 Hey, man, it's the second Samuel chapter number 15. There's a lot going on in this chapter, and there is a lot that a person could preach on about in this chapter. But tonight, or tonight, this morning, we're starting a new sermon series. In the new sermon series, I've titled it Mind Viruses. What do I mean by that? I'm talking about in this sermon series. So first of all, as a pastor, and many of you have been here for a long time, hopefully you know this. But I am obsessed with people's success. I'm obsessed with the success of your Christian life. I want to, I hope you know that I would do anything I would bend over backwards to make sure if you had a problem in your life or something that was stopping you or just causing you trouble, I would do anything that I possibly could to help remove that problem from you. I love seeing the success of other people, in particular, most importantly, spiritual success, Christian growth, just success of the Christian life. But success, what you need to understand, and what I want to talk about this morning and in this sermon series, success or failure is a mindset. It's a mindset, it is a way of thinking. I mean, just to give you an example, I mean, here you are in church this morning. You are in church this morning. Every single person, even though we had to set our clocks ahead and we lost an hour of sleep, we are in church this morning. You are in church this morning because you had the mindset that I am going to church today. So you succeeded in that one task. But success in your life, in the Christian life, most importantly, and then in all other aspects of your life is nothing more than a mindset. It is you deciding you are going to think in a certain way and do a certain things. Following the Bible is a mindset. You could read the Bible, but if you don't have the mindset that I'm going to do what the Bible says, who knows what direction you're going to go in. Now the point of this series is, and you look, all of these sermons in this series, there's going to be four of them. All of them are functions of pride. And so I could just stand up here and say, don't be prideful. And let's just go to another sermon series. But for some reason, people seem to need more detail than that. So all of these things, all of these noticeable patterns and trends that always repeat themselves because when people fail, they fail for the same reasons. When people fall out of the Christian life, it's not something new that got them. It's always the same thing. Most of the time it's a function of pride and every single one of these sermons will be a function, a detail of pride. So look, I want you all to succeed. That is a definite truth that I can say about you. But when people don't, it's for the same reasons, again and again and again. It's mind-numbing. It's so easily repeatable and recognizable. You know I all love trends. I all love recognizing patterns in all these different things. But look, you need to recognize these things for yourself and also recognize these things for those around you because look, it is rare that prideful people only damage themselves. That is another thing that you need to see. It is rare that a prideful person who leads himself or herself to destruction, it is rare that they do not damage people that they are around. It is rare. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 15 and look at verse number one. Now there's about 100 sermons you could preach about the first few verses of 2 Samuel chapter 15. Absalom of course is David's son. He is David's son who is scheming against David and getting ready to take over, you know successfully, he takes over the kingdom in this chapter. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse number one. Before I even give you the title of the sermon, let's read through the first few verses here. The Bible says this, it says, And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate and it was so that when a man had controversy, he came to the king for judgment that Absalom called unto him and said of what city art thou and he said thy servant is one of the tribes of Israel. The gates of the city is where the leaders of the city sat, is where the king sat would declare judgment, people would come there and the king would give out his judgment. You know this is why in Proverbs 31, the Bible says the Proverbs, the virtuous woman, she is married to a man who sits in the gates. So he's one of the leaders of the city. So the gates, it's this area between the walls of the city is not just like he's standing by the door, it's a place where people came to have matters resolved. And the ultimate person that sat in the gate was the king. So here we see the king's son doing that same thing. Look at verse three. And Absalom said unto him, see thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. And Absalom said moreover, oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice. And it was so that any man came nigh to him to do obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. And on this manor did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. So like I said, there's many things in this story. There's many things in these first six verses. But the first mind virus that I wanna talk about this morning is this mind virus that where a person, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tell you what the way of thinking is, and then I'm gonna give you three responses that you need to give yourself if you ever start thinking this way. And the first one is this, this idea, this thinking where you look at leadership in your life, whatever authority that may be, and it goes for men and women, and you say, I can do better. That is the first mind virus. And again, it's a mind virus because that