Is God Your Leader?

Good to be with you. One of the greatest needs in the world today is leadership. One of the most important functions of a leader is to articulate, communicate a compelling vision that will motivate and energize people toward the future.

The world and nation, a state, a city, a community, and your family will go in the direction of its moral and spiritual leadership. And so will each of you go in the direction of the leadership, the leadership provided by God, or will you follow the leadership of self and Satan? I know from time to time that we all get off track from time to time, but we want to make sure that God is our leader in this most critical, crucial time in human history.

I taught the first leadership class at Ambassador College that was offered for credit back in the early... I don't remember if it was the late 70s or the early 80s, somewhere along there. It was late... yeah, it was actually the mid-70s. It was called Dynamics of Personal Leadership, and I came up with a definition of leadership. It's my definition.

True leadership is a process of interacting with others in such a way that you help them achieve their God-ordained potential. You help others achieve their God-ordained potential. So there's a great responsibility upon everyone who's in a leadership position, and every person here is in a leadership position, whether you realize it or not. You are in a leadership position if you are a parent, if you are a father, if you are a mother, and even as children, those of you, no matter what your age are, you can be a leader in your peer group. Leadership is the key to spiritual and physical health. The most important leadership is moral and spiritual. People will spend millions of dollars. In fact, in this last presidential election, each candidate spent billions. Can you imagine? Over a billion dollars. Some say that each candidate spent somewhere between two and three billion dollars to be elected president of the United States.

But virtually none of them dare provide any kind of moral and spiritual leadership. In fact, the Democratic Party's platform this past year included same-sex marriage.

The most recent U.S. presidential election and the general election as well, it was nationwide where everything from the president of the United States to local officials were elected.

We see a nation that has crossed the line, that has crossed the line morally and spiritually, to where we could call the U.S. now a post-Christian nation, at least with regard to the majority.

There is no greater moral authority for the majority of Americans now than themselves. When a nation throws God out, when the word of God is no longer the anchor of their moral code, they are left to their own devices and anything goes. So in the election that was held November the 6th, we saw recreational marijuana legalized in Colorado and the state of Washington. I was reading on the internet where the marijuana medical dispensers, a company, a small company that manufactures marijuana medical dispensers, their stock in the past couple of weeks has jumped 3,000%.

It went from $4 a share to about $227 a share and then fell back to $100 a share.

Marijuana is a psychedelic drug. Psychedelic means mind manifesting. Technically, commonly, it's called mind bending. Marijuana, a mind bending drug that lowers your inhibition. That lowers your cognitive ability to think and to reason logically. That slows down a lot of things within your body and on the other end speeds up some things. It's also addictive. All the things, the most precious thing we have is life. I would say almost second to life is our mind. Why would anybody ingest something that bends their mind, whether it be mind bending drugs, mind bending music? Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23 says, Keep your heart with all diligence. Heart and mind are closely related in the Old Testament with regard to different words used for some of these. Sometimes the word for heart, LABE, is also used for translated as mind. Here it says, Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it flow the issues of life. Proverbs 23 says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

So keep your mind with all diligence. Don't do anything to your mind that would cause it to be able to lose touch with reality. Of course, marijuana can have hallucinogenic effects as well.

The state of Vermont and Maine and two or three others voted for same-sex marriage.

Those states include Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. And earlier this year, the president and vice president had already endorsed same-sex marriage. And abortion, and even partial birth abortion, are legal in the United States. They talk about a woman's reproductive rights. Well, in the United States, a woman's reproductive rights also means a woman's or and or a doctor's right to murder. And millions of babies have been killed. In the past few decades, in the United States of America, since Roe versus Wade became the law of the land in 1973.

