Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church for the evening service.
It is about that time, so we'll go ahead and get started.
If you want to find a seat, grab your hymnal.
Turn to the first hymn this evening, it's going to be number 43.
We're marching to Zion.
Hymn number 43.
We're marching to Zion, 43, 4-3.
We've had fun of the Lord, and let our joys be known.
Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord.
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Most refused to sing, who never knew our God.
But children of the heavenly King, the children of the heavenly King,
may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred speaks
before we reach the heavenly field, before we reach the heavenly field,
or walk the golden streets, or walk the golden streets.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
And let our songs abound, and every tear redrawing.
We're marching through, we men will drown.
To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Amen. Let's open with a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we just thank you for this day,
and I thank you for all the souls that were saved this afternoon.
I just pray that you would be with them, strengthen and encourage them
to get in a good church, to get baptized, and to just get zealous for you, Lord.
I just want to thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you for Evangelist Fur and Pastor Shelley.
And I just pray that you would have everything done today decently
and in order still for this evening's service,
that you would incline your ear to us as we sing out praises to you, Lord.
We love you very much. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
All right, for the next hymn this evening,
if you would, turn to 263.
Hymn number 263, Verily, Verily.
We've got some fan favorites this evening, all right?
So you can definitely sing it out.
263, Verily, Verily.
Let's sing.
Oh, what a savior that he died for me
From condemnation he hath made me free
He that believeth on the Son said
He hath everlasting mind
Verily, Verily, I say unto you
Verily, Verily, message ever new
He that believeth on the Son is true
Hath everlasting mind
All my iniquities on him were laid
All my indebtedness by him was paid
All who believeth on him the Lord hath said
Hath everlasting mind
Verily, Verily, I say unto you
Verily, Verily, message ever new
He that believeth on the Son is true
Hath everlasting mind
So poor and needy I can trust my Lord
Though weak and sinful I believe his word
Oh, glad message every child of God
Hath everlasting mind
Verily, Verily, I say unto you
Verily, Verily, message ever new
He that believeth on the Son is true
Hath everlasting mind
Though all unworthy at heart will not doubt
For him that cometh he will not cast out
He that believeth, oh, the good news shall
Hath everlasting mind
Verily, Verily, I say unto you
Verily, Verily, message ever new
He that believeth on the Son is true
Hath everlasting mind
Amen
Here this evening again we have our bulletins
If you didn't get one or you need another one just slip your hand real quick
We have the congratulations to the Gilliam family on the birth of Eloise Lee Gilliam
That's what we need is another Ellie
Congratulations to them, that's exciting
We look forward to meeting Miss Ellie
I don't know if they call her that, Eloise
On the inside we have our service and soul winning times, our stats
We have 12 this afternoon, 12 for the soul winning
Praise the Lord on that, that's really great
Then we have our expecting ladies, continue to pray for both of them
We also have, we have a lot of leftovers from our lunch
So if you want, please feel free to make a plate after the service
We've got a lot of meat and everything like that
So stick around
Also we have the baby shower this coming up Saturday, January 22
At the church is a Saturday, 5pm for Miss Emily Fur
It's going to have catered chicken wings but you can still bring your favorite pasta dish
We have the ladies fellowship Saturday, February 12
And that will be here at the church as well
That's pretty much all I have for announcements
So we'll go ahead and go to our third song this evening
Let's just go to 319
Just a closer walk with thee, 319
Brother, Salvador said you have to sing this with an accent or something like that
Like a southern draw
Alright, 319, just a closer walk with thee
This one is relatively new to me
So if I mess it up, do not follow me
Follow your heart
Or whatever, if it's correct I guess, I don't really know what to follow
Be led by the correct spirit here
319, just a closer walk with thee
Let's sing
I am weak but thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to thee
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant that Jesus is my plea
Hey, we walk close to thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be
Through this world of toil and snares
If I falter, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
Not but thee, dear Lord, I'm glad be he
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant that Jesus is my plea
Hey, we walk close to thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be
When my feeble life is o'er
Time for me will be no more
Guide me gently, safely o'er
To thy kingdom's shore, to thy shore
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant that Jesus is my plea
Hey, we walk close to thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be
Amen, good singing this evening
While the offering plates are being passed around
Let's turn a few of the Numbers, chapter 27
Numbers 27, brother Paul will read that chapter for us
Good evening, Numbers chapter 27
Numbers chapter number 27, the Bible reads
Then came the daughters of Zelophead
The son of Heber, the son of Gilead
The son of Micah, the son of Manasseh
The families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph
And these are the names of his daughters
Bala, Noah, Hacra, Milcah, and Terza
And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest
And before the princes and all the congregation
By the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
Saying, our father died in the wilderness
And he was not in the company of them
That gathered themselves together against the Lord
He served in the company of Korah
But died in his own sin and had no sons
Why should the name of our father be done away
From among his family because he hath no sons
Given to us therefore a possession among the brethren
Of our father and Moses brought their cause before the Lord
And the Lord spake unto Moses saying
The daughters of Zelophead speak right
Thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren
And thou shalt cause the inheritance of their fathers to pass them to them
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying
If the man die and have no son
Then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter
And if he have no daughter
Then ye shall give his inheritance of his brethren
And if he have no brethren
Then ye shall give his inheritance of his father's brethren
And if his father have no brethren
Then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsmen
That is next to him of his family
And he shall possess it
And it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment
As the Lord commanded Moses
And the Lord said unto Moses
Give thee up unto this mount of Abarim
And see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel
And when thou hast seen it
Thou also shall be gathered unto thy people
As Aaron thy brother was gathered
For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin
In the strife of the congregation
To sanctify me at the water before their eyes
That is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin
And Moses spake unto the Lord saying
Let the Lord, the God of the Spirit of all flesh
Set a man over the congregation which may go out before them
And which may go in before them
And which may lead them out
And which may bring them in
That the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd
And the Lord said unto Moses
Take thee Joshua the son of Nun
A man of whom is the Spirit
And lay thine hand upon him
And set him before Eleazar the priest
And before all the congregation
And give him a charge in their sight
And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him
That all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient
And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest
Who shall ask counsel for him
If after the judgment of Yirim before the Lord
At his word shall they go out
And at his word they shall come in
Both he and all the children of Israel with him
Even all the congregation
And Moses did as the Lord commanded him
And he took Joshua
And set him before Eleazar the priest
And before all the congregation
And he laid hands
And he laid his hands upon him
And gave him a charge
As the Lord commanded
By the hand of Moses
Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you so much for this day
And we thank you for the souls that were saved
Lord, we just ask you
At this time that you fill the pastor
With your spirit, Lord
And just give him the words to speak
That his congregation might testify
To your glory, Lord we ask that his congregation
Just open their hearts and their ears
To your word
We love you and we give you thanks
In Jesus' precious name, Amen
I want to focus on this latter portion of Numbers 27
Where it talks about Joshua being appointed
Over the congregation
And the title of my sermon this evening is
Follow a Man
And I think sometimes that phrase or that idea
Is sometimes criticized
By people that would claim
That a church is a cult
Or you're just following a man
Or you're just being led
By a certain individual
But following a man is actually a very biblical
Concept and it's actually
Something that's really important in order to have
Success in the Christian life
Is following a man
And so I want to kind of walk through a little bit
Of this passage and then I'm going to kind of give you
A few points to think about
But the Bible says in verse number 12
And the Lord said unto Moses
I have set up into this Mount Avarim
And see the land which I have given
Under the children of Israel
Now seen it
Thou also shall be gathered unto thy people
As Aaron my brother was gathered
For you rebelled against my commandment
In the desert of Zinn
In the strife of the congregation to sanctify me
With water before their eyes
That is the water of Meribah and Kadesh
And deliver this to Zinn
Moses spake the Lord saying
Let the Lord, the God of all spirits
Set a man
Over the congregation
Now here's the thing
Moses at this point in time is the man
He is the man of God, he's the guy that's over
The children of Israel
He's basically the ambassador to God
For the people
He also basically makes
He basically
Is the go between
He's kind of the mediator
For the children of Israel through God
And he symbolizes a lot of things
Now Jesus is the mediator
Between God and men
And there's only one mediator
That's Jesus Christ
Yet we understand that God
Still appoints men on this earth
As leaders
As basic people that we're supposed to follow
And without leadership
You're going to have
A church, a congregation
Or the children of God
Essentially without
It's not a good position to be in
It's a position that's definitely lacking
And so it's always important to have
Leadership
And that leadership may look a little different
Depending on the situation, the circumstances
A leader may have different roles
Or titles
But ultimately you need leadership
And without leadership it's going to be impossible
To follow
Because you have to have something to follow
And I've even said this and I still believe it
That a bad leader
Is still better than no leader
And often times the worst thing you can have
Is just complete anarchy
Chaos, having no
Semblance of order
It's better to have a bad leader often
Times than having no leader
You can even look at this in America today
Some people would love to just abolish the
Government, but I'll tell you this
Our lives are better right now having a bad
Government than having no government
We don't really want to go back to the wild wild west
We don't really want to have just complete
Anarchy and just criminals
Are able to do whatever they want
There's no cops to call, there's no government
There's no judges
That we're the sheriff of the town
That's going to be a lot worse for us
Than even having a bad semblance
Of a good thing
And so leadership is a really important job
It's a really important role
And God takes it very seriously
But we also need to take it seriously
That we need to realize that we need to follow
The leadership that God has given us
Whether it's the greatest leadership you've ever
Had or it's the worst leadership
You still need to essentially follow the
Leadership to the best of your ability
And it's important, Moses realizes
This, so he wants God to set
A man over the congregation, he wants there
To be a leader, he doesn't want to just
Die and then they're just like, now what do we do?
He wants there to be some kind of
Structure, it says in verse
17
What is this man going to do?
Which may go out before them, and which may
Go in before them, and which may
Lead them out, and which may bring them in
That the congregation of the Lord be not
A sheep which have no
Shepherd, okay?
And really when there's a group of people
That don't have a clear leader
The Bible gives the analogy
Of a flock of sheep
And essentially having no shepherd
Whatsoever, and a shepherd
Oftentimes in the Bible is synonymous
With like a pastor or a bishop
But it can also just
Represent a leader in a sense
That they just have no leadership, they have no one
Looking out for them, guiding them
Or helping them, and this is a bad
Scenario, we want sheep to have
A shepherd, that's why
You know when steadfast was basically
Having someone not be their shepherd
Anymore, was stepping down from this role
It was really important to have
Someone step in, albeit
Even if it was the worst shepherd, it's
Better to have a shepherd, you know it's better oftentimes
To have something in place
And have someone doing something
Providing a position of leadership
Even if it's not ideal
Okay, and often
Scenarios are not going to always be ideal
Is it ideal that we have one man, Moses
Leading millions of people
Out in the wilderness? It actually was not
Very good, because he was
Wearing away, his father-in-law
Is like, you need to start setting up other people
And appointing other people
You know, is it ideal that the apostle Paul
Is having to basically start all those churches
In the New Testament by himself
They don't have any other elders
They don't have any other apostles going on
No, these things aren't necessarily ideal, but you work with what you got
And you want to strive towards
And work towards the goal of having
You know, a shepherd, leadership
Men over the congregation
That are going to basically be these
Good examples
And you have to understand that that person is a
God-given shepherd
When you have a person that's in a position of leadership
Over a congregation
That is a God-given shepherd
Whether or not that person's the pastor or not
Doesn't really matter
It's still a God-gift
And as sheep
We are supposed to hearken under the shepherds
That God has given us
It's not really our job to decide
Well, you know, I think there could be a better shepherd
Out there, so I'm not going to really
You know, adhere to the shepherd that I have
No, you just adhere to whatever shepherd you have
Okay
And it's very important that Joshua
Is going to come into this role
To fulfill this so that
The sheep are not just wandering about
Doing whatever they want
It also says in verse number 19
Skip, it says, and set him before Eliezer the priest
And before all the congregation and give them a charge
In their sight
So when Joshua was appointed, it was very clear
It was very public
It says in verse 20, and thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him
That all the congregation of the children of Israel
May be obedient
So again, the person was set before the congregation
Moses laying hands on him
He's appointing him
And he's trying to put some of his honor
On to that other individual
To then lead the charge
And really, this should be the appropriate way
To hand off a congregation
Or, you know, to
To appoint people should be a public thing
It should be done in front of the congregation
And the goal is that the congregation
Would be what? Obedient
But obedient to who?
To Joshua
To the man
In general, the Lord
Because obviously we're always supposed to be obedient to the Lord
But the Lord is appointing a man
And they're supposed to be obedient to that particular man
That's been their leader
And that man is Joshua
And so it's important that we
Follow the God-given shepherds
That God has given us
Go to Ephesians chapter number 4
I'll prove this again quickly
That the positions that God has given us
As far as men
In certain roles
But it says in Ephesians chapter 4
Look at verse number 10
He that descended is the same
Also that ascended up far above
All heavens
That he might find or fill all things
And he gave some apostles and some prophets
And some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
For the perfecting of the saints
For the work of the ministry
For the edifying of the body of Christ
Till we all come into the unity of faith
And the knowledge of the Son of God
Unto a perfect man in the measure of the stature
Of Christ that we henceforth be no more children
Tossed to and fro
And carried about with every wind of doctrine
By the slight of men
And cunning craftiness whereby they lie
In wait to deceive
But speaking the truth and love may grow up
Into him in all things
Which is the head, even Christ
From whom the whole body
Fitly joined together
And compacted by that which every joint
Supplieth according to the effectual
Working in the measure of every part
To make an increase of the body
Into the edifying of itself in love
Now the Bible describes the church as a body
And it basically says that Christ is the head
You know, he's the leader, he's the ruler
And we're all different body parts
That make up this body of Christ
And we understand that
While Christ is the head
Christ is the leader of our church
If someone were to ask who's in charge of your church
It's right here
This is who's in charge of our church
It's Jesus Christ which is the word of God
But practically speaking
God then appoints men
To fulfill roles of leadership
And to be under shepherds
As it were, to his flock
And you say where do you get this term under shepherd
Well the Bible calls Jesus the chief shepherd
Well if he's the chief shepherd
That sounds like there's less chief shepherds
Okay, and really
Any position of leadership that any man
Finds himself in
He's always going to be under the umbrella of
Christ which is the bishop
The ultimate bishop, the chief shepherd
You know, and basically the main leader
And they're supposed to follow
Him
But then below that we're still supposed to follow
The men and the leaders that God gave us
Jesus ascended into heaven
That's what verse 10 told us
And you know what, he didn't want to leave us
A sheep having no shepherd
So he gave some, what?