type of thinking, if you have that in your Christian life, in your secular life, wherever it is, it will destroy you 100%. It will bring you down to the ground. If you look at leadership in your life and you say, that's something that I could do better, this is a mind virus that you need to cure. So I'm gonna give you three responses this morning. That if you ever look, and I'm sure we have all thought this before, this is not something that is an unnatural thing to think. It is when you let these things get out of control and start to define you is when they destroy you. It's when you can't keep yourself in check that these things destroy you. So I wanna give you three responses this morning that if this ever creeps into your head, you need to tell yourself these responses. Just get rid of it. And look, the first point here covers 99% of all cases. So even if you just quit paying attention halfway through the sermon, the first one is 99% of all cases of when you start to think, I can do that better. And the first response, whenever you think that, the first response that covers the vast majority of cases is this, this is what you need to tell yourself. When that creeps into your head, you need to tell yourself this. No, you can't. It is the first response you need to tell yourself because the very fact that you think this way means that you are unqualified to lead. And I'm gonna explain that to you this morning, people. But what did Absalom do here? What did Absalom do here? We're gonna look at him as a bad example and then there's a very good example I'm gonna give you in the end that so happens to be in the very same chapter. So here we see of this mind virus we see a bad example Absalom and then we see like the literal opposite of that in the same chapter. But you see one thing that people do when they say I can, when they look at someone who's leading or a leadership or an authority figure in their life and they say I can do that better is they look at one thing. Absalom, I mean, who here thinks? First of all, there's no evidence that David was not sitting in the gate. Absalom was literally intercepting people that came to the gate before the king could even talk to them. There's no evidence that David either was not there himself or did already not have delegates there himself. It's just Absalom was standing in front of the king in those things. In this one thing that the king did. Now let me ask you a question. Who thinks that King David as he ruled over this entire nation that was his only job was to sit in the gate and judge the people? Just to do this one thing. Look, the reality is people that look at like what Absalom did here, people that look at what the king or the leader or the boss or whoever is doing they look at one thing and they say I could do that one thing better. The reality is they are looking at it from a perspective that they see not the leader sees. The leader sees a completely different perspective and look, when in reality if they bore the full burden the vast majority of these people if they bore the full burden of what the leader had on his shoulders they would not be able to do any of it. This is the vast majority of cases. Absalom he was intercepting people. And here's another thing. This is another reason that you see people that do this type of thing that go as far as Absalom went here they have very little to do. Many of these people. When you see people looking at one aspect of what a leader does and saying I could do that better they happen to be people and this is a trend that I've noticed they happen to be people that have nothing to do and all day to do it. And the king I am sure is extremely busy especially if he wasn't in the gate. I'm sure he was doing other things that a king or a leader of an entire nation folks had to do. But he wasn't king. He didn't even have a job. And he's sitting there and he's pointing out one thing that the king is doing and he's just like, you know what? He's like, I could do that better. All he knew is David wasn't there and he, you know, and look, he had ulterior motives anyway we know that from the story. But the king's job is not just sitting in the gate. He is literally responsible for everything that happens to the nation. Leadership is a different perspective. That's what you have to tell yourself. And it's one that you don't see. I mean, it's one that if you aren't in that position it's a perspective that you simply do not have. Trust me. I listened to so many sermons from Pastor Jimenez trying to explain the perspective of leadership as I was sitting in the chairs listening to the sermons. And I can tell you that I never really understood those sermons until I was actually in the position of leadership. So there's kind of some things that maybe you just need to kind of see. Like, you know what? I don't have that perspective and just kind of accept that until you're in that role or if you're just not in that role you're just not gonna understand that perspective. Because from the leadership point of view their view is different, their concerns are different and their goals are different than yours if you're not in leadership. Yet people just like Absalom will pick one thing and they will say I could do this leadership thing better because that's really what Absalom was saying is he chose this one thing but he really said I could be better king. I could rule better. And look, we know that that wasn't true because we know how it worked out. They pick one decision and decide they could just run the whole thing, do the whole job better. Rarely is that the case. Rarely if ever is that the case. And here's number two. So the first one is this. The first one is this, if it ever creeps into your mind I could do that better. You just have