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Hey, man, so keep your place in Matthew chapter 23 that's going to be our kind of our core Scripture for this evening. We're going to be coming back there throughout the sermon Matthew chapter 23 is you know It's kind of a every every word if you have a red letter Bible every word except the first verse is red Because this is just Jesus speaking. It's kind of I guess you could you could qualify it as an epic rant from Jesus against the Pharisees But we're gonna look back at this as our core scripture tonight So just bookmark that no matter where I take you bookmark Matthew 23 So you can always get back to Matthew chapter 23 right now turn to Colossians chapter 3 if you would so we're looking at Off the rails. We're doing our second. We're finishing up the series. I'm a two-part series tonight last week We talked about followers We talked about you know, it doesn't matter if we're following a good leader or not You know the Bible commands us to be Good followers if that is our role look at Colossians chapter 3 and look at verse number 22 Colossians chapter 3 look at verse number 22 the Bible says Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers But in singleness of heart fearing God saying if you if you're in a servant position You know if you have a boss and you're the you're the employee or you're in a position of having a leader over you Which everyone will at some point or in their life to some degree, you know You're supposed to obey your masters according to the flesh not just with eye service not just you know Not just on the outside. You're supposed to actually just do what they Say with signals of heart fearing God and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord not unto men You're not supposed to be well, this guy's not a good leader. He's not a good boss So I'm just gonna give him a half effort I'm just gonna give him a half, you know half willingness to serve look at verse 24. How could you do that though? I mean, how could you work for a boss or serve a leader? That wasn't good We talked about this last week knowing that the Lord at that of the Lord He shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. So that's how you do it You serve you know your masters you serve your leaders in your life like you're serving Christ. That's the answer Alright that's how you can work for and serve a leader whether it be a wife to her husband whether it be Employee to a boss whether it be any kind of position where you are in servitude or you are in the service position And someone is a leader over the top of you Just serve like you're serving Christ. That's how you're supposed to do it tonight, though We're looking at the opposite side of this coin as we talked about how to be a good servant how to be in submission How to be I'm following a master or a leader even when they're not leading properly tonight We're going to talk about you know, how to be a leader and when you're having trouble with people following you So many people struggle with this in their lives, you know, because look again, we're all leaders and we're all except for the smallest child In this room, we're all leaders and we're all followers So even you know children even you know wives are going to be leaders to their children in their home So, how do you go about? You know leading people when you know, maybe they don't want to follow, you know, how do you go about you know? Getting people on board. I mean with parents, you know with parents dads and moms, you know, it's easy starting out in life It's easy to get you know kids on board because it's like look, you know, you just do what I say or you get spanked That's what the Bible says But you know this actually applies also to parents that maybe you know go through a life change Maybe they get saved later in life and they have older children. I've seen this several times in my life You know the parents get saved they hear the gospel and they want to take their family Well, they want to turn the ship of their family when their kids are maybe a little bit older Maybe they're in their teens at this point now you need to maybe do some you know Leadership to get everybody on board with this change of direction in the family Look, it's a it's a worthy change of direction, but even parents could struggle with this to some Degree, but what the principles that we're going to talk about tonight it applies to all leadership It applies to wives parents. It applies to husbands leading their families It applies to me leading this church It applies across the board applies to a boss at work all these things that the Bible talks about that The Bible teaches us is You know is going to apply to any position of leadership Okay leadership is Influence is is what leadership is leadership is the ability To look it's one thing if you're in the position of leadership, but leadership is actually the ability to be able to influence People that's what it should be. So if you're in that position, you should be able to And look God ordains leadership in certain places in the family in the church You know in government even God ordains, you know leadership. God doesn't just want chaos God doesn't just want everybody in charge Everybody doing whatever they want. That's that's nothing to do with anything in the Bible if you're reading the Bible All right, but look you should in a leadership position you should be able to influence people to follow you another leadership position the Bible talks about we talked about last week is Ladies in the church ladies, you know the married women, you know leadership over the younger single women You know all these things