over the past 50 years there have been many major scandals in the church committed or allegedly committed by Christian ministers these scandals range from theft money laundering abuse fraud abuse of power Affairs adultery miscellaneous behaviors and many more each time a major Pastor is caught in a scandal mainstream news covers those stories anytime I see a Scandal coming out of the church at large it hurts me it hurts because I know that the mainstream media will report on the story and suggest that this one act in one individual's life represents modern-day Christianity you will never
see coverage from major newspapers or news stations that a church has opened fourth orphanage in as many years you won't see coverage that a pastor has led his church to open a homeless shelter but when a scandal occurs every news tabloid writes a story about it I'm not saying that a scandal should be hidden that is wrong and evil what I am saying is that the good things pastors do are rarely highlighted by the world but when a pastor is involved in a scandal there is a tremendous amount of press coverage there are people whose
faith is tested when a scandal involving a prominent figure comes to light some are left confused about their faith and this is wrong as a Believer your faith should not be rooted in a pasture your faith should not be rooted in one specific Ministry your faith should not be rooted in a YouTube channel or in a Christian influencer your faith needs to be rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ he is the author and finisher of our faith scandals are nothing new throughout the history of mankind Believers and unbelievers have been involved in scandals what has
changed in the last 40 years is that the world has become more connected the world is essentially one big village now you can live in the mountains of Nepal and digitally attend church on Sundays with your favorite minister in Texas this has led to a culture of celebrity pastors SL ministers more pastors today are known than at any other time in history 60 years ago for a pastor to be known worldwide they would have to be like a Billy Graham and host Crusades across the world that changed 20 years ago a pastor would have to
either hold Crusades or be on TV on one of the major christian television channels but the world has changed again in the last 10 years a pastor can invite people from across the world into his church via the Internet as a result more pastors have gained notoriety this is one of the reasons it appears that more p pastors are falling into sin or being involved in scandals I don't think anything has changed really I believe the same number of pastors are falling as they used to be with the only difference being that now more people
know pastors worldwide they are essentially more famous and recognized platforms like YouTube and Facebook have opened the world up to pastors and the byproduct of that is that they are more welln to address the issue of people's Faith being shaken when a minister Falls I first want to address the topic of scandals scandals exist wherever people are congregated scandals are not unique to the church in your place of work right now there are probably 37 scandals and two of them are about you that you don't even know about I mentioned this to make these two
points one not all scandals are true and number two everywhere people are congregated you will find scandals even in the Bible you find scandals this is one of the reasons why I truly believe the Bible was written by God because the Bible lays bare all of the scandals that it's authors are involved in think about it if the Bible was written by men men would make sure they come out looking like the hero men would hide all of their mistakes and sins but the Bible exposes all of that people always want to make themselves look
good but the spirit of God wrote an accurate account of history and what really happened in these men's lives and it exposed all of their shortcomings look at David David was a mess of monumental proportions yes David was a man of God but he had a problem with women David saw ba Sheba bathing on a rooftop and had beath Sheba brought to him she became pregnant and David killed beath sheba's husband Moses killed a man Peter denied Jesus three times times I say all this to get to this point don't put men or women on
pedestals don't exalt men or women men and women will disappoint you and let you down look on to Jesus exalt Jesus he is the one in whom your faith should be rooted not in your favorite Pastor John 14 and6 Jesus said unto him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me what Jesus did not say is that Pastor flip flop and brother Holiness are the way no Jesus is the way exalt Jesus build your faith on Jesus Christ and your faith will never waver build your
faith on the Lord God Almighty we as humans have a tendency to make Idols out of men and this is why people's faith is shaken when a prominent figure Falls but as the body of Christ when we see a prominent figure in the church fall let us not rejoice let us not crucify them or celebrate their downfall let us pray for them what we forget in these situations is that when a minister Falls there are usually innocent family members who have done absolutely nothing wrong and they are being dragged through the mud because of their
father's or husband's decision we need to be mature Christians not a medieval mob shouting burn him we need to be mature Christians yes it is true that a pastor teacher is held to a higher standard than the people who he or she Shepherds this however does not mean that when a pastor teacher fails to meet these standards we should condemn them to the very pits of hell we as the church should aim to restore them and when we talk about the restoration of a pastor I am not suggesting that a week after a scandal they
should be back in the pull pit I am not even saying that years down the line a pastor who has fallen to reclaim his or her role as head Pastor or the like I am simply saying that a pastor who has been involved in a scandal can and should be restored to fellowship with God their families and fellow Believers I'm choosing to remain silent regarding whether a pastor who has been involved in any kind of Scandal should be restored to to their previous position the reason being that not all scandals are the same and the
evidence for each Scandal varies it is up to each Church leadership to handle this matter and thank God for church boards and leaderships that hold ministers accountable I want you to take these points away with you number one scandals happen everywhere and have been happening since the beginning of mankind number two unfortunately more scandals will happen in the church simply because people are going to be people and we as the body of Christ should have a mature Christian response to these scandals and number three stop looking up to men and women as the Bedrock of
your faith your faith shouldn't be shaken because a minister is caught into sin putting a minister on a pedestal is idolatry your faith should be placed in Jesus Christ Alone he alone is the one whom we should look up to he alone is the one we should adore build your life on Christ and not the shifting Sands of religion build your life on Christ and not on people if you build your life on Christ your faith will be immovable if you build your life life on Christ your faith will be unshakable so the question is
how can I build my life on Christ the answer is simple follow his Commandments Matthew 22: 37-40 Jesus replied love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself all the law and the prophets hang on these two Commandments What will matter in the end would not be the number of church services you attended or the number of sermons you preached or who your favorite Pastor was the only thing
that will matter is the extent to which You Walked In Love towards God and men so today you need to ask yourself do I love God loving him is the first and greatest commandment loving him is the biggest fear it's not about how much you know about the Bible it's not about how often you attend church it's not about how much you know about prophecy the biggest factor is do you love God loving God is how you can build your life on Christ loving God with all your heart soul and mind means that God is
at the core of your being he is your heartbeat and all other relationships take a secondary role to your relationship with him loving God with all your heart soul and mind means that you have allowed him to flood let the thoughts of your heart you love him with everything you have [Music]