Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Brother Jeremiah Shipley (Date: 09/26/2021)

Leadership by Influence and the Weight of Responsibility

Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military styles. It wasn't the type of people they were going to be in the first Samuel chapter 15. If y 'all can go ahead and turn open to that first Samuel chapter 15.

Brother Andrew that might be the best lineup you've had in a while. That was awesome. If you have trouble worshiping to those songs, you're probably the same people who have trouble reading scripture on your own.

Because you have nothing to entertain you, you have no jolt to keep your attention, all of that. Those songs right there are nothing but scripture with music added to it. That's it. That's all it is. It is the word of God with some melody and voices and pitch.

And whatever musical term else there is to that. That's it. That's all it is. I mean there's a couple hymns that I don't really, aren't my flavor. But those, that's nothing but scripture. So you have to ask yourself and look at yourself if you're the one like, oh god that was over.

You need to examine your own self and see why it is you're saying that. We'll be in first Samuel chapter 15. Pastor Jeff has been for what, three, four weeks now in the book of Nehemiah. And he has been discussing what good leadership looks like.

He's been looking at Nehemiah as a leader. He's been looking at what he has done, taking a charge, making a plan, all of these points that Pastor Jeff's been making. He's been doing that. Well I decided we're going to do the same thing but on the opposite side.

We're going to look at what a failure to lead does. What a self-motivated, a self-righteous, a self-grandizing leader, what that leads to and what that does. And that's what we're going to look at.

We're going to be in first Samuel chapter 15. But before we do that, let me explain this first. What is leadership? Now there is such thing as leadership by position, but there's also leadership by influence.

Leadership is not the one telling everyone else what to do. That's called a boss or a tyrant or a dictator. That's not leadership. Leadership is not the one who points and yells and screams and it's not the one who just has the title or the name plaque, but he is the one who influences.

And the reason I make that point is this, is because some of you have been running from leadership and denying your leadership instead of embracing it. If you have influence, then you have leadership.

You are leading somebody and that doesn't mean in a good way. You can lead them in many ways, in many paths, in many directions, but you're still leading them. And it's by your actions and your influence.

We all have influence. That's the point I'm trying to make here. You all have influence. And in one sense or another, you are all leaders. If you're a father or a mother, you best believe you're a leader.

If you're a friend to any human being, well, guess what? You have influence upon their life and you will help lead them in one direction or the other. Now, they may not listen to you. You may say, hey, bro, you probably shouldn't do that.

And they go do something stupid anyway. Well, that's not on you. But that is your influence on them. And your influence is leadership. So I say that to say this applies to everybody in here and nobody gets a pass, but there are some people in here who have leaderships by position, leadership by family.

And there is a heavier weight upon those shoulders. Okay. So let us read 1 Samuel chapter 15. We're going to start in verse 13. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed be you to the Lord.

I have performed the commandments of the Lord. And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen out of here? So let me give you the context here. God said, hey, King Saul, I made you king.

I've anointed you. Here's what you need to do. The Amalekites were really not nice to all of you Israelites when you're coming out of Egypt. Okay. They stole from you, murdered you, killed you, you know, trying to sacrifice your kids to demon gods.

So you know what? They weren't really nice to y 'all. Go kill them. That's what he said. Go kill them. And Saul said, yes, sir. But the problem is that Saul wanted to reinterpret and redefine what God already made clear.

I know we never do that, right? We never want to reinterpret, redefine. Well, what this scripture means to me is, well, your opinion is retarded. Your opinion doesn't matter. What the word of God says is what matters.

And here's how you have to ask this. What did the author intend the scripture to mean? That is what it means. Your opinion about that comes secondary. Your opinion about it does not really matter that much.

What did God intend for it to mean when he wrote it to the people he wrote it to? That's what we have to ask ourselves. Anyway, so Saul wanted to redefine and reinterpret the clear command and word of God and do it his own way.

And God said, no, partial obedience is complete disobedience. You did not listen. And so he sent good old prophet Samuel. So let's read again. Samuel said, what then is the bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear?

Saul said, they, note that, they have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we devoted to destruction.

Note pronouns. Pastor Jeff said this last week. We win, I lose. You cannot sit there and start saying, well, they did this and they did that, but I obeyed. Do you see in verse 13 where he says, I have kept the commands of the Lord.

