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

🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 Number 18, take the name of Jesus with you. 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 Great singing today, everyone. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Holy Father, Lord, your name is so precious and sweet unto us. We thank you for receiving us today and bringing us here in peace and safety and in health and fulfilling this house, Lord. Open our hearts and our mouths that we may praise you in a way that's pleasing unto you. Lord, remove all the distractions so we can focus full-heartedly on you and grow in grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for our salvation. We look forward to heaven eternal and life eternal with you. Lord, what a precious gift. Thank you so much. Please fill us with your spirit today that we may learn and give us a humble heart and open ears. Lord, we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Let's go to 242. 242. It took a miracle. It took a miracle. It took a miracle. Oh, into the miracle of love and grace. Though nearly falling as the snow, we still and surely see the wonder of his mighty star. We'll take eternity into the miracle to build the stars. In places down the middle, larger than the ground, in space you'll plainly save my soul, like the baby hole. Into the miracle of love and grace. Your eye, oh, tells us a song to love, and we still fall way through. At every little moment in time, a text we notice through. Into the middle, closer to the stars. In places down the middle, closer than the ground, in space you'll plainly save my soul, like the baby hole. Into the miracle of love and grace. That's a good song. I think that confirms Pastor's doctrine here on verse 2. Though here his glory has been shown, we still can't fully see, see through a glass darkly until we're in heaven. All right, let's turn to 175. It's just like his great love. It's just like his great love. And then I knew to pray, Lord, bless him, all for you to be. The same clouds roll away. It's just like Jesus took all the clouds away. It's just like Jesus took all the rain away. It's just like Jesus, all upon the way, just like his great heart. Sometimes the clouds up top fall. He lived the sky above. I cannot see my Savior's face. I dance among the stars. But if from heaven's glass he sank, he'd only lie his bed. Then paved he passed the clouded quay. And so he gave his hand. It's just like Jesus took all the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, he gave my name. It's just like Jesus, all upon the way. It's just like his great love. When sorrows about to take me, and break upon my hands, and my sin was a nuisance, and I confess the sin, I take my grave through Jesus, and honor my own in vain. For heaven only gives and cheers, like sunshine after rain. It's just like Jesus took all the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, he gave my name. It's just like Jesus, all upon the way. It's just like his great love. Oh, I could sing forever, of Jesus, love divine. Our voice can be heard, sorrows for my own mind. It's just like Jesus took all the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, he gave my name. It's just like Jesus, all upon the way. It's just like Jesus, he gave my name. Our voice can be heard, sorrows for my own mind. Our voice can be heard, his great love. Good to sing, everyone. Let's hope he's rolled the clouds away for fellowship today. It's been a week of rain. Okay. Oh, what's going on over here? Excuse me for a moment. I've lost my page. Let's go to 423. 423. Joy to the world, 423. It's getting early. Lift it up. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her name. Let every heart remember him. Let heaven and earth receive her. Let earth receive her name. Joy to the world, the Savior is. Let men their songs employ. Let fields and forests, let fields and landings within the sound of life, within the sound of life. Let every being the sound in time. The Lord is the Son of God. The Lord is the Son of God. He comes to live in mercy. Come, come, come, come to time. Come, come, come, come to time. Come, come, come, come to time. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove that our faith is our own. If our truth is mine, it's the one that's on the line. If our truth is on the line, it's the one that's on the line. Merry Christmas, everyone. We'll have Psalm 48. Brother Callum will come up and read. Psalm 48. Hear this, all ye people. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable I will open my dark saying upon the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth forever, that he should still live forever and not seek it. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, he is like the beast that perish. This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings, Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me, Selah. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him, though while he lived he blessed his soul, and men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers, they shall never see light. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, thank you for this chapter in the Bible. Thank you for this psalm. I pray for our pastor, Pastor Kevin. Be with him, fill him with your Holy Ghost. Fill us all with your Holy Ghost so that we can hear and understand and learn something from today's sermon. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. All right, thank you, Callum. Thank you, Brother Oliver, for the song leading. As we get to Christmas, we'll have more and more Christmas tunes. We do have other Christmas hymns in the hymnal that we don't have music for. So if you're able to find the music for it, if you want to sing those hymns and you can find the music on YouTube or something like that, or you can play your own tunes so we can sing along, that'll be a blessing. All right, we're there in Psalm 48. And I wanted to look at verse number 14, which I thought was pretty profound. It says, For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death. And that's a great statement. He'll be our guide even to the day I die. You know, I'm going to follow him. He's my guide. And the title for the sermon this morning is God's Divine Leadership. God's Divine Leadership. Now I'm kind of starting a new series, kind of a new series, but a continuation of the old. And the old series that I was preaching through on Sundays was on submission. You may recall we're talking about how, hey, you know, if you've got authority over you, you should submit to that authority that God has appointed over you. And now I want to flip it on its head. I want to follow the same series in the same order, but now I want to look at the leaders. All right, so if we are to be submissive to somebody, that person is our leader, right? And so now I want to talk to those that are in leadership and speak to you how you can be a better leader because we can take the view then say, well, you know, some husbands might say, my wife should just be submissive to me because the Bible says so. And that's true. That's true. Or the employer could say, well, the employer should just listen to me because I'm the employer, right? I'm in