(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Exodus chapter 32, we have the famous story about Moses being up in the mount, receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord, and then while he's gone, the people end up worshiping the golden calf, Aaron fails to lead the people properly, and all of this horrible sin takes place, and then God is judging them, people are killed, people are plagued as a result of all the sin that came in. Now the title of my sermon this morning is this, When the Cat is Away, the Mice will Play. And all throughout the Bible we see this illustrated where there's a strong leader, and then when that strong leader is absent, then everything just goes nuts, everything goes crazy, and there's always a bad element that's just waiting to fill that leadership void. As soon as the strong leader is not there laying down the law, someone's just waiting in the wings to fill that void and lead people astray. Notice in this story, in Exodus chapter 32, it says in verse 1, And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. So notice there are people that are just gathering together, certain instigators that are saying, hey, let's make golden gods, we don't know what's going on with Moses, and so on and so forth. Now flip over if you would to 2 Chronicles chapter number 24, there's a similar story, and let me just kind of bring you up to speed with this story in 2 Chronicles chapter 24. There had been a wicked woman that had been ruling over the land, her name was Athaliah, she was the queen. And she had led the people into worshipping false gods and so forth. Well there was a righteous element in the land that took the kingdom back. And Jehoiada the priest was the leader of that movement. And Jehoiada the priest had Athaliah killed and got rid of all the false god worship and so forth, and Joash is a 7 year old boy who is of the kingly line and he's going to put Joash on the throne instead of this wicked woman Athaliah. So in verse 1 of chapter 24 it says, Joash was 7 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibia of Beersheba. Now of course a 7 year old boy isn't really going to be able to step in and be the king and be a great leader. So throughout history when a child would become king, there would be someone else that would actually be running things in his place, known as the regent, okay? So the guy who's actually running things is Jehoiada the priest. But Joash is made king at age 7. Well it says in verse number 2, and Joash did that which was right in the side of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. So as long as Jehoiada was there guiding him and teaching him and instructing him, everything went well. Now if you jump down to verse 15 it says, but Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days when he died, 130 years old was he when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them and they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord and they testified against them but they would not give ear. So notice as soon as the strong powerful leader Jehoiada is gone, there's a wicked element that's just waiting in the wings, these princes of Judah come and they make obeisance unto Joash, meaning that they bow down before him. So they are flattering him and buttering him up as it were and talking him into allowing them to bring in the worship of false gods and to build all these altars unto Baal and so forth. So we see the same story here where when the leader is gone, a weak leader gives in to the demands of the people. The weak leader was Aaron in Exodus 32. Here the weak leader is King Joash himself. Go to Nehemiah chapter 13, Nehemiah chapter 13, there are all kinds of examples of this in the Bible, Nehemiah chapter 13. And you say well why are you preaching this on Father's Day? Well part of the reason is because fathers need to be strong leaders today in 2015. You know being a father and raising your children right has to do with you being a strong leader that's going to say like Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And you have to as a father be willing to say no sometimes to your children and not let them just do whatever they want and bring in whatever they want into the home. You have to stand up and be a strong man like a Jehoiada or like a Moses that draws the line in the sand and lays it out in the law in your home. That's what the Bible teaches. See it says in Matthew 12 verse 29, or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house. And that's what the devil wants to do today. He wants to tie the hands of strong men in their house that they would not have the power to lead in their house and to be a strong leader. Now today a lot of times strong leaders are attacked and criticized. We're taught today that leaders should be weak. Pastors need to be weak and soft and let anything go. Fathers are supposed to be soft and weak. And any time a father is laying down the law on TV or in a Hollywood movie, it's always portrayed as, oh he's such a tyrant, oh man this guy is just such a jerk, he's so overbearing. That's the message that TV and Hollywood are putting out right now. Just to make men think that it's virtuous to just roll over and let whatever go on and just let their wives and children do whatever they want and that's virtuous. Because as soon as they start saying no to something, well oh they're just this tyrant and this big jerk and whatever, you know male chauvinist or whatever. So we need to get to the Bible and see here the need for strong leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership. We need strong leaders in a nation, in a home, in a church. This is what the Bible teaches. Because if there's not a strong leader there, the void is filled with wicked people. There are always bad people that are ready to come in and start leading people astray. Now a lot of people have this foolish idea of anarchy, where they think to themselves nobody should be in charge. Everybody's the boss. We're all equal. But it never works that way in real life. That's not the world that we live in. See when you attack leadership and say we don't need any leader, then you're basically just inviting that evil element to come in and take over and that's what always happens. This idea of hey we're all going to live in peace and harmony with no leader. It doesn't work that way. It's a fairy tale. And the devil wants us to believe that so that we will tear down all the strong