Following

And say, follow me. What's wrong about that statement and what's right? Following. In the proper way that God means it, never removes or supplants a person's personal responsibility and accountability. Let's look at, oh, let's say five scriptures in a row. The first one is Philippians 2.12.

Let's just go quickly through these five. String them together. Philippians 2 and verse 12, where Paul writes to the Philippian ecclesia, the church, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, he's acknowledging that they are an obedient group of God's people. Not as in my presence only. Obviously, it wouldn't be very deep if that were the case. But now, much more in my absence, much more in my absence, because they recognize something which he now touches upon when he says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Take hold of it. Make it very personal. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, in the book or letter to Galatians, to the Galatian ecclesia in chapter 6 verse 5, and when we look at these first four verses that are writings of Paul under inspiration, you see this is one of the threads that does run through his writings and his concerns. In Galatians 6 verse 5, now, Philippians, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Then he says in Galatians 6, 5 here, 6, 5, he says, For every man, and you could put the word woman in there too, for every man, shall bear his own burden. Bear his own burden.

And then to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, 10. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one, every one, each one, may receive the things done in his or her body according to that he or she has done, whether it be good or bad.

And then the fourth one, and again all these in the writings of Paul, Romans 14, 12. Romans 14 verse 12. So then, so then, every one of us, each of us, shall give account of himself to God. And then I'll step for the fifth one. I'll step back into the Old Testament, into Jeremiah 17 verse 10. Jeremiah 17 verse 10. I the Lord search the heart. I try the reins even to give every man, every woman, every person, according to his or her ways and according to the fruit of his or her doings.

Following in the proper way that God means never removes or supplants personal responsibility and accountability. The Scriptures are clear on that. If I get up here and say, follow me, what's wrong with that statement and what's right with that statement?

You know, following in the proper way that God means never establishes a man as your foundation. Notice Psalm 146 verses 3 and 4. Psalm 146 verses 3 and 4. Following in the proper way that God means never establishes a man as your foundation. Psalm 146 verses 3 and 4. David, who was a man after God's own heart, says, Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man. And this is talking about human Son of Man, not the spiritual Son of Man, Jesus Christ, obviously.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son or Child of Man, in whom there is no. And it says in the King James, Help, but in the Hebrew, it's also rendered salvation, in whom there is no salvation. David goes on to say, His breath goes forth, He returns to His earth, in that very day His thoughts perish.

To build upon a man as your foundation is to build your house upon sand. Notice with me in what's called the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, Matthew 7 verses 26 and 27. In this discourse, to His disciples. And it's always interesting to know, and sometimes significant to know, the context of who the audience is. And this is not to the multitudes. This is when He went apart, and His disciples went apart with Him, away from the multitude, and He taught them. So in Matthew 7 verses 26 and 27, He says, And every one that hears these words of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. To build your foundation upon a man is to build your house on sand. It's not a stretch to say, man is sand. You know, Genesis 2.7 talks about God sculpting Adam from the dust of the ground, and He's from sand, so to speak, and breathing into Him the breath of life, which was simply air with oxygen in it.

And then telling Adam and Eve in chapter 3, after they forfeited the garden through their sinning, there in verse 19 of chapter 3, saying, you know, you're from the sand or the dust, the dirt, and you're going back to that. You'll return to it. Go with me to 1 Peter 1 and verse 24. Man is a foundation that fails. 1 Peter 1 and verse 24.

Peter writes, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away. Such a true statement of life. And there are plenty of Scriptures of man's brevity, his failings, and his passing away. And you could have the best leader in the world, so to speak, and eventually mortality takes its toll, and they're no longer around to lead anybody or say, follow me. We always think about Psalm 90 and verse 10. I'm not turning there, but we always think about that in terms of the brevity of life.

That's the one about our years, or 70, and by reason of strength, 80. And if by extra reason of strength, 90 or even 100, the average American, the average lifespan of the average American man and woman does not exceed the 70s, does not make it to 80, the average. Anyway, you have the personality pool, you have the charisma factor, you have the popularity pole, and the politics of it.

And it's all a foundation of sand. It truly is. It's a foundation that rests on a man, that rests on following a man, and therefore it's a foundation that does fail. But the foundation that can't fail is the foundation of the rock that's built on the rock. If you might keep your finger here, I will come back to 1 Peter in a moment.

