Lead Like Christ Leads

Brethren, I remember when I was, before I came into the church, I went to the South African Air Force in a place called Valhalla. And as you can expect at any army or air force or sort of camp, there shouldn't be always a lot of discipline. One of the things that kind of surprised me the very first thing I got in there is that you could not walk. You're not allowed to walk. You had to run. So you had to run, and then when you got there, you had to wait. But you ran, and then you waited, you know. But you had to run. You were not allowed to walk. And then obviously you had physical exercise early in the morning, like, I think it was about half past four or five o'clock, you were out there doing exercise in open fields. Well, South Africa was not weather like this. Typically, it was always sunny weather, so you could expect that. But you had to do that. You had to do what they call leopard crawl. I don't know if you know what that is, you know, crawl on your elbows, mountains, you know, through rugged areas. So it was truly a case of exercising authority that it was exercising there. And I remember some of the lectures we had, we had a lecture from one sergeant showing that, or trying to prove or to demonstrate that the authoritarian type of leadership was the best sort of leadership you could have. Because people would follow, require people to follow, and it was the best type of leadership that you could have. There was no backtracking, and everybody kind of just did what it was needed to do. Now, I was young, and having been brought up in Mozambique, then I immigrated to South Africa. A lot of these things I really didn't know, and that was kind of a bit confusing. But I was trying to wonder what was really the right type of leadership.

At that time, I was starting to hear in the broadcast from Mr Armstrong, and he would always tell us, as some of you probably remember, many of you probably do not remember because you're very young, but he used to say, Don't believe me. Believe your Bible. Dust off your Bible and believe. And that kind of started me thinking, well, yeah, in the military they're telling me, don't think for yourself. You know, follow the instructions. God's apostle is telling us, think for yourself. Prove it for yourself. And being young, this was kind of a mixed message, and you kind of wonder exactly what is the right form of leadership. And then, after I left the army, I was baptized, and then in the very first years, living in a society which was, let's call it, compared to the American society, a lot more dictatorial.

The society we lived in at that time. Even in the church, I was getting mixed messages. For instance, I remember one day I was at the spokesman's club. Now, if you don't know what the spokesman's club is, then ask others. But it was something I really benefited a lot.

I remember my first speech I gave at the spokesman's club, which was, this is my life, I failed.

It just shows there's been a bit of improvement, you know? But anyway, I remember one speech. There was, further down the club manual, there's one speech called impromptu. Some of you that have been at the spokesman's club, you know what the impromptu speech is.

I remember one of my friends, a young single guy with me, and he came to the front, and he did not know what the speech was. He came to the front, and he was standing in, obviously, in Montreal, in front of the spokesman's club. Then he got the title of the speech. The title of the speech was, and the minister said, or, you know, I think was a toastmaster that said, and the title of your speech is, Youth and Asia.

He did not know what Youth and Asia was, and some of you might not know. So he started talking, giving a speech about youth in Asia. And wow, I mean, he was doing a great job. I mean, really, he was doing a great job. And like three minutes into his speech, I mean, you only got about six minutes, you know, in class, so three minutes into his speech. I mean, he really was perspiring in doing a great job of youth in Asia.

The minister stands up and he says, Youth and Asia means mercy killing, start again.

That killed him. That killed him. He just froze, and for the next three minutes, until he was buzzed, he did not open his mouth. Now, I'm talking about leadership and what type is the right leadership. And I was just trying to say that I was getting mixed messages, because I was in the army getting one sort of message. Then I was getting through Muslim Strong's recording a different message, and there are in the church, now about two, three years in the church, there's a young man in the church, and he's giving a speech in Proctor.

And to me, that's a mixed message of what is the right sort of leadership.

So, over a period of time, I am learning, and I think we're all learning. Really, we're all learning what is the right type of leadership that God wants from us.

A God-centred leadership, a Christ-like leadership, a leadership that is serving like Christ serves, and like He sacrifices. It's a giving leadership. It's not an authoritarian leadership. And I'm still learning. But my purpose today is really to talk about leadership like Christ gives.

A Christ-centred leadership and service, which is indeed one of the great things that we are learning now in the church, and the ministers are themselves putting a lot of focus on that.

So, in the process of doing that, I want to concentrate on only three principles of Christ-like leadership.

Mr. Lucas Veta emphasizes it, that I have some copies there that is recent. The GCE theme is also about that. And so you will be hearing a lot more messages from the leadership, from the ministry about it. And it's not just for you, because it's for us. We all have to learn.

