Brief sermon notes: Leaders of True Church Lead Also in Persecution & Suffering
June 25, 2021 (16th of 3rd month)
Deut. 14:28-29 Ministers devote their lives to God
They have no land appointed to them like the other tribes do.
Every 3rd year of every 7 year cycle after baptism, the church members commanded by God to give an extra tithe just only for the purpose of helping the orphans, widows and ministers. Notice how that the ministers are among the same group of needy people as the widows and orphans. That is because they are not supposed to be working outside of the ministry. Their life is supposed to be the work of God.
Many people try to claim that we can't use scriptures about Levites to apply to ministers today, since the Levite priesthood is done away with. But that would be ignoring the spiritual point of the law, the spirit of the law, the principal of the law. We absolutely can and should apply this scripture to true ministers of Jesus today.
My main point about this verse today, is that the true ministers suffer poverty and are considered by Jesus to be among the needy (poor).
They are leaders in poverty.
Matt. 8:18-22 Jesus had no place to lay his head. Comfort was not his #1 priority but rather the distribution of the gospel of the coming Kingdom and of baptism and repentance.
He was a leader in suffering of persecution and poverty and traveling and homelessness. He was even born out of town and had no place in the hotel for him and his family.
Matt. 10:6-25 Servants are not above their masters. If the masters (Jesus and the apostles and prophets suffered, and suffer) then so will the church members also. But the leaders of the true church suffer the most, being on the front lines of battle and the main target of the enemy.
(Military technique is to always try to destroy leaders first.)
Jesus and Paul never said that pastors should work a full time job in the world. Instead, Jesus instructed the church administration, the apostles, to depend upon the people. Read it for yourself in these verses!
Truly serving Jesus involves much suffering, because we deny ourselves, we crucify the old self, we are greatly hated and persecuted by the wicked world, we don't go along with the world to appease the world. When necessary, we offend and we rebuke evil. We expose evil. This makes us all targets, but especially the leaders of the true church, as it is the responsibility/duty of the church leaders to be the primary/main people responsible for rebuking and correcting other people.
2 Cor. 11:16-33 Paul was ship wrecked, beaten, stoned, without much clothing, without much food. He led in suffering.
Consider also John the Baptizer and also the fate of all of the bible prophets and apostles. They were mostly all arrested and martyred.
TV evangelists, and other famous preachers of the world are mostly millionaires, billionaires. They don't know what it's like to suffer. They have multiple homes and much money and they own their own airplanes. They have millions of followers. They do not lead in suffering.
Church leaders suffering poverty or homelessness does not automatically equal judgment/condemnation from GOD or punishment or the consequences of sin.
But rather, some times, is a positive indication/sign of a true leader of the true church. Remember Job!
Additional bible verse found after the sermon: Luke 7:24-25 This is amazing scripture!
Listen to the entire sermon audio at http://mixlr.com/this-gospel-of-the-kingdom/showreel/leaders-of-true-church-should-also-lead-in-suffering
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