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Speaker 1: How do you faith listeners? Welcome to the Bible Explained,

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Speaker 1: and good morning. We're going to be talking about First

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Speaker 1: Timothy chapter three, the qualifications of the elders. And I'm

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Speaker 1: extra excited to delve into this topic because it's one

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Speaker 1: that is of particular interest to me. So we'll get

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Speaker 1: into it in just a moment, all right, So today

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Speaker 1: we're going to be reading First Timothy chapter three one

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Speaker 1: through seven and talking about how the American Church is

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Speaker 1: in a lot of trouble because they don't follow the

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Speaker 1: qualifications for pastors or elders. And we will get into

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Speaker 1: what those qualifications are. There are at least fifteen of them.

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Speaker 1: So let's read First Timothy three one through seven. Go

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Speaker 1: ahead and grab your cup of coffee or your cup

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Speaker 1: of tea this morning, and let's go ahead and read

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Speaker 1: this together. As usual, I'll be reading from the web.

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Speaker 1: This is a faithful saying. Someone who seeks to be

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Speaker 1: an overseer desires a good work. The overseer therefore must

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Speaker 1: be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable,

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Speaker 1: good at teaching, not a drinker, not violent, not greedy

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Speaker 1: for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome not coveteous one who

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Speaker 1: rules his own house well, having children in subjection with

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Speaker 1: all reverence for how could someone who doesn't know how

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Speaker 1: to rule his own house take care of God's assembly?

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Speaker 1: Not a new convert less being puffed up, he fall

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Speaker 1: into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must

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Speaker 1: have a good testimony from those who are outside to

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Speaker 1: avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

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Speaker 1: So not to pat myself on the back too hard,

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Speaker 1: but this was the one portion of scripture that I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about with you guys that I haven't had to

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Speaker 1: study in great detail, because I've actually done a lot

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Speaker 1: of study on this passage before, just due to the

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Speaker 1: fact that my husband is an elder at my church.

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Speaker 1: And this is what this is talking about. Here's what

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Speaker 1: verse one says. This is a faithful say, someone who

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Speaker 1: seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. So

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Speaker 1: an overseer is somebody who oversees the church like a

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Speaker 1: superintendent of sorts. So this could be a pastor, but

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Speaker 1: it also refers to elders as well. Because if you

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Speaker 1: turn to Titus Chapter one, Versus five and six, it

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Speaker 1: actually uses the word overseer to describe elders. Also, so

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Speaker 1: here's what Titus one, starting in verse five says, I

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Speaker 1: left you in crete for this reason, that you would

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Speaker 1: set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint

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Speaker 1: elders in every city as I directed you. If anyone

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Speaker 1: is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe,

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Speaker 1: who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior, for

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Speaker 1: the overseer must be blameless as God's steward, not self pleasing,

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Speaker 1: not easily angered, etc. Et cetera. So that's clear that

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Speaker 1: the overseer can refer to an elder as well as

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Speaker 1: a pastor. And so going back to first's Timothy three,

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Speaker 1: Paul goes into the qualifications of the pastors and elders

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Speaker 1: in the church, and the first qualification is that he's

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Speaker 1: a man. Last week we talked about the role of

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Speaker 1: women in the church, specifically how women can be respectful

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Speaker 1: at church, and the one thing Paul said is that

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Speaker 1: he does not permit women to teach or exercise authority

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Speaker 1: over the men. In other words, he doesn't want the

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Speaker 1: women to be the overseers of the church, especially speaking

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Speaker 1: to new converts of Christianity, where a good chunk of them,

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Speaker 1: a good majority, were actually women coming to the faith

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Speaker 1: in droves. So Paul explains very clearly from the beginning,

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Speaker 1: look for you, women, being a pastor is not for you.

