193: Fruit Is More Excellent Than Gifts

Biblical Counseling Podcast

No situation can produce more heartbreak within a church community than when a beloved pastor falls into sin. The fall of a pastor or a Christian leader leaves more spiritual damage and gives the enemy more ammo to attack the church with accusations than any other situation. Sadly, these falls seem all too common within the church today. Do Christians have anything to learn from these events that keep happening in the church today?

In this week’s episode of the biblical counseling podcast, pastor Jeff Christianson gets to the heart of the problem surrounding fallen pastors. The issue with too many pastors falling into destructive sin stems from a wider issue within the Christian community. Like Israel with Saul, the Benjaminite (1 Sam 8–10), the Church today is too often distracted by gifts or abilities and loses sight of the most important aspect of ministry leadership: character. Pastor Jeff argues that we should be more concerned about character, fruit, and maturity than talent, gift, and ability.

Want to hear more? Tune into this week’s episode of the Biblical Counseling Podcast. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please leave a comment in the student section on the podcast page.

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This podcast is for informational purposes only and has been inspired by the works of these individuals and sources: The NKJV Study Bible, Pastor Bob Hoekstra, Pastor Chuck Smith, Pastor Ray Steadman, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Dr. Wayne Grudem.

The views expressed in this episode are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of the sources.

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2