Dimensions
Spiritual Authority vs. Spiritual Abuse (Part 2)
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you have been with me last time, we had a great time discussing spiritual authority versus spiritual abuse. We talked a little bit about what was going on with Pastor Rod Parsi, pastor Greg Locke and all the other things. Since that time, other things have popped up. Pastor Robert Morris oh my goodness, what's going on in his world? And I want to talk to you more today about how spiritual authority and spiritual abuse, how both of them, operate in people's lives. Unfortunately, spiritual abuse happens, but we're gonna talk about spiritual authority, what it's like to have family going on in ministry as well, and so many others on this episode today of dimensions. It's going to be a blessing. Stay tuned, we'll be back in just a moment. Well, praise God, it's good to be back with you all here today. I am so excited about this next episode here on Dimensions and I can't wait to get in with all of y'all today. It is going to be so good and I am glad that you have tuned in. It's going to be phenomenal. So I'm glad that you tuned in and I want you to take a minute right now, if you would, to take a moment and hit that little like subscribe, follow, share button, whatever it is that you've got to push. Push that right now and get that going. Let's get some people on here with us and get this information out. I'm telling you what you are going to be blessed by what I'm about to share today. I'm telling you it is going to be outstanding Spiritual authority versus spiritual abuse.
Speaker 1:It's happening all over the spiritual abuse stuff that's been going on in people's lives. The way that people have been abused spiritually. Dealing with spiritual authority If you grew up like I did, you've experienced some of that as well where people just have so much control over people's lives, they're a spiritual authority. I'm totally for it and I believe spiritual authority is very, very important to the life of the believer and it's important for each and every one of us. But very important to the life of the believer and it's important for each and every one of us. But spiritual authority can also be abused. Abuse is abnormal use. It comes from a root word and a word abnormal ab or abnormal use. So when you're using something abnormally, that's technically abuse. You're using it for a reason that it was never intended to be used for, and so please take a minute like, subscribe, follow, share If you haven't gone to every.
Speaker 1:I think we're on almost every platform imaginable for Dimensions podcast. This is a video cast here, but if you have not downloaded the Dimensions podcast in your Apple store, your Android store, spotify, whatever that you're on, we're on all of them. I think almost every single one of them uh, go there and download it and then, whatever that you're on, we're on all of them. I think almost every single one of them. Go there and download it and then make sure that you subscribe to it and you'll get every one of my episodes. I'm going to be coming to you a lot more.
Speaker 1:I believe there's so much that I need to share, but you need to go get that and download that, because that's going to be a blessing to you, and I believe there's a lot of things that I'm going to be sharing with you. That's really going to be a blessing to your life. I'm really going to minister to you and that's why I'm on here. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to be a blessing to you. I want to pour into your life. I believe there are things that god's put in my spirit that are going to be important for your success as a believer, and that's why we call it dimensions, because you're going from one glory to the next. We're going to take you higher and higher from one level to the next level, from glory to glory, by the spirit of the Lord. So take a minute, like I said right now, and just like, subscribe, follow, share, go to YouTube, download the podcast so many different ways that you can stay up to date on what's going on. But I promise you this it will not be time ill spent. You will be blessed, you will be encouraged and you're going to be edified by the time that we spent here today, because a lot of people, you know we don't talk about spiritual authority anymore.
Speaker 1:You know, when I grew up, they talked about it all the time, man. I mean, I don't know if you were like me, but when I grew up, man, I was always afraid I was going to hell. I was afraid that I did something wrong. If you said something wrong in church, man, if you didn't walk, if you grew up and you had to raise your finger when you was walking through the aisle, if you didn't raise up that finger, you was going to be rebuked. So there was like an element of fear that came over a lot of people in the church and if you grew up in that time, in that era, you understand all of that.
Speaker 1:But you know the reality is, ladies and gentlemen, god doesn't, he hasn't given us a spirit of fear. We're not called to lead people by fear. We're not called to govern by fear. And God never anointed pastors to be tyrants. They are called to be leaders. They know scripture is true Touch not my anointed, do my prophets no harm. I believe that I don't believe you touch the offices of God. You don't become familiar with the offices of God, whether it's pastor, evangelist, prophet, pastor, teacher.
Speaker 1:But if you remember something Jesus spoke to, he said if any of you that he's talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, he said if you offend one of these little ones, it's better for you to cast a millstone around your neck and throw yourself into the sea than is defend one of my little ones. So I mean there's protection that goes both ways. Jesus was very clear when they went. If you remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery now that she committed adultery, they caught her in the very act of it and they brought her out and we're getting ready to stone her. What does Jesus do? He steps in and I think this is very profound. This shows a spiritual authority at its highest, just the incorrect way and the correct way. So of course, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They go through and they're ready to stone her, kill her. The law says this she needs to be killed.
Speaker 1:Jesus comes on the scene and begins to write in the dirt there, in the sand or whatever it was that he was at. And he's writing there and what I've heard it said before the Jews was writing down all the sins that everybody else committed. You know what you did. You know what you did. You know what you did, and the Bible says each one of them, one by one, walked out and then there was nobody left. He said where are your accusers? And she said there aren't any. He said neither do I condemn thee, but look at this here. I think this is very important Go and sin no more.
Speaker 1:Whether we're leaders, whether we are shepherds, whether we're sheep, because even shepherds need to be shepherded themselves. All of us, no matter what category you fit into, we are all going to need the grace of God in our lives. We're going to need the mercy of God. Let me mention that, because that's really lives. We're going to need the mercy of God. Let me mention that because that's really important. We're going to need mercy at times. What does that mean? You're going to see pastors and preachers fallen. The Bible says that in the end I believe it is in the book of Thessalonians that there would be a great falling away. I think it's first Thessalonians, chapter two, or second Thessalonians, chapter two I'm sorry it's one of those two there there or 2 Thessalonians 2, I'm sorry it's one of those two there. There will be a great falling away before Christ returns.
Speaker 1:We're seeing the humanity of men and women and one of the things I think is so important even though we have spiritual authority you know, as a pastor, as a minister we are still human beings. It doesn't mean that we're not held to a higher standard of living, because I'm gonna talk about that in a minute because we are. Because you know people talk about how those that rule well among you let them be counted worthy of double honor. I'm going to talk about that in a minute. What does that mean? People think it just means double finances. It's not. I'm going to break that down in a minute. Not that it doesn't have to do with being blessed financially, because it does, but there's more to that context than just that there, and so it's important that we do live a life of holiness, that we are an example, that we are fellow soldiers in Christ that lead the correct way with moral integrity. I agree with all of that. And when we're not, you know, unfortunately God's got to take his belt off and he deals with us. But as people, we all need to understand we are all going to need mercy at one point or another in our lives, every single one of us. You're going to need it, I'm going to need it, we're all going to need it and we all need to extend it.