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Speaker 1: God did not design you for that role, and so

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Speaker 1: you should not want or desire that role. And we

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Speaker 1: talked about other reasons as well as to why women

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Speaker 1: should not want the role, and I even exp blamed

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Speaker 1: from my own personal experience, like, legitimately, I do not

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Speaker 1: understand how any woman could want to be a pastor because,

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Speaker 1: knowing the pastors that I know, that is the most

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Speaker 1: difficult confrontational job I have ever seen anybody undergo. Not

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Speaker 1: to mention, pastors do that pro bono. You know, they're

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Speaker 1: not getting paid a good majority of the time to

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Speaker 1: listen to people's problems. It's not the same as like

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Speaker 1: somebody going to a you know, psychologist or a counselor

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Speaker 1: and talking with them, because the counselor is being paid

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Speaker 1: to sit down with that person and figure out their problems.

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Speaker 1: Not to mention. The pastor himself doesn't just deal with

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Speaker 1: confrontation between two people, but they also deal with confrontation

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Speaker 1: being directed at them. All the time people angry at them,

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Speaker 1: irritated over something they said, a lot of times with

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Speaker 1: no real rhyme or reason to it. Even so, pastors

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Speaker 1: have a very difficult job, and it's one just better

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Speaker 1: suited for men, as we discussed last week. So here's

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Speaker 1: what Paul says in verse Timothy three, starting in verse one,

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Speaker 1: this is a faithful saying. Someone who seeks to be

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Speaker 1: an overseer desires a good work, So being a pastor,

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Speaker 1: even though it is a hard and difficult job, it's

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Speaker 1: still a good work. Somebody who wants to be a

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Speaker 1: pastor is desiring a good thing because you're essentially giving

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Speaker 1: yourself up to God's ministry. You are becoming a servant

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Speaker 1: for the people, and serving is a very good thing.

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Speaker 1: It's a thankless and difficult job, but it is a

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Speaker 1: good thing. The overseer, therefore, verse two must be without reproach,

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Speaker 1: And Paul begins to give a list as to how

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Speaker 1: this person can be without reproach. Without reproach basically means

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Speaker 1: without any accusations being brought against them, like any noticeable

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Speaker 1: wrongdoing that this person is engaging in. And here's the

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Speaker 1: first thing that makes the elder without reproach, he has

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Speaker 1: to be the husband of one wife. So right now,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's this whole movement of polygyny. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's like polygamy, but except the men are the ones

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Speaker 1: that get to have all the wives. And there are

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Speaker 1: Christian polygynists out there who take this verse and they say, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's not really what Paul's talking about. He has to

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Speaker 1: just have his own wife. That's what Paul really means.

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Speaker 1: He has to have his own wife. No, that is

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Speaker 1: not what it says. He has to be the husband

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Speaker 1: of one wife. One wife. That does not mean a wife,

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Speaker 1: that does not mean multiple wives. That means one wife.

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Speaker 1: And this is consistent throughout scripture. This is not the

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Speaker 1: first time this is found. Whenever we see anybody in

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Speaker 1: a leadership position, God commands those people to have one wife,

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Speaker 1: just one. Whether it's the kings of the Old Testament

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Speaker 1: or the leader of the church. They have to be

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Speaker 1: in a monogamous relationship. You can't twist it to make

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Speaker 1: it into whatever you want. This is what scripture says.

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Speaker 1: You have to be the husband of one wife. So

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Speaker 1: this brings up the question actually that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people ask, well, can an elder be divorced and still

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Speaker 1: be qualified to be an elder. I would not say

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Speaker 1: that that is a black and white issue where across

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Speaker 1: the board, if you've been divorced, you are not qualified

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Speaker 1: to be a pastor or an elder, because there are

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Speaker 1: a couple situations in which you biblically do not have

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Speaker 1: to remain married or even can't remain married. The first

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Speaker 1: situation is if your spouse just up and leaves. There

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Speaker 1: is nothing you can do about that, that is not

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Speaker 1: your fault, that is on them. That'd be the first situation.

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Speaker 1: And the second situation is if your spouse cheats. Now,

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Speaker 1: as we've talked about before in the past with that subject,

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Speaker 1: that does not necessarily mean you have to divorce them biblically,

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Speaker 1: but it is not unbiblical to get divorced in that situation.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Scripture always talks about reconciliation. So if you

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Speaker 1: can be reconciled to your spouse, if you can get

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Speaker 1: past the hurt in your heart, and you see that

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Speaker 1: your spouse genuinely wants to change, genuinely wants to experience

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Speaker 1: life with you once again, even after making an absolutely

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Speaker 1: terrible and disgusting mistake, you can be reconciled with your

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Speaker 1: spouse and not necessarily have to get a divorce. But

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Speaker 1: the reason scripture gives an out for that situation is

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Speaker 1: because it is so extremely hurtful. And I'm sure many

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Speaker 1: of you listening to this podcast have had somebody cheat

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Speaker 1: on you before, and you understand how gut wrenching that

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Speaker 1: absolutely is. And so that's why scripture gives an out

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Speaker 1: for marriages like that, especially if the spouse is unapologetic

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Speaker 1: or doesn't want to really be reconciled with you, or

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Speaker 1: even keeps doing it again and again, like saying, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I definitely want to be reconciled with you, like let's

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Speaker 1: give our marriage another go, but then goes off and

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Speaker 1: cheats once again or doesn't change. That's why scripture biblically

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Speaker 1: says you can divorce your spouse over that type of behavior.

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Speaker 1: And so I would say for a man that's had

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Speaker 1: a divorce because of one of those two reasons, their

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Speaker 1: spouse leaving or cheating, there's an argument that can be

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Speaker 1: made that they should be allowed to maintain the eldership

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Speaker 1: because the divorce wasn't really their fault, it was the

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Speaker 1: fault of the spouse. But some churches do not interpret

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Speaker 1: it that way. It kind of just depends on the

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Speaker 1: policy of the church. Some churches say, if you've ever

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Speaker 1: been divorced, you are not qualified to be an elder.

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Speaker 1: But I think there's an argument that could be made

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Speaker 1: that elders can in fact keep being an elder even

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Speaker 1: if they have been divorced for one of those two reasons. Now,

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Speaker 1: there's one other type of divorce that I would say

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Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily disqualify an elder, and I would say that

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Speaker 1: was before the elder got saved, but he became a

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Speaker 1: Christian after the divorce, learned a lot about what sin was,

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Speaker 1: how to become a healthy husband, how to lead his

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Speaker 1: family properly. I think there's also an argument that could

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Speaker 1: be made for an elder in that situation also not

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Speaker 1: being disqualified from being an elder even though he was

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Speaker 1: divorced previously. So that would be the three reasons I

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Speaker 1: would say that divorce doesn't necessarily disqualify an elder. But

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Speaker 1: generally I would guess that Paul is also talking about

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Speaker 1: divorce in this, not just monogamy, because don't forget the

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Speaker 1: culture that Paul was living in. Remember Jesus, who you

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Speaker 1: know lived only a short time before this, he was

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Speaker 1: talking to the Pharisees about divorce. The Pharisees came up

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Speaker 1: to him with this question. They were like, so, Jesus,

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Speaker 1: is it okay for any man to get divorced for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason? And Jesus was like, no, no, it is

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Speaker 1: not okay for a man to get divorced for any reason.

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Speaker 1: And then they tried to trick him with a question

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Speaker 1: from the Old Testament law, but Jesus of course answered

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Speaker 1: it perfectly. They were living in a time period where

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Speaker 1: you just handed your wife a written notice of divorce

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Speaker 1: and you were like, see yah, bye bye, you know,

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Speaker 1: like I'm gonna go marry so and so over here

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Speaker 1: because she's prettier and younger. That was the culture Paul

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Speaker 1: was living in, and so I'm sure he was combating

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Speaker 1: a lot of that as well, where he's telling his elders,

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Speaker 1: you cannot just divorce your wife for any reason whatsoever.

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Speaker 1: You need to treat your wife the way that God

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Speaker 1: treats his church, by loving her and giving himself up

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Speaker 1: for her. That is how you have to behave towards

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Speaker 1: your wife. So I would say yes, this qualification for

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Speaker 1: an elder talks about both monogamy and also divorce. You

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Speaker 1: can't just willingly have multiple women in your life and

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Speaker 1: be a biblical elder. You just cannot do it. You

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Speaker 1: have to remain faithful to one woman and that's it.

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Speaker 1: So moving forward with the next qualification, even though we've

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Speaker 1: been talking about this for like fifteen minutes now and

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Speaker 1: we've got fourteen more to go through, these will go faster. Though.

