Calling the Leaders Out (Part 2)

Mention the ladies that meet every Wednesday morning at 9:00 am and then again at 5:00 pm for a time of prayer for our country, for our church body, for our state and our county and for the coming election!

Pastor appreciation recognition with Dee!

Show video for air-soft ministry first day on the field!

For those of you who were not able to be here last Sunday, I gave a message entitled, “Calling the Leaders Out”. In that message, I very briefly began to speak to everyone about how God has always established men and women to lead His people, according to His word and His perfect and sovereign will.

And in the message last week, I stressed the point that age and gender and single or married, are irrelevant when it comes to one’s ability, as well as one’s obligation to lead in the kingdom of God! Right?!

Let me ask you all a question, so that I can see who was paying attention last week. “How does leadership within the Kingdom of God differ from the typical mindset of leadership within the secular/natural world?”

A leader in the Kingdom of God becomes greater, by becoming the least in stature. (Remember what Jesus said to the 12 disciples in Matthew 20:25-28, when they were arguing about who would be great and receive notoriety and honor? He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”)

A leader in the Kingdom of God truly rises as a leader, as he/she learns to serve others more and more!

No matter how great you become in the eyes of others, in terms of notoriety and leadership as a leader within the Body of Christ, NO ONE (everybody say, “No one”), NO ONE is greater, or more important than anyone else who is serving within the Kingdom of God, right?!

What did Paul say about the Body of Christ in I Corinthians 12, “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

In the natural world, when someone is exalted and lifted high in the ranks of leadership, they are put upon pedestals and esteemed greater than others by the world. This is not the way that it works within the body of Christ!

But unfortunately, the church has done the same thing with those individuals who have been raised up as leaders within their respective fields and positions within the church world.

The church seems to set these individuals in higher regard over others and they tend to hang upon these certain people’s every word and movement!

These individuals are revered and looked upon as iconic and wherever they are at, that is where the people want to be. And we will pay just to be where they are, so we can say that we saw that person! (I wish that many held that same desire to be near to Christ, as they do those others servants of the Christ!!)

And great is the fall and great is the damage that occurs when one of these elevated people slip and fall into sin or apostasy!

We should NEVER exalt others within the body of Christ, as more important, or of greater worth and value over another. ONLY THE LORD DESERVES THAT PLACE AND POSITION WITHIN OUR HEARTS!!

And the Lord will NEVER disappoint you and hurt you and let you down, like other people will!

You know, when my wife and I were in Savannah, GA a couple of weeks ago, we walked around and looked at some really historic places. (Savannah is a really pretty city.) And this one main road that ran straight up through the center of the town, had these beautiful little parks all the way up it. Well, one of these little parks, (Chippewa Square), was the same place that they filmed the scene in the movie, “Forrest Gump”, where Tom Hanks sat on the park bench waiting for his bus and eating his “box of chocolates”. And so we took a selfie photo of us standing right where the park bench was in the movie, with the statue behind us. And so now, if someone says to my wife and I that he/she are going to Savannah, GA, we would tell them, “you need to go and eat here, or there. And go visit this shop and that shop. And most definitely, while you’re walking up Bull St., stop at Chippewa Square and take a selfie in front of the statue, so that you can say you were where Forrest Gump was! If we are so enamored to be where someone famous from Hollywood once stood, and we would lead others to be there as well................why are we not absolutely filled with excitement and joy beyond measure to know that the KING OF THE UNIVERSE is with us, (walking with us every day, right where we are) and why are we not LEADING others to Him, saying, “Hey, come here and take a selfie with me and Jesus!”

Remember what Yeshua said about John the Baptist, in Luke 7:28, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

So, which of us in this room this morning is greater than another? NO ONE, right? If we are in the kingdom of God, then are we not all equal in His body?

We are the body and He is the head, right?!

And where two or more are gathered in His name, there He will be in our midst, so, I think that we all should pretty well know who is the greatest is this room right now and for all time!!

I mentioned to you last week, that leaders are unique from other people for one very distinct reason......their way of thinking is different from the other people’s

When the followers of the world say, “it can’t be done”, the leaders of the kingdom of God, say, “It can and it will be done, because “Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world”, right?!!