but look here's the thing folks being in charge isn't like a magical switch that goes off It's not like I'm in charge Suddenly everyone's just gonna do whatever I say no matter what Because here's the thing as we talked about the last couple weeks people don't always do the right thing People don't know it is you don't follow how they should people don't always lead how they should which is the point of this series So tonight I'm just gonna give you three Simple philosophies from the Bible on how to lead effectively and how to get people to follow your influence as A leader go back to Matthew chapter 23 Like I said, Matthew chapter 23 is basically Jesus giving a rant against the Pharisees He's kind of giving that he's he's talking to them as like the anti leader He's looking he's talking to the Pharisee as you know, here's how you don't lead. Here's how you he's just basically telling them everything They're doing wrong So if we go through and we look at especially some of the main things that Jesus is saying to the Pharisees We can learn a lot about how we can do this right as leaders So the first point I want to make is down to verse number three Let's look at verse number three of Matthew chapter 23 where the Bible says Well, I'll just start in verse two where Jesus starts talking. He says the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's seat So what he's saying here is he's saying the scribes and the Pharisees are in this leadership position That's what Moses was he was the spiritual leader. He was the governmental leader He was the leader of the children of Israel look at verse number three So he's saying now instead of Moses in this role. You have these Pharisees and these scribes look at verse three He says all therefore whatsoever. They bid you observe that observed that observe and do But do not ye after their works for they say and do not So notice what he says here the first point I want to make As far as leadership principles from the Bible is if you want to be an effective leader, you need to be present So, what does that mean? What does that mean? There's this word that Jesus uses over and over and over in Matthew chapter 23 And he explains what the word means in verse number three where he says he says they tell you to do all these things But he but Jesus says but just don't do what they do So the point I'm trying to make in point number one here is that in order to be an effective leader You need to be present in this word that Jesus uses over and over and over again I think half a dozen or more times in Matthew 23 is this word? hypocrite He uses the word hypocrite What is the hypocrite a hypocrite is something that Jesus points out in verse number three that the Pharisees are a hypocrite is a leader that says do this and Then they do the opposite thing or they don't do that or you know or say you do this And then I do nothing at all. That would be a hypocrite I could either tell you hey you need to do these things if you know you want to be successful And then I don't do any of those things or even worse I could go do the opposite of those things and that's what Jesus was saying the Pharisees were doing in verse number three He's saying hey, they're telling you to do all these things and Jesus saying that's good But then he says but just don't watch what they're doing because they're doing the opposite These things so look You must as as a leader in effective leader. You must be a real Example is the point that Jesus is trying to make being an absentee leader Never works. I don't care what leadership you're in if it's secular spiritual Whatever being a leader that just tells people to do things and then doesn't do those things Himself is is never gonna work. It never pass. All right, you must show the way is What Jesus is trying to explain here? He's he's kind of giving you the leadership principles by telling them what they're doing wrong in Matthew chapter 23 so you must show the way you say in what way in what way here's the thing in every way In every way in every way that you want to have influence You must show the way is what Jesus is saying, what are you trying to influence parents? You're like everything What are you trying to influence in your family fathers? What are you trying to influence? Husbands, you must show that way You must do those things turn to look at Matthew chapter 23 and look at verse number 27 you see you can appear you can appear perfect to people This is where the family leadership really, you know, this will really get the husband here This will really get the fathers here because the family leadership you can appear pretty good to people outside your family It's not that hard because quite frankly people don't know you that well people don't see what's going on inside your home You're not inside my home. I'm not inside your home. I don't want to be inside your home I don't want you inside my home But the point is is that in order to lead who am I leading though as a father and as a husband who am I? Leading I am leading the people inside my home So I must appear real and Genuine and non-hypocritical to the people inside my home the people I'm trying to influence look at Matthew chapter 23 Look at verse 27 Look what Jesus says here. He says well when do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? For you're like unto white and supple curves which indeed appear beautiful outward But are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness Even so he also appear righteous outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within your fill of full of Hypocrisy and iniquity he's saying you guys look pretty good on the outside But You're all