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1 Timothy 5:17-25 - Avoiding Extremes When It Comes To The Pastor · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello and good morning, friends and faith listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning into the Bible Explained Podcasts on
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  Speaker 1: this chilly morning. And Hi, my name is Jen. I
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  Speaker 1: am the host of this podcast, and I am so
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  Speaker 1: excited that you're here to share a delicious cup of
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  Speaker 1: hot coffee with me as we discuss first Timothy five
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  Speaker 1: and finish out this chapter. So right now, we're going
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  Speaker 1: through a winter storm, which is not uncommon for where
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  Speaker 1: I live. In fact, we've had quite a few winter
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  Speaker 1: storms this year, I'd say more than normal. Actually we
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  Speaker 1: haven't gotten a lot of snow, but it's just been
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  Speaker 1: almost like a constant dropping of snow, if that makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: But today we have a lot of wind mixed with snow,
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  Speaker 1: so it's actually a blizzard. So I've got myself wrapped
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  Speaker 1: in my heated blanket that I got for Christmas, And
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  Speaker 1: this was a gift from my brother in law and
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  Speaker 1: I have been living in this thing ever since I
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  Speaker 1: got it. And then my husband, to top it off,
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  Speaker 1: he got me some electric hand warmers that like plug
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  Speaker 1: into the wall and they are wonderful. So I am
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  Speaker 1: nice and toasty and warm, because that's the one thing
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  Speaker 1: about me. I am always cold. I'm always cold, and
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  Speaker 1: so I feel like the theme of my gifts this
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  Speaker 1: year was let's be warm. I got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: gifts that will keep me warm this year, which I
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  Speaker 1: am very very excited about. So tell me what you
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  Speaker 1: got for Christmas. I'd love to hear about it. Tell
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  Speaker 1: me what your favorite gift was. Okay, you can contact
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  Speaker 1: me via the email address listed in the description of
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  Speaker 1: this episode, But for right now, let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: read First Timothy five seventeen through twenty five. We're gonna
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  Speaker 1: be finishing out this chapter today. We've been in First
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  Speaker 1: Timothy five for actually quite a while, several weeks now,
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  Speaker 1: I feel like because there's just so much content in
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  Speaker 1: this chapter. In the last two episodes, in One Timothy five,
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about the rules for widows and whether or
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  Speaker 1: not the church should actually financially compensate widows, what would
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  Speaker 1: be the guidelines for that. So that's what we discussed
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  Speaker 1: all of last week and the week before. But now
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be finishing up by talking about pastors
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  Speaker 1: and how we should be treating our pastors. Should we
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  Speaker 1: listen to accusations against our pastors, how do we critique
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  Speaker 1: our pastors when they're wrong. Paul is going to lay
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  Speaker 1: all of this out in the passage we read today.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get into this episode, please listen to
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  Speaker 1: a quick word from one of our sponsors. All right,
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  Speaker 1: So now that we've heard from our sponsor, let's go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and read First Timothy five seventeen through twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading this, as always, from the web version,
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  Speaker 1: but feel free to grab the version of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: that you prefer this morning, whatever that might be. And
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  Speaker 1: also your cup of coffee or tea or hot coco
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  Speaker 1: or whatever you're drinking to warm yourself up, because it's
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  Speaker 1: needed on this cold winter day. Unless you live in
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  Speaker 1: like Arizona or something. I don't know, maybe it's not
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  Speaker 1: needed down there, but if you're up north like me,
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  Speaker 1: you need a cup of coffee today for sure. All right,
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  Speaker 1: let's grab those things and give reverence to the reading
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  Speaker 1: of God's word. Let the elders who rule well be
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  Speaker 1: counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in
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  Speaker 1: the word and in teaching. For the scriptures say you
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  Speaker 1: shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain,
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  Speaker 1: and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don't receive
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  Speaker 1: an accusation against an elder, accept at the word of
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  Speaker 1: two or three witnesses. Those who sin reprove in the
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  Speaker 1: sight of all that the rest may also be in fear.