Speaker 1:We don't see when people talk about thou shalt not judge. You know, that doesn't mean, ladies and gentlemen, that you can't ever correct. That doesn't mean that you can't ever speak to something in somebody's life. That doesn't mean you can't say, hey, that's not a correct way of living. That's not judging. Judging is this. It means bringing condemnatory correction to somebody without redemption. You're judging them. When you think about it, if you stand before the judge, you did something wrong, they sentence you. Well, basically, when I say judge not lest you be judged. He's saying don't sentence them unless you want to be sentenced. And the reality is it doesn't mean we can't correct, but the reality is is that we need to understand that in our correction and we talked about that last time Listen, if you didn't get the last time's podcast, go and get it, excuse me, go and check it out.
Speaker 1:You need to listen to part one because it's going to lead us into what part two we hear today, which I'm going to be talking about spiritual authority versus spiritual abuse. It is important that we understand there are two things there's condemnation and judgment. There's correction and conviction. Now, the difference between the two and just to quickly summarize it, the difference between the two is that correction and condemnation I'm sorry correction and conviction always has redemption attached to it. Condemnation and judgment doesn't have that. It's basically you're wrong, you're a bum, you're a loser, you're disqualified. It's it. How dare you? And that's it, and that's the message Should never have done it. It's just beat beep, beep, beep. It's like a shame-ridden correction They'll use, for lack of better words. Conviction and condemnation has with it Okay, it was wrong, you did wrong, but you know what he's the God of another chance. He'll give you another opportunity In light of everything that's been going on in the world.
Speaker 1:We take a look at the videos that surfaced and the audios that surfaced about Pastor Rod Parsley and you take a look at everything that's going on now with Pastor Robert Morris. Don't even get me going in on that one there, because that there to me, I am all for justice, don't get me wrong. If somebody did something wrong, they need to be dealt with. But I also think to people coming out 40 and 50 years later about things that have happened, I'm not a big fan of that, for one, I don't think it's the best way to go back. I mean, I don't know about y'all, but I can't remember what I did 40 days ago and I'll be trying to remember all of that. So how do you bring somebody to correction and things on that line when a lot of people can't remember and I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not condoning anything that happened, uh, and I don't have all the stories yet and you need both sides of the story to really judge correctly but what I am saying is people going back 30 and 40 years now, after his life's been established, and supposedly, um, they had worked all of that out amongst themselves and said they were okay with it. Now, 40 years later, they're coming out saying you need to step down from ministry. You know, I I guess we need all the details, obviously, but I'm not a big fan of that. I'm not a big fan. I'm like, if somebody does you wrong, go to them. The Bible makes it clear. Not 40 years later, after they've established their ministry, and now say let's run them through the dirt and all of that. You could have done that back in the eighties and let and dealt with what, however, needed to be dealt with back then. And I don't, I don't agree with people going way back then, you know, and saying, okay, now I'm ready to bring this stuff up. 40 years ago it happened. I'm upset. I have been wounded. I mean, they've done, moved on. This was when he was in his twenties. He's now in his sixties, you know. So I mean and I'm not saying that what he did is correct, but I will and when you're going to need all of this.
Speaker 1:So, dr Tony Evans, pastor Rod Parsley, bishop TD Jakes, there's an issue with Dr Creflo Dollar dealing with the tie. You know, we got to realize all of these guys and gals of the lady should fall out as well. We are all human beings, ladies and gentlemen, every one of us. Never should we condone the action, but we should never condemn a repentant person. As a matter of fact, you don't even have to condemn a unrepentant person, why John 3, 17 says they're already condemned. They're going to hell. Our job is to preach the good news, to get them to repent and to turn.
Speaker 1:Now, for those of you that may just be tuning in, I do want to mention this because you had heard this in part one, which leads me to my next. My first thing If you have not liked, subscribed, followed, shared, take a minute, listen. I'm telling you. There aren't many people addressing these types of things right now. How do we deal with men of God when they fall? How do we deal with men of God? What should be our stance as the church? And we're seeing so many things, so what should be our stance? That's what we're talking about right now. So I need you to take a minute, because I'm about to go deep with y'all on this and it's gonna be good. And then, if you haven't gotten the podcast, take a minute, download the Dimensions podcast in your favorite podcast store, because all of this, after the video cast, you're gonna go right to podcast will be blessed in Jesus name. So take a minute and go ahead and do this.
Speaker 1:So I've been addressing the different pastors and things that have gone on, not from a condemnatory place, because that's not my job. We don't condone the action. The actions need to be dealt with and they'll have to deal with it accordingly, based upon what they've done. But our job as the church is it needs to be redemptive. It needs to be redemptive and if you're watching right now by videocast, it typed that in there. We need to be redemptive. We don't need to condemn, we don't need to judge, neither do we need to condone. So I don't want people thinking like oh, it's okay, they're pastors. No, no, no, no, no. We're held to a higher standard. But we need to when it's even in the public eye, and when I say, unfortunately, it hurts, you know if you have to come to the public table if you're exposed.
Speaker 1:But let me say this as well Most of the time, ladies and gentlemen, when men and women of God have been exposed, it wasn't the first time that God tried to deal with them. There was something unrepentant that they continue to do. Now I'm not talking about people that came back 40 years later, 30 years later. You know, I don't know what the motive and the purpose behind all that is all the time, but I think that should also be looked at as well. But I also believe with it though, ladies and gentlemen, when we are exposed or things do come out, if it's in the present time or something that's happened in a time where we have to own, it's difficult, but we have to be willing to own that as individuals. So I talked about last time, too, how God never anoints you to destroy what he died for. I talked about when Moses struck the rock.
Speaker 1:I want to go into something right now and I want you to grab your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Timothy, chapter five. What do you do when your past is wrong? You don't agree or you don understand, because I think this is real important. You know nobody wants to talk about some of these things, but I think they're very, very important. What do I do? What if your pastor's wrong? What if he makes an error? And I don't have time to go back and go to part one, because I talked about what happens with the culture, and there's certain churches that have certain culture. There's only four reasons why you don't. But what happens when they are in one of those categories? Maybe it's unbiblical, and maybe it's something you don't understand or your pastor's wrong. How do you address them? I want to go to 1 Timothy, chapter five, because I know some of y'all have seen my pastor's wrong, this leader's wrong. How do I address that?
Speaker 1:There is a way to go about doing that and I want to start here in 1 Timothy, chapter 5. I want to look at verses 1 and 2, then 17 through 19. If you're there, type that right in that little chat box here for those that are watching it. It says 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 1, do not rebuke. Paul's writing to Timothy said do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers and younger women as sisters with all purity. Now jump down to verse number 17.
Speaker 1:Let the elders or pastors who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and doctrine, for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox which tre treads out the grain, and the laborer is worthy of his wages or is higher. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. So let me stop right there. This is important. I think this is very, very important Don't receive an accusation from an elder. So one of the things if you have somebody saying that this pastor did this, this pastor did that, there needs to be at least two or three witnesses before you receive that accusation and say, okay, that's official. So that's important.
Speaker 1:The scripture says here let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. Now I want to show you something here. Rule well has two Greek words here that are important. The word rule is proestime, which means to stand in front, to put in front or to manage. Now the word well is the word kalos, which means moral goodness mixed with beauty or excellence. Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 1:Rule well doesn't mean you're just leading the church. It means you're leading the church with moral excellence. You're leading the church morally correct. You're leading the church in a way. That's why I said double honor means not only are they preaching, but they're also living what they preach. This person is worthy of double honor.
Speaker 1:Why? Not only is it an honorable thing to preach the word, it's honorable, ladies and gentlemen, to live the life, the greatest testimony my wife has ever given me, which I pray, that I always keep it and pray for me as I pray for everyone else. She said he is who. He is in the pulpit, it's the same that he is at home. And I never confessed to be perfect. I'm not saying I'm perfect and that's why I don't judge, because see, listen, if you've really walked out this Christian walk, there are areas that you had to massage, develop, grow, repent, fall down, get back up, repent. You had to keep working and if, if, if, anybody needs mercy, it's me.
Speaker 1:People say why are you merciful with others? It doesn't mean you don't hold people to a standard. It doesn't mean that you don't hold people accountable. It doesn't mean you don't call a spade a spade, but when they fall, have you ever fallen? Have you ever made a mistake? Now it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt and it doesn't mean and I don't have time to go into this forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness requires the party that was offended to let go of the debt. Reconciliation requires does the person that committed the crime. Are they willing to do what it takes to win back the trust, the love, not even the love, the trust and the relationship, the intimacy that was once there. That may have been broken and it could be a lot of different things the way that you could look at that. But forgiveness deals with one party. Reconciliation deals with both.
Speaker 1:Are you following what I'm saying? And if you've ever made a mistake, you've needed forgiveness. And if you haven't made a mistake, you just did right there because you just lied, because we've all made errors, and when God has been so good to you to where he has blessed you in spite of yourself, and if you've ever had God give you mercy, which means he didn't give you what you did deserve. He should have took his belt off, he should have disqualified you, but he didn't. If you've ever had that, then you need to give that to somebody else. And if you've never had that, somewhere along the line, there's some major issues going on in your world because everybody has been disqualified at one point or another.
Speaker 1:So now we see all of these nationally known ministers, some of their humanity leaking out. How do we deal with them? That's what's really important. And then sometimes, even as pastors, there's things that we may do wrong. How do we go to our pastor? So the first thing, it's important that we walk in honor. If you need to go to your pastor, you always address them honorably, no matter what. You go to them with honor, you do your research, you don't go talk to everybody else, but you deal with them honorably. Very, very, very important.
Speaker 1:Go to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, 12 and 13. But as you're going there, that's why I think it's so important that we understand the Bible says when it says let those who rule well. That word rule and well, it's two different things. Rule means they're managing, but what does it mean to rule well? What is the exact terminology in the Greek there? That is the word kalos, k-a-l-o-s, which means their leadership is mixed with moral excellence. My good God, god, give us more leaders that rule with moral excellence. We need that, we need that, we need that. And when we do fall short though that's what we're talking about Doesn't mean that they're perfect, but part of living the word, ladies and gentlemen, is how we govern and rule well. When we make an error, what are we willing to do?
Speaker 1:I remember there was some errors I made. It was 20 years ago. This year I had a major falling out of my church and I made some errors, not moral errors, just the way that I was leading and people couldn't follow and I was. I was fast and way too much driving myself to. I had lost like 40 pounds and sounded like 160. My weight is around 205.
Speaker 1:I mean, I got up into the pulpit and I got up in there and I didn't say any word. I'm waiting on God to flow. You know, and I was young in the faith and whatnot, and I'll never forget. People start walking on God to flow. You know, and I was young in the faith and whatnot, and I'll never forget. People started walking out of my church. I lost half my church that day because they thought I had literally lost my mind and I was just running hard. After God, I ended up going to a psych unit. I wasn't insane, I just didn't have the knowledge mixed with my zeal. And I'm saying all this to say to you that I made an error that day and, as a result, I wasn't ruling the way I should have. And it cost me some things and I'm a man. I made a mistake. I was young. I started pastoring in my early twenties.
Speaker 1:There's just a lot that I needed to learn, and part of modeling the scripture, ladies and gentlemen, is how we operate when we drop the ball. Do we come to the table when we need to? I don't mean all your personal stuff, because you can't reveal all your nakedness to everybody, but you need to have somebody that you can be naked in front of to expose that. Let me stop real quickly too. By the way, let me just parenthetically insert this If you are a leader, two things let me say this real quickly.
Speaker 1:Number one you can't lead people and be their friend 90% of the time and leave them 10. You can't do that. I talked about this in part one, but in every relationship that comes down your path, you have to define it early. Why are they in your life? If I am in your life to be your pastor, I'm probably not going to be hanging out with you, going to have pizza, going to golf every day, all those things, unless it's a very specific type of relationship. Of why I'm doing that? Because familiarity does breed contempt.
Speaker 1:When you are a leader, you have to make it. See, some people they make this mistake and I'm helping somebody right now. If you are leading people and you spend more time being their friend when you need to lead, they're going to develop a familiarity with you. It's going to create a fence. Most likely, most likely, you're not going to be able to lead them because when you go to correct them, they're going to be looking at you as their homie, as their friend and all that. They're not going to be able to do. That A lot of people don't understand. Oh, they think they're all that.
