:11,776
Yeah, because every decision is not coming through him.

358
00:37:12,617 --> 00:37:21,134
See, the personality that is described here is not one who is controlling and must have
charge of every decision.

359
00:37:21,134 --> 00:37:36,398
It is one who sits, observes, and makes sure that the direction of his house is pointed
towards heaven and knows he will be held accountable for it.

360
00:37:37,459 --> 00:37:47,942
When Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

361
00:37:49,458 --> 00:38:07,131
He did not say that by means of saying, I will wrench down the controls on everyone in my
house until I verify that no one ever makes a wrong decision and everybody always is

362
00:38:07,131 --> 00:38:08,322
obedient to God.

363
00:38:10,022 --> 00:38:22,695
Rather, he was describing the leadership and the direction that he would lead his house
because he would keep himself under control.

364
00:38:23,857 --> 00:38:30,885
One who rules his own house well is not going to rule as an overbearing individual.

365
00:38:30,885 --> 00:38:32,166
Turn to 1 Peter.

366
00:38:36,286 --> 00:38:41,368
1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1, the elders who are among you I exhort.

367
00:38:41,929 --> 00:38:53,154
I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of
the glory that will be revealed shepherd the flock of God which is among you serving as

368
00:38:53,154 --> 00:39:01,758
overseers not by compulsion but willingly not for dishonest gain but eagerly

369
00:39:02,190 --> 00:39:11,896
nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock."

370
00:39:13,828 --> 00:39:28,430
If you have an elder or a man considering the office of an elder whose life is not a
pattern that his family could follow and be obedient to God, he can't be an elder.

371
00:39:30,802 --> 00:39:43,304
But if you have an elder who is so afraid of confrontation and is so unwilling to stand up
for the truth that he won't stand up for it in his own house, he has no business being an

372
00:39:43,304 --> 00:39:43,926
elder.

373
00:39:45,894 --> 00:39:56,584
If you have a man who will not tell his children that what they're doing is wrong and they
need to correct their lives because their lives are not in accordance with God, because he

374
00:39:56,584 --> 00:40:03,500
doesn't want to upset the content house that he has, that man is not qualified to be an
Elf.

375
00:40:05,252 --> 00:40:12,306
If he can't rule his own house well, he is not qualified to be an elder.

376
00:40:12,306 --> 00:40:20,361
Does that mean he needs to pick every battle to fight and fight every battle until
everyone knows he's right?

377
00:40:20,361 --> 00:40:22,062
No, that's quarrelsome.

378
00:40:24,082 --> 00:40:34,204
but he does need to set a direction and he does need to be willing to correct the course
in his own house.

379
00:40:36,988 --> 00:40:42,461
Did Abraham always choose the right direction?

380
00:40:43,722 --> 00:40:46,684
Did Abraham always make the right choice?

381
00:40:47,905 --> 00:40:53,728
Did Abraham correct the direction when he realized he had done it wrong?

382
00:40:54,249 --> 00:40:55,249
Yes.

383
00:40:56,070 --> 00:40:57,411
What about Isaac?

384
00:40:57,411 --> 00:40:59,712
Did Isaac always make the right choice?

385
00:41:00,232 --> 00:41:02,414
Did Isaac always choose the right direction?

386
00:41:02,414 --> 00:41:03,184
No.

387
00:41:04,028 --> 00:41:08,819
Did Isaac correct the things that he had done wrong to remain faithful to God?

388
00:41:09,420 --> 00:41:12,400
Well, Jacob, you know, he was the perfect one, right?

389
00:41:12,581 --> 00:41:14,621
That's why they called him supplanter.

390
00:41:15,261 --> 00:41:17,262
He always chose the right path.

391
00:41:17,262 --> 00:41:19,102
He never made any wrong choices.

392
00:41:19,102 --> 00:41:20,923
He didn't, no.

393
00:41:20,943 --> 00:41:32,126
You see, when you look at the biblical examples of those who rule their own house well,
you find some really good examples.

394
00:41:32,415 --> 00:41:38,449
Name one of those three that maybe couldn't be considered one who ruled his own house
well.