But I'm going back to Matthew 7, this time verses 24 and 25. Matthew 7, verses 24 and 25. Verse 24, Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built this house upon a rock. And of course, Christ is that rock. And what he tells us to do is totally synonymous with his nature and his righteousness. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

It was grounded, it was anchored. It was anchored in something that could not fail. How many times, decades ago, did that strong voice ring across this nation, into the hills and the hollows, on the radio bands? And of course, at one time, a trucker could pull out off of the east coast and travel to the west coast, and all the way across the nation, when he got out of range at one station, he could tune into another, and he could listen to Mr.

Armstrong all the way across the nation at one time. But how many times did that strong voice say, Don't believe me, because I say it. Believe because you open your Bible and you see it there for yourself. Don't believe me, but believe it because you read it for yourself in the Bible.

Now, that's what he told us to do. But you know what I heard some people say? I heard some people say, Well, Mr. Armstrong said it, so I'm going to do it. That's not what he wanted to hear. You know, somebody said to him, Mr. Armstrong, you said to do it, and that's what I'm going to do. You said that's Scripture, and that's what I'm going to do. He would chide them. He wanted them to read it in the Bible and do it. Now, was he at least 99. whatever percent knowing, teaching what he actually said in the Bible? Sure. But see, he wanted people to do it because they... He would guide, he would lead, he would teach, but he wanted them to do it because they saw it for themselves in the Word of God, not because, well, Mr. Armstrong said it, and that's good enough for me. Because one approach is making your foundation the Bible, and the other approach is making a man your foundation. He did not want to be someone's foundation. He wanted to serve God. He was deeply converted. He was a servant of God. God used him mightily. And there are still fruits to this day being produced due to the work that God did through Mr. Armstrong. And I'm not bashful to acknowledge that. I have a lot of love and respect for the man. But see, the problem wasn't with Mr. Armstrong when somebody said, well, if Mr. Armstrong says that's good enough for me, the problem was within the person they were following a man in a way they shouldn't. It was their approach. Now, let me take it a little further and to show you the truth of that. Mr. Armstrong, you know, said we ought to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. You can read that in the Bible for yourself. We can read in the Bible, seventh-day Sabbath. That's the Sabbath. It hasn't been changed. It's what we keep. That's why we're here today. Somebody could say, well, you know, Mr. Armstrong told me that it's the seventh day, and lo and behold, I checked the Bible, and the Bible says it's the seventh day, and boy, I'm glad that he brought that to my attention. Somebody else could say, well, he said the seventh day is the Sabbath. That's good enough for me. I'll keep it. Guess what happened? That's following a man. Because that same person, many of those same people came along later, and when Mr. DeCotch said, you don't have to do it anymore, they said that's good enough for me. He said, don't do it, so I don't have to do it. If you're following a man who's converted, you might be tracking down the correct way, but if your approach is following a man, not following him because you see that it's really truly based on the Bible, you see for yourself, then another man comes along that's been put in charge, and he says, you don't have to do it. Well, okay, it's good now that I got it easier and don't have to do it. Now, it really is surprising how people think sometimes.

I was counseling with a lady who was addicted to smoking, and I was trying to help her to overcome her addiction, and as I was working with her, one day she said to me, and these are her words, she said, Mr. Bean, what if I go to all the trouble that it would be to quit smoking? And after I've gone to all that trouble to quit smoking, Mr. Dukotch says it would be okay to smoke.

Those were her words. Was she following a man, or was she following the Bible, and therefore the man or men that were following the Bible, she was following them, which means that she would not have been building her foundation on a man, but this lady, she was building her foundation on a man. Back in 1 Peter 1.25, the flesh has grass. All the glory of man is the flower of grass, verse 24, chapter 1 of Peter. The grass withers, the flower there falls away. Yes, so true.

But the word of the Lord, verse 25, the word of the Lord endures forever, building upon a more sure foundation. Psalm 62, verses 2 and 6. Psalm 62. Psalm 62, verses 2 and 6. David wrote, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. And then David felt, oh, that's worth repeating.

Repetition is for emphasis, for highlighting it in that sense. Verse 6, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. Remember what he said? I will build my church upon this rock, reference to Himself. I will build my ecclesia, my church, my called at once, and the gates of hell, death, the grave, shall not prevail against it. It won't die out. Now, obviously, I'm talking today about one simple single subject and tying threads that apply to it, to it, and that's the subject of following. And that's a good title, following, because that's a subject that makes a good title, following, one word. How much are you... and you have to answer this for yourself. I can't answer it for you, you can't answer it for me. But how much are you building your house upon the rock? How much are you first and foremost looking to Him? First and foremost. First and foremost, looking to Him. How much are you studying Him? We're coming up on the greatest sacrifice that life, existence, eternity, universe, however you want to word it, can ever see. There can never, ever be a greater sacrifice than the sacrifice that God the Father and Jesus Christ made. And we're just a short distance from commemorating a type of memorial of what has been done for us and what's involved when we are truly in Christ and the coverage we have. How much are we studying Him? How much is our mind on studying His ways? God has ways that are good and righteous and perfect. How much do we study His thoughts? We have a whole book here that really does give insight into God's make-up, His nature, how He does things, what we can expect of Him, what we can expect in the future. But how much are we studying His ways, His thoughts, His word? How much time and energy do we put into that?

How much time and energy and effort goes into truly knowing Him and carrying an active, not a passive, but an active relationship in the way that we live our life? How much time and space do we actually carve out in our life, in our mind, in our hearts, in our thoughts for Him? How well do we know Jesus Christ and God the Father? How deep is our relationship with Him? How much of a personal relationship do we really have with Him? Through prayer, yes. Through Bible study, yes. But also through a constant thought process in which we constantly weigh and analyze our own doings in light of His will. Our personal relationship is crucial to our salvation. Now, I pastor three congregations.

In these three congregations, there are young people. There are young people that are relatively newly married. There are young people who have little kids. There are young people who have their hands full with marriage and family.

And time and energies are precious, and they're at a premium. And it's a challenge to cover the bases and all the needs. In these three congregations, I have old people. And I'm beginning to join those ranks getting closer and closer. But we have some old people. And the challenges of just being able to get through the day with aches and pains and problems and issues of health and maintenance, and time and energy is at a premium, and it's precious.

And then you've got the ages, of course, the middle range in between with the responsibilities. And sometimes in the middle range, you've got people who are still dealing with issues, maybe with kids or grandkids, but also issues to help you take care of mom and dad and old ones. And everybody's time and energies are precious and at a premium. And nobody's off the hook. And it's a challenge to meet the challenges. But you have to carve out time. You have to figure out how to make it work in terms of being able to have and keep the personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

It's crucial. Your foundation is them. Even the best men and women who die faithful in Christ, which is wonderful, eventually are not on the scene. They're not on the scene. They're not around anymore for the time being. Look at 21.36. I said, you know, we're just a short distance from Passover. It's not one bit too early to be thinking about that which we admonish each year of self-examination.

Look at 21.36. And actually, I want to pick it up in verse 34. Because this is always something at our doorstep to have to be careful with and watch. Take heed to yourselves. Now again, Christ is talking to His, to those who are supposed to be building Him as their foundation. He says, take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts, your hearts be overpowered, overwhelmed with surfacing, with excess, with extremes, and drunkenness. And hopefully, all of us could put an axe on drunkenness. Hopefully, none of us in here are involved with drunkenness.

But notice, cares of this life. You have any cares of this life to deal with? I do. Do you? Yeah. It's rhetorical if I say, do you? Because we all have cares of this life. But we've got to keep them in proper perspective and proportion. And so that day, come upon you unawares. If you fall prey to these things, yeah, one way or the other, it's going to sneak up on you.

For as a snare, shall it come on them all that dwell on the face of the whole earth? Now notice verse 36, and this has always to me been a very, very encouraging verse. And it's a verse that has to do with self-examination. Yes. He says, What you therefore and pray always? That you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Now, when it says, What you therefore? Watching starts with, Hey, look in the mirror and look at yourself. Look in the mirror, as James says, look in the mirror of the Bible. First of all, you're vigilant to yourself. What is my condition? Where do I stand with God? Am I really in the good graces like that I think I am or want to be?

