Let's hear the words of Jesus Christ in Revelation 3:11: “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown." We lose our crown when we fall to any teaching that draws us away from their practices. Let's review each crown, and we can begin to see what false teachings would look like to take these from us. 5 Crowns of Reward: CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: loving Jesus at His Coming, which relies on studying our Bible. CROWN IMPERISHABLE: disciplining ourselves to serve the Church in the Holy Spirit's anointing. CROWN OF LIFE: suffering for the gospel message before a lost world. CROWN OF REJOICING: winning souls to Jesus. CROWN OF GLORY: shepherding other believers in these crowns. Some people will drive you away from the Bible. Others will drive you away from serving the Church. Many false teachers have denounced any suffering for Jesus's name. Christians who fail to win souls will write off trying to do so. Those who don't practice these crowns, certainly cannot shepherd them in others. Can you think of other ways? There is no end to the slippery nature of the devil's agenda and, sadly, some Christians are so slothful in their faith they listen to it. False teachers are everywhere condemned by the apostles. For the strongest indictment, read the 1-page letter that is the Book of Jude. No one can steal your salvation, that is Jesus's work. But any false teacher can steal your crown with your consent. Remember Jesus's words: "Hold fast to what you have!"

Hello Christian Leaders Community, I had a weekly scheduled meet-n-greet on Zoom call a while back, but I took it down. How would you like to restore it and just have a time to chat?

We changed our community name from CrownForge Christian Academy to the one you see here: Forging Christian Leaders, because Dr. Woods felt that the new name clarified the intent and expectations for the kind of content people can expect. We are forging new Christian leadership, and while that involves the 5 Crowns of Reward model of Ministry, our attempt to laser-beam focus on the end goal hopefully works better for newcomers. What are your thoughts on the name? Any suggestions?

Our book, Crowns of Valor--Bold Leaders, Arise! Covers these covenants in better detail. The passage list is below. The redemptive covenants of God are based on the promises to Abraham, David, and Jesus. Noah's covenant after the flood is the setup for man's direction by God to eat meat, exercise capital punishment for murder, and to take faith in God will never flood the earth again. But Abraham, David, and Jesus (Hebrew: Yeshua) have the redemptive covenants. 1. Abraham's covenant bore all the signs of God's original creation week to symbolize full redemption of the heavens and earth through this covenant (see image below). The Word of Yehovah, Jesus himself, led Abraham to view all heaven and earth to summarize His promises ("The Word of Yehovah," Gen 15:1, 4; compare Jn 1:1; 8:56). The language of Abraham's covenant is the Gospel message (Gal 3:8) and it's all over the Bible, beginning in Genesis 12. Most of the Bible's vocabulary and references to faithfulness come back to this covenant. 2. David's covenant prophesies directly about the coming Davidic King who will reign forever. See our posts on "Forever language" in the Bible. 3. The New Covenant in Jesus establishes all covenant promises beginning with the Church's participation in the atonement for eternal life. Then at Jesus's Second Coming to earth, all promises to Israel will be accomplished: the Davidic King (Jesus), the Temple (Ezek 40-48), Israel's Tribal Land allotments, and a worldwide, perfect government having the resurrected Church (previously raptured) as the co-heirs and co-rulers with Christ. 4. The Mosaic Covenant at Mt. Sinai was a preparation for the Messiah's coming. Jesus repeated all of the Ten Commandments for His ministry. But the sacrifices and the law will be different.

The New Testament outlines many ways to serve the Church: Offices, gifts, Gender roles, and households. The Church has been acting like the world to deny these critical roles, male and female. Firstly, it affirms Jesus's statement about the intentions of God's design for the world: God made them male and female. The most complete compilation of instructions to men and women in the Church is in the appendix to the book, Crowns of Valor--Bold Leaders, Arise! The sheer quantity of instructions to men and women separately will shock any reader who has attended church without reading their Bible. The appendix is three full pages!