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

Now, this is a pretty famous chapter. Flip back, if you would, to 1 Kings 19, but this is, of course, the famous chapter where Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind and Elisha is there to see him. And Elisha was the follower or protege of Elijah for many, many years before this time. And it says in 1 Kings 19, 19, and of course this is where Elijah first meets Elisha and calls him, but he says in verse 19 of chapter 19, so he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shabak, who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him, and he went to 12. And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. Now before I get into the subject of the message, just to point out a couple of great things about these verses we just read. Number one, God is always looking for people who are working, who are busy. Did you notice that? I mean, here's a guy who's working hard. He's plowing with 12 yoke of oxen and he with the 12. I mean, he's literally pulling the yoke with the oxen. I mean, he's a hard working man right away. Same thing as when Jesus found men who were fishing and working and doing different things. So he's looking for a man who's a hard worker, number one, to call into the ministry, to call and to be a preacher. But the next thing I want you to see is that when he went to follow Elijah, do you notice how he burned his bridges behind him? He took all of his tools, all of the equipment that he used to do his work, and he basically just lit them all on fire. Did you notice that in verse 21? He used them to kindle the fire. He said, well, I don't need this stuff anymore. Threw it all in, lit it on fire, cooked the meat for his family, said goodbye, had a little goodbye party, and then took off. But what I want to preach on tonight, I preached a sermon a while back that was called Be a Leader. I preached it a while back and it's on the website. But today I want to preach a sermon called Be a Follower, okay? Because just as important as being a leader is being a follower. In fact, every great leader in the Bible was first a great follower. I'm going to show you some examples. If you look at Elisha, this is, of course, a great example. He said, I will follow thee. He followed Elijah. But look at the last verse. It says, then he arose and went after Elijah at the end of verse 21, and ministered unto him. Look at 2 Kings 3, just a few pages to the right of your Bible. 2 Kings 3, this is after Elijah has gone up to heaven in the whirlwind. In 2 Kings 3, 11, it says, but Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, watch this, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. You see, he started out as a servant. He started out as a minister, and he started out as a great follower. In chapter 2, where we started reading, you flip over there, we saw that everywhere Elijah went, Elisha wanted to follow him. I mean, he wanted to be right, even when he told him, Hey, you can stay here. You don't have to come along. I've got to go all the way over here. He said, No, I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to be there. I'm going to follow you, and so forth. Look at the key part of chapter 2. It says right here in verse 9, And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Notice, not the Holy Spirit. He said, A double portion of thy spirit be upon me, and he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. Let me tell you something, Elijah was a great man of God. He was a powerful, powerful man of God, and it was a hard thing to ask, to say, I want a double portion of your spirit. I mean, we're talking about a man who performed, I believe, seven miracles that are listed. He prophesied all kinds of great prophecies, but if you sit down and count up, and I've done this before in another sermon, I don't want to take the time right now, but I have counted up that Elisha literally did twice as many miracles as Elijah, and he made twice as many prophecies. I counted it up in a different sermon, and to prove that from the Bible, we looked at each prophecy and each miracle. I mean, here is a great man, Elisha, who doubled the works of Elijah that we see in God's Word here. Why? Because he started out being a great follower. Look, if you would, at Joshua, the second example, Exodus chapter 24. Look at Exodus chapter 24, and there's a lot in the Bible about Joshua, so we're just going to look at a few example verses here. We're not going to go too much into this, but Joshua is another great example of a powerful, powerful leader, and a man who started out by being a great follower. Look at Exodus 24, 13. It says, And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua, notice the wording there, a minister is a servant, and Moses went up into the mount of God. Look at chapter 33, verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man spaketh unto his friend, and he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Turn over to Numbers 27, 18. While you're turning there, I'll read for you 11, 28. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. Numbers 27, 18. Here's the key verse. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee, Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. Look at Deuteronomy 34, 9. Deuteronomy 34, 9, the next book in the Bible. You see that Joshua, and I'm not even showing every verse, just because I don't want to be too redundant here, but the Bible is clear that Joshua was Moses' servant, Moses' servant, Moses' minister, Moses' servant. And notice the Spirit was there. You know, same thing, like when Elijah got a double portion of Elijah's Spirit. It says in Deuteronomy 34, 9, And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom. Why? Because, he said, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. Now why was the Spirit of wisdom, why was Joshua filled with the Spirit of wisdom, according to verse 9 here? Why? Because Moses had laid his hands on him. Isn't that what it says? We didn't get there on Wednesday night, so I can clean up what I didn't do on Wednesday night in 1 Timothy 4, and we were just going through it. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, you remember this from 1 Timothy 4, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. Did you hear that? The power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, being a great leader, being a great man of God, was transferred from one man to another. With Timothy it was the case. He received it from the presbytery, which is just the elders of the church. Other great men, other great leaders in the church that were senior to Timothy, laid their hands on him, and that's where he got the power to be the great leader that he needed to be. Same thing with Joshua. Moses laid his hands upon him. He was a great follower before he was a great leader. He followed a great man of God and he became a great man of God. David, another perfect example. We can just look at one quick example. Look at 1 Samuel 18. Do I even need to go into David? The man who was the faithful servant of Saul, even when Saul had turned on him, even when Saul was trying to kill him, he would not lift up his hand against him. He would not badmouth him. He was just straight down the line as a great follower, therefore he became a great leader. Look at 1 Samuel 18. Here's an example of what kind of follower David was. It says in verse 25, and Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desired with not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. So, Saul is trying to do dirty by David here. But look how great of a follower David is, even with a leader that isn't the greatest leader in the world. But he was a man who was filled with the Spirit at a time. There was a time when Saul was filled with the Spirit. In fact, the Bible says more about Saul than any other man in the Bible, that he was filled with the Spirit. But then you remember how the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And then it basically, the evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. But look at verse 26, And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men and slew of the Philistines. How many? Two hundred men. And David brought their four scans, and they gave him a full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michael, his daughter, and his wife. Here's a great follower. Oh, you want one hundred? Let me give you two hundred. You know, I mean, this is a great follower. It's kind of a graphic story, I understand. But anyway, you know, he's a great follower. Here's a man who followed Saul and was one of his most faithful servants, Jonathan came to David, or came to Saul in 1 Samuel 19-4, and Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto them, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee were very good. People were saying, look, Saul, David has been a great follower. David has been your faithful servant. That's why he made a great leader, because he's been a great servant. Now let's go into the New Testament. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians 3, toward the end of the New Testament. While you're going there, let me read you some scriptures from Proverbs 15. It says in Proverbs 15, 10, you're turning to 2 Thessalonians 3, Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way, and he that he didth reprove shall die. Verse 12, A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. Verse 31, The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuses instruction despiseth his own soul, but he that heareth reprove getth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And listen to this, and before honor is humility. Before Elisha had people literally just thronging to him saying, you're our leader in chapter 2. Remember that? All the 50 prophets, they ran to him, and they made obeisance to him and said, you are our leader. Before that, he had the menial task of just pouring water on the hands of Elisha. Before Joshua had the whole host of Israel following him, he was just a servant, a young man, a minister that followed Moses. Before David was the great king of Israel, he was the man who was treated poorly even by his leader, but yet followed the leader. And before honor comes humility, there's never been a great leader who wasn't first a great follower. Because let me explain something to you. Poor followers make poor leaders. It's a fact. A poor follower is always going to be a poor leader. See, I don't want to follow anybody. How are you going to follow Jesus Christ? I'll follow Jesus Christ. You know what? If you'll follow Jesus Christ, then you'll be able to follow a man of God if you're going to follow Jesus Christ. Because Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Now look, let's get out of the spiritual realm. We're going to come back to 2 Thessalonians 3, but let me tell you something. You need to learn to be a great follower in every area of your life. Children need to learn to follow their parents. Because let me tell you something, and let me speak to the girls. Teenage girls, young girls, if you won't obey in the home, if you can't obey mom and dad, if you can't follow the leader you have right now, how are you going to follow your husband someday? Think about that. Because it's the same character trait of someone who will not follow. Someone who has a problem with authority in one area, someone who has a problem with authority with their parents is never going to be able to follow good authority at work, or follow good authority in their home life. For girls that grow up and get married, they're not going to follow their husband if they won't follow mom and dad. And every parent is first a child. And the obedient child will make a great parent. This is a biblical principle. Because you start out being a great follower, and if you can't obey mom and dad, you will not be the parent that you need to be. Now we've all been on the job and run into people who just have a problem with authority, haven't we, at work? Have you ever known people at work like that who just have a problem with authority? Oh yeah. They cannot stand reproof. They cannot stand being corrected. They cannot stand being told that they're wrong. This is a character trait that will cause you to fail in life and never be a great leader. Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, you're this guy who's just this renegade, you don't follow anybody, you blaze your own track. You know what? It's not true. It's not true. Let me tell you something. I am not a natural born leader. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a natural leader. I'm not. I'm just being perfectly honest with you. I am a natural born follower. Now I've become what I need to be because I know that God wants me to pastor and to start a church and to do what I'm doing. I know I'm doing the right thing and I know God wants me doing what I'm doing. But let me tell you something. I've had to work hard to become a leader because I was more of a natural follower. But you know what? I think that's why God's using me as a leader, because I am a follower. Because I always tried to follow my God-given authorities in my life. When I was a child and my parents saw, there were times when I was rebellious and so forth. And I always, when I turned 18, I always just wanted to move out when I turned 18. Isn't that what a lot of kids think today? They're counting down. I mean, you know, one year and three months. They're counting down. They want to get out of that house. And I was the same way I was counting down. I'm just telling the truth. But there came a time when I was 17, I got into a good independent fundamental Baptist church. And when I got right with God, it's amazing how I got right with my parents when I got right with God. Because I had friction with my parents, but when I got right with God, I got right with my parents. Because if you're a child living in the home and you're not right with your parents, you're not right with God. Because that is the God-given authority set up over you in your life. I mean, stop and think about it. Where does anyone in this whole world derive any authority? Only from God. Only from God. God is the one who gives parents authority over their children. He gives it to them in the word of God. God is the one who gives the husband authority over the wife. God is the one who gives the boss at work authority over the servant, over the employee. God is the one who gives human government the authority over us in the United States of America. Now, of course, our government is totally overstepping the authority that God spelled out in the Bible what that authority should be. But they would have no power at all. They would have no authority at all except that God had given them that authority and that God had given them that power. And when you were a child, when you were living in your parents' house and you were their child, you are under their authority, even Jesus Christ. Would anyone argue that there's a better leader than Jesus Christ? I mean, we're talking about the greatest leader of all time went home at 12 years old and was subject unto his parents. In Luke chapter 2, it says that he went home and he was subject unto them. Subject unto them. Everybody know what sub means? He put himself under their authority. The greatest leader of all time was a great follower. Jesus Christ himself, God in the flesh, followed and obeyed his parents. And if you're a child in the home and you're not right with mom and dad, you aren't right with God. And it's amazing how when I turned 17 and got into fire-breathing, fundamental Baptist church and started going soul-witting and winning souls to Christ, I got right with my parents and I began to have a great relationship with my parents. And when I turned 18, I did not move out of the house. I stayed living at home with my parents and I stayed living at home with my parents until I got married. Because the Bible says, and I read this verse and was convicted by it, it said, therefore shall a man lead father and mother and shall cleave into his wife and they too shall be one flesh. And I said, well, that's the plan I want to follow for my life right there. You know, other people are in different situations through circumstance and through events. But you know what? In a perfect world, that's God's plan. In a perfect world. In a perfect world, that's the program right there. You know, other people have gotten in different positions just because of different events in life and so forth. But you know what? That's what I teach my children. And you young people that are young and you're in the home right now with mom and dad, let these words sink down into your ears. Pastor Anderson is telling you the truth tonight that you shouldn't be counting down until you're 18. Just count down until you get married. That's the countdown because that's when you're to move out and to do your own thing. That's what I believe. I don't agree with you. You go believe what you want to believe then. I'm just telling you what I believe from the Bible that that's God's plan. And let me tell you something. I got along with my parents and obeyed my parents and followed them while I was in that home until I got married. Then they were no longer an authority figure, but I still respect and have honor and love for that. But I'm telling you, I obeyed them and got along with them. The church that I went to at the time, I can go back into my mind to that time, I went to Regency Baptist Church. I was never a troublemaker in that church. I followed the church. I followed the pastor. I followed him on soul winning. I followed him on all these great things. Now look, you know, was he perfect? If he said something that was unscriptural, was I just going to blindly follow him? No, but he was preaching God's Word faithfully. He was winning souls to Christ, and so I followed him. And I didn't come in and try to change everything and tell, you know, I followed, and anybody who knows me during that time, I know that, knows that I followed. Anyone who knew me from the time that I was in the pew, not behind the pulpit, knows that I strove to be the best follower I could possibly be. I wanted to be a great follower. And I love being a follower. Part of the reason why I started church is just because there's such a void in this country of solid Bible believing so many churches. I just felt like somebody's got to stand in the gap. Somebody's got to do this, but you know, it's more blessed in many cases just to be a