We learn when we speak. We learn, like Ray mentioned, in O He's speaking, and we learn from it. It's also to us. So, I searched for one scripture that kind of encapsulated the message that I want to emphasize today. And so, I would like you to turn with me to John the 13th chapter. John the 13th chapter, and you probably will immediately remember, maybe, that that's a scripture that we read during the apostle, but during the foot washing ceremony.

And the verses I'm focusing on is John 13, 1, 3, verses 13, 1, 3, through 15. And it says, Christ, you are saying, you call me teacher and Lord. Some version says, you call me master and Lord. And you say, well, for so I am. And if I then, being your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that you should do, as I have done to you. You already have encapsulated in three sort of headings the three simple practical principles that I want to emphasize today. And so let me highlight to you first what they are. And then I'm going to enlarge them a little more with, let's call it, more words. And then I want to go into each one of those individually. The first one is that Jesus Christ is our Lord. He's our Lord. In other words, He's our God. God is our Lord. The Lord is our God. So we're going to look at a principle about what God is like, how God does things.

Then the second one is He's our teacher or our master. In other words, He's our trainer. He's our coach. The word master is actually the word teacher. And teacher is a good interpretation or translation of the word master.

Interesting, for instance, in the Portuguese language, master is translated as master. And master is like one of the top teachers. He's a master. In a sense, he's like you get a master degree. In other words, it's one that's really capable to teach well.

So he's our master. He's our teacher. And so that's the second point that I want to spend a bit of time on in today's sermon about Christ-like leadership. Like God, like a teacher. And thirdly, in this section of scripture, he gives us an example. He leads by example. He's the ultimate example. And I'm just translating that word to, he's our brother. Or think about it as our captain. But brother is a good affinity. He's our example as a Christian brother, our first brother.

So if you think of the three words, Lord, teacher and brother, or Lord, master and brother, they basically encapsulate in three simple words the message today. And I'm going to spend a bit more time around those three points so that when you leave, if you just remember three words, Lord, master and brother, it'll bring to mind all the other things about the sermon, hopefully.

So the first one is, he's our Lord, he's our God. Now, God never does the wrong thing. God never does the wrong thing. In other words, in every sense. So that's the first point. Someone that does the right thing to achieve the vision. And we'll look at that in more detail in a moment. So I'm just enlarging a little bit those three points of Lord is someone that does the right thing to achieve the vision.

God always does the right thing to achieve the vision. We'll go into that in a moment. We'll ask the question, what is the right thing and things like that. So we'll go into that in a little bit more detail.

The second one is our master, is our teacher. In other words, it's somebody that coaches us, that inspires us to greatness. But it's not greatness for selfish, great acts of service, great acts. So it's somebody that inspires us to achieve some great works. And that's not for our greatness, but it's great works along the way that God wants to do. So he teaches us and inspired us the vision so that they may also embrace the same vision. And thirdly, is our brother that leads us by example.

He demonstrates us how to. He proves that it can be done. He does it first. He, in a sense, is our captain. So let's look at these three areas, brethren, in a little bit more detail. And as I mentioned, the first one is somebody that does the right thing to achieve the vision. In other words, he's God, he's the Lord. And obviously, with him, with that, he's what is the right thing. So it's part of the same point, because what is the right thing.

Now, Yair is a good team leader, for instance. A good team leader. And I remember when I was a team leader, when I worked for IBM, before I became a manager, they made me a team leader. And I was kind of struggling to say, how can I lead people as a team leader, not being a manager, not having any authority. But Yair is the whole trick, because with Christlike leadership, you don't need the authority.

We all can serve and do and practice Christlike leadership even without having any position of authority, because it's applicable to us all. So, but a good leader articulates the vision, the end result, of the mission. And indeed God does that. He reminds us continuously of our goal, which is to be sons and daughters of God in the kingdom of God. And obviously we have the Holy Days, as an example, that gives us that vision, the end result. And continuously, as we practice the Holy Days, we understand a little bit better the vision. But brethren, to have the vision is not enough. You know, a dictator is a vision, a revolutionary is a vision.

And to them, what is their motto? You know, you talk to a dictator or to a revolutionary. Their motto is, the end justifies the means. And you hear that time and time again from these sort of dictators or revolutionary saying, the end justifies the means.

In other words, you can do the wrong thing to achieve the end result, provide the end result is good.