Apostles and prophets and evangelists
And pastors and teachers
Essentially saying that
It's not right to just leave sheep with nothing
We've got to give them something
Okay, and arguably
Some of these positions
Are probably better than others, right
I mean if we were going to say let's leave
A church with someone
What would probably be the absolute best
Wouldn't it probably be like apostle Paul
I mean how about the apostles, right
But here's the thing, if we don't have apostles
Then maybe a prophet, right
Then maybe, and this is just my personal opinion
But I'm probably saying maybe a pastor
Right, then maybe evangelists
And then maybe even if you don't have that
Maybe just at least a teacher, okay
At least maybe you just got someone in the church
Whether they are qualified or not
They can still teach the Bible
They can get up, they can provide some leadership
They can provide some kind of
Edifying for the church
And so we just put that person in that role
And we just help them grow
And then as the church evolves and grows
And goes and matures
We can put in new people in those positions
But ultimately we see the clear example here
That we're supposed to be following
What? The teachers and the pastors
And the evangelists and the apostles
And the prophets that God gave us
Whoever God gives us, we need to follow
Those men
Go if you would to Hebrews chapter 13
Hebrews chapter number 13
And we have to realize that these are gifts
These are God-given
Shepherds that God has given us
Okay, and if God gives us
A shepherd
It's our job duty to obey that shepherd
Okay
And the Bible even clearly teaches this
In Hebrews chapter 13
Look at verse number 17
The Bible says
Obey them that have the rule over you
And submit yourselves
For they watch for your souls
As they that must give account
That they may do it with joy and not with grief
For that is unprofitable for you
So I believe the Bible clearly teaches
Any man that's been put
In a position of leadership or position of authority
Over God's sheep
Will have to give an account
For that leadership
It's not like, well this is just for pastors
It doesn't say that
It says obey them that have the rule over you
I mean this is just anybody
That has the rule over God's people
They need to realize that they will have to stand
Before Jesus Christ
And they will have to take
Basically account for their actions
Some people are thinking like
Yeah I'm gonna have to stand before Jesus Christ
And I'm gonna have to account for every penny
Okay
All the things that happen
Yeah I have to stand there and I have to be like
Yep that's what I did
And that's what I didn't do
And whatever
There's nothing more terrifying than that
If you truly understood that this is a reality
I mean if you have faith in the word of God
If you really believe in the Bible
You understand the judgment seat of Christ
We're not talking about a hypothetical here
We're not talking about something that may happen
We're talking about an absolute certainty
That you will stand before Jesus
And have to give an account
You know there's all these parables in the Gospels
Where Jesus is talking about reckoning
You know he gives these talents under men
And then they have to come and tell him what they did with those talents
He didn't really like the guy that buried it
He wasn't very happy with that guy
Was he
And here's the thing
Jesus isn't gonna be happy with those that were given positions of authority
And leadership
And we're not doing well with it
But what is our admonition
You know what is the admonition just generally
To the church and as a sheep
We're supposed to have obeyed those men
That God gave us
Whoever it was that was put in that position of leadership
Or rule over us at any point in time
We want to have a good testimony
And say well you know what I obeyed them
You know what when they said jump
I did it you know when they said do this
I was there I was obedient
And I am gonna give you know
A good account
And then it basically allows your ruler
To also get a good report
You know cause he doesn't want to stand there and be like
Look Lord I told them what to do and they never listened
They never obeyed
They never did it you know
And that would be kind of a shame right
To sit here and be like
I don't know I don't know what did I do wrong you know
I would rather it would be fun
To stand before the Lord
And basically be like yeah that's my guy
That's my guy and that's my guy
He came to church every once in a while
You know like I tried
But you know it would be nice to just sit here
And be like that's my guy and that's my guy
And that's my guy right
And it would be nice to also be in a thriving
Church or in a congregation and be like
That was my ruler you know that was my leader
And really it's a mutual relationship
Where they both have success
When the sheep obey the shepherd
It's gonna be hard
For you to have a good testimony
If you don't obey
And it's gonna be hard to give a good testimony
If you don't rule
You have to have both working in unison
They work together for the common good
Of you both giving a good testimony to the Lord
I don't want to go and have a bad testimony
No matter what side of that equation I'm on
And look I'm gonna be on that side of the equation
Period
On both
There's gonna be times where I have to give an account
For how I did as a sheep to my shepherd
And then how I did with sheep
While I was shepherding them
And you know what all of us are gonna have to give an account
And Jesus is clearly telling us
The word of God is clearly telling us that we're supposed to obey them
That have the rule over you
It does not say well if you agree
If you like it
If you want to
It just says obey
And really the only time you would ever rebel against
Any authority in your life
Is if the Bible is clearly commanding you
To do otherwise
But let me tell you something that's still obedience
It's just your obedience is ultimately to the word of God
But there's nothing wrong with following a man
It's literally commanding you to follow a man
To obey the rulers over you
Go if you would back to number 27
For just a quick second
And I want to show you another verse here
Or I want to read another verse again
But just to remind you
What's the point of putting Joshua in charge?
Obviously so sheep don't have a shepherd
But what was the verse that really just kind of sticks out
To tell us what's going on
Well look back at verse 20 again
And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him
That all the congregation of the children of Israel
Notice this
May be obedient
So again
What is really important with having a ruler
Is that the children of Israel would be obedient
And it's really important
That the rulers teach people
How to obey God's commandments
So that they're obedient
So they're obedient children of God
And that they don't have wrath upon them
From the Lord
I often say this, being a pastor
Which really would go to any position of ministry
But the goal of any minister
Should be to help others serve Christ better
And what could be better than
Helping people be more obedient
To the Lord
More righteous, more pleasing in his sight
And that should be a lot of the goal of preaching
A lot of the goal of preaching should be
To try and encourage
Exhort, reproving and rebuking people
Not just to get up and say, oh man
I really gave them that
Rather thinking like
I'm looking at you and thinking
God's mad at you about this
And I want you to fix this
So that God's not mad at you
Not just so I can scorn someone
Or just so I can get someone
Filed up or preach them out the door
Or something like that
The goal in the heart of a minister should be
That of trying to motivate people
To be obedient to God
And a flock is successful
When it follows that shepherd
What's the goal of the shepherd?
The goal of the shepherd is to feed the flock
Go to Ezekiel 34
For a second, Ezekiel 34
Think about John 21
When Peter is confronted with the Lord
What is the Lord admonishing him?
Feed my lambs
Feed my sheep
The goal is to
Take care of the sheep
Guide them
Psalm 23, the famous passage about Jesus being our shepherd
What is he doing?
He's leading us to still waters
In the green pastures
He's protecting us from the evils
And while obviously
The Lord is our shepherd
We should also realize that the under-shepherds
Have a similar role
In what? That they're supposed to feed the flock
They're supposed to give them drink
They're supposed to protect them
They're supposed to guard them
They're supposed to also use the rod
To help them not go out of the way
If they're kind of straying off
That's the whole point of the rod
The rod isn't just to see
Oh man, did you see me beat that sheep to death?
Did you see me?
I tripped that sheep the other day
The sheep was just running and I just tripped him
With my rod or whatever
That's not the point of the rod
The point of the rod is the sheep's running into a layer
He's running into a trap
Which says like
Wolf diner
And it's like, no, no, no, don't go there
And you're trying to beat him away from the wolf diner
And you're trying to get him out from there
That's the whole point of the rod
Not to hurt anything, not to cause any damage
But to actually protect them
And so it's important though
That when you do get hit with the rod
A little bit
That you don't think like
Who needs this?