you're all rotten. This is what he's saying. He's like you look pretty good to these people out here You got all the right garments. You know you got all the right. You know dress You know you look pretty spiritual to the people out here. He's like, but I see who you are Jesus is saying I see who you are why he's God But guess what the people in our homes. They see who we are They see our wives our children. They see who we are You know women leading children you look your children see who you are You know I mean look at the sermon from this morning a wife is not going to be able to teach her her kids To you know do real things and learn real things if she's constantly and to stay out of there There are screens and stay off of these phones if she's constantly on her phone and constantly in the strains herself It's it's hypocritical So the people that we're trying to lead Need to see that we are real in all of these things because guess what they know who you are They know who you are You can't expect people you know even outside your home and leadership positions You couldn't be a boss at some company and expect people that work for you to just you know Just you want to influence hard work I want to influence hard work with my employees, and then I show up late, and I leave early it's just it's not going to work you have to be present and Be real and be a real example in the things that you're trying to influence. I can't try to teach my kids the dangers of fornication and Pornography and putting wicked things in front of my eyes and really you know get that across to them and tell them you know Hey, you know get your act together. Don't do these things stay away from all these things that the world is telling you when they see me and all that stuff I Could it would just here's the thing it just would never work It would never work. This is what Jesus is saying This is what Jesus is saying here. I couldn't tell my wife and my daughter. Hey, I want you to dress like a lady Because the Bible says that ladies should be dressed like ladies and men should be dressed like men you think that's a problem today How could I do that? How could I say you know what I? Want my daughter and my wife and I want to this is something I want to lead and influence them in I want them to Cover up their nakedness according to what the Bible says not according to what the world says today. I want them to dress modestly I want them to have respect for themselves, I want my daughter to be a virtuous young lady and Then I go to places. I would never allow them to go And then I go to places that you know where women are just I just know women are gonna be dressed Horribly Here's the thing it wouldn't work It wouldn't work. Why because I'd be a hypocrite. That's why I'd be just what Jesus is talking about here This is why I don't you know we we avoid places where we know that people are gonna be dressed inappropriately We don't go to beaches on a hot We don't go to hot climate beaches because why would I want my why would I do that to either myself and also to to my my wife and daughter I'd be making myself a hypocrite is what I'd be I don't even go to I don't go to gyms I would never join a gym for this same reason because I know what people are dressed like there And I would never if I might kind of my theory is if I wouldn't be comfortable walking in there with my wife I Don't go to these places I draw those lines at that point because it's important for what I put in front of me It's important to not only what I put in front of my eyes, but also to not be a hypocrite in leadership There's really what we're pointing at here So look it's the message that you're sending how about spirituality How could I teach my children to read the Bible? How could I teach my children? You know how important it is to go to church and have Bible reading time and have prayer time if they never saw me reading The Bible if they never saw me coming to church if they never saw me doing these things it would be a joke I wouldn't be able to influence in that area You say well, they should listen to you. Yeah, they should no matter what but it just doesn't work that way It just doesn't work that should Don't sit here as a follower and say oh, you know it as long as you know. I don't have a perfect leader No, that's that was a sermon last week the point of trying to get you to understand is you must be consistent You must be consistently present and be a consistent real example in every Area you are trying to influence as a leader turn to 1st Timothy chapter 3. Here's a good Here's a good. We're gonna look at the qualifications of a pastor And you're like that's just for you, but here's the thing this is a good guideline for anyone who wants to lead Right here. You say what kind of things go to 1st Timothy chapter 3 1st Timothy Chapter 3 let's look at the Qualifications of a pastor you say what kind of things do I need to be consistent in to be a good spiritual leader well? You're kind of especially the men in this room. You're pretty much the pastor of your home You're the pastor of your wife. You were the pastor of your children. You know when it comes down to that detail You know I'm not following you around at your house. You know you are the spiritual leader of your family so the Bible gives some Qualifications for a pastor look at pastors not to be perfect a Pastor is not to be someone who's never made a mistake or anything like that But there is qualifications for someone that wants to be a pastor And this is a good guideline for any spiritual leader right here look at this This is a true saying if any are the office of a chip pastor elder same thing he desireth a good