Roe, the woman who won that case, has now regretted very much what she did. In fact, she lives in Florida now, and she took out ads with her own money, spent quite a bit of money running advertisements for Romney during the most recent presidential election, because she came to see what a detrimental effect it had on her and also on the whole family structure and the whole social moral structure of the nation. If you would turn to Hosea 4, Hosea 4 is like reading your newspaper this morning if you read a newspaper. Of course, newspapers have basically gone by the wayside, and most people get their news if they read any news on the internet. Our little snitches here and there on various television channels. In Hosea 4, verse 1, hear the word of the Eternal, you children of Israel, for the Eternal hath a controversy within the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing, committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall languish with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of heaven. Yes, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away, yet let no man strive nor reprove another, for your people are as they that strive with the priests.

Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother. Basically, much of prophecy is written in parallelism and in poetic form, and so it includes everybody here. There's no one excluded that when God begins to judge the people, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you've rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me, seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

And so basically, the children are left to themselves today to fend for themselves, and they are captive of the peer group. There is a dictatorship of the peer group now that not only does it include the children, but it includes everyone from the president of the land all the way through what they call PC is the order of the day, political correctness. And the only absolute there is, is that you shall be tolerant of all lifestyles, and all moral codes, and all religions. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a time when men will forsake their God-ordained commission. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 3. In Isaiah chapter 3, it seems that especially in the home and on the local level that people have abdicated their leadership position, they have turned it over to someone else, and the state is ready to step in at any time. In Isaiah chapter 3, in verse 6, when a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, you have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand. Isaiah 3.7, In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer for my house, in my house, and neither bread or clothing, make me not a ruler of the people.

Of course, leadership is quite a responsibility and a heavy burden, and being in a leadership position can be one of the loneliest places on the face of the earth. And parents now are more what they might call friends and buddies of their children than they are really parents. Because the children seem to have the upper hand, as we shall see here in prophecy, it states it very clearly. To a large degree, it's because the fathers have abdicated their leadership position.

Verse 8, For Jerusalem is ruined, Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the eternal to provoke the eyes of his glory.

The show of their countenance just witness against them.

You just stand and look at the hard look on the faces of so many people, or on the other hand, you see the seductive look of so many, the way people dress, the way that they do everything from their body language to the way they dress, to the way they look. Their countenance is witnessed against them. They declare their sin as Sodom. In Sodom, they did not try to hide their sins. Oh, when the two angels came there to help Lot and his family get out of Sodom, they were there, filled the streets, beating and trying to beat the door down of Lot's house, trying to get in, so that they might, quote, know the two men who had come, and with angels manifested as men, to Sodom.

They declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not.

And the people who go that way today, they're the ones that are glorified. Woe unto their souls, their life essence, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his sins shall be given him. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.

So because of fathers not fulfilling the roles to a large degree, and true masculinity and true fatherhood have not been taught, and very few know how to be the kind of husbands and the kind of fathers, and to lead in the way that they should in the family, to a large degree that's why we are where we are.

Masculinity is thought of as more of macho kind of things of what can you do in the physical sense. God is more interested in what can you do in the spiritual sense. How can you lead? What can you do? What will you do? Verse 13, the eternal stands up to plead and stands to judge the people.

The peoples of this world desperately need what you've heard me talk about many times.

The 3c leadership, conviction, commitment, and courage.

Leaders at this critical crucial time in human history, men of conviction, women of conviction, men and women of commitment and courage. Encourage is a product of conviction and committed to the degree that you are convicted and committed, you will act courageously.

The Bible tells us, look at Psalm 146 verse 3. In Psalm 146 and verse 3.

So who can we trust at this critical crucial time in human history?

The age-old question has always been from the Garden of Eden to the present time.

Will you choose to be led by God and His moral and spiritual code, or will you choose to be led by self and Satan?

In Psalm 146, I think I said 143. In Psalm 146, in Psalm 146 and verse 3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help.

His breath goes forth, He returns to His earth, and that very day His thoughts perish.

Happy is He that has the God of Jacob for His help, whose hope is in the eternal His God. All of us who live in the flesh, we're going to die. You're going to die.

Who is going to resurrect you from the dead? It won't be any human being.