Brethren, that is the most wicked, ungodly statement. Because God never does the wrong thing. So just to have a right mission, a right vision that we need to achieve is not enough. It's got to be done the right way.

You see brethren, we have the vision. One of our visions is, seek you first, the kingdom of God. Matthew 6, 33. That is the vision. That is the end.

But what are the means? The means is, His righteousness. You see, we cannot seek the kingdom of God if we go through the right means, which is His righteousness. Which is the way. It's the right thing. It's His righteousness. God's righteousness is the way. It's the right thing.

You see, God, Jesus Christ, He's our Lord. He's our God. And there's no evil in Him. Turn with me to Psalm chapter 5, the first chapter of Psalms.

I was just looking for a scripture that clearly stated, very simply, that there's no evil dwelling with God.

I think for Psalm 5, verse 4, there's a simple scripture that says, For you are not the God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. So God not only gives us a vision, which is the right vision, but there's no evil dwelling with God. There's no way that we can do it incorrectly to achieve the vision. We've got to do it the right way, with His righteousness. There's no evil dwelling with God. Turn with me also to James chapter 1.

There's another scripture out, as we know, pretty well. It says, No one says, when He's tempted, I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil. In other words, there's no evil in God. You'll never do anything wrong. You'll never do any evil.

And then it says, nor does He tempt anyone. God does not tempt. Sure, He tests us. He tests our hearts, but it is not tempt us. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to do good. Sure, we've proved, we've tested, we've got trials of fire, but it's not for us to file. It's for us to overcome and grow and to grow. So there's no evil in God. And therefore, to Him, the end does not justify the means. To God, the end does not justify the means. In other words, the end and the means have to be right.

Hebrews 4, look at Christ in His life. Christ in His life, Hebrews 4, verse 15. It's speaking about Christ, our high priest. It says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. There was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. He never did the wrong thing. Therefore, we have to do the right thing. Jesus Christ is our Lord, is our God, and God always does the right thing. So, a way of true leadership like Christ is that you always do the right thing. As a leader, you will not be out there telling us, yes, a great goal, but the end justifies the means. Never. A godly leader will never tell you that. So that is an important point here. So, the vision must be obtained by doing the right thing, which is according to His righteousness. Therefore, that's how Christ leads. He did as an example, as we saw here in Hebrews 4, that He was tempted, but He always did the right thing. He always did the right thing. So, when He does the right thing, He doesn't do it for His selfish purpose. That's another point. It's easy to say, oh, well, I'm doing the right thing, so that the glory comes to me, or whatever. No, He never did it for selfish purpose. Look with me in John 5. John 5. The first chapter of John, verse 15, it says, I cannot myself do nothing as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous because... In other words, His approach, His way of looking, the way of discerning, the way of evaluating things is righteous because... I do not seek my own will. So, it's not selfish. It's always God's way. Always what is the right thing. What is the right thing? But the will of the Father who sent me, I always seek the will of God the Father. So, to do the right thing, Christ is willing to ask God what is the right thing.

And, as human beings, God has given us other people as well. They are very wise. That is good for us in our lives to seek counsel. I mean, there are many people out there that if you are seeking counsel about a job-related thing, or you are seeking counsel about some other issue, financial thing, it may not be a minister. It may be somebody that is very wise in that field, and therefore it's good to seek counsel from others. So, it does say in a multitude of counselors there is safety. So, there's nothing wrong in seeking counsel. But, in the end, it must be the right thing in a way that is Godly, in a way that is towards God. So, the right thing is, first and foremost, seeking the Kingdom. But, that is not... To achieve that goal, there are many other sub-goals. In other words, there are many other little decisions that we have to do in our lives, in our action, towards that big goal. So, what I mean is that that goal is not the only thing. There are other little sub-goals that we have to go through. And therefore, in our lives, there are many things. For instance, child-rearing, treating one another in a family, and things. It's good to ask advice, provided first and foremost we look, is that according to God's instructions, the right thing, God's righteousness.

So, doing the right thing, and the right thing is His righteousness. We need to be prepared to search the Scriptures to study. But, whenever doing it with a selfish motive, it's always God's world-thirsty. So, that is being the Lord. Christ says, I'm the Lord, I'm the teacher, and I'm an example, like a brother. So, the first point is being the Lord, is being like God, is always doing the right thing. So, let me go now to the second point that I want to share with you. And that is, being a teacher or a master. In other words, somebody that encourages, that edifies, that inspires others to greatness. But, greatness, again, is not a selfish greatness. It is greatness in front of God. And what is greatness in front of God?