He doesn't know what I need
I need a wolf burger
I'm going to go into wolf diner
And have a wolf burger
And I don't care what's going on in there
We need to be obedient to those that are looking after us
And believing that they truly care
About our souls
As those that have to give an account
I mean if you have to think about it
Like this person has to give an account of me
They're probably going to try and do me
A good job
But obviously there are bad shepherds in the Bible
And I'll bring up a few passages here
Ezekiel 34, look at verse 1
And the word of the Lord came unto me
Saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel
Prophesy against the shepherds of Israel
Prophesy and say unto them
Thus saith the Lord God and the shepherds
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
That do feed themselves
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Eat the fat and he clothe you with the wool
Kill them that are fed
But you feed not the flock
The disease have ye not strengthened
Neither have ye healed that which was sick
Neither have ye bound up that which was broken
Neither have ye brought again that which was driven away
Neither have ye sought that which was lost
But with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them
And they were scattered
Because there was no shepherd
And they became meat to all the beasts of the field
When they were scattered
My sheep wandered through all the mountains
And upon every high hill
Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth
And none did search or seek after them
Now, this is a picture
Of great
apostasy
Heresy
Essentially all the preachers are just fake
They're frauds
They only care about themselves
There's no real genuine sincere men of God
Real shepherds
And we see just disaster
We see the sheep are just being scattered
Essentially meaning that they don't know where to go
They don't have anyone leading them
And because they're scattered
When sheep are scattered it's more easily
That they become a victim of a wolf
Because when you have a great huge pack
Of any kind of animal
They kind of run together
And they kind of stay together
It's very difficult for the predator to come
And to attack them
Because they could be trampled by the flock
And there's strength in numbers
And even like a gazelle
Even just a dainty seeming animal
Lions don't want to attack
The herd
Because if they come to the herd
The whole herd will just pounce on top of them
And just walk over that lion and kill it
Or a wolf or whatever
They have to try and get one that's away from the flock
Or damaged or hurting
Or anything like that
Because they can't really take on the whole flock by itself
But if for some reason
The whole flock were scattered
Where they're all just kind of by themselves
Well then the prey
They're all prey
Then the wolf or the lion can just come and just pick them off
Whenever, at ease, however they feel
And that's the same with God's people
When God's people aren't constantly being
Congregated and gathered together
Edifying one another
And admonishing one another
It's easier for predators to come and pick them off
And to destroy them
And destroy their lives
And to get them to where they're not really serving the Lord
And so it's important to have these shepherds
That are there to constantly keep people
Congregated, keep them together
Keep them in a pack
Keep them in a healthy state
You know, diligent to know the state of thy flocks
And to basically ward off
All the evil threats
And all the predators
We have a scenario painted here
Where no one's doing that
Or the ones that are doing it
They don't really care
You know, basically the wolf's coming and giving him money
And he's just like, go have whatever you want
You know, go take of the flock that you would like
And this is where
I believe that some people will get the idea
Of, well then I'm just gonna not have a shepherd then
Well I'm just not gonna have
I'm not gonna go hang out with the rest of the flock
I'm gonna be a lone sheep
Okay
And they're basically gonna throw the bath out
The baby out with the bathwater
In the sense that
Because they perceive
Them not having the greatest shepherd
Or having a bad shepherd
They're gonna give up on the flock
But this would be a bad philosophy
When you apply it practically
You know, some people would say, well because there's bad pastors out there
I'm gonna give up on church
I'm gonna quit church
Or because, you know, you have to restart church
Because there's just so many weird things going on
They're like, that's too hard, that's too difficult
They want to just kind of give up on it
You know what, you need to stick with church
Because those that give up on church
Those that give up on the shepherds
They're never gonna serve God
God's model is not
A manless system
It's not a lawless system
It's not an anarchy system
No, it's a system set up
With those that have been given
Like the pastors, the evangelists, the teachers
You know, these type of men
That have been appointed to come in
And to lead the flock
And you're gonna have success
When the sheep are obedient unto the shepherd
Okay
Where if you get all the sheep to be rebellious
Even if you get a good shepherd in there
It's not gonna be successful
Because the sheep have to obey and listen to
That particular shepherd
And some people say, well what do we do
If the shepherd's not good
Right
Do we need to overthrow the shepherd
Do we need to constantly watch
Do we need to have a sheep dog
We need to have a watchdog on the shepherd
And some people have this idea
That they have to basically be a shepherd and a sheep
At the same time
But here's the reality
You can't control that
You just need to be a really good sheep
Because if there's a really bad shepherd situation
The Bible teaches that God will take care of it
Let's keep reading, verse 7
Therefore you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord
As I live, say to the Lord God
Behold, I am against the shepherds
And I will require my flock at their hand
And cause them to cease
From feeding the flock
Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore
For I will deliver my flock from their mouth
That they may not be meat for them
For I will deliver my flock from their mouth
That they may not be meat for them
For I will deliver my flock from their mouth
That they may not be meat for them
It says in verse 11
For thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I
Will both search my sheep
And seek them out
So here's the thing
If you're being abused by a particular shepherd
God will come and rescue you from that shepherd
And he'll get you a new shepherd
He'll give you pastors after his own heart
So the goal for you as a sheep
Is not to see which shepherd
You know, you have to
Replace the shepherd yourself or something
Or make a shepherd
No, you just need to be a good sheep
And then trust that the Lord will give you
The right shepherd
That the Lord will take and remove the shepherds
Out of your life
That he doesn't want to be there anymore
And put in a new shepherd
That actually cares about you
And is going to lead you in the right direction
So that's why it's important that we follow
The shepherds that we have
Now if the shepherd's jumping off the cliff
Okay, I'm not saying that, you know, this analogy
Is applying to every possible hypothetical
You can dream up
Because if we're going to apply it to practical day-to-day
There's a lot of churches you can go to
And there's a lot of shepherds
And you say, well, what do I do, Pastor Shelley?
What am I supposed to be?
You're supposed to be the best sheep
At the church that's the best shepherd in your area
Whatever's the best shepherd in your area
You go to that church
And don't just say, well, I'm just not going to go to church
Because I don't think any of the shepherds here are good
You know, that's a bad attitude
No, you need to go to at least a church
Now, whether or not that's the greatest shepherd in the world
You know, at least he's a shepherd
Then you need to just go there
Because God's not just going to let a whole bunch of his people
Go and submit to a shepherd
And just let that shepherd just abuse that flock forever
No, God will take care of that situation
Is what the Bible clearly says
And he'll give them a shepherd that's after their own heart
If they're seeking the Lord
If you seek the Lord, I believe you will find a good shepherd
You know, it's hard to convince me
That there's all these great sheep out there
That just don't have a shepherd
It's really that they're just a bad sheep
But they want to tell everybody how good a sheep they are, you know
The really good sheep end up finding a really good shepherd
I don't know how that works out
But it just always seems to work out that way
But I'm telling you, you need to stick with that shepherd
And obey that shepherd
And follow that man
And you can have success
Go to Joshua chapter 1
Joshua chapter number 1
Now Moses has died
And we're going to finally get into the promised land
And in Joshua chapter number 1
We kind of see this transitionary period
It says in verse 6
Be strong and of a good courage
For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance of the land
Which I swear unto their fathers to give them
Only be thou strong and very courageous
That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law
Which Moses my servant commanded thee
Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left
That thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest
This book of the law shall not depart of thy mouth
But thou shalt meditate therein day and night
That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous
And then thou shalt have good success
So according to the Bible you have success by following God's commandments
And Joshua the leader is instructed to meditate in the Bible
And meditate in the word of God
And follow the commandments
And be strong and be courageous
And that's how they're going to have success
But there's another aspect to this success
That's not solely dependent upon Joshua
It's also dependent upon how the people respond to Joshua
Look at verse 16
And they answered Joshua talking about the people saying
All that thou commandest us we will do
And whithersoever thou sendest us we will go
According as we hearken unto Moses in all things
That's kind of a joke
So will we hearken unto thee
Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses
Whosoever be that doth rebel against thy commandment
And will not hearken unto thy words
In all that thou commandest him
He shall be put to death
Only be strong and of good courage
Now, again, if we think about this
This is extreme
They literally just said
If Joshua gives a commandment to someone
And they don't do it
We're killing him
I bet you would obey
Like, you know, can you imagine us making a pact like that
They would really cause a cold at that point, right?
If Pastor Shelley says something and you don't do it
It's death, you know
It's like people would show up to Sunday Night Church, you know
But I'm just saying, like
This is a real extreme situation
But we laugh at that, but think about it
Where in the Bible do you see as much success as the book of Joshua?
I mean, do we see this kind of success in the wilderness?
Do we see this kind of success in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, you know
Do we see it in those books?
No
Why? Because they weren't that obedient to Moses, were they?
Could they have had the exact same success as the book of Joshua with Moses?
Absolutely
Was there anything wrong with Moses?
No
What was the problem?
Them
Their heart, they were stubborn, they were stiff necked, they were rebellious
I mean, they sent the spies in the land
What if they all came back with a good report like Joshua and Caleb did?
Then they would have gone right into the promised land and taken it all over
And they would have probably taken it over in about the same amount of time
And look, do you really think that Caleb became a better warrior at age 85 than he was at age 40?
