Now John chapter 7 verse 1, John is one of my favorite books in the Bible and John chapter 7 is one of my favorite chapters in the book of John.
A lot of powerful preaching by Jesus Christ and the part I want to focus on is toward the end here in verse number 45.
Jesus just finished preaching this powerful preaching in the temple and well let's look at one verse of that.
He said in verse 37,
On the last day, that great day of the beast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man curse, let him come unto me and break. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spakey of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jump down to verse 45.
The Pharisees had sent some officers to go arrest Jesus because he's preaching in the temple and there was kind of a warrant for his arrest.
So they sent these officers to go arrest him and in verse 45 it says,
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
But this people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed.
Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,
Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee?
Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet, and every man went into his own house.
The verse that I want to focus on here is in verse 48 where the Bible reads,
Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
Now this was their proof, this was their evidence that Jesus Christ must not be right
because none of the rulers and none of the Pharisees believed on him, therefore he's not of God.
Now the truth of the matter is, there were many of the Pharisees that had believed on him.
There were some of the rulers that had believed on him.
But the Bible just says that they did not confess him openly for fear of the Jews
because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
So there were some of the Pharisees that had believed on him. Some of the rulers had believed.
But they did not have the guts to stand up and say publicly that they believed on him.
But notice this mentality that says, Well have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?
You must not be right. Now wait a minute.
Many, many people believed on Jesus, didn't they?
When John the Baptist came and preached, there were multitudes, both the men and women,
that came and were baptized and that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ and his apostles went throughout all the towns and villages
and made and baptized even more disciples than John had done.
And so there were multitudes and throngs of people who believed on Jesus Christ at this time.
But there was a lack of leadership of people that would stand up and be a leader,
one of the rulers, one of the leaders that would stand up and preach the truth and stand for what was right.
And I believe that we're living in the same conditions today in 2011.
Many people believe the Bible. Many people go out solely.
Many people read it, pray, study it, but yet there's a lack of leaders today.
And I want to preach this morning about being a leader.
And the first point I want to make about being a leader is found right here in John chapter 7.
Being a leader involves going a different direction than everyone else around you is going.
So this attitude that says, well, none of the other leaders are doing it,
none of the other rulers of the Pharisees are doing it, so it must not be right.
Now Nicodemus here was a man that should have been a great leader.
You can tell here that he doesn't like what's going on around him.
Nicodemus looks around at the people around him that are just condemning Jesus Christ,
trying to arrest him, and he didn't like it and he wanted to say something.
So he actually had a little bit of courage, but not near enough.
He just stands up and just barely kind of says,
doesn't our law judge any man before an Arab?
And they're just like, shut up!
Okay, sorry.
Because he was a weak leader.
Because he should have stood up and said, no, this man has the words of everlasting life.
Now had Nicodemus not heard Jesus preaching?
In John chapter 3, he had Jesus Christ personally sit down with him
and explain everything to him about salvation, explain to him everything that he needed to know.
He already knew the truth, he already knew what was going on,
but he gives this weak answer because he doesn't want to go against the crowd
and they immediately just shut him down and he shuts his mouth
because he wasn't a good leader.
Let me show you another reason why Nicodemus was not a good leader.
Go to John chapter 3.
But you see, being a leader involves going a different direction than everyone else.
Let's do a little illustration here.
Let me bring a couple of people up here.
Brother Richard, Brother Matt, you want to come up here for a second?
Okay.
Now look, let's say the three of us are all, let's line up like this single file, okay?
And there's three of us, right?
Okay, let's all walk this way.
We'll walk this way, all right?
Now when you look at this group, who's leading here?
That, right? Okay.
Now, Brother Brett, come on up here.
Come on back here, guys.
Okay, now we're all going along.
Go ahead and stand right here, please.
We're all going along, we're all going along.
Go ahead and go, go ahead and go.
Okay, now look, if Brett's going to be a leader here,
is he just going to jump behind me and just keep going the way everybody else is going?
No, in order for him to be a leader, he's going to go in a different direction.
Go ahead and go.
And what makes him a leader is when we turn around and say,
oh, hey, let's go this way, let's follow him now, okay?
So he has to be somebody who's worth following.
He has to somehow get our attention and say, hey, guys, you're going the wrong way, come follow me.
Not to just come along and maybe, you know, be dressed nice and say a lot of things,
have a fancy name or something, and just follow along with everybody else, with everybody else.
No, he would shout to us and say, hey, follow me, come this way, and take us a different direction.
Now, let's say we're all, go ahead and stand there for a little bit.
Let's say we're all going this direction, okay?
And Brett comes along and says, yep, just keep going that way, guys, keep going.
He's not a leader.
We were already going that way before he ever came along.
Go ahead and sit down, everybody, does everybody understand?
A leader is somebody who can come along and take you a different direction.
He finds somebody who's going this way, and he turns them and says, no, go this way.
Follow me a different direction.
Not someone who just goes along with the crowd.
That's not a leader.
And so, you know, just following what all the other rulers and Pharisees are doing,
it doesn't make you, just because someone pronounces you a leader.
Oh, you're one of us now.
You're one of the rulers of the Pharisees.
Go to John chapter 3, and I'll show you another attribute of being a leader,
besides going a different direction than others.
Now I'm being afraid to be different,
even if everybody else seems to be going the wrong direction,
as they were in John chapter 7.
Look at John chapter 3.
This is where Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus.
He says in verse number 3, Jesus answered and said unto him,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he's old?
Can he enter the second time?
Do his mother's woman be born?
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvell not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Are thou a master of Israel?
And no, it's not these things.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen,
and you receive not our witness.