Greatness in front of God is great works of service, great works towards that vision, that embrace that vision. And so, a good leader will motivate, will inspire, will teach towards that vision, towards that goal. And therefore, a good leader uses the power of the idea. It does not control or direct or prod or manipulate, as in the army. He is not intimidating us or coercing us, because that's not leadership. That is power. That is authoritarian domination. For instance, some leaders have excellent communication skills. They really have good communication skills. They can convince you anything that, that, that registry, I mean, they have excellent communication skills. They can really convince you things, but the point is, that's not enough.

You see, authoritarian leaders can also have excellent communication skills. For instance, Hitler was an outstanding communicator. But that does not mean he was a leader, according to Christ's principle. So, excellent communication skills is not enough.

So, yes, we need to be motivating. We need to be encouraging, like a servant. We need to really motivate. But God plainly tells us that we should not be authoritarian and omniran. Turn with me to Matthew 20.

Matthew 20, where Christ plainly tells us that's what we should not be. Matthew 20, verse 25 through 28. It says, On top of people, and they put him down, yet it shall not be so among you. For whoever decides to become great among you, let him be your servant. And to be frank, to be a servant, you do not need a title. You really do not need a title. You do not need stripes and little perpsii and things like that. You don't. Anybody can be a servant. So that is the measuring stick of Christ, of great leader. And so he says, whoever decides to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man does not come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. Christ came to serve. We are react to serve.

Now, there are some people that could serve, and that service could be kind of a bit of a shove. And service, therefore, is not self-boasting. Even service sometimes can be of the wrong attitude. We've got to be careful with that, that we don't have. So service must be quiet, weekly service, and that's what inspires us. Seeing that example. Christ served for us, and he died for us. He served to the very death. He gave his life for us. It's not necessarily saying that we all have to physically die serving. But what he's saying is that we've got to give of our time to serve, to help one another.

And for instance, I have a point to mention, for instance, mothers are an outstanding example of service. Mothers do things for their children like nobody else. It really is an outstanding example of service to children. Therefore, it's always good, and it's good to remember our mothers and what they do, particularly in Mother's Day. But every day we should honor one another and respect what people do. But the example of a mother is another example of service. She only wants the best for the children. Although today, in today's world, we see some mothers that really, unfortunately, they're not being real mothers, it's sad. But Christ is telling us service is what it is all about, and it does not force us. You see, it does not force us. You see, all along through it, he allows free moral agency. So he allows us to think for ourselves. He allows us to make mistakes. And because when we do make mistakes, we may make... reach the wrong conclusion temporarily in the process. But then we will realize that's not the best way and we repent. And through repentance and forgiveness and mercy, because repentance must be first and then forgiveness and mercy, then as we move to that, we grow. And that's Christ's way of encouraging us. Because we're not perfect. Nobody's perfect. I mean, I wish I was perfect, but not... my wife wishes me I was perfect.

So, you know, there we are. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But we just have to be big-hearted and allow people some mistakes. Obviously, I'm not talking about going in darkness. I'm talking about walking in the light, and then we make mistakes, and we walk in the light. So, as we do that, and we set that sort of example, and as we are serving, as we serve with that meeting and quiet attitude, like Christ does and served us, that encourages others. That inspires others. And that sets an example to others itself. Although, example is another point. But it really is that serving attitude that helps us. Look how God wants us to succeed. Turn with me, please, to Philippians. And this is the attitude of Christ. We are in Philippians, the second chapter.

Philippians 2. Because now we're talking about a leader, a teacher, a master, that really cares for us. Philippians 2, verse 13. And he says, in verse 13, For it is God who works in you. It is God that works in us, that gives us that energy, work is energy. It gives us that energy in us, both to will, in other words, to have the desire, and to do. We have to do our part. But he is working in us, he is encouraging us, he is giving us the help, he is giving us the strength, because he wants us to want to do of our free will, and he wants us to literally do it. So he is there to help us. And turn another scripture out to 1 Timothy.

Chapter 2, verse 4. 1 Timothy 2, verse 4. And he says, speaking about, For this is good and acceptable, the sight of God our Saviour, Who desires all man to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God desires all of us to be saved. That is His desire. Therefore, He wants to inspire us, He wants to help us, He wants to give us an environment where we can roll, we can overcome, we can go through whatever difficulties, and be saved. But yeah, it is not just being saved, He wants us to have the knowledge of the truth.

In other words, He wants us to have the right doctrine, the right teaching, the right understanding at the same time. So He wants to have a sound mind with it. So Christ was a great leader from that point of view, because He taught and through His teachings He encouraged people to go. For instance, in Matthew 4, 5, 6 and 7, in the sermon on the Mount, you have, 5, 6 and 7, the sermon on the Mount, He's got a whole lot of sections of teachings. And in these teachings on the sermon on the Mount, He's saying, Do these things.

He's teaching us, giving us examples, He's inspiring us, guiding us, giving us instructions to edify us so that we can become better. So He's a coach, a teacher all along. And there in Matthew 7, He gives one simple point of His whole attitude. Matthew 7, verse 7, towards the end of the sermon on the Mount, He says, 7, 7, ask and it will be given to you.

In other words, He wants to give us whatever help we need. We're striving for something, then let's get on our knees and ask for help. And He will provide it. Why? Because He desires all men to be saved. He wants us to come to the knowledge of the truth. He wants in us to have the will and the capability to do it. So if we identify something we need help, He says, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find it. Knock and it will be open to you. He wants you and I, He wants us to succeed.

And that is a leader that cares, that cares for us, that has the compassion, that has the desire to inspire and to guide us. In other words, He's a teacher. So some in a word, a teacher, a master. So in the end, He gives us kind words. He gives us sound advice. He gives us a helping end. Why? So that where He is, we may be to.

Remember that He says, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you may be there as well. In other words, He's gone to be our High Priest so that when we are struggling today with something and we do something and we get on our knees as a High Priest, symbol of the Atonement, in the Day of Atonement, the High Priest goes to the High of Holies and sprinkles it.

The High Priest goes there. That is what He does for us. That is an additional meaning of the Day of Atonement that when we go on our knees and we approach God through Christ as our High Priest, He astounds us and He says to God, okay, Georgia or Peter the arrow, Tom the arrow, Mary the arrow, whatever, put your name in it. It says He or she is trying. Let's forgive Him and let's reconcile. And He's doing that daily, daily as a High Priest. That's what He's doing for us. And therefore, He's there directly interceding for us with Christ. That's why He had to go.

He's there preparing a place for us. That's what He's doing. So every day when we pray, we say, I'm struggling, I need help. He's there to inspire us and to speak to God the Father to give us the extra help. To give us the extra Holy Spirit, the helper. Turn with me to John 16. John 16. That's also part of His sermon that He gave on His last night, on the night that He was betrayed. John 16 verse 7. It says, Nevertheless I tell you the truth.

It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I'll send him to you. In other words, He's there with Christ, atoning with us. Yes, He's there telling His Spirit to us. But He's there every day, atoning as a high priest that sympathizes with us.

And when we go on our knees and we pray to God through Christ, He then goes to God and says, Listen, help Him, help her, and let's send Him a little bit more of this earth to help with this issue or this problem. Ask and it shall be given to you. Knock and it will be opened. That's what He's doing. He's there encouraging us, He's helping us. And then He says in Hebrews 13 verse 5. Look at what He says in Hebrews 13 verse 5. Hebrews 13 verse 5 says, Let your conduct be without covetness, be content with such things as you have in it.

Let's do the right thing. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Wow! Christ said He will never, never, ever leave you or forsake you. Regardless of what you or I may do, you will never leave us. But what does that mean? It's up to us. It's up to us to leave you. You won't leave us, but we must not leave Him. So if we don't leave Him, and therefore we try to go in the light, we try to do the right thing, but we trip, or, you know, like this boss week gave me a good reminder.

I cut a little bit of my finger, nothing special, but I cut a little bit of my finger, I was cutting something, and for some reason the thing slipped. And the knife went, and instead of cutting the thing, I cut my finger, you know. Hey, I was in the light, I didn't do it intentionally, you know, and God will heal it, and yeah, but it's the lesson there. He says, you'll never forsake us, but we will trip occasionally, we will trip, but provider will never leave Him. You'll never leave us.

You'll never leave us. What an encouraging Scripture says here, I will never leave you nor forsake you, not just leave you, but forsake Him. You'll never do that. So, what a lovely teacher we have, a coach that is there always coaching us, helping us. We are there in the field, and He's out there coaching us, helping us through the power of His Spirit, because we have Christ in us, representing that 11 bread that we eat for seven days, so we have Christ in us, Christ living in us all the time. That was symbolic of the different days of the 11 bread, but it's a symbol that we need to remember, He's living with us, and that righteousness, which is God's righteousness, which is Christ in us, through the power of all His Spirit. We are doing the right thing, and He's coaching us, He's helping us, He's guiding us, He is leading us in the right way. Turn with me, please, to Philippians, chapter 4, chapter 4 of Philippians, verse 13.

It says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Why? You know, like we heard in the sermon, you'll never tempt us about what we can handle. You'll never allow that, not that He tempts us, but He will not allow us to be proved with tests or difficulties that we can't handle, because they're there to help us to be stronger. They're there to help us to be stronger. But He says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because He says, I will never leave you, I'll never forsake you. So, indeed, to be a leader like Christ, for you and I to be a leader like Christ, we need to have that same sort of attitude towards others, to inspire others to greatness. Now, what is greatness? Greatness is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. That is the ultimate greatness, to preach the good news of the Kingdom, to help others to embrace the same vision. That's what it is, because that is the hope of mankind for eternity, to be daughters and sons of God in the Kingdom of God. So, doing God's work is a work of service, is the greater work that we can do. So, as a Christian leader, we do the right thing, just like God does the right thing. So, Christ is the Lord, always do the right thing. But also, as a Christian leader, we need to be cooperative and constructive in the environment that we have around us. We help people to have a high morale, so that the goal is achieved. And therefore, we do that as that loving, kind teacher like Christ is. But the third point is, we do it by setting an example. You see, a leader is one that sets an example.

He demonstrates and he shows how, and he proves that it can be done, and he does it first. He's the captain. Therefore, we need to be the best followers.

To learn to lead like Christ, we need to be the best possible followers of Christ.

Turn with me to Hebrews 2, verse 10.

Many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. So it was fitting for Christ to be made perfect through sufferings. And therefore, through that, he is our captain. Now, he's not our general. He's our captain. Why? Because a captain is out there in the battlefield with the soldiers.

A captain is right there. He rolls up to Steve and is there with the soldiers. Not the general, from the background giving orders. He's the captain right there in the front line. So it's close to us.

Indeed, many scriptures say he's our brother. He's our older brother. So, as a brother, he's an example like a brother.

And, just like he's our captain, being made perfect through suffering. So he said the example through suffering, which means we are following through suffering.

We have to suffer as well. Turn with me to Philippians, the second chapter. Philippians, the second chapter. This is one of my very awesome scriptures that when I read this, every time I read this, I just see the greatness of Christ when I read this scripture, this section of scripture.

Because Philippians, starting in verse 5, says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. It was let this mentality, let this attitude, let this way of doing things be in you, just like it was in Christ.

Who be in the form of God? Christ was in the form of God. Before he was Christ, he was the word. Before he became Christ, he was the word. And he was in the form of God.

I mean, we say a dog is in the form of a dog, or in the species of a dog, we say a cat. He's in the form of a cat, in the species of a cat.

A human is in the form of a human, and we have a word for it. It's like humanity.

But Christ was in the form of God. It was bad word, but it's the species, the kind. It was of the God, kind, as Mr Armstrong used to put it.

He be in the form of God. Obviously, he was not God. The Father is much lower. He says, my Father is much greater than me.

But he's of the same. Like, we are human beings. We all are human beings. So, there's nothing wrong with me saying, I'm a human being.

I'm in the form of humanity, or humans. Like, you are in the form of humans. There's nothing wrong. I'm not giving myself a title that doesn't belong to me. I'm not stealing that title by saying, I'm a human being. Like, you saying you're a human being. There's no stealing of a title by you saying that.

But it does not mean that you are the President of the United States, you know. We just are humans.

But there are levels of authority within the human kind. And likewise, there is a person, this is the Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, who was of that form, in the words of that species, forgive me, it's not a good word for those species, but of that kind, who did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. It was not something wrong to say that it was equal to God. Just like it's not wrong for me to say that I'm equal to the President of the United States.

Obviously not in power, but I'm equal. We all have to go to the restroom. We're all equal. We're all equally that way. That's where it's been.

We're all human beings, you know. So, we're equally that. So it was not robbery to be equal to God in that sense, because it was the same form. But, verse 7, made Himself of no reputation. Now, that's interesting. He made Himself. Nobody told Him to do it.

Or maybe He discussed it with God the Father, and I'm sure they did, and they planned it. Of course they did.

