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Numbers, chapter 27. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. Numbers, chapter 27. We'll begin at verse 12. Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible. Numbers, chapter 27, beginning at verse 12. And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up unto this mount, Abraham, 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 and Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits 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, 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 in whom is the spirit, and lay thy 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 shall 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 after the judgment of Urim 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 his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to come together. Please bless Pastor and the message. Please let it bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Numbers chapter 27. And of course we've been going through the book of Numbers on Sunday. And if you remember we went through Numbers 26 last Sunday morning. We finished up Numbers 26. And then last Sunday night we began Numbers 27. This morning we're going to end Numbers chapter 27. And last time we went through verses 1 through 11. This morning we are going to cover the last part of the chapter, verses 12 through 23. And if you remember last week, last Sunday morning out of Numbers 26, I preached a sermon about parenting. And I preached a sermon entitled Principles About Parenting. And if you remember I explained that the sermon last week was not a practical sermon. It was a practical and applicable sermon, but it wasn't practical in the sense that I wasn't preaching on how to be a good parent. I've preached a lot of sermons on the subject of how to be a biblical parent and a good parent. But it was more about parenting and just biblical philosophy regarding parenting. And I bring that up to say this. This morning the sermon that we're going to look at, the study we're going to look at, the portion of scripture, is not about parenting. It's about leadership. But it's the same concept. And I'm preaching a sermon entitled Principles About Leadership. And let me just say again, this is not going to be a how-to sermon regarding how to lead or how to be a leader. I've preached a lot of sermons like that. We have a whole leadership class that is available to men that want to go into ministry. And I've taught a lot on the subject of leadership and how to lead from what the Bible teaches us. But this morning I'm not preaching necessarily on how to lead, although we'll cover some of those things. But these are principles about leadership, philosophy about leadership. And I've got ten points this morning, and I'm going to try to make them as quickly as we can. There's no sub-points, just to give you a heads up. No sub-points, just ten quick points. And if you'd like, you can jot these down on the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to take down some notes, and you can jot these points down. But let me just say this, because you might hear me say that and think, well, I'm not a leader, I don't need a sermon like this. Everyone is a leader in some capacity. And you are a leader, whether you realize it or not, you may not even know it. Now, if you have a title that has with it the idea of leadership, then this sermon is for you. If you're a pastor, the sermon is for you. Maybe you're the manager at work or the boss at work. If you're a husband, you are a leader. If you're a father, you are a leader. If you're a mother, you are a leader. Maybe you lead a ministry here in church. Maybe, like I said, at work you're a manager, a supervisor, an employer, a boss, an entrepreneur, whatever it might be. But let me just say this, you may be a leader to someone and not realize it. If you're an older sibling, you are a leader. Maybe just in your group of friends, you are the leader and people are looking to you as a leader. So I think a sermon like this is applicable to all of us and there's something in it for all of us to learn. But let me give you quickly this morning 10 thoughts from this passage, from Numbers 27 verses 12 through 23 on the subject about leadership, principles about leadership, and there's 10 things that I'd like to point out for you. Now we begin here in verse number 12, Numbers 27 and verse number 12, the Bible says in Numbers 27 and verse 12, And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount of Iram, 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. And what we are going to see in this passage is actually, though we're going to learn about leadership, and there's 10 principles about leadership, what's literally happening, what's actually happening in this passage is that there's a transition of leadership. And Moses is going to die, that's what we're reading about here. The Lord is speaking to Moses and he's telling him to get up to this mount of Iram and to see the land. The Lord is going to allow Moses to see, look into the promised land, see the Canaan land, but he's not going to enter in. In verse 13 the Bible says, Thou also shall be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. And of course we know that Aaron, the older brother of Moses died earlier in the book of Numbers, and God is telling Moses you're going to die and this is going to be the end of your life and your ministry. And we know that Moses is 120 years old at this time, he's lived a long life and he's been used mightily of the Lord. And what we're going to see in this passage is not only one leader that moves on into eternity, Moses, but we see another leader, Joshua, who takes his place. But as we see this transition there are some lessons about leadership, and if you'd like to write these down then I'd love for you to do that. And the first lesson that I'd like to point out to you is this, that all leadership will come to an end. All leadership will come to an end. That's what we're seeing here in verses 12 and 13. The Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this Mount of Irem. Verse 13, And when thou hast seen it, thou also shall be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. Now we're there in Numbers 27, that's going to be our text for this morning. I'd like you to keep your place there, but go with me to the New Testament book of Acts, Acts chapter number 27. In the New Testament you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then the book of Acts, Acts chapter number 27. And I'd like you to look down at verse number 25. Now in Acts, excuse me, Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20, I'm not sure if I said that, I think I said a different number. Acts chapter 20 and verse 25, what we see in the book of Acts, and here in this passage that I'm pointing you to in Acts chapter 20, is the apostle Paul has spent some time in a location called Ephesus. Of course you're probably familiar with the book of Ephesus in the New Testament, an epistle written to the church at Ephesus. And the apostle Paul is getting ready to leave, and I want you to notice what he says. And what Paul has done is he's gathered the elders of this area, Acts chapter 20, verse 25. And notice what he says in verse number 25, Acts 20 and verse 25. And now behold, this is Paul speaking, he says, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, notice the words here, he says, shall see my face no more. This is the apostle Paul giving a goodbye speech, he's giving a farewell address, he gathers these individuals who he has ministered with, he says, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching, he says, I've spent time preaching with you, I've spent time in ministry with you, he says, however, this time is coming to an end. And he says there at the end of verse 25, shall see my face no more. And of course we know that the apostle Paul is moving on, he'll be going to Jerusalem, he'll get arrested, he'll be sent to Rome, and that'll be finishing up the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. Notice what he says to these individuals, look down at verse number 28, Acts 20, verse 28. He says, take heed therefore unto yourselves. He's talking to his followers. And by the way, let me just say this, he's not just talking to followers, he's talking to leaders, he's talking to elders. This is a leader talking to other leaders, Paul was a leader not just to followers, but a leader of leaders. And he says to them, take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseer. This is him talking to leaders, they are overseers themselves. And he's telling them