follower than a leader. And if you'll be a great follower, God can use you one day to be a great leader. Because God knows that we need some great leaders in this country. We are starving for great leaders in this country. We are starving. I mean, we look across this country and how many Christians are like sheep without a shepherd. We can't find the leaders that we need. But I wonder if it's because people aren't being the followers that they need to be. That God can't call them to be the leader that they need to be. I mean, we see it all through the Bible. Every great leader was a great follower. Let's get some New Testament scriptures on this. It says in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse oh and by the way before I forget this. What is the problem with the with a bad follower. Let's think about pride. Who's the person who can't stand being corrected? The proud person, right? Nobody's going to tell me what to do. I'm not going to follow anybody. Now hold on a second. Can you see how pride could be a really really bad trait in a leader? Think about that. Remember what brother stop for being was preaching on the camping trip? About being a great leader is about being a great servant, about being a myth. It's about doing for others, not what people can do for you. What does the pastor call how many times? A minister, a servant, okay? And so if I'm going to be a great leader, if I'm going to be a great pastor, I have to be humble. And the opposite of being humble is prideful. And the prideful person is the bad follower. And a prideful leader is a very bad leader. Because the prideful leader is basically just in it for himself. He's not there to serve. He's there to be served. The prideful leader can't be corrected when he needs to be corrected. The prideful leader can't follow Jesus Christ. And therefore he'll probably lead people astray if he's not following Christ. Pride is a great attribute. You know, refer to the servant that we heard on the camping trip by myself. The same thing. Jesus Christ was not filled with pride. The Bible says that he who being in the form of God thought that not robbery to be equal with God. Here's a man who's equal to God. I mean he's Jesus Christ and God in the flesh. But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the flesh, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So Jesus Christ was a humble man, even though he's God in the flesh. I mean, if anybody didn't need to be humble, you'd think it's Jesus. He doesn't need to be humble. He's God. But yet when he was robed in human flesh when he was on this earth, he humbled himself before his parents. He even humbled himself before his followers. He humbled himself before his disciples. When he got on his knees and washed their feet. That's a pretty demeaning job to wash somebody's feet. But he was humble, wasn't he? The bad follower is filled with pride. He's going to be a bad leader because he's going to be a prideful, arrogant leader. He's not going to do what's best for the follower. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 7, this is Paul speaking. He said, For yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we behave not ourselves disorderly among you. Neither did we eat any man's bread for not, to rot with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves and then sample under you to follow us. So in verse 7 he said, you ought to follow us at the beginning there. In verse 9, he said, to make ourselves and sample under you to follow us. Look at 1st Corinthians. Go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 4. 1st Corinthians chapter 4. 1st Corinthians chapter 4, the Bible reads in verse 16. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. This is Paul speaking. Follow me. Look if you would at chapter 11 verse 1. That was chapter 4 verse 16. He said, Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Look at 1st Corinthians 11 1. He said, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. You see, everyone's a follower. Even the leaders a follower. Because no matter how high on the totem pole you are at your job, there's one that's higher than you and that's God. No matter how high you are in human government, let me tell you something. The leaders of this world are accountable to God and will be judged by God. Whether it be the President of the United States or these other people all over the world who call themselves kings and rulers dictators whatever. They're accountable to God. They can't just do they may think they can do whatever they want and get away with it but they won't. They have an authority and that's God. Everyone has an authority. You say, well, you know, you're the pastor of the church so you're just an absolute no. I I'm following Christ. I'm following Jesus Christ. I'm following the Bible. I mean I don't have any more authority than you do. I mean I'm following Christ. Now, look, if someone's not following Christ and they're a spiritual leader, don't follow them. Follow someone who's following Christ. Now, on your job, it doesn't matter whether your boss is following Christ or not. He's still your boss. It doesn't matter whether your parents are following Christ or not. They are the boss. Being a great follower is following mom, following dad, following the boss. When you're in church, the pastor has certain authority. Now, my authority does not extend into your home. Okay? Who's the head of the home, according to the Bible? Dad, the man, the husband. So, it's not right for me to come and tell your wife what to do or come to tell your children what to do. My authority is in the church. Basically, I have authority in this church to lead this church. You lead your home. I don't want to lead your home. You lead your home. Other men lead businesses. Women are leaders in the home as they lead the children. The pastor leads in the church. Other men in the church can sometimes rise to a point is that every leader is a follower and no great leader was not a great follower. All through the Bible, all through the scripture. Look if you would at First Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one. While you're turning there, I'll read you another verse. Philippians 312. Paul said not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Verse 17. He said brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an in sample. First Thessalonians one five. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And he became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost so that he were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Akai. Now this church first they followed Paul but then in verse seven they became an example to others. See they started out following in verse five and six and then by verse seven now they're leading. You see that? Look if you would at First Thessalonians 2 14. For ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews. Look at Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter number six says this that you be not slothful. Slothful means lazy. But followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Do you see that? Find people who through faith and patience inherit the promises and follow them. Verse 13 or chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13 same book just look over chapter 13. Verse seven remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith followed considering the end of Jesus. And we can go on and on. I have page and page of verses here about following Jesus. I mean where Jesus is constantly saying to people everywhere it goes. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Follow Jesus. Follow me. And my favorite of all, Matthew 4 19. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Want to be a great soul winner? Follow someone who's a great soul winner. Want to learn how to win souls and follow that person and learn how to win souls to Jesus Christ by being a follower. And then when you learn to win souls to Jesus Christ by being the follower then one day you'll be a leader and then you'll have a silent partner with you and you'll teach them how to win souls to Christ. But before you're going to be a leader you got to be a follower. You got to learn to follow. You see when Pastor Anderson was a young man reading the Bible going through the scriptures. You know I didn't grow as fast as a lot of you would grow. I didn't. I grew in my Christianity at a much slower rate than many of you in this room. I mean I could point I'm not going to but I could point out many people in this room some of whom got saved at our church others of whom maybe got saved somewhere else but they hadn't really been taught anything or even baptized or discipled whatever the case may be but I could name even just people who got saved here at our church they got saved and baptized here and they are doing great things for God winning so I mean they grew way faster than I grew in my christian life you know why because they're following a leader that's why but see without a leader to follow and this is what's wrong with america today I'm serious I mean this is the problem without a leader to follow it's a lot harder to grow in the lord it's a lot harder to move forward in your christian life and so there were times in my life when I had good leaders and when I had those great leaders my growth was accelerated when I had great leaders but there were other times in my life where I didn't grow hardly at all and yet I was reading the bible and trying to do what was right but it is so much easier when you've got a great leader when you've got somebody to get behind when you've got somebody who's doing right and you say oh my leader's not perfect look nobody's perfect was paul perfect I could show you some things that paul did that were pretty dumb remember what he did when he went in the book of acts and shaved his head and went and did that whole jew thing that wasn't right that was what he preached against you know but I'd say overall paul was a great leader wouldn't you I mean I can show you mistakes that Moses made I can show you mistakes that Elijah made I mean Elijah got depressed and down and wanted to die you know I mean he had some times that he went through where he wasn't doing too hot either I mean you look at every great leader in the bible and guess what very human being saw definitely wasn't a great leader but let me tell you something saw was filled with the spirit and people got behind him and they learned and became great leaders even though he failed later on in life he started out a really great leader he started out a really great guy and those who followed him became great leaders themselves let me tell you something if you can get in a great church with a pastor who's serving god I'm not saying he's perfect but if he's winning souls to Christ if he's preaching god's word you are going to grow a lot faster than when you're just trying to be the leader yourself before you have followed sufficiently you see if I mean if I would have started leading when I was 18 19 20 years old I wouldn't have been the leader that I was when I started after had a little bit more time to follow other people you know right before this church I was going to a church where the pastor was not a great leader okay and I'm not talking about the church that I was sent out of Sacramento I'm talking about before that I was going to a church where the pastor was not a great leader but let me tell you something there was a guy in that church there was a man in that church who I was following great preacher that was doing great things for God and I got under this guy's wing and I mean I'm talking very short time before I started the church and I humbled myself before him and got under his leadership let him show me the ropes out slowly I did solely for years and years but I let him teach me more I let him show me many things out of the Bible let me tell you something that guy dramatically helped me to grow in the Lord spiritually in a powerful way just a layman at the church but he was a great soul winner great preacher he knew the Bible very well he taught many of the things that I preach he taught a lot of methods that I use out soul winning I learned from him you know he was a leader in my life he was somebody that I follow I didn't just say well I don't need this guy you know no I said you know what I I'm looking at this guy