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of the presbytery, meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. So I'll bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you Lord for bringing us here together this Sunday morning to sing praises to you and hear your word be preached. I'll be asked to please fill pastor with your Holy Spirit as he comes forward to preach the message that he laid on his heart, give him the words to speak and to speak them boldly, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, amen. First Timothy chapter four. The title of the sermon this morning is leaders versus managers. Leaders versus managers. You might think, well, what's the difference? Aren't they both the same thing? And the answer is no, right? For example, a manager is somebody who's worried about the bottom line, right? A leader is somebody who looks off into the horizon, okay? Not everybody can be a leader. Not every manager can be a leader. But every leader does need to have some management skills. So what I want to communicate this morning is that I'm not trying to underplay the role of a manager. Every organization that's out there does need the role of a manager. They need somebody to basically keep everybody following process, procedures, things like that. We need to be able to manage our own lives, amen. We need to be able to do that. Our families, our walk with the Lord, for example. But we don't want to just be stuck as a manager, right? As God's people, we need to learn how to go above and beyond just managing our affairs. We need to be able to take our faith to the next level. Why? So that we can win the war that's out there, right? That's what this sermon is designed to accomplish. If you look down at verse number 12, this is what Paul tells Timothy. He says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. Now in 1 Timothy chapter three, if you're familiar with that passage, you know that Paul's giving the criteria for what somebody has to do to be a pastor or to be a deacon, right? There's certain criteria that must be met. Like the pastor has to be married with children, why? So that he can obviously prove that he can take care of a household, right? That he can lead a household, not just manage, but do both. Therefore, if he can do that, more than likely he can run and lead a church. I think everybody understands that, right? What you need to pay attention to is a lot of Christians here, and I think the reason why we lack leadership amongst God's people is because we have this attitude that's, well, I don't want to be a pastor. I don't want to be a deacon. I don't want to be evangelist. I just want to go to church faithfully and praise God for that. But some people develop this idea, well, I'm not a leader. And that simply isn't true. The Bible says that you're a king and you're a priest. Look, if you're a born again Bible believing Christian, you're a leader, right? You say, well, it's just me. Well, you need to lead you. And you need to worry about that. You need to do a good job at that. Why? So that God will bless you with more, if that's his will, right? But look what he says here. He says, be thou an example of the believers. He doesn't say that the pastor is the only one that should meet the criteria in chapter number three. But he says, hey, Timothy, make sure that you're a good example of the believers. That means in your daily life. Now, look, I'm not a lifestyle Christianity kind of guy. You know, I do believe in sanctification. I'm sure everybody in here does, right? That's not what's gonna win the war, but that is part of it. How you live your life. I mean, look at the rest of the verse. He says, be thou an example of the believers. That means that God has the expectation that the believer would live just like he mentioned in first Timothy chapter three. You know, being sober, being grave, being sober minded and all that stuff, right? Being filled with the spirit, displaying the wisdom that's taught in James, all the things that we always talk about, right? He says, be thou an example of the believers, meaning the believers are supposed to be the example in the world, the light unto the world, right? He says how? He says in word. Notice that you need to be an example in word. That means when you say you're gonna do something, you do it. Whether that's at church or that's at work, or that's with your kids or with your spouses or with whoever is in your life, you need to be an example in word. That means you need to do what you say you're going to do. Right, and obviously that means you don't need to be having a mouthful of filthy communication as well, okay? Right, that goes without saying, but you understand my point here. It says in word, we need to be the example, right? Well, if you need to be the example, guess what that also means? That means that you're in leadership as a believer. That's God's expectation. So don't ever get this idea, well, I'm not a leader because the Bible's clear here that you are. And we need to act like it. And it's pretty obvious from soul winning in this community that there's not a lot of people that have an interest in leadership, right? I just go out to eat somewhere, you know, and observe how the workers are in a lot of these places around here. It's like, ugh, what do you want? Oh, I just wish it was time to go. Oh, did you just get here? Are you almost off your shift? No, I just got here. I'm off tomorrow. What? That's the attitude that I'm seeing in a lot of young people today. Out there, people that just don't want to lead anything, don't want to work. It's like, they just want to crawl under a rock with their blanket and their sippy cup and just be content. That is not what God would desire for us. But he says, be an example of the believers inward in conversation. You say, wait a minute, wait a minute, didn't he just say word? Why is he reiterating? Well, conversation, yes, verbally, between you and other people, obviously that goes without saying that we need to be an example in that as well. But the conversation I think that he's speaking of there has to do with how you converse with your old man versus your new man, right? Remember, we need to die to self daily. When that alarm clock goes off, you and I very well know we want to hit that snooze button several times, right? That's the conversation between you and the old man, right? That old man's always like, do you really have to go to church? Do you really have to get up? Do you really have to go to someone? Do you really have to pray? Do you really have to read your Bible, right? You have to tell him, yes, we do. You need to monitor that conversation and make sure that your conversation is more with the new man remember the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, the Bible says. So you need to ensure that conversations with the new man versus the old man, right? And we need to be an example in that, why? Because people are watching. People are watching you. People in your workplace, right? People that surround you, your neighbors, they're looking at you. And when you get the opportunity to preach the gospel to them, if you're a joke and they can sense you're a joke, do you really think they're gonna believe what you say? The answer is no. Let's say you are a manager. Let's say you are a leader out in the workforce. Do you think people are gonna take you seriously? Do you think your boss is gonna give you that raise, that promotion? If you're not an example in word, in conversation, you're not serious, you don't actually do what you say you're gonna do. You don't even do what he has told you to do. There's no way, right? There's no way. People in this community, the bosses, the managers that are over you, they should someday learn. You know what? I don't like Shield Faith Baptist Church, but they got some good working people there. You know what I mean? They've got some good, hard, honest working people there. You know, that's the desire that I have for all of us. I mean, that's the goal here. So he says, in conversation, in charity. Well, what does that mean? That's love in action. Be warm and filled. Hey, stay dry. Faith without works is dead. You know, you gotta actually help a brother out. That's what James 2 is talking about. So he's saying, hey, in charity, have love one toward another. Don't just show up and then leave right after the service. I mean, obviously sometimes there's a time and a place where that's the case. But, you know, we come to church not just for the preaching, right, but also to fellowship. To display charity, to develop these relationships. Why? So that we can help strengthen and grow each other. Not just as a believer, but also in every area of life. I've heard things from you that have helped me out in my own jobs. It's true. And if you commit yourself to charity amongst the brethren, you will grow significantly. I promise you that. Then he says, in spirit, in faith, in purity. And obviously