Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. That'd be Thur Thursday. Thursday, yep. October 16th. We're we on the downside of October? That's crazy. Yep. Yep. We've got Fall Fest coming up. We've got baptisms this Sunday after church, after church. So don't leave. Don't leave. We're gonna bring brisket out here. Is that true? I wish. No, but burgers. Yeah. I don't know Bun. Exactly what we're doing. We're, we've got food planned for you. We will feed you. So we're gonna have lunch. You'll bring your hot dogs. We'll bring the buns. Yeah. There it's. Now we'll feed you. But this is important for us. And so let me just invite you, plan on staying a little bit longer after the normal church service ends and celebrate what God has done in the lives of those getting baptized. You will not regret it. It's awesome for your kids to see this too. And so everybody's gonna be there. We're gonna go outside underneath that blue awning, just outside the worship center and we're gonna celebrate the baptisms that we have lined up. And these are great testimonies. I've been able to hear the majority of them and I look forward to to you getting able. Being able to hear them as well. So join us Sunday after the service, stick around a little bit longer, eat some food with us, have lunch with us, with your family, and then we will watch some people get baptized. That's a great thing to do and a great use of your time after church. Okay. I have a couple questions that have been burning on my heart and mind, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Are you ready for this? I think so. Are you sure you're ready for this? I don't know. Okay. I can't help but read the news. And find some other pastor, youth leader mm-hmm. Who's done something shady, and I'll just leave it at that so that nobody's having to filter their kids' ears. But is everybody understanding what I'm saying? Just say yes, if you're hearing me and understanding what I'm saying. Okay, thank you. So these youth pastors and these pastors are doing things that everyone is questioning how are these guys in the pulpit? How are these guys leading? Other people? Some are getting arrested and booked in different counties and different states because of things that they've done a long time ago. Others are stepping down willingly and saying, oh I'm resigning. Even locally, one of the big churches near us, one of their top pastors or the lead pastor rather resigned because of infidelity and something other stuff that was going on that we don't know about. It seems like everywhere. In Texas and across the country, you have men who are resigning in disgrace because of things that they've been doing. They're being arrested, they're being charged with awful things. And then you have other guys that just they're spending money poorly. You got guys that are fleecing the flock. Asking them to give these large donations. There's no accountability for their money. There's no accountability or tracking for where the money goes when people are investing into the church and people are just being bamboozled. And so there's lots of people that are doing podcasts and they're making movies and documentaries about how corrupt the church is. And so you should leave the church and do your own thing because these men are phonies anyway. These guys are all off their rockers. They're just egocentric self-affirming or self-promoting, rock stars. They think they're above you. They're just using you. Lots of things are being said about Christ Church right now and her leaders, pastor pj, please offer some sanity here because I, man, I would understand an unbeliever. Looking at us and saying, those are just gum bags, and it's just a matter of time before we find out who they are. What do we do with all this? How do we think through these things? And what do we do when we see a guy fall and another guy fall and another guy fall? And you know, the guy at the school, one of my son's schools, he just got arrested again for some shady behavior. How do we deal with all this stuff? I think the first thing to remember is that Christ loves the church and that God loves the church and that the church is part of God's design, part of God's plan. The church is the bride of Christ. Acts 2028 says he shed his blood for the church, and so we. Have to establish as a baseline, as Christians, that we should love the church and that we can't give up on the church. That said, we should hold the leaders of the church to a high standard and scripture holds the leaders to, of the church to a high standard. And so when we see things happening like this there's nothing that says that we should just sit here and think, well, it's fine. Whatever, everybody sins, let's just move past this. I think there's. Reason for us to grieve. There's reason for us to look at the world's reaction to things and say, yeah I do get it. I do understand why you're responding this way, because what's happening is wrong, and it's tragic and it's awful, and it's not at all what God's design is. I think the other thing that we have to be careful of is not to take the example of some and assume the whole must be that way as well. And so that's the temptation. Say it again, man, that's the temptation because it's the stories that are making the headlines but. We have to be guarded, to say against saying in our hearts, well, that must be what every single pastor is like. Right? Because not every single pastor is like that. And I would say the majority of pastors, the vast majority of pastors are not like that. But again, the news is not gonna report on the guy as Pastor Rod, you were saying a moment ago when you and I were just talking, he's not gonna report on the passer of the. Baptist church in, north Texas that's been pastoring for the last 30 years faithfully and has remained faithful to his wife and has been a man of upstanding integrity because it's not gonna move the needle. But there are plenty of pastors out there like that. And