If I have told you earthly things that you believe not,
how should you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But the part I want to focus on is in verse 10 where Jesus answered and said,
Are thou a master of Israel?
And no, it's not these things.
You see, the second thing about being a leader,
number one, you've got to be willing to go against the flow.
You've got to be willing to swim upstream.
You've got to be willing to be different than those around you
in order to lead people.
But secondly, you've got to know what you're talking about.
You've got to know what you're talking about.
Jesus here is rebuking Nicodemus for being a so-called leader,
a so-called master of Israel.
Of course, Jesus said not to be called master,
but that's what they called themselves, rabbi, master, father,
all these fancy titles they gave themselves.
But he's rebuking him for not knowing the Bible as a leader
because it's required that a leader knows what he's talking about
and knows the Bible because if you're going to lead people,
that's a big responsibility because you've got people following you
and you're going to lead everybody astray.
The Bible says if the blind lead the blind,
they're both going to fall into the ditch.
And in 2 Timothy 2.15, Paul is preaching to his young protégé
in the ministry of Timothy.
He says, study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
And so he's telling him you have to be ashamed of yourself
to get up and call yourself a leader and to lead people
and have all these people following you when you don't know the Bible,
when you haven't studied to show thyself approved.
And what we need are leaders that will be willing to take a different direction
than everyone around them who's going the wrong way.
We need a leader who will stand up and be different,
not be afraid to be alone and to stand alone.
Like Elijah stood alone at the Mount Carmel and he said,
I, even I, only elect a prophet of the Lord,
but Baal's prophets are 450.
But he said, I'm the only prophet here that's standing for the Lord today.
And he wasn't afraid of that.
He wasn't afraid to be the only one to take that stand
because he was a great leader, that's why.
And not only that, you've got to know what you're talking about
to be a great leader.
You've got to know the Bible
because you don't want to lead people to the wrong direction.
They say, Pastor Anderson, I'm not a pastor.
I'm never going to be a pastor.
I don't know if this sermon applies to me,
but really everyone is a leader in some area of their life.
You know, ladies, you're a leader
because especially those who have children,
you're leading those children.
You're a leader.
They look to you.
And by the way,
children are not supposed to obey their father.
They're supposed to obey their mother.
You know, the Bible says that...
I think it's even in Proverbs.
Go to Proverbs 1.
Keep your finger there in John 3.
Go to Proverbs 1.
Let me go ahead and go there.
I believe it's in the memory.
I was doing a lot of reading in Psalms and Proverbs,
so it's all kind of blending together in my mind.
Yeah, it is.
It's in our memory verse from last week.
It says in verse number 8,
My son, hear the instruction of thy father
and forsake not the suggestions of thy mother.
Is that what it says?
Oh, wait.
It says, forsake not the law of thy mother.
See, the mother in the home is a lawmaker.
She lays down the law,
and God says that we're to obey our father and mother,
and obviously now I'm married.
I've left the home.
I've got my own children and so forth.
I'm not under their authority.
I left father and mother and cleaved unto my wife,
and we became one flesh.
I've established my own family
where I'm the leader in that home.
But as a child, my mother and father were my leaders.
And you say, when are you no longer child?
When you put away childish things,
or when you leave father and mother
and cleave unto your wife and become one flesh,
not just a number on the calendar.
But you see, a leader is just someone who has followers.
That's what a leader is.
It's that simple.
You don't have to be a great person to be anybody.
There could be a wicked leader.
There could be a bad leader.
A leader is just a person who has people following.
That's what defines a leader.
They're leading someone.
As a mother, you're leading someone.
You have a responsibility to lead them in the right direction.
As a father, you're a leader.
And you say, well, I don't have children.
You could be a leader in the church.
You could be a leader.
You have people looking to you, friends, younger siblings.
You might have cousins, just church members,
that are looking to you and following your lead.
They respect you.
They're going to go in the same direction that you go.
And as a leader, it's important to know
what you're talking about.
Today, we lack leadership from people
who are willing to go against the grain
and from people who know the Bible
and know what they're talking about.
Look, if you ever plan to pastor a church someday
or be a preacher someday behind the pulpit
and preach Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,
let me tell you something.
You better know what you're talking about.
There are too many pastors behind too many pulpits
in America that have such a rudimentary knowledge
of the Bible.
And their knowledge needs to far exceed what it is today
because they're leading people astray,
not even intentionally in many cases,
but just from a lack of knowledge.
And just because you've read the Bible one time,
two times, three times, you're not ready
to pastor a church.
You need to read that book scores of times
and memorize it and go over it and over it
and over it and over it.
It's a great responsibility to stand up
and pastor a church and preach and to lead.
And I wish that we'd have more
that would step up to the plate,
but it's gonna take a lot of preparation to get there
because you've got to know what you're talking about.
You know, I've pastored this church
for five and a half years,
and, you know, I've preached, you know,
800 and some sermons because it's 156 a year.
So I've preached 800 and some odd sermons,
and, you know, they're all on the Internet pretty much.
90-some percent of them are on the Internet.
And, you know, have I ever said anything wrong?
Have I ever made a mistake?
Of course I've made mistakes, but let me tell you something.
I can leave all 800 and some of those on the Internet
because what I've preached hasn't changed.
I mean, there may be a few very minor points,
a few things that I've learned things on,
mainly probably political things that I learned a lot about
throughout my ministry here,
but I don't have to go back and say,
oh, now I believe something completely different here.
I believe something completely different.
You know, a few political things that I've grown into,
but when it comes to Bible doctrines,
I thank God that I figured out what I believed
before I started preaching
because it'd be kind of embarrassing.