I did. All the people under me, all the people beneath me, they're secondary. I'm the one who obeyed God. I'm the one who followed God. But they are the ones who messed up. They're the ones who took that.

They're the ones who did this and that and the other. If you are a leader, you never get to say that they messed up because all of the responsibility is on you. That's just how it is. I don't like that half the time, all the time, but my liking of it does not change the reality of it.

It just doesn't. When your wife does something, your kids do something, your students do something, guess who's responsible? You are. Does it matter that you told them not to? Not really. Because obviously you weren't clear enough.

Obviously you had not been consistent enough up until that point. You probably let them off the hook last time and so they just assumed you were joking this time. We ever done that? Let them off the hook once?

Oh, well, you know what? A stern talking to will give them the lesson. No, it won't. No, it won't. You obviously do not understand human nature. You obviously do not understand how depraved we as people are.

The doctrine of total depravity is called total for a reason. It doesn't say partial depravity. It says total depravity. Now, thank God it is not utter depravity. Utter depravity is what happens when God removes his hand of grace and protection over people.

You know, the only reason that the entire city of Memphis is not on fire and burning right now is the hand of God, period. That's what's called utter depravity because we are not as depraved as we could be.

Let me let y 'all in on something. Each and every one of us, I didn't say they out there, each and every one of us are capable of the most horrendous of things. The year is 1942. I wasn't gonna tell the story, but I'm going to.

The year is 1942, Reserve Police Battalion 101. Reserve Police Battalion 101. It was a whole bunch of group, it was a whole group of like 40 year old guys, late 30s, early to mid 40 year olds. They were welders, they were mechanics, they were carpenters, they were whatever.

Normal guys who were born in the late 1800s, early 1900s, didn't grow up under Hitler, weren't Hitler youth, they were just regular dudes. And somehow they were the ones who did some of the most horrendous mass murders there was.

It was Joe's mechanic shop right down the street. You know, he was the manager at the Raleigh Tire. I had my tires changed by him for 20 years. How could he do that? Because you don't understand human nature.

The commander of that company was named Major Wilhelm Trapp. Wilhelm Trapp. And when it came time, there was a city in Austria named Josefow. They got the troops together, left about 3 a .m., they got to the city right as the sun was coming up, and they had no idea what they were going to do.

All they knew is they were given extra mags. And Major Trapp got them in a semicircle, told them what they had to do, and as he said it, the soldiers report that tears were just flowing down his face.

But he said, but this is for the good of our people. This is what has to happen. They were ordered to constantly be giving them alcohol the whole time to desensitize them so they wouldn't think of it as much.

He said, if any man does not feel comfortable with this, they called them actions, if any man does not feel comfortable with this, step forward now. One man did. One man. And then after the one man, a few more got brave.

It was 10 in total out of hundreds. About 10 came forward and they left. No punishment, they weren't put in jail, they weren't ridiculed, they were just reassigned. Out of hundreds, 10. I say that story to try and really help us understand.

Human nature is totally depraved. Totally. Completely. You, me, we're not more special, we're not better than those men. God was just more gracious to us not to let us be in that situation. Do you understand?

Some people in here, they look down on one another or some people out there because, well, they're struggling with addiction. They're struggling with alcoholism. They're struggling with self-harm. They're struggling, but I'm not.

Well, you didn't have the life they did. Put you in that position. Let everyone in your life who loved you leave. Let every job opportunity you had be ripped away. And the loved ones you didn't leave, they die.

You be put in that situation and then see how haughty your eyes are. You're not better, you're just different. God just said, you know what, he's probably too weak to handle that. I'll give him something softer.

You're thinking of yourself so much better. You're not. At all. All you are is the one who was given a little bit more grace. That's it. That's it. And on the other side of that, quit looking down at those who were given that little bit more grace, thinking that they're just stuck up, prideful, and arrogant.

Have you ever gone and talked to them? Just because they have a few more dollars doesn't make them an arrogant prick. You understand? Just because their address is in Collierville doesn't make them of the devil.

The coin's on both sides here. There's two sides to that coin, man. Because that's the exact same attitude some of us have. We think that because they live over there, well, they're just a drunken alcoholic.

And if you live over there, well, then you don't care about anybody. That's not reality. That's your redefinition of reality. Anyway, let me get back on topic. When he says they, they grabbed the sheep, they grabbed all of the animals.