to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood, for I know this, notice the words again, that after my departing, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. I want you to notice here that Paul is speaking to these individuals and he's preparing them for his departure. He says there in verse 25, that they shall see my face no more. He says there in verse 29, for I know this, that after my departing. And Paul is preparing them because of the fact that he's leaving. We see there in number 27 that Moses is going to die. And I think something that we need to remember, for those of us that serve in some sort of capacity of leadership, and maybe in structured leadership, where you've got a position, you've got a title, you've been told you're the boss, you're the leader, you're in charge, you're the one who is to lead the organization. But like I said, even if you don't have that, we all lead in some way or some capacity. But one thing that I think we should all remember and understand in regards to leadership is this, that all leadership will and must come to an end. You say, well what do we do with that? What is the point of saying that? The point of saying that and recognizing that is this, that a leader must always be preparing his followers for when he's not there. The purpose of leadership is to lead others, to train others, to prepare others to lead themselves. See the vast majority of leaders in this room right now, and like I said, many of you may have positions of leadership, but I would say that probably the vast majority of people that are here, the position of leadership that they hold is going to be probably in some sort of family role. You're the husband, you're the head of the household, you're the mother, you're raising up children, father training up children. But even in that context, what is the purpose of a father and a mother? What is the purpose in their role in leadership? What is the purpose of their ministry to their children? The purpose is to train them for when you're no longer there. I often say in regards to training our children and training your children, and it is this, that we are not raising children, we are raising adults. We're raising children that we are preparing for adulthood because there's coming a day when father, dad may be around, but dad won't be the authority over the life of that child anymore. Mom, Lord willing, will be around for a long time, but mom won't be the authority in the life of that child. And the idea is this, that in all areas of leadership, we should have this understanding that all leadership will come to an end. And because of that, and the leader that understands that, understands that a leader must always be preparing his followers for when he's not there. And we are to prepare followers to lead themselves, and whether it's a father and a mother with children, whether it's a pastor, I mean I'm 38 years old, I'm not old, but I'm not going to be around forever. There are young people, I was thinking recently about a young person in our church, and I was just thinking about them and being grateful for them, and just kind of thinking, praying for them in my mind, and thinking nice things about them. And they're a young person, and it dawned on me, because I thought about their age, and I thought about what I was doing at their age, and it dawned on me, that I probably will not be their only pastor. They will have another pastor at some point, whether they stay here their entire lives, and I just pass on like Moses, or whether they move on with the cycles of life, and they get married, and maybe serve somewhere else, or do something else. It dawned on me that I'm not always going to be their pastor, and the truth is this, that I'm not always going to be your pastor. I hope to be your pastor for a long time, but what we have to remember is this, that leadership, all leadership, will come to an end, and therefore as leaders we must always be preparing our followers for when we're not there. Even you husbands, I preached about it last Sunday night about the daughters of Zelophehad, they were confident and competent, they were communicators, but even you husbands, you should be prepared. Let's just be honest, the vast majority of men die before their wives. You should be preparing your wife for the time that you're not there. That's why I don't think, and you can call me whatever, call me whatever you want, it doesn't really matter to me, but I don't think that in a fundamental Baptist home, where the husband is the head of the wife, and look, I believe that, the husband is the head of the wife, and all those things, I just don't really like this idea of, well, the wife, she doesn't need to have a license, she doesn't need to know how to drive, she doesn't need to have access to money, she doesn't need to know anything, let the husband deal with it. Well, listen, sir, you're going to be gone someday, and what are you going to leave behind, some hopeless, helpless widow that doesn't know anything, doesn't know how to care for herself? I'm just saying to you that in all capacity of leadership, in all roles of leadership, we should remind ourselves that all leadership at some point comes to an end. It's the way life goes, and when we understand that all leadership comes to an end, then we must lead in such a way where we prepare the followers to be able to lead themselves. Isn't that the goal? The goal is not that your children would do right just because mom and dad are watching, the goal is that you would successfully transfer the authority that is given to you as a father and a mother, and that they would then transfer that authority from mom and dad to God, and that they would love God, and that they would serve God, and that they would do what's right even when mom and dad are gone. Go back to Numbers 27, if you would. Keep your place there in Acts. We're going to come back to the book of Acts several times this morning, so I'd like you to keep your place there. Go back to Numbers 27. Like I said, I've got ten of these. Let me give them to you as quickly as we can. Number one, we see that all leadership will come. These are principles about leadership. They're not necessarily teaching you how to lead. They're just things you should be aware of when it comes to leadership, and the first principle is this, that all leadership will come to an end. Here's the second principle that I see from this passage, and it is this. Notice there in Numbers 27, and of course, if you remember the context, God told, the Lord told Moses, go up to the mount, look over into Canaan land, and then you're going to be gathered into your people like Aaron was gathered. Why is Moses not allowed to enter into the promised land? Look at it, Numbers 27, verse 14. Notice what God says to Moses. For ye rebelled against my commandment. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin. And in the strife of the congregation to sanctify me at the water before their eyes, that is the water of Meribah and Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. We've seen this story in the book of Numbers. I'm sure you're familiar with it, but if you remember, God had told, given Moses specific instructions. The children of Israel were complaining, they were ornery, they were upset. Moses had been dealing with these people for 40 years in the wilderness. God had provided for them faithfully, and they were still rebelling, still unbelieving, and God gave Moses instructions. He said, I want you to speak to the rock, and if you remember, Moses in his frustration smote the rock. And now the Bible tells us here that God tells Moses, you're going to see the land, but you're not going to enter into it. Why? Because you rebelled against my commandment. Because Moses messed up. Now before we get too judgmental on Moses, let's remember who Moses is. Moses is one of the greatest men who ever lived. The Bible tells us that Moses was the meekest man on earth. And we see that in a leadership role, even the meekest man on earth can lose his temper. Moses is one of the greatest characters in the entire Bible. One of the greatest characters of world history. One of the greatest characters of believing people. But yet he was not allowed to enter the promised land because he rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, he got angry with the people, he smote the rock when he shouldn't have. Here's the second principle we see for leadership. I said number one, all leadership will come to an end, but the second thing I'd like you to notice is this, that all leadership will mess up at times. All leadership will mess up at times. Someone said this, you shouldn't judge a person by their weakest moment. And I just want to say to you wife, my husband, I submit to him, if you knew, let me just say this, your husband's going to mess up. He's going to sin. He's going to say something he shouldn't say. Your boss, man, at work, he's going to mess up. He's going to blame you for something that maybe it's not your fault or he's going to come down on you harder than he should. Your pastor's going to mess up. And I think one thing that we should remember in leadership is this, that all leadership, you young person, you teenager, if you knew my parents, you knew, I don't need to know your parents. Here's all I need to know about your parents is they're sinners, like you. And all leadership is going to mess up from time to time. I'd like you to go to the book of Ecclesiastes real quickly, Ecclesiastes chapter 7. If you open your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms. Right after Psalms you have Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. And this is all I want to say in regards to this. Obviously leadership needs to be held at a higher standard and we need to keep ourselves accountable at a higher standard. But don't ever do this where you put leaders on some sort of pedestal and you think of them as more than just a human being. We ought not think of men more than they are. And if you realize that, then you won't be shocked when whatever leader you're looking at messes up. Because all leaders are going to mess up. And here's what I think is interesting, and here's what the Bible teaches. And I won't even have you turn to it because this is so familiar in the scripture that I think you should be aware of it. Jesus said the golden rule is that we ought to treat people the way we'd like to be treated. That we ought to treat people the way we would like to be treated. And what's interesting to me is here in Ecclesiastes, and just to show you that I'm not picking on you, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 is actually directed to a leader. I'm going to apply it to a leader, and then I'd like to apply it to the follower as well, but I'm showing you a passage that's directed to a leader, and here's what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 21 says this, Also, take no heed unto all the words that are spoken. Ecclesiastes 7 and 21. These are wisdom literature. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, these are books called the wisdom literature. It's where we get wisdom and principles for life. And here's what he says. Take no heed. He said don't pay too much attention. Don't give too much focus. Don't just think too much about all words that are spoken. Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. I mean, God is literally telling a leader, hey, don't listen too closely at everything and everyone because you're probably, if you're just a little too nosy, you're probably going to hear thy servant, someone who's in a role beneath you, curse thee. So what do I do with that as a leader? Well, here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that when someone, because here we're talking about a master-servant relationship, but we could apply this to any sort of leadership-follower relationship. What God tells a leader when a leader happens to hear, not that it would ever happen, I mean, certainly not in ministry, would a church member ever gossip about the pastor or the pastor's wife. But when that, you know, once in a blue moon, once every million years, when that happens to come about, you know what God tells a leader? God tells a leader, take no heed unto all the words that are spoken. Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. Verse 22, for oft times also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise has cursed others. And here's what God tells a leader. God tells a leader, if you happen to hear that maybe you're the employer and an employee has been gossiping about you, saying mean things about cursing you. Maybe you're the pastor and it's a church member. Maybe you're a parent and it's the teenager. Whatever the relationship is, he says, if you happen to hear that, don't focus on that too much. Don't get too bitter about that. Don't get too agitated. Because you were a teenager that talked crap about your parents too. And you were a church member that maybe said some things about the pastor that you should have said. And you were an employee once that maybe said things about the employer that they should have said. That's what God tells the leader. Now, I'm applying that to leadership, but let me just apply this to you. When the leader messes up, how about you judge him as strictly as you judge yourself? Because it's interesting to me that people will get all upset. Well, I can't believe the boss, you know, he X, Y, and Z. But it's like, well, how good of an employee are you? Well, I mean, I'm just an employee. So you get a pass. I can't believe the pastor. Well, how good of a church member are you really? Well, but he's not. I'm just saying this. We should know these things about leadership. Number one, they all come to an end. Number two, they're all going to mess up. Every leader at some point is going to mess up. Number three, go back to Numbers 27 if you would. Numbers 27. So Moses is told you need to go up because you're going to die. All leadership comes to an end. And you're going to die, Moses, because you messed up. Because you rebelled against my commandments in the strife of the congregation. All leadership messes up at some time. But then I want you to notice Moses' response. God tells Moses, you're going to die, and you're going to die because you messed up. And the Bible says in Numbers 27 and verse 15, And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, And don't read the next verse yet. How would the next verse go if this was you and not Moses? Because I think for most of us, it would go something like this. And fill in your blank, spake unto the Lord, saying, God, that's not fair! I mean, I put up with these people, and I did this, and I did that in just one time. By the way, let me say this. That's usually how leadership goes. You shouldn't judge a person based off their weakest moment. You don't judge yourself based off your weakest moment. But I want you to notice how great of a leader Moses was, that when he's told, Moses, you're being replaced. Moses, you're being let go. Moses, you're done. And it's because you messed up, Moses. Because you rebelled against me in the strife of the congregation. I want you to notice how Moses responds in verse 16. Here's what Moses said to the Lord. He said that the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. You know what Moses was concerned with when he was told that he's going to die? He was concerned with making sure that there was a leader that took his place. He wasn't concerned with himself. He wasn't concerned with his rights. He wasn't concerned with what was going on in his life. He said, he got the news, you're being replaced. He got the news, you're going to be done, Moses. You got the news, you're going to go look at the land, and then you're going to be gathering with your people, and then you're going to die. And his response to that is this, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. And in this, we see the third principle of leadership, and it is this, that all leadership should concern itself with the next generation. Moses said okay. But Lord, would you make sure that there's a man over the congregation? He says, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. You don't have to turn here, I'll just read this for you. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 2, you don't have to turn there, but Paul wrote this, he said, And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. We should concern ourselves with replacing ourselves. We should concern ourselves with replacing ourselves. You've heard me say it many times, there is no success without succession. And look, in life, every leader should concern themselves in replacing themselves, and making sure that when it's time for them to go, when it's time for them to die, when it's time for them to graduate up to heaven, that they have left someone behind that will carry on what they were once doing. And the truth is this, that every Timothy needs a Paul, and every Paul needs a Timothy. So we see that all leadership will come to an end, we see that all leadership will mess up at times, we see that all leadership should concern itself with the next generation. By the way, this is why we are concerned, we're literally hosting a youth rally in a couple of weeks called the Next Generation Youth Rally. You say, why? Because we're concerned about who comes after us, and the legacy that they are left, and the ministry that they are left, and the fundamentalism that they are left, the doctrines and the teachings and the standards. We're concerned with that, we want to commit those to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. That's what Christianity is all about. Christianity, look, the reason that God didn't just kill you the moment you got saved and took you to heaven, is He left you here, why? Because He wants you to then take what you've been given and give it to others. We may commit it to other individuals who shall be able to teach others also. So we see that all leadership comes to an end, all leadership will mess up, all leadership must concern itself with the next generation. Like you notice, fourthly this morning, remember there's ten of these, we're already at number four, so I think we're doing good. Numbers 27, look at verse 17. This is Moses speaking, he says in verse 16, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. He's concerned himself with the next generation. And then he says this, here's what he says about that guy. He says, let the Lord set a man over the congregation. Why do you want the Lord to set a man over the congregation? He says, verse 17, and this is really a description of leadership. Numbers 27, 17, which may go out before them. I want you to notice, in fact I'd like you to mark, if you don't mind writing in your Bible or underlining your Bible, I'd like you to underline this word, before. Which may go out before them. Then he says this, and which may go in, notice the word, before them. And which may, notice this word, lead them out. And which may, notice this word, bring them in. What we see in this passage is this, that not only will all leadership come to an end, and it'll all mess up, and it should all concern itself with the next generation, but what we see, number four, is this, that all leadership must take the lead. You understand what I mean by that? Say, what is a leader? Well, a leader is the one who takes the lead. Let me put it a little plainer. All leadership must go first. All leadership must take the lead. All leadership must go first. Why does Moses concern with a leader for the people? He says, because there needs to be someone who is leading the people, who is taking the lead, who is going before them, who goes first. He says, we need someone that may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in. Let me explain to you what biblical leadership is. What is biblical leadership? Biblical leadership does not direct only. Biblical leadership does not just say, go. It does not just direct, but biblical leadership guides. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Biblical leadership doesn't stand here and tells the people, go. Biblical leadership guides and says, follow me. See, the leader in the Bible was, the leader that Moses wanted was to not send the people out, but go out before them. What does that mean? He went out first. Go in before them. What does that mean? He went out first. May lead them out and may bring them in. Go to 1 Corinthians, if you would, in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. If you kept your place in Acts, continue to keep your place in Acts, but go to 1 Corinthians from Acts. You have Romans in 1 Corinthians, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. Keep your place in Acts, but also keep your finger there in 1 Corinthians because we're going to come back to 1 Corinthians, but I just want you to see this verse, 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 16. The apostle Paul, one of the greatest... Look, I believe the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul were the greatest leaders in history. And I think that if you're a Christian, you shouldn't have a problem with that. But even the secular world, if you just Google greatest leaders of history, 10 greatest leaders of history, even the secular, unsaved, just non-spiritual world is going to put the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul on that list. And here's what Paul said. Wherefore, I beseech you, look at it, be ye followers of me. He said, be ye followers of me. Do you know that 17 times in the gospels, Jesus said, follow me? 17 times in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. 17 times we see the apostle Paul saying, follow me. And let me explain something to you, especially if you're struggling with this idea of leadership. If you have concerned yourself and you're investing your time and energy in telling people you're in charge, in telling your wife, I'm the boss, the Bible says that I'm the boss, bless God. You're supposed to listen to me. If you have to have that conversation, you're not in charge. See, the biblical leader doesn't say, I'm in charge. The biblical leader says, follow me. Jesus, the greatest leader who ever lived, never once went to people and said, I'm the leader. But you know what he said over and over, follow me. Follow me. I'll guide you. I'll go with you. I'll go in before you, and I'll bring you in before them, that he may go out before them, that he may go in before them, that he may lead them out, that he may bring them in. And when you think about it, if someone's following you, doesn't that make you the leader? Isn't that the game that children play? Follow the who? The leader. But it's interesting to me that Paul and Jesus do not concern themselves with this title of leader. I'm the leader and you gotta follow me. He says, follow me. And thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of people through the ages have happily followed the Lord Jesus Christ, the leader, the captain of our salvation. But he never once bowed himself up and said, well, I'm in charge. He just said, follow me. I'm just here to tell you, dad, if you quit yelling at those kids and tell them, I'm in charge, you gotta listen to me. How about you just invite them to follow you? But by the way, this is why you can't tell your kids, go to church. I'm not going to go to church. I'm going to stay home watching football again. But you go to church. It's good for you. That's not leadership. This idea that says, well, do what I say, but not as I do. No, that's hypocrisy. The leader says, follow me as I go to church. The leader says, follow me as I become a soul winner. The leader says, I go first. By the way, let me just say this. You say, I'm in charge. Okay? Then take the lead, sir. Why don't you be the first to say, I'm sorry? You'd be shocked how many, and how, I mean, you just would be shocked just how many marriages these words never come out of anybody's mouth. I'm sorry. But you know, whoever's mouth they come out of first, that's the real leader. Because they took the lead. I'm just saying all leadership must take the lead. They must go first. That's what it means to be a leader. Keep your place in Acts. Keep your place in 1 Corinthians, if you would. Go back to Numbers 27. Let me give you number 5. Giving you principles about leadership. All leadership will come to an end. All leadership will mess up at times. All leadership should concern itself with the next generation. All leadership must take the lead. They must go first. That's the point. I don't want to go first. I'm scared. Then you can't be the leader. The leader has to go first. Number 5. Why don't you notice what Moses says here about this leader that he's looking for. He says there in verse 16, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation. Why Moses? Which may go out before them and which may go in before them, which may lead them out and which may bring them in, but that's not it. Then he says this, that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd. This is a phrase that is used all throughout the Bible with regards to leadership. The overwhelming analogy used for leadership in the Bible is this. A shepherd with sheep. It's used about us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the great shepherd. He's the great shepherd of the flock. We know that Jehovah God is our shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd. But not just that. It's used in the sense of a congregation. The elder is called a pastor, a bishop. He's the shepherd. This analogy is used throughout the Bible. The idea is this, that the leader should be like a shepherd that is caring for the flock, the congregation of the Lord. He said, I don't want the congregation of the Lord to be not as sheep which have no shepherd. He says sheep need a shepherd. They need someone to care for them. Let me just say this. If you say, I'd like to be a