The Priorities of Church Leaders Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Priorities of Church Leaders Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 20:25-30.

You may not be wealthy, but you can give your skills, your abilities, your talents. And if you are blessed, you can bring a meal to those that are struggling in life. You can be a blessing to people. What I’m telling you church is that his task is here, not far away. Hello.

This is pastor Mike Sanders, and it’s time for hope worth having this week. And we’re glad that you’re tuned in whether you’re with us every week or this is your first time with us, we’re glad to have you, and we’re just rejoicing in God’s good work here in the ministry of Hope Worth Having. Today, we’re gonna be in Acts chapter 20 verse 25 through 30 as we continue our study on the priorities of church leaders. Reading is good for you. Now I know we have these fancy devices and all that stuff.

I was gonna buy my mother a book the other day, and I said, how about I just send it to you digitally? She said, I don’t read digitally, I read with a real book, Mike. She said, I wanna touch the pages. I said, well, that means I gotta take more time, more effort to get it and ship it to you. I just wanted to hit a couple clicks and send it to her.

Right? Be done. You know what I’m saying? I know that’s lazy, isn’t it? That’s lazy.

But you know we need to read first of all we need to read the bible. The apostle told Timothy to give attention to reading. Certainly, the scriptures need to be a part of our life every day. We need to read the bible, and we need to make that important. You know, how many of you would like a blessing?

Anybody here would like a blessing? Few of you left. Well, here’s what the bible says, that every time you read his word, you’ll be blessed. You’re lacking a blessing, read the bible. Read the bible, you’ll be blessed, but also I would say just read good Christian books.

Let me give a recommendation. I would encourage you as well as you parents and grandparents to have your children read good biographies on great Christian leaders, men and women who have served and sacrificed for the lord Jesus Christ. I love to read I love to read about people who gave so much. I recently read a biography on John Wycliffe, who played such a valuable role getting the Bible translated from the Latin to the English language of that day. And just all that he had to deal with, all that he endured, and he had most of the translation done in the new testament, and then his house caught on fire and ruined all the translation, had to start all over.

Most of us, we’d quit, give up, throw in the towel. Right? These great men of God, great women of God who’ve sacrificed for the Lord, and we read about them, And they’re such an inspiration to us. So get your children reading about them. Get your grandchildren reading about them.

Another way for me to stay healthy in my spiritual life is to get me some mentors. Get me some spiritual mentors. Our brother, Dennis, he was talking about iron sharpening iron. That’s exactly what we need, brothers and sisters in Christ, is we need each other. I know you feel like you don’t need each other.

Some of you, you thought COVID was made just for you. You loved it. You loved being out of isolation. You didn’t wanna talk to anybody anyways. But the Lord wants you to stay connected.

You were created to be connected. You were created to have people in your life that will encourage you and strengthen you and even sometimes bring to attention the things in your life that need to be corrected. Somebody corrects you out of love and grace, commitment to your betterment, we should receive it in a positive way and be thankful. The bible tells us that we’re to warn one another. We’re to admonish one another.

Sometimes we’re bringing things to attention of people. That’s what it means to admonish, to bring to the mind. And so I wanna encourage you to surround yourself with good people, godly people. Every one of us needs to find a good godly person in our life, and we need to attach ourselves to them, and we need to let them have a great positive influence in our life. A survey was taken several years ago about the influence of a mentor in the life of a young person.

This was in the context of the church. And so 80% of the young people that were following Christ, living for Christ, and dedicated to the cause of Christ, had a godly mentor in their youth group. They had a godly mentor in their family. They had a godly mentor in their life. And that’s what I’m trying to say to you is that that’s what we need because you see, for us as people, human, we need something tangible.

We need something visible. And sometimes more is caught than taught. You see, I think about my own life as coming to Christ as a young boy, and I remember my Sunday school teacher. I remember my bus captain. I remember the different deacons and people in my life that were great influences upon my life.

It’s not that they ever had a class with me. We didn’t go through the 12 steps of some particular book, and I’m not saying any of that’s bad. I think it’s all wonderful, but I just watched their life. I was just always a part of their life and they were influencing me. So I wanna encourage you to do that.

Also, I wanna encourage you in trying to watch out for your spiritual life and being healthy is make sure you establish good boundaries in your life. Boundaries. Now sometimes we don’t like to make boundaries because we don’t wanna be legalistic, but just make sure that your boundaries are for you, not for everybody. But we all have things in our life that we might be more susceptible to than others. We may have weaknesses in our life.

There may be temptations in our life that draw us away from Christ and to participate in things that are ungodly. There may be websites that you go to that you shouldn’t be going to. There may be things that you’re reading that you shouldn’t be reading. There may be people that you’re hanging around with that lead you down a path of ungodliness. You’ve gotta have the courage to say, I’m gonna make some boundaries in my life, and I’m going to make sure that I protect myself from going down that road.