we've spent a lot of time talking about these issues, right? We definitely know we need to be an example in spirit. We need to be studying the word. We need to be preaching the faith. We need to make sure that we're having that conversation with a new man, why? To ensure purity, right? There's nothing worse than listening to somebody do this all day long. I'm a Christian, man. I got the right doctrines. You know, I'm on your side. And then they're living a double life. They're like a double agent, right? In the worst possible way. They go home and it's just straight, just trash. You know, the Bible says, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. Did you know that there are people out there that their sole desire and goal is to set things before your eyes to pervert your ways. To destroy the way that you think and the way that you act, right? And we need to shun those things. We need to put those things aside and hold on to the purity and the faith and the spirit that we're taught in God's word, okay? So turn to Philippians chapter number three. So I've got seven points for you this morning. Some of them are longer than others, pretty basic stuff. We're just gonna take a look at several characters in the Bible, how they led. Obviously we can't get to them all. I might hit some of your favorites. I might not, you know, but either way, I think we're gonna get the point this morning. And so I start off by saying, you know, managers are administers, leaders are innovative, right? Remember that. Again, there's nothing wrong with being a manager. If you're a manager and you're basically at work, this is your job, you need to ensure this happens and nothing more, you don't have that autonomy to be a leader, then do that management job with all your might and God might just reward you someday and put you in a position where now you can flourish, now you can lead, now you can be innovative, okay? You need to be faithful in that which is least in order to get more. Think about that. You think God's gonna trust somebody that's not even faithful and doing the basic things in the Christian life? Right. I know me, I've had a lot of management and leadership experience out in the workforce. You know, when I would see people that couldn't even show up to work on time, couldn't even do the most basic things like put their tools on or come to work in pants ready to work, a lot of these young guys, they wanna come to, you know, industrial type jobs in skinny jeans and I'm not just saying that to be funny, it's honestly true. I used to tell my guys, look, I don't trust a person that comes here to work on naval aircraft carriers and submarines in skinny jeans, okay? I don't trust you. I don't because look, what does that say? That says that I'm more interested in my appearance than I am about getting the job done. I come to work in Duluth pants, you know, or maybe you guys like Carharts, I like Duluth because they got tons of pockets, they're made out of fire hose, real durable, you know? Why, because I can fit different tools in my pockets, you know, I show up, I'm ready to go. Now when I would see a guy come in with those pants, I'm like, there's somebody that I could probably use and it never failed, you know? And so I tell these guys, you need to get some pants ready for work or get out and I'd be calling my boss, hey, you need to get this guy out of here because we're gonna have trouble. They're like, you're always trying to get people kicked off your crew but you know what? I'm trying to be successful, I'm trying to lead. I'm not just trying to manage, right? It's the same thing in the Christian life, you know? It's like the person that comes out of church, you know, just not ready to learn, just always expecting drama, expecting a problem, well if he says this, I'm out, you know? We've all seen those types of people, they're a joke. They're not leaders, those types of people can't even manage, can't even manage their own families. Well think about that, right. Point number one is this, leaders are passionate for what they believe in and the manager administrates. So think about this, leaders are passionate about what they believe in. Who's ever been to a church where it seemed like the pastor might not be passionate about what he believes? If you don't believe me, go watch West Coast Baptist Church's YouTube channel. You know, go to some of these Bible colleges and watch the speakers there, they're boring. You know why they're boring? Because they don't believe the book that is in front of their face. They believe that God's word's buried in the ground and a loss of followers, that's what it is. You know why some of these liberal churches, like Joel Osteen or Steven Furtick or John Heggy, you know why they have a lot of people, even though they preach a false gospel? It's because they can fake a zeal, right? And people can't tell the difference and they're like, wow, there's somebody that's on fire. You know, there's somebody that believes in his cause. I'm gonna follow him. That's where we went wrong several years ago. That's where, you know, Christians at some point, decades ago, just decided, you know what, I'm just gonna play it safe. I'm gonna play it safe, I'm gonna say, you know what, we don't really know if these things are 100% certain. Because that got them out of the media spotlight. That got them from having that division, that divisive attitude that was starting to be looked down upon because of things like Hollywood and things like the media and the culture that's being bred into our society. Big problem. We lost leadership and we need to gain it back, right? And it's not just my job, it's all of our jobs to do that. 100%, everybody in here, you're all leaders and we need to learn how to act like it. All right, so number one, leaders are passionate for what they believe in. Did I have you turn to Philippians 3? Okay, Philippians chapter three, look at verse number one. So we're gonna take a look at Paul here. And if you know anything about Paul, you'll know that he was zealous. He started off, we're gonna learn about him on Sunday nights, he starts off pretty zealous, right? Persecuting the church, bad thing, right? But when he gets saved, what does he do? He carries that same intensity, that same passion, that same zeal, and becomes the best Christian that's ever walked this earth. So verse number one says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Why does he start off by saying that? Rejoice in the Lord, passion, zeal, motivation, sense of urgency, these are things that drive people. This is what gets work done. Rejoicing, zeal, passion, you have to have it. If you don't, you will fall. If you don't, you will lose. I promise you that 100% of the time. He says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me, is indeed not grievous, but for you it is safe. And it would do us all very good to really understand this. You say, I've heard sermons on leadership before. You know what, for you it's safe. I've heard sermons before on repenting your sins. You know what, for you it's safe. I've heard sermons before on the Trinity. You know what, for you it's safe. Right, don't lose that zeal for the things that God wants us to know and harp on and continue to preach in the community. Say, well, you know, my boss keeps harping on these policies and this and that. You know what, it's safe for you. It's good for you, it's okay. We don't wanna be like the Greeks that just, you know, are always seeking for some new thing to be taught, right? That doesn't do anything any good. What that does is that produces a culture of people just hanging out in the streets just looking for the next big trend to come on, right? That's not leadership. In fact, that's not even management. That's a joke. He says, so for you it is safe. Verse two, beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Look, if you don't rejoice in the Lord, if you're not passionate about anything, you will never become aware of your enemies. Right. Think about that. Go knock on a Methodist door this morning. Go knock on some Episcopalian bozo churchgoing church workers door this morning. You know what they're gonna tell you? To each his own. Everything's fine. We don't need to talk down about the dogs. And who are the dogs there? The sodomites. 