Speaker 1:No, you have to define the nature of relationship. Did God bring that person in your life to be your friend or to be your pastor? To be your friend it doesn't mean it never, ever happens, but it's very rare. And I've seen so many pastors and pastors' wives make the error of allowing people to become familiar with them. And their heart is not bad. They're like yo listen, let's hang out, let's go have a barbecue, bring the kids over. And then one day you got to correct them in the scripture, instead of them saying, hey, they're in my life to be their pastor.
Speaker 1:You're stepping into now, watch this. You're stepping into now, watch this. You're stepping into the pastor role. They're still in the friend role. And so now they're thinking wait a minute. Who are you to tell me, wait a minute, hold up now. I know when your breath stinks. I know this. I know that I saw some stuff in your home. You know that you don't keep your house clean all the time. You know they did this I mean whatever it might be and they become familiar. Now they can't see you because remember this, y'all ready for this. Somebody typed this in here People can only receive you how they perceive you. Oh, this is so good, because the spiritual authority of spiritual abuse Sometimes people don't even realize this. Watch, if you were called to be in a spiritual authority, let me show you this In the corporate world they have ethical boundaries.
Speaker 1:If you are somebody's boss, they do not recommend that you're constantly hanging with them, because what happens? Or you have another role in their life. And the reason why is because if you're not careful, you can go in and out of those roles and it can become confusing. So it's important that you understand you can't friend everybody. You're pastoring or leading. You can't do it because it doesn't preserve the nature of the relationship. So you have to determine early why is this person in my life?
Speaker 1:And there are pastors I've seen pastors' wives in particular. They'll bring people into their homes, they'll do all these things and you just can't do that because then they become familiar, and then they get offended because you're trying to go into the pastor role. Are you my pastor or are you my friend? Because, friends, I can bicker with you. I ain't gotta listen to you. We can go back and forth, pastors. I know the story. So, if Right, you can create offenses and struggles and issues and conflicts that you don't need to create. So some of you may be offended. Let me help somebody. You may be offended because how come my pastor won't do this. I want to hang out, just play golf. And he says, no, I can't do that. Three, four days a week, or once a month, just hanging out with you continually. You say why can't you do that? Sometimes you can't because I have to preserve the nature of the relationship, and then what happens, though, is that people become familiar with one another, and then spiritual authority can be, then it turns into spiritual abuse, and then there's a big conflict. I mean, all these things can happen. So you have to be very, very careful, ladies and gentlemen, on how you deal with people, and you need to understand sometimes, when a pastor isolates themselves the way that they do, they're preserving the nature of relationships, so then they can make sure they can shepherd you the right way.
Speaker 1:I plan on going into this later on, talking about how, when you have family in ministry, how do you operate? That's a whole nother story there, because now my brothers are and now watch this I'm going to show you the difficulty of it. I have my brothers on my leadership, my wife is a pastor in our church. I have my sister-in-law, I have my wife's parents, my father and mother-in-law. I've got friends and one of the things that I have learned you have to have a conversation. Now I'm helping somebody right now. If you get friends that come to you and you're their pastor, or even if they're going to be your, you're going to be their boss and you're a business person, or you're a teacher at a school and they're going to be taking your class One of two things. One, you either need you got to have a conversation right from the jump and say, hey, when we're here, this is how it's going to look, are you okay with that? Number two you either have to say maybe I'm not the one for that job If you don't want to do that, because then we can just focus on being family or friends or whatever it might be, because otherwise the lines will be skewed.
Speaker 1:Ok, I know I took a little side trail there, but let's go back here to First Thessalonians, chapter five. I know this is being a blessing to you. I hope that you are liking subscribing following sharing this, because I believe it's really going to be a blessing to you and if you enjoying this, give me a thumbs up as well. But I want you to go to excuse me. 1 Thessalonians, chapter number five. Let me look here. I'm sorry, actually, let us switch here. No, that is correct, verse number 12 and 13.
Speaker 1:And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem you and you esteem them very highly in love for their work, safe and be at peace with yourself. So it's important that the people that are in our world, we honor them. So the first thing we want to do is we want to walk in honor Very, very important. Number two there. We talked about it before. It's in First Timothy, chapter five. And I want to do is we want to walk in honor Very, very important. Number two there. We talked about it before. It's in 1 Timothy, chapter five, and I want to go back there.
Speaker 1:It says don't rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father and younger man, his brother. So you know, it's all about how you go about it. You don't go to them as an older, a younger person to an older. You go to them as a father, you exhort them, you talk to them in a way where, okay, all right, pastor, I noticed this here and I know you're trying to do the right thing. Can you help me? See, I heard you say this, but I was noticing this here in the scriptures and it seemed like that was not correct. Can you help me understand? Maybe I'm missing something. I wasn't sure, but just something didn't sit right. And let me say this every pastor that can, within reason, should have some form of an open door, a way that if people are not sure or someone feels like something is an error, there's some way to be able to go to that pastor. And larger churches is a lot more difficult. In smaller churches you might be able to do that, or you'd go to one of the leaders and ask the leader to explain, or whatever it might be, but you need to go to them respectfully and honoring them as a man or woman of God. So it's very, very important. So go with me also.
Speaker 1:2 Timothy chapter 2,. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 22 to 26. I hope this is helping you right now. Flee, is that correct? Let me make sure I have this right. No, no, no, that's incorrect. Let me see if it's first Timothy chapter two, first 22. No, I must've put it in there incorrectly. Um, oh my goodness, I wish I had this cause. This is important. I'll have to look it up. I must've type it up incorrectly here, but I want you to see this because this will really be a blessing to you. Uh, I thought it was second Timothy chapter two. Let me look again. Um, oh my goodness, it's. Oh, I'm sorry, it's verse 24. I put it in wrong. 2 Timothy chapter 2, 24 to 26.
Speaker 1:And a servant of the Lord now this is very important must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient and in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. Now I want to take a minute with this, because whenever we're correcting people whether we're a pastor to people or we're going to a pastor, look at this here we must not quarrel, be gentle and, in humility, correct. So, even if you're going to your pastor or going to a leader, you go in with humility, you go in gently and you allow them to explain. You ask them, help me see what you're seeing. Because when I heard you say this or when you did this, I saw that or maybe they did something incorrectly, a situation that just happened that went viral about Pastor Rod and what happened with some of his leadership and things along that line. They said, well, how do you handle that? Then they need to have a conversation. You know, and that's what we do.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that we're we correct those in humility. We are gentle, even in our corrections. Remember, we talked about the whole thing with Moses. So, even when you go to your pastor, you are gentle with them, you're humble, you're honorable. You go in almost with a mentality like if could say like this, like if you're not sure, like giving them the benefit of the doubt, letting them explain. But if you don't agree, you don't agree, and if it's an error, it's an error, but you got to talk about it. And then you have a conversation, but you are open and it says here, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. So when you're going to your pastor, maybe you don't even understand, maybe they're going someplace and you can't really jump on board with it. You go to them in humility and you say, hey, pastor, can you help?
