What You Carry Each Day

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Every minute carrying something. Are you carrying what nothing you can carry? Or are you carrying something you are never meant to even hold? With your brother that cry. And take up your cross and follow him. Every day carry. Let's carry it.

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We're back.

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It is the middle of the week, brother. I'm here, you're here, you ready to do this? Let's get into it.

False Teachers Rise Among Us

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So yesterday we looked at the first pattern. It's a gospel that quietly loses its parts. And today, Peter gives us the second one, and it's about appetite. 2 Peter 2, verse 1 says, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. Now, let's stop on those first two words. Among you. He doesn't say out there, he doesn't say another religion, another country, another kind of church. Peter says that they rise up from inside the congregation. The call's coming from inside the house, brother. And historically, it often comes from the platform.

Smuggled Heresy And Self-Rule

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Next, I want to look at secretly bringing in. Well, Peter's picture here is smuggling. It's not some overt invasion. Nobody announces heresy, it just gets carried in quietly through the side door, alongside the things that are actually true. And usually it's by a man that people already like. They've already got the credit, they've already got the clout, they've put in the time, right? And then I want you to look at the end of verse 1 says, even denying the master who bought them. Peter uses the language of a purchased slave, denying the man who owns him. That's the posture underneath all of this. A man who serves in Christ's house while functionally answering only to himself. And verse 2 tells you how it works. And many will follow their sensuality. Many. You see, Peter is honest that this pattern draws a crowd, which means size isn't the evidence of health, and the lack of size isn't evidence of sickness either. It's just not evidence.

Greed Turns People Into Inventory

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Then, in verse 3, he names the engine. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. That word for greed is pleonexia. It literally means the craving for more. Not the wealth itself, but the appetite for the wealth. A man can have very little and be full of pleonexia, and a man can have a lot and still be free of See Peter here, he's diagnosing hunger, not the actual food. And then the word for exploit, which is possibly the most chilling word in the passage, it's emperor my is a commercial word to traffic in, to do business with, to run merchandise, and it's where we actually get today's word emporium. Peter's saying that under a false teacher, the people become the inventory. You're not the mission anymore, you're actually the product line. Now, let me describe the pattern very carefully here because this one does get abused by angry men, and I am not the one

Money Talk Versus Money Direction

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to hand you a live grenade. Alright, so listen up. The pattern here is not a church that talks about money. You see, scripture talks about money constantly. And if you disagree with me, well, you haven't read scripture. Okay? Jesus actually talked about money more than pretty much anything else. And a church that never mentions money isn't healthy, it's actually just avoidant. So take that for what it's worth. You see, the pattern here though is the direction. Which way is the money actually pointing? And here's what that looks like. You see, giving gets consistently tied to what you personally receive. Well, give and God will get open a window for you, specifically financially. The pressure escalates instead of being taught once and trusted to the spirit. The leader's lifestyle is visibly disconnected from the people he serves, and nobody's allowed to question it. And the finances, well, they aren't open. There's no budget that a member can see, there's no outside accountability, no audits, no board, nothing. You see, Peter's tell isn't about the amount, brother. It's the direction. Is the money serving the mission, or is the congregation serving the man? And I want you to notice something else here about Peter's whole diagnosis. He never says these men were bad preachers. He actually says they were just greedy men who used false words. Skill wasn't the problem, appetite was. Which is exactly what Paul told us last week in 1 Timothy 3. 14 of 15 qualifications are character, and only one of them is not a

Paid Pastors And Real Accountability

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lover of money. Now, the balancing word, and I mean this, a pastor should be paid. And I'm gonna go further and say, the pastor should be paid well. Paul actually says the elder who labors in preaching is worthy of double honor, and that the laborer deserves his wages. A well-compensated pastor is not a red flag, and an unaccountable one is. Now, you see, I've actually had men stand with me and tell me that one of the problems that they have with this pastor is the fact that he is worth blah blah blah dollars. So what? If Paul doesn't have a problem with it, why do we? Again, it has to go back to what the money points to. So, here's the honest version of today's test. It's not, does my pastor make too much? It's could I find out? And, if I asked, how would that question be received? You see, a healthy church is one that hands you the numbers, and they're actually glad you look. Because that shows that you're involved. An unhealthy church, they don't want you to ask. So, that leads us to today's charge.

The Budget Test For Church Health

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So here's the carry for today, alright? I want you to find out, this is just find out whether or not your church publishes a budget or a financial report that's readily available to its members. That's it. Just find out, okay? I don't want you to accuse anybody. This is not to start anything, but just for you to know if it even exists. If it is available, okay, then actually look at it. You have no business asking a question if you won't read the answer to it. Right? If your church hands it over freely, like I said, that's a real mark of help. You should thank God for that. If they don't, ask more questions. So, that's it for today. We're halfway through the week. Don't want you to quit now. Keep on coming back. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Carry on, brother.

Carry On And Share It

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Thanks for joining us for today's episode. Share today's episode with a brother in Christ that needs to hear this too. And be sure to leave us a five star rating and review to help spread the word to more men just like you. This has been Everyday Carrie.