The same one that resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, if we are resurrected from the dead into the first resurrection, would be that same one that resurrected Jesus Christ, like it says in Romans 8, 11. By the same spirit that He raised Jesus from the dead, He will also quicken and make alive our mortal bodies by that same spirit.

So who are you following, and are you willing to let God be your leader?

So many people are so busy resisting God's leadership of their lives that they become by default de facto leaders of their own rebellion. Let's look at 2 Timothy 2.

By default de facto leaders of their own rebellion.

I've seen for most of my adult life, I work with young people from junior high level, basically through graduate school. So many years spent there, how many young people have I seen opposing themselves? How many adults have I seen opposing themselves?

Notice what Paul writes here to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 25.

In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.

How do you oppose yourself? You oppose yourself by going contrary to God's way.

You say that you're going to direct your own paths, not anybody else.

You are your own arbiter of what is good and what is evil. In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him and his will.

I mean, if you want to go the devil's way, he's always there, and he's ready to capture you into whom you, you or yourselves, servants to obey, his servants you are. That's Romans 6, 16.

So what is the principle way we oppose ourselves?

It is by sin. It is by transgressing the law. It is by not doing what we know to do is right. It is not living by faith. All sin is against God. God is a great lawgiver, and He gave the law to sustain life. The law doesn't give life, but it was given to sustain life. And when you break that law, Romans 6, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So all sin is against God, and all sin is against self. Why? Why is all sin against self? Because the wages of sin is death. Satan is the greatest salesman on earth. Satan can sell death. We have a hard time selling life. It is amazing how people will choose temporary glamour and glitz of this world, as opposed to choosing life.

When General David Petraeus committed adultery with Paula Broadwell, he sinned against her and against himself.

And obviously, he sinned against God, because, as you heard in the sermon at, one of the Ten Commandments is, thou shall not commit adultery.

And some sin is against others.

Notice 1 Corinthians 8, verse 7.

1 Corinthians 8, verse 7, back a few pages.

Here, the topic is, meet offer to idols.

And the great lesson here in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 7, with regard to leadership, that the onus, the burden to do what's right, is always on those that have knowledge.

1 Corinthians 8, verse 7.

Corinth was one of the pagan centers of the ancient world. And much idolatry present.

Some people began to be called and converted in Corinth.

The ministry of Paul.

And some were eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols, or buying meat in the marketplaces, what they call the shambles.

And some were offended by it.

In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6, But to us there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we by Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, whom are all things.

Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge, for some with conscience of the idol, unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat commends us not to God, for neither if we eat or we don't eat, we're not the better or the worse for it.

But take heed lest by any man this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to them that are weak. So the onus is on those who have knowledge. It always is.

For if any man see thee you which has knowledge that it meet in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols. So he's whatsoever is not of faith, and he is in his conscience and knowing within himself, he's convicted that it would be a sin.

And if he goes ahead and eats, he defiles his conscience.

Verse 11, And through your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died, but when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

Wherefore, if meat makes my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend, which is another way to sing to sin.

Of course, there are so many different ways that you can do this. You could do it through gossip. Have you heard what so-and-so did? And it may be true!

And you go tell it.

And you offend, and through your knowledge, you cause others to sin and probably spread it around.

Notice now in 1 Corinthians 6.

Sin against the body.

Your own body. 1 Corinthians 6, 15.

Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid!

What? Know you not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two says he should be one flesh.

But he that is joined unto the eternal is one spirit.

Believe for an occasion, every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits for an occasion, sins against his own body.

So sin can be against God, against Christ.

All sin is against self.

Some sin can be against others.

What? Know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own?

For you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.

Today's leaders are victims of Satan's grand delusion.

He's brainwashing governmental officials, corporate executives, educators, teachers, ministers, parents into believing that many options should be given and then one must be free to choose for himself herself and then make a decision.

It is the old Hegelian dialectic at work.