leaders, tear down the fathers in their own home, tear down husbands, tear down pastors, tear down anybody who tries to be a strong leader, and then he can come in and spoil the house as it were, as the Bible says in Matthew 12. But look down at your Bible there in Nehemiah chapter 13. Nehemiah was another man who was a very strong leader. And Nehemiah, he leaves for a while. And when he comes back, he finds everything has just gone completely awry. And it's just like in Exodus 32 when the cat's away, the mice will play. Look what it says in Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 4. Before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a great chamber where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense and the vessels and the tines of the corn, the new wine and the oil which was commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters and the offerings of the priests. But in all this time was I not at Jerusalem. For in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king. So if you remember, Nehemiah had been the king's cup bearer and he went to Jerusalem. He was a great strong leader that rallied the people. They built the walls. They're worshipping the Lord. Everything's going great. Well then the king called him home. So he goes home, he has to see the king, and obviously travel in those days took longer. So he's gone for a long time. Then as soon as the king releases him, he comes back to Jerusalem and he finds that there was a room there in the house of God that was supposed to be used. It was a great chamber, a giant space that was used to store the meat offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, the tides of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites. And instead of them using that big room to store those materials that were supposed to be given to the Levites to feed them and take care of them, basically he finds this guy Tobiah is living there because the priest was the weak leader in this story. He's the Aaron of this story. He's the Joash of this story, the weak leader that gives in to the people around him. See, Tobiah had already tried this earlier in the book of Nehemiah with Nehemiah himself. He tried to ally himself with Nehemiah and say, hey, I'm with you, I'm one of you. And he says, no, you're not one of us, you have no part here, get out of here. Because Tobiah was a wicked person. And so Nehemiah told him to hit the road. But when Nehemiah is gone, he comes back and tries it with this weak leader and he moves in to the point where he's dwelling literally in this chamber where these things were supposed to be laid for the work of God's house. So look what it says happened when Nehemiah, the strong leader, gets back in verse 7. And I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore. Watch how he handles it. Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. So he goes in there and he sees all this stuff and he's like, what's going on? Where's the tithes? Where's the wheat? Where's the oil? You know, where's all the stuff for the Levites? And he sees it's just, you know, a bed, a table, he sees all the household stuff of Tobiah. Oh, well, you know, Tobiah lives here now. No he doesn't. He just started grabbing his household stuff, he's grabbing drawers of stuff and just throwing it out the front door, grabbing clothes, grabbing the bed, throwing it out, and it was moving day. I mean, he just throws it all out, just throws it all out on the curb. Get this stuff out of here, it doesn't belong here. And then it says in verse number 8 after he cast out the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber, then I commanded and they cleansed the chambers and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God with the meat offering and the frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. For the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled everyone to his field. So basically the people who were supposed to be working in God's house as a full-time servant of the Lord, the Levites, the singers, and everything, they basically were no longer getting paid, right? The room where the stuff was supposed to be stored wasn't even being used for that anymore. They're not getting paid, so they'd all fled to their field because they have to do something to put food on the table. So basically they've gone back to their own just secular jobs of just going out and making a living and the house of God is forsaken. They had to go back to their fields and try to just put food on the table. And it says in verse 11, then contended I with the rulers. These are the weak leaders that were in place while he was gone. He contended with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah, the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries. And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe and of the Levites, Padiah. And next to them was Hanan, the son of Zachar, the son of Madiniah, for they were counted faithful and their office was to distribute unto their brethren. Remember me, oh my God, concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds that I've done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and lading asses, as also wine and grape and figs and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold vittles. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein which brought fish and all manner of ware and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, what evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. So this is in the Old Testament. They're not supposed to be doing any work on the Sabbath. They weren't supposed to be buying or selling. He gets there and it's just going on. They're just doing it anyway. And so he's rebuking them. It says in verse 19, and it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be open until after the Sabbath. And some of my servants said I at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified again to them and said to them, why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath. So basically what's happening is they're coming and selling all kinds of stuff on the Sabbath in the land of Judah. He tells them no. They're not listening. So he just locks up the gates on the Sabbath and doesn't let them come in. So then they're just kind of showing up on the Sabbath and just camping outside. Like people who are waiting for Best Buy to open or something on Black Friday. You know, they're just kind of camped out waiting to get in. They're there the whole day. And he says, look, I don't even want you guys camped out here. You do this again? I'm going to come lay hands on you. Get out of here. You know, don't even sit out here and wait to try to come in and do this. Why? Because he doesn't want them to be in the habit of coming. Because he knows as soon as he's gone, what are they going to do? Swing wide open the gates. They're all going to come in and do it. So he says, look, you guys need to get out of here. I'm going to lay hands on you. I don't want you to come anymore on the Sabbath. Verse 22. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Spare me, oh my God, concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. Ashdod is of the Philistines. Ammon and Moab are other nations that were wicked nations, worshiping false gods, etc. It says, and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them and cursed them and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair and made them swear by God saying, you shall not give your daughters unto their sons nor take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him who was beloved of his God and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, even him did outlandish women cause to sin. We then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives. And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. This is another one of their enemies, Tobiah and Sanballat were two of them. Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, oh my God, because they've defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. Blessed cleansed I them from all strangers and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, everyone in his business and for the wood offering at times appointed and for the first fruits. Remember me, oh my God, for good. Now flip back to chapter five in the book of Nehemiah. So we see here that Nehemiah, he's gone for a while and everything just goes to hell in a hand basket while he's gone and so he has to come back and clean house and straighten things out, everything's messed up. The house of God is not being served and then you've got the enemy who has just literally set up shop in God's house. I mean he's living in the courts of the house of God, in the treasury of God's house. That's where he lives and this is what's happening today in America. The enemy has even come into the house of God and basically infiltrated and there's no Nehemiah chasing him out, saying get out of here, you don't belong here, you're wicked. We need a generation of Moses, we need a generation of Nehemiahs, we need a generation of Jehoiad of the prophets, people who will be a strong leader, who will clean house, who will say no and won't just give in to everybody who comes and makes obeisance to them, everybody who comes and wants to just get along with everybody. No, that's the purpose of a strong leader to say no. You see, in a home, children don't have the discernment to say no to that which is wrong. That's why mom and dad have to do it for them. If you think about it, a child who is offered any kind of candy, ice cream, junk food, you know, they're always going to say yes, they're always going to receive. Any kind of a toy, any kind of a video game, any kind of a movie, any kind of a TV show. You're not going to see a four year old saying, you know what, excuse me, I don't think I should be watching this. If they're watching TV and something ungodly comes on, they're probably not going to say, you know what, I think that this show is blasphemous toward Jesus Christ and therefore I'm not going to watch this cartoon or I don't want to watch this sodomite promoting TV show. You know, a little child doesn't have the discernment. They don't know, you know, their right hand from their left in the early days and they must grow into that and so they need a parent that is going to discern and say, this is allowed and this is not allowed and it can't be just left up to the children to decide what they're going to eat, what they're going to drink, what they're going to watch, where they're going to go. You can't just let them run wild because the Bible says a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself causes his mother shame and so there has to be that strong leadership there guiding the children and telling them what is allowed and what is not allowed. Not just a weak leader that just sits back and just says, oh, what do you do, you know, kids these days. Kids are going to be kids. You know, the girls want to go out dressed like a hoochie mama and a hooker and they just, you know, I guess this is how they dress now. The boy wants to put on the skinny jeans and look like a queer little faggot and it's like, oh, you know, that's just the style now. You know, Justin Bieber is the thing now, you know, this is, you know, Miley Cyrus is, I mean, Hannah Montana and you know what, we as parents need to discern what our children are exposed to. You know, think about it. You know, I don't know that much about it, but there's a show, I've never seen the show, thank God, but there used to be, I believe, a Disney show that seemed to be just a family friendly type show called Hannah Montana, right? And then I guess now the star of that show is just doing all kinds of obscene things. I heard something that she's burning bibles on stage at her concert or something like that and just blaspheming Jesus Christ, just acting all kinds of sick and abominable and filthy ways. But see, that's what the devil does. He gets the kids on the show that seems pretty good, seems pretty clean or whatever. I've never seen it, but I think it seemed like from what I've heard, it was a fairly, you know, harmless show to most people. That's what most people who would think of it as out in the world. But yet it's grooming your children to idolize these people who later are going to be burning the Bible, blaspheming Christ, promoting sodomy and everything else. And it's the same old story over and over again where this keeps happening. OK, and it's a plan. It's an agenda. But dads have to say, hey, wait a minute, I'm going to approve the entertainment in this house. I'm going to approve the clothing that my children wear. I'm going to approve. You say, oh, well, that's so strict. But here's the thing. If dads don't lead and if moms don't lead, someone else will lead. It's not that they'll just have no leader. Oh, they'll just do their own thing. No, they won't. There's always a leader. The leader will be the cool kids at school. The leader will be the television. The leader will be Madison Avenue and Hollywood. Someone is going to be leading them and telling them what is acceptable and what is not well in my house. It's going to be me because I'm going to use the Bible to make these determinations and I'm going to do the best I can to try to bring up my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And sometimes that means being the bad guy and saying no to things. No, can't wear that. No, can't have that. Can't read that. Can't watch. No, and drawing a line of what is acceptable and what is not and being a strong leader. And you know what? It's the same thing in the church. Somebody has to stand up in the church and be the watchdog and basically make sure that the wrong things don't come in because there's always a sand ballot and a Tobiah just waiting to set up shop. And there's always Cora, Dathan, and Abiram ready to bring in false teaching and false doctrine. And that's why the Bible commands the pastor, the man of God to be sober and to be vigilant because the adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You see, if a pastor won't take a strong stand and a strong lead, you know what'll start happening? All the other versions will start coming in. The NIV, I mean, there are so many churches where the pastor preaches and believes the traditional Bible, the King James Bible that we've had for hundreds and hundreds of years. But yet the pews are filled with all the wrong versions and calendars are going on the wall with the NIV and Sunday school materials are going out with all the wrong versions and everybody's got a different Bible and everybody's getting corrupted with this stuff. And it's because there's no man standing up and saying no. This is where we draw the line. It's King James only. And there's a reason why we're King James only. It's not just because we like it. It sounds cool. Now it does sound cool, but that's not why. Because the fact that these new versions are corrupt, they are being changed by the devil himself. They're taking out the word hell over and over again. More than half the times hell's removed. They're taking out the blood of Jesus Christ in many scriptures. They're adding in elements of work salvation. They're striking at the core of what we believe by attacking the deity of Jesus Christ himself. Attacking the Trinity. Attacking all these teachings that are so important to what we believe. But a lot of people are just sitting back and letting it happen. Let the false Bibles come in. Let the Sodomites come in. Let the effeminate boy band music come in. I mean a lot of these churches, the music is basically becoming an effeminate boy band style music, and the pastor just kind of sits back and he probably doesn't like it. But what can you do? Say no? Run the place? That's why the Bible says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. Notice that word rule. And the Bible says of husbands who want to be a pastor someday. He said if you want to find the qualifications for a bishop, he said one that ruleth well his own house. So men are to rule their house. Pastors are to rule in the house of God. But people will say, oh man, that's crazy. You're a tiger. No, you're crazy if you think that basically every man should just do that which is right in his own eyes. Now look, I believe in freedom and liberty, but I also believe in having a strong leader. And if you take freedom and liberty to the point of anarchy, you're foolish because you know what? Anarchy doesn't work. Technically if you study the philosophies of communism and Marxism, they claim to believe in an anarchist system. Because they claim that once they reach their communist utopia, everybody's equal, nobody's really in charge, and everybody is just doing their own thing. But you know what? It's a fraud. It's a lie. It doesn't work. And even when Jesus Christ returns and sets up his kingdom on this earth, he's going to rule all nations with a rod of iron. He's not going to come with a wet spaghetti noodle, or a feather duster, or a loofah from the shower. He's not going to be ruling all nations with a toilet brush, my friend. He's ruling all nations with a rod of iron. It says that he'll break them in pieces like a potter's veg, he's going to dash them to pieces. I mean, he is going to rule. He's going to clean house. He's going to be the boss. He's not just going to sit back and just let whatever happen. And it's so funny. I've had so many people come in here and say, you know, well, you should let anybody who wants to get up behind the pulpit and teach. You know what that is? That's just an invitation to every false prophet and false teacher to just come to the open mic down at Faithful Word Baptist and teach confusion. And then everybody's confused because there's all kinds of crazy doctrine. No. Other people preach behind this pulpit, but you know what? It's not just a free for all open mic. It has to be people who can be trusted to teach sound doctrine. And who makes that decision? Each church is supposed to be independent and autonomous and make that decision. And each church has a leader. And this doctrine is under attack today where they teach, oh, everybody should be in charge. This is known as the gainsaying of Korah. This is what Korah said. Well, everybody, you know, everybody should be in charge. Everybody's the same. No, they're not. No, everybody should. You shouldn't take somebody who's a brand new believer who just got saved two months ago and have them teaching the Word of God to the congregation. That's the blind leading the blind, friend. The Bible says that the pastor must not be a novice, meaning not new. It has to be somebody who's been at it for a while. The Bible even says of the deacons, it says, let these also first be proved. Then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. So it has to be someone who has been tested and tried and you say, oh, this is a power trip, a dictatorship. No, you've fallen for the devil's lie that wants to attack all real leaders and teach that any strong leader is bad. That's false. We need strong leaders today. We need Nehemiahs. We need some people chased out of here sometimes. You know where Nehemiahs said I had to chase this guy from me? Some people need to be chased out. It's life. And you know what? Sometimes it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. And somebody who's