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Speaker 1: The elder must also be temperate. In verse two, sensible,

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Speaker 1: and modest. So when I think of those three words, temperate, sensible, modest,

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Speaker 1: that always reminds me of money. So somebody being temperate, sensible,

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Speaker 1: and modest with money is not going to overspend, especially

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Speaker 1: church funds. They're going to take care of the money

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Speaker 1: that comes into the church, and even personally, they'll take

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Speaker 1: care of their own finances. They'll be able to take

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Speaker 1: care of their families without going into a lot of debt,

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Speaker 1: without spending money on needless things or wearing overly flashy

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Speaker 1: or showy clothing just to show how rich you were,

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Speaker 1: which was also a problem in Paul's day as well.

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Speaker 1: So they had to be sensible, modest, and temperate. Not

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Speaker 1: to mention, they had to be hospitable. So this is

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Speaker 1: a very important one because fellowship comes with food, and

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Speaker 1: you have to be willing to bring people into your

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Speaker 1: home as an elder or as a pastor in order

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Speaker 1: to have tr true fellowship with those people. As I

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Speaker 1: was reading through this for you guys, I read a

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Speaker 1: little commentary that talked about how Christians would travel back

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Speaker 1: in these days. There were things like hotels and inns,

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Speaker 1: but these hotels and inns in Paul's day often served

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Speaker 1: food that was presented to idols, so it was like

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Speaker 1: idle worship food, and a lot of Christians, you know,

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Speaker 1: didn't feel comfortable staying at an inn where there was

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Speaker 1: idle worship happening. So Christians a lot of times when

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Speaker 1: they were traveling would go find other Christians that they

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Speaker 1: could lodge in their homes. And this was a way

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Speaker 1: for Christians to get to know each other from different

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Speaker 1: cities and different countries. So Paul expected the elders and

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Speaker 1: pastors of the churches to open up their homes to

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Speaker 1: the traveler, to the Christians who needed a place to stay,

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Speaker 1: and in this way you were actually fellowshipping with those people,

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Speaker 1: getting to know them even more. And this also stands

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Speaker 1: true even today. An elder has to be hospitable. He

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Speaker 1: has to be willing to let people into his home.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to, you know,

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Speaker 1: let somebody live in your house rent free or take

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Speaker 1: advantage of you. But just not hate guests in your house.

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Speaker 1: Like just be comfortable having people over for dinner, having

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Speaker 1: fellowship with people, having teenagers, have a bonfire in your yard,

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Speaker 1: you know, something along those lines. Just opening up your

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Speaker 1: home for events at the church and getting to know people.

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Speaker 1: That is important for a pastor to do. Now, they

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Speaker 1: also have to be good at teaching, is what it says,

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Speaker 1: and I kind of feel like this is a no brainer.

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Speaker 1: Like one of the roles of an elder or a

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Speaker 1: pastor is to actually teach, is to be the overseer

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Speaker 1: of the church, and that of course includes teaching and

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Speaker 1: preaching sermons Verse three. They also have to not be

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Speaker 1: a drinker and not violent. So a man has to

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Speaker 1: learn to be self controlled before he can become a

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Speaker 1: pastor or an elder. He has to also not be

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Speaker 1: a drinker. So not just self control when it comes

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Speaker 1: to aggression, but also self control when it comes to

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Speaker 1: addictions and things. So not prone to being addicted, like

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Speaker 1: having control over yourself. And this goes not just for alcohol,

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Speaker 1: but any kind of addiction really, and not greedy for money. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you turn to one Timothy six, verse ten, Paul

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Speaker 1: actually talks about the love of money. It says, for

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Speaker 1: the love of money is a root of all kinds

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Speaker 1: of evil, some have them led astray from the faith

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Speaker 1: in their greed and having pierce themselves through with many sorrows.

