All of us have heard stories about corrupt religious leaders who have been in the

process of the religious leaders who have abused their position of authority and dominate

or manipulate or take advantage of others.

So how can you recognize and prevent unbiblical leadership in your church?

That's our focus today on truth for life.

Alice, your bag is teaching from Colossians chapter 1.

We move from that to the question not have I been included in Christ, but am I submitting

to Christ who is the head?

You say, well, this is a very corporate question in that we're studying the church, as of

course it is, but the way that the church as an entity submits to Christ is a result of

individual submitting to Christ.

And so Paul writes to them and he says, listen, I want you to understand that Jesus is absolutely

supreme. There is no one greater or higher than he and Jesus is absolutely sufficient.

Christ is the head of the body, the church.

And as our heads control both our growth and our guidance, so Christ does the same for

his body.

Incidentally, we'll come back to this in later studies.

Christ mediates his rule through a plurality of godly man whom he has given as gifts to

the church, as Paul in Ephesians 4, who are themselves pastors and teachers, who have

been given the responsibility of edifying the saints so that they might be unable to

do the works of ministry.

God has given those who are the servants of the headship of Christ to be servants of the

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