Because later in the book of Joshua, he explains that the day that he went in to the land of Israel, he was 40
Okay
When they come back and finally get to do it, he's 85
And he's like, but I'm still ready, you know
And he's like, my natural force is not abated, you know
And he's still got his strength and he's still, you know, one
But at the end of the day, is he really stronger at 85?
No, he would have been just as capable at age 40 and more so, probably
But at the end of the day, why did they have the success?
Because they followed their leader
They finally said, alright, we're going to follow Joshua
We're going to do what he says
And let me tell you something, a church is going to have success when it follows its leader
Whoever that is
If you want to have success in the church, you say, I want my church to grow
I want my church to be successful, I want my church to thrive
You're the key to success, how obedient will you be?
To the person that's put in charge
And you know, again, it's not saying like, we'll obey Joshua when we like what he says
It just says, hey, whatever he says, done deal
And really, that's the best way to treat leadership is just to do exactly what they say
Go to Judges chapter number 3
Let me show you another example of success here
Judges chapter number 3
So point one is this
Following a man is biblical because God's given us shepherds
And number two, the reason why you should follow a man is so that you have success
They're not going to be successful if they don't follow Joshua
The success comes with following Joshua
When they didn't follow Moses, they wandered the wilderness and died
When they follow Joshua, they inherit the promise land, right?
And look, are we going to really say that Joshua is so much better than Moses?
No, I mean, I would say they're equivalent, you know
Now, obviously from a symbolistic perspective, Joshua is better
That's just because Moses pictures the law and Joshua pictures Jesus
And obviously Jesus triumphs over the law, okay
And we get some of that symbolism
But just from a humanly practical situation, you know, Moses and Joshua
They're like the same guy, plug and play, right?
Men that love the Lord, very zealous
In fact, Moses was considered the meekest man on all the earth
And Joshua was alive at that time
So it's still saying that Moses was meeker than Joshua
Yet, why did they not enter? Because the people were rebellious
Yet the people have all died that were rebellious
They replaced the new generation and that new generation can now have success
And sometimes we're going to see in this world today
Generations that have no success in the Christian life
Because they're a rebellious generation
And it may have not even been the shepherd's fault
It was their fault
But you know what? When we have a new generation rise up
We're going to have success only if we're obedient to the men that have been put in our lives
Judges chapter 3, look at verse 26
The Bible says, And Ehud escaped while they tarried and passed beyond the queries
And escaped unto Syriath
And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim
And the children of Israel went down with them from the mount and he before them
And he said unto them, Follow after me
For the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites in your hand
And they went down after him and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab
And suffered not a man to pass over
And they slew of Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, all lusty
And all men of valor, and there escaped not a man
So we see Ehud coming to them, he blows a trumpet
And then what does he tell everybody to do?
Follow me
Follow after me
Meaning what? Follow a man
How did they have success?
And look, they were really rebellious
When you read the book of Judges, you find out the children of Israel are very rebellious
But then they have a leader rise up a man
And that man starts judging the children of Israel, telling them what to do
And when they obey that man and they do what he says
They have success, they have peace
They have all the things that you would want, all the blessings coming from God
Because they're following a man
God does not expect us to just follow some arbitrary idea of serving God
He makes it real practical
He puts a person in charge
He puts a man in charge
And then we're supposed to follow the man
What if they all said, well who's Ehud?
Why do we have to listen to Ehud?
No, no, no, he blew the trumpet, let's go
Let's follow the man of God here
Let's follow Ehud
And look, is Ehud the greatest man to ever live?
Probably not, but you know what?
The Lord's on his side
And he blew the trumpet
Even though he's left-handed, we can still follow him
And so they follow Ehud
And they have a great victory because they followed the man
Now, go if you would in your Bible to Matthew 4
And I want to dwell on my last point for just a minute here
Because I've kind of gone through the second point pretty quickly
But point one, God gave us shepherds
Point two, you have success by following a man
But point three is this, why follow a man?
Well, if God gave me the gift of the man, then it makes sense to follow it
Why would he give me the person to follow?
Why would he give me a position of leadership, a man in leadership, if I'm not supposed to follow him?
Number two, he makes it clear that we have success by following him
Just like Joshua, just like Ehud, and I can show you a lot of examples
But here's the third point
And this is where it ties it all together
Is that following a man is the way that you follow Christ
You follow Christ by following the men that he gave you
Like the pastors and the evangelists and the prophets and the teachers
So if I want to follow Christ at the time of Joshua, how do I do that?
I follow Joshua
If I want to follow Christ at the time of Moses, how do I do that?
I follow Moses
If I want to follow Christ at the time of the judges when Ehud's alive, how do I do it?
I follow Ehud, right?
So in the New Testament, if I want to follow Christ, how do I follow Christ?
I follow a local pastor or evangelist or teacher
Or whatever the man of God is that's been given me in my life
And that's how I show my love and appreciation for Christ
You know, Jesus is in heaven
Nobody can serve him on this earth in a physical sense
Because he's not here
That's why he gave us other people
And if you really believe, well I would follow Christ
But you won't follow a man on this earth, you wouldn't follow Christ
Following Christ is emulated through following a man here
And let me just give you a little surprise, I don't know if you know this
But even if you say, well I would have followed Christ, did you know that Christ was a man?
I mean in order to follow Jesus, you had to follow a man
A man showed up and he was telling people to do what?
Follow him, right?
Matthew chapter 4, look at verse number 18
And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren
Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea
For they were fishers, and he saved them of them
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men
Now I like this response
And they straightway left their nets and followed him
Hey, you know why I know why Christ picked these guys?
Because as soon as he tells them something to do, they just do it
And arguably, of all the commandments he gives the disciples
Isn't this probably the hardest?
Maybe there's something harder, but I'm just saying like this might have been the hardest
Right? A guy just walks by and says follow me
And they literally leave their entire life like that
Everything they know, their job, just their family potentially
I mean the Bible describes them leaving their father in the boat
That's pretty extreme, I mean they're just like, see ya
Just to follow a what? A man
Now it wasn't just a man, it was the man Christ Jesus
It was the Lord, it was God in the flesh
But at the same time, he's also a man isn't he?
And they just left to follow the man Jesus Christ
Look at chapter 9 verse 9
This is a big thought in the Bible of following, right?
The Bible constantly mentions following and when we realize we want to follow Christ
But what does that look like practically? It looks like following a man
Matthew chapter 9, look at verse 9
It says in Jesus' past forth from thence he saw a man named Matthew
Sitting at receipt of custom and he saith unto him
Follow me, and he arose and followed him
So notice again, Jesus is saying follow me and he follows him
Go to chapter 16 and look at verse 24
When we think about a follower of Jesus Christ
What is the example of the followers of Jesus Christ?
It's people who left their entire life to follow Jesus
Some people just say at the door, I'm a follower of Jesus
And it's like, what did you give up?
What have you done to follow Jesus?
It seems like you're following marijuana
It seems like you're following alcohol
I don't see you following Jesus
It's like, what church do you go to? I don't know, the one on the corner
You're following Jesus, huh? You're a follower of Jesus
And you don't even know what church you go to, right?
This is an unrealistic proposition, okay?
The followers of Jesus left everything for Jesus, okay?
They're going to know what church they go to, right?
They're going to know what the Bible says
They're going to own a Bible, right?
I mean, can you imagine? I'm a follower of Jesus
Well, I don't use Bibles, man
You know, it's a relationship
It's like, how do you talk to each other?
You know, I touch the screen, you know, when Benny hands there
It's like, that doesn't make you a follower of Jesus Christ
Matthew chapter 16, look at verse 24
Then said Jesus and his disciples, if any man will come after me
Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me
Again, we talked about disciples a little bit this morning
But what is the disciples? One who's going to follow Jesus Christ
Go to Mark chapter number 15, Mark chapter 15
Now, here's another thing that's interesting in the Bible
Is that anyone, at any point in time, can follow Jesus
It's not limited to the disciples
It's not limited to men
It's everyone, okay?