He's shifting blame. Just like Adam. Just like Eve. They just took the question of what the heck did you do and put it right on the other. Men, how many times you blame your wife? What happened? Well, she, that's the first thing Adam said.

Well, she. And God looked at Eve and what did Eve say? And she said, well, the snake. You just passed the buck right down the road. Quit it. Stop doing that. Constantly complaining about the other person solves nothing.

Absolutely nothing. But you see this, you see this from the get-go. If you go back and read verse 12, once he was done battling, what's the first thing he did? It says he went to Mount Carmel to make a monument for himself before he sacrificed the animals to God.

Samuel's calling him to the carpet. He's calling his bluff. He's like, well, we got the animals to sacrifice. You lying sack of turds. The first thing you did was make a monument to yourself. You weren't here to sacrifice to God.

You literally just made a statue of you. What do you think your intentions are here? You think you made a statue of yourself to honor God? No, that's not what happens here. But that's exactly what Saul did.

So from the get-go, we see his heart. From the get-go, we see his motive. Let's move on. Verse 17. I'll read 16 for you. Here's something that I have been thinking about and studying a lot, and I don't think we, especially not with our culture, they understand this.

Something on your paper, it's called federal headship. What federal headship is, federal headship is when you have a group or a collaboration of people or entities, and then you have one person who is the representative of them, okay?

So for humanity, that person was Adam, okay? Of your families, it is you fathers and husbands. We today do not have an understanding and appreciation of the seriousness of the federal headship of God, meaning of fathers and husbands, the position and authority that is placed on us.

That is not understood, and it is not respected. For the fathers who ran away from their kids, in God's eyes, they are still held responsible. They don't know their kids' names. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

When it comes judgment time, they will still be held responsible for that. Samuel just said, hey Saul, I know in your eyes you think you're little. You don't think you're yourself all that much. Maybe you're a little shy.

Maybe you're a little timid. You don't think you're all that much. I'm not the smartest guy in the box. I can hang, but I might be smaller. I'm not the strongest, or I'm not the best speaker, or whatever.

I can't do this or that. Your ability does not change your responsibility. Your ability and talent does not change your responsibility. God will hold you accountable for your families. Amen? And that's just how it is.

It's not fair. It's not nice. It's not kind. If you ask Jeremiah, that's one of the reasons men die seven years earlier than women. I mean, it's stressful. I mean, it's multivariant. The federal headship.

Men, you are anointed by God. You have an anointing that women don't have. You have an anointing. An anointing to be the head of a family. An anointing to dominate and rule over the earth. That was the command God gave to Adam.

To rule over the earth. To rule over families and countries and people. That's our anointing. That's not to be taken lightly. But note the problem. The problem is that Saul didn't take it serious enough.

He didn't do his job. And now all of Israel will suffer because one man's failure to lead. Do you hear that? You fail to lead, everyone under you will suffer. Everybody. Now, what was his failure to lead?

How did he fail? By not leading those under him. By not clearly stating this is what the Lord commands. You will obey. Period. And if his men started to disobey, Saul had the authority to punish. But he didn't.

He was a coward. We'll get to the word coward in a second. The C word. Last point on this. The effort of a leader must be perfect. Must be perfect. You don't have a time to take a day off. You don't get a time out from being a dad.

You don't get a time out from being a husband. You don't get a time out from being a man. The whole transgender crap, that don't work with God, okay? You can't pretend just to be some other gender because the pressure was too much.

I mean, you realize some of these transgender, they're not doing it at 13, they're doing it at 40. 40 year olds. 30 year olds. They didn't want the anointing of the Lord because the anointing is heavy.

Y 'all hear that? You want God to bless you, the blessing may be heavy. Blessing doesn't, don't think material. Why is it every time we hear blessing, we think money? That's like 2 of God's blessing.

But why do we think money and housing and cars? The anointing and blessing of God has a lot more to do with material objects. Do you hear me? It has more to do with your repentance. When Acts says he grants you repentance, the ability to repent is a blessing from God.

Do you have conviction this morning? Some of you, the answer to that is no, which means you need to check your salvation. Do you have conviction this morning? That is a blessing from God. You know the only thing worse, pain-wise, than not being saved, is being a child that can't hear daddy's voice.

It's being a father or son that can't hear the father's voice. In Psalm 51, when David says, Lord, take not your spirit from me. It wasn't he was afraid he was going to be thrown into hell. It was because he knew the pain of the Spirit of God being taken from his life, the blessing and the hand of protection of God being removed.