What am I doing with my thought processes, my time, my energies? What are they going to? Are they being properly, responsibly used to cover the bases that have got to be covered? But what is my spiritual condition? It starts with that, and then secondarily, you look at the surrounding. You look at the aroundness. You look at prophecies being fulfilled.

You look at the condition of the nation. You look at the condition of the world. You look at what's happening to society. You're watching. You're vigilant to that out there also. And, of course, prayer always has to do with, very specifically, through prayer, which is the heart and core of your relationship with God. And that word also stands for the rest of it that also goes along with it. But it has to do with relationship with God, that you may be accounted, what? Worthy to escape all these things. That's safety. That's physical salvation. And to stand before the Son of Man.

That's reference to the resurrection, spiritual salvation. Now, this personal relationship is emphasized at baptism. If you recall when you were baptized, and the little, short, fairly brief statement is going through, because all the counseling has been done ahead of time, and when you're baptized, there's a brief statement that is going through. And in that statement, you come to a point, and when I'm baptizing somebody, I come to that point where I say this. I say, I now baptize you.

Not into any sect or denomination of this world, but into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the name of, which is by the authority of, Jesus Christ for the remission of all of your sins. And there's no sect. There's no denomination that's mentioned. Because again, the emphasis is on a living organism, which is okay to be organized, but the body of Christ is a living organism. It's fluid. It flows. And individually, with you, it's based on your personal relationship with them.

When you have a personal relationship with someone, don't you look forward to seeing them, to being with them. You know, you're somewhere, and here comes your friend, a good friend. Doesn't it just brighten your face? You see a good friend coming, and a smile just goes across your face. We enjoy seeing our friends. I remember my college days. I could be dealing with something heavy, and here came my... Oh, at the time, I was single. Your spouse should be your best friend, yes. But I didn't have a spouse at that time.

I wasn't married. But this guy that was my best friend, whenever I'd see him coming, boy, it brightened my day. Because we really ID'd with each other. We were on the same page with so many things, and we could talk. We could just be together and just really enjoy each other's company.

Look forward to seeing him. Notice 2 Timothy 4. I want to point something out here. When you have a personal relationship with someone, 2 Timothy 4, when you have a personal relationship with someone, you look forward to seeing them. You look forward to being with them. Notice what Paul says.

He says in verse 7, 2 Timothy 4, verse 7, he says, I have fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, that day of resurrection, that day of the seventh trumpet.

Notice, not to me only, but unto who? Just interesting the way this is put, but unto all them also that love his appearing. When my friend would show up, I loved his appearing because I wanted to be with him. I enjoyed my time with him. We had a good relationship. We could talk about anything. We were mutually supportive. You have a personal relationship with Christ. Ask yourself this question. How much right now? Now, he's not going to come back tonight. He's not going to come back tomorrow.

We know that there are some prophecies that have got to be fulfilled. Some things have got to happen before he can come back. But does it put a smile on your brain or face either way to think about him appearing and you being able to actually be with him? Or is the feeling, well, I'd be a bit nervous if he showed up right now. I'd be nervous. I hope he holds off a while because I'm not ready to be with him yet.

That tells us something about some needs we still have. Because what Paul is saying, he's ready to depart the scene of the living. He's ready to die. He's ready to face that martyrdom death. And he is looking forward to being with Christ when Christ returns.

And that is something that we all need to be able to feel. If I put it this way, no one without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father will be in the resurrection, is that a false statement? No. It's not false. No one without a personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ will be in the resurrection. Before one can be resurrected, one must develop that personal relationship. And that is why any true minister will promote that first and foremost. That's why any true minister will not, in any sense, number one, first and foremost, leading it all, follow me.

I could name you men today in the church abroad, the greater church of God, who have built their foundation on themselves and who promote their followings to use them as their foundation. There's no need to name, but I could, and you, I think, most of us in here could also do that. Could name such. That's why any true minister will echo the words of the Apostle Paul, and I want to go to his words in 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. We read here, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, Be you followers of me, Paul says, but he doesn't leave it there.