Look at Mark chapter 15 and look at verse number 40
There were also women looking on afar off
Among whom was Mary Magdalene
Mary the mother of James, the less, and of Joses
And Siloam, who also when he was in Galilee
Followed him and ministered unto him
And many other women which came up with him on Jerusalem
You have to realize that a lot of women were followers of Jesus Christ
It wasn't just men
And you know what?
Praise the Lord for women like this
Because not only did they follow Jesus
Not only were they followers and disciples
They didn't even have Jesus walk straight up to them and say follow me
They just chose to follow him anyways
They just said, you know what? I'm going to be a follower of Jesus Christ
And you know what? What a great example here
Of women that really were sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ
And you think about it, Mary Magdalene and some of these other women
Were the literal first people to even see the resurrected Jesus Christ
Isn't that a pretty big privilege?
I mean, that's what made someone an apostle
Something that made someone an apostle is having seen the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ
These women got to see Jesus before the apostles did
Right? Before Peter, before John
I mean, how much does Jesus love John?
And the first person that he shows himself unto
Is Mary
Not only that, he sits down
And he sits with Mary and Martha
And he enjoys a conversation with Mary and he cares for the women
You know, it's easy to think that the Bible is just a man's book only
But here's the thing, God loves women just as much
And you know what? Women can be followers of Jesus just as much
As men can be followers of Jesus
While their roles may look different
And the woman may not get as much recognition
She can be just as much a follower of Jesus Christ
As a man
And in some cases, more so
Go, if you would, in your Bible to John, chapter number 12
Go to John, chapter number 12
Not only men and women, but even children
Children can be followers of Jesus Christ
And love the Lord Jesus Christ
We see men in the Bible serving Jesus from birth
I mean, think about Samuel
Think about John the Baptist
Think about Samson
These are children who were dedicated to the Lord
Before conception and even in the womb
To just serve the Lord and to be a servant of God their entire lives
And you know, would to God that we'd have parents
That would dedicate their children to serving God
Rather than being the next LeBron James
I mean, it's so noteworthy to say like
Man, we've been training this kid every day
To be the next LeBron James
To be the next Tiger Woods
Everybody's like, oh, that's so cool
That's so awesome
He's, you know, gonna be great
Whereas if someone got up and said like
I've been just training my child to love the Lord
And to be a soul winner
People would be like, that's weird
You know, people wouldn't get it
People would think that that's not as cool
That's not as great
I remember some of my family even mocking this in a sense
Because I was telling them that I wasn't gonna use birth control
Or really just murder control
But I told them I wasn't gonna use this
And they freaked out
And they're just like, how are you gonna afford college
And I'm like, I can't
It's like, I can't afford, you know
What is it, like 250 grand probably
I mean, you go to a really good school
Or a couple, you know, tens of thousands of dollars
Times, you know, it starts adding up quick, right
It's like, I can't afford college
And it's like, I said this
I don't care if my kids ever go to college
And it was like, literally like
I killed the sacred cow right there
It was just like
And I just said
I just hope my kids are saved and love the Lord
And I said, I'm not saying that they can't go to college
I'm not saying that, you know, if they don't
If they really want to do something like that
But I said, most college degrees are a scam anyways
You know
I mean, most people are going to college
Just to basically waste time
And to see how sinful they can be
And they're real good at it
But you know what, I don't encourage people
To go to college for no reason
If you don't have a very, really important reason
To go to college
Like, I'm gonna be a doctor, lawyer, accountant
Or whatever, like
I would avoid it
But you know what I wouldn't avoid
Is serving God
Is being a Christian
Is being a soul winner
Is doing that which is godly
And being devoted
And here's the thing
Train up a child in the way you should go
And when he's old he will not depart from it
But here's the thing, you train a child to be worldly
You probably won't depart from them either
That's why it's important to
Teach them these things while they're young and impressionable
Because eventually
They'll become teenagers
And they believe they're smarter than everyone
I mean, once you hit the teenage years
You've already got life figured out
And you think you're smarter than everybody
And your course of action is usually already decided
In a lot of cases
And it's kind of frustrating
Because parents
They try to start raising their kids
When they turn 13
Rather than raising them when they were 3
Realizing that when you start trying to raise them at 13
Doesn't work the same
They don't really care anymore
And so it's important to try
And instill all these great values in your children
While they have a chance
Now I'm not
I will teach my children until I die
Okay, so if my kids are 60 and I'm 80
I'm still gonna have verbal spankings or whatever, you know
And I've seen great-grandparents like that
And they still teach their children
And you know what?
You can always learn from your parents
But it's easier
When they're real young
Because they believe everything you say
You know
And it's funny
Because sometimes you kind of trick your kids, right?
Because they believe everything that you say
You'll try to kind of tease them
But you don't want to take that for granted
And realizing that they're so impressionable
And you can teach them so much
And they are your little followers
Whether you like it or not
And just as important as a child to follow their parents
In the ways of the Lord
It is for us
To follow the men that God has given us
In our lives as well
The way that we show our service to God
Is by serving the men
That he's given us to follow
Look at John chapter 12
And look at verse 26
If any man serve me
Let him follow me
Right?
If you want to serve Jesus
Then you have to follow Jesus
Okay?
But here's the thing
How do you follow Jesus?
It's by following the men
And the women that God has given you in your life
The rulers of your life
You children, you want to serve God?
Serve your mom and dad
Wives, you want to serve Christ?
Serve your husband
Wives, you want to serve Christ?
Serve your husband
Men, you want to serve God?
Serve your boss
Serve the men in the church
That are the leaders and the rulers of your church
That's how you literally serve Jesus
Is by serving the men and the women in your life
That God has given you
Go to Numbers chapter 14
Why did God pick Joshua?
I'll tell you exactly why
Because he was following Jesus Christ
But you know when he was following Jesus Christ?
When he was following Moses
Look at Numbers chapter 14 and look at verse 24
Numbers chapter 14 look at verse 24
But my servant Caleb
Because he had another spirit with him
And hath followed me fully
Him will I bring into the land where into he went
And his seed shall possess it
Now here's the thing
Caleb and Joshua were sent
They were sent into the land as spies under Moses' direction
And when they returned they were the only two faithful witnesses
And notice who they were really following
Not just Moses, they were following the Lord
They were following Jesus Christ
He says, hey they were following me
He took it personal when they were following Moses
Go to chapter 32, Numbers 32
And see it was not just Caleb, it was also Joshua
That the Bible recognizes
You know why God put Joshua in charge?
Because he followed the leadership
Because he followed the Lord
Numbers chapter 32 look at verse 11
Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and upward shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham
unto Isaac and unto Jacob because they have not wholly followed me
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite
And Joshua the son of Nun
For they have wholly followed the Lord
And when you go to Numbers chapter 11 you go to a lot of these places
When the people rebelled, when the people complained
You know it's Joshua and Caleb are also renting their clothes
When they don't want to enter the promised land
And trying to tell them we need to follow Moses
And look, Moses, he's leading them through the Red Sea
How can he not then go into the promised land?
Right?
But it's interesting how human nature always plays its part
No matter how much you've been delivered from in your past
No matter how much good the leader's done for you in the past
It's easy to want to just take it for granted
Get, you know, complacent
Dissatisfied, discontented
And basically start rebelling
And start going against the leadership
You know what? You have success when you just stay with the program
Stay with the leadership
You continue to follow the man that God has given you
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4
1 Corinthians chapter number 4
You say, well, I don't know if I'm really supposed to follow a man
I mean, I follow Jesus, Pastor Shelley
Well, again, I'll show you here clearly in the Bible
That you follow Jesus by following a man
And the instructions in the Bible are to follow men
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 4 verse 14
I write not these things to shame you
But as my beloved sons I warn you
For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ
Yet it be not many fathers
For in Christ Jesus I have gotten you through the gospel
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me
So the Apostle Paul is saying, hey, even though you've got a lot of guys that want to teach you the Bible
Don't follow little guys
Follow me
Why? Because he's the God appointed person that you're supposed to follow
And there'll be a lot of people that want to bring you under their wing
And try to get you to follow them
And to draw away disciples after themselves
They'll rise speaking perverse things
But at the end of the day, who are you really supposed to follow?