Somebody say, well, they’re just being legalistic. No. That may be something in their life that is a boundary that they want to be careful of. There’s nothing wrong with that, brothers and sisters. There’s nothing wrong with that as a church family to say, we wanna protect ourselves.

Terry and I have put boundaries in our life and they’re not your boundaries, they’re not something we’re asking you to do, they’re just our boundaries. Because we wanna be an example to all the children up at the school. We wanna be an example to all the staff. We wanna be an example to every person that’s a part of our ministry. Many of you know that I umpire.

God help those teams. We had a game yesterday and it rained on us. And I asked the girls it’s softball. I asked the girls, do you wanna keep playing? They said, yes.

I said, let’s keep playing. We kept playing, it was pouring down rain. And they said, we played better in the rain. I finally did have to call. I had to step in, step up.

Sometimes you gotta do that. And I said, let’s go home. It’s, getting bad out here. But anyways, before the game and the preparation, I was talking to the coaches and this lady was coaching team and she said, you’re pastor Mike. Like, man, I can’t go anywhere.

I can’t go anywhere. You gotta be example everywhere you go and so you might have boundaries in your life because you wanna be an example. You don’t know who’s watching your life and you don’t wanna send the appearance of evil to anybody. You don’t want to go down the wrong direction. It’s not about your freedom in Christ.

It’s about you not being a stumbling block. That’s why the apostle said, he said, my conscience is clear. I am innocent of all the blood of all people because I have not withheld God’s counsel. I have not refused to be that good example. That’s what the apostle was.

We encourage you to consider those things to help you to be healthy. The second priority of church leaders is not only to watch out for your own spiritual welfare, but to guard the flock. We come to verse 28 of chapter 20, and we note what it says. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of god, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock also from among yourselves.

Men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Look at verse 31. Therefore, watch. Remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. We talked last week about the apostle’s compassion and that he was a man who was emotionally moved and cared for the spiritual well-being of every person he ministered to.

But what I want you to note is our responsibility as church leaders to guard the flock. All elders, all deacons, all pastors, all teachers are to guard the flock from savage wolves. This is just a picture of false teachers. When Jesus was asked the question, what are the signs of your coming? He said, before I come, this is what it’ll be like.

Matthew 24 verse 11. Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. One of the signs of the times of the coming of Christ is that there will be false teaching that will infiltrate the church and it’ll infiltrate the world and it’ll draw away many people from loving Jesus, living for Christ, and being that vessel in which God can use. All teachers, all pastors, all leaders, all elders, deacons, etcetera, are to be on the lookout for false teaching and false teachers. Again, Jesus taught in Matthew seven verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

We are called to watch out for the sheep. Keep watch over them. The holy spirit has made us leaders and overseers. We have the responsibility to protect those, to protect their spiritual welfare, to make sure that they are headed in the right direction. Now sometimes people feel like maybe the pastor, the elders are getting a little negative.

Maybe they’re just being very legalistic or maybe they’re being difficult. That’s not the goal. That’s not why. Sometimes we do point out false teachers to you. We do name names just because they’re public figures.

We do point out false teaching because we don’t want you to be led astray. Now it’s unfortunate, church, but these things happen, and I want you to note in verse 30 of chapter 20, sometimes false teachers may rise up right within the church. Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. If I’ve seen this once, I’ve seen it a thousand times as a pastor. People rise up, you know, their knowledge of the bible gets to their head.

Then they start making up things of what they believe. And then they start creating confrontation, and they start challenging. And then when they don’t get their way, they’ll pull people out of the church. They’ll go out there and say, I’m gonna do my own thing so I don’t have to be accountable to anybody. And then they don’t wanna be under elders.

They don’t wanna be under pastors. They don’t wanna be under people who will hold them accountable, and they go out and do their own thing so they can not only live as they want, but they can teach false doctrine that draws God’s people away from the truth. We see this over and over, church. It’s sad. It’s disappointing.

It has wrecked many a church, many a Christian life. As a pastor, it breaks your heart, but there are savage wolves that will come in. And they will not spare the flock, and they will cause great destruction. Now I want you to go back to verse 20 of Acts chapter 20. I want you to notice what was it that Paul did to help protect from false teachers.

Well, verse 20 says, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house. So whether Paul was teaching in the congregational meeting or he was teaching one on one, family by family, house to house, he was constantly teaching publicly and privately god’s truth. That was the answer to keep proclaiming the truth. Look at verse 27. I’ve not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of god.