and I see things in him I see the spirit of God here I see the power of God in this guy's life I said I want to follow this guy and get what I can from and it takes humility to do that you know takes humility it's about Jesus and the kingdom of Jesus Christ is gonna is gonna be moving forward at the fastest rate when you can look and realize hey wait a minute here's somebody who's beyond me spiritually you know here's somebody who's winning souls here's somebody who knows the bible here's somebody who's a great leader I want to follow that leader and one day I can have a double portion of their spirit one if I'll follow that leader I will have the double portion I can do great things for God that exceed and I hope that my children will follow them I hope my children are listening to me preach right now will grow up and follow me and I hope that they will do twice as much for God as I've done in my life I hope they do double what I do I hope they win twice as many people to Christ I hope they lead twice as many people to become a soul winner and great hey I hope that they do double and I hope that you will have the sense to say you know I'm fifteen I don't know everything you know I've been saved for six months or I've been saved for a year I don't know everything I've read the Bible through cover to cover you know uh once I don't know everything you know you gotta realize there are people that have read through the Bible many many more times than that that have read through the Bible scores of time there are people who've won you know thousands of people or several hundred people to the Lord there are people who are beyond you and you need to just get behind them and follow and learn from them don't get to the point where you can't learn you've always got to be learning I'm willing to follow anybody who has something to teach me even at this day July 25th 2010 I will follow anyone who has something to teach me seriously I would love it I'm looking for a leader you know and and I've got Jesus Christ is a leader but you know if there's somebody else that can lead me somewhere that can teach me something I would love to sit down and learn something I like to listen to preaching you know I don't listen to as much preaching as you do because I'm usually the one doing the preaching but you don't any thousands and thousands of hours of preaching I listened to before I ever became a pastor and even now I love every chance I get on a week night to go somewhere and get some preaching and learn something and sit down and and be fed and be led you know we just went and heard a pretty sorry you know I was fed by that I enjoyed I learned something from that you know and I hang on every word when I listen to preaching cause I'm trying to learn something you know my best friend brother he met his family this year you know and he's starting a church on September 5th that's somebody who I taught a lot of things you know back in the day you know that's someone I knew when he was a teenager he taught him all kinds of things now he's a great leader now he's leading the way he's ready to lead but you know what's interesting you know and I he followed me for a while I taught him all I think back when we were teens we were in the same church and and I was young young married and he was a teen but you know what I would love to learn from him I love it when he preaches I want to follow him you know I I want and my natural tendency is to follow I want to follow somebody who's a man of God I want to follow somebody who knows the Bible and knows God and maybe that's why I'm a leader and maybe that's why you'll never be a leader you don't think about that for a little while maybe that's why I'm up here as a pastor and leading because I love to follow and to this day I still love to follow and I long to follow maybe that's why I'm a leader stop and think about this this is a profound truth and it's not just something that's mentioned a few times in the Bible because as I prepared this sermon it was just what am I going to leave out you know what I mean it's just like all these verses just just follow follow follow follow follower follower follower follower follower and today you're criticized oh you're a follower and let me tell you something being a follower can sometimes be a bad thank if you're following the wrong leader don't ever be a blind follower don't ever just you know don't ever be a blind you see who is the great church somebody helped me out who is the great church that we looked at several scriptures who was a great following church and who Paul kept telling to follow what verses were we just looking at over and over two books that we kept going to them that's the lonians right first and that's the second that's one it's first and second that's like that was a great following church but you know what they needed they were told you need to search the scripture daily because in the book saying you know what you need to bring it in the bible you need to say but by the time he wrote first thessalonians he's just lavishing praise on them as being the greatest church around before he criticized he said well this other church in Berea was better but then he said no by the time he wrote first as long he said this is the greatest church in master he said every other Berea is following them all the church around thessalonians are following them you see you don't want to ever be a blind follower you know you've got to search the scriptures daily to see whether you're being taught and led the right way you don't want to just go to school and follow the crowd you know you don't want to ever follow a crowd you want to follow the one you want to follow the minority you don't follow the crowd of people you follow moses you don't just follow the most i mean there were a lot of sons of the prophets who were preaching a lot of messages eliza wasn't following those 50 guys he didn't just fit in with the 50 guys no he followed eliza you know timothy followed paul you know these people followed a leader that was a godly right say i'm not saying be a blindly live a blind all i'm not saying to just be a conformist and to just go with the flow and to be like everybody