Do you realize when God punishes you, all it is, is him removing a slipper of his protection. He doesn't have to strike. He doesn't have to. All he has to do is like, okay, I'm going to let your consequences fall on you for like two seconds.

And now you're in your face crying. Now you're in a fetal position weeping because for a half second, he let the consequences of your own choices and actions actually fall, actually come to you. He doesn't have to strike.

He doesn't have to. If God were to strike, you'd be dead. And that happens sometimes. But he doesn't have to. He just says, okay, you want to ignore me? And he makes a sound effect when he does it. That's it.

That's it. That's all he does. All right, we'll skip that. Verse 24. Oh, here we go. Here's the one that everybody, that everybody loves, but I'm not going to spend a whole bunch of time on it. It's actually verse 22.

And Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this verse.

This verse is preached a lot. If you don't know this verse, you need to memorize it and tattoo it on your forehead, okay? Your sacrifices to God are diddly. They mean nothing. They are pathetic. Your attempts to, hello, your attempts to try and be a good Christian are absolutely pathetic.

I mean, it is laughable how horrible you are at trying to be a good Christian. Same here. God says, y 'all, your little sacrifice that you try and do, they're pathetic. They mean nothing. Your good works are filthy rags to me.

They're, it's disgusting. All I'm asking for is obedience. That's it. David, again, when he says, all the Lord wants is a broken and contrite heart. He says, if there was a ram, any ram in the world I could give to you that you would accept, I'd do it.

If there was any act, any single thing that I could do to get one inch closer to the grace of God, I would do it. And David concludes by saying, there's nothing, nothing that you can do to merit even one sliver of God's grace.

Nothing. Your best works are disgusting to him, which is why all he wants is your broken heart. When was the last time you sinned and it actually hurt? It made you sick. It didn't sit right with you. You had to, you had to get it off.

Do you have to confess to somebody? Can you sin and it just be, be cool? Like whatever. It's good. You know, do you sin? He's like, oh man, you know what? Probably shouldn't have done that. You know, that was probably stupid.

My bad. I'm sorry. That's not the Christian response to sin at all. And some of y 'all need to be listening because y 'all don't, if you can sin and it not ache, it doesn't stir something, you got a problem.

You got a problem. Serious problem. Because the voice of conviction will only be silenced for so long. You can run. Don't, don't get me wrong. You can run as a believer. You can run as a Christian. You can put it in the vault, lock that baby away and stick it in the dirt.

But it's like a growing tumor. It will keep growing. It won't stay buried forever. You got to keep adding more dirt because it keeps coming up out the ground. You can't silence God. You can't run from him.

You can't silence him. You can't get rid of him. It's just going to keep on coming. It's going to keep coming. The way I like to picture it, my statement is that, you know, everyone's got a God-sized hole in their heart that only God can fill.

Well, the way I think of it is you got a God-sized hole in your heart and you keep throwing things in it and looking down and be like, wow, that's really freaking deep. And you can either fill it with God or keep throwing things into the empty chasm that's like the Grand Canyon and, you know, it's like throwing toothpicks in the Grand Canyon hoping it will fill up.

You know, that's what you do when you try and satisfy yourself with relationships, with acceptance, with substance, with the other billion things that we try and satisfy and replace God with. You know, I was talking to a couple of people last night and I told them, I was like, yeah, you know, blah blah blah, small talk, small talk.

I was like, yeah, I understand what you're going through. They're like, how? I said, because we all deal with the same like 10 things. I was like, I can give you like seven things right now and I guarantee you you can deal with at least four of them.

Like, nuh-uh. I said, okay. Loneliness, rejection, abandonment, self-image issues, self-conscious issues, pride, lust, greed. I'm like, crap, you're gonna have to say all of them. I'm like, well, that's what hits.

We all struggle with them in one way or another. Once again, you're not special. You're not new. You're like, oh, you don't understand me. Try me. Scripture says there's nothing new under the sun. So, I mean, it's pretty simple here to figure it out.

My favorite sermon series Pastor Jeff ever did was the one on dysfunctional families. You want to know why? Because I got to see the dysfunction I see in my life all the time and all the people around me and all the family and daddy issues and all the sibling rivalry that I see around me all the time.

I get to see that in the Word of God. So, guess what? Again, I'm going to say you're not special and it's not that hard to figure out. You just keep trying to put a mask up and the only person you're fooling is yourself.