Notice that Paul taught the Bible systematically, not merely focusing on certain themes or certain messages that he liked, but instructing the believers in the entire Bible, in the entire word of God. You don’t just need Dunkin’ Donuts every Sunday morning. A steady diet of Dunkin’ Donuts is gonna take you down, my friend. You gotta have your healthy food. And that’s what leaders do is they’re constantly teaching you to help you to say, here’s the truth.

What does the Bible say? Here’s what the Bible says. Here’s the standard that you measure all other truth by, all other leaders by. I wanna tell you that if you cannot respect the life of a leader, you should never follow them. And if you can’t respect what they’re teaching, you should never follow them.

God took home one of great bible teachers in our land, doctor Charles Stanley. Loved him. He was great. Solid bible teacher. Not saying he was a perfect man, but just know that he was a very godly man, generous man.

Weak believers may be attracted to worship that is exciting, but their true need is a steady diet of god’s word, the whole council of god’s word. Be careful, church, because you live in a time and an age where Christians jump from one church to the other based upon the latest fad. Who has the best gimmick? Who has the best entertainment, who has the fancy music. And I’m not against music, and we love it, and we want you to worship the lord, and we’re all in.

We get it. We’re with you. Let me tell you something. Here’s the question you really ought to be asking. Here’s the question you really ought to be asking as a believer.

Am I hearing the Bible faithfully preached? Am I hearing it faithfully taught at my local church? That’s what you ought to be asking. Not who has the best voices, not who are the best singers, not who can play the best instruments, not against any of those things. Thank God for people who are using their talents and abilities to help us as we worship the Lord.

Now, church, you’re never gonna find a perfect gathering of God’s people. How about that one? And if you do find a perfect gathering, please don’t join it because you’re gonna mess it up. Amen? I don’t want you to mess them up.

I mean, everything’s just as it be and then here you come. But the one thing that we cannot compromise on, even though a church may be weak in different areas, is the faithful teaching, preaching of God’s word. It just we can’t back down. This church has been blessed. This church has only had five pastors in over fifty five years.

That’s a blessing. You don’t realize it, but it really is. A lot of churches in fifty, sixty years, they’ll have 20 pastors. Okay? Now whenever there’s constant turnover in a church, let me tell you what that is a reflection of.

Just real quickly, let’s throw this in for free. It’s not even in my notes. Just popped in my head. But it’s a reflection when you have constant turnover, probably poor leadership, pastor, etcetera. But it’s also a reflection of people within the congregation not serving, working, having unity, and humility together.

Whenever there’s stability in a church, whenever you have good leadership, that is gonna be reflected, and that’s the kind of church you wanna be connected. And I think about the fifty five plus years here at the Open Door Church, and you’ve had great bible teachers and all different personalities and different pastors and different elders and different deacons, but we’ve been faithful to teach and preach the word of God. And you ought to rejoice in that because you don’t know how rare it is. You don’t know how rare it is. Now I don’t want you to do it because I don’t want you to leave our church.

But maybe when you’re traveling on vacation, just go out there and see. I hear it all the time. I hear it all the time. So I want you to be alert to that. Okay, church?

Third and final point, and I know God’s people are happy, and that is that we’re to trust God’s grace and faithfully work. Verse 32 through 35. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. Yes.

You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me. Verse 35. I have shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you must support the weak and remember the words of the lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Yes. We’re called to faithfully work and to entrust everything to god’s grace.

Note that he says in verse 32 that the bible, god’s word, is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified. That is the effective work of god’s word being poured into your life as you’re in Sunday school, as you’re in bible study, as you’re in your different small groups, and as you’re coming together as believers. God’s word is doing its effective work. We trust God to do his work in your hearts. We trust that his work will be significant and meaningful to you.

As Paul is faithfully working, he says, these hands have provided for my necessities. You know, as we’ve already learned, that he was a tent maker. He did not charge these churches that he had planted. He did not in any way require any kind of support from them because he did not want to be a burden to them. Paul had churches supporting him.

He was like a missionary. The church at Philippi supported him. The church at Thessalonica supported him. They sent in support. But these new churches that Paul was getting off the ground, he did not wanna come in and require that they support him because it was not possible.

He didn’t want it to be a hindrance to the gospel. So what does it mean to trust God and faithfully work church? Let me give you three real quick things. First of all, remember that his presence is near. His presence is always near us as we work for him, so let’s trust and pray.

Notice he says, I commit you to God. I commit you into his care. I commit you into his presence. As God’s servants, we are under both his care and we are under his command. He is near, and therefore, we pray and we seek his direction.

We seek his strength as we stay faithful to the work of God. The world may crumble, the world may be chaotic, the world may be confused, but the presence of God is near. And what is the one command that Jesus gave us with a promise of his presence? It was the command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And he said, lo, I’m with you always.