leader. I want to be a leader someday. Maybe I'm not married, but I'd like to be a leader. Maybe I don't have children, but I'd like to be a leader. Maybe I'm not a minister, but I'd like to be a pastor one day. Whatever. Maybe I haven't been promoted, but I'd like to be the leader at work one day. I'd like to be the supervisor or the manager. I'd like to be the business owner. Whatever the idea is, get this in your head. A leader, all leadership, good leadership must care for the followers. You must see yourself as a shepherd with sheep. Go to Ezekiel, if you would, just real quickly. Like I said, we could spend a whole sermon just on this. There's so much about it in the Bible. Let me just give you one example. Ezekiel 34. Towards the end of the Bible, of the Old Testament, you've got the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 34, look at verse number 1. Ezekiel 34 and verse number 1, the Bible says this. Ezekiel 34, 1, and the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, this is God speaking to the children of Israel. He says, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. This is God prophesying against leadership. In this case, spiritual and political leadership. He said, I want you to prophesy against the shepherds. I want you to notice how the word shepherd is just kind of used interchangeably with this idea. Synonymously, it's symbolic of a leader. He says, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Whoa! These are bad shepherds. They're not doing well. He's rebuking them. Whoa be to the shepherds of Israel. Here we get a description of what a bad shepherd looks like. What's wrong with the shepherds? Whoa be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherd feed the flock? He said, the problem with this shepherd, these shepherds, is that they're concerned with themselves. They're making sure they're fed, but they're not taking care of the flock. They're not feeding the flock. Verse 3. Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with wool. Ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. He said, you make sure you're cared for, but you don't care for the flock. Look at verse 4. 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 over them. And look, what we're seeing here, and again, we can spend a whole sermon on this because there's so much of it in the Bible. I'm not going to take the time to go through all the passages. You go back to Numbers 27, but what we see is this, and you've heard me teach on this subject many times, and it is this, that the biblical mode of leadership is what we've coined or referred to as servant leadership. And let me just make sure, because sometimes I use that term, servant leadership, or somebody uses that term and it's misunderstood. Servant leadership does not mean that the leader is the servant. It doesn't mean that the employer does all the work of the employees. It doesn't mean that the husband has to do all the chores at home. At home, look, if the husband's working all day, and the wife is a homemaker, and she's at home, then she should care for the home. You understand what I'm saying? Now, sir, if you're sending your wife off to work, then you help with the chores. You're asking her to do your job, then you need to help her with her job. But I'm saying, in a home that is structured biblically, it doesn't mean the husband then does the dishes, although it might be nice, husband, to do the dishes every once in a while, especially if your wife isn't feeling well or just had a baby or something like that. What I'm saying is that servant leadership is not that the parents serve the children. That's what you see in American society today. Children are in charge, they run the show, whatever the children say. That's not servant leadership. Servant leadership is this, that the leader leads for the benefit of the follower. It doesn't mean that the leader does what the follower is supposed to do, although every once in a while the leader may need to do what the follower does and help the follower in that case or whatever. The point is this, that the leader uses his resources, the leader uses his platform, the leader uses his ability, the leader uses his influence, the leader uses his authority. The leader is using the position of leadership not for himself, not for his own pleasure, not for his own well-being, not for his own comfort, but he's using his position for the benefit of those that follow him. That's biblical leadership. And look, I'm just telling you, husband, when you live your life as though you're the only thing that matters and your wife and your children are nothing, yeah, that's why they hate you. But if you led for their benefit, they'd love you. A wife would happily submit to a husband who she knew was leading for her benefit. That doesn't mean that she always gets what she wants. That doesn't mean that she wins every argument. But in a leadership-followed relationship, when it is clear this person is leading, not for their own benefit, but they care about us. They're feeding us. They're helping us. They lead for the benefit of others. Look, in different capacities, that looks different. At work, leading for the benefit of others is going to look different than at church, leading for the benefits of others. My primary concern in the church realm is to help you spiritually. That's what I'm here to do. If you worked for me, then there'd be that plus something else. A physical component to that. You need to get paid, you need to make sure you're taken care of in that sense. The point is this, whatever position of leadership you find yourself in, you have to realize, you have to get this mindset that the purpose of leadership is to lead for the benefit of others. It's to help others. That those who are following us, look, my goal as a pastor is this, to make sure that you're better off as a member of Verity Baptist Church with Pastor Jimenez and Ms. Joanne Jimenez as your pastor and your pastor's wife, that you're better off here than you were before you came here. That's the point. That's the goal. It doesn't mean that we do everything for you. It doesn't mean that we give you everything you want. It doesn't mean that we provide every need that you want. That's not what leadership is. But the point is this, that we're instructing you and helping you, teaching you, and helping you to grow and develop as an individual because we're not always going to be here. Remember point number one? So all leadership must care for followers. It's servant leadership. Go back to number 27. Let me give you point number six. We're looking at principles about leadership. All leadership will come to an end. All leadership will mess up at times. All leadership should concern itself with the next generation. All leadership must take the lead. By the way, let me just say this. Number two, all leadership will mess up at times. Before you judge your leader too harshly, remember that you will be a leader in some capacity as well. And look, I'm just telling you, the Bible says you reap what you sow. So teenager, be careful about being too harsh with mom and dad because one day you're going to have a teenager staring at you thinking you're an idiot too. And you'll reap what you sow. Look, I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to help you. I'm valuing you and I'm adding value to you right now. If you would take heed to some of these things, you wouldn't have so many issues in relationships. All leadership will come to an end. All leadership will mess us up at times. All leadership will concern itself with the next generation. All leadership must take the lead and go first. All leadership must care for followers. Number six, look at verse 18, number 27 and 18. Here the conversation shifts and now the Lord, we saw what Moses said, now the Lord speaks. Remember they're transitioning from Moses to a new leadership. Moses made a request, he said some things in number 27 and verse 18. And the Lord said unto Moses, take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thy hand upon him. Why don't you notice that Joshua was chosen by God because the Bible says that he was a man in whom is the spirit. Here's point number six, all leadership must have a personal walk with God. All leadership. I'm talking about Christian leadership, biblical leadership. I'm not talking about being some psychopath with a podcast on YouTube. Anybody can do that. I'm talking about biblical leadership. All leadership must have a personal walk with God. Listen, mom, you need to walk with God. Dad, you need to walk with God. Whatever capacity of leadership, husband, you need to walk with God. Whatever capacity of leadership you find yourself in, all leadership must have a personal walk with God. Joshua was chosen because he was a man in whom is the spirit. Did you keep your place in 1 Corinthians? They'd like you to go back to 1 Corinthians. This time, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. If you remember, we saw 1 Corinthians 4, 16 earlier, where Paul said, Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. In 1 Corinthians 11, 1, he says the same thing, but he adds something to it. I'd like you to notice it. 1 Corinthians 11, 1, he says, be ye followers of me. Same thing he said in 1 Corinthians 4, be ye followers of me. But then, in this verse, he adds this, even as I also am of Christ. See, what gave Paul the authority to lead was that he said, You can follow me because I'm following Christ. Don't just follow me because I'm great, because I'm awesome, because I'm amazing. He said, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. See, all leadership must have a personal walk with God. You don't have to turn here. In fact, I don't want you to turn here. Let me just read this to you. Psalm 23, one of the most famous passages of scripture, says this, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Then, there's this little phrase in Psalm 23 that I think of often, when I think of this idea of leadership. And it is this, He leadeth me. He leadeth me. David says, The Lord is my shepherd, and then he says, He leadeth me. And what gives us the right to lead, what gives us the right to lead others, is that we ourselves are being led by God. So let's not just say, follow me, let's say follow me, but let's say follow me, even as I also am following Christ. He leadeth me. And I just would like to say this, in fact, go back to Numbers 27, if you would, and then also find 1 Samuel 11. Go back to Numbers 27. You can lose your place there in 1 Corinthians, we're not going to come back to 1 Corinthians. Keep your place in Acts, we're going to come back to Acts a couple times. Find Numbers 27, and then find 1 Samuel 11, if you would. In the Old Testament, you've got the one and two books, they're all clustered together, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles. Find 1 Samuel 11, and turn there while I kind of wrap up point number 6. Let me just say this, all leadership must have a personal walk with God. When it comes to leadership, and it's interesting to me that this passage on leadership, and the last passage on parenting, they're coupled together, they're coupled together for a reason. Because you remember last week, we learned about parenting, that it takes two to tango. Any relationship requires two people, two signs. And you could be the greatest parent, and I don't think you should ever say that, I don't think you should ever assume that. But let's say you were the greatest parent who ever lived, where your child still has free will, and they still have a responsibility to make decisions on their own. And we should remember, we should remember, that if our children go off into the world, or go off in a path that we did not want for them, that sure there might be some things we could have done better, and I'm not minimizing that or saying we shouldn't take responsibility, we should always remember that they have a role that they play in that as well. We talked about it last week, sometimes good parents raise good kids, sometimes bad parents raise bad kids, but sometimes bad parents raise good kids, and sometimes good parents raise bad kids, you say how can that be? Well it's because there's the free will aspect. Cain and Abel were raised in the same home, by the same parents. But they had free will. Well it's the same thing with leadership. And what we have to remember is this, that we cannot choose the next leader. Now I think that we can transition into the next leader. One day, like I said, I'm 38 years old, I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon, I know that's a bummer to a lot of you, but I'm probably going to outlast you, so just do whatever you got to do. One day, Lord willing, one day I'll be 70 years old, or 75 years old, or whatever, and I'll retire, or be forced into retirement. Lord willing, I give the mantle to the next guy. There's a young man that takes my place. And we should identify that individual before that time comes, and maybe the Lord will lead us and help us with that, but the point is this, we can, through the Spirit of God and through the help of God, identify that individual. But here's what we cannot do, we cannot choose that individual. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? I cannot just decide, this person, I choose this person, and I'm going to help this person, I'm going to groom this person to be my replacement. I can't do that. No leadership works that way. You say, why? Because it takes two to tango in any relationship, and the truth about leadership is this, that we cannot choose the next leader. Look, the next leader of fundamentalism, one day I'm going to die, I'm going to be gone, one day Pastor Anders is going to die, he's going to be gone, one day all the pastors right now, currently leading this new IFB movement, as it's called, are going to be gone, and there's going to have to be a need for other young men to rise up and lead those congregations, but we can't choose them. You say, why? Here's why. Because they have to choose themselves. They have to rise up. Can I just give you a personal, I don't know, testimony, anecdote? I don't know what it is, it's just what's on my heart. I believe, when we started Varying the Baptist Church, you know the story, 13 years ago in the living room, when we started Varying the Baptist Church, there was no new IFB movement. Pastor Anders and I started Faithful Word Baptist Church five years before us, and that was it. Today it's like 20 churches, and we're going to have probably 500 people here for the Red Hot Preaching Conference from all over the country and all over the world, and this is quite a movement. It's been quite a ride for the last 20 years. There was no new IFB 13 years ago. But what's interesting is this, that I, myself, personally, as a young man, as a teenager, and I know Pastor Anderson would say the same thing, we were both highly influenced by a man named Jack Hiles. Pastor Jack Hiles. We grew up in churches that were influenced by Jack Hiles, and we ourselves were influenced by Jack Hiles. Here's the interesting thing, and I'm going to say this, I'm not 100% sure of this, but I'm almost 99% sure. I know this for myself is true, and I'm almost 99% sure it's true of Pastor Anderson. Neither one of us ever met Jack Hiles. I mean, I've probably listened to a thousand Jack Hiles sermons in my lifetime. Never once did I ever physically lay eyeballs on the man. Never met him. But I believe that the new IFB movement has taken the mantle of what Jack Hiles left. Now, are we exactly the same as Jack Hiles? Are we exactly the same as Curtis Hudson? Are we exactly the same as John R. Rice, those men that came before us? We're not exactly the same. We, I think, have made some things better and stronger and tightened up some things. But I would definitely say this, that I believe that we are continuing the legacy of Jack Hiles, of Curtis Hudson, of John R. Rice. Here's what's interesting about that. The men that physically have taken the mantle of those men don't like us. They would disown us. But Jack Hiles wouldn't like them either. The people that physically have taken those churches and those ministries are nothing like them. Are nothing like him. And the Bible teaches this idea of Elijah giving of his spirit to Elisha. And the Bible tells us in the New Testament that John took the spirit of Elijah. So you can have the spirit of someone on your life. What I'm saying is this. Jack Hiles never met me, never met Pastor Anderson, we never met him. But you know what's interesting is that he put his sermons out there, he put his teachings out there, he put his doctrine out there, he put his movement out there, he never met us, we never met him. But years later after his death, one young man, Pastor Anderson, one young man, Pastor Anderson said, Hey, we'll step up, we'll follow the tradition of hard preaching, we'll follow the tradition of the King James Bible, we'll follow the tradition of soul winning, we'll follow the tradition of standards, we'll follow the tradition of holiness, we'll follow the tradition that we never met him, he never met us. The point is this. The person, it is very possible that the person that will take on the mantle of Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez, we may never even meet. Now maybe we will, and I hope we do. And I hope that we actually have a chance to influence them in real life and train them. But the point is this. We cannot choose the next leader, they must choose themselves. And if everyone, I hope this isn't the case, but if everyone around us goes worldly and liberal and decides not to serve God, not to live for God, I still believe that somewhere down the road, some young man is going to get these sermons, some young man is going to listen to the new IFB sermons and the preaching and the documentaries and the things that we put out, and they're going to raise their hand and say, Hey, I'll carry that baton. Because the truth about leadership is this. We can't make anyone follow our footsteps. We can serve and minister, we can ask like Moses, can you make sure of someone? And Joshua was chosen by God, and Joshua, we're going to see, was chosen by Moses, but the truth of the matter is this. Joshua chose himself when he decided to walk with God. And all leadership must have a personal walk with God. Matthew 27, look at verse 19. Let me give you point number seven. Well, verse 18, the Bible says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee, Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom he is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eliezer the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight, and also put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. What we see here is the equivalent of what we would call an ordination service, where Moses is taking Joshua and setting him before Eliezer, before the entire congregation, and saying, This is the individual we've chosen. And here's point number seven. All leadership must use their credibility to help future leaders. And again, we can't control who's going to step up. But when they do step up, our job is to use our credibility to help them. That's what we see here. Go to 1 Samuel 11. I don't have time to develop this whole story in 1 Samuel 11. It's actually an interesting story regarding leadership itself. I'm not going to take the time to go through it, but just look at verse number seven. 1 Samuel 11 and 7. And he, Saul, this is Saul. He's been anointed king, but nobody's following him yet. He took a yoke of oxen, they're under attack, and he hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel, by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul, notice what he says, and after Samuel. So shall it be done unto his oxen, and the fear of the Lord fell on them, and they came out with one consent. Why don't you notice that at this point, Saul has been chosen as king. No one's actually following him yet. He doesn't have any credibility, so he stands up and he says, Whosoever cometh not after Saul. And people kind of roll their eyes, they're like, we don't care what Saul says. And he says, and Samuel. Samuel was an established leader. Samuel was somebody that was already respected. And look, this is how leadership works. This is why, for Verity Baptist Church, the church plant system has worked so well. We've been able to start churches in Manila, Pampanga, Bicol. We've been able to start churches in Washington, and in Idaho, and in Fresno, California. Why has it worked? Because we've gathered listeners who, for whatever reason, listen to Pastor Jimenez, have respect for Pastor Jimenez. We gather them, and then we put a leader over them that they don't know. Pastor Thompson. I mean, they love him, and he's their leader now, but at first, he was just a guy, right? Pastor Brzezinski, he was just a guy. But I gave my credibility to them, and I helped them until they earned their own credibility as a leader. They started getting some wins under their belt. People started realizing, like, oh, this guy's a pretty good preacher. Oh, this guy's given pretty good counsel. Oh, this guy is a pretty good leader. Now we cut the umbilical cord, we ordain them. They follow those men because they're the man of God. But they got there because another leader said, let me help you. And look, as leaders, we must all be investing in the lives of others. We must be giving credibility to others. This is what ordaining someone literally is. When we lay hands on an individual, when I've laid hands on Pastor Jones, on Pastor Stuckey, on Pastor Thompson, on these different men that we've ordained into ministry, what I'm saying is I believe in this individual, I've seen this individual, I've seen their marriage, I've seen their life, I've seen their personal life, I've seen them in the highs, I've seen them in the lows, and we believe in them. That's what leadership does. All leadership must use their credibility for future leaders. You say, okay, well how does that apply to me as the follower? Here's how it applies to you as a follower. If you're seeking for my credibility, earn it. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaking of other men's sins, keep thyself pure. The Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man. And I've told, look, I've ordained a lot of people into the ministry, but I've told these guys. And one thing that I'm often told about Verity Baptist Church, and I appreciate it, is that we have a good history and a good track record of the churches we've started and how successful they've been and how good these pastors have been. And look, I'm just telling you, obviously one day, I'll probably ordain a guy that'll mess up and I'll have to say, yeah, well, you know, everybody has a Judas. But what I'm saying is this, you know, that's very serious to me. The reputation of Verity Baptist Church is serious to me. So don't play with that. Don't say, oh, well, Pastor Mendez, why don't you ordain me? It's like, who are you? Well, I'm the, you know, hey, take your life seriously, grow spiritually, become someone worthy of having a leader put their reputation on the line for you. So we see that all leadership must use their credibility to help future leaders. And number eight, notice verse 21, number 27, verse 21. And he shall stand before Eliezer the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. Notice that Eliezer the priest was to stand, or Joshua was to stand before Eliezer the priest, and the priest was going to ask counsel for him, ask counsel for Joshua after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. Here's point number eight. All leadership needs counsel from time to time. Let me just, I'm out of time, so let me just make the application quickly. Leaders must remember that they don't know everything. They're just in charge. Being in charge is not the same as knowing everything. Now, leaders just have to remember they don't know everything. They're just in charge. Now, what that means is that I'm the one that's going to get blamed, but I have to remember that I don't know everything. So, I often, you know, the Bible says, in the multitude of counselors, there's wisdom. And when I have to make decisions, I'm often asking people, sending messages to people, what do you think about this? What are your thoughts on this? And look, I realize that they're not going to make the decision. At the end, I have to make the decision, but a leader realizes that they don't know everything. They're just in charge. So, in your leadership, don't run around acting like you know everything. You know you don't know everything, and let me just let you in on a little secret. So does everyone else. Nobody expects you to know everything. So just remember that leaders from time to time need to ask for counsel. All leadership needs counsel from time to time. Number nine, I'm out of time. I have a lot of verses. I'm just going to have to skip a lot of this, but let me just give you these verses so we can finish up. Number 27, 21, And he shall stand before the heirs of the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of the year and before the Lord. We talked about that. Look at the last part of verse 21. At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in. Now we already saw what the leader was supposed to do. He was supposed to go out before them, come in before them, he was supposed to lead them out, he was supposed to bring them in. That was his job. But now we see the applications of the follower. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in. And let me just say this, number nine, all leadership, if they're a true leader, must give orders. They're going to give orders. That's the whole point. That's the whole point of being a leader. At his word, at Joshua's word, they were going to go out, and at his word they were going to come in. What can we learn from that? You say, what's the takeaway for that? Here's the takeaway for you followers. If your God-given authority, if your God-given authority, and I got lots of verses on this, I'm not going to go to it, I'll just read some of these to you. Romans 13, 1, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. So what does that mean? You have been given God-given authority. You were born to your parents, teenager, and that is your God-given authority, your mom and dad. If you're part of Verity Baptist Church, I'm your God-given authority. Now obviously I don't Lord of God's heritage, I don't meddle into your personal life, but as far as what's done here at Verity Baptist Church, how it's done, I rule. That's what the Bible says. At work, at work, the Bible says that you are to serve your master, your boss, as you're supposed to work for him, as unto the Lord. He's your God-given authority. Now if you quit that job and go somewhere else, then the next boss will be your God-given authority. But the point is this, when you have people over you, when you have people over you, as a follower, you need to learn to just take orders. And look, here's the point, if your God-given authority is not asking you to sin, then just learn to say, yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am. And stop being such a stinkin' baby. I'm not talking about, well my, they're asking me to do something wrong. Well, the Bible's clear about that. Wives are to submit to their own husbands in the Lord. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord. The moment your God-given authority tells you to do something that goes against what God wants you to do, then the Bible is clear. We ought to obey God rather than men. But if your husband, if your pastor, if your boss, if your employer, whatever your God-given authority is telling you to do something, and they're not asking you to sin, they're not asking you to do anything immoral, they're not asking you to do anything wrong, you just don't like it, hey, let me let you in on a little secret. The whole point of leadership is that at His word they shall go out, and at His word they shall come in. And when you have people under you who just want to argue every call, argue every decision you make, be against everything, you're not a follower! You're a rebel! And you'll never be a leader, because you'll never be a leader if you can't be a good follower. Period. By the way, Joshua was a great follower. That's one of the reasons God chose him to be the leader. So just realize that all leaders give... My parents, they tell me what to do. They're supposed to! That's what they're supposed to do! All good parents do that. Look, teenager, there is no... If there's a house out there where the kids do whatever they want, and parents never tell them what to do, I mean, just tell you right now, that teenager is miserable. And you know what they think every day? My parents don't love me. So just realize leaders are going to give orders, and if they're not asking you to sin, stop whining and complaining and crying! Just listen to them. Now if they're asking you to sin, then you need to obey God rather than me. But if they're not asking you to sin, they're just telling you, do this, do that, that's what... Then look, listen to them. That's the whole point. All leaders must give order. And then number 10, we'll finish up. Look at verse 21. Last part of verse 21. And all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. Number 10, all leadership must set the example. I had verses... I'm out of time. Let me just read this for you. Acts 1, 1 says this about the Lord Jesus Christ. The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. Notice, Jesus did not just teach. He didn't just tell people to do. To do and teach. He did it, and then he taught it. So what does a good pastor do? He preaches sermons about soul winning. But you know what a good pastor does? He goes soul winning. He preaches sermons about Bible reading. But you know what he does? He reads the Bible. All leadership must set the example. We must set the example. Gideon said to the men following him, Look on me and do likewise. That's what leadership is. Leadership looks at the followers and says, Look on me and do likewise. Do what I'm doing. Follow me. That's what biblical leadership is. So we see this concept of leadership. All leadership will come to an end. All leadership will mess up at times. All leadership should concern itself with the next generation. All leadership must lead and go first. All leadership must care for the followers. All leadership must have a personal walk with God. All leadership must use their credibility to help future leaders. All leadership must need counsel from time to time. All leadership must give orders. And all leadership must set the example. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. And Lord, I thank you for the leaders in my life. Over the years, my parents and pastors and people that you've put over my life that corrected me and rebuked me and told me when I was wrong. And I'm thankful for them. And I believe one of the reasons you're blessing me as a leader now is because I followed the leadership you gave me. And Lord, I pray you'd help all of us. Help all of us. Where we find ourselves as leaders, to be leaders. And where we find ourselves as followers, to be followers. And help us not to be resentful, not to be arrogant. Help us to learn these principles and help us to do well in the areas you've given us to do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to sing a song as we prepare for baptism this morning. Turn to song 143. One, four, three. Blessed assurance, 143. Sing it out on the first. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, older than all. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, older than all. On the second perfect submission. On the second perfect delight. Visions are fractured, a burst of my sight. Angels descending, bring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers come. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, older than all. This is my story. This is my story. Praising my Savior, older than all. Sing it out long to the last. Perfect submission. I am my Savior and happy ever last. Matching and waging, looking up high. Filled with his goodness, lost in his love. Sing it out. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, older than all. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, older than all. Amen. All right. Well, we have Edgar II, the Dios, coming for baptism this morning. And Edgar, of course, is the son of Brother Edgar and Ms. Selina. And we're excited for him to be baptized today. Edgar, have you accepted Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? All right, Edgar, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in newness of life. God bless you. And all God's people said? Amen. Praise the Lord. I want to thank all of you for being here this morning. We appreciate you coming. And I want to thank all of you that have been praying for my wife. We really appreciate your prayers. And she's getting better. I think the plan is for her to maybe be able to come back tonight to church. So we'll see how that goes. But we appreciate all of you praying for that. And, of course, if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. And I just want to remind you a couple of things. First of all, don't forget, Sunday is Easter. Sunday is Easter. So you do not want to miss Easter service. And be praying about the Easter service coming up. And we've got, of course, on Wednesday, the Lord's Supper. So don't miss that on Wednesday night. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Easter soul-winning push. And then Sunday morning, Easter service, grand opening of our church building. We want you to be here. We're going to have all 400 chairs out on Sunday morning. We want you to be here early, find your place. We sent out this week 47,000 mailers. And we sent the mailer to every home in Natomas letting them know about our grand opening service. We've never done that before. And we're probably never going to do it again. But, you know, so we don't know what's going to happen with that. We've been praying about that as well. But just be looking forward to this coming week. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. God bless you. I'm going to ask Brother Matt if he would not mind dismissing us with a word of prayer. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this sermon that was preached to us this morning. Thank you for a pastor who would give us these principles. I pray that you would help us to apply these things to our lives each and every day. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.