Can I get amen? Thank you. Verse 24, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. I'm going to read that again.

I sinned. Why? Because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. He was a coward. He was a coward. We as believers are not called to cowardice but called to courage. We don't live as cowards. We don't live in fear.

We don't have the option. We don't have the option. We have a sovereign God. Sovereign meaning in control of everything. We have a God who is powerful. We have a God who knows all things and doesn't just know but actually cares.

And because we have that God, you're still afraid and a coward? No. We don't get that option, y 'all. We don't get to do that. God doesn't make mistakes and when I say sovereign control of everything, everything means everything.

God doesn't lose elections, FYI. He don't lose elections. Whoever's in power, guess who put them there? Tough. Deal with it. Deal with it. Whoever's in power, well, I mean, God kind of said that's cool so you know what?

Deal with it. COVID didn't get out of control. It wasn't out of his hands. God didn't say, you know, hold on. I let it happen. It went a little too far. I didn't mean for it to get this bad. That doesn't happen.

Doesn't happen. We don't get to be live in fear. We don't get to. That doesn't mean we don't have fear. That doesn't mean fear doesn't exist. I said we don't get to live in it. Do you understand the difference there?

Let your life be dictated and directed by it. Let your decisions and actions and words be controlled by it. We don't get to. Not as Christians, not as believers. Let the world throw their hands up and saying, you know, the sky is falling chickens and dogs and blah blah blah.

We as Christians don't get that luxury. We as leaders don't get the luxury. We as men don't get the luxury. Amen. We don't get that. We sit cool and calm and wait for the coming of Messiah. That's it.

In Thessalonians, Paul says, work with your hands as much as you can be independent and live a quiet, peaceful life. Die and go home. That's it. That's what we're called to do. Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.

We're not here to build legacies. We're not here to build monuments. It'll get torn down anyway. Preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. That's what we're called to do, y 'all. And you know why we don't like that?

Because we think we're really big and important. You're not. You're like a speck in a painting with a thousand specks or billion specks on it. Like your part of value is that you get to be a part of the bigger picture.

That's why you hold value. Not because of you, but because what you get used for. Capisce? Does that make sense? I'm Italian. Capisce? Now, Romans 1 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In the book of Matthew, when Jesus says, if you deny me before men, if you are ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you and deny you before the Father.

Let me repeat with that context what I said earlier. We as Christians don't have the luxury to live in cowardice. Preaching the gospel and sharing the love of Christ is not optional. It's not. If you have to start counting, crap, when was the last time I shared the gospel?

If you have to do that, there's a problem. There's a problem. And the bigger problem that I'm curious of is why. Why is it that you're ashamed to preach the gospel? Why is it that half of your co-workers don't know that you're a believer?

Or it took them six months to figure it out. I'm curious of the why. Why are you so ashamed? Why do you care about their opinion so much? Why are you trying to have their acceptance so much? Like, I don't understand that.

I'm confused. Because as Christians, we don't get that luxury. It is non-optional. Someone told me a few weeks ago, and they didn't like me saying this, and I didn't really care. They said, well, I'm working on forgiveness.

And I was like, what's funny, we don't really have an option to forgive. They said, I'm trying. I said, not what it said. We don't have the option. You don't have to try and forgive to help your soul.

You have to try to forgive because God commanded it to. And then the effects of that will be that it helps your soul. See, unforgiveness is just another tumor. And it just keeps growing. And it'll eventually kill you.

Just like all the other tumors. You will eventually die. Point blank. Saul was a coward. He let the mob, the masses, the people, the media dictate what he did. He knew what God said. He knew exactly what God commanded.

And he lied earlier, too. Of what? He tried to justify himself to Samuel. And then when Samuel called him to the carpet, he said, all right, yeah, you're right. I sinned because I was afraid. That's why I sinned.

That's the real reason. What's the real reason of why you don't share the gospel? Saul's reason was he was afraid. Our job as believers is to not live in fear, but to be the one charting the course saying, hey guys, this is the way we go.

Not that way, but towards Christ. Let Facebook down. Like, turn it off. Turn the social media off. Turn the news off. It's a whole bunch of bull crap anyway. It's a whole bunch of lies anyway. You have 15 ,000 different people saying 15 ,000 different things, and they all have a PhD.