You're supposed to follow the God-given leadership
Not the self-ordained YouTube prophet
Not Robert Breaker
Or you go and find a church where the pastor's not even qualified
That's not the guy to follow either
The guy that's been divorced four times
He's not your shepherd
You want to find the God appointed man
Wherever he be and follow him
And the Apostle Paul's trying to warn them
Look, there's a lot of people that would love for you to follow them
You could subscribe to ten thousand YouTube channels
But he says, you know what? Subscribe to me
Follow me
Right? And he's not just saying follow Christ
But ultimately, obviously, if you follow Paul, you're going to be what?
Following Christ, right?
That's the implication, and he clearly says it
Look at chapter 11, verse 1
Just flip the page, chapter 11, verse 1
Be followers of me
Even as I also am of Christ
Now here's the thing
Obviously, there's going to be men in the world
That are going to be the top of the food chain
Right?
Moses is the top of the food chain
Humanly speaking, there's no one that's going to basically tell Moses what to do
He's getting his instructions directly from the Lord
Right?
Joshua, top of the food chain, right?
So you're going to have, at times, positions
Or, I believe, a New Testament local bishop
Is the top of the food chain
Paul, in his day, is the top of the food chain
Right? He's an apostle
But even the apostle Paul, he's still not so prideful
That he can't take instruction from Peter and John
Because when he often goes back to Jerusalem
And he's talking with the other apostles
He's kind of giving them the lead
And he's allowing them to basically instruct him
And give him duties
And basically help him make the right decisions
But even if you are at the top of the food chain
You can still follow men
It's not like the apostle Paul isn't following the leadership of Peter and John
And everything like that
But everybody below is, for sure, going to have to follow a man
You're going to have to follow that leadership that you have in your life
And we all have different realms of our lives
Where we're going to have to follow different positions of leadership
Now, it says in this chapter, look at verse 3
But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ
And the head of the woman is the man
And the head of Christ is God
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonored his head
So, according to the Bible, there's a leadership structure
Where there's Christ, then there's the man
And then there's the woman
And this is kind of in the picture of marriage
But within marriage, you have, as a wife, a God-given man
That is supposed to be your head, that's supposed to be your leader
And you're supposed to follow that man
And that man is supposed to follow Jesus Christ, okay?
So, in a marriage, the husband is the top of the food chain
There is no one that is supposed to usurp the authority of the husband in a family
In the family setting, in the family realm, the husband is the top of the food chain
So he's supposed to follow Christ
You know what, the wife is then supposed to follow the husband
She's not the top of the food chain, she's supposed to follow a man
Just like the Bible is clearly instructing
And when we're in a position of church, you know, there's gonna be a
Basically a food chain, as it were
A hierarchical structure where men are gonna submit to other men
And they're gonna obey those that have the rule over them
And it'll eventually come to a head
And we realize that that ultimate head is Christ
But the way to serve Christ is by getting plugged into that chain
We need to submit to the chain and submit to that type of leadership
Because that's ultimately how you follow Christ
A wife does not follow Christ by rebelling against her husband
A man does not follow Christ by rejecting the church
No, you accept the God-ordained structures and hierarchy that God has given us
That's how we end up following
Children do not follow God by disrespecting their parents
Even Jesus Christ himself in the temple
Twelve years old, asking questions
Yet, you know what, his parents told him to come with them
And he submitted himself unto them
Why? Because he was not gonna be successful in following God's commandments
By being rebellious to his parents
No, he honored his father and his mother
And once he was grown, then he started his ministry
Then he was essentially out from that authority structure
To where he's now the head of the home
He's now the man
And he's gonna go out and fulfill the works that the father has given him
But we wanna make sure that while we're under that authority structure
That we're following the men that God has given us
That's how we follow Christ
Go to Philippians chapter 3, the last place I'm gonna have you turn
Well, I'm sorry, there was one other place
Titus 3 and Philippians 3, those are the two places I want you to turn
Philippians chapter 3 and Titus chapter number 3
Now, I'll give you a couple practical tips
When it comes to following someone
And I've said a few of these already
But when following someone
It's not your job to worry how good of a leader they are
So, you know, it's not my job to criticize the leadership
And here's the thing
Anytime you have a problem with leadership
If appropriate, you can come to them meekly and suggest things
Say, hey, you did this, you said this
I just wanted to say it's possible that maybe you could have done this better
Or here's a possible solution in the future
Or even before that, sometimes it's best to say this
Hey, I noticed something that I thought might be improved upon in this area
Would you want me to give you any feedback?
And if they say no, then you're just like, okay
But if they do want the feedback, then you come, you know, politely, respectfully
You say, here's what I thought you could improve on
And you say, Pastor Shelley, I think you said something in your sermon that could be improved upon
Do you want feedback? No
You know, if you're the guy in the front row taking notes, no
Maybe someone else, right?
It's like, how many times have you read the Bible? Zero? Okay, nah, I'm not good, I'm good, alright
But you know, I say, okay, you know, what is it?
It's like, well, here's this verse, here's this thing he said
Maybe you could change this or whatever
And the person could take that, you know, well, hopefully
Obviously, even in a position of leadership, you can still be corrected
But at the end of the day, you know, it's not really appropriate
Be like, hey, you made a mistake here, let me tell you all about it
And the same would apply in a marriage
You know, you have a problem with your husband's decision making or a thing your husband did
You know, you don't just go ahead and blow your mouth off and tell him all the wrong things that he did
And criticize everything he's done
Rather, you should come to him meekly
And you should say, hey, honey
You know, I was thinking about the car we bought
And I had some ideas
It's like, we already bought it, so I'm not interested
Then you just leave it alone
It's like, oh, okay, what ideas do you have? You know?
And then it's like, you know, they start, don't buy the fix or repair daily
You know, let's get like a Toyota or something
I did some research on this, would you like this article?
You know, it's not that your wife can't have a great idea
It's not that your wife can't be smarter than you in a particular area
But she should come humbly and respectfully
And not try to usurp the authority, but be a follower
You know, the follower is not trying to lead
The follower is truly a follower
They want the leader to lead
And they're allowing and enabling them to lead
Here's another idea
If you have a problem with someone in leadership
You can always pray about it
But then you need to let it go
If I think that my leadership is doing something that I don't agree with
Or I think is wrong
What I can do is I can just pray to Lord and say, Lord, I think that they're doing this wrong
They're not seeing things right
Will you just open their heart? Will you open their, you know, mind?
Will you soften their heart? Will you help them to fix this area?
And I tell Jesus in the morning
And I pray real fervently
And then I just fervently serve them the rest of the day
I don't let it affect how I serve them
I don't let it affect how I talk to them
I don't let it affect how I treat them
Rather, I just tell Jesus
And here's the thing
Who's going to be better at fixing a problem? You or Jesus anyways?
You know, I would rather have Jesus try to correct the leadership of my life than me
Because I'm not going to be as effective at doing it
And I could even be wrong
Sometimes we might think that we're right and we're not
And it's better to tell Jesus than to tell the person and then get corrected
And be like, let me explain why that was a dumb idea
Let me explain why that's not legitimate criticism
You know, it'd be better to just have kept your mouth shut
And to just continue being a follower
A good follower is only going to offer criticism when it's welcomed
And they're not going to allow it to affect how they treat that particular individual
Same would apply in a marriage
Same would apply with children
It's not for children to tell their parents what to do
Children just obey, right?
If the children some reason had a better idea than their parents
They could present that humbly and meekly
You know, at the end of the day, it's for children to just obey
Because how often does a child actually know better than his parents?