Speaker 1:I had somebody in my church not too long ago, a situation that happened in church, and they weren't really sure if they believed what I was sharing and what this guest minister had been sharing. And they came to me and I so appreciated that. I said anytime, I don't want you to follow me blindly, that's cultish. And now, this is the thing. It's one thing for somebody to ask a question, for them to understand and get clarification. It's another thing for them to come and answer a question because they're in rebellion, don't want to follow and just being critical. Now, that's two different things. And if you're a discerning pastor you'll be able to know the both. You'll know them both when they come.
Speaker 1:This person came in and you know what was sad to me and I so appreciate it now and I affirmed them. They said you know, I didn't know if I could come to you, but I'm so glad I could come. That is out of order. But even if you can't get to me, I tell people you can get to one of my leaders that are trained and they can get the answer for you, whatever it is that it is. But the reality is is that they came to me with the right heart and the right spirit and that's okay. They weren't condemning me and saying you're a heretic, you're this, that, and the third it was that and the third it was like hey, can you help me see this? I'm confused and they brought to me their perspective that I explained to them and we worked through that situation together to help them to buy into what God is doing.
Speaker 1:So I'm saying this to say to you there are times you may not agree. Maybe your pastor is wrong or you don't understand. How do you deal with that? Now? If you don't agree and once again we talk about if it's a culture issue, you need to align yourself with the culture. If it's dealing with biblical error, then you got to go to somebody and let's work this out, and there may be some blind spots with you. You don't know that. So that's why the conversation is so important. Maybe God's doing a deeper work inside of you, but it's so important that we understand we need to honor pastors and men and women of God, even in their errors, ladies and gentlemen, even when they make mistakes.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you this, there may be a whole lot of other pastors and leaders and stuff that things may come out of the woodwork. This is the reality. Even somebody I'm gonna be controversial right here Even someone like Puff Daddy, p Diddy, in the middle of all that he's doing. Now, once again, do I condone anything that he's doing? Not at all. Is he wrong? Without a doubt, this only happened a few years ago. This is not a one-time thing. There's a whole lot of stuff that has gone on there that is incorrect.
Speaker 1:But let me say this to you, in the midst of everything else that's going on in the world, him needing to come to the table there's criminal penalties, whatever he's got to do. My question is this who criminal penalties, whatever he's got to do? My question is this who's going to bring him the good news? Who's going to bring them the good news? Yep, see, you don't need good news if you ain't got bad news. So the reality is, you know, it's kind of like when somebody comes, you says do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news first?
Speaker 1:Well, when it comes to the gospel, you need to know the bad news in order to appreciate the good news. The bad news is we all deserve hell. The bad news is we've sinned. The bad news is you know all the things that are wrong with us. We are sinners in need of a savior. The bad news is we are enemies to God. That's all the bad news, and whatever, however, that entails, we're all worthy of hell. But the good news is God so loved the world that he gave. That doesn't mean just because people repent don't mean they still don't have to pay the price for what they've done. But this is the thing Somebody needs to let him know. God hasn't forgotten about you. You can still be redeemed, but you got to repent. Even she said it repent.
Speaker 1:The woman was caught in the act of adultery. What did he say to her? He said go and sin no more. It's not a license to sin. It's not paying over it. No, it is Okay. You messed up. Are you ready to make the adjustment and the changes? So we need to bring the good news to those that have received the bad news.
Speaker 1:But you got to receive the bad. You got to own it. You got to own the fact. My sins are ever before me, my sins. I'm the one who messed up. I'm the one who messed up. I'm not blaming nobody. It's nobody's fault. It's me. It's me. It's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. You got to own that. You got to own it to the people that you did wrong to. You got to own it to the uh, to the Lord. You got to own it to yourself. You may have to own it to the public. You may have to do all of that, but at the end of all of that, god still loves you. It's not over until God says it's over. God can redeem it somehow. Some things are worse than others and some things you can't get back, but God can still use it and you can still fulfill your course, because if you're on this planet, god still has a purpose and a call for you.
Speaker 1:I hope that y'all are following what I'm saying right now. This is such a blessing to people. I on what I'm saying right now. This is such a blessing to people I know it is and because people are learning how do we deal with this stuff. There's going to be a great falling away. If pastors are going to fall, if ministers are going to fall, if church people are going to fall and they're going to fall away, turn to homosexuality. They're going to turn to some type of heresy. They're going to turn to a gospel of inclusion. They're going to turn to you can pick your sex, you can. I mean, it can be anything it could turn to.
Speaker 1:I'm going to leave the word of God. I'm not going to preach the word anymore. I'm going to go back to the word, whatever it is, no matter who they are. You got men that are messing with other men. You've got men that are leaving their wives and messing with children. I mean, you got all this stuff that's going on. How are we to look at it? How are we to look at it? And that's the whole purpose of all of this. Here is, some of it could be really really really ugly and really really really wrong, and some people might even do prison time for what they do, but the gospel still applies to them. Will they have to pay? Yeah, you know, sometimes they do, but the gospel still applies to them. Very, very important.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I want I want to mention one more thing to you and I'm going to wrap up today. I'm going to keep it a little bit short today, but if you haven't gone and gotten the podcast, please do so. But I want to show you something here, an incorrect way. Go with me to Numbers, chapter 12. Oh, I hope you're being blessed today, y'all. Blessed today, y'all. I hope this is helping somebody, because not only do I want you to be able to take this and share it on Facebook or YouTube or the Dementious Podcast, I want you to be able to teach this to other people on how do we address pastors when they're in there? How do we address our leaders when they make an error? How do we address these types of things? Numbers, chapter 12, verses 1.
Speaker 1:This is the story of Miriam and Moses. Now I want to show you something here. I'm going to talk about this from the standpoint, without the family matter in it, but it has a family matter in it, because this could be the issue Now. I want you to see this. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses. Oh, now watch this. This is so good Because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord heard it Now.
Speaker 1:The man Moses was very, very humble. See a lot of people, can I help some pastors and people A lot of time? We want to defend our title, we want to defend our pastorship. We're going to tell everybody where to go, and it doesn't mean there's not time to direct things. But Moses wasn't looking to retaliate, he wasn't looking to prove himself and say I'm the man of God. Who do you think you are? What did he do here? He was humble more than all the men who were on the face of the earth.
Speaker 1:Verse number four suddenly the Lord said to Moses, aaron and Miriam, come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and they both went forward. Now watch this. I need you to see this. Then he said, hearing all my words, if there's a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house, faithful, in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, not in dark sayings. Now watch this. Now I need you to catch something.
Speaker 1:When God anoints a man or woman in an office, the relationship is different. You might get an impression. God speaks to men and women of God face to face. There's more of a clarity. There's more because he's not speaking to them just for them, he's speaking to them for a people. So he's telling them, he's separating now these lines that have been blurred and scared and these lines that have been crossed, even plainly, not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of the Lord. Why, then, were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So the angel of the Lord was aroused against him. When the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous as white as snow. So we know the story here Miriam becomes a leper, then Moses intercedes for her and then after that, she's banned for seven days outside of the camp and then gets restored back.
Speaker 1:We don't hear much from Miriam after that. This is the thing I want you to catch. Be careful. See, this is where familiarity breeds contempt. What if you know something? He married an Ethiopian woman that had nothing to do with him leading the children of Israel. That was his personal life, that was what he chose to do. He chose to marry that Ethiopian woman. You know that that's just the way it was. So he did that. So what she does says okay, because of that, wait a minute, you ain't the only one that hears from God. So she allowed the weakness in Moses, the things that were happening in Moses' personal life, to affect how she perceived him as a leader, and then begin to put her mouth and her hands upon him in an unhealthy way and begin to touch his office. And that's where it. Has the Lord indeed spoken through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And it's like wait a minute.
Speaker 1:Here she became familiar and instead of allowing God to work that out in his world and to work through whatever he needed to work through, he, she said, he even says I talk with him face to face. I talk to you a whole different way. You might get an impression I might say very important to understand. Do not allow somebody's humanity watch this to touch the divinity of their call. Okay, that's what you have to understand. They did not call themselves. God called them, so you can't touch that office. So, for example, maybe you find out that your pastor's house is dirty. I'm just throwing something out there plainly and all of a sudden you're like ew, their house stinks, their house is dirty. So all of a sudden now you're looking at him differently and saying I don't need to listen to him in church. I know that's kind of a strange analogy, but you get the point.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you may witness humanity in pastors, pastors may see humanity in other pastors, but that don't give us the right to discredit them and touch their office or cause people. Now here we go to look at their pastor differently because you saw their humanity. Be careful because watch this If you afflict another person in the church and make them see their pastor differently or something you should have covered, god will judge you, because now what you did is you made them look at the person that God called them to serve them differently, that they can no longer receive from their pastor. So instead of covering the pastor, instead of covering the leader, we expose. I'm saying this because obviously there's things in the public light right now of different pastors and ministers. They've been exposed. Well, can't cover that, but we can now. Well, we can, but now we're more of like. All right, we need to be compassionate and help restore them, especially if they have a repentant heart. But there are things that you might see in leadership, something where their humanity comes out. Maybe you watch your pastor or leader snap at their wife. Maybe you saw them snap at their kids one day. Maybe one day you saw them in public and they're shaking their fists at somebody or gave somebody some sign language. You're like that's my pastor. Watch this. Y'all ready. I feel my anointing right now.
Speaker 1:God may be trying to see if he can trust you. Are you hearing me? Oh, I feel this from the Lord. Sometimes God wants to. God may be calling you to be like an oh, this is so good. God may be calling you to be an Elisha to Elijah. What does that mean? You're called to pour water on Elijah's hands and to serve him, but God wants to know. Can I trust you to be close enough to get the double portion, but not become familiar, because if you get close enough, you're going to see something of their humanity. My good God, my good God, almighty, somebody. You might see something in a boss, in a leader, a pastor, whatever it might be and God say can I trust you that, even though you'll see their humanity, you will not become familiar and disqualify yourself? Why Now watch this? Because Elisha stuck with Elijah until the mantle fell upon him and he did double the miracles that Elijah did. But many people will never get the double portion because they are not mature enough to recognize there is a difference between the man and the mantle. Oh, my good God, the mantle is God's. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of who? Of God and not of us.
Speaker 1:Listen, you get close enough to any man or woman you are going to see stuff about them that makes them human and immorality. But I'm saying sometimes it can just be like I said. Maybe you saw them have a rough day and they snapped at somebody. That's their humanity. I mean, they're human just like you. It doesn't make it right, but don't make that say, oh, they're no longer qualified. Oh, I can't receive from them.
Speaker 1:God may be wanting to see can you cover my good God? Can you cover a man or woman of God, even if it's a? Can you be like Noah's two sons that came in and walked backwards and covered their nakedness versus exposing it. Come on, somebody and brought a curse ham upon his life because he should have covered, not exposed. He saw it, went out and exposed it and his brother came in and said that's not for me to see. Do you know the difference? I don't know who this is for, but somebody needs to catch this. Somebody may be getting ready to see something or has seen something God's saying.
Speaker 1:Can I trust you with the double portion? Why is that important? Number one because God wants to know can you separate the man from the mantle? Because if you don't understand that, then probably you will touch the glory of God if you have the opportunity to walk in that anointing. Why? Because you haven't separated the two.
Speaker 1:I have seen I could expose men and women of God right now with things they've done wrong, stuff that you would never even have known. But I have seen it with my eyes. But this is the reality I understand. There's a man and there's a mantle. There's a man and there's a mantle. There are two different things. There are two different things, ladies and gentlemen. And once again, see, there's a line between computers. Weren't they accountable? Yeah, of course, but that doesn't mean it's your job to expose something that you have seen of their humanity.
Speaker 1:And I'm not talking about if there's something where you're a there's a sex offense or something like that. That's a whole nother story, because then you need to go to them. I'm talking about when you see parts of their humanity where you can become familiar. Cover them. God wants to give you a double portion. Can he trust you to cover the man or woman of God in that moment? My good God, this is powerful. Y'all, this is powerful. See, this is the type of teaching the church needs in this season, because we're going to see humanity.