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  Speaker 1: I command you, in the sight of God and the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ and the Chosen Angels, that you observe
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  Speaker 1: these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. Lay hands
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  Speaker 1: hastily on no one. Don't be a participant in other
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  Speaker 1: people's sins. Keep yourself pure, Be no longer a drinker
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  Speaker 1: of water only, but use a little wine for your
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  Speaker 1: stomach's sake and for your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins
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  Speaker 1: are evident, preceding them to judgment, and some also follow
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  Speaker 1: later in the same way. Also, there are good works
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  Speaker 1: that are obvious, and those that are otherwise can't be hidden.
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  Speaker 1: So I've been going to church for quite some time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I'm thirty two years old, and I've visited
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  Speaker 1: a lot of different churches in my life, and grew
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  Speaker 1: up in the church, and now I'm married to an elder.
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  Speaker 1: And there's generally two extremes that I've consistently seen throughout
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  Speaker 1: my life. When it comes to people's idea of the pastor.
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  Speaker 1: Either people think the pastor can do no wrong. He
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  Speaker 1: is completely perfect. Everything he says is straight from God's lips.
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  Speaker 1: He can't possibly make any mistakes or sin. That's the
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  Speaker 1: first extreme. And then the other extreme that I see
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  Speaker 1: are people who are like the pastor, can't do anything right.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't say anything inspired, he sins all the time,
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  Speaker 1: no matter what he's doing, and we hate him and
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  Speaker 1: we're going to leave the church. Those are the two
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  Speaker 1: extremes that I've always seen. But in our passage for today,
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  Speaker 1: Paul's talking about a much more moderate approach when viewing
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  Speaker 1: the pastor and how we should treat him. It says
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  Speaker 1: in verse seventeen, let the elders who rule well be
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  Speaker 1: counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in
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  Speaker 1: the word and in teaching. So that word elders, as
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  Speaker 1: we've previously established in the last chapter, this would be
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  Speaker 1: any man that has a pastoral position in the church.
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  Speaker 1: That is who Paul is talking about. In Paul's day,
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  Speaker 1: there was not one pastor that ruled everything like we
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  Speaker 1: see in most American churches nowadays. Instead, there were multiple
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  Speaker 1: people who had a pastoral lead. It was a group
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  Speaker 1: of men that actually led the church instead of one
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  Speaker 1: single individual, because it's a much healthier way to do church.
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  Speaker 1: You know, giving all the power to one man is
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  Speaker 1: not good for anybody. It's not good for the church.
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  Speaker 1: It's not even good for the pastor because the pastor
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  Speaker 1: has a million responsibilities that he has to do all
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  Speaker 1: on his own. Giving that much power to one man
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  Speaker 1: isn't healthy either, because, as we know, power corrupts. So
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  Speaker 1: an elderboard is a very good thing to have in
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  Speaker 1: your church, and that is what Paul is talking about.
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  Speaker 1: He says, the elders who rule well should be counted
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  Speaker 1: worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the
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  Speaker 1: word and in teaching. So notice here Paul is not
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  Speaker 1: giving double honor to every single elder across the board.
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  Speaker 1: He's saying the elders who rule well should be counted
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  Speaker 1: worthy of double honor, and especially the elders who labor
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  Speaker 1: in the word and in teaching. So that would be
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  Speaker 1: talking about the preaching elders, the elders who comb through
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures, who learn everything they can about the Bible
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  Speaker 1: to present it to the congregation and teach them more
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  Speaker 1: about those scriptures. That is who Paul is talking about
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  Speaker 1: those men should be worthy of double honor only if
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  Speaker 1: they are also ruling well. So if they are not
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  Speaker 1: doing what they should be doing as elders. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we just talked about the qualifications for elders in the
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  Speaker 1: previous chapter. If one of those elders is not doing
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  Speaker 1: those qualifications, say he is greedy with money or he
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  Speaker 1: is hurting somebody in the church, that elder is not
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  Speaker 1: worthy of double honor. It's only the elders that are
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  Speaker 1: doing things the right way, that are hitting all of
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  Speaker 1: those qualifications and are teaching well. Those men are worthy
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  Speaker 1: of double honor. And when we see the word honor here,
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  Speaker 1: the Greek word is actually team ay. It looks like
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  Speaker 1: the word time in English, but it means honor, value, money, reward, price, price,
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  Speaker 1: set some It's not just talking about like giving somebody honor.
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  Speaker 1: This is talking about rewarding these elders financially. And Paul
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  Speaker 1: actually makes that very clear in the next verse, verse eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: For the scriptures say you shall not muzzle the ox
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  Speaker 1: when it treads out the grain, and the laborer is
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  Speaker 1: worthy of his wages. So both of those things that
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  Speaker 1: Paul just quoted were versus the first verse you shall
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  Speaker 1: not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain
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  Speaker 1: is found in the Book of Deuteronomy, and the second verse,
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  Speaker 1: the laborer is worthy of his wages is actually from
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's own lips. Those who work for the gospel should
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  Speaker 1: be paid. Even Jesus said that. The actual verse, if
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  Speaker 1: you're curious, is Luke ten to seven, where Jesus says this.
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  Speaker 1: He says, remain in the same house, eating and drinking
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  Speaker 1: things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of
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  Speaker 1: his wages. Do not go from house to house. And
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  Speaker 1: that was when Jesus sent his disciples out. He told them,
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  Speaker 1: go to these cities, teach the gospel, heal the sick,
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  Speaker 1: cast out demons, and remain in one house the entire time,
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  Speaker 1: and let them feed you. Take what they offer. You,
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  Speaker 1: take the room and board and the food, because the
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  Speaker 1: laborer is worthy of his wages. So even Jesus taught
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  Speaker 1: that people who work for the gospel message should be
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  Speaker 1: paid by the people receiving ying that message. It is work,
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  Speaker 1: and it is hard work that people deserve compensation for.
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  Speaker 1: First Corinthians nine goes a lot more in depth with this. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: Paul talks in detail about how pastors and apostles and
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  Speaker 1: teachers of the Word should be paid. So let's get
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  Speaker 1: into this one. Corinthians nine one through fourteen from the
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  Speaker 1: NIV version. Actually, Paul says, am I not free? Am
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  Speaker 1: I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Our Lord?
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  Speaker 1: Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
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  Speaker 1: Even though I may not be an apostle to others,
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  Speaker 1: surely I am to you, for you are the seal
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  Speaker 1: of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense
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  Speaker 1: to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we
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  Speaker 1: have the right to food and drink? Don't we have
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  Speaker 1: the right to take a believing wife along with us,
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  Speaker 1: as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and cephists.
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  Speaker 1: Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the
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  Speaker 1: right to not work for a living, who serves as
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  Speaker 1: a soldier at his own expense, who plants a vineyard
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  Speaker 1: and does not eat its grapesho, who tends of flock
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  Speaker 1: and does not drink the milk? Do I say this
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  Speaker 1: merely on human authority? Doesn't the law say the same thing,
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  Speaker 1: for it is written in the law of Moses. Do
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  Speaker 1: not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain?
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  Speaker 1: Is it about oxen? God is concerned? Surely he says
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  Speaker 1: this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us,
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  Speaker 1: because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do
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  Speaker 1: so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If
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  Speaker 1: we have sown spiritual seed among you? Is it too
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  Speaker 1: much if we reap a material harvest from you? If
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  Speaker 1: others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we
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  Speaker 1: have it all the more? But we did not use
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  Speaker 1: this rite. On the contrary, we put up with anything
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  Speaker 1: rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ. Don't you know
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  Speaker 1: that those who serve in the temple get their food
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  Speaker 1: from the temple, and that those who serve at the
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  Speaker 1: altar share in what is offered at the altar. In
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  Speaker 1: the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who
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  Speaker 1: preach the gospel should receive their living from the Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: And man that verse right there, verse fourteen, it says,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel
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  Speaker 1: should receive their living from the Gospel. So yes, your
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  Speaker 1: pastor should be paid. He should be paid. And it
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  Speaker 1: is a shame that the majority of churches in America
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  Speaker 1: don't pay their pastors, or pay their pastors hardly anything
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  Speaker 1: at all. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying
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  Speaker 1: that this is fully the fault of the congregation of
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  Speaker 1: the church. There are some pastors that probably don't deserve
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  Speaker 1: to be paid. As Paul said himself, you know, in
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  Speaker 1: one Timothy five he said, only the elders that are
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  Speaker 1: serving well deserve this type of honor. So if there
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  Speaker 1: are pastors out there that are not serving the congregation well,
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  Speaker 1: they should not be getting paid. Because if you're just
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  Speaker 1: damaging the church, if you're just damaging the reputation of God,
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  Speaker 1: why would we honor you with anything at all. You
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  Speaker 1: deserve nothing. You deserve absolutely nothing. But the pastors that
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  Speaker 1: are serving the congregation well should absolutely have this double honor.
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  Speaker 1: And that's probably less pastors out there than we think,
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  Speaker 1: which is why Paul talks about, you know, elders before
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  Speaker 1: they even become elders, they need to be tested, they
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  Speaker 1: need to show that they're going to be a good
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  Speaker 1: pastor in the future. So in America, there is a
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  Speaker 1: problem with too many people that should not be pastors
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  Speaker 1: becoming pastors. Absolutely we have that problem. But if you
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  Speaker 1: do find a good pastor in a church where the
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  Speaker 1: Bible is taught, then yes, I do believe that pastor
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  Speaker 1: should be paid. And that's actually commanded by God in
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  Speaker 1: one Corinthians nine. So it is not wrong or unbiblical
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  Speaker 1: at all for a church to pay their pastor. It's
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  Speaker 1: actually unbiblical to say that the pastor doesn't deserve to
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  Speaker 1: be paid if he is a good pastor. That's a
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  Speaker 1: shame and it should not happen. But going back to
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  Speaker 1: one Timothy five, let's talk more about how we should
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  Speaker 1: be treating our pastors. In the church, verse nineteen, it says,
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  Speaker 1: don't receive an accusation again instant elder, accept at the
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  Speaker 1: word of two or three witnesses. All right, So, going
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  Speaker 1: back to those two extremes that I talked about at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode, the pastor can do nothing wrong,
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  Speaker 1: and the second extreme is that the pastor can do
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  Speaker 1: nothing right. Here's what Paul says, don't receive an accusation
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  Speaker 1: against an elder, accept at the word of two or
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  Speaker 1: three witnesses. There are a lot of people that love
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  Speaker 1: to hear negative things about pastors. They just want to
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  Speaker 1: hear all the dirty details about these terrible pastors that
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  Speaker 1: do all sorts of horrible things. They want to hear
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  Speaker 1: that because Satan really wants to target and attack pastors.
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  Speaker 1: He loves to do it because good pastors are effective.
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  Speaker 1: So Satan really likes to stir up conflict specifically with pastors,
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  Speaker 1: and Paul is encouraging the church. Hey, don't listen to
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  Speaker 1: gossip about your pastor unless it has genuine evidence behind it.
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  Speaker 1: Like if two or three witnesses come forth and say
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  Speaker 1: we saw the pastor do this type of sin, then
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  Speaker 1: those witnesses should be given first priority above the pastor.
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  Speaker 1: So don't listen to any kind of gossip unless there's
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  Speaker 1: actual evidence brought forth. And when that evidence is brought forth,
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  Speaker 1: that is when you can listen to an accusation against
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  Speaker 1: your pastor. And man, isn't that backward In a lot
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  Speaker 1: of churches nowadays, you know, going to the other extreme
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  Speaker 1: where the pastor can do no wrong. We see this
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  Speaker 1: happen so many times where witnesses come forward and they're like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I was abused by the pastor when I
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  Speaker 1: was twelve, and the church either doesn't listen to these
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  Speaker 1: accusations or tries to silence these people bringing forth these
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  Speaker 1: accusations because the pastor, he can't do anything wrong. He
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  Speaker 1: is a perfect angel, sent straight down from the hands
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  Speaker 1: of God. That's why what Paul's talking about here is
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  Speaker 1: the perfect balance between these two extremes. Don't listen to
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  Speaker 1: too much gossip about your pastor, but if real evidence
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  Speaker 1: is brought forth, listen to that. That is very important.
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  Speaker 1: And if that evidence is found to be true, here's
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  Speaker 1: what Paul says to do in verse twenty. Those who
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  Speaker 1: sin reprove in the sight of all that the rest
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  Speaker 1: also may be in fear. So the evidence that is
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  Speaker 1: true against these pastors, those pastors, those elders are supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be publicly reproved in front of the entire congregation.
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  Speaker 1: And here's why, so that the rest may be in fear.