100% it's the sodomites. That's what he's talking about there. You know why we all have the same mind regarding that doctrine? Because we all have a zeal for the truth. And people that aren't here this morning, people that have rang the bell to dip out of here, you know what? They didn't have that zeal either. And you know what? Whenever that would get brought up, they would cringe. Think about that. If you don't have a zeal for anything, you're never gonna have a passion to protect it. Right. And that goes to every area of your life. The only reason you love your kids, if you really do love your kids, is because you hate the people out there that want to destroy them. Mentally and physically. And I hate their guts. Right. So he says beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Who's gonna lead the way on that? What's the concision? The Jew. Right, the Jew. What are they doing today? They're preaching the same gospel, the same false gospel that they preached during the time of Christ. Right? It's all about the law. What are most churches doing today? Lifting up the Jew. They're lifting up the concision. They're putting the concision over God's real people. So who's gonna lead the way in that battle? It's gonna be us. It's gonna be people like us. So verse three says, for we are the circumcision. There's a reason why you don't read this chapter a lot in other churches. Because it hurts. Because it's truth. Because it divides. He says, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Look, we're all gonna have our times with the flesh. Everybody in here. Everybody in here is gonna lose a battle to the flesh this week, I promise you. Okay, you're human. Right? But don't have confidence in it. Don't have confidence in that old man and you will do well. Verse four, he says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now he's gonna explain what he means. Verse five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, in Hebrew, of the Hebrew, as touching the law of Pharisee. Verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. So you're saying, hey, don't forget about me. If anybody's got the right at this moment in time to glory in the flesh according to the world standards, Paul's saying, hey, that's me. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I know the law like the back of my hand. Right, and he's gonna tell us, but that's wrong. Right? Yeah, I had confidence in the flesh and I could, but it's not profitable. It'll destroy you. Verse seven, he says this, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. So when he's saying, hey, look, when I got saved, I realized that I'm gonna have to give up that pomp that I had as a Pharisee. Right, Paul was obviously looked to, probably highly esteemed amongst his peers. In fact, he said that he was more zealous than all of them. So think about that. The moment he gets saved, he's like, you know what? I need to make sure I give all that up. Not to be saved, but in order to carry out that zeal that was in his heart. He was just a zealous person. And look, leaders aren't born. I don't believe that. I believe that you're made that way. I believe it's a choice within your heart. You're not, look, we're not Calvinists in here this morning. You're not just born with this just, oh, well, you're just never gonna be able to lead anything. Why would these verses exist in the Bible if that was the case? Why would he say, hey, be an example of the believers if you weren't expected to be a leader? That's a sick, twisted, disgusting joke. Yeah. Verse eight. He says, yay, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but dung that I may win Christ. That's the attitude. How's that for zeal? Right? You see Paul's passion here? Do you see his zeal here? I mean, look at what he did. How many churches he started? How many people he trained? How many people he helped? How many people he got saved? He got so many people baptized, he couldn't even remember them all. You don't get that way by being mediocre. You don't get that way with this managerial, just only type attitude. I'm just gonna take this one thing and focus on it, and that's it for the rest of my life. No. No, we need to go beyond that. We need to have that same zeal. How are we ever gonna have a satellite church? How are we ever gonna bring converts to church if we don't have zeal, right? How are we gonna grow this thing? God's not gonna use people that are like that. You know who God uses? People like Paul. And think about what he did. He was there when Stephen was stoned to death. And Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Ghost. God said, you know what? I know you did these things in ignorance, and there's still hope for you. Because that's another thing that hinders people's leadership abilities, especially as Bible-believing Christians, is guilt. People say, well, in the past, I did these horrible things. And they let that plague them and bog them down to the point where they say, I'm no good. Paul said, you know what? I'm just counting all that stuff as dumb. I'm just gonna move on from here. Because, hey, he's like, hey, God's giving me breath. He's giving me a mission. Let's do this thing, right? And that's everybody in here, right? Everybody in here has that ability. If you've got a pulse, you're breathing, you can be a great leader for Christ. You can be a leader in whatever area that you're in. But it starts in your mind, and then it goes to your heart, and then it comes out in your actions. That's how it does. That's how it works. You go to a place that just wants to teach you this lily-liver doctrine. You know, Christ loves you guys. I know this is part 22,000 in my series, you know? But it's true, it's safe for you. Look, that doesn't produce leaders. That produces weakness. That's what that does. They take that whole being safe thing to the extreme, you know, and never teach people the full counsel of God. You know, it's the full counsel of God that's gonna give you that balance that you need in your life. Amen. Real quickly, let's finish up these verses to, we'll read to 11. All right, verse 10. It says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Verse 11, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. And so you can see it in his writings. He's always talking about attaining, about winning the race, the prize, the goal, new man, old man, zeal, right? He says, hey, you know, I know that my peers, they have a zeal, right? They have a zeal, according to God, but it's not according to God. It's a false zeal. It's not according to knowledge. And so that's why I said point number one is that leaders are passionate about what they believe in. There's a lot of people out there that have a lot of beliefs, but they're not passionate for them because they've lost the ability and the drive to further seek knowledge in those areas, right? You know, like when people get saved, oftentimes they're rejoicing, they're excited, and then you never see them again. You know why? Because the world just got to them. They just decided, you know what, I'm just gonna take the grace and run, you know, basically. And you know what, praise God, they're still saved, right? Praise God, they're still saved. But they made a choice in their mind to say, you know, I know the truth now, now I'm good, that's just gonna be enough to carry me on, and it's not. You have to continue in that knowledge so that you can attain to a better status. Remember, you're gonna spend more time in eternity than you ever will here. You know what, do you want to have those kind of regrets? Like, man, I wish I would have done more. I could have had more. Yeah, you'll be saved. No more pain, no more suffering, right? But you might as well give it all you got here. It's such a short time in the grand scheme of things. Anyways, why not just make that leap and just go for it? Right, Ephesians chapter six, look at verse 11. He says this, this is what Paul tells Ephesians. Hey, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now, do you think somebody who doesn't have passion is gonna stand up for the truth? No way. Do you think a coward will? There's no way. This is why I preach against being fearful and things like that. You know Revelation 28, but the fearful and unbelieving? You know, there's a reason why God mentions that. There's a lot of people out there that are fearful and you can see that in soul-winding. You give them the gospel and they're like, well, I just want to think about it. Well, you know, I just want to just make sure I'm safe and that you're really the right person telling me the real truth. That's the fearful person. But it goes also beyond that. You know, the Bible says that fear is a snare unto man. Think about that. Fear will quench your zeal. And a leader needs to be like, you know what? We're just gonna try this out. We're just gonna, I've got an idea. I know the direction I want to go. I believe it. I'm passionate about it. And you know what? We're just gonna go for it. You know what? We might fail. We might take some lumps. We might take some bruises. We might take some black eyes. But at least you tried. And at least out of that attempt, you learned something. Right? Look at this verse again. He says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Did you know that the attacks are gonna come? They're gonna come at your work. They're gonna come in your family. They're gonna come at every place you go. The bigger of a destination that you set for yourself, the bigger the attack's gonna be. And guess what? The Bible says right here, you need to be able to stand. If you're not an example of the believers, you think you're gonna stand against the attacks of the devil there's no way in heck. There's no way. Six months ago, I'd like to see what happens if the media would have come to our church. Because it got ahold of maybe one of my sermons. I wonder what would have happened. I know about 15 people that would have dipped that day. They would have rang that bell hard and taken the sippy cup right along with them. You know it's true. Why is that? Because they didn't have the armor. They weren't concerned about being an example. They're just trying to manage their image. Think about that. If you decide, you know what, I just wanna be a manager, not a leader, you're gonna die. Now at work, that may be a different story. You might just get stagnant. I don't know. But we need to be better than that. And we can be better than that because we have the truth. Look at all this wisdom we have. Look at verse 13. Jump to verse 13 real quick. He says, wherefore taken to you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day in having done all to stand. Look at this. If you don't plan to stand, then you will never be able to withstand. Let me say that again. If you don't purpose in your heart right now to stand on anything, then you will never be able to withstand any kind of attack ever. And this all goes back to zeal. This all goes back to passion. That's what it goes to. Do you think the scribes had zeal? No, because when Christ was teaching, what did they say? Hey, he teaches as one that has authority and not as the scribes, right? Were the scribes, you know, building up the brethren and really edifying them? No, Jesus came back and said, no, this isn't how you do it. You need to believe in what you're doing. See, he's coming back and trying to get the apostles, right? And get his disciples to get this idea. Hey, things are about to change drastically. I need people with zeal. You know, Peter had zeal. You know, it was a little misplaced here and there, right? But God used that. You know, God used the sons of Zeruiah, even though they were a grief unto David, right? He still used them. He still used David. We talked about this when I preached that bleeding heart sermon, passion. You know what, it's kind of hard to have passion when you got a leak in your heart. When it's bleeding out all over my floor, right? It's kind of hard. In fact, it's very hard. In fact, I didn't even go as far as to say it's impossible. Yeah. Turn to Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter number three. So set point number one is leaders are passionate about what they believe in. Managers are worried about administration and administration only. That's it, they're just worried about the standard rules and procedures. True leaders are driven by a sense of purpose. We're gonna turn to 1 Samuel 17 here in a moment, but I'm just gonna read to you a quick verse here. So you know the story about David and Goliath, very famous passage in the Bible. You know, when David's getting ready to present his case on why he should be the one that goes and fights Goliath, right, what does his brother say? They're like, oh, you're being naughty. You just came down here to see the battle. You're not gonna be able to do it. You're just a kid, you're just this, you're just that. What does he say? He says this, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? You see, if we could get it into our heads, right, that there is a cause today. There really is a cause today. There is a dying world going to hell. There are people on their way to hell. There are people that will take their last breath while I'm preaching this sermon and open up their eyes in hell. Is there not a cause? Yes, there's a cause. You say, well, what about your families? Go look at the public school kids today. Just go watch them get off the bus. Roll down your windows and listen to how they talk. Is there not a cause today? Go study the work habits of some of these people around you. Like I said before, is there not a cause? In order to develop your passion, you need to get into your head, there is a cause. There is a reason. There's a reason why I preach the way I do. There's a reason why I do the things that I do. It's because I understand that there is a cause. There is a cause out there. When you get that fact through your head, there's a cause. You will develop the passion that leads to power, a godly power that rightly divides and goes out into the community and does work. So let's move on here. Number two is this. Leaders aren't afraid to tell it how it is, right? But what would a manager necessarily do? A manager is gonna say, okay, you missed the mark here, here, and here, and that's it. He's not gonna tell you what he really thinks about you. He's not gonna tell you anything other than what is absolutely necessary. But the leader says, you know what, no. You know what, you've been working for me for about six weeks now, and you're a problem. You need to get right. You need to get straight. And he's not afraid about losing that employee, right? Because he cares about people. The manager doesn't care about people. The manager cares about the bottom line. The manager cares about what is in front of him. And like I said, there's a time and a place for a manager. Right, go to Lowe's, you know, or go to any of these retail stores. What are you gonna find often on the front lines by the cashiers? Manager. And a lot of those people have no leadership skills. You know, it's done that way for a reason, because the leaders are trying to figure out the direction of the company, right? And they just want the cashier to do this one thing, and they just want the stockers to do one thing, and they want that manager just only focused on that. They're not interested in a manager that's gonna rearrange the shelves and be like, oh, I got this idea over here. I'm not saying that's right. Personally, I think that's backwards. And you know, I'm gonna revisit this subject in about six months, and we're gonna take it a step further, where I will address that, you know, called autonomy and leadership. But you get the point, right? There's a reason why so many retail workers are unhappy. That's because they're working for managers and not leaders. Leaders care about people, managers care about the bottom line. So point number two is this. Leaders aren't afraid to tell how it is. We're gonna take a look at John the Baptist here. Matthew chapter three, look at verse number five. He says, then went out to him, Jerusalem, and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him and Jordan confessing their sins. Verse seven, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, now notice this, right? John the Baptist is doing what he was sent to do, right? He's telling people, hey, you're gonna have to believe on him who comes after me. You know, he's not preaching a work-based salvation here. We don't have time to get into it right now, but he's saying, hey, you know, he's leading the way. He's paving the way for Jesus Christ. He's getting things ready. And this, at this moment in time, becomes a cool thing. Right, and so it says here, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, right, he notices a problem. Look what he tells him. He said it to them, oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Does that sound like somebody who's concerned about numbers? Because it could have just been like, you know what? We're doing good, we got a lot of people coming. I don't wanna turn anybody away. I wanna welcome everybody. But he says, no, these people are garbage. These people are trash. These people are the reason why our nation is in the perils that it's in. Right, so a leader's like, you know what? I'm not afraid to tell you what I think. I'm not afraid to lose X amount of people. Quality over quantity beats every time. Every time, that's what you see here. So he says, verse eight, bring forth therefore, I'm sorry, bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. So he's saying, hey, you guys are out there teaching all these doctrines, you're wearing your long robes, you got your prayer beads, you got your hat on, you got all this so-called religious stuff that God never told you to do, but your hearts aren't right. You can't even do things that prove you're even worthy to be saved, right? So he says, bring forth therefore fruits, meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. So you know the culture back then, it's the same culture we have today, right? The Jews up here, you're down here. The Jews God's chosen people, and you're the Greek person, that's just, the Greek dog that's just eating the crumbs off the floor. John the Baptist said, no, I'm gonna be a leader. I'm gonna tell you what I think, I'm gonna tell you what is true, and you're gonna have to either eat it or walk away. Turn to Matthew chapter 14. So leaders aren't afraid to tell people how it is. John the Baptist, perfect example of that, wasn't afraid. In fact, he lost his life over it. Matthew 14, look at verse three. It says, for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake. His brother Philip's wife, for John said unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her. What happened after that? He wound up losing his head over it, right? But he never compromised. He had moments of weakness, he had moments of uncertainty, and all of us will, right? But he said, no, there is a cause. There is something greater. I've got passion, I've got zeal, and I'm gonna finish my mission, and I'm gonna win, and we're gonna win. That's what he's saying, right? Are you willing to die for what you believe? If you are, and you know that you are, then you know what? You're on the right track. You've got the passion, you've got the zeal, and you need to maintain that and use that to succeed. So I said, number one, as leaders are passionate about what they believe in, point number two is leaders are not afraid to tell how it is, right? As a leader, you can never be worried about what other people think. You know, the first time I came here to preach, somebody came up to me and said, aren't you afraid of what's gonna happen if you keep preaching like that? I said, nope, I don't care at all. Not one little bit. And I hope everybody in here is just like that. Man, woman, and child alike, everybody in here is like that. Why, because I'd rather pastor a church of leaders than a church of just mindless followers, right? Leave that to the Stephen Furticks, the Joel Osteens, right, the T.D. Jakeses of the world. They're worried about that bottom line. You know, they can fake a good zeal, but I'm not faking it. I really believe what I say. I believe in the vision that I have for this community, and I know that everybody in here does as well, and that's how we will be successful. We will win. And no soy-sipping, slothful, shoe-shining fake Christian is gonna stop us. I don't care how many comments they screenshot and send to me on my phone, talking about how mean I am and how much I hurt their feelings. You can cry me a river. You know what I'll do? I'll give you a raft and some oars, and you can paddle up and down it all day long, buddy. How's that sound, huh? That's what I think about it. Turn to 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17, point number three is this. Leaders rise to the occasion. Leaders rise to the occasion. Now, the manager only sees what is. So the manager says, okay, we're out of buns. Well, we're done making burgers for the day. The leader says, I'm gonna call everybody around here and see if they can get us some. Right, the manager's like, oh, work stoppage. I was on a job one time, and when I used to work for the Navy, a lot of our jobs were paperwork-driven, and man, you better follow that to a T. You're in big trouble, big trouble. And that includes reading all your paperwork, okay? I remember one time an engineer misplaced a comma. I missed it, the guy I was working with missed it. We didn't care. The job, it was a five-minute job. We could've got it done. It would've saved thousands of dollars to do it that day. Big manager boss comes down, let me see your paperwork. Starts, takes paperwork. Oh, it's like you guys aren't very diligent. Good, misplaced a comma here. He shut that job down for two weeks over a comma. He went upstairs, the guy's like, well, I'm just gonna pan and ink it. He's like, no, that's not good enough. And started fighting with him over it. Work stoppage, two weeks. Sitting in the office like this, twiddling our thumbs for two weeks because of that. That's ridiculous. You know, but a leader would say, you know what? Let's just work around this. Let's just get the job done and do the best we can to follow the process. Is a comma really that big of a deal? It was to that guy because he's a good manager, right? He's got managerial awards. It's all he cared about was managing. Not an ounce of leadership in his body. Not a single ounce. We're gonna take a look at David. Somebody who obviously rose to the occasion. Look, a lot of the prophets rose, most of the prophets rose to the occasion, right? We need to be the same way. There's an occasion out there, there's a cause. And we need to rise to it. Look at verse 10. 1 Samuel 17, look at verse 10. So here's what the big giant of the day, Goliath, is saying here. Verse 10, and the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. You know, there's a big Goliath out there in this country today. Actually, there's a couple of them. But there's a big new evangelical Goliath. It seems big, seems real tough, right? They've got thousands of people. They've got churches on every corner, every street, literally in this town. But you know what, they all have the same message. And that message is, I defy the armies of God. They may not come out and directly say that. But when you tell people that you have to turn from your sins to be saved, or to stay saved, you preach probation instead of salvation. You know what? You're a false prophet, you're a devil, you're Goliath. And this is what you're saying. I defy the armies of Israel. That's why when we go out into the community, they get upset every single time. Because they defy the armies of Israel. We are the army, they are not. They're Goliath. But you know what, they're just full of hot air. And they need to be brought down. Verse 11, when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. You see, here's the other reality. Most people are scared. Most people are afraid. Most people will never rise to the occasion of leadership. It's just a fact of life. Verse 12, now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and the man went out. I'm sorry, and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. Verse 13, and the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third, Shema. Verse 14, and David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. Verse 31, and when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him. Verse 32, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. You see, the person that came up to me and said, hey, aren't you afraid of what the other churches are gonna say? They're gonna hinder your growth. What if the news comes? Everybody's gonna leave. Well, not everybody's a chicken, you know? How about that? How about within the body of Christ across this planet? You know what, there's like 30-something people here today. How about there's 30-something people here, buddy, that aren't chickens? And you know what? That is the minority today. And what I'm saying to you right now is that not everybody in this room, in fact, I don't think anybody in here has left that's a chicken, right? But you know what, unfortunately, a lot of the body of Christ are. Because they never go to church, they never say, you know what, I'm just gonna do what's right. And so they develop this fearful, trembling mindset. You know, we're not supposed to fear the adversary. That's what Paul told the Philippians, right? Don't be terrified at the adversary. And David is obviously somebody who understood that. So verse 32, he says, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. Right, so he's like, hey, David, this guy's got experience. Not only is he a giant, but he's an athletic giant. And he's been fighting since he was a child. And he's been killing people since then. And David's like, I don't care, because is there not a cause? Don't we have the Lord God on our side? Right? And that's the truth with us today. You go to work, you live your life, you run your families, you know what? There is a cause. And you have God on your side. You have the word of God, which you can pull wisdom from and get the answers to your problems. The world doesn't have that. The new evangelical, he doesn't have that. He doesn't have that option, because he doesn't believe it. They don't have passion, they have a false zeal. Verse 34, and David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. So David's like, hey, look, I've been at war too. I've had my battles as well, but I've got faith. Something that this Philistine doesn't have. Verse 36, look at verse 36. It says, thy servant slew both a lion and a bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. A leader has faith. A leader's not afraid to try things. A leader's not afraid to say, you know what, look at all the victories that God's already given me. Right, and you say, well, I can't think back into my life of any victories yet, I'm new. Well, you getting saved's a pretty good victory. How about that? How about you just start there, and build from that, and use that to further your faith. Verse 37, David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go, and the Lord be with thee. He's like, hey, I'm not doing it. You wanna do it, little man, go do it, right? We'll just see what happens. So jump down to verse 42. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. You know what, that's kinda like how people treat us in the community, isn't it? Oh, you're meeting in law offices, where's your building? Where's your steeple? You don't have 10,000 guys, we do. I had somebody say, oh, there's only like 30-something people in the church, I don't wanna go there. I like big churches, right, because they're more established. Yeah, but your church doesn't knock on doors. Your church doesn't preach the gospel. Your church doesn't take a stand on anything. And you're weak. Verse 43, and the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Verse 44, and the Philistine said to David, come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. You know, it's like these apartment managers, isn't it? You know what, I'm calling the cops. I'm gonna put you in prison. I can't believe you're, I told you not to go soloing. I told you to stop doing this. You know what, you're gonna get locked up. You know what, a leader says, I don't care, do it. Let's go, bring it. We're not leaving. Number one, it's not against the law. Number two, even if it was, we don't care. Verse 45, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield. But I will come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. You know what, this is what I've been saying all along. The battle's the Lord's. You know, he doesn't save with sword and spear. He doesn't save because we have logic. It's the word of God. Right? That's our weapon today. This is, even back then, that was still the weapon. What they had of it. Now, obviously, they used the carnal weapons because they had to. The mission was a little bit different back then. But today, you know what? We actually apply this, if you think about it. Look at verse 45 again. Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. You know what, when we go out and we preach the gospel, that's leadership, and we come to those people in the name of the Lord of hosts. You know when the Mormons go out, what do they come? In the name of man, right? They come to you in the name of man. Same with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Same with these apostolic bozos that go out around here. Right, they come to you in the name of a man. They come to you with man's logic, with man's ideologies, and with man's plans. That's what they do. You know, we're actually out there saying, no, it's the word of God that you need. It's the word of God that saves, right? And that's why we have victory. And it's proof. There's evidence. I mean, look around. It's proof that it works, that we will win. You know, what happens? We're not gonna read the rest of the story for the sake of time, but you know the story. David won. Turn to Joshua chapter 24. David said, you know what? Off with your head. And it was an easy victory, wasn't it? It was an easy battle. And then what happened? Then all the people were like, amen, now we're great. You know, sometimes that's what it takes. It takes you being the leader. You making that decision. You know what? I'm gonna step out in faith, and I'm gonna do this. You know what? I'm gonna step out in faith, and I'm gonna go to church. I'm gonna step out in faith, and I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna read the Bible. I'm gonna commit myself to things that make me uncomfortable. And by so doing, you will slay the giants that are in your life. We gotta move on here. Point number four is this. Leaders rule by example rather than by just bossing people around. But what does the manager do? The manager's only worried about task by task oversight, and that's it. Right, see, the manager church member will be like, oh, look at that guy. You know, he's all laid up. You know, I've been coming three times a week, and that person's jacked up. You hear what he said? I'm not gonna say nothing, but you know. That's what the manager does. Right, but the leader's like, I'm gonna help this guy out. I'm not gonna say anything, but I'm gonna help this guy out. I'm not gonna say anything, but I'm gonna help this guy out. I'm gonna help this guy out. I'm not gonna say, hey, you need to stop doing that, man. You know, he's gonna say, hey, you know what? Your behavior's not good. We need to change this. Let me help you. Right, we all know what we need to do, especially even at work and as Christians. Right, so sometimes we just need some exhortation. Sometimes a brother just needs some help, you know? Just needs a little edification, a little sit down, you know, having some coffee, having something to drink, having something to eat, and just a little discussion. What does the Bible say about a wise man? That he will draw counsel, which is set deep in a man's heart, out of him. Right. We all have counsel, and it's everybody you talk to does. And it's our job to be able to motivate and pull that out of them. Right, that's why I said point number four, is leaders rule by example rather than by just bossing people around. Everybody's had that boss that's just like, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that, or else, or else, or else. Does that really motivate you when you experience that? Do this or else, do this or else, it's like I've been doing it all day, thanks for the reminder, you know? That doesn't, that doesn't exhort people. That kind of attitude is a bad way to go. Okay, that's the managerial type attitude in some cases, but it's just not gonna get the job done. And you can see that here, that Joshua, who took over for Moses, obviously he understands this. So let's read this here real quick. Joshua 24, look at verse 14. Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. Right, so what does he say? He says, now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Right, so a leader needs to have sincerity and truth in himself or herself in order to pass that on to other people. And Joshua was saying, hey look, I know you guys still have your false gods, it's wrong. You know what, but you need to follow God in sincerity and in truth. You need to be real about it. Don't fake it, be real. If you're jacked up, admit it and get it right. Right, he's not like, okay, I'm just gonna do an audit. All right, you're messed up, you're this, you're, you know. No, he's like, hey, if you wanna follow God, follow him. Look at verse 15. And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day, whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So he says, you know what, I'm gonna lead you by example. I'm not just gonna tell you what to do, tell you how to do it. I'm actually gonna do it myself. That's why Paul told Timothy, be an example of the believers. Meaning the believers are supposed to be the example. Not just the pastor, not just the deacon, not just the boss, not just the leader, but everybody. Right. You say, I just got hired on in my job, I'm at the bottom of the pole. Well, you need to own that. You need to own that position that you have. That's how you're gonna get out of it. You say, I'm just a kid. You know what, you need to own that and do what your parents say and do a good job with it so that they can trust you with more responsibility as you age. And it's the same for all of us. Lead by example. That's what Joshua was doing here. He's like, hey, look, here's your choice. Keep following the false gods or do what I'm doing. Both roads are going somewhere and one is going to place you ain't gonna like. You know what, but the Christian today says, that offends me. I don't like it, it hurts. And you're a meanie. Right, you're mean. No, you just don't get it. You're just pathetic. You just don't get it. Verse 16, and the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, in which did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among all the people though whom we passed. And so the people say, you know what, we saw what the Lord said. Thank you for the choice. You see, oftentimes we just give people a choice. You just tell them how it is. You've got your passion, you've got your zeal, you've got your example, you've got your experience. You know what the result is? Action. By and large, it's action. They will do what you want them to do. You see, the leader motivates people to do things they don't necessarily feel like doing at that time. The manager says, if you don't do it, you're getting written up, ha ha. And then turns around and walks away. That's what a manager does, right? All right, let's move on here. Turn to 2 Kings chapter nine. And that leads me right into point number five, which is this. Leaders drive and motivate change, whereas managers protect and maintain the status quo. That's what a manager does. He protects and he maintains the status quo. The leader says, no, I want to drive, I want to motivate, I want to push forward to reach my goals, my vision that I've set. That's what the leader does. That's what we need to be like in this church. So we're gonna take a look here real quick at Jehu. I like Jehu. I know he had his issues, right? He didn't end life very well, but he was a man that was a leader. He was definitely a leader. We're gonna take a look at that. You know, and also think about Moses, right? When he came down from the mount and he saw, you know, God told him, hey, the people are already gone astray. And he's like, ah, let's go down there and see. He gets down there and he sees them worshiping and dancing around those cows and he breaks the commandments, right? What happens after that? Who is on the Lord's side? He asked that question, who is on the Lord's side, right? At that moment, he realizes I need to drive change. I need to motivate people. And the first way you do that is by finding out who is on your side. See, when I would take over a crew at my last job, when I worked for the government, I would find out who's on my side. Who can I trust? Because you know what? There's things that have to be done that are nasty, that are very difficult, that are very hard. And sometimes the engineers and the oversight make it impossible. But I know deep in my heart, you know what? I need to get this work done. I need to find out who I can trust. And I would do tests to find out who I could trust and I would drive people away that I couldn't. Have you noticed a trend? Yeah. Have you noticed a trend? That's what I'm doing here. I wanna find out who wants to work for God. That's why the first time I ever came here, I tried to rip face as hard as I could to find out who was squirming and who was gonna be weak and who were gonna be the pretenders, right? Now, obviously I need to be long suffering and I need to be able to say, hey, is this a person that can change, right? Because you need to be like that. But I think a year and a half was long enough. Yeah. I think a year and a half was long enough. So let's take a look at this. Second Kings chapter nine, look at verse 30. So Jehu, he's steamrolling people. You know the story, we've gone over it before. He's coming up to Jezebel, look at verse 30. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she painted her face and teared her head and looked out at a window. Oftentimes when people know they're in trouble, they'll put on their best face, right? Their best act, all the paint. And she's got that Sherum Williams paint and she just painted on. I'm just kidding, probably makeup, right? Verse 31, it says, and as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, had Zimrai peace, who slew his master. So she's trying to put a guilt trip on him. And as a leader, that's what people will often do to you. Right, they'll often bring up things. You know, oh, don't you feel sorry for so-and-so? If you really make this decision, don't you know you're gonna hurt people? The leader says, off with your head, watch. Look, here's what the leader does. Verse 32, and he lifted up his face to the window and said, who is on my side, who? And they're looked out to him, two or three eunuchs. Right, so she's trying to paint a guilt trip on him. Right, what does he do? Mission, mission, mission, I don't care. I've got a vision, I've got a job, I'm gonna do it. Right, verse 33, and he said, throw her down. And they threw her down and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he trode on her underfoot. So a leader sees the job through till it's done, done. And then he went inside and made himself some corned beef and cabbage. Turn over to 2 Kings chapter 10. 2 Kings chapter 10, so we're talking about point number five. Leaders drive and motivate change, whereas managers are just worried about the status quo and maintaining that. 2 Kings 10, look at verse 15. There's an interesting statement made here by Jehu. So he's continuing his conquest here. Remember, him and Elisha are going around destroying the house of Ahab. Verse 15, and when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said to him, is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, it is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand and he took him up into the chariot. Verse 16, and he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him right in this chariot. You see? What does a leader do? A leader who wants to drive and motivate changes, he realizes he needs people that want to support the cause. People that don't. People that want to backbite. People that want to talk about it as if it's not true, they cannot be used. They will slow down the vision. They will slow down the work every single time. Look, those of you that have jobs, is it not true the people that are always running their mouths about the boss and always just talking trash, always upset with everything that goes on at work and the change. Do they further the company or do they hinder the company? They hinder it every single time. It's the same thing in God's house. The same thing, and those people have to be ran out. They have to go, and they will go, and they did go. Verse 17, and when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab and Samaria till he had destroyed him according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah. There you go, there you have it. That's the result of what I'm talking about. A leader will decide, you know what, I care about my mission. I care, I have passion, I have zeal for my cause. Whatever it is, and I'm gonna make sure that everybody that's on my side is really on my side. And what's the result? Mission complete. That's the result. So don't get worried when people bounce, they leave out of here, they get offended. You know what? Mission complete. We will finish the job. Let's move on here. Go to 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel chapter number 23. So point number five is leaders drive and motivate change whereas managers protect and maintain the status quo. Point number six is this. Leaders welcome the unknown. Leaders welcome the unknown. And this is gonna be a quick point. They say, why do you say that? Well, think about Noah. Think about when God told him to build the ark. Do you think he really understood rain? I mean, he knew that judgment was coming. He knew that destruction was coming. But did he fully understand it? I don't think so. It never rained before, right? So God said, hey, build this ark. He said, you know what? Amen, I will do that. Grab these animals, I will do that. What is he doing? He's going to the unknown. But he was a leader and said, you know what? I know family, I know you guys don't understand this, but you need to do it anyways. Because the battle's real. And if you don't, you will die. Think about Abraham. What did God tell Abraham in Genesis 12? Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kinsmen. Abraham was called to the unknown. Did he fulfill? Absolutely, he did. That's the hallmark of a leader. Somebody says, I'm not afraid. I'm not, you know what, I'm not will, I'm not afraid to take a little bit of a risk. I'm not afraid to go into the unknown. I'm not afraid to go to Ontario and have a soul winning marathon. I'm not afraid to go to these reservations that are around here, right? Say, well, what about the gas mileage? What about the people? What if they don't, who cares? We're going to go. We're going to do it. And we're going to win. Look, even if we went to Ontario, and we will, go. Right, but even if we didn't get anybody saved, which I find that hard to believe, I believe that we will. You know what, we were still a witness unto them. At least they'll know, hey, there was a church that cared enough to come out here and tell us that we're jacked up. Then we need to get saved, right? That is the hallmark of a leader. Somebody who says, you know what, I'm not afraid to go to the unknown. I'm not afraid to go to places where I haven't been before. Because by doing so, you're furthering, you're cementing the fact that you're serious and that you're an example in leadership, right? Just don't forget about that. Let's see, where did I have you turn? Second Samuel 23. We're going to move on here, got to be done here. Point number seven, last one is this. Leaders must be willing to go at it alone sometimes. Leaders must be willing to go at it alone sometimes. You know, what does the manager do? Seeks to keep things the way they are. The manager will always seek to keep things as is. They're like a broken record. You know, when that break comes up into it, and a lot of you are like, what are you talking about? You know, it just repeats. You know, CDs, sometimes they'll do the same thing. You know, I've got a sermon. See, I think it's a Pastor Anderson sermon in my work van and there's a part where it just gets stuck and it's just over and over again. And I got another one from Verity. I forgot which one it is, but it just gets to the certain part. It's just like, uh, uh, uh. Just kind of made me think of that. You know, that's like a manager. Just like, I don't know what to do, don't know what to do. Whereas the leader's like, well, apparently it seems like at this moment in time, maybe everyone's abandoned me. Everyone's left. I'm gonna have to just do this thing alone. Right? And that's kind of like our church. We don't have a lot of other church friends. We don't have any church friends around here, right? You know, our closest friends are probably Vancouver and then maybe the church up north there in Spokane. And then obviously Verity, but you know, not directly in this valley. Everyone hates us. Right. Everyone. But you know what? We have to be leaders about it. We have to be willing to go at this thing alone. Right? That's just the way it is. That's leadership. That's getting it done. Cause they ain't gonna get it done. Second Samuel 23, look at verse nine. You know, second Samuel 23, just one of my favorite chapters in the Bible talks about the mighty men. You know, one thing that you'll notice about a lot of these mighty men is that when you're reading about them, a lot of the great actions, a lot of the greatest feats that they did, they did them alone. They did it when people fled. Look at verse nine. And after him talking about Adino who slew 800 people at one time with a spear. It says in verse nine, and after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Eowite, one of the three mighty men with David. When they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle and the men of Israel were gone away. You see that? Where'd the men of Israel go? They left. They went away. Verse 10. Look at this. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword. And the Lord wrought a great victory that day. And the people returned after him only to spoil. So who was the leader in this situation here? It was Eleazar, right? He had to go at it alone. He fought so hard that his hand cramped, clamped onto that sword. He couldn't let it go. That's how the believer needs to be with this book right here. You see, I'm tired. The New Testament challenge bogged me down. Hey, it bogged us all down, right? But make sure that spiritual hand is clamped to this book. And you know what's gonna happen? The same thing that happened to Eleazar. You're gonna get the victory. He will bring the victory to you. Verse 11. And after him was Shammah, the son of Agi, the Harorite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines. What were the Philistines there to do? To burn the crop. They were gonna burn the food. That goes all the way back to the days of Samson, right? Where he burns all their fields, right? And so they had this thing going back and forth. They show up and the people are like, I'm out, right? The media came, I'm gone. I don't want anybody to see me. I'm scared. I'm a chicken, right? Just doing this dance all day long. You know, that's what people do when they ring our bell too. I'm gonna put a bell up there. And I'm gonna put a tray with a sippy cup and powdered soy with water. I don't know why I just said that. But anyways, let me read this verse again. And after him was Shema, the son of Agi, the Harorite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines. And the Lord wrought a great victory. So he says, you know what? I'd rather die than be a chicken. You're not gonna make me into nuggets. You're not gonna make me into chicken strips. I'm going down swinging. And that's exactly what he did. He stood there in the midst of a field, one man with his weapon and defeated an entire troop, which is like a, I'm guessing like a platoon, maybe 30, 40 people. And he killed every one of them by himself. Hollywood can't even touch these stories. Cause there's no room for dogs, right? There ain't no room for the dogs in the story. Jump down to verse 21. This is about Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. I preached a whole sermon about him last year, but I just wanted to mention this. Cause you notice what these guys are doing. They're having to go at it alone. Sometimes in leadership, you have to be willing to go at it alone. Verse 21, this is talking about Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. It says verse 21, and he slew an Egyptian. And this is after the Bible tells us he killed two lion-like men of Moab. So these guys were obviously very big, probably had dreads, you know, like Todd White, but actually fierce people. So not like Todd White, but okay, you got the joke. Verse 21, and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men. Bible also says he went down and killed a lion in a pit in the time of snow. It says that he did it. It didn't say he had a whole troop with him. It says that he did it. But notice what he does here. He goes to this Egyptian here and he says, you know what, I know you're bigger than me. I know you've got six fingers and six toes and all that stuff. I know you're a big dude and I've just got this staff, but I'm gonna take your spear. I'm gonna take the problem that you're causing my people and I'm gonna use it to kill you. See, that's what the leader does. The leader says, oh, you're telling me we can't do great works for God because we don't have a steeple and because we don't have 10,000 people? Well, you know what? I'm gonna take that and I'm gonna prove you wrong and we're gonna see when we get to heaven what the real deal was. And the unfortunate truth is many of those people will be standing in the Matthew chapter seven line saying, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in thy name and thy name cast out devils and in thy name do many wonderful works? And what's Jesus gonna say? Depart from me, I never knew you. So here they might think, ah, we could scare them. We can get them Baptist out of here. They're a joke. We ain't going anywhere. We're gonna keep fighting. So you don't have to turn there. I'm just gonna read to you one more passage. This is Exodus chapter 18. You know the story. We've talked about it before and we'll be done. This is a story where Moses is judging the people. His father-in-law, Jethro's like, dude, what are you doing? You're gonna wear yourself out. You're gonna die. You think you can manage all these people? You think you can go at this alone? So there is a time in life of a leader that you say, you know what? I understand I need to do things alone sometimes, but there's other times where you need to delegate and you need to get some help. And this was a situation like that. I just want to leave you with this thought here. Just listen here. Exodus 18, 21, Jethro's communicating to Moses. He says, moreover, so aside from all this other stuff I'm trying to get you to do, he says, moreover, thou shall provide out of all the people able men such as fear of God, men of truth, hate and covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. This really speaks volumes. This really basically sums up everything that I've already said because Jethro's like, hey, look, sometimes effective leadership, you're gonna need some delegation, right? But the people that you choose to get that mission done, make sure they're on your side. Make sure they love the Lord. Make sure they hate covetousness. Make sure they hate the things of the world. And by that, make them rulers over fifties, over thousands, over fifties, hundreds, and thousands, and ten thousands. You know it's the same thing in the millennium, don't you? Right now, Jesus Christ is looking down. Who's gonna rule for me? He's looking at this church as well and saying, who amongst Shield of Faith Baptist Church is gonna rule for me during the millennium? And by your actions, by your decision, whether or not to be in leadership, will determine whether you get that fifties, hundreds, thousands, or ten thousands. And so, Jethro, after he tells him this, he says in verse 22, he says, "'And let them judge the people at all seasons, "'and it shall be that every great matter "'they shall bring unto thee, "'but every small matter they shall judge, "'so shall it be easier for thyself, "'and they shall bear the burden with thee.'" So sometimes in leadership, we need to seek people out to help us lead. And who do leaders pick to lead? They pick people that can lead, people that can be trained, people that can be taught. This is important. And this whole sermon can be summed up in this statement. Just remember this. People work for managers, but they follow leaders. You want people to follow you to church? You're gonna do it by leading, not just by being a manager. You want people to follow you and your family? You're gonna do that by being a leader and not just a manager. You want people to follow you at work? You're gonna do that by being a leader and not just a manager. So think about that. People work for managers, but they follow leaders, because leaders have a path to follow. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for these great truths again, Lord, in the Bible, and that we can come before you in every service, Lord, and just pull more and more wisdom out, and it's infinite. I just pray you'd help us to remember these things, Lord, to use them, to apply them to our lives, that we may carry on this great mission that you've given us, Lord, here in the Treasure Valley. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.