our job as pastors is to strive after the high calling that got us called us to, and the qualifications of being an elder and a pastor. And we should have. Relationships with other people in the church, and we should have a degree of transparency with one another in the church. No man should be an island unto himself. We need to have relationships where we're known by one another and known by other pastors and where there, there are no. Concealed secrets. And if, for example, you brought up the idea of like, Hey, if you want to see my location, I'll share my location with you. Yeah. If a pastor's like, I don't wanna share my location with you, I feel uncomfortable about that. Well, why not? Same thing with finances, right? I've had a conversation recently with somebody in the church. They were like, Hey I'm just curious what are our percentages and how do they break down of where the money and the tithes and offerings go? And I understand the hard behind that. And so we had a conversation where we were talking about this is kind of. A percentage breakdown of how we're spending the money that's being given towards the funds of the church and the general fund of the church. So I would say the underlying thing that we have to keep in mind is Jesus loves the church. God loves the church. Jesus himself said the gates of hell are not gonna prevail against the church. So the church is an institution is not going anywhere, nor should we want it to go anywhere. The response that says, well, we should just give up on church and do things. Solo and at home and be lone ranger Christians is antigo and it's anti Jesus. It's against what Jesus has for the church. And so that can't be our response either, but to say, Hey church we expect better and we wanna do better is a valid response. And we should strive for that for sure. Man, this is a heavy conversation and there's so many questions that I would have as a follow up, but I let me just say this 'cause I know we wanna cover some scripture too. We don't only wanna talk about these hard things. You should expect your pastors to live above reproach. Yes. That is a qual, that's a qualification to be a pastor. You have to expect that. Now with that, this does not mean perfection. This does not mean he never loses his temper. Doesn't ever mean that he doesn't sin in grievous ways. Although even with that, when I say grievous, I don't mean like, oh, he accidentally murdered somebody and now he's repentant. We're gonna put him back in the bullet next Sunday. There are certain sins that do disqualify a pastor, even if they're not technically disqualifying sins. Mm-hmm. Again, see, murder for instance. Right? You should expect a high threshold for what your pastor brings to the table, right? Which means as a rule, when you're interacting with pastors, when you're looking for a pastor, let's say you end up leading Compass Bible Church. At some point when you're looking for a pastor, you should be looking for a man that is above approach, mature wise, godly, and has a track record for faithfulness. Yeah, this is important. I'm not saying that every young person who fills a pulpit is faithful in the same way that, I'm not saying every old person who fills a pulpit is faithful, but you should be looking for a track record of faithfulness that people can attest to, and this is why it's so important that you're part of a church with pastors that have been formally recognized by other pastors. You should not go to Jim Bob's Church of the basement because if Jim Bob's just starting a church by himself without any reference to a prior church where other pastors have said, you know what? We agreed. Let us lay hands on you. Paul told Timothy, be slow to lay hands on other leaders because this is a way that you're endorsing them and that's what you want. You want, A pastor has been endorsed who has a track record of faithfulness and who lives a life above Reapproach. You should be able to see that. You'll know him by his fruits. As Jesus said, and therefore, it's really important that you find the right kind of people, find the right kind of godly man, and usually not exclusively, but usually this is gonna be the kind of guy that loves the Lord, loves his Bible, and loves a flock. You're gonna see that through his life and through his leadership. Pray that you find that, and if you have that at a church, man, thank God for that and pray that you never lose it because it's not taken for granted. God's church, as you mentioned, PPJ. He loves his church. He loves his people, but not all who are in the church are his people. And I'm not saying that those who sin are not. I'm just saying that those who are in the church are not always his people. There are people who get into the church and take advantage of people, and those people should not be in the church. There's church discipline for just such as an occasion. But pray for these things. It's heavy on my heart. Maybe it's heavy on yours. It would be really helpful if you guys would pray for us as a church and pray for the churches in and around your area for those men to be above reproached. Because when these people fall. And it's publicized. All of us hurt everyone in the church. We get slander, we get mud on our faces because it looks like all of us are doing the same thing. Yeah, yeah. And the other thing too that we wanna be careful about is sweeping it under the rug and making it no big deal when it does happen. There have been churches and pastors who have fallen in ways that are disqualifying who have been restored into the office of the pastor, and that's not okay either. And so it's, when it's exposed, it needs to be carried to the furthest end of discipline, which is that man is no longer fit for the role, no longer fit for the pastorate. And so you don't wanna be following a guy who has disqualified himself in the past. And a church has said, well, it's okay. We're gonna put him back in because look, he's repentant. That's, that