afraid to get their hands dirty and somebody who's afraid to raise their voice and somebody who's afraid to tell people no just isn't cut out to be a pastor. And you know what? If you're not going to be able to say no, you know what? Can you even leave your home? Because you have to be able to sometimes tell your children no. There's a guy in the Bible, Adonijah, where it says that David, his father, had never displeased him at any time by saying no. You know? And he ended up doing stupid stuff and getting killed because, you know, nobody ever told him no. But Nehemiah Chapter 5 shows us a little bit more about this person Nehemiah because here's the thing. Just because God wants us to be a strong leader, he doesn't want us to be a self-serving leader. That's the difference between a tyrant and a dictator and a godly strong leader. See, the godly strong leader lays down the law, says how it is, but he's doing it basically for everybody's benefit. You know, he wants what's best for everybody. He wants God's work to go forward and be blessed. The motive is there to do what's right by the people. It's a benevolent dictatorship, not one who basically is there to just use people to serve him and to benefit him. See, Jesus said, whosoever is greatest among you, let him be your minister. Let him be your servant. Jesus Christ said, even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. See, a man in his home, because we're talking about Father's Day. A man in his home is there to provide for his family, to love his family, and to lead them in the way that is a righteous path for their own good. You know, and the Bible even talks about how God chastens and disciplines us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. It's for our benefit. See, in Nehemiah 5, we can see about Nehemiah that he was not a self-serving leader. These leaders who allowed everything to happen that people wanted to happen, and they're letting Tobiah move in and just basically giving in to the demands of all the people, they were the ones who were the self-serving leaders in the book of Nehemiah, because they were the ones who were exercising the right to tax them and to take usury of them and to abuse their power. Nehemiah put a stop to that. Look what the Bible says in Nehemiah. I wish we could read the whole chapter, but for the sake of time, we'll just start reading in verse number 9. Also, I said it is not good that ye do. And what he's talking about there when he says it's not good that ye do, he's talking about them just taking money from the people, charging them interest, taxing them, things like that, ripping them off. And by the way, charging interest is a sin. I don't care what the bank told you. But according to the Bible, it is sinful to charge usury, and usury means any interest. In Nehemiah 5, the interest rate was 1%, and he said, you need to stop. But look what it says in verse 9. Also I said, it is not good that ye do, ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? I likewise, speaking of Nehemiah himself, and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn. He's saying, you know, I could do that. I'm the governor here. I'm the top leader. If I wanted to, I could be extracting money and corn from these people. But he said, I pray you, leave off, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses. Also the hundredth part of the money, that's the 1%, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that ye exact of them, then said they, we will restore them, and will require nothing of them. So notice when the strong leader comes along and tells people how it is, they back down. Nehemiah backs them down. And as a result, people get to keep their money, and keep their corn, and not be taxed to death, and charge interest to death. So it says they will restore them. So will we do as thou sayest, halfway through verse 12. Then I called the priests and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. Also I shook my lap and said, so God, shake out every man from his house and from his labor that performeth not this promise. Even thus, be he shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, amen, and praise the Lord. Yeah, I'd say amen and praise the Lord too, if I got a big tax refund, where all the taxes that I've been charged, they're giving it back to me. Amen, praise the Lord. And the people did according to this promise. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year even under the two and 30th year of Artaxerxes the king, that is 12 years. I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine beside 40 shekels of silver. Yea, even their servants bear rule over the people. But so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall. Neither bought we any land, and all my servants were gathered thither under the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox, and six choice sheep, also fowl, he's not saying he ate this all himself, he has 150 people that he's feeding, okay? It says, you know what, yeah, this is about what I eat in a typical day. One ox, six choice sheep, fowls are prepared for me, once in ten days, all sorts of wine, I don't do that part. Yet for all this, required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. So Nehemiah's looking at the people, and he's saying, look, the bondage is heavy on this people. These people are already struggling financially. I don't need to be taking a bunch of wealth from them, and getting paid a bunch of money, and buying a bunch of land, and doing all this. He says, he didn't eat of the governor's bread. He didn't require the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Verse 19, think upon me my God for good, according to all that I've done for this people. So is Nehemiah a self-serving leader, that basically wants to rule with an iron fist, for his own benefit, and for his own aggrandizement? No. In fact, he was a benevolent leader, who's taken money out of his own pocket, because he was wealthy, because he's well-to-do, he's feeding other people, he's turning down the gifts of the governor, and so forth, and he's saying, look, these people are struggling and starving, they need to keep their money. So this guy is a benevolent leader. He is not a self-serving kind of a guy, but yet he's a strong leader. So do you see the balance there, of what a godly leader looks like? Now go to the New Testament, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Because again, the title of the sermon