I’m with you. You wanna experience the manifested presence of God, then you get actively engaged in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. His presence is near, so let’s trust and pray. His gospel is clear, so let’s learn and teach. Look at verse 32 again.

I commend you not only to God, but to the word of his grace. To the word of his grace. We have the clear written word, church. It is the source of all that we need to learn for success, spiritual success in this life. Is the source of all that we need to teach our children, our grandchildren, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

God’s word is powerful. Scripture works on behalf of the believer in many ways. Here’s just a few of them. First of all, the Bible teaches us that the scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation. We’re not regularly smart enough to be saved, but God’s word awakens us.

Right? And so that’s why we keep feeding god’s word. It sanctifies us. Jesus prayed that his truth, his word would sanctify us. It changes us is what I’m talking about.

It makes us more like Christ. It helps Mike shed the things that are ungodly and to embrace the things, the values, the behaviors, the attitudes that are honorable to Christ. God’s word matures me. You may not feel like it, but it does mature you. It frees you from addiction.

It frees you from the bondage of sin. It perfects you, meaning it continues to develop you. God’s word counsels you. I remember many years ago as I was preaching, you know, we have a television ministry, Hopeworth Having, and a man from West Virginia drove all the way up here. And that Sunday on TV, I had preached the comfort of God’s word.

And his wife had just passed away, and he said, pastor Mike, I brought you a gift because I wanted you to know that what you taught is so true, that God’s word does comfort us. Sometimes we need counseling from God. Amen? We need his comfort. His word also builds us up, as we just learned.

It helps us to be infused with hope. Honestly, if I didn’t have the Bible and reading God’s word and knowing how things end, I would be just a wreck about this world. But because I know the last chapter in the bible, I got so much hope. I wake up every day with great purpose, and I wake up every day with great desire to do everything I can to get as many people to heaven as possible, amen? And I’m not like lifting up Mike Sanders, so don’t misunderstand me, but I’m just telling you I have this hope, and the hope comes from the word of God that keeps teaching me the truth.

And so that’s why I want you to stay in it. The gospel is clear. Let’s learn it. Let’s teach it, church. Finally, his task is here.

So help and serve. Look at verse thirty four and thirty five. Yes. You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities. Verse 35.

I’ve shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak. Remember the words of Jesus. It is more blessed to give than to what? Receive. Church, look.

You may not be wealthy, but you can give some time. You can give your labor. You can give your skills, your abilities, your talents. And if you are blessed, you can help financially. You can put a tank of gas in somebody who’s hurting and going through a tough time.

You can bring a meal to those that are struggling in life. You can be a blessing to people. What I’m telling you, church, is that his task is here. Not far away. Right here.

Every day when you get up, god is putting opportunities in each one of our lives. So listen, don’t step back. Be a worker for God. Be a laborer. Use your hands.

Get involved. Let me tell you something. And I wanna say this, and I say this from my heart, and many of you know some of the things that we’ve experienced in the last forty five days. But let me tell you something, church. Healing is not hiding in your home secluded from others.

It is stepping out, serving God, and letting him use your hurt to minister to others and your challenges to bless others. And it is getting out there and connecting with people and helping them to be all that God wants them to be. Now I just wanna close, my conclusion is this, which he purchased with his own blood. Wow. Jesus went to the cross for you.

Paul taught us that in this text. He also told the Corinthians, you’re bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit with your God. I challenge you to commit your heart. You are not your own, but you are his and that he purchased you with his blood on that cross and that you dedicate your life to him. We belong to Christ and we are precious to him.

And if you have never trusted Christ this morning, we encourage you to place your faith in Jesus, the one who shed his blood on the cross to provide forgiveness to you that your sins may be washed away by placing your faith in Christ. Would you pray with me, church? Good leadership can lift an organization, or it can certainly cause an organization to plunge to the depths of ruin. And that’s why it’s important that leaders be aligned with God’s word so that they can be pouring into the people God’s word, and they can definitely do what is necessary to help the church to spiritually prosper for God’s glory. And so often I’ve seen this where churches get off track and they forget about what is the priority, what is most important.

And as a result, they begin to plummet. And so God has used and raised elders, pastors, deacons to continue to serve in the church, to help the church to be able to not only proclaim the gospel, to be a platform for the gospel, but also to enrich and encourage and strengthen the people of God. So I hope that these different priorities that have been mentioned will be an encouragement and a template for you as you continue to serve in your church. Well, I want you to remember that we have a website, hopeworthhaving.com. On that website, you can sign up for a newsletter.

If you would like to receive our newsletter, go to hopeworthhaving.com and just hit newsletter there at the top on the right, and it’ll come straight to your home, or you can have it sent to your email address, whichever is easier for you. And just keep up with the work in the ministry of Hope Worth Having. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.