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Speaker 1: So if you love money too much, it's actually a

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Speaker 1: snare to you, is what Paul says. It becomes something

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Speaker 1: bad and evil. Now, money in and of itself is

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Speaker 1: not evil, but if you are greedy for it, that

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Speaker 1: is when it becomes evil. And like we were talking

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Speaker 1: about before, a pastor and an elder have to be

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Speaker 1: financially wise with the funds that come through the church,

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Speaker 1: because that is donations from other people, that is tithes

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Speaker 1: from other people. And if the church is just spending

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Speaker 1: all of that willy nilly, with no rhyme or reason

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Speaker 1: on a whole bunch of junk, that's not being a

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Speaker 1: good steward of the funds that are coming in. And

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Speaker 1: that's also a bad reputation for the church. And that's

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Speaker 1: why a pastor and an elder especially cannot be greedy

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Speaker 1: for money because once they start becoming greedy that it's

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Speaker 1: going to possibly snowball into something even bigger where they're

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Speaker 1: you know, like skimming a little off the top for

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Speaker 1: themselves or something like that. You got to be very careful.

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Speaker 1: And so an elder and a pastor should not be

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Speaker 1: greedy for money, but they should be gentle, not quarrelsome

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Speaker 1: not coveteous, so not covetious in general, not just for

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Speaker 1: money but anything. You should not be coveting something that

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Speaker 1: someone else has. You know, the word covet actually goes

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Speaker 1: further than greedy. Coveteousness is almost like becoming obsessive over something,

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Speaker 1: like you want it so badly that you are obsessed

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Speaker 1: about it and you can't like it's living rent free

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Speaker 1: in your brain. You can't stop thinking about it. So

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Speaker 1: you can't be coveteous if you want to become a

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Speaker 1: pastor and an elder, because you're not supposed to have

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Speaker 1: your sights focused on the things of this world. You're

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Speaker 1: supposed to have your sites focused on God. You're also

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Speaker 1: not supposed to be coral some, so not constantly fighting

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Speaker 1: with people over things that just don't matter. But you

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Speaker 1: have to be gentle. You have to be a man

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Speaker 1: prone to gentleness, controlling your emotions, and being kind towards people.

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Speaker 1: And also in verse four says you have to be

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Speaker 1: one who rules his house well, having children in subjection

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Speaker 1: with all reverence, And Paul qualifies this one for how

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Speaker 1: could someone who doesn't know how to rule his own

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Speaker 1: house take care of God's assembly? So, in other words,

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Speaker 1: if an elder's kids are destructive and disrespectful and disobedient

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Speaker 1: and rude, if he can't manage his own children, if

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Speaker 1: he can't discipline his own children, who he loves very deeply,

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Speaker 1: how is he going to discipline and reprimand the people

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Speaker 1: of God's church? And that's a big part of the job.

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Speaker 1: Remember how I was talking earlier on this podcast about

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Speaker 1: how being a pan mas is like NonStop confrontation. You

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Speaker 1: have to be able to handle that confrontation when it

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Speaker 1: comes in. You have to be able to tell people

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Speaker 1: you are sinning, you are doing something wrong, you need

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Speaker 1: to turn away from this and go on a better path.

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Speaker 1: That is what a successful pastor or elder does for

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Speaker 1: the congregation of the church, And if he can't do

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Speaker 1: it for his own family, for his own little children,

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Speaker 1: then he certainly is going to be terrible at it

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Speaker 1: when it comes to people he doesn't know as well,

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Speaker 1: people he doesn't love as much as he loves his

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Speaker 1: own kids. Now, of course, this goes back to the question,

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Speaker 1: say an elder doesn't have children, is he qualified to

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Speaker 1: be an elder? What if he doesn't even have a wife,

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Speaker 1: is he qualified to be an elder? If he is

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Speaker 1: a single man, I would say he's still qualified. And

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Speaker 1: the reason I say that is because Paul himself and

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Speaker 1: many of the disciples were unmarried men with children, And

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Speaker 1: if they were qualified to teach and lead and be

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Speaker 1: overseers of churches in their own right, then certainly a

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Speaker 1: man who is single, who is wise, and who meets

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Speaker 1: all of these qualifications is likely a good candidate to

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Speaker 1: be an elder, even if he doesn't have a family.