charge. I'm the man in charge. And that there is a truth to that. You know, if you've been appointed to that position of leadership, people should be submissive under you. But do you think they'll have an easier job being submissive to you, being a poor leader, or being a good leader? Obviously being a good leader or a better leader, an improved leader, it'll help those that are submissive to you to truly want to submit. And that'll make not just their lives easier, but it'll make your life easier as the leader. And so we see here that God will lead us even unto death. He's our guide and he's our God forever and ever. And so, you know, when I taught on the series of submission, the first topic that we looked at was that we should be submissive to the Lord. We should be submissive to the Lord. Okay, well, let's look at his leadership qualities and try to learn from that. Try to look at the leadership qualities that God has, how he leads us, how he guides us. And of course, this will be a great foundation by which all leadership should also mimic and follow and project. And so the first thing that we learned from that Psalm there in verse 114 is that his leading never fails. That his leading never fails. Now, this is where it's different with God and the rest of us who are leaders, right? Because our leadership sometimes fails. But the leadership of God never fails. Praise God for that. And that's why it says he will be our guide even unto death. So we can take it two ways here. His leading never fails. We can say that the end results of his leading never fails. Like if we submit to God and we do what he asks of us, the end results will never be failure. It will only be success. It's only going to be better for us, right? If we follow his leading. The other way that we can take this view that his leading never fails is that his responsibility to lead never fails. It's not like God says, all right, you failed me 10 times. I'm done with you. I'm no longer going to be a leader. You can just go and destroy your own life, if you will. No, God will be our guide even unto death. Now we know that we fail all the time. We fail every single week, every single day. We make mistakes. We sin against our Lord God. We offend our Lord God. Unfortunately, it's not something we rejoice in. It's something we should be sober about and meditate on. But even though we fail him all the time, does he fail us in his leadership? No, he wants to guide us, right? He wants us to pick ourselves up and continue following after his leading. It's not like he just says, all right, you're fired, right? I'm done with you and I can't lead you any further. No, the Bible tells us he's our guide even unto death. And so we learn about the Lord God that his leading never fails. Now, again, you know, we're looking at God's divine leadership, okay? And so I don't want, those that are in leadership positions and mothers, you're in leadership positions. You know, you're leading your children. You've got that position over your children. I don't want you to look at these qualities of leadership and go, that's it, I'm hopeless, I'm done, I'm not a good leader. Because if any of us compare ourselves to God, none of us are good. There is none good, no, not one, right? And so even in leadership, you know, we're not the best. And so I want to demonstrate the best leader there is in all of, I was going to say creation, but he's not a creative being, in the universe, in the world, even outside of creation, the greatest leader of all, of course, is our Lord God. And so if we have these perfect examples, then we should strive to be that kind of leader, but knowing full well that we're not going to be at God's standard, right? And that's fine. But what I want you really to pull out of this sermon this morning is that you would be more secure in following the Lord. You'd be more submissive in following him, that you know full well that God will never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He'll be your guide even unto death. Even when you mess up all the time, he's there for you. Now you're in the Psalm, so come with me to Psalm 73. Come with me to Psalm 73. But the first point is his leading never fails. He doesn't shy away from his responsibility to fail. Oh, sorry, to lead, I should say. He never shies away from his responsibility to lead. And that's something I really want to take on board for those that are in leadership because it is a hard job and sometimes you may want to quit and not do it, but I want you to see God's example that he will lead us. He will guide us even unto death. Psalm 73, and look at verse number 24. Look how the Psalmist says it here in Psalm 73, verse number 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. The Psalmist is saying the same thing, right? Lord, you're going to guide me. I'll listen to your counsel. I'll do what you ask me to do, Lord, and then I'll be received into glory. What is that receiving into glory referred to? Going to be with the Lord, right? Passing away, dying to death. And then, you know, he says, I'm just going to follow you all the way until I'm with you there in heaven. And so his leading never fails. He's there for us even to the moment that we pass away. He's guiding us to heaven, right? The moment our eyes close, his physical body, there he is. He's still guiding us, leading us to be with him face to face in heaven. God's divine leadership, his leading never fails. Come with me to Deuteronomy 13. So it is a bit of a Bible study this morning, right? The Bible study on leadership. We're looking at the leadership qualities of God. And Deuteronomy chapter 13, please. Deuteronomy 13. Now, one of the challenges of being a leader, especially if you don't feel naturally inclined to be one, is that you have to issue commands. That's the point of being a leader, right? You've got to give direction. You've got to point the way. People are looking at you to make decisions and to be an example and to point the way that we are to go. And of course, that is what our Lord God does in Deuteronomy 13, verse number 4. It says, One of the most difficult things about being a leader is that you have to issue commands. And the reason why that's hard, especially as human beings, is we know that sometimes our commands may not even be the best, but it's the best we know at that point in time. But God's commandments are always perfect. And you know, issuing commands means many times that you're going to issue directions that those that are submissive under you will not be in agreement with, right? If you're in leadership, you will be criticized. Oh, he made the wrong choice. He made the wrong decision. It's actually much harder to be a leader than to be submissive to a leader, because the leader has to issue commands known for well that not everybody is going to be on board with those commands. But it is a responsibility that you must take. What's the point of having a leader that doesn't point which way we're leading? That's why it's a leader, right? Okay, leader, which way are we going? What do you want us to do? What are we trying to achieve? What are the objectives? What are the objectives? God issues commands. God is one that commands. And that helps us to know what is