work a Bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife Vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach Not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre. How you gonna teach your kids that alcohol is bad when you're a drunk I mean think about this. I mean it doesn't even make any sense. I mean this is some pretty basic stuff Right here look at verse number four Not greedy of filthy lucre finishing up verse number three How you gonna teach your kids that hey you need to work hard, and you need to make money, but don't start loving money When you love money How you gonna teach your kids that how you gonna teach that if you don't do it yourself look at verse number four One that rule with well his own house Having his children at subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house How shall he take care of the Church of God meaning if we're gonna apply that to you? You should have good rule of your house, which is why we're talking about these types of things tonight Saying that if I might if my if my family was just a train wreck like who would come to this church Think about that who would come to the church That's one of the the main that the one of the first things and maybe this is just me But when when I met pastor Jimenez and I met his family and I met his kids It's one of the first things that I noticed about him and one of the you know It's one of the things that was kind of looking for because of a man know not how to rule his own house You know how is he gonna rule the Church of God? So that's a super important thing to remember about a pastor But look it's saying how important it is here when applying it to yourself how important it is to rule your own house Well, all right having your children in subjection So look be real be genuine. You can't be just talk and I've said this before I'll say it again Kids are hypocrite detectors when they're like four They can tell I Mean, it's something that God's given them. I don't know God's given them this little hypocrite Alarm this little thing that flashes like when you're a hypocrite right Nate Nate dad, but you did this They're gonna get they're gonna get you And look it's it's it's simple and it's silly when they're young, but it gets very serious when they get older Because the corrections that you can make with your kids Ladies and gentlemen tonight they get smaller as they get older So you can make big corrections with your kids. You're like, no, we're going this way. No, we're going this way No, we're going this way when they're young you don't even have to explain it to them It's a mistake parents make they're like they're trying to you know reason with a two-year-old No, you do this or you get a spanking. That's it. That's how you reason with a two-year-old Just do a dad says just do it mom says but those corrections they get smaller and smaller and smaller So by the time they get to be a young adult, you better have them pointed in the general right direction You're gonna have some problems so look be real be genuine and You have to be present and not just talk that's the first one go back to Matthew chapter 23 Matthew chapter 23 look at verse 15 Matthew chapter 23 look at verse number 15 Matthew chapter 23. Jesus is just dressing down now how many people think that Jesus when he was saying this was just like you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites how many people think that that was his tone of voice here as he's calling them serpents and Vipers, I mean he's sitting I mean he is he is going after these people and he is telling it how it is Right here. So the second point is this the first one is be present. Don't be a hypocrite be a real genuine example The second point is this be correct Be correct. What do I mean by that? Look at verse 15? He says what would you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made you make him twofold twofold more out of hell than yourselves You know what he's saying here? He's like you go out and you get all these people to follow you and then you teach them things that are wrong He's like you're teaching all these people false doctrine You're not even teaching them. The truth is what Jesus is saying So make sure this is the second point be correct as a Leader you need to make sure that your decisions and your leadership is in line with the Bible because the Bible is your authority as a parent the Bible is your authority as Husband the Bible is your authority as a father. The Bible is your authority because look otherwise, I mean, what's the point? Where's your authority? This is a problem today. We saw a billboard yesterday saw a billboard yesterday the kids pointed it out and it said it had like a guy and then where his head was supposed to be it had like a Coffee cup and it you know, like a plastic coffee cup or something or a cardboard coffee cup and it said don't be a litter head And I was just like yeah, like it's the guy like it's the guy getting a $5 coffee at Starbucks That's that's the trash problem in California That's that's just a side note But I said and I said to the kids I said it should have said don't be a heroin addict This is what it should have said But here's the point here. Here's the point. I'm trying to make here. What's that billboard? It's a nothing burger because there's no authority there It's just some billboard It just some billboard. It just it's just something that's just written and there's absolutely no authority behind it, but the Bible is our Authority, that's why when we go out soul-winning we don't go up to somebody and say hey Let me tell you the gospel and tell you what the Bible says and I'll just tell you what it