Thesis on the one hand, the antithesis on the other hand, and somewhere the synthesis. See what you're hearing now in the political arena with regard to Republicans is we've got to tone down our language. We've got to make it more acceptable to, I would fill in the blank and say, post-Christian America, so that maybe the Republican Party can recover itself.

And so you have the thesis on the one hand, the Democratic Party saying, okay, same-sex marriage is okay.

Many of them advocate the marijuana.

We had one president named Clinton who said, yeah, I smoked it, but I didn't inhale.

This one, the current one, says, yeah, I spent much of my high school days smoking dope.

I guess he did inhale. And then you have, say, okay, abortion is okay.

Even partial birth abortion.

Yes, you can puncture in the back of the head and use a machine, suck the brains out. It's okay.

Does that make you sick to your stomach?

But then the Republicans say, no, that's not okay. But then, well, they win. So we probably need to give a little, get more to the middle ground here.

And so that thesis, antithesis, synthesis is always in motion. And the pressure is ever, ever toward the devil's side of things.

In this world, Satan is the God of this world. You know, in the public school system today, it's not in every public school, but basically it is what they call values clarification program, becoming more and more prevalent instead of teaching the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, true history, biology, chemistry, and all the things that have absolute physical laws, students are given various alternatives. Well, is it all right if you lie to save your mother's life or something like that?

And where you have the absolute exception out here, instead of how you generally conduct your lives and you put people in a body, well, you know, in that situation, I don't know.

Maybe it would be all right.

So instead of teaching students the basics of education, how to think, they focus on conditioning students to tolerate all value systems. That's the bottom line.

The only absolute of the day is you must tolerate all lifestyles, or you will become the target of those who have perverted the values that are taught from the Word of God.

Now, let's go to Isaiah 59.

And when you stand up for that which is right, and the challenge I'm making before us today is to always stand for that which is right, and for us to exercise the kind of leadership wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever position we're in, young and old, to stand for that which is right. Isaiah 59.10.

We grope for the wall like the blind.

We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday, as in the night. We're in desolate places as dead men.

We roar all like bears and mourn like doves.

We look for judgment, but there is none, for salvation, deliverance, but it is far off from us.

For our transgressions are multiplied before you.

Our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them, but we like to have it that way.

In an interview with one woman, she was talking about this thing about a woman's reproductive rights.

In elections anymore, to a large degree, people vote strictly on how it affects me. So you tell me that the government is not going to pay for contraceptives for me?

A single woman in graduate school at George Washington University?

You can't tell me that.

I mean, you're going to take that away from me? You're not going to pay for it? Well, I'm not voting for you.

I don't care what the foreign policy is. I don't care what the economic state of the nation is. I don't care what the moral and spiritual condition of the nation is.

If you don't promise me and deliver for me what I want, I'm not voting for you.

So you narrow it down to a very narrow perspective of what affects you directly. And so many people make their choices based on that.

Verse 13 again, And transgressing and lying against the eternal, departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood, and judgment has turned away backward, and justice stands afar off.

For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. If you want to become the brunt of every joke by the late-night comedians, stand up for that which is right. If you want to be applauded, announce, as Jay Leno did, that Colorado and Washington voted for legalizing marijuana, and you get thunderous applause.

And the Eternal saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.

Therefore, his arm brought salvation. His arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness sustained him. Then it goes on to talk about how God stands up and delivers. I would encourage you to read the rest of the chapter.

There's a notion that values that are not freely and voluntary chosen will not be internalized. The people have been so conditioned to think of me first that they cannot take correction.

The Apostle Paul describes attitudes and behavior of people today.

Let's go there and read that. I'm sure you've read it many times.

But in context of what we're talking about today, 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, which is also similar to Hosea 4, for several verses.

Actually, basically all of Hosea.

Hosea is talking about Israel being put away because of their spiritual harlotry.

In 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves.

Meism.

Me, me, me, me.

Covetous, posters, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection.

Paul talks about in Romans 1, even the women, the lust-burn within them, women to women and men to men.

Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Just like we read from Isaiah 59-15, those who would do good making sense of prey, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God.