expected, right? What is expected? What am I supposed to do? And so God gives us these commandments because he knows we need direction. We need goals. We need purpose. We need a plan. And life is really boring. Life is really unfulfilling when you don't have commands by which you are to follow. You know, sometimes we will look at Christianity as though it's just a book of rules and regulations that strip away your fun and enjoyment of life. But if you got no direction in life, you got nothing to achieve, you got no goals to accomplish, life becomes really unfulfilling. I don't know if you've ever been in that state in your own life where you just don't know what to do. Like the biggest time I had that in my life was coming straight out of high school. And you're like, do I do TAFE? Do I go to uni? Do I get a job? Do I get an apprenticeship? Like for me personally, that was one of those difficult moments of my life because like when you go to school, like you just, I know what to do. I got to turn up to school Monday to Friday, these hours, I get to relax in the weekend. You got direction. Every single day of your life is kind of scheduled. You got to do this topic. You got to do subjects. You got to do this or that, right? And then all of a sudden I'm out of school. What do I do now? I'm out of school. Where do I go now? What are the options out there? What's the best for me? And it creates a lot of uncertainties and maybe just, you know, like just doing nothing because you're too fearful to make a certain decision. That's where the leader comes in, issues commands. This is the direction we're going. This is what we're accomplishing. This is what we're doing. All right, let's get on board. And when you start doing those commands and fulfilling those commands, you feel satisfied. You feel like you're making progression, that you're doing something with your life. And so it is so important. We see with God, he's one that commands. Therefore we know what God expects from us, right? We shouldn't be, I don't know what God's will is in my life. I just opened God's commands. Like just do his commandments. Now you know what God's will is in your life, right? Just do what he asks you to do. Now come with me to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, please. Is good and proper to issue commands. And, you know, Nicholas is not here, he's in Sydney at the moment, but he was working for a panel beta, all right? And he had a great time. He was there for about 10 months working that job, learnt a lot of things. But one thing that Nicholas expressed is that his boss issued a lot of commands, do this or do that. But Nicholas is like, I don't know what I'm doing, right? Nobody has trained me. They haven't shown me how to do that job, right? And have you ever been in that situation where you're being told, I've been in that a lot in my life. Like actually, you know, without, you know, taking the, you know, going on another topic, but many times when you're in the workplace and they ask you to do something that you know, you've not trained for, you never learned, nobody's ever shown you, you know, and you can step up to the plate and do it anyway. That shows a lot of character. And like that shows like, you know, great development in that individual. But what God does is he gives us commandments, but he doesn't just command. He also provides instructions. And in Psalm 119, Psalm 119 and verse number 104, it says, through thy precepts, I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. So God can command you do this or keep these commandments. And you're like, well, how do I do that, Lord? Well, if you look at his precepts, which is his word of God, all right, you get the understanding you need to be able to complete that command. And then when you have the understanding, you can hate the false ways. You can say, well, they're the wrong ways to keep God's commandments. This is the right way to keep God's commandments. And then it says in verse number 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. All right. So God doesn't just tell you, get this job done. He then gives you the pathway. He gives you the understanding. He gives you the teaching, the instructions, the lessons that you need to be able to complete that commandments properly. So he's not just one that commands, which is needed as a leader, but he's the one that provides instructions. It is a scary thing to be asked to do something that you have no idea what to do. And man, if the God of the universe is asking us to keep his commandments and we know he's perfect and he wants us to obey his commandments, that's how we love him. That's how we can demonstrate our love toward him. You know, we don't want to fail at that job, do we? At what he asks us to do. And so he gives us his word. He gives us instructions. He gives us guidance. All right. Lord, I don't know what to do. Okay. Open his word. I mean, go to in prayer if you need to ask for the wisdom. We know that's a biblical thing to do as well. Open his word, read his word. Ah, okay. You've shown me your pathway, Lord. You've shown me how to accomplish what I need to accomplish. He's a great God. All right. So, you know, you know, I do believe that if you're an employer, you're training staff, you're trying to get staff to do a job and issue command, you can't, you have to teach them. You have to guide them. You have to give them instructions so they know how to do that job properly. But that's not always the world that we live in. Again, as human beings, we fail compared to God's divine leadership, right? But we are leaders nonetheless and we should try to learn from the Lord God and not only should we issue commands but we should provide instructions. There are times, you know, that I do ask my kids to do a task and I won't give them instructions but I do that on purpose because I want them to exercise their mind and learn and, well, let's find this out. Like, we live in the Internet age, right? We live in the knowledge age now and you can pretty much find anything online and, you know, you might find several ways to do something online these days and you can accomplish it through that way. But the point is, the instructions are available. It's just sometimes finding those instructions and there's Google, there's YouTube, right? You can find the instructions that you need to accomplish the job but God has given that to us in His Word which is the lamp unto our feet. Coming to the next passage, please, in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 5, Deuteronomy chapter 5, please. Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5. And the best leaders, in my opinion, the best leaders are those that are not necessarily seeking leadership positions. I find the best leaders many times to be the best followers. They know how to follow a good leader and then they also then know what the following needs. Like, if they're a good follower, they know what they need to be a good follower. Then, when they become the leader, they know what their followers need to be good followers. And in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 33, Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 33, it says here, You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God have commanded you. Alright, we know that He issues commands, that's an instruction, that's a necessity of a leader. This is why He gives you commands. Just to be the boss, just to be in charge, just to make sure you know who's the top dog here. No, this is why He issues commands. What else do we learn about God's divine leadership? That He leads for the well-being of His followers. He leads for the well-being of His followers. You know, my heart is one day to find pastors, alright, that can take over. Blessed are Baptist Church there in Sydney or Crown Baptist Church there in Port Macquarie. Or a man that will say, I'll go to a Melbourne or I'll go to a Perth and I'll start a church and I'll be a pastor. Or this and that. But what am I looking for? Just a man who wants the position, who wants the title, or someone that is looking for the well-being of those that he will lead. Obviously those are looking for the well-being of those that he's going to lead. That's the leadership that God provides. And I love that about God, that He knows what I need, He knows what's best for me. The best life is to live the life according to the Bible. You know, don't take my word for it, but take God's word that if you just obey His commands, He'll make sure things go well for you in your life. I want things going well for me in my life. Doesn't mean we don't have problems, doesn't mean there's no struggles. We live in a sin-cursed world, we live in sin-cursed bodies, there's always struggles and difficulties. But I know, compared to most people in this world, you know, as a believer I'm in the low minority with the rest of this world, that my life ought to go better than everybody else's life in this world. How do you measure that? You know, money, do you measure that with possessions, do you measure that with your social status? I don't know, I measure it by the peace that I have within me. I measure it by the fact that I don't have fear of man, but just the fear of God, that I know where I'm going when I die. I have the answers of the world, of everything that I need in life, you know, found in God's word. It's good to be led by a gracious God as we have, you know, God's divine leadership. He seeks the best for us. And this is why it's easy to submit under His leadership, because we know it's always going to be best for us. You know, we can be afraid of keeping a commandment. Like, you know, God doesn't want us to be false witnesses. He wants us to tell the truth. Sometimes telling the truth can be a hard thing to do. But we know overall that if we do what is right, God's going to bless us and reward us, and give us what we need in life, the best for us. See, God leads for the well-being of His followers. It's not just about call me boss, because I am the boss. He's like, I'm the boss because I want the best for you. Follow me, submit under me, and things will go well for you. Can you come with me to Exodus 23? Exodus 23. Exodus 23. So we've looked at God's, we're looking at God's divine leadership. So far we've seen that His leading never fails. Number two, He is one that commands. Number three, He is one that provides instructions. And number four, He leads for the well-being of His followers. And so, as we continue going through this list of qualities of God, again, those in leadership positions, you know, appreciate the God that you do have, appreciate His leadership. Again, I hope you decide, man, I want to submit more to Him than I ever have. Okay, but also then compare your leadership. Just look inwardly at you as a leader. How well do you line up with God? Again, you're not going to line up with God perfectly, okay? But it's going to highlight the areas of your leadership that you need to improve, okay? Because again, I'm looking at this, I'm like, man, I need to be a better leader. Like I'm looking at this list, I'm going, I better be, I got to be a better pastor. I've got to be a better husband. I've got to be a better father. I'm looking at this list and go, man, there's a lot that I need to work on to be the kind of leader that God would have me to be. Exodus 23 and verse number 20. Have you ever wondered why God sometimes gives instructions a certain way? Well, let's read it and I'll explain my question there. Exodus 23 verse number 20. It says, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, that's beware of the angel, and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. So God's given this angel his authority, right? But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. Now, this particular angel that is referred here in verse number 20, some people have the interpretation that this might be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Sometimes, you know, an angel of the Lord appears in the Bible and sometimes it very well is Jesus Christ. We can't really know for sure if it is. Maybe if that's your opinion, you might be right. I'm not sure, okay? But, you know, God's asking for the children of Israel to obey the voice of this angel. And if they do, if they follow after this angel's leading, that, you know, God will overcome their enemies for them, right? They'll win their battles, God will make their enemies his enemies, etc., etc. And I've often wondered, like, I don't know if you think this, like, you know, in the Bible there are times where God just speaks directly to man and then there are other times that he sends his angels. And I've never really understood why that is. Like, why is it like, does God really need to send a message by his angels? Have you ever thought about, I think about it, I don't think I have an answer. Like, I thought about all the answers that could be and none of them really work out really well. Like, I don't feel like I've ground them really from scripture. I may never have an answer to this in my life here on this earth, right? But I think we can learn something about God's leadership though. We can learn something about it. And what I take out of this is that God as a leader makes use of a hierarchy. God as a leader makes use of a hierarchy, alright? Sometimes he sends his heavenly host to bring a message to mankind, right? Obviously we're coming up to Christmas and Jesus, the Lord God used Gabriel to come and send a message of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then there are other times in the Bible, you know, where God himself just speaks openly to man or speaks openly to his prophets. The Bible says the word of the Lord came upon me or, you know, immediately it's just God directly to man and other times he uses the hierarchy or the chain of command that is under him. And this time it's angels. And I think when I was thinking about leadership, I was thinking, you know what? This is a really good practice. And like if I can't understand the reason why God does it, it doesn't matter so much. It's the lesson that I can take out of this. And sometimes as a leader, you can be overwhelmed. Not to say that God is overwhelmed, okay? But you want to make sure that those that are following you, those that are submissive under you are getting the instructions they need. So you may very well have supervisors, right? If you're an employer, you might have middle management under you, right? You're