Daily Truth host interprets Hebrews 13:17 as a mandate for members to submit to shepherds serving with joy, urging prayer for leaders navigating conservative doctrinal shifts and discipline. He distinguishes between formal charges for heresy and prayers for secondary concerns, emphasizing inquiry over rebuke. The episode concludes by announcing the May 5th–7th Theonomy and Postmillennialism Conference featuring Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot, and others, reinforcing the theme of supporting spiritual leadership through faithful engagement. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Acting Honorably in the Church00:08:47
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Jesus said, Man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
You're listening to Daily Truth.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17 through 18, not written specifically to women, written to all the members of the church, all the saints, all Christ people, both male and female alike.
And yet, I think there's much that we can glean in regards to submitting to those who we are learning from the leaders of a church.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account.
Let them do this with joy.
And not with groaning.
I feel like we all groaned a little bit today.
For that would be of no advantage to you.
Rather, I love this.
I want you to see this.
I've used Hebrews 13 17.
I used it just a few weeks ago in the sermon on membership.
But I want you to see the very next verse.
It says, Pray for us.
For we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things.
That what the author to the Hebrews is saying to the members of that church is something, as God is my witness, that the elders and I can say to this church that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably.
In all things.
Notice, the author to the Hebrews, unless Jesus wrote the book, which you're fairly certain he did not, then it was a man.
Whether he be an apostle or an elder, whether it be co written between Apollos and Paul, whatever the theory might be, the point is this it was a man.
And if it was a man, it was a sinful man.
However sanctified he may have been, still a sinner nonetheless.
So notice what he does not say.
For we are sure that we have a clear conscience.
And that we have always acted honorably in all things.
He's not speaking so much to his past ministry history and saying that we have always led without fail, that we have always led the church in our ministry, in our preaching, in our counsel, in our ruling, in deliberation, in all the things that we have done.
It has always been right.
It's not what he's saying.
Rather, he says, we have a clear conscience.
Not because everything we've done has been right.
We have a clear conscience because, as God is our witness, by His grace and His grace alone, we desire to act honorably in all things.
And so, too, in echoing His words, my words to you as one of your pastors, provided that you'll still have me, is that the elders and I desire, genuinely, as God is our witness, desire.
To act honorably in all things.
As we guide this church into perhaps a more conservative doctrinal position, it is because we desire to act honorably in all things.
When I slow down and preach on a text as controversial as this one for three or four weeks, it is because we desire to act honorably in all things.
When we perform the most unpleasant portions of ministry, such as church discipline, it is because we desire To act honorably in all things.
That is not a claim of a sinless track record of ministry.
I have failed.
But it is a claim by the grace of God that I and the elders can say we have a clear conscience, not in regards to a sinless past, but in regards to a genuine desire to act honorably as we move forward.
Our desire is to act honorably.
So, Look to the beginning of that same verse.
Pray for us.
Pray for us.
I'm grateful in the providence of God and His sovereignty for what happened today because it gives you a wonderful picture of my job.
For God's sake, pray for us.
Please.
We covet your prayers.
It is not easy.
To shepherd the flock of God.
It has not been easy as of late.
Doesn't look like it's necessarily going to get any easier in the future.
I desperately need prayers for strength.
That I would be just as strong in my life, in my family, as a husband, as a father, as a Christian, as I appear to be when I stand behind this pulpit.
Pray for us.
Obey and submit to your leaders.
That is the word of God.
And when you struggle, when you doubt, when you begin to question, as I see it, you have two primary, I won't say exclusive, but two primary options.
If what we are doing is a breach of cardinal truth, that is primary doctrine.
And as we'll see later in 1 Timothy 5, and as we will witness, it seems, in one of our upcoming members' meetings, bring a charge.
If the elders and the deacons of the church, if the officers of God's church are failing in terms of primary doctrine, bring a charge before the church.
But if not, and you're struggling, then first and foremost, bring a prayer before the Lord.
If it's a primary failure, primary heresy, bring a charge before the church.
I do not want to preach God's word if I'm a heretic.
So put me out of my misery.
Tie me up and burn me at the stake.
If it's primary, bring a charge to the church.
If it's not, bring a prayer to the Lord.
It doesn't mean that you cannot come to us with concerns and questions.
But there's a difference in coming to the elders of a church who are not erring in primary doctrine.
It is something that is secondary or tertiary.
There's a difference in coming to them to correct them versus coming to them to learn from them, to ask for clarity.
There's a difference in saying, I heard you say this.
What did you mean by that, brother?
Could you help me understand?
Versus coming to the elders of a church and beginning to lecture them and rebuke and correct them for grievances and differences on secondary doctrine.
Oh, hi.
I didn't see you there.
Thanks for sticking around.
I've got an important announcement to make.
That's the Theonomy and Postmillennialism Conference 2023, May 5th, 6th, and 7th, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Theonomy and Postmillennialism.
We've got the speakers that we've already had lined up.
That's Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot, Dr. Gary DeMar, non doctor Pastor Joel Webbin.
But we also have a bonus speaker, and that is Dale Partridge from Real Christianity.
Perhaps you've heard of him.
If not, you should start listening to his podcast.
It's fantastic.
Dale Partridge is going to be joining our team.
Theonomy Conference 2023 Announcement00:00:25
We're going to have live panels on Friday night and Saturday night where you'll be able to write in questions and get them answered.
We're also going to have a catered barbecue, Texas style barbecue meal on Friday that's a part of your registration fee.
All that is covered.
So you need to get that.
This is how you do it go and register right now at RightResponseConference.com.