But I say, you know, all those sermons from 2006, 2007, 2008,
you know, that was back when I didn't really know
what I was talking about.
Just download everything from 09 forward.
That's when I figured things out.
Because I thank God that I made a lot of my mistakes
and I, you know, I said a lot of the wrong things
before I started pastoring in church.
You know, I was studying and learning
and making mistakes before I started...
Because it would be terrible to confuse people like that
where you're just constantly changing what you believe.
And look, if you're preaching something that's wrong, change it.
But went to God, you'd figure out what you believe
and get really nailed down on the truths of the Bible
before you even start the job.
You know, and as a parent, as any kind of a leader,
it is important to know the Bible
and to know what you're talking about
and to make sure that you're leading right.
How do you even know what church to take your family to
unless you personally know the Word
and you can line it up with what's coming across the pulpit
and say this church is preaching right
versus this church that's preaching wrong?
It's vital that a leader know what they're talking about.
Go to 2 Kings, chapter 9.
I'm going to show you a great leader in the Bible
Of course, Jesus Christ was the greatest leader that ever lived.
We'll get to him in a little while.
We'll get more through about Jesus Christ as a leader.
But go to 2 Kings, chapter 9,
and I'm going to show you a man who was not a perfect man,
obviously a man who made a lot of mistakes in his life,
but he was a great, great leader.
I mean, and you say, well, what do you say?
Why do you say that? Because people follow him.
I mean, people follow, and he got people going the right direction,
serving God, and they followed this man.
This man's name is Jehu.
Look at 2 Kings 9, chapter 4, or chapter 9, verse 4, it says,
So the young man, even the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.
And when he came, the captains of the host were sitting,
and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain.
And Jehu said unto which of all of us?
And he said, to thee, O captain.
And he arose and went into the house,
and he poured the oil on his head,
and he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.
So here, a whole bunch of the captains of Israel,
these are a lot of military leaders,
and a big gathering of them, none of them is really the highest rank he won.
They're all about the same rank.
And so when a young man that's a prophet comes in and says,
I have an errand unto thee, O captain,
they didn't know who he was talking to, because they were all captains.
They were all of equal rank.
And he specifically points out Jehu and says, unto thee, O captain,
he takes him aside privately and tells him that God has anointed him to be king of Israel.
It says in verse 7, Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master,
that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets,
and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel.
For the whole house of Ahab shall perish,
and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall,
and him that is shut up and left in Israel.
And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
and like the house of Baasha the son of Hijjah.
And the dog shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel,
and there shall be none to bury her.
And he opened the door and fled.
So the prophet gives him this message.
You're going to be the king of Israel.
You're going to defeat Ahab's house.
You're going to defeat Jezebel.
You're going to defeat these people who have brought the nation of Israel
from worshiping God into worshiping Satan,
which is called Baal in this chapter.
And then he just runs away.
So then Jehu basically comes back to join the group.
Keep in mind, this all took place in private.
So now Jehu's going to rejoin the group of all the other captains that he was with.
And it says, Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord,
and one said unto him, Is all well?
Like, hey, is everything all right?
You know, what happened?
Because they want to know what the message is.
Is all well?
Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?
Mad meaning like crazy, like insane.
What did that crazy guy have to say to you?
Because that's what they'll always call you when you're a real preacher of God's word
or even just a person who takes a stand for God's word.
You know, the world will try to belittle you like you're crazy or nuts or whatever.
So this is a great prophet, but there's all that crazy guy.
You know, but what did he say to him?
You know, they're kind of still interested in what he had to say.
So Jehu doesn't really want to tell him.
He's a little apprehensive to tell him.
Jehu says, you know the man of this communication.
Like, you know what that guy's like.
So they're like, come on, what did he tell you?
Nah, you know how he is.
You know the kind of stuff he says.
Here's what they say.
And they say, it is false.
Like, whatever he said, it's false.
But tell us what it is anyway.
So they're still, they want to know,
but they're kind of pretending like they don't care.
Like, oh yeah, it's stupid, but just tell us anyway, just because we're curious.
So they say, it's false.
Tell us now.
And he said, thus and thus spake he to me, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel.
Isn't that funny? Can you believe that? Isn't that guy crazy?
And of course, they already said, before they heard, it's false.
But then look what they do in verse 13.
Then they hasten, that means they hurried,
and took every man his garment,
and put it under him on the top of the stairs,
and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.
Now, that's pretty amazing, isn't it?
So this crazy young preacher comes in and tells him he's going to be king.
He comes back, and they say, oh, it's false, whatever it is.
But as soon as they hear that the guy told them,
you're going to be king of Israel,
they take their coats off, and throw it down before him,
and make a path for him to walk on their coats,
and sound a trumpet, and say, Jehu is king.
You see, part of being a leader is that people have to want to follow you.
You're not a leader if no one's following you.
You're not a pastor of a church if you don't have a church.
You're not a father if you don't have any children.
You're not a manager at your job if you don't have any employees.
Oh, I'm the manager, but there's only one employee.
Well, yeah, you're the supervisor, you're the manager, you're the boss,
you're the top guy.
Because being a leader involves people wanting to follow you.
Now, why did people want to follow Jehu?
It wasn't because this preacher told them.
Because they didn't even like that preacher.
They thought he was crazy, they didn't respect him.
But as soon as that preacher anointed him with oil
and said that he would be king, they jumped on board with it
because they wanted Jehu to be king because they wanted to follow him.
Why do people want to follow him?
I'm going to show you why, but before I show you why,
let me show you why.
Well, yeah, let's go look why.