He says, Even as I also am of Christ, or if we want to put it in short form, follow me as... That's a key word. Capitalize it, underline it, highlight it. As. Follow me as I follow Christ. So, let's go back to following as it applies to men. Any following of men, period, has to be in and only to the degree that they are following Christ. Simple, isn't it? In that sense, to the degree that they are following Christ. But then, here in life, a responsibility that's placed on your shoulders, that's placed on my shoulders, on the shoulders of any followers.

How do you know when they are following Christ? How do you know how well they are following Christ? How do you know when they are not following Christ? Well, we could say, well, that requires right and accurate assessment. That requires being able to size things up accurately, doesn't it? That requires the ability to see things objectively, not subjectively, through emotion. That requires being able to discern.

And before I finish that statement, I'll say, with what I just made previous to what I'm about to say, is one of the reasons why I have emphasized so strongly the going on almost two years I've been here, emphasized so strongly, study the Scriptures, know the Scriptures, know what the Bible says.

That's the Word of God. Spend time with it. Become very familiar with it. And something about God's people who are praying, who are studying, who are active with God and His Spirit, they develop a sixth sense that even if they can't put a finger on something being off base, they sense it. Which is part of a discernment that God gives through His Spirit. But in assessing, now to go back to the statement that it did not finish, that requires being able to discern attitudes, to be able to discern approaches, to observe actions and operations, and to analyze words and works.

Say again in that discourse to the Ecclesia in Matthew 7, we don't have to turn back there, but in Matthew 7 verses 16 and 20, By their fruits you shall know them. By their fruits you shall know them. There are numerous fruits, and our ability to see them accurately and truly is dependent, first and foremost, on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father.

And the depth of that relationship is going to be reflected in how much we truly understand His Word and His will. Understanding His mind, His desires, what He wants from us in our behavior. For instance, you know, like Michael 6-8, Oh man, what does the Lord require of you? Well, what He requires of you is to do justly, to do fairly, to love mercy, and to humble yourself, to walk humbly with your guide, which means also you walk humbly with your brother and sister.

So if you see somebody that is a very unfair person that doesn't do justly, what's that tell you about them? You say somebody who is very hard and very harsh and has no mercy about them. What's that tell you about them? You say somebody that walks in such pride and arrogance, you wonder, where is the humility? What's that tell you about them? It tells you a lot about them, doesn't it? By their fruit you shall know them. So knowing the Scripture and having the personal relationship, and that all working together, plays a safeguard in the following issue, that is, following as a subject and what God is talking about when He talks about following.

Only by that and to that degree will we be able to discern how much a man is or is not following God. And I've seen over the years a lot of people fooled. A lot of people fooled. Only by that will we know how much or how much not to follow somebody. Now, obviously, there can be some things so obvious that even the greatest novice or the most shallow in relationship with God can pick up a miss.

But there are also deep issues that take deep discernment that can come only from a deep relationship with God. If you had a leader somewhere, a, quote, leader, that's in a position for being followed, and they walk through the door and they're kind of a little bit spacey-eyed or a little glassy-eyed and a little bit stumbly, a little bit staggering, and you smell liquor on their breath, do you have to have deep discernment to know that something is wrong?

No. But that kind of thing is obvious. But then there are other situations that take deep discernment. They're not as obvious. And a deep relationship serves automatically as a spiritual safeguard. A lack of relationship with God automatically makes one more susceptible to spiritual danger. So the key to properly and accurately following men as they follow Christ is for you to be able to know when they are and when they're not.

And the key underlying that ability is a deep, personal, active relationship with Christ, which again, means you study His ways, His words, the way He thinks, what He expects, and where's the best place to go to find that out, the Bible? I remember years ago, a man who was telling his congregation, follow me, and this lady said, well, I have to do what he says.

I don't know my Bible. He does. So he says, this is the right thing to do, so I have to follow him. And he led her, along with others, right out of the church, led them into apostasy. That was in one particular congregation. Again, the key underlying that ability is a deep, personal, active relationship with Christ.

And brethren, again, with just in terms of the time frame we're in, with Passover coming up, this is a relevant subject any time of the year. But certainly, in terms of meaning, in terms of relationship with the Father and the Son, there is no time of the year where it's more relevant than at this time of the year. If you go with me to Matthew 24, I read these Scriptures. I may not be on this side of the grass when all of this goes down, when the fullness of it goes down.