Speaker 1:Moses, we saw his humanity. Noah we saw his humanity. Abraham was a liar we saw his humanity. Noah was a drunkard. I mean, we can go on and on. David was an adulterer and a murderer, all of them had it. Peter was cussing. Judas went and hung himself I mean, you can go on and on. Paul was a murderer before. I mean you can go on and on and on. Everybody has something in their closet. We're all human beings, but the reality is what happens when we see part of their humanity and we're serving them.
Speaker 1:You've been close enough, you have been privileged to be close to a mantle. Don't allow your proximity, my good God, to make you lose or start becoming familiar. Don't let proximity destroy familiarity or bring familiarity. Don't allow it, because you will disqualify yourself from the double portion, my good God, almighty. Well, what do I do when I see something like that? You pray.
Speaker 1:Now there's some things you may have to go and talk to somebody about, depends on how severe it might be. But I'm talking about maybe you're riding on street, pastor, didn't even see you, and all of a sudden you see him cussing at somebody and you're like oh my gosh, I can't believe. I saw that. Can you be trusted? How do you handle it? It doesn't even mean it there may be sometimes say, hey, pastor, I noticed when we were out there. You know you said the F-bomb to these people when you were angry. Oh my gosh, hey, I haven't told anybody, but I want to bring it to your attention. I really respect. How do you know, see, can you separate the two? Can God trust you with that next level? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Sometimes you might see something, but you go humbly and you deal with humbly and you don't say, oh yeah, see, I knew it Ain't no man of God. No, no, no Cause if you were in that role. Listen, everybody's got to always be on guard of carnality. So, miriam, going back to the story here, miriam allowed because he married an Ethiopian woman which she didn't agree with, and some customs even have it where he wasn't supposed to marry an Ethiopian woman because of however she was living and things along that line. I mean, there's all sorts of teachings around that, but I'm not. My point is, regardless of whether you agree or not, god said I talk with him face to face. That is, and let me say this too, let me say, let me tell you something, and this is going to help somebody.
Speaker 1:When pastors and leaders and visionaries have vision in their life, it is a very lonely place because you are excited about it and God has revealed it to you face to face. But that doesn't mean he talked to them. So part of the job of a leader is to get people to buy into the vision and the vision, if it's from God, should reverberate in their spiritual ears. And that's why, when Samuel was getting ready to become the priest, god said to him I'm going to do a new thing and the ears, when they hear it, in the ears of every person. It's going to tingle, it's going to begin to ring. It's just so good.
Speaker 1:So part of the hard thing about leadership, ladies and gentlemen, being a visionary, is you get to vision. It's real to you. You're excited, you're like, listen, this is what God showed me. And you expect everybody to see it the way you do. Some people will. Then there's some people that have questions, some people, they won't buy into it. There's some people that may not want anything to do with it. But the job of a great leader is to convince them by the way of the spirit of God, if they're open to buy into the vision that God has for them and to go in. And now let me give you one more lesson here that I think will really be a blessing, and I'm almost done.
Speaker 1:If you don't understand true leadership, watch this, watch this. This is powerful. Moses gets a vision from God. It's time to go into the promised land. I think it's Numbers, chapter 12. Let's go. We're going in 40 days to respite the land. They bring back these grapes that are as big as watermelons.
Speaker 1:The vision was true, just like you said it was, but the land was full of giants. It was fortified. There was walls around the city. All these things are happening and guess what happens? 10 of the 12 spies say we ain't going. Matter of fact, let's stone Moses. Let's stone Aaron. Let's raise up a new leader. We're going back to Egypt. 10 of the 12 said we're not going. Guess what None of them went. Now watch this. Why is that so important?
Speaker 1:The job of a great leader is always to cast vision in a way that causes others to buy into it, and that's the reason why I watch this. A secure leader doesn't have a problem with the right questions. Hear what I just said. A secure leader doesn't have a problem with the right questions. Are you hearing me Sometime? Hey, I wanna buy in Moses, but there are some giants there. What do you recommend that we do? We need a plan for this. Watch this, watch this.
Speaker 1:It wasn't the fact that there were giants. It's not the fact that there were walls. We're gonna have to deal with them. It was the spirit behind which they were talking about. They were talking about it. They were talking about it. You brought us out here. You know these giants are going to eat us up. These giants are going to destroy us. These giants are going to do this. So they're questioning his hearing and his leadership.
Speaker 1:Not, okay, there's giants and all those things, because that's the purpose of the report See what's going on and be able to say, okay, we're going to need a plan. There's giants in the land, yep. There's the walls of Jericho, there's these things. Moses, how do you recommend that we do all this stuff? And that's where now there needs to be a buying into the vision. Are you following me? It's not the question, it's the spirit behind the question, because then, as you begin to paint the vision, you begin to paint the picture. People can buy into what it is that God is doing in the earth. Are you hearing me? So here we go.
Speaker 1:Spiritual authority says, okay, I got to honor the man of God. I see it. I do have some questions how we can develop the plan. Spiritual abuse is when either one we go through and we say, well, I'm going to take, I'm going to destroy Moses and Aaron, stone them and take another leader and go back to Egypt. Or, on the flip side, moses comes in and says listen, you fools. God spoke to me. I don't care if you have question or not, don't question me, I'm the man of God. Let's go, let's get out of here, even though they may be asking the right question with the right heart. So great leaders have to have the ability to discern what spirit people are walking in from one moment to the next. My good God, almighty.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 16. And I promise I'm done after this. Matthew 16. If you've been blessed, don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, share and listen. Let somebody know about this. I really believe this is going to be a blessing to a lot of people. I'm going to come on again, and probably even tomorrow. I'm trying to get on pretty consistently here, but if you didn't get download the podcast yet, get the Dimensions podcast. It'll really be a blessing to you. While you're also doing that, let's go to Matthew, chapter 16, and I'm done with this. All right, matthew 16. Now I wanna show you great leaders. Oh, this is so good. This is like a masterclass right now, because I'm telling you it'll help you. It's stuff that I've learned in almost 30 years of ministry.
Speaker 1:There is a difference between spiritual authority and spiritual abuse. There is a difference, ladies and gentlemen. There is a complete difference, and there are questions that sometimes people have. It's not the fact. See, a secure leader knows the difference between a question questioning their leadership and who they are and because the person is immature and they don't want to follow God and rebellion. And a person is asking a question because they're trying to figure out the details and they're trying to buy into the vision. There is a difference and it's amazing how people can walk in one spirit from one moment to the next. And I'm going to give you this Matthew 16.