Look at 2 Kings 10, verse 15.
2 Kings 10, verse 15.
I think this is part of why people wanted to follow Jehu.
It says in 2 Kings 10, 15,
and when he was departed then, this is Jehu,
he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, coming to meet him.
And of course Jehonadab, the son of Rekab,
was a very righteous man, a very godly man,
and we read about him in the book of Jeremiah and elsewhere.
And he saluted him and said to him,
this is what Jehu says to him,
is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered, it is.
If it be, this is Jehu responding,
give me thy hand.
And he gave him his hand,
and he took him up to him into the chariot.
And he said, this is what Jehu said,
come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
So they made him ride in his chariot,
and when he came to Samaria,
he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria,
till he had destroyed him,
according to the saying of the Lord,
which he spake to Elijah.
Jehu was a great leader because he had this one thing,
it's one word, zeal, zeal.
In order to be a great leader,
number one, you've got to be willing to be different
and go against the crowd.
We saw that in John chapter seven.
That's where Nicodemus fell apart as a leader.
In John chapter three that we saw that to be a leader,
in order for God to respect you as a leader,
you've got to know what you're talking about.
You've got to know the Bible and know God's words,
that you're going in the right direction.
But number three, it's not enough to just be willing
to go the right way and say all the right things.
People have got to want to follow you,
and you know what's going to make people want to follow you?
Zeal.
You say, what is zeal?
Zeal is what's eating you at.
Zeal is passion, excitement.
Okay, it's a strong feeling.
The Bible talks about when Jesus flipped over the tables
with the money changers,
you remember that in John chapter two?
The verse that described that in the book of Psalms said,
the zeal of thine house has eaten me up.
It talked about Jesus Christ being clothed
with the cloak of zeal.
Jesus Christ preached in Revelation 3
to the church that laid the seal.
We heard a sermon about it on the candid trip
with Brother Jimenez, but he preached them.
He said, you're lukewarm.
Remember that?
He said, I would, thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou wert lukewarm and neither cold nor hot,
I will skew thee out of my mouth.
He said, as many as I love I rebuke and chase him.
Be what?
Zealous, therefore, and repent.
So the opposite of being zealous,
the opposite of having zeal is what?
It's being lukewarm.
You see, a leader can't be half in and half out.
A leader can't be lukewarm.
He's got to be cold or hot in order for people to follow him.
And nobody wondered where Jesus stood here.
He said, are you with me or not?
He said, is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
He said, it is, because John Babb was a righteous man.
He wanted to go the same way as Jesus.
He wanted to serve God.
He brought him up into the chariot, and he said,
come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
Come with me.
That's what every leader's battle cry should be.
Not, go be zealous for the Lord.
No, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
Follow me, as Jesus said, and I'll make you fishers of men.
You can't be lukewarm as a leader.
You've got to be all sold out, know where you're going,
and that's where it comes from.
First you know where you're going is right,
and then you just don't look back,
and you don't be lukewarm.
You just go that direction.
The Bible says in the book of James,
it says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
An unstable leader is one who's double-minded.
Lukewarm, double-minded.
You're not sure if you're cold or you're hot.
You're double-minded.
You waver.
You flinch.
You know, wavering is like the waves,
and God defines that for us in the book of James.
He said, he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea.
That's where the word waver comes from.
He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord.
You see, a leader isn't just thrown around.
Like the Bible says, people who don't know the Bible,
they're tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
Every popular doctrine that comes out,
they jump on this bandwagon, they jump on that bandwagon.
They're tossed to and fro.
They waver.
The opposite of wavering is standing firm on something,
not moving.
First you know what's right, and then you stand firm on it,
and you choose a direction, and you go in that direction.
I mean, think about this.
Wouldn't you hate to have a leader who's double-minded?
Can you imagine?
Let's say the leader says to you, all right,
we're going to go do this.
I'm not really sure that's a good idea.
I mean, that's not a great leader.
Think about it.
I remember, you know, when you're a leader,
you do things that are different.
You go a different direction sometimes,
because you're leading people.
I remember when I first came up with the idea
for the small-town Solany marathons,
and I got that from the Bible.
You know, just reading the Bible about the towns and villages,
and I studied the Bible about it.
I thought about it.
And I remember I decided, hey, let's do this.
You know, let's travel to these small towns
and knock these doors and preach the gospel.
And I remember I woke up on Saturday morning
of the very first small-town Solany marathon,
and I woke up, and the first thought in my mind was like,
this isn't a very good idea.
I don't know if this is going to work.
I thought to myself, like, what are we doing?
This is crazy.
But that's not what I said at the breakfast that morning.
Because here's the thing.
A leader, he decides what he's going to do
based on God's work, and then he just stays with it.
You know, and even if doubts arise or things come in,
you know, it doesn't matter.
I got it from the Bible, and I decided I was going to do it.
And even though I woke, you know,
you always wake up with a weird thought when you first...
Who's like that?
Whenever I wake up first thing in the morning,
I just have the weirdest thoughts in my mind,
and I just, you know, I have to, like, wake up and...
I don't know, maybe that's what God says to me.
He said, put on the new man.
You know, sometimes when I wake up,
I just have the stupidest stuff in my mind,
and I just, you know, I have this dumb idea in my mind,
and I have to just kind of shake that off
and get into reality.
Because, you know, who knows what you're dreaming?
You know, I always had that dream
where all my teeth crumbled out of my mouth,
and so I had that dream a couple nights ago.
Who's ever had that dream where your teeth start falling out?
Anyway, I had that dream a couple nights ago.
I was working on a fire alarm system,
which is what I do for a living,
and all of a sudden my teeth started falling out
while I was doing the fire alarm.
But what I'm saying is, as a leader,
you can't be double-minded.
You got to make up your mind what you're going to do,
how you're going to lead,
where you're going, and make sure it's right.
You know, take plenty of time to prepare
so that you're not going in the wrong direction.
And then you've got to stay with it.
And when I got to that breakfast, man, it was,
we're excited, we're going to do this, it's going to work.
And of course, God gave a great victory there at Gila Bend.
It was a great success.
It was a great blessing.
You know, we stepped out in faith
and did something a little different,
and it worked out great.
But you've got to be zealous about it.
You've got to be excited.
That's another word for zealous right there.
Because not lukewarm, but exciting, fired up.
I mean, if the leader's not fired up,
how are the followers going to be fired up?
If mom and dad say,
all right, kids, let's go to church, here we go again,
you think the kids are going to be excited about church?
But the parents, the leaders in that home,
the mother, the father, ought to say,
hey, let's go to church.
Get ready, guys, it's church day.
Get on your best clothes and let's be on time
and let's bring our Bibles
and we're going to hear some great preaching
and we're going to sing some great songs
and we're going to get to see all our Christian friends
and it's going to be great.
That's zeal, excitement, passion, not a dragon.
You know what?
When it comes to soul winning,
you want to be a leader in soul winning,
be zealous about it.
Get excited about it.
Don't be double-minded about it.
Oh, I'm not sure if it's really going to work.
Just get out there and do it.
Of course it's going to work.
But you see, I think of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Of course, they're preaching a false doctrine anyway.
They're not even saved.
They don't even believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They don't even believe that people go to heaven or hell.
They don't even believe that Jesus died on the cross.
They think he died on a pole or something.
But basically, you see the Jehovah's Witnesses
going down the street and they're not zealous.
They walk like this.
Who knows what we're talking about?
They're like setting a land speed record for slowness.
I mean, they just walk along
and then they knock a door.
You can tell from a mile away nobody's home at that house.
I mean, weeds are overgrown.
There's signs in the window that say,
no trespassing, call the management company
about any problems.
They'll knock that door
and they'll stand there for about five minutes.
Just waiting to see if anybody comes to the door.
Because they're just trying to kill time.
They're just putting in their time.
And you see them, they move slow.
Man, I don't want to be that way all soul.
I want to be zealous.
I want to be like, hey, nobody's home there.
Let's go to the next one.
And knock that door and hope that somebody's there
and be excited about it.
That's what Reeder is.
Jehu is excited.
Look how people just follow Jehu.
Look at chapter 9, verse 30.
So first of all, we saw that scenario
where he was anointed king.
Everybody just jumped on board and followed him.
And we see in chapter 10, his zeal for the Lord,
how he got Jehonadab on board.
Look at this in verse number 30 of chapter 9.
It says, when Jehu was come to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it.
And let me just explain who Jezebel is.
She was the wicked queen who had put to death
all the preachers that were preaching the Bible.
She pretty much had them executed.
And she brought in all this Baal worship
and human sacrifice.
She was just a wicked, ungodly person.
And the Bible actually called her a fool.
I don't know how many times.
Over and over they each called her that.
And that's not me calling her.
That's what the Bible called her.
Over and over.
This is a very wicked woman.
And it says, when Jehu came to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it.
And she painted her face.
And by the way, she was the one who's really
running things in the kingdom.
Her husband and her children were just her puppets
that maybe held the exact position of a king.
But really, they weren't the ones in charge.
They weren't really calling the shots.
It was actually Jezebel who was the one calling the shots.
And the Bible even makes excuses for Ahab a couple times,
saying, well, it was really just his wife Jezebel
that was really the bad one.
He was not a good guy, but he wasn't near as bad as her.
And so this wicked woman Jezebel,
she painted her face and tired her head
and looked out the window.
Now, who knows what it means to tire your head?
I guess it's like a tire, like when you get dressed.
So I guess she painted her face and put on some kind of a,
I don't know, maybe like the Chiquita banana.
I don't know.
She put some kind of a tire on her head,
some kind of a headdress or whatever.
I don't know.
What's that?
Yeah, you know the fruit, the big pile of fruit on the head
or maybe like an Indian headdress.
I don't know.
But anyway, if you want to look like Jezebel, ladies,
just paint your face and put on a headdress.
Okay?
And so it says she painted her face and tired her head
and looked out of the window.
And as Jihoo entered in at the gate, she said,
had Zimrai peace who slew his master?
So she's trying to compare Jihoo to someone from the past,
Zimrai, who basically took over the kingdom
and was king for about seven days
until he was taken over by Amrai, if you know the Bible.
But she says, had Zimrai peace that slew his master?
And then Jihoo basically said,
oh, man, I'm not sure if this is a good idea.
I forgot about that.
No, because Jihoo is not a double-minded leader.
He knew where he's going.
He doesn't care what she says.
He knows she's wicked.
And he lifted up his face to the window and said,
who is on my side?
Who?
And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.
Now, who are these eunuchs?
These are men who have been castrated,
and they are basically servants to the queen.
They're male slaves, male servants.
And these are not great, powerful warriors.
I mean, these guys have been castrated,
and they're just servants to the queen.
I mean, they helped her put on that fruit bowl on her head.
These guys are not exactly well-respected guys in the kingdom.
OK.
But he said, who's on my side?
Who?
And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.
And he said, throw her down.
If you're on my side, throw her down.
So they threw her down.
See, he's a great leader.
I mean, he tells them, do it.
And they do it.
And so they threw her down, and some of her blood
was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses.
And he throwed her under play.
That's pretty graphic.
And when he was come in, he did eat and drink.
And said, go, see now this cursed woman and bury her,
for she is a king's daughter.
So he has priority.
He said, first I'm going to get something to eat.
I'm not going to worry about Little Miss Chiquita here.
This fell out the window.
I'm hungry.
So he sits down, and they make him dinner.
He asks them to drink.
And he says, oh yeah, OK, let's go ahead and bury her.
And it says, when they went to bury her,
they found no more of her than the skull and the feet
and the palms of her hands.
Because the dogs had eaten her, and that was prophesied by God
that that would happen.
Because she was so wicked, God had this horrible punishment
for her.
But you see, gee, who was a great leader?
Let's move on quickly.
Go to Matthew chapter 4.
I want to get to the next point of being a leader.
Matthew chapter 4.
We saw, first of all, a quick review.
Number one, you've got to be willing to be different.
You can't just follow the crowd.
You'll never be a leader like that.
Just doing what everyone else does.
Patterning yourself after everyone around you.
They say, well, what are all the other pastors doing?
What are all the other preachers doing?
What are all the other parents doing?
What's the most common way to raise your children in America?
I'm just going to go with that safe way
and just do what everybody else is doing.
No, you've got to be willing to go a different direction.
You've got to be willing to get in the Bible for yourself.
For yourself.
And maybe take your home the way that you believe
that God wants you to take it.
And take the church the way you believe.
And to be willing to be different.
Because sometimes the crowd's not right.
They're always wrong.
And that's the way it was in the Bible.
And that's the way it is today.
But number two, you've got to know what you're talking about.
You've got to know which direction to go.
Or else woe unto you if you lead people the wrong direction.
That's a big responsibility.
Don't lead the wrong direction.
Number three, you've got to be like Jehu.
You've got to be zealous.
If you want people to follow you,
if you want your children to follow you,
you've got to be zealous.
You've got to be passionate.
You've got to believe what you believe
and take a stand for it
and not be wavering about it,
not be lukewarm,
but to just be hot,
to just be on,
to just know what you're going to do.
And that's where you'll be like a Jehu
where everybody wants to follow you.
Nobody wants to follow a leader who's weak,
who's double-minded,
who's not sure where,
I think this is the right way.
I mean, I think this is going to work.
No.
They want to follow somebody who just said,
who's on my side?
Throw her down.
Let's go.
You know, that's the kind of guy they want to follow.
But not only that,
in order to be a great leader,
you've got to model the way.
You've got to be the example.
You can't just tell other people,
in order to be a leader,
you don't just tell people,
do this.
That's a dictator, right?
Just dictating to people,
hey, you do this, you do that.
No, a great leader doesn't say,
let me tell you what to do.
It's let me show you what to do.
I'll show you how to do it.
That's a great leader.
Someone who models the way,
someone who sets the example.
Look at Matthew chapter four,
and I love this famous statement
that Jesus Christ made
in Matthew chapter four.
Really, any great leader in our church,
and listen to me now,
male or female,
man, woman, boy or girl,
if you are a spiritual person
that you need to be,
if you're the person that you need to be,
if you're the leader that you need to be,
you should be able to make this statement
in Matthew 4.19.
He's saying unto them,
follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.
Follow me,
and I'll make you fishers of men.
Why?
Because he was a fisher of men.
Not go be a fisher of men.
He said, no, follow me,
and I'll make you fishers of men.
That ought to be what a lady in our church
could say to another lady.
Follow me, and I'll make you a fisher of men.
A man could say to another man,
follow me,
and I'll make you a fisher of men.
Come off so many with me.
Come be my silent partner,
and I'll make you a fisher of men.
Let me lead you by showing you how to do it,
not just to tell you how to do it,
but to show you how to do it.
That's what a great leader is.
Go to Titus chapter 1.
Titus chapter number 1.
You see, we're looking for leaders today
because just as it was in the days of Jesus Christ,
most leaders are going the wrong direction.
They're not teaching the truth.
They're not preaching the truth.
It says in Isaiah chapter 3,
he turned it to Titus 1,
but in Isaiah 3, 12, the Bible reads,
as for my people,
children are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people,
they which lead thee
cause thee to err
and destroy the way of thy past.
So God's telling them
in the book of Isaiah chapter 3
that the leaders are causing them to err.
The leaders are leading them astray.
All of the leadership of the children of Israel
when Jesus Christ came on the scene,
the rulers and the Pharisees,
none of them was leading the people the right way.
Even the ones who believed right,
they weren't leading right
because even the ones who believed on Christ
were keeping it a secret
and publicly going with the flow.
Nicodemus just barely halfway sort of took a little stand,
but notice, he got shut down
because nobody wants to follow a weak leader.
Nobody's going to jump on board with Nicodemus
with that weak answer.
Well, are you sure we should be able to sit up
and sit down, Nicodemus?
Okay, sorry.
If he would, he could have just stood up and said,
Hey, I believe on Jesus Christ.
I believe that this man,
we know that this man is from God
because no man could do these miracles
that he's doing except God be with him,
he said in John chapter 3.
We know he's a teacher come from God.
That's what he said in John 3.
Why didn't he say that publicly?
He came to Jesus in the middle of the night
and told him that.
Hey, we know that you're a teacher come from God
for no man could do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him.
But then in public, he's like,
Well, wait a minute.
Isn't there some legal loophole
where we have to give him a chance to hear his side?
He wouldn't even just get up and stand for what he believed in.
And we need some leaders today.
We need parents today that will stand up
and tell their children,
This is the way it's going to be in our house.
This is where we're going.
This is where we're going to go to church.
I'm not asking you, teenager.
I'm not asking you, young child,
where we're going to church.
I'm telling you where we're going to church.
I'm leading you to church.
I'm not asking you if you feel like going to church.
It's we're going to church.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
And we need leaders today.
We need pastors today that will get up
and preach what needs to be preached
and not to just believe right.
That's not enough.
To believe right and then to preach right
and to leave right and to be publicly right.
But he says here in Titus chapter 1 verse 5,
he says,
For this cause,
and this is Paul speaking to Titus,
For this cause left I thee in Crete,
that thou shouldest set an order
of the things that are wanting,
and ordain elders in every city,
as I had appointed thee.
Now, who knows where Crete is?
Put up your hand if you don't.
I'm not talking about Crete, Illinois,
but Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.
Anybody know?
Yeah, it's a little island, right?
It's that little, you know, kind of long, skinny island.
Oh, hey, is it on the map?
Hey, all right.
It's that little smudge of paint right there.
I knew this map was going to come in handy someday.
This is Crete, okay?
Now, in fact, it's probably a little smaller in real life
than what it's shown on this map.
It's not a very big place.
I forget the exact square miles.
One time I looked it up and measured it
and really checked it out.
Of course, it might have been
a slightly different size back then
because, you know, global warming
is causing all the seas to rise.
But anyway, you know, Crete here...
Crete here is not that big of a place.
It's an island.
But Paul is telling Titus, he said,
you know, the reason I left you in Crete
is because he said,
I wanted you to set in order the things that are wanting.
Wanting means lacking.
He says, I'm trying to leave you there
to fill in a void,
to fill in a gap here,
to fill in something that's lacking.
And what was it that was lacking
that he wanted them to set in order?
He said, to ordain elders in every city
as I had appointed them.
He said, it's important that there be elders
in every city that are ordained,
and that's why I left you there to take care of that.
Now, what's an elder?
Well, an elder is the bishop or the pastor.
It's all used interchangeably.
In fact, this passage proves that.
Because he tells them to ordain elders in every city.
Look at verse 6.
If any be blameless, he's given the qualifications.
The husband of one wife, having faithful children
not accused of riot or unruly for a what?
Bishop.
So an elder is a bishop. It's the same thing.
Because for a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God, not self-willed,
not soon angry, not given the wine,
no striker, not given the filthy lucre.
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men,
sober, just, holy, temperate,
holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught
that he may be able by sound doctrine
both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers
and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.
Now, hold on a second.
We're lacking, here's what he's saying,
we're lacking the right pastors.
The right pastors that follow the qualifications here.
We're lacking elders, we're lacking bishops,
we're lacking the right preachers.
But isn't it funny how there's many vain talkers
and deceivers?
It's the same thing today in 2011.
We've got so many vain talkers and deceivers and liars,
but we're still lacking today the right leaders,
the right preachers, the right bishops
that will stand up and lead.
He says, many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
especially they of the circumcision.
If he said that today, he'd probably be labeled
anti-Semitic or something.
Because he's saying, especially the Jews
are the false teachers.
It's not a racial thing here,
because he says they of the circumcision.
Circumcision has nothing to do with your race.
It's a religion of Judaism.
And he says, you know, those that follow Judaism,
the circumcision, he said,
they're the biggest false teachers and false prophets
that there are on the island of Crete at that time.
And he said, whose mouths must be stopped,
whose subvert whole houses,
teaching things which they ought not,
for filthy lucre's sake.
So basically, they're just in it for the money.
And they preach lies to get a paycheck.
One of themselves, one of these phony false prophets
of circumcision, even a prophet of their own,
said the Cretans are always liars,
evil beasts, slow bellies.
So basically, the Jews here in Crete,
they thought they were better than everyone else.
So they're saying, oh, all the Cretans are,
they're like animals, they're liars.
They're, you know, they, throughout the book of Acts,
they always hated it when anybody would try
to give the gospel to the Gentiles
or say anything good about the Gentiles,
because they just believed they were better than everybody else.
They still, in some cases, they still do.
And he said, not giving heed to Jewish fables.
You know, he said, don't follow this Jewish fable stuff.
And commandments of man that turn from the truth,
unto the pure, all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled,
and unbelieving is nothing pure.
But even their mind and consciousness defiled,
they profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him,
being abominable and disobedient
and unto every good work reprobate.
And so we see here that just as today,
there was a lack of leadership,
a lot of liars, a lot of deceivers,
a lot of phonies out there deceiving people,
but there were few and far between,
just an island of Crete, not a huge place.
But God said, there needs to be an elder
in every city in Crete.
It's not enough because there's this one great church
in Crete where Titus is preaching.
He said, no, there needs to be that same leadership
and every city ought to have their own Titus.
And he wanted Titus to multiply
and to train other young men
that he could find that were blameless,
the husband of one life,
that were sober, just, holy, temperate,
that held fast the faithful word
as they've been taught.
And he's looking for that.
Look, God is looking for leaders today.
We talked about being a parent.
We talked about leading the way and soul leading.
We talked about leading in the church
and leading your friends.
But we need also today, we need pastors today
that will be the right leader.
We need bishops today that will be a leader.
And let me ask you this.
If they're not going to come out of this church
or other independent Baptist churches
or other churches that are Bible believing,
churches that are actually,
and just because they're independent Baptist,
that doesn't always mean a lot.
But just where are we going to find
the next generation of leaders
if we're not going to find them in this church
or in other churches that are like this church,
other Bible believing churches?
Where do you think they're going to come from?
Do you think they're just going to appear out of nowhere?
No.
You know, I'll be honest with you.
As I was growing up, there were many times
when I would have much rather just said,
you know what, let somebody else be the leader.
Let somebody else be the pastor.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a born follower
because, you know, I love to follow those
that were preaching right and leading right.
And for a while I just wanted to be a follower.
I didn't want to be a leader.
I didn't want to necessarily be a pastor.
Because it's great to get in a church
and to get under great preaching
and to just, you know, support the pastor
and support the church and support the leadership
and be a great follower
and be like the men in the Bible who were great followers,
you know, but to be like a Jonathan,
you know, and find that David
and just be there with him and be for him.
Jonathan didn't want to take the lead.
Jonathan wanted to follow David's leadership.
Of course, his dad's sins and so forth
caused him to eventually die an untimely death.
But Jonathan was just a great second man.
You know, he was a great support and father.
But let me tell you something.
I came to a point where I realized
that there was a void and a gap
that I needed to fill out, that void.
You know, I realized, wait a minute,
we are suffering from a lack of leadership.
And so I'm going to have to step up.
I'm going to have to, you know,
if it's not naturally what I am,
I'm going to have to step up to the plate.
I'm going to have to learn how to lead.
I'm going to have to learn how to preach.
I'm going to have to learn how to get up
and speak and to pastor a church.
And much of it didn't come naturally to me.
I mean, I preached over 500 sermons
before starting the church.
And, you know, most of them were not very good sermons.
You know, I'll be honest with you.
Because I just had to learn how to preach.
Because I felt like somebody's got to do this.
You know, I'm going to learn how to do it.
I'm going to step in here and lead
because I feel like everybody's going the same direction
and it seems to be the wrong direction.
And so I'm going to go the other way.
And I'm going to lead people
and try to restore the old paths
and the old-fashioned Bible preaching
and the old-fashioned soul-winning.
Look, who in this room today
is thinking the same thing that I was thinking
back in those days.
Saying, you know what?
Maybe I don't have all the talent,
but you know what?
God doesn't often use the talented.
Because if God used the talented,
then he wouldn't get the glory.
It would be their talent that would get the glory.
If he used the good-looking,
God wouldn't really get the glory.
Because you'd say, well, of course,
that guy's a great leader.
He's great-looking.
Of course he's a great leader.
Look at the talent.
Of course he's a great leader.
Listen to the speaking ability.
You know, but when God uses the foolish things
of this world to confound the wise,
that's where he gets the glory.
When he takes the one that doesn't have the talent,
who doesn't have the great speaking ability,
who is not good-looking,
who is not suave,
who is not cool,
and he takes them and uses them as a great leader,
you look at that and say,
that's God that did that.
And God gets the glory.
God loves to use the Davids of this world
to slay the Goliaths.
He loves to use just the weak things of this world
to defeat the strong
and the foolish to confound the wise.
And so I encourage you to look within yourself
and say, you know what?
Could God use me to be a leader?
Could God use me to preach and to pastor?
And you better make sure that you stay qualified
and start working on the things on that list
and start learning the Bible.
And even if you say, well, I'm not really sure,
prepare yourself.
Be prepared anyway.
Be prepared in case you get to have that opportunity.
Just be prepared for it anyway.
Know the Bible like you're going to pastor someday
because in case you might eventually pastor someday.
Just know it in case.
Be prepared anyway.
Because I'm telling you something.
God is seeking for a man today
that would make up the hedge and stand in the gap.
And you may be that man.
Maybe you're just a young boy listening to me.
Maybe you're a teenager.
Maybe you're a young man.
But God today needs there to be bishops and elders
in every city across America.
And I think that the situation in the United States
is worse than it was in Crete.
There were probably more preachers per square mile
in Crete than there are in the United States today
that are preaching the Bible boldly
and that are filling the qualifications that are there.
Who is going to step in and fill that void?
Who is going to step up to the plate
and say, here are my lords, say to me.
I may not be the most talented.
I might not have everything going my way.
But I am a willing vessel to offer myself
a living sacrifice unto you.
I will become the leader I need to be.
Maybe I'm not a natural born leader.
Maybe I'm not a jihoo where every time I turn around
people just follow me and do what I say no matter what.
But you know what?
Maybe you could go down this list this morning
and maybe you could become a leader.
Maybe you could be willing to stand alone sometimes.
Maybe go a different direction than the people around you.
Maybe you could say, you know what?
I'm going to know what I'm talking about.
I may not be a great speaker, but anybody can read the Bible
and figure out what they're talking about
and know this book.
To know all 1189 chapters of this book,
to know what it says and know what it means,
and of course we're never going to know everything,
but to have a knowledge of the Bible
to where you will preach the truth and preach it right.
You know what?
Maybe not everybody's talented, but anybody can be zealous.
Anybody can be zealous.
Anybody can get excited about the Bible
and get excited about soul winning and serving God.
Anybody can model the way of soul winning.
I've seen some pretty shy people do some great soul winning.
And if they can do it, anybody can do it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God,
and we thank you for these men in the Bible that we can learn from.
Of course, you were the supreme leader, Jesus Christ.
When you said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men,
thank you for men like Jehu we can look at
and others throughout the Bible who are great leaders,
Moses, David, Solomon.
Dear God, help us to learn from these men
and to be the leaders that we need to be.
And even those who are never going to be a pastor,
dear God, help them to lead their family right,
both father and mother.
Mother needs to lead those children.
Help us to lead others in church around us
to be better Christians and more zealous and to serve and mourn.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.