says No, we actually have the Bible and we actually show the Bible to people because why because my word has no power Because my word is just my word my opinion I mean look I give some opinions every now and then from the public but really if it's not based in the Bible My opinion doesn't mean much The Bible is our authority, which is why we take it out Soul-winning otherwise, it's just my words That's why we turn that's why you're all sitting here flipping your Bible so much Is it through sermons because why because I want this sermon to have authority? I want it to mean something meaning it must come from the Bible. That's why that's why we do this You need to back up your leadership with the Bible This is the second point. Here's why we go to church in this family folks the Bible You know, here's what the Bible says about fornication. Here's how here's how serious fornication is in the Bible This is how your leadership needs to go. Here's why we don't go to these places Bible Here's why we do these things and other people don't do these things the Bible the Bible the Bible the Bible that's that's our authority as Spiritual leaders use it Here's why I run the finances in my family the way I run the finances the Bible This is our authority This is why I make the decisions the way we do in this family You know, this is why I say no, we won't go there because why because of the Bible Not just because like I'm a jerk and don't want to do fun things or whatever many times Many or sometimes sometimes there's a situation where I can see that you know, maybe my wife doesn't see the direction that that I'm going in or whatever and Why I'm making certain decisions In the family and look I'll sit down and I'll explain to her the leadership perspective It's not that she doesn't know the Bible or it's not that she doesn't know what's going on It's just that leadership the leadership position is a different viewpoint It's a different viewpoint So many times I'll just sit down to say here's the whole picture that I'm looking at and here's why I'm taking us this way and then look, it's just a different vantage point from the leader's seat and It's a bigger picture Really and look here's the thing you will as a leader you will make decisions That not everyone will understand That's another thing that you need to realize But again, the authority needs to be the Bible The authority does not need to be here's where the authority doesn't need to be not wanting to hurt somebody's feelings or You know just emotionalism There's many leaders that just they'd want to make everyone happy and I don't want to make somebody sad So I'm just gonna do it this way. No our authority as leaders Always should come from the Bible. That's what I mean by be Correct, okay, cuz look If not, if not, if I'm not using the authority of the Bible, you know, I'm just going along with whatever People that are underneath my leadership want to do, you know, that's not leadership That's that's not leadership. That's actually following is What that is look if you're not saying no and you're not doing things that are like You should say no to your kids on a daily basis If you're not saying no and you are not, you know Sometimes at least going in a direction that not everyone necessarily agrees with you're not leading You know, I mean just as a personal example turn to Hebrews chapter 13 turn to Hebrews chapter 13 I'm just as a personal example of you know, just leading a church, you know, this is a this is a pastor led church Okay, this isn't a church on you know, this isn't a democracy. This isn't a like lead by committee Thing here and I'm gonna explain to you why that is turn to Hebrews chapter 13 look Suggestions are fine. I mean, I mean ideas are great. I mean brother Jeff a couple weeks ago was like Hey, I think people are walking by the front door and they're not seeing where the door entrance of the church is It'd be great if we had a sign BAM great idea made a sign See, these are the types of things but look Leading the church means that many times I'm gonna have to say no to things and I've said no to many many many things In this church, but guess what? You might say well, isn't it easier to say yes Isn't it easier to say yes to people and to that I'm just like That's I reject the question Because it doesn't matter if it's easier to say yes, or I don't want to you know upset somebody It's just like we're just gonna do things the Bible way. That's it You say why look at Hebrews chapter 13 because I'm in a different position than you I'm in a different vantage point and look there's different rules for me actually than you look at verse number 17 The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17 it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as You must give account No, it says as they must give account This is saying look that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Look, I point that verse at myself And I take that very seriously that I'm gonna have to one day give account to God How Christ's Church was run on this earth and I want to do that with joy not like Well God, you know, I just didn't want to upset those people down there what just happens to churches all the time This is how churches go liberal This is how churches get rid of the King James Bible. This is how churches get rid of the Bible Is that the people start leading the pastor, you know, many times I've had to say no to people in this church Not not you people which is people You know, I mean, here's a here's a common one a common one people want to start a children's ministry here. It's happens. I mean many times People have come here and want it they want to start