is, when the cat is away, the mice will play. You have to be a leader today, in your home. Pastors need to be a leader in their church. We need strong leadership that will guard against the enemy coming in and leading people astray. This is all throughout the Bible. And the Apostle Paul is constantly dealing with this, with some of the churches that he had started. One of those churches was at Corinth. He started the church at Corinth. He taught them sound doctrine. He taught them the right way to run the church. But in the epistles of 1 and 2 Corinthians, he has to keep rebuking them and saying, what are you guys doing? And correcting all these problems and things that have crept in because of a lack of leadership while he's gone. And in 1 Corinthians chapter number 4, beginning in verse number 15, he's trying to get their attention here. He says, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I've begotten you through the gospel. He's saying, look, I'm the one who won you to Christ. I'm the one who got you guys saved. Why don't you listen to me? Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Verse 17, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you. They think he's just bluffing because he's telling them, look, you guys need to straighten things out down there at the church in Corinth. I'm going to send Timotheus to try to remind you guys how things are supposed to be and straighten things out. You know, don't make me come down there myself. And he says, some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. He's saying, you know, these people are talking real big when I'm gone. He said, I'm going to come there and face those people and we'll see how tough those guys really are. He said, well, why would he talk this way? I thought that all Christians are supposed to be soft, gentle hippies. What is going on? You know, this isn't what Reverend Alden on Little House on the Prairie was like. Are you sure that a preacher is supposed to talk that way? But isn't that the way we've been brainwashed today? Whenever a pastor gets up and yells and preaches and says, no, we're not going to do it. Then they just say, oh, man, look at that guy. He's crazy. He's a monster. He's lost his mind. I mean, oh, he's in the flesh. OK, what about when the spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and he chopped up oxen and mailed him out all over and said, this is what I'm going to do to your oxen if you don't come. I mean, look, was that not the spirit of the Lord that led Saul to rally the people against the Philistines? It says the spirit of the Lord came upon him. He hacked up a couple of oxen and shipped it out. He said, here you go, people. Here's an object lesson. Why? Because of the fact that Saul was a great leader. Now, later he failed. Later, the people talked him into stuff and he watered down and so forth. But in those first couple of years, look, God chose Saul to be a king for a long time. Because he did great things in the beginning. He was a good leader. He saved the people from the Philistines. A lot of times we forget that because it's kind of overshadowed by his failings later in life. But we forget that Saul started as a good leader. Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Look, are you telling me that the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost here, is in the flesh? No, this is scripture. God preserved this for us as his word, where the apostle Paul is telling these people, I'm going to find out how tough you really are when I come back to court to clean house. But anybody who talked like that today, oh, you're in the flesh, you're carnal. That's what they would say, wouldn't they? Because they teach you that pastors all need to be soft pushovers. And they call it meekness, but it's really weakness is what they're promoting. Under the guise of meekness. See, Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth, the Bible says. He was the meekest man there was. But he was a strong leader. He didn't put up with this garbage of just letting anything go. Too many churches or anything goes Baptist Church. And then the enemy comes in and just runs over roughshod over all the people who actually want to serve God and keep the doctrine pure and keep the work right. See, in this story here in 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle Paul is saying these people are puffed up. They don't think I'm coming because they know that they can do whatever they want while he's gone because there's no strong leader. But why isn't there another guy that's like the apostle Paul that took charge while he's gone? That's why he had to send Timotheus. Because he says, well, I know Timotheus is going to be a strong leader. I know he'll fight these people. And Nehemiah contended with people. Paul says to Timothy, fight the good fight. You know, it's not all about just getting along with everybody at any cost. Because if you try to get along with everybody, bad people take over because nobody's there to tell them no, to put a stop to it. You know, it reminded me of when I was out soul winning and this lady told me, oh, I'm a Buddhist and we're the most peaceful religion and we're so nonviolent. And she said, you know, what war have the Buddhists ever started? We've never started any war. Yeah, okay. Except what about the fact that you let the communists take over your country and slaughter 100 million people? I mean, look how many Buddhists there are in China, right? Oh, such a wonderful religion. Well, it didn't stop communism. You know, when there were a lot of Bible believing Christians in our country, the communists couldn't take over here. But it's funny how they can take over where the Buddhists are because the Buddhists will just roll over. They won't even kill a scorpion. I mean, think about it. My house lately has been getting infested with scorpions again. It's just because there was so much rain and everything that it really brought out the creatures in Arizona. It's not just, it's the whole neighborhood because I was running around the park for exercise and I was just like dodging cockroaches at the park by my house on the sidewalk because it's just the rain and everything. It's just been really weird weather this year. It's been nice weather until about a week ago, but all these creatures coming out. So it has brought out the scorpions at my house. But here's the thing. There are Buddhists who literally put a surgical mask over their