 Amen. All right, 1 Peter chapter 5. Great chapter in the Bible about spiritual leadership and about what it's to look like and what it's to not look like. So this morning, today, what I want to talk to you about is I want to talk to you about control. I want to talk to you about, you know, how much control should a leader have and, you know, how do you get that control? If you've ever wondered, hey, you know, I'm in charge and I just can't seem to get control of situations, I'm going to answer that for you this morning. Okay, so hopefully, you know, by the end of this sermon you will know, you know, at least the concepts that we're going to look at. We're going to dissect 1 Peter chapter 5 this morning and talk about, you know, gaining control and getting control. So you say, you know, that I'm in charge of these certain areas of my life and I just, I'm having difficulties getting people to realize that I'm in charge, getting things under control, things are a mess. So we're going to look at that in 1 Peter chapter 5 and I'm going to break that down for you. We're going to look at the model of what the Bible says and I'm going to show you how that it's designed to work. Okay, so first of all, this model is a spiritual leadership model. All right, so this is talking about an elder, a pastor, a deacon, a spiritual leader of some type here in 1 Peter chapter 5. So we're going to use that. We're going to step through this and look at, you know, the spiritual leader's role and basically in the church as our model and then at the end we'll apply it, you know, to your life and to your situation, to your home, et cetera. Okay, so look at 1 Peter chapter 5 and let's just look at the first verses. The verses I want to focus on is really verse number 1 through 3. I mean, the whole chapter is great. He's basically, you know, using this analogy of a spiritual leader being a shepherd, being someone who's shepherding a flock. Okay, and if you look at 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 1, the Bible says, the elders which are among you I exhort, whom am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also are partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy looker, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage but being examples to the flock. So there's three items here that I want to step through as far as, you know, the responsibilities of a spiritual leader to the flock, to the people that he's leading. Now the first one is this. The first responsibility is very obvious. Verse number 2, it says, feed the flock. Turn to John chapter 6. So the spiritual leader in 1 Peter chapter 5, the first responsibility that we see that that spiritual leader is supposed to have is that he is supposed to feed the flock of God. Now turn to John chapter 6. And in John chapter 6, I mean you say, feed the flock, you know, what does that mean? It's obviously an analogy, you know what I mean? We're using the analogy of a shepherd with sheep, shepherd with a flock. A shepherd obviously is to feed the sheep, literally, right? But this is an analogy. This is not a literal application here. It's feed the flock of God. So let's find out what that's talking about. Turn to John chapter 6. Look at verse number 50. Now Jesus here is preaching some doctrine to people. He kind of knows. He's trying to make a little bit of a point here. I'll get to that at the end. We'll look at verse number 50 where Jesus says this. He says, this is the bread with coming down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. So, you know, this, he's talking about the bread of life. He's talking about himself, right here. So when that guy, you know, many weeks ago told me, you know, hey, that hot dog I just sold you is the bread of life. You know, he doesn't understand the Bible, right? Because I will get hungry again. You know, that's not the bread of life. It's just, that's literal bread, right? So verse 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. Skip down to verse number 61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? Because he had said all these things, you know, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. He's not talking literally, right? I mean, the Catholics take this to a really strange, weird, literal level today, right? But that's, they don't understand what Jesus is. It's very clear what Jesus is talking about here. All right? And then verse 62. He says, what? And if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before it. Now, side note here. Twice Jesus has now said that he used to be in heaven. Okay? And people say, oh, Jesus never claimed to be God. Well, Jesus just said twice here that he used to be in heaven and he came down to earth. Okay? So he said it in verse number 62. And he also said it in verse number 51 where he says, I am the living bread which came where? Down from heaven. Right? Which came down from heaven. Now how many of you, you know, were in heaven before? Right? None of us. Right? So Jesus is literally claiming his deity here. Verse number 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So Jesus gives this big, you know, look. You are fed with the word of God. All right? Jesus is the word become flesh. Jesus knew he had some people here that were doubting, that were waffling. So he just gives him this really hard doctrine in this, you know, hard saying as it is. And, you know, he knew some of them believe not. And this is where some of the disciples, you know, basically left at that point and stopped following him. He was thinning the herd here. That's what he was doing. But in the meantime, he was saying that I am the bread of life. So whoever, you know, takes of this bread, you know, will never have to eat again. You know, they will never die. And then he says at the very end in verse number 63, the flesh profiteth nothing. So he's not talking about literal bread for your flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing. It's what? It's the words that I speak unto you. They are spirit and they are life. So you are fed. The answer is feed the flock of God. What does that mean? That means that you are fed with the word of God. So a spiritual leader in whatever, you know, capacity that is, is to feed you the word of God. All right? Now Jesus is that word, become flesh. And that's what he's talking about in John chapter 6. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. So we see that there's this bread. There's this food of the word of God. But it gets more detailed than that. So it's not just, you know, read the Bible to you. Stand up here and read the Bible to you. That's not what, you know, the Bible talks about. It gets more detailed and more specific on what the responsibilities of a spiritual leader are. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, look at verse number 1, where the Bible says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are ye able. So we see that the word of God has broken down into these two different categories. It says that there's milk, you know, for the babes, for the babies, he's saying. And he's like, these people, he said, I couldn't feed you with the meat because you wouldn't bear it. You can't feed a steak to a newborn child. Okay? So look, there's the simple things, is what he's talking about. He said, I had to start with the simple things with you. And he said, the way you are now, you're still not able to have anything more than just the simple things. Everybody has to start. Look, every baby has to start drinking milk. You can't start feeding babies steak. So babies grow and they get stronger with milk and then they're able to eat solid foods and meat. And he says, look, I had to start with the simple things. What are the simple things? Well, you know, the simplicity that is in Christ. Salvation is a simple thing. The doctrine of salvation, you know, just faith. You know, just teaching people about faith and the doctrine of salvation. Turn to Hebrews chapter 5. These are the simple things. You know, teaching people about, you know, sin and the effects of sin on their life. Those are simple things. Turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, look at verse number 13. He gets even more detailed. The Bible gets even more detailed here. And it tells you why some people will not be able to handle anything other than milk. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So it says if you just, you just can't get off milk, you're unskillful in the word of righteousness. You're unskillful. You don't know the Bible. So you just need milk. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. And then he explains. So whenever it says, hey, them that are of full age. And then he says, even, he's going to tell you what that means. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So here again, we see this idea of milk and meat. Milk for the babies. Strong meat for them of full age. Full age meaning those who are exercising their senses. Those who are learning the Bible and exercising the Bible. Those who are learning the Bible and applying the Bible. They put the milk so they're learning the milk and then they're putting that milk to work in their life. And at that point, they can start eating meat. That was the problem with the Corinthians is they weren't putting these things to exercise. So they just couldn't get past the simple things. It's that simple. All right. So look, if you're this strange person who can sit in church, church like this, you know, hear the preaching, continue in sin. Look, there's not that, it's weird if you're this person. But if you can do this, just sit in, you know, a Bible preaching church, hear the preaching, be like, yeah, in one ear, out the other, and just continue in sin, you will not grow. That's what the Bible says. Hey, you will never be able to get off the milk. You will remain a babe in Christ. All right. You won't be able to bear it, as 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says. You're the type of person that will be irritated by certain sermons, probably sermons that are directed at things that you're just not willing to give up or get past in your life. You just won't grow. So we see that that's a consequence for who? Is that a consequence for the spiritual leader? No. That's a consequence for you. If that's what you do, okay? So you'll never get off the milk. If you don't put the milk to exercise, and then you can get onto the meat. You won't grow, okay? Let's bring it back around to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. Look at verse number 2, where the Bible says, Feed the flock of God, which we just talked about, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. So let's look at this idea. The second point is taking the oversight. Okay, now look. I raised sheep. Now taking the oversight of the sheep, meaning you protect the flock. Okay, so, I mean, sheep need protection because pretty much anything can kill them. Okay, so whenever, you know, we would see a, we had protection animals. We had a llama named Rose that would protect the sheep. You say a llama? Yes, llamas protect sheep. She thought she was a sheep. She lived with the sheep. But llamas hate canines. So they will attack any dog and they have these really sharp front claws, so they protect the flock. Okay, we also had two big great Pyrenees dogs that would go and run perimeters around the farm at night and keep coyotes away. And then they had me driving around in my truck with a rifle, and every time I saw a coyote, we shot it. So that's protecting the flock. Okay, so that's the second thing. That's the literal application here, right? I mean, I like talking about sheep, all right? But let's look at the spiritual application. Turn to Acts chapter 20. You need to have the spiritual leader not only needs to feed the flock, but he needs to have the ability to control and protect against predators. Okay? Turn to Acts chapter 20. And look at verse number 29. And the Bible says this. It says, Now look. I don't necessarily think, because we're going to read one more verse, but I don't necessarily think that this verse here is only talking about unsaved people. Okay? Look at verse number 30. And it says, he says in verse number 30, this is when I refer to probably people who could possibly be saved. Okay? Also, of your own selves shall mannerize speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So we see there's these grievous wolves here. That's one thing. And then we have these other men that might arrive of us. Of your own selves that will speak perverse things and just try to get people to follow after them. The Bible says. So look, even saved people can get prideful. I hate to break it to you. All right? You know, cause trouble and cause division in a church. It is the spiritual leader's job to protect against that type of thing. Okay? A pastor must protect against that in the church. Period. It will happen. I've seen it happen. It will probably happen here. Okay? That's why, you know, church discipline itself applies to saved people. You know, in 1 Corinthians, you know, chapter 5 and verse number 11, we preached six sermons on that. Right? That was about saved people. That was about saved people doing certain things that will get them, you know, removed from the church if they don't stop doing those things. And it's to protect the flock. It's to, yeah, it's to get them right, but it's to protect the flock as well. Okay? Turn to Matthew chapter 16. There's another thing that needs to be protected against. And I've kind of led into that. And it's this. Sin. The church needs to be protected against sin. Another application of 1 Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 11. Look at Matthew chapter 16. Look at verse number 1, where the Bible says, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and lowering. Oh ye hypocrites. You can discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. He's sitting here and he's saying that they're pretending to be able to predict the weather just by looking at the clouds coming basically. That's what he's saying. He's like, you can predict that, but you can't even tell when the Messiah has come, is what he's saying. You've missed that. He's like, you could see all these things and you've portrayed yourself to be these great visionaries and spiritual sages and you missed the main event. That's what he's saying to them. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed. And when his disciples would come to the other side they had forgotten to take bread. And Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Leaven meaning false doctrine. Leaven meaning sin. Turn to Galatians chapter 5. I'll just read it for you. Galatians chapter 5 and verse number 9. A little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. So the Bible is teaching here that, look, if certain things creep in they need to be dealt with, which is why 1 Corinthians 5 is in the Bible, is so this leaven doesn't spread through the whole lump. And fornication is a perfect example of that. I mean, if we sit up here and we preach and I preach and I scream and I yell and I beat on the pulpit about fornication and then we just have all these people who are and look, this is churches everywhere. This is churches everywhere. Do this. All right? And then we just have people sitting in this church who everybody knows they're just living with their girlfriend. They're just living with their boyfriend, just living in fornication. You know, people, it's common for people to now have children. It's just like common. Just out of wedlock with their live-in boyfriend or live-in girlfriend. It's common today. And if we had that in this church what a joke it would be if we even preached about it from the pulpit. And what do you think that the kids in this church would think that we really thought about it? All right? No, but God puts these rules in place for a reason. So church discipline must be followed. It protects the flock. Look, we want that person to get right. But look, there's way more than one person in here. And it protects the flock. It's uncomfortable. It's not going to be a comfortable conversation. And that's probably why most people don't do it anymore. Because number one, it's people in the pews. Number one, and that's what it's all about these days. It's people in the pews. It's money in the offering plate. But no, we will follow the rules because the spiritual leaders, you know, the second thing we learn is that he is there to protect the flock. All right? So that's, I mean, that's why we preach through the whole boot series. Because I mean, it's going to happen here. I didn't want you to be offended when it happens here. Okay? It's already happened here. All right? I didn't want you to be offended. We're going to follow those rules as long as you have a proper spiritual leader. Those rules will be followed. Okay? Number three, turn back to 1 Peter chapter five. So we see that the spiritual leader who's going to be our model for the sermon tonight is there to, he's there to feed the flock of God. He's there to feed the flock of God with the milk and the meat of the word. He's there to protect the flock of God. He's there to protect against grievous wolves that will come in. That's why no reprobate will ever come in here. He's there to, he's there to protect against false doctrine that would creep in. And he's there to protect against, and look, even off the list of those six sins, I do not want sins spreading through the church. So I will do my best to help and counsel and help people with their sins if they choose to ask for that help. Okay? But those six sins will get you, you know, removed from church. Period. And then third, we see this. We see that the spiritual leader is there to be an example. But being examples to the flock, verse number three, it says. Turn to first Timothy chapter three. What does that mean? Being examples to the flock. We're going to read first Timothy chapter three, and we're going to read verse two, all the way through verse number 12. And I want you to see all the detail that is in these verses. This is the model of a spiritual leader in the Bible, right here. Okay? This is the example. So he says, be an example. What kind of example? We're going to read it right now. We're going to read verse three. Let's start reading in verse number two. 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. You see, filthy lucre comes up here and he's not, you know, it's also in first Peter chapter five. You will also see many of the same sins of 1 Corinthians chapter five verse 11 in this list. That they are not a spiritual leader be a drunk. How would that work? Right? If a spiritual leader was a drunk and, you know, we throw himself out of church, it wouldn't work, right? Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy, of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. One that ruleeth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of it? I mean, if my kids, and look, we are not a perfect family, newsflash, all right, but if my family was a train wreck and all that, and then I got up here and started preaching to you about, you know, raising kids and raising families and all this kind of stuff, I mean, are you going to listen to anything that I say? I mean, that would be that would be a joke. Not a novice less being filled up with, lifted up with pride, in the snare of the devil. Likewise, look, I shouldn't be involved in all kinds of like nefarious things outside of church. I mean, this isn't funny that he has to say all these things, but you know, I mean, if you look at all the rules in the Bible that God actually has to put in there, I mean, men do all these things, right? Likewise, must the deacons be grave, deacons another spiritual leader in the church, not double-tongued here, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience and let these also first be proved and then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so, must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful and all things. Look, my wife can't be a drunk either. I mean, there's qualifications for the wife of the spiritual leader as well. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, a spiritual leader. Once again, I mean, how could I give, you know, I was at a Catholic wedding decades ago and I still remember as a kid how weird it was listening to a sermon on marriage from a priest, some man who had never been married. It's weird. It was weird to me then. I was 15. You know, it doesn't work. Look, this list, the reason I've read the whole thing is because that's a tall order. That's a tall order. This whole list of what a spiritual leader needs to be. Look, you can't teach if you don't do is the bottom line. So, all of this applies to spiritual leadership in the home, by the way. So, you think, oh, I'm not a spiritual leader. Wrong. If you're a man and you're married and you have a family, you are a spiritual leader. So, here we see that he's to feed you, he's to protect you, and he's to be an example to you. Turn back to 1 Peter chapter 5. Turn back to 1 Peter chapter 5. There is also some commands of the opposite effect of these things on what a leader should not do. What the spiritual leader should not do. Look at 1 Peter chapter 5 in verse number 2. Feed the flock of God, which is among you. Taking the oversight thereof. Not by constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. So, verse number 3 where it says, you know, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre. Obviously, that's just for money, right? Just somebody who's just doing it pretty much blows away this whole idea of somebody who just wants to be in charge just to be in control of people. Okay, if you want to be the boss, I know so many people they just want to be the boss just so they can just be in control of people. That pretty much does away with it. Look, if that's you, then you're not going to be the proper leader. If the only reason you want to be in charge is so you can be in control of people, you're never going to succeed in a, especially in a spiritual leadership role. Okay? So look, if these people that have this desire to micromanage people's lives is what this is talking about. Look, most of us, unfortunately, have either been in these types of churches or heard of these types of churches or know people that have been in these types of churches. Look, I had a, I have, you know, examples from church that I used to go to before I moved to California. You know, the pastor would, would always try to convince people that he had some kind of extra revelation from God that they didn't have. Little subtle things. I mean, I don't think a lot of people maybe noticed it, but subtle things like there would be a special that was sung and you would say subtle things like, I just had a feeling this morning when I woke up that that was the song she was going to sing. And just subtle little things like that that tell you that he's trying to convince you that, he has more access to the spirit or whatever than you do. Okay. Holding people's salvation over their head. Many, many people have examples of this making up stupid garbage that isn't in the Bible. That's another one. You know, look, let me just explain it to you. You wonder why this happens? It's because of this. All leaders want respect and loyalty from the people that they are leading. All leaders want that. Right? I mean, look, I want that. Other leaders want it too. If people can't get it they panic and do stupid things like this. That's what happens. Okay. So they try they try to command it. Listen, do what I say or I'll use my special relationship with God or whatever. This is what they're trying to do or all doubt your salvation or all, you know all these different things. Look, it's wicked but that's why they do it. It's a panicked, you know, look, these things respect and loyalty of people that are following you it can't be commanded. It can't be commanded. That's the problem that so many people run into and in leadership of all types it's feed the flock the job of the spiritual leaders and here's the thing they're over-complicating it because you don't have to think about it that hard. It's just it's more labor than thinking. It's feed the flock, protect the flock, be example to the flock. That's it. That's all. That's all. This model is the same for the home by the way and we'll talk about that at the end of the sermon but not following this model leads to this paranoia and this micromanaging type of leader and we've all seen it. All right. Turn your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 12. They can't get the people to follow them so they become these crazed power trippy wackos is the bottom line and it never works. That's the irony of the whole thing. So let's look at some paranoid leadership in the Bible and see if it leads to a good place. Let's just look at what the Bible says. 1 Kings chapter 12 let's look at Jeroboam the guy that just broke away he just took 10 tribes of Israel and he's the leader now he's the king. He's the man. He's the boss. Look at 1 Kings chapter 12 in verse number 25 and this is right after he peeled the kingdom away from Rehoboam from Solomon's son then Jeroboam built Seshim in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out from this and built Penuel and Jeroboam said in his heart now shall the kingdom return to the house of David if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord that Jerusalem then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord even unto Rehoboam king of Judah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Look, you know what he should have been focused on? Look, he's paranoid here. You know what he should have been focused on? Feeding the flock protecting the flock and being an example to the flock that's all he needed to do. Instead he freaks out he gets paranoid and panicked that he's going to lose control of the situation and what does he do? Look what he does. Look at verse number 28 and instead instead of doing the godly thing what he should do this is what he does. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them is it too much for you to go up to Jerusalem? Behold thy gods, O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt and he set one in Bethel and the other put he in Dan and this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan and he made in house and high places and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi and Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month like unto the feast that is in Judah he offered upon the altar so did he in Bethel sacrificing unto the calves that he had made and placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made so he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the eighth month and the month which he had devised of his own heart and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel and he offered upon the altar and burnt incense look paranoid I mean he basically went and he created a bunch of false gods so he could just he could control the people instead of doing what he was supposed to do so I mean and this is a horrible horrible sin that eventually I mean just look up how many times throughout the history in the Bible of the northern kingdom of Israel that the sins of Jeroboam that quote that phrase comes up the sins of Jeroboam generations and generations and generations they still did the same thing because he led them into this sin and he changed the whole nation to worship these false gods all out of what paranoid and insecure leadership is what it was look paranoid and insecure leadership will just lead people to do stupid things and even create false doctrine and heresy I mean this is the pastor that tells you has extra revelation right here that the reason I can't explain it to you I don't know why the Bible said that's not true but I just know and you just have to trust me because I just have extra revelation from God I've heard it before or tries to control you through your salvation or tries to you know crawl into your home seen that too you know and just dictate the things look no pastor or spiritual leader I do not have the ability to control your salvation do you know that I mean no man shall be able to pluck them from my hand including you know your spiritual leader Jeroboam was trying to get the people to follow his God so they wouldn't go back to Judah he was afraid he was afraid now the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5 that a spiritual leader is not to have complete control as a king but to feed and to protect and to be an example right so look I mean personally personally I have no desire to control anybody I mean not even a little bit right but a good leader will simply let you know that you're about to walk off a cliff a good leader will feed you which could sometimes be warning you which could sometimes be helping you to not fall off that cliff I mean I really don't understand why somebody wouldn't take advice from their spiritual leader but it happens I suppose look if you don't have and here's for the people who are in a church where they don't have respect for their pastor or whatever just don't be a pain just leave just go I mean you have this this person that's there to feed you to protect you and to be an example for you you should use that you should use that so look Hebrews 5 I mean Hebrews 5 who was the risk in Hebrews 5 for? the risk in Hebrews 5 was not for me look it says it says in Hebrews 5 that if you don't if you're fed the milk and you don't use the milk and exercise it in your life that you won't grow that you'll never be able to eat meat that's on you I mean I don't want to watch that I don't want to see that but that's not on me it's on me to feed it and to try to convince you to exercise it so look if you consider if these people you'll have people that's why that's why you generally don't see these type of people in a church like this these people that would just continue in sin no matter what they hear because like it's not comfortable it's not comfortable being in sin and then just hearing just it thrown in your face like three times a week right look if you continue in sin though no matter what you hear that's on you not me until of course it causes problems in the church then it's on me to deal with it okay but look no no and I've heard this many times from many different pastors preached and I can totally understand it no spiritual leader pastor wants to watch people in their church you know slowly train like wreck their life it's got to be a very difficult thing to see all right but at the end of the day ultimately spiritual leader to come in and just try to micromanage that thing to death it's on you if you don't listen it's on you not me it's my job to tell you it's my job to protect against things it's my job to be an example that's it it's much simpler than people think so I told you we'd make an application of this so we see the three things right it's very three very simple things and then we see things that it's not supposed to be all right let's look at the family let's look at the family you say I mean man I hate to break it to you if you have a family if you have a wife at home you are a spiritual leader in your family and you say well my wife and kids won't follow what do I do well you aren't doing it right you aren't doing it right if they won't follow so let me show you let's revisit the model let's revisit the model the first thing you have to do is what? you have to feed them you have to actually be a spiritual leader okay and this means this could mean many different things but look you have to relay the vision okay most most of my career let me give you a secular example of this most of my career I have dealt with people people have worked with me for me on projects and those people do not work directly for me those people have a boss somewhere else that they report to and they're working for me on this certain thing okay now look it's really simple it's really simple how you make this work it is my job in those cases I can't go to them and say you work for me do this now I have to go to them and here's what you do you communicate the vision you communicate the vision here's the project here's the goal here's the plan to get to that goal you know throw some enthusiasm in there you know here's the goal here's the plan we're all going to be heroes man and I mean I believe it and they know I believe it and then we make it happen and then other people want to come in and be part of something like that too you see but you know you got to have some heart I mean do you believe what you're leading your family into do you I mean do you believe it or are you just marching through the the paces I mean do you believe it or not and if you do believe it look here's your plan it's a good plan it's a good vision it's the perfect plan it's the perfect vision if you can't communicate this vision with some heart you're going to fail but I mean look if there's a plan that you should be able to communicate it's this one it's the perfect plan it's God's plan it's not even yours you get to drive it home now look if I go into a situation like that and I got 10 guys and I'm like hey you know here's what we're going to do and all this and like nobody's buying nobody's biting maybe I need to rethink my plan maybe my plan's not good maybe my vision's not good on how to get to that goal but look you don't have to worry about that because you have a perfect plan spiritual leader of your house this Bible is the perfect plan you should be able to sell that we've talked about this lead your family in some Bible studies encourage your kids to read the Bible we'll talk about that in tonight's sermon we'll talk about that so you see that you have to it's the same model as the spiritual leader so what's the second thing you have to protect the flock you have to feed the flock the second thing is you protect the flock this one's easy you provide for and protect your family literally okay it'd be very difficult to lead a family if you don't provide for them by the way I mean if you're some husband who just won't work and won't provide for his family and your wife does everything you know good luck leading her it just doesn't work that way look it gives credibility Christians need to be worried Christians in general and I want to go off on this but Christians in general need to be more worried about their testimonies because the people look the secular people in your life the people that aren't saved in your life they don't see you at church they don't see you out soul-winning two times a week they don't see you at church three times a week what they see is what your life is doing and the Bible tells you specifically how to live your life which leads me into the third point you need to be an example you say well my wife doesn't want to come to church what would you do here's what I would do if my wife didn't want to come to church here's what I would do I would encourage her to do so and I know guys that have done this by the way and it works and some of them have done it for years before it worked but it works encourage her to do so first of all in the meantime you and the kids or if there is kids involved are in church every time the doors are open period that's the example you know then your wife will start to see the passion she'll start to see the results and not only you but the kids too she'll start seeing the kids grow and change because this is a family integrated church for good reason the kids will grow here it's weird but it works it's great to see I've seen it for years it's awesome I love it I mean there's kids that I try to think back four years ago I mean that's not that long ago four years ago what those kids were like including my own kids after being sitting in a family integrated church listening to bible preaching growing and learning and being fed meat and I look at who they were four years ago and recognizable your spouse that doesn't come to church will start to see that as well and that will be a great example well you say well she doesn't want me going to church well I mean different sermon become a man I mean my wife does not tell me what to do on anything you say that sounds harsh my wife doesn't tell me what to do my wife doesn't make the decisions in my household now look a leader is not controlled by his followers you see a leader I mean if I was controlled by every single person in the church if a pastor let me just use an example of a pastor it's better if a pastor was controlled by the people in the church it would be a disaster it would be a disaster but look my wife read Proverbs 31 my wife I would also if you have a spiritual wife who does love the Lord and does love coming to church I'd be an idiot if I didn't listen to her counsel I'd be a fool I mean that's a great tool that's a great help me that the Lord has provided for me and I use it all the time I'd be a moron it's the same thing when I was a young secular example again when I was a young leader at work and I was on a project and I had six, seven, eight guys and they're all 10, 15 years older than me and they're working for me on this project and I'm just like here's the way we're going to do it and I'm just it's my way period it's a stupid way to lead it's a stupid way to lead that doesn't work well you'll miss things you'll end up with poor results is the bottom line look I want as much wise godly counsel as I can get that's what my wife is there to help me with but I'm in charge at the end of the day there's hard decisions sometimes that need to be made and my wife doesn't even want to make those decisions that's on me and that's my responsibility that's your responsibility so look it's the same model for the home as it is for the church you see you see how beautiful the Bible is all you have to do at home is feed your family spiritually you protect your family physically and spiritually and then you be an example for them alright and you know what have some heart if you're this waffler it's not going to work if you're this waffler where you're like you know what I'm kind of one foot into this church thing you should really come you should really come to this church thing and you know sometimes you bring the kids sometimes they don't go all this and the kids don't even think you're serious you can't even convince children that you're serious about church good luck good luck I mean you all believe this you are sold out for this show some heart to those that you're leading and it works folks it's not I mean look it's not rocket surgery it's three steps and then you know you don't have to be this crazy micromanaging controlling weirdo you know because it does that doesn't work either it's just feed the flock protect the flock be an example to the flock that's it both in the church and in the home now look in the church I have zero desire to control anybody I don't have time to control your life and come home and watch you do whatever you do all I can do is tell you what's going to happen to you if you keep doing the things that you do and I have no problem telling you that but please listen because I don't like to waste my time I don't want to control you I want to see you succeed I mean I love seeing people succeed you guys are succeeding I mean we're seeing people succeed in this church and that's why it's a selfish desire of mine one of the reasons that I like doing what I'm doing because I like seeing you succeed so help me like my job I mean it's that simple I don't want to control anybody and I don't need to be in charge of anybody zero, zero interest in that I want to see you succeed I don't want to watch train wrecks that's the model it works so follow it watch it follow it in your lives and it will work for you too and that's the Bible the perfect model let's borrow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for 1 Peter 5 we thank you for this great model the leadership and the Bible Lord we thank you that you just you have all the answers for us Lord that you just know how we should execute things you know that you know what works and what won't work and you know the reasons people I mean it explains the reasons people do things it explains so much to us Lord we just thank you for the lens of the Bible we love you we ask you to bless the rest of our day in church this evening in Jesus' name we pray Amen