a children's ministry It's usually people that you know, they don't come to the church much You know, they're they're usually men for some weird reason and they want to start Sunday school or something where they're teaching Children and it's just like oh, yeah. Thank you. No That is never gonna happen here Ever why cuz the Bible that's why Because the Deuteronomy chapter 31 when this is put up it says he went he got the man It went and he got the women and he got the children, too Same thing with Ezra and Ezra chapter 10 Everybody and look you can tell you Nobody's been if you came from another church there way. It wasn't family integrated and you came here. Look at these kids It's the Bible working the Bible the kids are supposed to listen to the preaching of the Word of God and They sit here and they listen we see these kids grow up and also when they're five years old They're six years old. They start asking about the gospel. They start asking questions. How do I get to heaven? What about this Jesus thing to come out soul-willing? They're like, hey, I want to believe on Jesus I want to trust in Jesus and not that's I end up getting six and seven year old kids saved That's how kids get saved at such a young age because they've been in a family integrated church Hearing the preaching of the Word of God since they were two three four years old That's how that's why we go out soul-willing you come up to some child That's not churched that hasn't been sitting in church listening to the Bible It's gonna be tough for a nine or ten year old to understand You know, I won't even really give the gospel to an eight year old that there may be even a nine year old It's it's it's really that gray area that hasn't been in church before But they're in church and they it is it just because they've been hearing the Word of God. It's been working on their heart It's why God had it that way when these great priests and the great leader stood up the children were there You show me Sunday school in the Bible and we'll start one. You won't find it So here's the first the first thing is don't be a hypocrite be a real example if you want to be an effective Leader that people will follow be a real example the second one Where does your authority come from your authority comes from the Bible use it? Use the Bible it's your authority Lead according to the Bible because guess what if you're gonna lead in a different direction The Bible actually gives that out to followers It says no, no children don't have to obey their parents if it's not in the Lord You know same thing with the wife same thing with you know, all leaders same thing with government leaders We always have to obey the highest power which is God the higher powers. All right, here's the third one turn to Ephesians chapter 5 Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 and I'll read for you in Matthew chapter 23 Verse number 11, you're gonna turn to Ephesians chapter 5 But the third one is this Jesus even Jesus even mentions it in Matthew chapter 23 in verse number 11 He says but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant Here's the third one to be an effective leader. You need to be selfless You need to you're like, oh man, I don't want the job anymore Like I thought I was gonna be boss and it was just like you're gonna do what I say, but it says be Selfless Jesus says this in chapter in chapter 23 verse 11. He basically says he who is greatest among you He's like the leaders should be the servants is what Jesus said. Look he lived his life that way on this earth He washed the disciples feet He was he said he was greatest among you should be your servant Look at Ephesians chapter 5 it literally defines this in Ephesians chapter 5 for us in the marriage Look at Ephesians 5 verse 25 The Bible says husbands love your wives. All right, what does that mean? Of course? I love my wife I'll go buy her flowers right now. Look at what the Bible says though. It defines this for us. It says husbands. Love your wives even as like it's saying in the same way as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it Saying like it's defining love for us here. This is a problem today. Love is not lust Okay, love is not some butterfly feeling I get in my stomach love is not Oh, you know, I saw some girl and you know, I think I love her. No, that's lust That's lust love is Sacrifice is what the Bible is saying here. You love your wife like Christ loved the church. What did he do? He died He died Look women are not required to do this for their husbands This is a one-way street right here Look at verse 26 that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Then he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot a wrinkle or any such thing But that it should be holy and without blemish So odd men meaning say in the same way There's he's giving this beautiful comparison of what Christ did for the church for us for people So ought to men love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself Saying like if you won't sacrifice for your wife if you say you love your wife But you do no action or give no sacrifice that shows you over. It's like you won't even love yourself It's like that's that's not the way to do it for no man ever hated his own flesh But nourish it and cherish with it even as the Lord the church go back to Matthew chapter 23 Go back to Matthew 23. So true biblical leadership should be selfless a Parent should be sacrificing for their children a husband should be willing I mean literally in Ephesians chapter 5 it says literally husband should be willing to lay down his life for his wife That's what the Bible is saying here. Look at Matthew chapter 