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Speaker 1: And then, of course there's a question of what about

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Speaker 1: adult children who are not following God? Does that disqualify

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Speaker 1: an elder or a pastor because their adult children are

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Speaker 1: off doing all sorts of terrible things. Well, that's a

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Speaker 1: harder question to answer, because adults make their own decisions,

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Speaker 1: you know. Ezekiel eighteen twenty. Here's what this says. The

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Speaker 1: soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not

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Speaker 1: bear the iniquity of the father. Neither shall the father

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Speaker 1: bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the

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Speaker 1: righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the

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Speaker 1: wicked shall be on him. So that verse means that

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Speaker 1: the parents should not be charged with the crime of

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Speaker 1: their adult children. If their children grow up and sin,

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Speaker 1: that is on the kids. That is not on the parents.

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Speaker 1: The parents did not cause their adult child to sin.

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Speaker 1: The child did that themselves. So there is a debate

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Speaker 1: as to whether an elder who has adult children who

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Speaker 1: are not following Christianity if they should be elders or not.

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Speaker 1: But then of course there's also versus in the New

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Speaker 1: Testament that say train a child in the way he

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Speaker 1: will go and he will never depart from it. So really,

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Speaker 1: I think it comes down to church policy as to

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Speaker 1: whether a man is qualified to become a pastor based

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Speaker 1: upon the actions of their adult children. Quite honestly, I

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Speaker 1: don't have an answer for that. I do think it

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Speaker 1: could go either way, because I think adult children do

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Speaker 1: make their own choices. But at the same time, parents

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Speaker 1: do you have a lot of control over their children

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Speaker 1: when they are young. And I've known many people who

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Speaker 1: have grown up to be awesome adults because their parents

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Speaker 1: just trained them very well. So there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: questions and a lot of different paths you can take

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Speaker 1: when it comes to asking questions about these short little verses.

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Speaker 1: But verse six here, and this is one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite qualifications. He cannot be a new convert lest being

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Speaker 1: puffed up. He fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

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Speaker 1: If you turn to one Timothy six, I'm sorry first

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Speaker 1: Timothy five. Rather verse twenty two, it says lay hands

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Speaker 1: hastily on no one. That means if a new person

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Speaker 1: comes into your church, or if a new convert gets saved,

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Speaker 1: you should not put them in positions of leadership right away.

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Speaker 1: You need to see where their faith is and disciple

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Speaker 1: them before you lay your hands on them or give

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Speaker 1: them a position of power in the church. And this

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Speaker 1: is true across the board, whether it's an elder, a pastor,

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Speaker 1: a worship leader, a deacon or deaconus. They should never

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Speaker 1: be new converts of Christianity or brand new members of

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Speaker 1: the church because a lot of problems can happen. For example,

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Speaker 1: say somebody new to Christianity wants to become an elder,

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Speaker 1: and this church is super excited because they need elders,

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Speaker 1: and because this person is interested and he seems like

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Speaker 1: he meets all of the qualifications and he's a nice guy,

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Speaker 1: and the church goes ahead and makes him an elder.

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Speaker 1: What happens then, Well, the second that person's faith is tested,

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Speaker 1: or the second he has confrontation that comes his way,

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Speaker 1: he breaks or he starts doubting his faith, and he

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Speaker 1: starts turning other people, possibly against the faith or doing

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Speaker 1: bad things, implementing bad ideas because he doesn't have enough

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Speaker 1: knowledge of the scriptures yet, and this can cause a

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Speaker 1: lot of problems in the church. I've seen this happen

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Speaker 1: where people get really really excited because they need help

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Speaker 1: in a certain area, and then they put somebody in

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Speaker 1: charge and it turns into an absolute train wreck because

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Speaker 1: that person is not grounded in the truth yet, and

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Speaker 1: the church didn't wait long enough to see if that

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Speaker 1: person was actually grounded in truth. This is where church

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Speaker 1: hurt comes in a lot of times. Putting bad people

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Speaker 1: in charge, not checking their qualifications not seeing where their

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Speaker 1: faith is and just putting them in because they need

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Speaker 1: somebody in that position. Terrible, terrible idea, and it happens

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Speaker 1: all the time in tons of different churches across the

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Speaker 1: United States, and it causes so many issues, and not

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Speaker 1: to mention it's bad for the individual themselves, because here's

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Speaker 1: what Paul's says. If you give a position of leadership

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Speaker 1: to a new convert, they may become puffed up and

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Speaker 1: fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Now that,

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Speaker 1: of course, is talking about Lucifer himself Satan, who was

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Speaker 1: the most beautiful angel in heaven, and Satan, because of

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Speaker 1: his beauty, became very prideful and wanted to become like God,

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Speaker 1: and he fell because of his pride, And the same

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Speaker 1: thing might end up happening to a brand new convert.

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Speaker 1: They may fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

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Speaker 1: They get too prideful because they get a position of

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Speaker 1: leadership early on in their Christian life, and that causes

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Speaker 1: them to fall astray from the faith. It causes them

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Speaker 1: to get too big for their breeches and they fall

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Speaker 1: similarly to Lucifer. Now I'm not going to go into

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Speaker 1: whether or not Paul's talking about the loss of salvation here,

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Speaker 1: because personally, I don't think you can lose your salvation.

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Speaker 1: I don't think scripture teaches that. But I do think

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Speaker 1: that people can fall away from the faith and do

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Speaker 1: all the time, and very easily, especially when pride comes

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Speaker 1: in the scriptural verse I believe in Proverbs that says

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Speaker 1: that pride comes before the fall, and that's what can

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Speaker 1: happen to a new convert if the church gives him

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Speaker 1: too much power too quickly. Moreover, verse seven, he must

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Speaker 1: have a good testimony from those who are outside to

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Speaker 1: avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

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Speaker 1: So not only should the elder have a good reputation

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Speaker 1: inside the church, but outside the church as well, to

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Speaker 1: the people who aren't part of the faith. He has

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Speaker 1: to have a good reputation across the board, because if

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Speaker 1: you have a good reputation inside the church but not

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Speaker 1: outside the church, that's going to first and foremost turn

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Speaker 1: off anybody who is seeking the truth because they see

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Speaker 1: how terrible this pastor is acting outside the church, and

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Speaker 1: they're like, why would I ever want to go to

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Speaker 1: his church? That's the first reason, and secondly, because if

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Speaker 1: a pastor is acting poorly outside the church, that's also

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Speaker 1: going to cause those who hate Christianity to target Christianity

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Speaker 1: even more, and in that way, they will fall into

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Speaker 1: approach and the snare of the devil, because Satan is

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Speaker 1: doing his best to make the church look foolish in

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Speaker 1: every single way that he possibly can. And a lot

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Speaker 1: of times it's the church itself giving Satan that power

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Speaker 1: because they're not doing what they should be doing. You know,

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Speaker 1: all of these rules are laid out so clearly in

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Speaker 1: Scripture as to what a biblical elder or pastor is

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Speaker 1: to look like. And how many churches actually follow this

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Speaker 1: half of them, a quarter of them, a sixteenth, probably

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Speaker 1: not even a sixteenth of all of the churches in

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Speaker 1: America follow these basic qualifications for a pastor. They just

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Speaker 1: get in, you know, whoever fits their agenda, or whoever

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Speaker 1: says the nice things, or whoever just seems good, because

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Speaker 1: they're just trying to get people through the door. The

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Speaker 1: American Church is in serious trouble because they don't find

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Speaker 1: people who fit these qualifications. And quite honestly, the pastor

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Speaker 1: and the elder board, they set the stage for what

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Speaker 1: the church is going to look like. So those men

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Speaker 1: better be good, grounded men, truly focused on what the

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Speaker 1: Bible has to say, otherwise the church is in serious trouble.

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Speaker 1: Faith listeners, thank you so much for tuning into the

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Speaker 1: Bible Explained and discussing the qualifications of the elders with me.

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Speaker 1: And I'd love to hear about your church and whether

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Speaker 1: or not you think your church follows the guidelines for

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Speaker 1: the elders and pastors. I'd love to hear about all

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Speaker 1: of that because I'm genuinely curious about it. So contact

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Speaker 1: me and tell me does your church follow the guidelines

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Speaker 1: for the overseers? But faithful listeners, I really hope you

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Speaker 1: all have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.

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Speaker 1: I hope to see all of you guys tomorrow morning,

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Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up. Until then,

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Speaker 1: happy listening, and God bless