Welcome back to the morning mindset my friends. I am glad you are here. It is time for you and for me to get our minds aligned with the truth of God. I want us to take this very seriously

because the better aligned we are with God's will and purpose for this day that

we're living right now, the more effective we will be at living out the

indwelling presence of Christ so that the world around us can see it.

And getting our minds aligned with God's truth is part of what enables us to do

that.

And we're looking at the book of first Peter.

We've moved into chapter 5 and in this section Peter is describing the role and responsibility of leaders within the

church.

He says he is exhorting the elders among the readers of his letter.

Now exhortation is a strong word.

He is strongly encouraging these church leaders

to take on a certain attitude about their role and to be sure

that they are carrying out that role in alignment with certain principles and

patterns. The first that we covered yesterday is that they are to shepherd the flock of God, exercising

oversight.

Now that implies some kind of care and it's most likely in doctrinal ways, in senses of things where people could be deceived

or let astray.

The elders are to be watching out for those things and to kindly, carefully come

in with a loving attitude and help people discern those kinds of things within the church

body. He says next, they are to do this role not

under compulsion. This is in verse number two not under compulsion but

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