trying to lead a larger business, but you can't direct everybody at one time. So you've got a chain of command. There's a hierarchy. There are leaders under leaders under leaders. And there are those that are submissive under those authorities. And God uses this system, I believe, to give us an example. But what I love about this hierarchy that he says there, at the end of Psalm 21, he says, for my name is in him. He says what this angel says, he's speaking by my authority, okay? By my name, he speaks. So he's backing those that are leaders under him, right? He's backing the messengers that he has, bringing God's message to his people. How do we apply that today? Because you might say, well, pastor, you know, we don't have angels appearing unto us today, right? Just suddenly appearing and sending us a message. And if that did happen in your life or might happen in your life, you'd probably be more concerned than anything else. Like, what is it? Is this like the devil masquerading as an angel of light? Like, that's probably what we'd be thinking a little bit, right? But I was thinking about how do we apply that today? And, you know, we don't have angels appearing unto us today. But then when we read the book of Revelation, and we read about the seven churches, the letters, the book of Revelation was given to the angel to the church. And we know that's a reference to the pastor because the word angel simply means messenger. I'm no angel, okay? I'm definitely no angel of heaven, but I am a messenger. And so this is, you know, demonstrates how God still uses a system to make sure his commandments and his word gets out to his people that we can learn how to be submissive to him. God gives us institutions like churches. You know, yes, he gives the Bible, he gives us the ability to ask of him in prayer, but he gives us a church, he gives us pastors, he gives us a hierarchy, maybe a deacon one day, if that is God's plan for New Life Baptist Church, you know, to ensure that the message gets out to the masses. And so in God's divine leadership we learn that he makes use of a hierarchy and he supports those that he sends to bring a message to his people. Come with me to Exodus 15, Exodus 15 please. Exodus 15, Exodus 15. Exodus 15. And I'll be honest with you, this is one of my favorite qualities of God overall, just because I need a lot of it, all right? Exodus 15, does anyone know what it is? What it is? What is one of my favorite qualities of God that I talk about a lot actually? It's like my favorite, one of my favorite things. Does anyone want to take a guess? Yeah, I need God's mercy, man. I need a bad. Anyway, Exodus 15, verse 11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? So there's no one that compares to God, no false gods, no authorities on this earth compares to God. Verse number 12, he stretches out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. So God can just destroy the wicked. We know that's a, you know, like the Quran, the rebellion, where the earth just swallows up the wicked. Verse number 13, thou in thy mercy has led for the people which thou hast redeemed. How does God lead us? He leads us with mercy. Wow. Thou in thy mercy has led for the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. We learn two qualities of God's leading there. He leads with strength and mercy. He leads with strength and mercy. And so, you know, God's not this just hard past master, you know, taking out the whip and constantly just forcing us to do his will. You know, every time we make a mistake, he's just ready to crush. No, he's not ready to crush, is he? God is not that kind of God. We know he's a strong God. He leads with strength. There's no other authorities like him, right? We should be fearful toward him. You know, he's a holy God and we know we're sinners in his sight. You know, it brings the fear of God to us. And, you know, you can think that, boy, every time I mess up, God's just ready to destroy me, wipe me out. But in thy mercy hast thou led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. He leads with strength and mercy. And so, you know, we need to learn how to be merciful to those that God has made to submit under us. That's, you know, of course we've got to correct. Of course, we have to, you know, rebuke and chastise and all these qualities that we read about, of course, the Lord God has. You know, he's a Lord of strength as well. But we have to recognize that as leaders, we need to be merciful. I mean, this is the example that the God of gods has given us. And I need it. I need it every day. I need his mercy every day. I need his mercy right now because I'm a man with a flesh that's trying to open God's word and give it reverence and all the fear that is required to preach to these wonderful people. I need his mercy because I'm not perfect and I can mess up and I can make mistakes and I can, you know, my brain sometimes doesn't match up with my mouth with what it says and et cetera, et cetera. They're all failings of man. So, boy, he leads with mercy. And I think we need to understand this because those that God has put under our authority will mess up. They will make mistakes. They won't always, you know, obey perfectly. There is a huge difference between just outright rebellion and just someone trying to do what is right and making a mistake. And that's important to be able to highlight as leaders who's just been rebellious, who's just been difficult on purpose. You know, they need a sharp rebuke but who's just trying their best and making mistakes? That's where you want to definitely be able to show mercy to those people, right? You don't want to treat them as rebellious or stupid or failures. Show mercy because God has shown us mercy. He leads us with strength and mercy. Come with me to Psalm 32, please. Psalm 32, Psalm 32. This one kind of follows the same thought as the previous one where he leads with strength and mercy. Psalm 32 and verse number 8. Like these two principles, leading with strength and mercy, and the next one we're about to see is going to help you not take the view that, well, someone should just follow me because I'm their boss. Someone should just follow me because I'm in charge. Again, it's true. They should, okay? But you need to have mercy. And what we're reading here in Psalm 32, verse number 8, it says, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go, I will guide thee with mine eye, okay? So we see God is wanting to instruct us, to teach us the way, leading us in the way. He's guiding us with his eyes. He's looking out for us. He's looking at the direction we're going. God's not blind. He knows exactly the direction he wants each one of us to go. But then in comparison, he says this in verse number 9. Be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Look, God desires voluntary followers. God desires voluntary followers. He doesn't want you to be like a horse or a mule, a dumb animal, right? Well, you might get on a horse, and horses aren't that. They're actually pretty smart animals, right? But if you get on a horse and tell the horse, all right, horse, we're going to Woolies to do some grocery shopping. Come on, horse, let's go to Woolies. Let's go. The horse doesn't understand that, right? Like, which