Sandy Edwards warns Christian leaders that partiality—favoring familiar people while judging strangers harshly—corrupts ministry and drives people away from the gospel. When Jesus isn't the head, leaders lose their influence and become vulnerable to deception. Edwards calls leaders to repent and let Jesus guide their approach case by case.
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One of the things that God was very clear with me about before accepting his call into ministry in a different way was that he is the head of the ministry. And whenever you remove Jesus as the head and you put yourself as the head of the ministry, Or you put your opinions as the head of the ministry, or you put your personality as the head of the ministry, you are almost guaranteed to be led into compromise, and you are almost guaranteed to fail. And the numbers will come because people are addicted to controversy that comes apart from Jesus, not the controversy that comes from following Jesus, but they are addicted to the controversy. That is separate from Jesus, right? Because there is a difference. If you remove Jesus as the head, you are almost guaranteed to fail. And failure is not always directly in your face, right? It's not always visible failure. Sometimes failure looks like the numbers still being there because people are addicted to controversy. Without seeking the Lord, and I say this because one of the things that I have really been spending time with the Lord talking to Him about, even airing out my frustration over some of the things that I see, is that a lot of God's people right now are guilty of the sin of partiality, where you show favoritism towards certain people. Who are engaging in certain sin, and you're not keeping that same energy with other people who are also guilty of the same sin, whom you— who you love, who you say that you love, who are in your life. And so you show partial judgment, and you're like, well, this person is close to me and I know them, so I'ma be more kind to them, I'ma be more gracious to them, I'ma be more lenient towards them. But the people that you don't know, you don't treat with the same love, the same grace, the same kindness. And God has an issue with this because it is hindering the message of the gospel from being received as it should be. You keep thinking that it's people rejecting God, but it is actually people who are rejecting you because of your arrogance, because of your pride, because of your self-righteousness. They're not rejecting God. They're rejecting you. And so you call yourself speaking the truth, but you're using certain scriptures to justify being rude. You're using certain scriptures to justify being prideful. You're using certain scriptures to justify being self-righteous. And you think that because— you think that because people come in the masses supporting you That God is the one who is okay with it. And a lot of people right now in the body of Christ are guilty of this sin. And I'm telling you that sin is not always the, the things that we see to the human eye. Sin is also that sin of partiality where you group everybody together and you draw extreme conclusions about everyone and you stereotype people. And you tell people that they're going to hell for wearing makeup, or you tell people that they're going to hell for wearing human hair extensions. If this video is touching a spot, it's good because it needs to. You're guilty of it. You judge everybody the same. And I am convinced that more than ever is now the time for those of us who are leaders in the body of Christ to get back to Jesus being the model for how we do ministry. Because he did not treat everybody the same in the sense of when it came to circumstances and situations. He did not handle every situation the same. He did not group people together. There were certain people he handled like this. There were certain people he handled like that. And if you don't begin to put Jesus back as the head of the ministry, the lampstand will come and be removed from you. I shared this in a video last year, but I'm gonna say it again. God will come and he will remove the lampstand from your ministry because you are an irresponsible leader when you generalize and you are guilty of the sin of partiality. You're wondering why people don't want anything to do with you, and I'm letting you know right now That the reason why they don't— for some of you, the reason why they don't is because that sin of partiality is in your life. The word of God says that if Jesus is lifted up, he will draw all men unto him. So if Jesus is not being lifted up in the ministry, right, how are all men being drawn to him? Where are they being drawn to if Jesus is not lifted up? If he is lifted up, he will draw all men unto him. All, not some. All. That means that people you encounter should be drawn to him, not you, not your personality, not what you're gifted at, but him. But him. So if you remove Jesus out of the ministry and you start taking the lead, you're gonna fail. You're gonna do things like compromising. You're gonna do things like engaging in practices that are not of God. You're gonna begin to open up the door for you to be deceived. And if you are deceived as a leader, you're gonna also deceive the people and the souls that are attached to your ministry. So are you guilty of the sin of partiality? And if you are, repent. Repent. Because if you're going to be an effective minister of the gospel, you must not have this sin in your life. Be led by the Holy Spirit in your encounters with people. There are some people, yes, you do need to be very abrasive with. Yes, you do need to be very direct with. And yes, you do need to tell them hard truths. But there are some people who you are unnecessarily offensive with. Because you have become so addicted and drunk on your own personality instead of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. And if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then he is the head of any ministry that God gives to us as leaders. Not you yourself, but Jesus. And he did not handle everyone And every situation the same. It was case-by-case basis. There are some people who don't know that they are ignorant. If you group the people who don't know with the people who do know, you are guilty of the sin of partiality. We see in scripture how when Jesus taught the people who were not used to following him How he spoke to them differently than he did the people and the disciples that were used to always being around him. And they even questioned him, and they said, "Why is it that you speak to them in parables, but you speak to us like this? Why is it that you speak to us this way, but you speak to them this way?" And he explained, because they don't know; they've never heard of me. Some of them, right? And I'm paraphrasing, but go and seek out the scriptures for yourself. If you want to have an effective ministry and you want it to be fruitful, Jesus needs to be the head. And repent of the sin of partiality. Go to the description in this video and read the entire teaching that is on the Thirst with Hunger Institute website. Leave a comment, but I pray that this video is a blessing to you, and may God continue to show you favor and grace and His mercy, and lead you to repentance because that's His kindness too. God bless you.