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, so having a form of godliness would apply to those who go to church and put on the show as if they are with it.

From such, turn away.

See, the power of God is that so much is a great difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant has to do with, you know, it says in the Old Testament, old that there were such a heart in them.

The Old Covenant was basically based on physical promises if you obey God. God says under the terms of the New Covenant He will write His laws on our inward parts and that our conscience can be purged of dead works to serve the living God.

The power of God can transform us. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away for this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive, silly women laden with sin, led away with different lusts.

When you begin to read a little bit of the background about the two women, Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelly, that emerged in the life of David Petraeus and that group, it's unbelievable what they were doing.

The inroads that they had made into the military.

Jill Kelly had been within the White House three times this past year and bragging about it to the mayor in Tampa and so on and so on. So, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

You know, the paradox of narcissism and meism, what is that paradox of narcissism and meism?

You remember the story of the handsome Greek youth who after echoes death is made to pine away for love of his own reflection in a spring and changed into the narcissus.

That's the myth. The narcissus plant possesses narcotic properties that are addictive and addicted to loving oneself.

Meism.

We read here in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 2, For men shall be lovers of their own selves.

Hence, narcissism, self-love, excessive interest in one's own appearance, comfort, importance, abilities.

Narcissism, meism, lovers of self.

Here is the paradox. While they love themselves and emphasize self-development, self-esteem, self-improvement, self-actualization, individualism, they have become pawns of the peer group, a generation of conformists who cannot think for themselves.

They virtually have no original thought.

The cry is me, me, me. But the reality is they live their lives according to the expectation of others.

They are other-directed.

There is no inner core of internalized transcendental values.

And it seems that in America we have lost the will to be heroes.

We want to fit in. We want to be accepted. We want to boast that we are in the in-crowd.

As far as God is concerned, the question is not really freedom of choice or free will, God will always give us free choice.

But He has called us to a freedom, a freedom that cannot be attained apart from Him.

On the other hand, Satan is a tyrant and oppressor who rules in anger.

So notice Isaiah 14, where the king of Babylon is a type of Satan.

Isaiah 14, verse 4.

Isaiah 14, verse 4. Isaiah 14, verse 4. You shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How has the oppressor ceased the golden city?

That golden city, the correct translation there is the exactress of gold.

What we see in this Babylon-ish economic system today is we see that the elites are garnering, gathering to themselves, the riches of the world.

The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.

75% of all wealth is controlled by Fortune 500. And the elites control about 90% of the wealth of the world, the exactress of gold.

And more and more, the cry is heard from the laborer, reaping the field as it talks about in James chapter 5.

You see what is going on in Europe.

You see what is happening in America where 47 million Americans are on food stamps, and this gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow.

The bankers are bailed out, and everybody else pays.

The exactress of gold.

The Eternal had broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath, oh, he promises liberty.

But actually, he's a tyrant, he's a dictator.

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger is persecuted and non-henders.

Because God is going to deliver. Verse 14. He says, In his heart I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.

See, he really loves himself. He is really saturated with, insatiably with, meism.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High, yet you shall be brought down to shield, to the grave, to the sides of the pit.

Satan is going to be dealt with, and we must deal with him now and overcome him.

Satan poses as an angel of light, the father of liberty, but he is a tyrant as we see here.

So we could ask ourselves, have we been influenced by Satan's system of existentialism, that is, do your own thing as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else?

The logical fallacy of such a philosophy is this, that you decide what hurts someone else.

Do you think that David Petraeus's wife was hurt by his adultery with Paula Broadwell?

Do you think his family and friends are grieving? Here is a man who many thought he might be the next Republican candidate for President of the United States. The world is devolved into social Darwinism.

Social Darwinism is sort of like the so-called physical Darwinism, the survival of the fittest.

The dog-eat-dog world, or pleasure and profit, are the bottom line. And another P, power. Pleasure, profit, and power. Give it to me, and I will lead you into peace and prosperity. Whereas, look at any bottom line statistic you want to look at, and you'll find that that is not true.

We're not being led into peace and prosperity. It is true that character cannot be legislated in one sense, but civilization after civilization shows clearly that people come to believe what they are taught, what they think, and what they practice.

Hence, you have the culture of China. You have the culture of India. You have the culture of Pakistan. You have the culture of—and you can fill in the blank— Germany, France, Italy, the United States.

Recent psychological studies show that people become what they practice, even in the internal sense.

People who practice being happy and enthusiastic become happy and enthusiastic.

So, like the old Roger Miller song, you can't skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you mind to.

So a thought, reap an action, so an action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap character.

So, what does the Bible proclaim regarding the development of character?

Godly character cannot be developed apart from clearly defined laws.

So, if you're going to lead, you have to clearly define the law. God, as our leader, has clearly defined His law for us. And furthermore, as we've already mentioned, let's turn there and read it. Hebrews 8.

Hebrews 8 and verse 6.

In Hebrews 8 and verse 6.

But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, speaking of Jesus Christ, who is the minister of the new covenant.

Hebrews 8 and 6. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry. By how much He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was marked this well in your Bible. You should already have it marked those of you who were here when I was pastoring. Do you remember what the book of Hebrews does?

Compares and contrasts elements of the old covenant with elements of the new covenant.

Of course, the old covenant had the law written on tables of stone. This word established here in the Greek is nomotheto. Nomotheto. N-O-M-O-T-H-E-T-E-O. Nomotheto.

It literally means furnished with law.

Furnished with law.

A better covenant, which was furnished with law, upon better promises. Under the old covenant, it was basically national blessings for obedience.

Under the new covenant, it is spiritual life for eternity.

Or if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

For finding fault with them, the law of God is perfect. Old covenant, new covenant, whatever covenant, as it says in Psalm 19 verse 8.

For finding fault with them, He said, Behold, the day come, says the Eternal, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with them and their fathers, and the day when I took them out of the land to lead them out of Egypt.

Because they continue not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with them, the house of Israel, after those days, says the Eternal. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.

So there's a great difference.

So once again, godly character cannot be developed apart from clearly defined laws.

The great lesson of the two trees, dating back to the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve were clearly instructed, Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that you eat thereof you shall begin to die. Look to me, that is, look to God for the knowledge of good and evil.

But Adam and Eve failed to learn this lesson, chose to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong.

And thus, Adam and Eve became leaders of their own rebellion.

Of course, Satan was there to help them.

So as I said up front, we choose to either be led by God or to be, we choose to be led by self and Satan.

Adam and Eve chose to be led by self and Satan.

And for the vast majority of humankind, from that day to the present day, they continue to choose to be led by self and Satan. There are precious few, and I don't think we even begin to thank God enough, praise God enough, realize how precious it is to really know the truth, to be freed from fear, ignorant, superstition, and the dogmas of man, to know and you know that you know who God is, what God is, what is His purpose, why we're here.

See, Israel failed to learn the lesson.

They basically abided by and the world basically continues to abide by the last verse in the book of Judges. In those days, there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. It seems that in the course of human history and discourse, that people come to the point that they do what you might describe as crossing the line.

What is the line? The line is determination to please God and base your life on the two great commandments, regardless of the personal consequences, circumstances, and do the right thing.

See, this is a challenge that God inspired Joshua to put before Israel after they came into the Promised Land. Look at Joshua 24.

Cross the line. You know, they say down at the Alamo when the Mexican army had surrounded the Alamo and there was no way out, that Colonel Travis drew a line in the sand and said, everybody that is with me and willing to fight to the death, cross over this line. Now some, of course, say that that never happened. That's a fable. Whether it happened or not, there are many challenges in life. Are you going to cross the line? Whose side will you be on?

You know, Joshua was succeeded in Moses and led Israel into the Promised Land.

And at the end of his life, he called the people together We look at verse 19 in Joshua 24. Joshua 24 verse 19.

And Joshua said unto the people, you cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your trespasses nor your sins if you forsake the eternal and serve strange gods. In other words, you can't have it both ways.

Then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he had done you good.

And the people said unto Joshua, no, but we will serve the eternal.

And Joshua said unto the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you, the eternal, to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses. So they crossed the line and said, we're going to serve God.

But he was at the winning side. afraid of it, if he was at the strength of but he was very good, to serve that president. Verse 29, And which had known all the works of the Eternal that he had done for Israel.

So, that shows the importance of leadership. Just before Moses died, he went to God and said, Moses is going to die. You need to select someone. And Moses said, sit in his seat to lead us in the Promised Land. After they got into the Promised Land, Joshua died. There was no king appointed. No ruler over all of Israel. Here's why. Because God wanted the people to look to him to be their God and to be their king, and to follow him.

And immediately you go into the book of Judges. And first of all, I think it was Judah who was supposed to lead in a certain way. And you'll read there in Judges that as soon as these elders died away, and there was no leadership, godly leadership, into the Land. There was a series for 400 years of up and down. Into captivity, out of captivity. Going into captivity, God would raise up a leader who would lead them back. And then they would repeat the thing over again.

Once again, the importance of leadership, of godly leadership. Look at Proverbs chapter 3. Did the voters in Colorado and Washington rely on God when they legalize recreational marijuana? Proverbs chapter 3. When the leaders of a nation approve of an action that God destroyed a people for, then you know they do not fear God. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 1. My son, forget not my law, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them about your neck.

Write them upon the table of your heart. So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the eternal with all your heart. And lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the eternal and depart from evil. It shall be health to your navel and marrow to your bones. You see, when a nation approves of an action such as same-sex marriage, that God destroyed a people for anciently Sodom and Gomorrah.

Then you know that that nation has crossed the line. They have crossed the line. They say, we're going to be led by self and Satan. We're not going to be led by God. Now turn to Luke 17. I've already referred to Genesis 19, where the two angels came to Sodom and Gomorrah to deliver Noah, not Noah, but Lot and his family out of there. And they rushed upon the house, saying that they wanted to know the men that had come. And finally, they had to be struck with blindness so they couldn't find the door.

God led Lot and his family out. Lot's wife looked back, turned to a pillar of salt, and God rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom. In Luke 17, in verse 27, they did eat. Well, let's read 26. But as in the days of Noah, so shall be also in the days of the Son of Man, talking about the return of Christ. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So we are in that time where they sin and they hide it not. And God is looking for leaders, men and women, who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

Let's look now at Ezekiel 22 and verse 23. Ezekiel was set as a watchman for the house of Israel. Sometimes I guess you'd call it the watchman prophet. He was in captivity in Babylon, and God was inspiring him to write back and warn Judah and also Israel.

In Ezekiel 22 verse 23, The Word of the Eternal came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of our prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They devoured souls, they have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

Her priests have violated my law, profane mine holy things, that made no difference between the holy and the profane. Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. It goes on talking about what they did. And then the challenge to us. Verse 30, And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath, their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the eternal God.

So, brethren, I hope that as long as God gives you and me breath and opportunity that we will stand in the gap as you have been doing. We will speak the truth and not compromise. We will not demand that we hear smooth things, but that we hear the truth. We will demand that the truth be preached, and that we will also study and pray and meditate upon that truth.

We are indeed in a Christ-in-state in the world. It is amazing that we still have the appearance of normality to the degree that we have it. But there is no one on the world seen today to provide the kind of leadership that we need. The only hope for humankind, of course, is God and Jesus Christ, and we are His ambassadors to be ministers of reconciliation, to take this message of hope, the gospel of God and Christ, and repent you for the kingdom of God is at hand.

In recent years, the world has been shocked over and over by assassinations and near assassinations of world leaders, and when it seems that someone would stand up for the truth, they are gunned down. So where have all the great leaders gone? There are no Washingtons, Lincoln's, Churchill's, or McArthur's on the scene, but we can lead, we can survive, we can do the things that we need to do. So where are you today?