Speaker 1:This is the story of Jesus, with Peter here, and he's talking to him about who do you say that I am? Okay, matthew 16 and verse number 15. And he said to them but who do you say that I am? He just answered who do men say that I am? But he asked it and makes it more personal. Simon answered you are the Christ, the son of the living God, and he, you know. He goes on. He says flesh and blood is revealed as unto you. Upon this rock. I'll build my church. The gates of hell will prevail.
Speaker 1:Verse 19,. I'll give you the keys to the kingdom. And then, in verse 20, it says then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was a Christ. So he goes through, just has this awesome time with Peter. Peter speaks to him, says man, you know, bless the blood, oh my gosh. He even changes his name, gives him the keys to the kingdom. I mean, it's outstanding. There's a whole teaching on all that, but I don't have time to stop there. But look at verse 21. Same conversation.
Speaker 1:From that time, jesus began to show his disciples that he has to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed and be raised again the third day. And then Peter took him Look at this Grabs the man, rebukes him. Far be it from you, lord, this should not happen to you. But verse 23,. He turned to Peter Get thee behind me, satan. You are an offense to me If you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Now watch this as I close.
Speaker 1:There is a difference. You have to, as a, as a, as a leader, you have to know the difference between what spirit people are walking in from one moment to the next. I do not believe you can be a strong leader Number one if you are insecure. Number two, if you're threatened by questions. Number three, if you do not have discernment. Because why you need to know.
Speaker 1:I don't think Peter's heart per se was. He just did. He was wrong. He was wrong. He was like oh wait a minute, jesus. You just said you know, upon this rock I'm gonna build my church, you're not gonna die, don't let people. He didn't realize oh, uh-uh. And that's how you can tell when you're really operating with a true spiritual father and true leader. They're always going to speak from a place that sometimes you'll misconstrue, and that's why it's important. Now watch this. That's why it's important. Even though he called him the devil, he still believed in him. It didn't discredit what he just said a minute ago. As a matter of fact, he didn't realize how quickly he entered into the. The moment that he got the revelation, the devil said I got the, I got to deal with him. And he immediately came out and God started the process to work in Peter's heart and Jesus begins to rebuke, and I'm sure he probably even had questions about that.
Speaker 1:But it's funny, from one conversation to the next, jesus had to discern it, to know what spirit people were walking in. As a leader, that's why you have to be prayed up. As a pastor, you have to be prayed up. Why? Why? Because if people come to you, you got to be able to discern what spirit they're in. You got to discern what is the reason that they're doing it and discern it. We'll be able to pick that up. And if you're a person of character, you're not insecure, you're not merely going to feel threatened. And they're trying to take my position. They're trying to tell me how to do my church, and well, it doesn't mean that people won't do that, but you've got to know that and you've to ask and how to navigate that in those times. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying, my good God? So listen, spiritual authority versus spiritual abuse.
Speaker 1:I'm going to talk a little bit more. I might even bring some guests on on my next one. I'm going to let you know pretty soon here. It probably might even be on Thursday. I might be doing an update tomorrow for our Voices for the Unborn, our pregnancy center, but I want to go in more because I want to talk about family.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I think caused Miriam and Aaron to get caught up in that moment is that they said wait, this is our brother Moses, and you have to be very careful. Jesus dealt with it as well. There was a time in Jesus' ministry where his mother came from the outside and stood on the outside of his ministry to try to call him out. And we know the story where it says your mother and your brothers want to see you and Jesus looks out there and says who's my mother and my brother? But he that doeth the will of my father, these are my brothers and my sisters. She was trying to cross that line. There is a difference.
Speaker 1:If you're going to have family in your ministry, if you're going to have family influence, you have to have very, very clear cut conversations. You have to talk to one another. There has to be clear cut lines that there's a business side of it and there's a family side of it, and family doesn't come into business. But business also doesn't come into family. And you got to have really good conversations concerning that. Otherwise the lines can be skewed and people will start saying wait a minute, that's my brother, that's my sister. Well, no, not when they're in church, it's not. It doesn't mean they need, and it goes both ways. But I'm going to talk about that later on. I don't have time to go into that now, but I'm going to have a part three of this coming up really soon.
Speaker 1:I am so glad that you've tuned in. I really hope that you have been blessed by the show today. Once again, don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, share if you're on YouTube and please, please, please, take a minute and download the podcast if you have not downloaded it, because even if you miss it on Facebook, if you download it and you subscribe to it as soon as I come out with a new one, which this one will be uploaded right here. I'm on here live as we speak. This isn't live to tape, where I recorded it earlier. This is me right now. If you're watching it live, I am on here live, and don't forget to leave some comments in the comment bar if you've been blessed by this and you know people need to hear this type of teaching.
Speaker 1:A lot of people aren't teaching on this stuff anymore, so a lot of people are confused. How do I navigate this stuff? And it's understandable. We don't know how, and if you're not careful, you'll allow the spirit of the world to creep into the spirit of the church. So I'm going to talk to you a little bit more about that. I that I'm really excited. I want to thank you all so much for your time today. I want to pray for you before I go and thank the Lord for each and every one of you and, like I said, I hope that you have really been blessed by this today and that it's really ministered to you, and I'm really excited about the next time I'll be on with you guys and to share some more with you.
Speaker 1:So can I pray for you, father, in the name of Jesus? I just thank for each person, father. I pray for whether they're a leader, whether they're both, whether they're a person that's being shepherded. That, lord, we'll have the understanding, we'll have the right perspective. Lord, we'll lead the correct way. But, lord, we'll also follow those that are over us the right way. That will honor people and, lord, if we should happen to see a minister that's in error or falls short, that we will be honorable, we will be humble, but we'll also cover in the name of Jesus. So, lord, I ask your blessing upon your people today that you administer to them.
Speaker 1:Lord, there may be some that need to go back and make something right with a pastor or leader. There may be some that need to go and speak up about some things. Lord, there could be some pastors that need to shift a little bit. Maybe there's some brokenness inside of some leaders that needs to be healed so they can be better leaders as well. Whatever it might be, god, I just thank you for blessing them now and being with them. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray Amen, amen, amen. Well, I love y'all so much. I thank you for your time. I pray that you have been blessed today and I'll look forward to doing part three with you all on spiritual authority versus spiritual abuse. Thank you once again for all of your support. Keep bringing the love, and I'm going to keep bringing the content and the word of God to you in special ways about different things that are coming up. Don't forget to download the podcast and let others know that you're part of the Dementia's family. God bless you and have a great day.