to tell yourself no you can't. No you can't do that better. But you say well I still think that I can. Well here's number two. It doesn't matter if you can. That's point number two. You're like oh man I had it. I thought that I could do it better. And I even though pastor said that I probably can't. I still think that I can do it better. But here's another thing. Turn to 2nd Samuel or look at 2nd Samuel chapter 15 in verse number one. You're just gonna keep your place in that chapter the whole time no matter where we go. But it doesn't matter if you can do it better. From a biblical perspective it makes no difference whether you can do it better or not. It doesn't matter. Look at 2nd Samuel 15. Look at the first verse. It says it came to pass. Was it Absalom's job to sit in the gate? It came to pass. Who put in there? This is a question. Who put Absalom in the gate? 2nd Samuel chapter 15. Look at verse number one. And it came to pass after this. Absalom prepared him. Isn't that a weird three words right there? Absalom prepared him. Absalom prepared himself. Absalom went out and bought himself a bunch of friends. Absalom put himself in authority. Absalom prepared himself chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him. If you truly can do the job better first of all why is no one putting you there to do it? That's just a side note. Seems odd. But look in leadership turn to Luke chapter 14. In leadership how you get there matters. In biblical leadership how you get there matters. And it speaks why. So it doesn't matter if you could do it better because how you get there matters. And you can't put yourself there. Why? Because it doesn't work that way. It speaks to legitimacy. Which is what the Bible talks about. Look at Luke 14 and verse number eight. Look it doesn't work this way anywhere. I'm not talking about your Christian life. I'm not talking about church life. It doesn't work this way anywhere. It doesn't work this way in any level of leadership anywhere out in the world even. Look at Luke 14 and verse number eight. Look what Jesus says. He says when thou are bidden of a man, of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him. And he that bade thee and come in and say to thee, give this man place and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. So he's saying don't elevate yourself. Jesus himself is saying, you can't elevate yourself. And Jesus is kind of explaining this in an analogy of somebody that goes to the wedding. You know, you go to the, you're invited to this wedding. You're bade to a wedding. You're invited. I'm legitimately invited. I'm just gonna go sit down at the head table right next to the groom. And pretend like, you know, I'm the second best man or whatever. And Jesus is saying that's gonna be embarrassing for you. Because someone's gonna tell you, hey, you can't sit there because nobody likes you and we barely even invited you in the first place. So he's saying go and sit in the low, sit in the way back. He says it's better. Look at this. It says, but when thou are bidden, go and sit in the lowest room. That when he that bade if he cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher. Then thou shalt have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee. For Jesus who ever exalted himself shall be abased. And he that humble with himself shall be exalted. The life of Absalom, verse 11. He elevated himself and he was abased. Dead, really. But it ended in disaster. The point is you wanna go into the wedding, get invited to the wedding, go sit way in the back and have the guy that invited you say, man, you have to come sit up closer. We have a table reserved for you. That's much better than to go up. And look, you could have had a table in either case. You could have had a table in the front of the wedding. And in either case, you could have went up and sat in front of the groom. You were still pretty good in front of the wedding and it would have been embarrassing to get taken in front of the groom to down the table in the front. Whereas it would have been much better, even though you still had that table in both cases to be brought from the back and sat in the front. Jesus saying, don't elevate yourself. How you get there matters is what Jesus is saying. And look, this is what I'm saying by the point number two you need to tell yourself if you start to think like, I could do that better. It makes no difference if you could do it better. None. You think about this at work. Even if you think maybe I could do that better what the boss did today or what the boss did last week or what the boss does every day. There's people like this that they, I can't figure out why people can't identify this for themselves. Every single place they go to work, the boss is an idiot. Every single place. Is every boss on the planet that you run into an idiot? Maybe the problem is you. That's what you need to ask yourself if you constantly think that. But even in the case where you go in and you say, my boss is a very foolish person. He doesn't do things right. You can't just go in and say, I'm the boss today. That's not gonna work. That wouldn't work anywhere. It's not gonna work in your Christian life. It's not gonna work anywhere in life. I mean, you think about Turn to Ephesians chapter five. So the second point is this. Again, I just want to keep repeating it. The second point is that even if you could do it better that literally makes no difference. That means nothing because it's not your job. The person in authority is the person in authority and you can't just make yourself the person in authority. It doesn't work that way. It never will work that way, ever. No matter how many people you talk to, no matter how many men you hire to run in front of you, no matter how many people whose lives you ruin along with yours, it is never going to work that way, ever. Am I being definitive enough about that? Look at Ephesians chapter five. Look, this goes for a woman too. This goes for a wife. I mean, think about a wife. Maybe there's a wife out there. She is really smarter than her husband. I'm sure there's like the cases out there. Maybe mine's one of them. Maybe there's a wife out there that's married to a husband that just makes all the wrong decisions. That just leads like, just leads his family down the wrong path constantly. And there's this wife that is just convinced like I would make better decisions than this guy that I'm married to. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. That does not give the wife authority to rule over her husband. And to just be, let's just run him over and just be this bossy wife that's just nagging her husband and just, you ever met like, I've met like a lady that's just like constantly like bad talking her husband and just like trashing her husband to other people. Look, just because, maybe he is a fool. I don't know. I mean, he's foolish for marrying a woman that would trash him constantly. That's the only thing I think about in those cases. But it doesn't matter if he's a fool and the wife would make better decisions. Look at Ephesians 5.22. It says, wives submit yourself unto your husbands as unto the Lord. Period. No, no, unless he doesn't do something that you don't agree with. There's no clause there. It says submit yourself unto your husbands. But look, it doesn't matter if you think you could make better decisions than him. That is the authority in the family. That is what the Bible clearly points out. Now look, this is a lesson for young ladies. Don't marry an idiot. Don't marry somebody who is foolish. And look, I've said this many times and I think it just needs to be repeated and repeated and repeated because a young lady who believes what the Bible says in Ephesians 5.22 and doesn't come into a marriage thinking, hey, if he doesn't do what I want, I can just overrule him and just run him over and just bulldoze him. If a woman that just believes Ephesians 5.22 what the Bible says about marriage will make a very wise decision in who she marries. Because she will understand that, I mean, who you marry young ladies, it's a life defining choice. It's important that we understand that because look, it is just because you think you can do it better and maybe there's a small chance that that's true. It is not your job. That's the second point. That it is not your place and you can't just make yourself the boss. It does not work that way anywhere. All right, and that leads me to my third point, which is this, there must be legitimacy in leadership. And we're gonna look at the qualifications of a pastor for an example, just an example. And I'm gonna show you something very interesting about all of the qualifications of the pastor, but look at this, there must be legitimacy in leadership. Otherwise it wouldn't work. No, I mean, people would not follow. You think about the satellite ministry. I just think about the satellite ministry. I mean, why do that? Why be a satellite leader here for two years and be, I mean, I had no title, I had nothing. I mean, it was just like, you're just completely just leading this satellite ministry. We're a satellite of another church. We're not our own church name, which is really cool like we have now. Why do the satellite ministry for two years? Why not just go and just like start my own church? Why not just lay hands on myself and just start my own ministry? Look at 1 Timothy chapter five. Look at 1 Timothy chapter five, and then we're gonna go back to 1 Timothy chapter number three. The answer is that there must be legitimacy in leadership. It must be legitimate. The Bible is very clear about this. Look at verse 22 of 1 Timothy chapter five. The Bible says, lay hands suddenly on no man. Neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure. He's talking to a young preacher here. Paul is saying, don't just, you can't just, it's a serious thing to ordain somebody. It's a serious thing to make somebody or ordain somebody a pastor of the Jesus Christ church. It's a big deal. He's saying, lay hands suddenly. You better know who this person is. You better have vetted them. This is what he is saying. It's not something to be taken lightly. Look, the reason for the satellite ministry is really, I mean, it's two things. First of all, it's going through a trial period. I mean, pastor Jimenez is not gonna lay hands suddenly on any man. There has to be a trial period. There has to be training there. And then, look, having a man of God, and this was a big one for me, having a man of God, a legitimate man of God, lay their hands on you and ordain you into the ministry, giving their endorsement. That's what God wants. God does not want people elevating themselves, hiring 50 men and chariots and horses to run in front of them. And look, if no one will, there's a problem there. If no one will do that, if no legitimate man of God will lay hands on somebody, look, there's a problem. There must be legitimacy to leadership everywhere. That's why there's qualifications. Now, turn to 1 Timothy chapter three. I mean, the point of the qualifications is kind of a measuring stick for a leader is to say like, hey, the Bible wants to know, like, yes, can this person do the job? But it is a measuring stick for pastors to know, should I lay hands on this person or not? Should this person be ordained or not? I mean, see, people think I'm qualified. I can do this better. But a lot of times they're the only one that thinks so. And that's the problem. Because if you can do it better and you are qualified, why aren't you there doing that? And maybe they convince one or two people that they could do it better or whatever, but no one in authority thinks so. And that is something that is super important to understand. But look at this, I wanna show you something in 1 Timothy chapter three here. So these are the qualifications of a pastor. Very good, succinct few verses here. But I wanna show you something that is missing in these qualifications. I wanna show you the difference between credibility and ability. Because many people will just mix these two things or equate one with the other. They will think, oh, because I am able, I am credible. No, wrong. Many people, look, you'll see this out in the world. This is a common mentality. Just because I am the best at something, I should be qualified to lead people in that area. Wrong. That is not what the Bible says. Look down at 1 Timothy chapter three. Look down at 1 Timothy chapter three. There must be, the third point is there must be legitimacy or credibility in leadership. So if you were sitting there thinking that I should be the leader, and I mean, I'm not saying you all are thinking this, but somebody that is having this creeping in and saying I should be the leader at my job, I should be the leader of my family, I should be the leader in this organization, whatever it is, just because you think you're the best at something, uh-uh, that's not what the Bible says. That is not a legitimate qualification for leadership. That's nowhere in the qualifications as a matter of fact. You think of me mentioned once. Look at the Bible, look at verse number one. It says this is a true saying. If a man desired the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. A bishop must be blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to preach. These are all like, you know what this all speaks to, all these things that I just read off, all kinds of different things there, but they all speak to what? They all speak to credibility, not ability. This is about credibility. This is about legitimate credibility. Look at verse number three, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Again, credibility, why? What's the pastor, what's the preacher gonna be talking about? Everything in the Bible, which is these things. Credibility, he must be credible in these areas. One that ruleeth well his own house. Having his children a subjection with all gravity. For if a man not know how to rule his own house, how should they take care of the church of God? Again, credibility, not a novice, less being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of a devil. Now that one, that one right there, it says he's not a novice, but it still doesn't say he's the best. It says he knows his Bible. It says he's not a beginner at the word of God. He understands what the Bible says. It doesn't say he knows the Bible better than anybody. It says that he is not a novice, meaning he's not a beginner in the things of God. As a matter of fact, in these six verses that I just showed you, this leader of a church in this example, which is the best, look, this goes for everything where you have authority in your life. It does not say that he is the best at any of these things. Being the best is not one of the qualifications. Best what? Best preacher, best speaker, best at dealing with people, whatever you want to say. He's not the best at anything that's not one of the qualifications, but it does warn against pride, but it does warn against pride, which that's where the thinking, I'm better at this than somebody else comes from. So, literally, the fact that you are thinking you are better than the leader in your life, disqualifies you from being that leader in the first place, according to the Bible. It doesn't say he's the, as a matter of fact, I mean, how many things? You know what? Just think about it from the perspective of the preacher. Think about it from the, I mean, I'm not talking about the pastor. I'm talking about the one thing, the preaching that the pastor does. Just think about like my preaching. All right, just think about, I mean, you poor people have to listen to me 150 times a year. And I mean, I try to be interesting. I try to be, I try to not, I try to not tell a lot of stories because I know, I know when I'm telling a story that a third of the church has already heard this story. And I don't want to be like that old guy that just tells the same stories over and over again. So, I try not to tell a lot of stories. I try to get better at preaching. I'm not a preacher. I've never been trained in preaching. My training has come from real time like just thrown into the war. That's my training. But look, people today, it is not about how the preaching comes off. People today, not only do they have no attention span, but they are obsessed with being entertained. And I mean, I hate to tell you, but I am not here to entertain you. Even though I don't want to bore you, I am not, I'm not some clown up here trying to, you know, make you stop falling asleep. It's not about, people have ruined themselves through media, quite frankly. I mean, people care more about the way things are said. People care more about the way things are said than what is said. People care more about some entertainment venue. People care more, what do you see these churches with thousands of people in it? It's smoke shows and rock concerts and they're literally saying nothing. They go and they're entertained. They don't care that nothing or the false things are being said. How many times have you gone to somebody's door? Do you know you're going to heaven? No, I don't. Where do you go to church? This church. How long have you been going there? 20 years. And they never told them how to go to heaven. But they showed them a rock concert every Sunday morning. They blew a bunch of literal smoke and purple lights in their face. And they're just like, hey, cool. What have they been telling you? Nothing. Nothing. People care more about how things are said than what is actually said. Or if anything is said at all. Look, they're not even concerned who says it. They're not even concerned about point number two, which is what? The credibility. They're not concerned about that. Look, we're in an era of these. And look, I get it. We're in an era of podcasts. And I get that there's some podcasts that are good. But it matters who is talking. Rod of Iron. Who do you have talking? You have a man of God talking, knows the Bible backwards and forwards. You're going to get some value there. Even secular podcasts, where you have some seasoned businessman or whatever and say you're trying to learn some new business technique or you're trying to figure out how to get a business off the ground and you listen to a podcast of somebody who has done that and has, what? What do they have? They have credibility. But you know what a lot of these podcasts are? A bunch of comedians sitting around talking about politics. What is happening? And people listen to this stuff for hours on end. I would rather jab my eyes out with a dull pencil than listen to a bunch of morons who have been done nothing, have zero credibility about any of the things they're talking about. Yeah, people would just bring it in. Why, oh, because it's interesting and they're good at talking or they're a good interviewer or whatever. I mean, it's just, what is happening? Or just even worse. It looks like just a bunch of idiots sitting around talking nonsense and millions and millions of people will watch this stuff. There's no credibility. There's no value. Nothing is being said, either secular or especially spiritual that has any positive value in your life. There's no credibility. There's not even any possibility of anyone saying anything that's edifying at all. See, the problem is though, and I've asked myself this question so many times, like why would people listen to that? First of all, because people just like to hear people that are good at talking or maybe talking about certain things. But you know what? If you are the kind of person that just likes to listen to people repeat opinions that you have, you need to expand your horizons. If you like just talking, I mean, if you don't care, if you're like, oh, there's some right wing comedian or something and you think that he has a lot of ideas that match yours or whatever, like you are just literally just rotting your brain. It is how, it's when you grow, when you read and study things that are put forth and created by people that know more about you and that are more credible than you. That's when you grow. Both intellectually and spiritually, by the way. I mean, if you just listen to a bunch of morons sitting around talking nonsense for hours, you know what? You're gonna like become a moron. It's what's happening to everybody. Turn to Romans chapter 16. See, but back to the point, people care very little about what actually is being said. And you say, well, this is a new thing from the internet. No, Paul had the same problem. Paul had the same issue. Look at Romans chapter 16 in verse number 18. Romans chapter 16, verse number 18. People care more about being entertained and how things are said than what is actually being said. Look at Romans 16, 18. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse of the week. But their own belly. Sound like Absalom? Who is he serving? He was serving himself. And by, look at this. And by good words and fair speeches. They say a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of falsehoods, a bunch of things that aren't true, but it sounds nice. They say it in a good way. And they deceive the hearts of what? Simple, the simple, simple people. Don't be simple. I mean, you only have to know just a little bit of the Bible to pick up on most of the false doctrine that's being preached out there. But people say things in a very nice way, in a very smooth way where it sounds good, they're well-spoken. You know, look, I mean, Barack Obama got elected this way. Just because he can just get up and just make a fair speech and sound good. And people are just like, I don't know what he said, but sounds pretty good. Look, even Paul, though, turned to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul was a much better writer than he was a speaker. When Paul actually got in front of people, if you read the Bible, he says this in a few different places. But Paul was a very good writer. I mean, look at the Bible. I mean, look, he penned through the Holy Spirit. He penned a great part of the New Testament. But apparently when he got in front of people, he wasn't like, you know, this big, you know, tall, handsome looking, towering figure that could just deliver a speech like nobody else. He wasn't like Tony Robbins getting up there and doing whatever, you know? But look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, verse number six. He says, But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. That's really everything right there. But we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. He's saying, I can't speak well, but I know what I'm talking about. He's like, I may not be the smoothest person in the world, but when I tell you something, there is thorough knowledge of the word of God in those things. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, he says the same thing. He says that I may not seem in verse number nine, as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters they say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. You know what that tells you? There's people in the Corinthian church that are sitting there after Paul gives a sermon and they're like, this guy's a terrible preacher. Like I could preach better than that. Does that matter though? It makes no difference. So just from the perspective of a preacher being the best preacher, Paul, the greatest evangelist who has ever lived or probably ever will live was a terrible preacher. And it makes no difference. I mean, look, I don't think I'm some great preacher or ever gonna be some great preacher. I'm trying not to be horrible at it, but hey, more important is what I say. Not how I say it. More important than any preacher, anybody listening to this, listening to their preacher, more important is what he says, not how he says it. It's not part of the qualifications. And that's why it's not part of the qualifications. I mean, don't you think God missed something? Don't you think it would have been in there if it was important? But here's really the thing. And you'll see this in life as you'll see it in church as you'll see it throughout your whole Christian life. It is rarely, I'm speaking from experience right now, it is rarely the best who is the most qualified leader, rarely. It is rarely the best technician who is most qualified and would do the best job at leading that group of technicians. If you wanna just get down to the craft part of it. That's why it's not in the qualifications. It's rarely the best because you know what I found? You know what I found? And I have kind of like a teeter-totter analogy to it. Is the better, here's what I found with most people. And there's rare people out there that are very humble and very good at their jobs. What I found is that with people in their craft, in their trades and whatever they do, the better they are at their job, the more prideful they are in their job. And what is the one thing that you cannot have as a leader if you wanna be a good leader? And it's actually part of the qualifications. It's what? Pride. And that is why many times the best is not the best leader. It would be a very bad leader, as a matter of fact. It would be a leader that gets in and just beats people down and is super prideful that they're the best and you'll never be the best and all these different things. But look, I've always just known that going in when I find some great mechanic or great, some of the greatest projects I've ever done in my secular career, I've worked with some super awesome craftspeople. And look, but there just comes a weight with that. There comes a weight with these people that are really good at their jobs. And look, we all need those people, but there just comes a weight of pride with people like that most of the time. It's just a truth and that's why the best, being the best is not in the qualifications of a pastor. Because a pastor, a leader, I mean, just apply that to leadership qualifications. Leaders, if they're prideful, all kinds of horrible things will happen. They will treat people badly, they will fall into traps, they will get flattered by all kinds of different people and flattery will actually work on them because it's a prideful leader where flattery works. It's a prideful leader where somebody comes up and says, you're the best pastor ever. I'm like, well, thank you, I know I am. It's a prideful boss or leader or whatever it is that falls into that net of flattery. Pride is one of the qualifications that says you should not be a leader. All right, look, here's a conclusion. If you ever think this way, if you ever think this way, I want you all to think about this now. If you are not in charge, look, we are all servants in places in our life and we are all leaders in places in our life. Even the medium-aged kids in this church, you are leaders to an extent to the younger children especially. You are examples to them. And look, if you are not in charge in certain areas of your life because nobody is ever gonna be in charge in every single area of their life. If you are not in charge, here's what you should do. You should appreciate that. You should appreciate the fact that you are not in charge in that area. Because guess what? True leaders, true leaders are great followers. And I'm gonna show you this right from the same story, but true leaders are great followers because they are very secure people. The people that are in leadership positions in this church, whether it be ushers or soul-winning or whatever, they will be secure people. You will notice that. You will notice that if you take the head usher or one of the ushers and he is in a group that goes out soul-winning and he is not in charge of that group, that he will just let that person lead and that person could say, well, we're gonna go up and down this block in zigzags. And one of these men will say nothing because they are just totally secure to follow. I mean, I love going to events at other churches. I absolutely love it. And you don't want the reasons I love it because I'm not in charge of anything. I mean, Pastor Jimenez, you know, we go to an event there or something and he's like, hey, could you tell me what to do? Tell me what to do. I don't wanna make any decisions. Just tell me where I need to be. I need to take out the trash. What do I need to do? It's such a nice feeling. To just serve. But look, and this is a great test for me as a pastor. I watch for people that can't follow. I watch that, all of you should know this about me and many of you probably already do, but I watch this very closely. And if I find somebody that has problems following, they will lead nothing here ever. This is such an important mindset that you just have to understand from soul winning to the ushers ministry. There is, I mean, there is 150,000 different ways to organize ushers and the counting and all the different things that the ushers do here. There is a billion different ways to pair people for soul winning, to make a map for soul winning, to manage and complete the maps. There's a billion different ways to do that. All you have to do is just follow. That's it. Because I could do it better. Maybe you could, but it doesn't matter. It makes no difference. Turn to Matthew chapter 20. Keep your place in 2nd Samuel chapter 15. The leaders in this church, as the leaders in other organizations, they should be the type of people that are always like, what can I do to help? Where can I, tell me what to do? Because why? Because to lead ultimately is to serve. That, so if you just can't follow, to lead is to serve. Look at Matthew 20 verse 26. The Bible says, Jesus says, So it shall be not so, but it shall not be so among you. He compares the world's leadership to true Christian leadership. He says, but it's not be so among you for whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever should be chief among you, let him be your servant. Now turn back to 2nd Samuel chapter 15. So if you're telling yourself, I can do that better. And you're even having that thought run through your head and criticize somebody who is actively, now let me use this word, actively serving. Instead of helping him serve, you're criticizing him even in your own mind. You are definitely not by definition qualified to lead anything. This is why you must crush this mindset. Stop this virus before it starts. Now I told you there is an exact opposite of how to do things in this same chapter. Look at 2nd Samuel chapter 15, and look at verse number 19. Then said the king, to itai the getai. This guy was a Philistine. He was a Philistine that had been, they'd gotten saved and wanted to join the nation. He was a stranger. Wherefore goest thou also with us? David's like, what are you doing here? You're not part of this trouble? He's like, go home. Well he's like, because I've been here for 10 years and this is pretty much my family. Look at what he says. It says, return to thy place and abide with the king. For thou art a stranger and also an exile. Where is thou came but yesterday? He's like, you're a stranger, not even of this nation. He's like, you came here literally 24 hours ago. Why would you come with us into this trouble? He's like, just go back and serve the new king, Absalom, and save yourself the headache. David the king is telling him this. Look what he says in verse 20, or verse 21. Then he says, seeing I go wither. He says, where is thou came yesterday? Should I, this day make thee go up and down with us? He's like, you're gonna die with us over this? Seeing I go wither, I may return thou and take back thy brethren, mercy and truth be with thee. And Itai answered the king. This is his answer. And said, as the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the king liveth, surely in what place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will what? Look at these words, will thy servant be? You know what Itai could have done? He could have been like, you idiot, look what you've done to your kingdom. He could have been like, you fool, everybody saw what Absalom was doing. Absalom was doing this for years. He could have been like, why did you let Absalom sneak behind your back like this and turn the entire nation against you? Why did you do that? Absalom was doing this for years and years and years and people were turning and turning and turning. You don't think people were coming to the king, telling them what was going on? And all of a sudden it gets to the point where David had kicked out of his own kingdom. And this guy just got there yesterday. And he's going with David and he's like, no, no, no. He's like, as the Lord liveth, so he's saved. He's like, as the one true God liveth, and as you live king, he's like, I go where you, your servant goes where you go. He's like, you know what he said? How can I serve? How can I serve? Well, what does that mean? He's a beautiful example of how to follow and how to serve. And in the next coming chapters, he commands a third of the army to take back the kingdom. He just showed up yesterday. And in two chapters, he is leading a third of the entire nation's army. Why? Because he's a servant, that's why. Because he was able to follow and he was able to just be a servant to who was in charge at the time. And what did he become? He became a leader. Because why? He's credible. And he had that legitimacy. So if this idea starts creeping into your head, and look, we've all had the thoughts. When you see a leader do something that you wouldn't have done it that way, all these things, you just need to stomp it. You need to stomp it out right away. And you just need to be like, hey, because look, you don't understand if maybe King David was dealing with all kinds of other things over here. And you know what, a real servant who's just been like, how can I help? How can I help pick this thing up? How can I be of what? Be of service. But of course, we know Absalom was for himself and many people that just allow this feeling to just completely consume them and take over the way they operate. They're in it for their own belly, as the Bible says. They're in it for themselves. But you can't let it get that far. You have to stomp it out immediately because it will 100% ruin you. And the sad thing is it will ruin many people around you as well. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. You're heavenly Father. I thank you for putting this story in the Bible. It's a very valuable story. I thank you for all the advice that you've given us, Lord, and on authority and leadership. We just thank you for the wisdom of the Bible. Just help us to understand when we're having bad mindsets.