doesn't work. That's not how it is. Well, okay so there was a family, a church family rather, that when their pastor confessed to. Bad relationships. Yes. They were saying, Hey, praise God that he was repentant and he's, he was, you know, he was honest about that man. That's what grace is for guys. That's why God gives us grace. We need it. Yes. And isn't it wonderful if we put him back and he's now a trophy of God's grace to showcase how great God's grace is. Yeah, grace is great and praise God that he repented and that it's genuine. But he's the standard for the office of the pastor. He has removed himself from qualifications for that. So it's not that he can't still be a trophy of God's grace. He can, through humbly being somebody who attends that church and loves his brothers and sisters in Christ and serves faithfully in the body in whatever capacity that he's able to do that. And it's just being a pastor is no longer on the table in that regard. Yeah, it really does a disservice to the pastorate when you say, oh, he's just a sinner like the rest of us, right? Yes. Yes. But no, no. God calls the pastoral leaders to exercise godliness in their leadership. And again, if you don't see that in your pastors, you need to reevaluate where you are. Yeah, you should expect that. Yeah, a hundred percent. Let's jump into Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Jesus is going to gather the 12 and he is going to send them out. This is interesting because he imbued them with authority that we don't see today. And so this is one of the reasons I have this authority. Do you have this authority? I do. Okay. Just I haven't mentioned it before. 'cause I'm humble like that, but I don't know what you got. Okay. Well I didn't get this. I got a badge, so I don't know where you got this a badge at? Got a badge. I got an ID card. There's a club. Okay. I. Is this what they give it at your school? They did. Okay. Dr. Mueller gave it to me personally. So, I think we've talked about this before, but the Office of Apostle is no longer in existence, right? That's right. And so that's probably good for us to clarify. The apostles were unique. They were eyewitnesses of the re resurrected Christ eye eyewitnesses of his ministry. The Apostle Paul was, I believe the last. Of the apostles because he, of his interaction with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. But these are the 12. So the 12 disciples at the time are given authority over these unclean spirits. And they're also given a charge to go out and teach. And so they're gonna do that in concert with, those two things in concert with one another, they're going to exercise these, this miraculous authority and also preach and teach. And I think it's the same reason why in the early church, you see the miracles still happening during that time. And miraculous sign gifts as well, is it was a validation of the message. And so as they're going out, they're able to do these things so that the people will listen to them and listen to what they have to say. And so that's what's happening here as we see Jesus sending out the 12 and as they're going to these various homes and various houses, he's sending them out throughout the region. And telling them, Hey the house that receives you stay there. The house that rejects you, you know what? You can shake the dust off your sandals. It's a sign of judgment against them and move on to the next town. One quick note here, as Jesus sends 'em out, he sends 'em out with specific instructions that were temporary. Part of these temporary instructions were to go into each of these places and verse nine, acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts. No bag for your journey or to Tunics or Sandoz or a staff for the labor deserves his wages. And Jesus is saying here, you guys are gonna live off of the generosity of people who you're ministering to. They're gonna take care of your needs, so don't sweat the needs outside of that. Now, if that sounds familiar, it's because. Paul picks us up in one Timothy chapter five. He says, using the Old Testament. And this passage here, he says this in one Timothy five, verse 18. He says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the labor deserves his wages. And what he's saying there is actually in context to verse 17, he says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. That's a reference to their payment. Especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. And then he says, I'm gonna use Jesus words here. The labor deserves his food, and I'm gonna use the Old Testament teaching about the ox, and I'm gonna say, pastors should be paid. There's no shade on a vocational pastor versus a bivocational pastor. They're both different roles for different seasons and opportunities. Being a pastor who works a full-time job and then pastors part-time, there's a need for that and there's a time for that. But. As I heard somebody recently do or suggest that's a better and more honorable role than a full-time pastor. I think you have here in scripture that that's not the case. Jesus himself supports the idea that you should pay pastors and you want their full attention. You want them to be able to go to the hospital, you want them to go to, to be with you when times are hard. You want that kind of flexibility from a pastor. Anything else on that PPJ? No, I would agree with you. That's what I was gonna bring up. When you have full-time pastors paid by the church, you have their full attention. And that's one of the reasons why that's our position here with Compass is we wanna be able to pay our pastors full-time to be able to do what they do because it's, it is a high calling and it does demand a lot, and we want their full attention and you need their full attention as well as part of the flock. So, yeah, I would agree with that. I think the other temporary instruction that he gives them is when he tells 'em at the very outset, Hey, don't go anywhere among the Gentiles. Only go to the House of Israel. Which Jesus had come. John chapter one says, he came to his own, but his own did not receive him. This is part of the rejection of Christ, is the rejection of the apostles. As the apostles are being sent out here as well. From here, he goes on and talks about persecution that's gonna come in verses 16 through 23. And this is not necessarily persecution, they're gonna. Encounter right now, but persecution during the church age, and I think it stretches even into today some of the things that he's talking about here, being sheep in the midst of wolves. We're gonna be talking about that a little bit on Sunday. Peter's gonna talk even more about that as we go on in one Peter being persecuted for the sake of Christ. And so this persecution is being foretold by Jesus as a source of comfort for them. So know that this is gonna happen so that when it happens. You're gonna be able to endure. And that's what God is promising to them. In fact, he says in verse 19 through 20, he says, don't worry. In that day, in that hour, when you're being called to give an account for your faith, what are you gonna say for, it's not you who speak, but this, but the father, the spirit of your father speaking through you. And I think that continues today. I've talked with believers that are like, man I don't know what. I would do if I was put in this situation. And I always go back to Columbine because that little girl in Columbine that kind of became the legend of that whole situation when she was forced, in a very dire circumstance to say whether or not she trusted Jesus. She said she did. People have always said, I don't know if I would have the courage to do that. And I think this is a passage that gives us the confidence to say, I think we would, because I think the spirit within us would give us the boldness that we need in those moments and in those times I think we all hope so. Yeah, we pray so, yeah. Yeah. Matthew 10 22. You'll be hated by all for the sake of Jesus' name. We're gonna be talking about that this weekend, just this idea that even as Christians, we're going to live honorable lives. That the world are gonna see us honorable and yet speak against us as evil doers. And hear Jesus is saying The world's gonna hate you. And that's evidence of that e Even when it doesn't make sense for the world to hate us, the world's still gonna hate us. And Jesus is telling his disciples that, and by extension he's telling us that as well. And it's because of where he goes towards the end of the, this chapter where he says I came to bring division. Because he came to say I'm calling you for full allegiance To me that the allegiance that I want you to have. In me is greater than allegiance you should have to any other earthy relationship. Wow. And so there's a stark difficulty in what Jesus is calling us to the following, Jesus is going to cost you relationships with the world. And some of those are relationships with people in your own house. But it's, the question we have to ask in the end is it worth it? Is it worth it to follow Christ? Are we willing to count the cost and give ourselves over to him and follow him? Yeah. Jesus says these famous words here. Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Which of course means you're dying to yourself on a regular basis and I don't know anybody that really wants to die who has a death wish. We naturally resist this, but this is exactly what Jesus calls us to. Yeah. The idea though is that even though you're dying to yourself, you're alive in Christ and that life is far better than anything else that you could produce on your own. Yeah, absolutely. Well, hey, this is a heavier episode talking about what we talked about at the beginning and then talking about persecution and the world hating us towards the end, but. Yes. Well, let's end at least on a high note here, verse 42, truthfulness, whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water, because he's a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Little acts of faithfulness will be rewarded. Yeah. Even the smallest one. And that's something that we can look forward to. God rewards your faithfulness, and this is one reason why not to throw away your marriage and not to do something silly or stupid that you'll regret and. Cause the church to suffer for little faithfulness is rewarded and God will be sure that he rewards You and I suspect very generously for your faithfulness. So don't lose heart, Christian, stay the course. Keep your eyes fixed on Christ. Amen. He's worth it. Yeah. Let's pray. God, by your grace, may we all. Have that be true of us? May we stay the course, may we continue to press on. May we continue to grow in godliness and holiness, and may we live lives that do make Christ look good in the eyes of the world, even though they're gonna hate us, God, we want them to on that day of visitation, still give glory to you as a result of the life that we lived to testified to the greatness of Jesus. And so we're gonna see this weekend in baptisms. People stand up and testify to how God has transformed their lives. Lord, that is not just for the baptism tank. That's for. Every single day for us to live a life that speaks to that reality. And so help us to do that, God and we pray that you, through our testimony and through our witness, draw more and more to yourself. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Keep in your Bibles tuning again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Yes, I'll see you then guys. Bye.

​Well, thank you for listening to another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, folks! We're honored to have you join us. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about our Church at compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review, to rate, or to share this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on, and we hope to see you again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said