mouth because they're afraid of accidentally breathing in a bug and killing it. And they walk down the street with a broom and they sweep it out in front of them to make sure they don't step on anything and kill any. They don't want to, you know, just total non-violence. We don't want to harm any creature. Total veganism, vegetarianism, don't even suck in a bug into your mouth. You know, maybe it's good for us to suck in a bug every once in a while, get that extra nutrition and protein in there. I don't know, maybe it's good for you. But they wear a little surgical mask and sweep the floor in front of them and they won't even kill anything. So I was reading this book and this lady's talking about how this centipede, you know, centipedes are really poisonous. She has this centipede in her bathroom and she, you know, she wants to practice non-violence and so she's trying to get this, you know, took like an hour to get the centipede out of her house. And then finally she gets it out and throws it onto the porch and then a Buddhist monk, a hardcore Buddhist monk, literally walked up and stepped on it like 10 seconds later, just by accident, by chance. And it's like, yeah, that guy just set himself back about a thousand reincarnations, you know, by stepping on that thing without even knowing it. But the thing is, you know, this, oh, non-violence. Okay, so I guess I should just practice non-violence and just let my house be infected with scorpions. What's going to happen then? Well, my children are going to be struck by scorpions. I mean, some of my children in the 10 years that we've lived here have already been stung by a scorpion. Which of our children have been stung by a scorpion? Put up your hand, kids. One, two, three. Three of my, didn't you get stung also, Julia? I know you're not one of my children, but have you been stung? Have you been stung? Yeah, so four members of my family, who else in Arizona has been stung by a scorpion? Only like two people out of 150 people. Wow, so I guess just my family that they're after. But anyway, the bottom line is, I'm not going to practice that non, I'm going to kill the scorpions before they harm my children. I mean, my son Steven got stung by a bee, his hand swelled up. You know, if you get stung by a scorpion, it can really be harmful to a baby or a child, so you have to kill them. I'm not going to go around and pick them up with tongs and go drop them off somewhere else. No, they're all going to be killed. They're going to be all put to fire and sword until they're all gone, until they remain not. I don't want scorpions in my house. But see, this whole non-violence can be taken too far to the point where it's just like, oh, we're just, whatever. Oh, my neighbor is being raped and killed. Well, you know, I don't want to mess with it. I don't have a gun. I practice non-violence, you know. I'm just going to go rock and go away, please, you know. You know, I mean, I get my neighbor, you know, little old lady next door is being robbed and beaten and killed. And I'm just like, I'm sending some good energy over there. I'm going to send some good vibes her way. It's stupid because, you know what, somebody has to sometimes fight somebody or fight something or kill something. You know, you have to kill a scorpion. I'm not saying we should kill people, you know, except people that are executed through proper channels. Obviously, I believe in the death penalty when it comes to government. But, you know, I'm not going to kill another person. But I'm going to kill scorpions and spiders. And if somebody breaks something, I'm going to kill scorpions and spiders. And if somebody breaks into my house to come harm my family, then I will reach for the shotgun. You know, and I'm not going to load it up with cotton candy. You know what I mean? I'm going to load it with something that's going to kill, okay? Not because I want to kill anybody. And you know what? I hope that I can go through my whole life without ever having to kill anyone in self-defense. Nobody wants to. I mean, if you do, there's something wrong with you. If you just want to, you know, oh man, you know, I'm going to put out some bait and make it seem like my house, a real good house to break into, just so I can just, you know, try out my skills with a shotgun. You know, that's obviously wicked to just desire, you know, to be able to have to use it. But the bottom line is, though, you got to be willing to use it when the time comes to protect your family, to protect yourself. And the thing is, there are times when we have to fight and say no and contend with people. And this thing of just wanting to get along with everybody is just an invitation for the enemy to just come in and just take over and abuse everyone and just take charge. And that's not what the Bible teaches. So he says in verse 18, Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? And what will ye is an old way of saying, what do you want? Saying, what will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? He's saying, it's up to you. Get things straightened out down there and I'll come in love and in the spirit of meekness. Keep going the way it's going. I'll come down there with a rod. And he says in chapter five, you know what the problem was, because that's at the end of chapter four. Then he gets into how they're just allowing fornication to run rampant in the church. You know, that's first Corinthians five. But if you would flip over to second Corinthians 13. So that's in first Corinthians. So he writes in this letter in first Corinthians. And then in second Corinthians, he talks about the fact that they had actually gotten things right. They'd actually fixed problems at the church. And he actually does, you know, commend them for improvements that they made and said, hey, you guys did a good job taking care of this. And he, but he gives them more things that they need to work on. There's still problems that he writes them about. So he says in second Corinthians 13 one, this is the third time I'm coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that if I come again, I will not spare. What is he doing here? He's warning them. He's threatening them. He's saying, look, I'm coming for the third time. And I want things to be right. You guys need to straighten things out down there. And he's trying to tell the leaders of the church of Corinth. You need to put away from among yourselves these wicked people. You need to straighten things out