else but what i'm saying is if you want to grow slowly and don't follow just do your own thing and you know if you're not a follower you'll eventually figure out how to win souls and you'll eventually figure out how to live for god and you'll eventually figure out how to raise your children and have your wife you know just for reading the bible just on your own without following any man even and if you never go to church you'll eventually learn things and figure things out but you hope don't you want to i don't know everything therefore i will go to we were knocking on doors who who was i with somebody somebody helped me out if you were with me on this day i think it was i think it was you for the matt we were knocking on doors and this guy just told us that he pretty much already he said well i already know more than than pretty much ever pastor so he said really going places for god i mean just as you hear that story does that sound to you like a spiritual giant why what bothers you about that story pride and he thinks he knows everything and it turned out from talking to the guy for 30 seconds it was pretty clear matt wasn't the guy didn't know nothing he knew nothing but he pretty much knows more than any pastor no and then he starts telling us all this dumb doctrine then we like tore apart his doctrine in about 10 seconds you know i mean it's pretty easy and they know okay yeah i see what you're saying and it's like all right see you later buddy you know but but where's he at is he here tonight i don't see him anywhere in uh for you because you can't teach somebody something more and knows everything i always say that whenever i'm out solely oh that guy already knows everything we can't teach him anything let's go to the next door think about that how many people do we run into with that prideful arrogant attitude i don't need church i don't need god gave you a pastor god gave you teachers and god gave you other godly examples in this church there are people in this church who are godly examples you ought to be following them you ought to get out soul winning with them and be their silent partner you ought to gravitate toward people who are who are a great soul winner and get with them and learn how to do it learn the ropes and look why you say but you know pastor you understand i'm a natural born leader you know what is there really any such thing as a natural born leader i don't know because i don't think anybody was born to lead you know when you're when you're six months old i don't think you're leading anybody you know i think it's just great followers that eventually become the leaders moses was a great leader wasn't he did you use the meekest man on the face of the whole earth the bible says i mean god who knows everything look down and said that the meekest person in the entire face of the earth was moses and he said that's why i'm going to put in charge humble yourselves on the side of the lord it'll lift you he said you'll be exalted in due time you'll be lifted up to a position of authority i wonder if god is going to give you a wife you know if you can't be the follower that you need to be because he looks down and says well this is going to be a poor leader how can i give this guy a wife to leave when he can't follow his leadership when he's a poor follower why would i give him a wife so you could be a poor leader why would i give him children so they can lead them wrong because he's not the right leader do you see if god looks down sees a great follower that's probably who he's going to want a more blessed with a wife because he says well there's a weak person there's a humble person they're going to be really they're going to be a great parent the child is obedient i wonder if they'll get married sooner and have children sooner when god looks down and sees an obedient follower and says i'm gonna bless them when somebody to follow them i wonder if god is looking for pastors tonight i know he is i know he's looking for the pastors of the next generation i wonder if he's looking for the biggest loud mouth blowhard or whether he's looking for the best follower think about that is he looking for for the big loud a blabber mouth blowhard know it all or is he looking for back when i was the follower before i passed to the church knows that i was not the loud mouth blowhard i wasn't i was not a person that went around throwing my weight around blowing my mouth off i was somebody who liked to learn and i still like to learn and let me tell you something god's looking today for husbands and fathers and pastors and men to run a business to whatever he's looking for the one who's a great follower he's looking for the man who's plowing with the ox with right there with the 12th ox he's there pulling working because he's not above that the hard worker the man who is not beneath him to pour water on the hands of elijah or elijah sorry examine your heart today you know we heard great sermons on the camping trip apply them to your heart apply this truth to your heart and understand that none of us has attained none of us has apprehended we all need to grow i need to grow you need to grow i'm gonna follow my leaders you know i'm gonna follow the lord jesus christ i'm gonna look for other people that can lead me they excel me in those areas i want them to lead me in that area and you need to follow the leader that god has given you in your life and children take this message to heart your parents are your leaders follow them as far as that word of prayer father please just help us to let this sink in your god it's it's so easy sometimes to think that we brought to think that to direct us or to help us or to rebuke us to correct us to straighten us out but god none of us is to that point where we can't be reviewed god help us all to learn the meaning of being a follower i don't know if i can even preach this lord i've done what i've tried to do tonight with this it's just gotta be something in in people's heart that makes them be a follower and father i just prayed that you would help us all and give us all the grace to be followers that we need to be so that we can someday be the leaders that we need to be and in jesus name