Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. I get it. It's annoying. Everybody

asks, but I'm going to tell you why. When you give us a positive review, what that does is it

triggers the algorithm so that our podcast shows up on more people's news feeds. You and I both know

that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries aren't. We need

this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears. So my goal is to talk to you

about Christian power in theory and then to also lay out for you some principles for how to

grow in power. So we'll start out, let's just, we'll get through, and I had to throw away so many slides.

I am so sad about that, but I'm probably not going to get through all of them anyways, so we'll do what we can.

So what I want to start out with for you is a text of scripture that relates to thinking about power.

And I think this is a particularly important text of Scripture that helps us to think about

why it's important for Christians to pursue power.

So if you have a Bible on your phone or whatever, I encourage you to follow along.

But the book of Judges, Chapter 9, deals with this idea of men who are unwilling to seek power as well as men who are willing.

And so let's read the text.

Judges chapter 9 verse 7.

Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Garzim and lifted his voice and cried out and he said to them,

Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you.

Context is, there's Bimilek who is becoming king and he's coming to the inauguration party to say something that Abimelech will really love to hear.

So let's see what he says. Listen to me,

you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. The trees once went forth to anoint a king over

them, and they said to the olive tree, rain over us. But the olive tree said to them,

should I cease giving my oil with which they honor God and men and go to sway over trees?

...