Kingdom leaders do no walk according to this world and the mindset of this world, because this world and the things of this world, are fading away and will one day be made new for God’s people!

In fact, as leaders for the Kingdom of God, our minds are constantly being renewed. so that we do not and should not think like the world thinks!

We are not to have the mind of this world, but rather, we are to have the mind of Christ!!!!!!

And I know that there are some of you who do not feel like you are either called, or equipped to be a leader for the Kingdom of God, but to this let me tell you something.

If you have given your life to Jesus the Christ and He has put His Holy Spirit within you, then you most definitely are equipped and called to LEAD others to Jesus!

Look at what Paul said in Colossians 1:28-29, “Him we proclaim, (who is the “HIM” that Paul is referring to here? Right before this Paul said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory!”) Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Now look at what Paul is demonstrating to us here. He says that he and all of those with him, (other believers), were proclaiming and teaching EVERYONE with all wisdom (where does our wisdom come from?), so that they could present EVERYONE mature in Christ!

In other words, Paul is showing us in this passage, himself and his fellow servants, and of how they were leading EVERYONE they could, to Christ. And not just leading them to the Christ, but also continually leading them along the correct narrow path, so as to present them mature and established in Christ!

That is who and that is what you and I are called to do. LEAD EVERYONE, (say, “EVERYONE), to Jesus and then once we get them to the place of salvation, we are not done, but rather we continually lead them along the path, so as to make sure that they become MATURE and strong in their walk with the Lord! (a.k.a. discipleship 101!)

Now for those who are not sure that you have what it takes to LEAD EVERYONE to Christ, don’t worry, Paul took care of you in this same chapter.

Look at what Paul said at the end of this passage, he said, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

And the word in the Greek used here for “struggling”, comes from the word which means to, “to make every effort to, to do everything possible to, to strain oneself” to achieve the task.

In other words, Paul is saying that no matter what the cost, no matter how daunting the task may be, he was going to LEAD everyone to becoming mature and future LEADERS in the kingdom!

And then Paul just comes out and says it, that in this great effort with which he has undertaken, time and time again, it’s not “his” strength and power that enables him to do so. But rather Paul tells us that he did so with, “all HIS energy that HE powerfully works within me.”

Whose power was at work within Paul in this passage? Go back up to verses 10-11 where Paul said earlier, “So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy!”

It is God’s power active inside of us, through His blessed Holy Spirit, that empowers and quickens us to LEAD EVERYONE to the Christ!

It is not our own strength and power, or we would never be able to do it!

And the closer that you draw near to God, the closer that He will draw near to you!!!! That’s His guarantee to us, James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

Of course we must also pay attention to what James warns us about in our “drawing near to God”. The verse right after that continues with, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

This passage is reminding us that we must always be mindful of who God is! He is holy and righteous and just.

And when we desire to draw closer to Him, we must make sure that we are not trying to do so with active sin in our lives! If you are holding on to your sin with one hand and reaching out to the Lord with the other, then James says that you are “double-minded” and that a double minded person is “unstable”.

The word “unstable” literally means, “being unable to be controlled by something or someone”. And in this case, what James is warning us about, is that if you or I have active sin in our lives, then we cannot be controlled by the power of God, because we have allowed sin to have control in our lives!

But if we seek God and His righteousness and His will for our lives and remove all sin from our walk and then draw near to God,God moves closer to you in proximity! And guess what comes with His presence............HIS UNLIMITED POWER!!

You and I are called to LEAD others to God, through Jesus the Christ. And with that calling to LEAD, comes all of the power of the Kingdom of God to enable and strengthen us

If we are not leading others to Him because of our weakness in flesh, we have no one to blame but ourselves, because He has given to us EVERYTHING that pertains to life and godliness!

I mentioned last week of where Jesus said, “So ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

I want to pretty much finish today dealing with this point that Jesus was stressing to us.

WE must be very careful as to how we LEAD others. You and I can be religious all day long and still lead others away from Jesus!

Jesus was speaking about the religious leaders of His time, when He spoke of the “blind leading the blind”.

Has this happened in this nation? Have the LEADERS in this nation and of our government and the leaders in the church body in America become the “blind leading the blind”?

Absolutely!