23. Look at verse number 13 Matthew 23 verse 13. He says but woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites free shut up the kingdom of heaven against men For neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. I just love that verse right there He's like you're gonna go to hell. He's like and then you're gonna just not allow anybody else to hear the truth either Well look at verse number 14 He says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye devour widows houses and For pretense make long prayer therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation So first of all, I mean this puts aside I mean Let me just side note this thing right now the greater damnation meaning somebody that is a false prophet teaching false things Keeping somebody from being saved is much worse and committing a much worse sin and not only are they committing out This is this this just shuts down all sin is equal garbage That is not in the Bible there's all sin is equal somebody's telling you all sin is equal That's an evil wicked person right there The Bible is saying that these people are doing something These Pharisees these teachers are doing something to where they're literally going to receive a greater damnation What does that mean means they're gonna burn in a lower part of hell. They're gonna have a greater suffering They're gonna have greater punishment. Look hell is hell We don't want to go there. Nobody wants to go to hell But these people are gonna go to it's gonna be worse for them is what Jesus is saying saying their sin is worse Their punishments gonna be worse Showing that I mean showing the justice of God Showing the justice of God. I mean it when it doesn't really even seem fair to your conscience that somebody who just you know Didn't believe the gospel was but we tried to just live a decent life, but they weren't saved. Look they're going to hell He's gonna go and get the same punishment as Joseph Stalin who killed tens of millions of people probably not But that's not what the Bible teaches right that's what liberal weird Christianity teaches today. All right, so that all that to say this we're talking about, you know, we're talking about These people instead of having a selfish leadership, what were they doing? They were devouring widows houses They were the anti leaders according to this last point. They were taking advantage of people They were they were getting the people that they were supposed to be serving they were taking advantage and taking their money and And and making those people their servants. Basically they were doing it the opposite Way taking advantage of them to the Pharisees what Jesus was pointing out is you know what this is all about you This is all about you. Your leadership is all about you looking good. It's all about you getting money It's all about you doing these things. He's like in the meantime. You're sending all these people to hell He's like you're gonna be punished greater for it. This is what Jesus is saying So look, those are the three things. Those are the three biblical philosophies that you should follow You know, you should be a selfless leader. You should use the Bible as your authority and you should not be a hypocrite See leadership is not this people think it's just this magic button that you know, bang. I'm in charge now. Everything can be My way that's not the way it is and guess what followers should follow As we talked about last week, but look How you lead will make it easier for them to follow you It will make it if you were a parent if you're a husband if you're a master at work. You are a leader tonight You might as well be good at it You know, you might as well be good at there's very few as a matter of fact when I think about a 23 year career That I've had and I just think about secular leaders I can think at one or two one in particular that was really a truly good leader. I Mean the man was just a good leader, but you know, he fits all these principles. He fits all these biblical principles He was easy to follow He was easy to follow because he fits these principles following him. You just knew you would succeed You just knew that you would succeed because you know, he was the real deal He had a great plan and he would be there as the plan was executed He would be walking right with you. And if things went wrong, he was there. You knew he had your back. You could trust him You know, I mean be yeah, if you're gonna be in a leadership position, which you are if you're a man tonight You're the leader of your wife. If you're a man tonight, you're the leader of your children If you're a wife tonight, you're a leader of your children, you know, I mean you might as well be good at it You might as well be good at it. I mean this morning, you know, we talked about You know, there will be failure of those that you know, we lead there will be failure and successes in our lives there will be failures and successes in our lives as A leader you share in the failure of people you lead But the other side of that coin is you share in the successes of the people that you lead You know, you might as well make it a success Why not follow the Bible and be good at it use the authority of the Bible, you know And then live your leadership be present there to lead And look look at verse number. I Don't remember where the verses but he said Jesus says it he's like basically saying don't ask people don't ask people He Binds heavy they verse four they bind heavy burdens This is you know Not being a hypocrite don't bind burdens on people that you yourself wouldn't be willing to bear is what Jesus says This is what a good leader would never do this a good leader would never ask people to do things that they weren't willing to Do that's why you need to be present You need to be there and show that you are willing to bind those same Burdens and then you know what be a sacrificial leader because guess what? Even somebody brought it up this morning, you know after we were visiting after church. Somebody said yeah, it's it's hard It's hard to be a pastor Somebody said that but here's the thing Yeah, you're right. It's easier. It's easier to not be a leader It's easier to be a church member in the context of the church think about this in the context of the church It is definitely easier to be a church member than it is to be the pastor for sure Okay, but What's the point of that? What's the point of even thinking about that because guess what you think about your family you think about a husband leading a wife a husband? Leading a family Somebody's got a lead Somebody's got a lead It's not a matter of it's if it's easier to be the pastor easier to be the church member It's somebody has to be the leader That's what it's all about. You know, I mean dads dads and moms we have we have an absolute responsibility to pass think about the sermon this morning to pass the information the knowledge the skills that we have on to The next generation, but guess what? It's easier to not to it's easier. It's easier not to I Go out and I work on some project somewhere in my yard or wherever. It's easier to go out there work on myself Then to have a seven-year-old an eight-year-old or a nine-year-old with me Teaching them how to do all the things it's much easier to just just knock it out myself But we have an absolute responsibility to lead in these areas we have an absolute responsibility to pass this on to the next Generation I saw a t-shirt my wife showed me a t-shirt the other day that said it just made me laugh It said would it say it said I can and it said nothing offends me I used to hold the flashlight for my dad Like immediately I started having flashbacks You know underneath a tractor in the middle of the night, you know I'm trying to get a wrench on some bolt that it's impossible to get the wrench on the bolt. How could they put it there? Trying to just sit there and trying to look you can't be a tick-tock kid You can't be a tick-tock kid if you're trying to hold that flashlight, you know And your dad's under there and it's it's ten below zero and trying to get that wrench on there Just hold that flashlight on that bolt. I just remember this don't move that light. Don't move that light. Don't move that light Oh, you're like Well, look it is absolutely our responsibility to teach these things to our kids It's easier to go build yourself. You know, you can have a headlight now You don't have to have anybody hold the flashlight for you It's easier to go get a screwdriver myself other than telling You know the nine-year-old to go get the screwdriver and he comes back with an adjustable wrench Or you go back and you see him in a pile of tools on the garage floor He's trying to figure out you know, what is that? What is the crescent wrench? Then you got it It's easier just to do it yourself and not have to go and teach that lesson again until they get it We have an absolute responsibility to lead in every area Not just these areas you see you start to see how you say well, I don't really have anything to teach my kids Well, there's a major problem right there There's a major problem. You see how this is a generational Compounding problem if you're like, I just I don't even think I could teach my kids anything That's a major problem that will have generational effects if you don't it's not only Not knowing anything but not passing it on will have the same generational effects It's the same thing. My wife was gone for a few days. My wife was gone for a few days So I reorganized the family a little bit and it's the only way we made it through is basically because of my daughter I basically I elevated my daughter and I told my daughter is like you are now Jacob's mother for the next four days And I know I work from home, you know as much as I could but she's over there and she's like just like Finish your homework and do this and do this and then correct it. I'm just like why what in the world? But she has been led to be that way and she's been led by her mother. She kept the house together. I mean It was like it was it was it was pretty good. We survived and we wouldn't have If it wasn't for a leadership that had been passed on to her effectively Okay. Look it is a major issue Look be a sacrificial leader though when and guess what when people know when people in your family when your children know When you know that their mother will do anything for them Up to and including giving her life for them When children know that their dad, you know will sacrifice everything his happiness his joy His finances anything that it takes to make them succeed, you know People know that you will do anything you will give anything of yours for their success. They will follow you anywhere That goes for the secular workplace that goes for your family that goes for for everything Because it's what it because it's Jesus's philosophy and Jesus would never tell us something that doesn't work It does work just follow it and then guess what? You won't have problems You know Imparting this influence on people that are following you if you just follow this advice in Matthew chapter 23 Basically, all you have to do is read Matthew chapter 23 Take notes and do everything the opposite of what he's telling the Pharisees and you will be an effective leader in your life Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise You