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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to daily devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stangey,

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Speaker 1: and today's devotion is inspired by Hebrews chapter thirteen, verse seventeen,

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Speaker 1: which says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for

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Speaker 1: they are keeping watch over your souls as those who

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Speaker 1: will have to give an account. Let them do this

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Speaker 1: with joy and not with groaning, for that would be

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Speaker 1: of no advantage to you. If the Lord is calling

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Speaker 1: you to leadership, please understand that it can certainly be

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Speaker 1: a joyful experience, but it definitely isn't easy. And if

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Speaker 1: the form of leadership you're being called to is specifically

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Speaker 1: within the context of the local church, it can be

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Speaker 1: helpful to remember the content of this verse. The task

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Speaker 1: of church leadership is to keep watch over the spiritual

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Speaker 1: well being of the church family, with the understanding that

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Speaker 1: the day will come when you will give an account

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Speaker 1: to the Lord. For how seriously you prioritize that task.

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Speaker 1: The essence of christ Like leadership is service. Jesus came

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Speaker 1: to this earth to humbly serve and graciously give good

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Speaker 1: leaders keep his example in mind when they lead. Good

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Speaker 1: leaders look for opportunities to serve those they have been

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Speaker 1: called to lead, always remembering that they have been sent

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Speaker 1: on a mission as Christ's ambassadors. The writer of Hebrews

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Speaker 1: was encouraging the Hebrew Christians in the early Church to

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Speaker 1: make the responsibilities of their leaders a joy to carry out.

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Speaker 1: Most leaders wrestle with various insecurities. They also get tired,

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Speaker 1: They hear a lot of compts. They are the targets

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Speaker 1: of regular criticism, yet they probably don't whine about it

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Speaker 1: very much. Many leaders internalize the majority of their struggles.

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Speaker 1: For this reason, the Holy Spirit inspired this scripture to

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Speaker 1: be written to remind us all to make the task

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Speaker 1: our leaders have taken on a joy. We are called

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Speaker 1: to be men and women who are a joy, not

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Speaker 1: a drain to serve. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you

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Speaker 1: for your word, and we thank you for this portion

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Speaker 1: of scripture from the Book of Hebrews that we just

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Speaker 1: had the privilege to read together. And Lord, we know

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Speaker 1: that leadership is a privilege, but it's also a challenge.

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Speaker 1: It can be difficult to serve in a role of

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Speaker 1: leadership in any sphere, but we also know, just like

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Speaker 1: the context of this verse suggests, that serving in leadership

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Speaker 1: in the local church can be quite the challenge. It

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Speaker 1: can be difficult, it can be stressful, it can be complicated,

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Speaker 1: And we also know that many of those who choose

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Speaker 1: to serve in local church leadership don't feel comfortable sharing

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Speaker 1: their burdens or their struggles in a public way. Many

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Speaker 1: church leaders internalize their problems while at the same time

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Speaker 1: trying to joyfully serve those who at times give them

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Speaker 1: unfair criticism or complain about things that they really shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be complaining about. So Lord, we pray that when we

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Speaker 1: look at a portion of scripture like this that speaks

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Speaker 1: into those issues, that we would take it to heart.

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Speaker 1: If we're in leadership, we pray that we would sacrificially

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Speaker 1: serve others like your son Jesus Christ has served us.

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Speaker 1: And if we're under leadership, we pray that we would

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Speaker 1: support the leaders that You've placed over us, that we

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Speaker 1: would make their task a joyful task and not an

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Speaker 1: overly burdensome task. That we would encourage our leaders, that

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Speaker 1: we would lift them up, that we would pray for them,

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Speaker 1: and that we would seek to support them as they

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Speaker 1: have to oversee us, while also knowing that a day

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Speaker 1: is coming when they will give an account for their

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Speaker 1: service to you. So Lord, we're grateful for the ways

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Speaker 1: in which you communicate that in this passage of scripture,

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Speaker 1: and we pray for your help and for your grace

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Speaker 1: to actually live out our part in this leadership dance,

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Speaker 1: whether we're in a role of leadership or whether we're

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Speaker 1: in a role where we are called to support leadership.

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Speaker 1: We pray that we would do it well and that

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Speaker 1: your name would be honored. We thank you again for

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Speaker 1: this portion of your word, and we thank you for

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Speaker 1: your presence with us today. And we pray this all

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Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen.