July 14, 2023

Hebrews 13:7-25 (HCSB)
7 Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify the people by His own blood. 13 Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. 14 For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name. 16 Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us; for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.19 And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.
Benediction and Farewell
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen. 22 Brothers, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy greet you. 25 Grace be with all of you.

Michael Jackson
On the 3 Preachers Series of Mike the Baptist, I get the privilege of getting to know our pastors on a pretty personal level, with the added benefit of having in depth conversations about stuff we find in the Bible. Granted, I sometimes feel like I am getting to know them too well, warts and all, including methods of removing warts that I didn’t ask them to explain but they do anyway, and a whole host of other information I didn’t need to know from them. A lot of it is pretty absurd. But I find that getting to know preachers better is a good way to understand that they are just people like the rest of us. They are quick to say they are still learning themselves, and that they are not at all perfect, a fact which I can now attest to on their behalf. But our pastors and preachers are also leaders. Not the kind that order you around. The kind that help guide you to things that God is telling them to tell us. They have a responsibility to make sure they are not telling us stuff that is incorrect or misleading. But they don’t answer to us. They answer to God Himself. It is God who will figure out if they did what He was asking them to do in regards to leading us in His name. That’s not our job to judge them and overly criticize what they do. That would be pretty arrogant of us. It’s our job to follow them as God leads them, and if we do that to the best of our ability, it always seems to work out in the long run. Not because we are all perfect, pastors included, but because we are all following God’s lead, whoever it came from. And those leaders in our church? They listen to us as much as we listen to them. I suspect it’s because they know that God is sending the messages down to us, not the other way around. And I believe they understand that sometimes He might even send it to us first before it gets into their hands to sort out and share with everyone else. What a great planet indeed. What a good God that would include us all, and give us the opportunity to follow Him by way of following the leaders of our church. Unless they instruct us on wart removal procedures. I will check the Bible first before I blindly follow those instructions.   Just sayin’.