It's almost never going to understand everything that a parent can think of
All the different scenarios
And the same exists in any scenario
Whether it be a husband or a wife
Whether it be a boss and an employee
Whether it be a pastor in a church
Oftentimes, people don't know all the circumstances
And they can play armchair quarterback all day long
But at the end of the day, you just need to let leaders lead
And you need to follow
Not worry about being a leader
A really good follower follows
They don't try to lead
And when given instruction
Here's what the Bible clearly says
Titus chapter number, I'm sorry, 2
Look at verse 9
Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters
And to please them well in all things
Not answering again
Man, just underline that
Not answering again
Man, you want to be a really good follower
When you get an instruction
You just say, yes sir
You just do it
Now obviously you might ask a clarifying question if you don't understand
But not answering again
What does this imply?
Well, I don't know about that
Well, I don't want to do that
Why do we have to do that?
You know
This is just the teenager mood
Everything's just like
I have to clean my room
And I have to do the dishes
And why do they make me do that?
And why do I have to do my homework first?
And why do I have to take care of the dog?
It's just like teenagers have this perpetual mood of just answering again
Mumbling, grumbling, complaining
Being upset about every single decision
Every single thing
Oh, why do we have to do that?
Why did you get that?
Why are we going here?
And you know what, it's really frustrating
When you're around someone that just complains about every decision
Every decision is just like
Why?
It's just like it's the most infuriating thing ever
What's good is when you give someone instruction
They say, yes sir
We have to go to those apartments again
Oh, the pot smokers again
You know
I have to be Cameron's partner again
Oh, you know
It's like, you know, if they say be with Cameron
You're just like, yes sir
Not answering again
You know, and it's really easy to want to be like
I don't know
You know
But maybe there's a reason
Maybe they're like, Cameron really needs someone
To teach him how to go
He needs a ride
He needs someone real positive
That's a good example of a follower
Not answering again
Imagine Jesus Christ telling you something like
Oh
Right? What if I did that after a reverse that I read?
Right?
It's just like, husbands love your wives
Oh, man
That one's hard
You know
Honor your father and mother
That would be so blasphemous and disrespectful
When we read the commandments of God
We're just supposed to be like, yes sir
Yes sir
And the leadership that we have in our lives
We're just supposed to say, yes sir
Not answering again
Not, what about this?
Why do we do this?
Just shut up
The best follower is a silent follower
Just does it
Yes sir
You know, if you don't have anything
That's just a clarifying question
You just don't ask any questions
And I'll tell you
That's how you really enjoy
You know, when people start answering again
Or asking again
Bad things happen
It made me think of Zacharias
When the angel's like telling him what's gonna happen
With John the Baptist
And he's just like, you're gonna be dumb for not believing me
It was just like, oh man
Your children disobey
And you're just like, strike with dumbness
And they're just like
Parents might abuse that power
But I'm just saying
That's how we should behave
We get the instruction
Even if we don't understand it
Don't pull a Zacharias
Just silence yourself
Don't have the Lord silence you
Don't make the Lord be like
Hey, you need to have a better attitude
Shape up
If you want to be a good church
If you want to go to a great church
It's one that's not full of people complaining
And bellyaching and moaning
Why did God get so mad at the children of Israel
Because they were complainers and murmurs about everything
Where's all the fish
It's like you get the
Prime rib
And they're like, where's the A1
And if you want A1
Just get out
No, I'm just kidding
But seriously
Where's the beans
Nobody wants that flatulence
In here
People just murmur
And complain
And it makes it really disheartening
And I'm just telling you
In ministry it's so easy
For people to rub you the wrong way
Because you'll throw a baby shower
And I've never thrown a baby shower
You'll throw a baby shower
And you'll decorate
And they'll be like, where's the cupcakes
Where's the special napkins
This isn't my color
Whatever it is
You've just got a free baby shower
And all you can do is complain about it
You get a free meal
And all you can do is complain about it
You take people over to a slow winning marathon
And they're like, where's the juice for my kids
It's at the store
Go buy yourself some
You just have people complain
And bellyache
It just really rubs you the wrong way
You're going to have a lot of success
When you just keep your mouth shut
And you just follow the leadership
And even the leadership
Leads you into bottled water
And not your favorite juice
You just drink the bottled water
It's not going to kill you
Moses made them drink water
With gold and silver dust in it
Slitter water
I don't know what you go
It's like, what is this
And they still were okay
Look, you want to follow Christ
Then follow a man
You follow your father
You follow your husband
You follow your pastor
You follow your evangelist
You follow your deacon
You follow your teacher
You follow your soul-winning leader
You follow whatever man is in your life
You follow him
And you follow him like he's Jesus Christ
That's how you're going to have success
What sets a church apart from all the other churches?
Is a church where they say
You know what?
That church follows their leader
And you know what? It could take
A lesser quality leader
And do more when the people follow him
Than having the greatest leader in the world
With a flock that won't
That just bellyaches at everything
You know
A lot of people would say
Our church would be better if it was for the pastor
Well maybe the church would be better if it wasn't for you
Maybe you just follow a little bit more
He could lead you
And you could actually go to places
Philippians chapter 3 verse 17
Paul just constantly tells them this over and over
Follow me
And he's not even ashamed
You know, Paul's not a prideful person
But he makes it clear like
Don't be afraid
But he makes it clear like
Don't follow them, follow me
And he's not saying it because he thinks he's so much better
He just realizes there's a bunch of
Fakes and frauds and phonies out there
And when God appoints people
In positions of leadership, you follow him
It's just case closed
You don't wonder like, well I wonder if this guy
Is a good guy to follow or whatever
Well was he publicly set before the congregation
Had hands laid on him
And announced that this is your guy
Or did it not?
Did he just say
I decided I'm ordained, come ordain me
Like that's different
Don't follow that guy
That guy's just walking out
Wherever he wants to go
And you know what, you'll see the fruit of it
Show me the guy
That's self ordained
That just, oh man
He has all these great
Followers and these great disciples
And all these great sermons
And he's reaching people with the gospel
No no no no
Great leaders are great followers
And they just wait
To be put in the right position
You know Joshua's a great follower of Moses
That's why he's put in the position that he is
And you know a great follower of Moses
He's really a great follower of the Lord
Because the greatest followers of the Lord
Are the greatest followers of man
And you say
Well I don't follow any man
Well it sounds like you suck at following Jesus
Because I guarantee
The people that follow men
And let men lead them
Are the greatest servants of Jesus Christ
In this world
No matter where they find themselves
Let's close in prayer
Thank you Heavenly Father for this church
Thank you for giving us an opportunity to follow you
By following the men that you've given us
In our lives
Our fathers
The husbands of this world
The pastors, the teachers, the evangelists
The apostles and prophets
That we can ultimately follow the example of your son
The man Christ Jesus
And I pray that we would never get this puffed up
Arrogant attitude
That we're better than everybody else
That we don't need to follow anybody else's example
That we know better than everyone else
But rather the people that you put in our lives
That we would just submit ourselves
That we'd have a humble and meek attitude
That we'd learn to bite our tongues
Not to answer again
But just to be obedient servants
And that we could be
Pleasing in your sight
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen
397 little is much when God is in it
Now I know you know this one
So if I don't hear you singing it
You're going to either have gotten the Zechariah treatment
Or, I don't know, your call
397 little is much when God is in it
Let me get there myself
397
In Jesus' name we sing
Let's sing
In the harvest field now ripen
There's a work for all to do
Hark the voice of God is calling
To the harvest calling you
Little is much when God is in it
Lame or not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
Does the place your call to labor
Seem so small and little known
It is great if God is in it
And he'll not forget his own
Little is much when God is in it
Lame or not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
Are you paid
Aside from service
Body more
From toil and care
You can still be in the battle
In the sacred place of prayer
Little is much when God is in it
Lame or not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run
He will say to all the faithful
Welcome home my child well done
Little is much when God is in it
Lame or not for wealth or fame
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name