and fix things. And they weren't always doing it. Third John go to third John. This is right before the book of revelation third John. We see, and here's the thing. When we study the Bible, it's all about balancing all the teachings of the Bible. We want to get all the teachings of the Bible and bring them into balance. It's easy to become one dimensional or just to take one aspect of the Bible and just really focus on that and neglect other things. So some people will take this to an extreme of basically everything's a fight. Everything's negative. Everything's in your face. Well, you know what? They're obviously missing all the scriptures on love and meekness and gentleness. Okay, that's part of the equation too. And then there are other people that make the mistake where it's just all sweetness, light, love, gentleness, meekness, and they never want to fight anything. They never want to say no to anybody. They never want to put the smack down in the church or in their home or anywhere else. And both are wrong. You need to study the whole Bible and you need to be a Nehemiah that's loving and gentle and cares about the people from the depths of his heart but also throws Tobiah's junk out on the sidewalk where it belongs. You've got to do both. And that's why we need the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect and the word perfect in the Bible means complete. Man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under all good works. How are you going to be furnished under all good works? You need the whole Bible. He says in order for a pastor to be thoroughly furnished under all good works, in order for a pastor to be ready to lead, he has to have all scripture because otherwise he's going to be very one-sided either too positive, too negative, whatever. He's not getting the full picture. Look at 3 John. It says in verse 9, this is John again making threats to people that he's writing the letter to. I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith. Neither did he himself receive the brethren and forbidth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself, yea, and we also bear record, and ye know that our record is true. So again, he's warning this guy. Diotrephes. He's saying, you know what? When I come, I'm going to remember you, buddy. I'm going to take care of you. See, he is a leader that says there's good and there's evil. Demetrius is the guy you need to be listening to, and Diotrephes is the guy that you need to be staying away from. He says this guy's good and this guy's evil. He's being a leader. Paul said to Titus, he said you need to ordain elders in every city. That is lacking. That is wanting. There need to be leaders. He tells Timothy, for this cause left I thee at Ephesus, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. He says in Titus chapter one, when he says we need elders in every city, we need pastors in every city, he says for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose subvert whole houses, he said, whose mouths must be stopped, whose subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. He said rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. But where does rebuke them sharply ever even come into the mind of the average Christian today in 2015? Rebuking anyone sharply is anathema today. Oh, you're in the flesh. You're not filled with the spirit because you got mad. Hey, Jesus got mad, made a whip and chased people out of the temple. Was he in the spirit or not? But again, it's a one-sided view of scripture. And what I'm trying to do this morning is to kind of give you the other side. Yes, be loving. Yes, be gentle. And the Bible says, fathers, provoke not your children unto anger. He said, fathers, provoke not your children unto wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So we as fathers, we want to love our children. Of course. And it's important for us as dads to not think that we don't play an important role in our children's lives. Oh, mom will take care of the kids. You know, we should be there to spend quality time with our children, to teach our children. We should show them love and affection, hug and kiss them and be nice to them and spend time with them and take them places. But you know what? We also need to realize that we're not just their buddy, we're also their dad. And we need to be that strong leader in their life. And you know what? They will thank you for it later, if you're a strong leader, that you kept them on the right path. You know what? I thank God for my parents. You know, I thank God for my dad laying down the law on many things that I would still hold to today and being a strong leader that said no to things and didn't just let it because, you know, some of my friends when I was growing up, anything went. We need to get both sides of the coin, my friend, if we're going to be an effective leader. As a father, men who want to pastor someday, you need to decide if you have what it takes to be a pastor because pastoring in church is harder than just being married or having kids. That's the warm-up. You know, being a pastor is a difficult job and it takes a lot of leadership and it's very hard. You know, and there have been times over the years where I've struggled and had, you know, leadership failures where I'm, you know, where I basically let things go on that I shouldn't have let go on and I had to learn over the years what it means to be a Nehemiah and to put your foot down about things because, you know, sometimes it doesn't come naturally but you need to decide, hey, if I'm going to be a pastor, I need to make sure that I'm able to contend. And if you're one of these people that's just like, I just don't like any kind of confrontation, you know, I can't handle any kind of conflict. Don't be a pastor, do the world a favor and get a different job. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for great men that are leaders in the Bible. Moses, Nehemiah, Jesus, the apostle Paul, the apostle John, men like Jehoiada the priest, Lord, who laid down the law and when they were in charge, man, everybody was serving God, everything was going great. And then as soon as they were gone, things fell apart, Lord. Help us to rise up as a generation of great leaders today as men and help there to be a great movement of pastors and fathers and houses and churches that love you and serve you and that draw a line in the sand of what is acceptable and what is not. In Jesus' name we pray.