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  Speaker 1: The rest is talking about the rest of the elders.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be publicly shamed, humiliated, reproved in front
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  Speaker 1: of everybody because that hurts your pride. And also you're
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  Speaker 1: digging up stuff that you wanted to keep secret. Nobody
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  Speaker 1: wants this to happen to them. So if this does happen,
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  Speaker 1: the other elders will make sure that they watch their steps.
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  Speaker 1: But it will also be good for the church as well,
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  Speaker 1: because people who stood up for that pastor in spite
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  Speaker 1: of this evidence will be shamed as well well. So
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  Speaker 1: the entire congregation will be in fear, is what it says,
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  Speaker 1: when you actually reprove these sins in the sight of all.
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  Speaker 1: But then in verse twenty one, Paul brings it back
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  Speaker 1: again to the middle. He says straight to Timothy, I
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  Speaker 1: command you, in the sight of God and the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and the chosen angels, that you observe these
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  Speaker 1: things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. So he says, Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: I command you insight of the Father, and in sight
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, and in sight of the angels that are
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  Speaker 1: at your church, Because angels do come to our church services.
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  Speaker 1: We talked about that in First Corinthians. What was it eight,
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  Speaker 1: something like that angels do in fact attend and observe
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  Speaker 1: church services. He says, Timothy, I command you, in front
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  Speaker 1: of God and the angels, that you observe these things
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  Speaker 1: without prejudice, and do nothing by partiality. So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Timothy needed to be a neutral person in all of this,
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  Speaker 1: say he liked this elder, that these accusations are brought
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  Speaker 1: forth against he should not try to get that elder
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  Speaker 1: out of these problems just because of his friendship with
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  Speaker 1: that elder. But on the flip side, let's say Timothy
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  Speaker 1: didn't like an elder and baseless accusations are brought against
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  Speaker 1: this elder, maybe Timothy, without looking into them, is like,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, I don't like this guy anyway. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just going to listen to this gossip brought forward, even
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  Speaker 1: if it isn't you know, real, I'm just going to
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  Speaker 1: take it at face value because I don't like this
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  Speaker 1: guy anyway, and he probably deserves it. So not saying
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  Speaker 1: Timothy would do that, I don't think he would. But
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  Speaker 1: the point is is that you know, Timothy was teaching
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the church in Macedonia how they should
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  Speaker 1: be functioning. And so when Paul writes these words, this
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  Speaker 1: isn't just for Timothy. This is for Timothy to teach
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  Speaker 1: to the church, to tell them to remain impartial. Don't
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  Speaker 1: show partiality to anybody, whether you like the person or
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  Speaker 1: dislike the person. Don't show partiality. That is not right
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  Speaker 1: in the eyes of God. And then he says in
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty two, lay hands hastily on no one. Don't
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  Speaker 1: be a participant in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure.
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  Speaker 1: And this actually ties in perfectly with the partiality thing,
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  Speaker 1: because laying hands hastily on somebody that means to make
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: them an elder or a leader in the church without
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: properly vetting them first. And man, a lot of churches
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that's what they do. You know, they're looking for people
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: to help. They get really excited because somebody comes into
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the church that's brand new and they seem like a
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: good person that just you know, is gung ho about God.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: And they immediately give this new bie a whole bunch
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: of responsibility, and a year or two down the line,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: this person destroys everything because they weren't properly vetted. That
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: is how church hurt happens is by putting leaders in
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: place that should not be leaders in the first place.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Churches need to vet more than they do. And that's
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: what Paul's telling Timothy right here. You can avoid most
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: of this if you just properly vet your people, Like
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: if you get elders in that truly understand God's word,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that are truly qualified to be elders, most of these
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: problems will just go away on their own. But Paul continues.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: He says, don't be a participant in other people's sins.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: So how do you be a participant in somebody's sins.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: This doesn't necessarily mean that you go off and do
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a sin with this person. This could be turning a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: blind eye to a sin that somebody is doing. That's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: a way to participate in a sin, especially if you
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: are a leader in the church. Say a pastor in
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the church knows that one of the elders is sinning
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and just tries to sweep it under the rug. That's
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: a way to participate in somebody's sin. You are participating
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: in the damage and hurt that that elder is doing
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to the church. So when you see a true sin
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that somebody is committing, especially if it's an elder, the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: church should not be part anticipating in that sin by
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: ignoring it, sweeping it under the rug, or trying to
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: blame the victim. That is so wrong to do. Paul says,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: you need to keep yourself pure by not doing those things.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: So even if you're not participating in the same sin