Where am I? Where is each one of us today? We must not abdicate our positions of leadership, as we read about in Isaiah 3.12. We must not live in fear of our children. We must not live in fear of anyone. We must not draw back. The Apostle Paul writes in Hebrews 10.38, Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

We are not those. We are not of those who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe for the saving of the soul. God absolutely promises spiritual blessings for spiritual actions. So we must ask. God says He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask for it. We must seek. Seek and you shall find. We must knock. Knock and the door shall be opened to you. God says, Draw nigh unto me.

Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. God says in Revelation 3.20-22, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come unto him and will sut with him, and he with me, to him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also am overcome, and sit down with a father in his throne.

He that hath the ear, let him hear. So it is time to stop playing word games. It is time to stop meism. It is time to stop woe is me. It is time to stop theism that is blaming others.

It is time to focus on God. It is time to boldly proclaim his way. It is time to exercise Godly leadership. It is time to stand in the gap. It is time for the Esther's, both male and female, to stand up. Remember the story of Esther? Mordecai came to Esther and said, Here's the plot that Haman has hatched up against the Jewish people. Now you go into the king and plead the case for your people.

Esther says, Oh no! If I go in and he hasn't called me for me in a long time and he doesn't accept me, I might be killed. And Mordecai says, If you don't go, Esther, deliverance will come from some other place. And who knows whether or not you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Whenever a time of crisis erupts more than ever, there is a pressing need for individuals to take a stand and to do so courageously. And unless you're blind, deaf, and dumb, you would know that we are certainly living in a time of overwhelming crisis. I read an editorial yesterday that talked about Petraeus and Broadwell saying they were dumb and dumber. The whole Western world seems to be going up in flames, not just in the Middle East.

As Hamas is firing the rockets into Israel today by the hundreds over the past few days, and Israel is bombing Gaza and has thousands of troops ready to invade. Each new day we find plenty of headlines illustrating how moral, spiritual, cultural, and ideological crises are upon us. But the only question is, in the light of all this, what will good men and women do? How will we respond? How will you respond?

How will I respond? Will we bury our heads in the sand and pretend all this is not happening? Will we hope somehow someone else might take a stand on our behalf? If you think that some kind of leader, grand leader, is going to come on the world scene, you're wrong. Now, there is a grand leader coming on the world scene, two of them, beast and false prophet.

And the whole world, everybody whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, are going to follow them. And it will be for their lives, their eternal lives. Will we stand and fight? In my view, the last option is our only option, to stand and fight the good fight of faith.

The next question is, do we have the courage to stand up and be counted? The conviction, the commitment, the courage. Today is the day we desperately need men and women of courage. Those who will not yield to pressure or give up out of fear. One of the things that says in Revelation 21 verse 8, that the fearful or the cowardly will not be in the New Jerusalem.

Those lacking in courage will in effect deny God in the time of battle. Jesus made it clear how such people are to be viewed. Quote, Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before me, and him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. We'll close with this scripture, 2 Timothy 4, verse 1 through 8. If you are turning there, I'd like to say again we have very much been thrilled to be here today. I look forward to visiting with all of you after services and tomorrow as well.

Life for us is going quite a bit better. Both of our health sense, we're feeling much better. My knees are doing fine and so on and so on. In 2 Timothy 4, of course, Thanksgiving is coming this week. We are definitely looking forward to that, getting together with our families. I know you are and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

In 2 Timothy 4, verse 1, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Paul writing to the young evangelist, Timothy, Preach the word, be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they shall not endure sound doctrine, sound teaching. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, shall be turned unto fables.

But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of your ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and that day is coming for each one of us.

I don't care how young you are or how old you are, that day is coming for each one of us. And whether we are dead or alive when Christ comes, this life is going to cease. For I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have 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, and not to me only, but unto all of them also, that love is appearing.