There are elements of this that have been going down ever since Christ spoke the words, elements of it. Sometimes more elements of it or measures of it than other times. But the fulfilling of these things will eventually come to a magnified head. It will come to a fullness. And that may happen after my lifetime. And then again, it may happen yet during my lifetime. That timing is in God's hands, not mine. But I am warned. I'm warned in Matthew 24, and I take it as a personal warning, because that's the safest way to take it.

In verses 23 through 26, verse 23, where Christ said, Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ. You want to be with Christ? You want to be with God? You want to know what He is, where He is, have a relay? Come over here with me. This is where He is. Here He is. He's here. Here's Christ. You've got to be with me to be with Christ. You've got to be here to be with Christ. Is that preached today? I could name you some names that are preaching that.

But you've got to be there to be with Christ. And if you're not there with this particular individual, no, you're not with Christ. They're still here. Lo, here is Christ. Or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christ, false messiahs, false representations of Christ, see, and false prophets. And shall show great signs and wonders. I don't think... well, maybe I shouldn't say it that way, because some of us do realize to a great degree, but I wonder if any of us realize how powerful some of the signs and wonders are going to be that's going to be done by false prophets, given the power by Satan, someday.

If you're alive, those of us alive, when all these things really start coming down in their fullness, I think we're going to be amazed, not in a way of leaning to it, attracted to it, but just at the magnitude of some of these signs and wonders that are going to be done through the power of Satan. He goes on to say, and this actually illustrates how powerful some of it's going to be, and so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

That's powerful deception. If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. There's a core that will have that closeness to God. There's a core that will not fall for the deceptions. There is a core that will not fall prey to it, but surrounding that core will be some of the elect that does fall prey to it. Some deceptions are very deep and very hard to discern, and at whatever level one is deceived with deception, it is both a reflection of and a measurement of their level of relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father and their understanding, or lack thereof, of their word and will and ways.

I want my safety and salvation secured, especially my spiritual safety and salvation secured. I know that that only comes through a constantly, continuously, ongoing, growing and increasing relationship, a personal relationship, with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Does God expect us to follow His appointed leaders? Absolutely, yes. But only to the point they stay in line with God, only to that point that they stay in line with God. Because if they just plain get out of line with God and you still follow them, then that's following a man.

That's following men. And when one follows a man, it's not only a sin in the general sense, but don't you think about this. He says to do it, I'm going to do it. I'm not worried about what the Scripture says. He says do it. I've decided He is totally of God and I'm going to follow Him regardless. That's a form of idolatry. One of the things that Mr.

Armstrong hated, he really did, you have to understand you can't and I can't change human behavior. And we can't change human operation of others. I can work on me, you can work on you. But there are certain things about human behavior and human operation, and in a group of people, and this was true in Mr. Armstrong's life, in a group of people, you will always have some who want to put him on a pedestal and worship him.

The Mormons basically did that with Joseph Smith, and I could use other examples. Mr. Armstrong hated that. He did not want to be put on a pedestal. And of course, in our day and age, there are people that put him on a pedestal, which he did not want, and then there are people that throw him in the ditch, which is totally wrong, too. Anyway, it's a form of idolatry, of misplaced loyalty and allegiance. That is allowing a man to come between you and God, and that is a sin. When a man is properly leading you by first and foremost following God, he is not, and he will not get between you and God.

And when he has a deep relationship with God, and you have a deep relationship with God, it is a winning pattern, spiritually successful, because that is God's design. And when the ecclesia are each and all deeply involved individually with a personal relationship with God, the Father and Jesus Christ, you have a spiritually successful pattern that involves one head, one head, and two sets of followers.

Number one, Jesus Christ, the head of all of us, the head of the church. That's the head. No human being is the head, period. Bar none, period. No human being is the head. There are leaders, but the head is Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.18.

I said there's one head and two sets of followers. Colossians 1.18.

I'll pick it up in verse 16. For in Him, for by Him, by Him or through Him, verse 16, Colossians 1, by Him or through Him, were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist or exist.

Verse 18, and He is the head of the body, the church.

And anyone who tries to put themselves in that position is automatically wrong in teaching a form of idolatry, whether they call it that or not. Okay, the two sets of followers. We speak of them together as ecclesia. The church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the called-out ones. You can take the ecclesia and you can break it into two sets of followers to Christ. The ministry and the lay membership.

It's that simple, the ministry and the lay membership.

What are you talking about when you talk about the ministry? Well, you're just talking about the ordained ecclesia. That's what you're referencing. It's the ordained ecclesia and the lay membership. What are you talking about? Well, it's just simply the unordained ecclesia. They're both ecclesia. They carry the same value and worth to God.

One is ordained ecclesia and the other is unordained ecclesia. It's a small minority that's ordained ecclesia and the vast majority is unordained. Both have the same head. Both are first and foremost to be followers of that head. When Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ, his effectiveness as a spiritual leader lay totally in his capacity to follow Jesus Christ, and that capacity to lead them was commiserate with his depth of personal relationship with Jesus Christ. His right or legitimacy to lead them lay only in following Christ, and any aberration from that carried no legitimacy or validity. I won't go back to Jeremiah 17, verse 5, but Paul, who was a brilliant student of the Scripture, and probably knew the Old Testament like the back of his hand, so to speak, he was very aware of what he said in Jeremiah 17.5. You find a statement there talking about the person who is cursed who departs from God. And he knew as a leader and as an apostle that if he departed from God, he was cursed. He understood that.

If you go with me to 1 Corinthians 9, Paul was very open. He was a very open individual.

In 1 Corinthians 9, he knew that he himself, first and foremost, he himself, first and foremost, had to be a follower of Jesus Christ and remained so. He could not let that slip. 1 Corinthians 9, verses 26 and 27, he writes this to them. He says, Not as uncertainly. So fight I, not as one that beats the air. I don't just shadow box or whatever. I run with purpose. I fight with purpose. I keep things in mind.

He practiced actually the essence of what we read in Luke 21, 36, about watching and praying always. He practiced that.

He says, He was well aware, and again, a scripture that we don't need to turn to, but Ezekiel 33, Ezekiel 33, verses 12 and 13, verses 12 and 13, he was very aware that no matter how long the list of righteousness that you might be able to notate and have this big long page of all your righteousness, all the right things you've done, if you aberrated away from that, that it's just like some giant eraser goes over that page and erases all the righteousness, you're not considered righteous anymore. But if you turn from your righteousness, you simply become part of the wicked. No, Paul personally applied the essence of Luke 21, 36, and he admonished Timothy also to do the same. If you go with me to 1 Timothy 4, 16, 1 Timothy 4 and verse 16, and of course, Timothy and Titus, they're considered, these three books or letters are considered pastoral epistles, letters, most directly pointed to pastors, but at the same time, those principles apply to all of us.

But pastors, elders, not all elders are pastors, all are ministers. I'm an elder. The apostles were elders. But there's different job responsibilities in all.

But whether you're an elder and serve as an elder, not as a pastor, or whether you're an elder serving as a pastor, you have to set a high bar for yourself. And if you're not willing to set that high bar, then you shouldn't be in it. You have to set a high bar because expectations are very heavy.

But for that matter, we all must set a proper bar based on what God's laws and ways are, His expectations are. But notice what Paul told Timothy, who was an elder and a pastor, but he was also an evangelist. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, Paul says, Take heed to yourself. Timothy, stay on top of yourself. Know your own condition. Don't slip away from what is good and right. You know, Paul again told the Corinthians he had to stay on himself to make sure that he didn't become himself a castaway. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.

Continue in them. Continue in the doctrine. Continue in taking heed of yourself, being vigilant to yourself. Practice Luke 21, 36, c. Because what's going to be the result? What's going to be the outcome? For in doing this, you shall both save yourself and them that hear you. In other words, you're going to be an effective guide. You're going to be one who can effectively help people for what eldership is designed for to attain to. You can help them along the road of attaining to the kingdom of God. This will factor in, if you'll do that, it will factor in as a big factor in helping out with the spiritual success of those who follow you. If they followed Paul in the way that he stated by the criteria that he established, then they weren't putting their trust in him as a man, but only to the degree that he reflected Christ. That is crucial because we live in a day and an age when we have parallels going on that went on with the first century church. The ground that we travel through as Ekklesia in these decades of time are very similar. Parallel so closely, so many of the situations in that first century. And again, a classic case, an illustration of that is in 3 John 9 and 10. And I want to turn there and read that. It's familiar to us because we've gone to it before and we're familiar with this account. But in the context of following and in the context of what I'm talking about today and regarding following, let's look at this. It's 3 John. Keeping in mind, John writes this. He's in his 90s and he's writing it in the 90s AD.

The reason this individual is mentioned, the autophies, is because he was a real life, flesh, and blood person. And he's mentioned because this real life, flesh, and blood person was typical of what was going on in the greater church of God at that time. It's not an isolated event. It was part of what was coming to be too much a part of the culture of the church at that time. And that's why it is mentioned in here. This type of thing was well underway. And we read it today and we realize it also has application for the day and time in which we're living as Aclasia. He says, I wrote to the church, verse 9. But the autophies, and notice the descriptor he puts on him right here, the autophies, who loves to have the preeminence. He loves the prestige. He loves the preeminence. That's what motivates him. That's what moves him. That's what turns him on. He feeds on that. That's part of what's in it for him. Who loves to have the preeminence among them. Do you think that that was a Micah 6-8 guy? Do you think that was a guy who did justly and fairly? Do you think that's a guy who loved mercy? Do you think that's a guy who humbled himself to walk humbly before God and with his brothers and sisters? That only requires simple, very simple discernment to see the contradiction, doesn't it? Who loves to have the preeminence among them. Received us not. The last standing apostle. The last one of the originals. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that would, and casts them out of the church. Now, John notates. He loves the preeminence. So I throw this out. Some obviously saw that. Would have seen it, wouldn't they? Think about it. John's very aware of it. In that congregation, with those who would visit that congregation, some obviously saw that. Wouldn't they have seen that? Sure they would have. Some obviously didn't. Or he would not have had the support he did, unless some fell into the same birds of a feather flock together. Unless some wanted the political benefits of supporting him. Quid pro quo. And it absolutely should have been transparent when the emissaries from the Apostle John weren't received. But again, what was missing that made such a sad situation possible was the lacking of a deep personal relationship with God.

The last message to the church in the book of Revelation in chapter 3, you know the one to Laodicea, that is a here and now type message for us today. It just really is. It's an end time message. Not that it didn't have application all down through the history of the church, but it really comes to a head, so to speak, in this day and time. But what's one of the main outstanding statements about that message, or in that message? It's Christ in chapter 3 of Revelation, verse 20, saying, I stand at the door and knock. I'm outside. I'm not in there. What is he illustrating? He doesn't have a deep personal relationship with this part of the ecclesia. He's outside knocking. And because that deep personal relationship is lacking to that degree, their ability to spiritually discern is way off, because they say, we are rich and increased with goods, and we have need of nothing. I never to this day have looked in the mirror in the bathroom and said, you are rich and increased with goods. You are so spiritually wonderful, you have need of nothing. If I ever did that, I would expect the mirror to crack and my face to crack, probably. You know, you've got to really be out there, and yet, that is a statement that goes in with the deotaphy stuff, and it's a statement for our time. So in summary, you follow someone as they follow Christ, and always to the degree that they follow Christ. In no way are they to get between you and Christ, and nowhere are they to obstruct your relationship with Christ. In no way is your following of them to replace or diminish your personal need for personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. In no way are you relieved of that responsibility. In fact, the very opposite is true. Because of what it means to properly follow, God expects you to develop a deep discernment that comes only through deep and ongoing contact with Him.

And it's only through that that you can properly follow and not be misled.

You know, Peter's final words in 2 Peter 3, 18, he signed off saying, But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It's only on this basis that I've covered that I, as a minister, or any minister, can say, follow me, and it have any validity. It must carry the active clarifier as I follow Christ. And you have to be, and I have to be, because there are ministers that I follow. You have to be in a deep enough relationship, personal relationship with God, to discern when that is truly being done. And nobody can answer that for you or for me.

I hope that we do see the full value of following men, our leaders, only as they follow Christ. And please see the need of each of us to carry personally a deep relationship with God and Christ that continually broadens and deepens and grows and increases.

Thank you.