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that this elder, in my example, is doing, you're still
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: not keeping yourself pure, You're still participating in the sin
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that that person is doing, and that is wrong. So
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: now Paul moves away from the talk on elders and
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: talks directly to Timothy himself. He says, Timothy, be no
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: longer a drinker of water only, but use a little
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. So
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: apparently Timothy was somebody who is sick all the time.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And man, I feel it. I feel it, Timothy. I
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm sick all the time. You guys know
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: that last year I was sick like every other month.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: And actually I'm just getting over a cold now, so
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I guess that trend is continuing. I'm just going to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: get sick every two months. But Timothy, he was sick often,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and it kind of sounds like he was sick with
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: stomach issues. And it could be because water in Paul's
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: day was not very pure. You know, there's a lot
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of junk in the water, and wine would have been
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit more safe. So a lot of people
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: guess actually that Timothy, for whatever reason, was abstaining from wine,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: possibly to set an example for other people. Drinking wine
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: is not a sin. It is not a sin unless
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you go and get drunk. We know that in scripture
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: it says do not drink in excess, do not drink
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: to get drunk, do not be drunk with wine at all. Actually,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: but drinking wine is not a sin, as we know,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: because Jesus himself drank wine, which is why Paul tells Timothy,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: you don't have to abstain from wine, Timothy, because you
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: are constantly getting sick and the water could be contributing
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to that. So drinks some wine for the sake of
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: your stomach, because it's just safer. It's just safer to do.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: And nowadays, you know, our water here in the West
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: is pretty clean. You can pretty much go any place
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and drink water straight out of the faucet without much concern.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So the lesson for us nowadays is we should be
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: taking care of ourselves. We should be taking care of
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: our bodies because being healthy is obviously very helpful for
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: us if we're going to spread the gospel message. This
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: is a labor. As Paul said, we should be trying
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to have healthy bodies and not feel sick all the time,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: but take care of ourselves. Then, in verses twenty four
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and twenty five. To conclude, Paul says, some men's sins
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: are evident, preceding them to judgment, and some also follow
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: later in the same way. Also, there are good works
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: that are obvious and those that are otherwise can't be hidden.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: A lot of people when they sin, those sins are
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: very evident, like you can see them straight away. Other
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: people you can't see the sins so clearly, be because
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: they hide them very well, and eventually those sins are
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: going to come out in the open. But the same
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: thing goes for good works. There are some people who
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you can see all the good works that they are doing.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to good works that you don't
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: see people doing, Paul says, those are actually going to
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: be revealed. They can't be hidden. They will always come
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: out in the open. And that is why we shouldn't
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: be doing good works for the praise of people, because
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: eventually God is going to praise us. He is going
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: to bring those good works out in the open for
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: people to see. Even if we're doing it where only
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: God can see it, we are secretly working for God.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Eventually everything is going to be shown, is what Paul
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: is getting at. So don't worry if you're not getting
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: praise for all the things that you're doing. God sees it,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and the praise that we're going to receive from God
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: is so much better than any human praise we could
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: ever get. Faithful listeners. As always, before we end the
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: episode for today, please take a listen to a word
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: from one or two sponsors. All right, everyone, Well, I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed First Timothy five. I quite enjoyed this chapter.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I thought it was fun to talk about. I like
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: delving into the logistics of how churches should be run,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and this is essentially all this chapter was talking about,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: is how to effectively run a church. I love it,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: so I hope that you guys enjoyed it as well.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: We'll be finishing up First Timothy very soon, probably not
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: on Thursday, but likely next week. And yes, there will
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: be an episode Thursday, even though it's New Year's Day.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I took a lot of time off this month only
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: because of my vacation that I took with my husband
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and then Christmas. So yes, we will be starting on
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Timothy six on Thursday, so I hope to see all
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: of you guys then six am or whenever you choose
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: to wake up and listen, and then also tomorrow don't
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: forget there's going to be an episode from Second Chronicles,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: but we'll get into that tomorrow morning. Until then, happy
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: listening and God bless. I just want to take a
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.