So, I mean, turn it off. What does that change from this? Why are we more worried about what social media says than what the word of God says? We spend more time reading medical reports than we do the word of God.

What are we doing? What are we doing? To me, that's living in fear. That is way living in fear. Because you're more worried about what the world says than about what God says. All right, last verse, and we will call it quits.

Then he said in verse 30, skip down to verse 30 with me, I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, excuse me, and return with me that I may bow before the Lord, your God.

You know what he was saying there? He asked Daniel and said, hey, come with me to bow before God in front of everybody else so they can see. You know, I don't want to do it here in private where it's just you and me.

I want to do it in public where everyone else can see. He was saying, I want to save face. He was saying, yeah, I know I screwed up, but don't let anybody else know I screwed up. Yeah, I know I messed up, but let's just keep that.

Like, no, no. Without vulnerability, there will never be accountability. I need amen on that. That one requires it. Without vulnerability. Now, let's define our terms here, okay? Do we know what it means to be vulnerable?

Okay, well, I'm going to tell you anyway. Vulnerability means I take my armor off, I hand you my sword, and I trust you to do what's right by it. That's exactly what it is. It's I'm going to take all my defenses down.

I'm going to give you the opportunity to hurt me, and I'm going to trust you to do what's right by it. When you're vulnerable with somebody, you let them see the scars, or worse, the wounds who haven't healed yet, that's what you're doing.

You're letting your defenses down, and you're giving someone ammo. You're giving someone information that they very well can use against you. That they very well can turn around and start gossiping, and lying, and say a whole bunch of other things.

Completely true and possible. And you do it anyway. And you trust them. You have to have the right people. And you trust them to do what's right by it. That's vulnerability. That's what it is. If you refuse that for obvious reasons, well, I don't trust nobody.

Everybody hears, you know, this, that, and the other, and blah, blah, blah. Okay, that's fine. You will never be able to have accountability. Can't happen. And going back to the first point we talked about, if you trust you so much, if, I'll use Jeremiah, for example.

Jeremiah truly knows, and believes, and comprehends that Jeremiah is not strong. Jeremiah don't have it all together. Jeremiah don't have it all figured out. And so Jeremiah knows that Jeremiah needs help and accountability, and people to check up on him, and watch out for him, and this, that, and the other.

If you think that you got it figured out, and you can handle it, and you're strong enough, good luck. Because that's exactly what you're saying to everybody else. I don't need help. I'm on my own. I'm good.

And sometimes you lie to yourself about it. You'll be in an accountability group, and give them 50 of the information, and expect help. Like, uh-uh. Don't work like that, boss. Don't work like that.

You'll sit there, come to church, and say, oh yeah, I got help. Coming to church ain't getting help. No. No. Your presence does not mean that you actually were vulnerable and got help. No. Doesn't work like that.

You have to take the armor down. Hand over the sword to somebody else. You're not all that strong. You don't have it all together. You don't have it all figured out. Quit lying to yourself. You're not fooling anybody else.

What does Pastor Jeff say all the time? We're just one hypocrite helping another hypocrite figure it out. One beggar showing another beggar how to find bread. That's it. We have to have the first part of this sermon so we can do the last part.

Understand human nature. You don't have it all figured out. You don't have it all together. We need one another. And if you try this on your own, it's going to end up real bad and ugly. There's a lot of people in here who can testify to that.

Lots. Without vulnerability, there can be no accountability. And you will fail. Well, how do you know that? Do you want my 15 different reasons why? Or will one do? Just take your pick. Take your pick of the litter.

Mr. Andrew, you can come forward now. There's some others here. I will leave those for your thought and consideration. We have to answer and decide for ourselves as individuals first what we're going to do.

We have to ask and decide for ourselves what we're going to do in our personal lives so that then we can decide what we're going to do in our family's lives. So then we can decide what we're going to do as a church and as a nation and as a people.

But until you, listen here, until you make a decision of what you're going to do, you will never be able to lead and help anybody else. Your influence will always be negative. It is not neutral, by the way.

There is no such thing as neutral in the kingdom of God. No such thing. Either you are for me or against me. Okay, well, let's take the same principle and apply it somewhere else. Either you are influencing people to the cross and to Christ or away from it.

It's that simple. Either you are walking towards Christ or you're starting to slide on back. There's no standing still here. There's no standing still. Well, I'm not doing bad. I just, you know, I ain't read my Bible in six months, you know, outside of church and Bible study.