Let me ask it you in this manner. Where are the leaders in this nation who should have and could have risen up against the attacks upon our religious rights that have become dismantled? Why can children no longer pray in schools and why can we put so much emphasis on the study of Islam, but we can’t teach the Word of God?

Where are and were the leaders in this nation, who should have ruled at levels of the government against the sickness of pornography and all of the sin that has come through it?

Where are more of the Christian leaders in the realms of science and medicine and in the world of academia in the local schools and at major universities, who would take a stand for God and His sovereignty over this nation, versus the atheists and socialists who are polluting and corrupting the minds of our young people?

I can’t answer definitely for all of these, in all cases, but there is one thing that I can say with boldness and conviction and certainty about where many of these LEADERS are, that should have and could have been in place in many of these situations.

They were murdered! We have murdered 62 million babies in this nation since 1973!

And out of those 62 million babies, I feel very confident that many of the leaders of this nation and of the world, who could and would have been in place to have made a difference for the body of Christ and for our nation!

Let me see if I can put into perspective for you the number of 62 million people being removed from this nation:

If you remove every man and woman working in the field of law enforcement in the US, does that get you to 62 million yet? NO!

Well then, what if you also removed every man and woman serving in all of the military branches within the US, would that get to 62 million? NOPE!

OK, so how about if we also remove every man and woman working in the medical field in the US, surely that will get us to the number 62 million, right? Not quite yet!

So, let’s go ahead and also remove all of the K-12 teachers in this nation. And while we are at it, let’s also go ahead and remove all of the college professors! How about now?

Only after you also remove the entire states of:Utah, Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, West Virginia, Idaho, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana and Rhode Island!

Oh yeah, along with: Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and finally Wyoming!

That is the size of the atrocity of 62 million babies who were murdered in this nation alone!

And this all happened because we didn’t have godly LEADERS who would stand up and oppose this.

Now, you have men and women, who call themselves Christian leaders, who support this sickness.

There are pastors, from various denominations, who support it, completely and openly.

As one pastor in Atlanta who is running for the US Senate and who also pastors the baptist church which both Martin Luther King Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastors of stated this year, “Abortion rights are 'consistent' with my beliefs as a minister. He also said if elected, he would ensure that, “women can receive the kind of services that they need in order to have a healthy pregnancy and … healthy baby.”

So, he’ll help you to kill your baby or deliver it, whichever you feel better with, he’s for that!

This is the blind leading the blind, folks! These are wolves in sheep’s clothing who are screaming out, “Follow my LEAD on the path to heaven!”

They are right about leading others, in fact, countless millions, down a path...........the broad path that is easy and accepting of whatever you desire in this life!

But, they are not the shepherds that lead and guide you to and down the narrow and the difficult path.

As Jesus said warned us not to become deceived by false teachers, false LEADERS, (blind leaders), He also said that finding the narrow path and the way down it, would be done so by the few, not the many!

I just read yesterday, about some 350+ faith leaders and pastors in our nation, who were excited to openly endorse Joe Biden for the office of President of the United States.

One of these pastors, is a Lutheran minister, by the name of Nadia Bolz-Weber.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, pastors a church in Denver, Colorado, called the “House for All Sinners and Saints”, in which she says that all are welcome (which all should be welcome to the churches to hear the truth of the gospel message for salvation), but Ms. Bolz-Weber says that their lifestyles are embraced as they are, whatever that lifestyle may be.

She has written several books which were best sellers and she states in one such writing, “I’m here to tell you: unless your sexual desires are for minors or animals, or your sexual choices are hurting you or those you love, those desires are not something you need to “struggle with.” They are something to listen to, make decisions about, explore, perhaps have caution about. But struggle with? Fight against? Make enemies of? No.”

Everything that this woman is teaching to her congregants and all who buy and read her books, are lies and DIRECT violations of the Word of God and she is LEADING the blind down the broad path to destruction; a blind leader herself!

Folks listen to me, the Bible clearly states that those who lead others astray, will answer directly to God for what they have done.

Paul warned us about these in LEADERS in II Corinthians 11:13-15, where he said, “These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.”

Paul also warned us about these false teachers in Romans 16:17-18, where he said, “And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.”

Stop here and petition the people about voting this week and of how they need to understand what and who they are voting for!