395
00:41:40,516 --> 00:41:42,269
Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob?

396
00:41:43,533 --> 00:41:44,674
Jacob.

397
00:41:45,317 --> 00:41:51,630
Who was the biggest problem and the biggest disruptor in the household of Jacob?

398
00:41:56,124 --> 00:41:57,423
Jacob was.

399
00:41:59,312 --> 00:42:01,850
Why did the brothers hate Joseph?

400
00:42:03,910 --> 00:42:06,453
because he was his father's favorite.

401
00:42:07,435 --> 00:42:18,180
Why did, why was there so much strife among the wives and the concubines of Jacob outside
the fact that he had more than one?

402
00:42:20,188 --> 00:42:21,899
because he had favorites.

403
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:28,183
The biggest disrupter in the household was Jacob.

404
00:42:28,764 --> 00:42:30,945
Now, was he faithful to God?

405
00:42:31,266 --> 00:42:32,486
Yes.

406
00:42:33,428 --> 00:42:35,669
Did he rule his own house well?

407
00:42:36,270 --> 00:42:37,150
No.

408
00:42:38,834 --> 00:42:42,465
So could Jacob have been a faithful child of God?

409
00:42:42,465 --> 00:42:43,296
Yes.

410
00:42:43,296 --> 00:42:46,737
Could Jacob have been qualified to be an elder?

411
00:42:47,257 --> 00:42:48,218
No.

412
00:42:49,178 --> 00:43:00,843
Because of the example that he set in his own house that shows the leadership problems
that existed in the life of Jacob.

413
00:43:01,134 --> 00:43:01,783
All right?

414
00:43:01,783 --> 00:43:04,514
So there's just an example we can dwell on.

415
00:43:04,514 --> 00:43:05,479
And you may disagree with me.

416
00:43:05,479 --> 00:43:08,446
You say, Aaron, I think Jacob would have been, fine.

417
00:43:08,446 --> 00:43:17,683
I mean, we're making a judgment based upon what scripture tells us, but I can look at the
text and I can see a lot of problems that didn't originate with the people around his

418
00:43:17,683 --> 00:43:18,633
house.

419
00:43:18,774 --> 00:43:19,715
They originated with him.

420
00:43:19,715 --> 00:43:24,878
By the way, what problem existed when Jacob left Laban?

421
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,412
Why did Laban chase him down according to Laban?

422
00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:37,837
because Jacob's wives, Laban's daughters, had stolen his household gods.

423
00:43:38,799 --> 00:43:50,813
Now, if Jacob's ruling his house well, why would Leah and Rachel be taking household gods
with them to Israel?

424
00:43:50,813 --> 00:43:51,634
Okay?

425
00:43:51,634 --> 00:43:52,464
Yes.

426
00:44:08,158 --> 00:44:09,118
Correct.

427
00:44:09,359 --> 00:44:13,161
So the term rule there is defined by well.

428
00:44:13,441 --> 00:44:18,684
Someone who rules as an authoritarian does not rule well.

429
00:44:18,744 --> 00:44:21,346
He rules, but he doesn't rule well.

430
00:44:21,346 --> 00:44:24,528
So yes, but the term manage is there.

431
00:44:24,528 --> 00:44:36,314
But it's important to realize that the term must be clear to be understood as
authoritative.

432
00:44:36,752 --> 00:44:40,765
Some managers manage well, they have no authority, okay?

433
00:44:41,826 --> 00:44:47,961
But those who rule have authority and their authority is derived by God.

434
00:44:47,961 --> 00:44:59,932
So it's important to keep that in view as we look at the text is it demands a position of
authority because it also demands a position of responsibility and accountability, all

435
00:44:59,932 --> 00:45:00,502
right?

436
00:45:00,502 --> 00:45:05,267
So a manager may not be accountable for what those under him do.

437
00:45:05,267 --> 00:45:06,644
but one who rules is.

438
00:45:06,644 --> 00:45:09,085
Okay, thank you for your attention.

439
00:45:09,085 --> 00:45:10,151
We'll be dismissed.