Woolies? What is Woolies, right? The horse doesn't understand English, okay? You're not going to be able to say that, or you're not going to say, all right, all right, whatever. Okay, forget it. That's enough of the instruction, right? You've got to, you know, get on the horse. You've got to get that, you know, the whole, what's it called? The reins. You've got to put it over their head, right? And then you've got to get the, I don't know, if you've got spurs on your heels, whatever it is, right? You give that horse a bit of a kick. All right, we're going, and you give it direction, and you start to, you know, make, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know how to ride a horse. But, you know, you've got to go forward. You've got to turn left. You've got to turn right. We're going to Woolies. This is the direction we're going, right? And you're forcing that horse to go where you want it to go. God says, I don't want you to be like that horse. I don't want you to be forced to do what I'm asking you to do. God desires you to volunteer as a follower of him, to do it with understanding. The point of this sermon is to give you understanding of God's great leadership and our desire, our desire ought to be to get under that leading that God has given us. He desires voluntary followers. Now, you know, if you go to work, your boss says, do this. You go, ah, you know, you should, you know, you should desire voluntary followers. I'm not going to do it. Like, I'm not going to volunteer to the job. Obviously, that's not the point that I'm trying to drive here. But we want to make sure that when we give instructions, that we're not just forcing it. We want to give those that are under our submission, the understanding. Okay, that's what he says, right? Verse number nine, be ye not as the horse or the mule, which have no understanding. God wants us to have an understanding. So if God says, look, go and do X, Y, and Z, you're like, okay, I understand, Lord, why you want me to do that? If anything, you understand that it's going to be best for you. If anything else, right, you know, all right, I'm going to do it. Like, you may not have the full picture in your head because we do walk by faith and not by sight. But you do know that if I do what God asks of me, it's going to work out well for me. That's understanding. And then God might reveal more understanding as to why you decide to do what you've decided to do. And that's a quality of leadership that we need. Just do it because I said so. I mean, you're going to get forced acceptance. But that's not how God really wants leaders to be. Do it because this is why. You give the reasons why that this is the best decision and the right decision to make. God desires voluntary followers and he does it by giving understanding of his instructions and directions. Can you come with me to Isaiah chapter 40? Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Now you turn to Isaiah 40. Let me just give you a summary so far on God's divine leadership. His leading never fails. He's one that commands. He's one that provides instructions. He leads for the well-being of his followers. He makes use of a hierarchy. He leads with strength and mercy and he desires voluntary followers. Isaiah 40 please. Isaiah 40 and verse number 10. Let's read this. Isaiah 40 and verse number 10. It says, I believe this is a passage on the coming of Christ. His reward is with him. Christ says these words about his coming. And of course, his coming to a strong hand. You know, when Christ returns to this earth, he's going to rule with a rod of iron over the nations of this earth. And so when you think about that, the strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. You know, we think about the authority, the strength that God and Christ is going to have, of course, when he rules in the millennium. And it's good to be a strong leader. It's good to be that way. But, see, God's got this perfect balance. Like verse 10 just speaks about his strength. Ruling, I believe, in the millennium there. We know that's a rod of iron. But then it says these words in verse number 11. Lead those that are with young. It's like, what? You just mentioned how strong he is. And now he's gentle too? He is. That's how the Lord God is, right? And so we know that, you know, Christ is the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief shepherd. He's the shepherd that gave his life for his sheep. And many times the Lord God uses this analogy of shepherd and sheep to describe himself and us as his followers. But even though he's coming with a strong arm and he's going to rule and reign over this earth, he's feeding his flock. You know, we learn about God's servitude as well. You know, when Christ speaks about those that are in authority and those that will be leaders, he speaks about them being great servants, all right? It's the other way around. The world thinks that if I'm a leader, everybody serves me, but actually God's method of leadership is servant leadership. Serving those that God has put you over. And so Christ is coming and he's going to feed his flock like a sheep. He shall gather the lambs, the lambs are baby, young sheep, right? And carry them in his bosom. And shall gently lead those that are with young, some mothers with children, with babes. You know what God does? He supports the weak. In his divine leadership, he supports the weak. You know, he doesn't have this standard, right? All right, we've got a... I don't know what kind of... I'm going to use your McDonald's, brother. I'm sorry, I don't know if it's like this or not. But, you know, each employee by the end of the day has to make 100 Big Macs, right? And it doesn't matter if you've been working here for the last 10 years or this is day number one for you or that you're not feeling too well today or, you know, you've lost an arm, some injury. Everybody's got to get 100 Big Macs done or you're a loser. Now God says, hey, there are weak among us, right? There are lambs. There are those that aren't able to do as much as others or there are those that are caring for the young mothers. You know, God is thoughtful about our shortcomings and our liabilities and our weaknesses and the areas that we need help. See, the Lord God supports the weak. He carries... He doesn't just say, all right, you can't keep up. Get out of here or anything like that. He goes, what can I do to help you? Can I carry you in my bosom? Can I be more gentle with you as you follow after me? And this is so important as an employer. So important. Like, you know, I'll talk about employees another day but to be able to identify employees that are struggling, all right? Not just rip them apart but actually come alongside and figure out their weaknesses, figure out where they're failing and saying, how can I be a support for you? How can I get you to the level you need to get at to be able to accomplish your job properly? Lord God is a very good God. He supports the weak. Even, I believe, a reference to his millennial reign. He'll be there. Obviously, it's our intentions. It's our motives. It's our heart condition that is much more valuable to God. If we're seeking to follow his ways and do his will, he'll come and meet you at the area you're at and bring you up to speed and support you and carry you where he needs to. He supports the weak. Come with me to Psalm 34. Come with me to Psalm 34, please. Psalm 34. Psalm 34. Psalm 34. And this one's a simple one, a basic one, but I think it's important as leaders. Okay? Psalm 34, verse number 17. The Bible says, The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Wow. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. What else do we learn about our Lord God? He is a problem solver. He sorts out our problems, doesn't he? We go to our leader. I've got a problem. You go and you cry unto the Lord. And God says, all right, this is how I'm going to solve it. I'm going to deliver you from all of your trials, all of your problems. Listen, that's what a leader does. That's what God does. He's not one that creates problems. He's one who tries or doesn't just try, but we try. He doesn't just try. He actually solves problems. Problems is a problem solver. And again, a quality that I love about God, because I didn't fully understand this when I was younger. I used to be afraid of going to God and saying, God, I messed up again. Right? Like the same sin that I struggled with for the last 10 years of my life. I did it again, God. I've done it again, God. I'm sorry. I'm afraid. I think God's sick of me. Sick and tired of me coming and asking for forgiveness and confessing those sins. I don't know why. I just, you know, obviously when you're young, you haven't got a good grasp of scriptures. Don't have a full understanding of God's mercy and nature. That's why I said I love his mercy. It's one of my favourite parts of who God is. And yeah, you know, he solves our problems. We can come, we can go to God. He wants us to go to him with our problems and go, all right, let's solve this. I'll help you. Let's get it sorted. He's a problem solver. And I think it's important as leaders that we recognise this, you know, as fathers, as husbands, when your wife comes up to you, your kids come up to you and there's a problem in the house or there's a problem with whatever, right? Whatever it is, some family issue that fathers get behind that and go, let's sort this out. Let's figure out a solution to this problem rather than just dismiss it or think it's garbage or whatever it is. Anyone in leadership, any position of leadership, someone comes to you that is supposed to be submissive to you, they come and say, look, I've got this issue. There's this problem at the workplace. Pastor, there's a problem here at church. You know, we need to figure out what, let's solve this. Let's figure it out then. Let's find a solution to this problem. Let's follow after God's example. Now, of course, our Lord God, his leadership, it says that he delivers them out of all their troubles, but the Lord delivers him out of them all, all of them. I don't think we have that ability as men to deliver out of all problems. But when we can't, who do we go to? Run to God. Say, God, you know, I've got 100 problems. I've been able to figure out 50 of them. The other 50, I have no idea. God, can you help me out of my problems? That's the best thing about God, right? He doesn't just leave you carrying all the problems to yourself. He wants to be there giving you that solution. And so he is a problem solver, not one that creates problems. Can you come with me to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel, chapter 8. 1 Samuel, chapter 8. And this is the last point that I have for you this morning. 1 Samuel, chapter 8. It's the last point. And this one actually kind of blows me away a little bit. Look, it's a story that we're very familiar with, all right? It's about Samuel and his sons. And his sons mess up and the people of Israel go, hey, Samuel, we don't want judges anymore. We don't want you to rule over us. We want a king like all the other nations, all right? And I want you to notice how God responds to this. But let's start there in 1 Samuel, chapter 8. 1 Samuel, chapter 8 and verse number 1. It says that it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Okay, so this is before there were kings. God, you know, there's a book called Judges, okay? Because God had a man or several men who would judge over the situations, over the communities, over the, you know, the Israelites of that time. And Samuel, not only was he a prophet, he was one of these judges. And so he's getting a bit older, I understand. He can't make the rounds like he used to. He's got his sons, so he appoints his sons as judges. Verse number 2. Now the name of the firstborn was Joel and the name of the second, Abir. They were judges in Beersheba and his sons walked not in his ways but turned aside after Luca and took bribes and perverted judgments. So these weren't good judges, right? They'd been bribed. They would just decide whatever they need to decide whoever pays the most money. That's how they pass in judgment. And then verse number 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Rhema and said unto him, Behold, thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. So they're like, Samuel, you're too old to lead us now. We don't like the leadership of your kids. They're messed up, all right? They're corrupt and they were. They were corrupt, all right? So they're like, look, give us new leadership. Give us a king like all the other nations. Verse number 6. Verse number 6. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. Isn't this like just commonplace? You can have a great man like Samuel, right? A man who's after just doing what is right, being a blessing, being sacrificial, right? He served in the temple. I mean, God had a special place for him. He had a special birth by the prayers of his mother Hannah. And she gave her son over to the work of God rather than have her to herself as her son. I mean, Samuel's done amazing works. Samuel's been an amazing leader. He's been a great judge. But his kids mess up. So Samuel, we don't want you to be our judge anymore. We're through with you. And like, I kind of understand. Like, you've been a poor father. You can't be our judge. I kind of get it. Because one of the qualifications of a bishop is to have faithful children, right? Now look, he's old. Obviously, his kids are adults. This is like, you know, beyond the ages where they were in their house, in his house and all that. But I want you to notice just the heart of man, how quickly they can turn, you know, because Samuel's done one wrong thing, just so quickly, the heart of man, right? And so I get it. Like, if I'm in Israel of that day, I'm probably going to be in that group that says, all right, Samuel, I think we need a new direction here. Like, I get it. You know, I know they're in the wrong, but I get where they're coming from. You understand what I'm saying? I get where they're coming from. And this is what God says, because he goes, Samuel just goes and prays to God. Like, you know, it's like, what do I do? It displeased him. He's discouraged. He's cast down, right? He's probably thinking, man, all these years of serving these people and they reject me outright like this. He's cast down, right? And look at verse number seven. And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. That's amazing. Because you ask the average Israelites, are you rejecting God? No, like, no, no, no, no. We're not rejecting God. We're rejecting Samuel and his sons. God says, no, no, no. They're rejecting me. See, God truly knows. Many times men, we don't know the condition of our heart. We don't know what is truly burning deep down the bitterness and the anger and the hatred that these people had towards Samuel for so long. But now it's just, now, now there's a reason, right? Now there's a reason to get rid of Samuel. Look at his sons. And what I love about this leadership of God is that he takes ownership. God says, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. I mean, God could have said, yeah, Samuel, you messed up. Yeah, the reason they want to king Samuel is because you weren't a good enough father. You didn't raise them properly, Samuel. Look what you've done, Samuel. You've messed up. God says, no, he doesn't even rebuke Samuel, right? He says, oh, look, it's my responsibility. I'll take ownership. They've rejected me. That blows me away. It blows me away. Because I'm sure Samuel had a part to play, of course, in the raising of these kids to not take their responsibility as judges properly. Oh, he could blame Samuel. Like, let's say his kids are messed up, but for Samuel to make the decision to appoint his kids, Samuel, you should have had better insight. You're their father. You should have known they don't love the Lord. You should have known they don't have a heart for the people here of this nation. And you appointed them anyway? Bad decision. Bad leadership, Samuel. But God says, no, I'll take the blame. They've rejected me. I'll take ownership for this, okay, and give them the king that they're looking for. But then he gives them what's going to happen for them when they take on the king and all that. But I love that about God when I was looking at this. Like, it's not just, you know, tearing down Samuel. It's not even like rebuking Samuel's kids. But he takes ownership of the situation, and that's really, at the end of the day, what a leader is. Even when those under you haven't done what is right, you still take ownership. Again, this kind of goes in with being a problem solver, okay? Like, oh, this is your problem. You deal with it. He goes, no, I'll deal with it. Give them the king that they need, and this is what's going to happen to them. This is the downward spiral that the king's going to lead them in. But it doesn't rebuke Samuel. It doesn't even rebuke his sons. This is what blows me away. He takes full ownership of this. And this part's hard because, you know, it's easy to look at the faults of others. But if they're operating under your leadership, then you should own it, right? God owns the nation of Israel, right? Samuel is but his, you know, what do we call it? His servants, right? Like the middle manager doing the best he can in his fallen nature, his sinful nature, all right? God takes ownership of the nation of Israel. And this is super hard for leaders. He goes, I'm the boss. Do what I say. You messed up. It's your fault. Yes, it is their fault, but what are you going to do to sort it out? How are you going to find those solutions, you know, to figure it out? Are you just going to, you know, throw all the blame to one individual or one group of people, or are you going to own it? This is hard because, I mean, God himself's done nothing wrong. Like, God's never failed them. God's given them the best judges that they can have. And think about Samuel at this point in time. Like, what did it say? He was displeased. He displeased Samuel. He's cast down, frustrated, maybe angry, maybe bitter, maybe feeling like a failure to God, failure as a father, you know? Like, think about the burden on Samuel. And then God says, they've not rejected you. They've rejected me. Think about the burden that's been lifted off Samuel's back just now. It's like, oh man, Lord. Like, what a great God. You're taking ownership for this instead of just dumping it on me. And so brethren, these are the qualities of divine leadership, God's divine leadership. Obviously, God's got the perfect balance of being a leader. Obviously, wives, if you look at your husband and you're like, man, I wish I had a better husband. Like, all husbands fail. You need to understand. We're just human beings. God's perfect. But our goal is to be more like our Lord God. He gives us these qualities. He gives us these directions so we can be better leaders also. Let me summarize very quickly God's divine leadership. His leading never fails. He's one that commands. He provides instructions. He leads for the well-being of his followers. He makes use of a hierarchy. He leads with strength and mercy. He desires voluntary followers. He supports the weak. He's a problem solver and he takes ownership. All right, brethren, I hope this was a blessing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we want to thank you for this morning. Thank you that we can be in your house and, Lord, that we can spend time to think of who you are and the great leader you are, Lord. You're a loving Father and, Lord, you give us direction in life. You want the best for us and for that we love you. We thank you for the salvation that you've given us. You've given us the way, the truth and the life of your son Jesus Christ. And, Lord, I pray that as your people, for those of us that may have been rebellious this week or not desiring to follow your commands, that we would recognise that, God, you just want the best for us. Help us not to be stiff-necked. Help us to be submissive under you. Lord, even if we don't fully understand, we know that your direction is always going to be best for us. Help us to love you properly, Lord. Help us to keep your commandments. And thank you for the leading that you've given us, Lord, through your word. We commit the rest of this day to you in the fellowship afterwards. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, please grab your hymnals. And let's turn to hymn number... Hymn number 116. Hymn number 116. Hymn number 116. 116. We'll finish up with, He leadeth me. He leadeth me. 116. He leadeth me. O blessed God! O burnt in heaven He comfort thought! What air I hear! Where, where I be! Stiffest not heaven in me! He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. By His own hands He leadeth me. His faith, O God of all I will be. O by His hand He leadeth me. Sometimes it seems something has flown. Sometimes, when the air covers low. By gorgeous moon, the drop of ceiling Sizzles through His hand I feel. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. By His own hands He leadeth me. His faith, O God of all I will be. O by His hand He leadeth me. Lord, I am lost. I can be found. Forever and ever more be found. But it's forever what I see. Since this my love has leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. By His own hands He leadeth me. His faith, O God of all I will be. O by His hand He leadeth me. Then can the trust, not the wisdom, When my life's restoration is done. In this country I will not be. Since the future has leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. By His own hands He leadeth me. His faith, O God of all I will be. O by His hand He leadeth me.