But it was of His own free world. He volunteered. He says, I'll do it. You know, I'll do it. He made Himself of no reputation. In other words, He took the form of a bond servant. In other words, He took the form of a man.

He was in the form of God, and He took the form of a man, of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of man.

That's what it is. It's like me saying, well, let me become an ant. Of my own free will, a top of it, took a lower, quote-unquote, position because of the love He asked for us.

And, verse 8, being found in appearance as a man, in the form of a man, because He previously was in the form of God, but He found Himself in appearance as a man, in the form of man. He humbled Himself even more, not just from being in the form of God to the form of man, but He continued that humbling even more Himself. And there was nobody forcing, nobody took it away from Him. And He became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross.

Now, nobody in the sense we could say, well, these people killed Him and this and that. Have they known? Have He answered back at that moment? Have they known who He was that would have not killed Him? That's why He kept quiet. That's why He kept quiet, so that He would kill Him. Because at other times He spoke out, but at that instance He kept quiet, so that He would be killed. Have He opened up His mouth to defend Himself? They would have not killed Him. Because Pontius Pilate was just right on the edge for a moment. He kind of was saying, well, but He said, okay, fine. But had He answered most strongly, Pontius Pilate says, you're free. That's right. Go! And then Scripture would have not been fulfilled. So He had to keep quiet. In other words, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death. He gave His life. Nobody took it from Him. He gave it.

Now, the reason I'm reading this is just showing that He sent an example to us of absolute humility, of absolute suffering for us. He's an example. He says, therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those in heaven, of those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And so, just like Romans says, Paul says in Romans, you know, you will just like if we follow Him through suffering, we'll be glorified like He is. We are following in the same way. So He expects us to follow Him.

Now, not just being a copycat, quote-unquote, but a follower of Christ in that spirit, in that attitude of volunteering, taking up our cross.

That's why I said in Matthew 10 verse 38, take up my cross. Take up your cross. Matthew 10, 38. Matthew 10, 38. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Christ took up his cross to suffer. We need to take up our cross to suffer. It's hard saying. I know it's hard. And therefore, to lead by example like Christ is not saying, and I've heard this said, and maybe I shouldn't say it, but I've heard some people saying in the church many years ago, it says I've done so much for the church and look at where I am. And clearly, it's not the right spirit. We need to do it because we want to do it. And even if we get nowhere in this world, Christ got nowhere in this world, quote-unquote. In this world as a physical human being, He got nowhere. He had a handful of disciples, but they all walked away when He died, and they all said, no. So basically, from a physical point of view, His success at that moment was, from a physical point of view, was practically not. Had He not reappeared to the scientists, the hell would have gone fishing and everything would have gone straight. And they had not come to them and said, feel me, I'm right here. And then the penny dropped and they said, wow! And then they started understanding, and then the whole thing turned around. But had He not, if it had just been there, I tell you, the success would be very little. But it's God that brings the glory. It's… and therefore, he gave us an example of service. And therefore, in this life, our reward might be very difficult. Because our reward is in the life to come. It's not now. It's not now. The reward is in life to come. And so, as a leader, by example, yes, we have to be great followers. To be a leader, we have to be an outstanding follower. Turn with me to 1 Peter, Chapter 2. 1 Peter, Chapter 2. 1 Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 21. As it was mentioned in the sermon, we have to take little scriptures and kind of digest them. And take the nuggets out of these scriptures. And for instance, yeah, Verse 21 says, full, to this you were called. Do we understand what that means? It says, this is the reason why you and I have been called to be in the church. Why were you called to be in the church? For this we are called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. So, we have to be great followers. Followers. And digest the scripture says, we are called to be an example to suffer like Christ suffered. Wow! That's hard. That's difficult.

It's difficult for all of us to digest that. But that's why we were called. And that's why I said, let this mind be you, like we read early on in Philippians, let this mind be you that was in Christ. What does the mind was in Christ? Let it be in the form of God, He abhiced Himself and did that to the point of death. It says, let this mind be you so that we follow for this where we called. But He gives us His Spirit. He wants to do it with the thinking mind. He wants to do it with the thinking mind. Not just, you will do it and whatever. No, He wants to do it with the thinking mind. That's why He says, quench not the Holy Spirit. And we do it with an attitude of service, of sacrifice to be like Christ. And that's a whole kind of different mentality of leadership than the wall has. It's a whole different mentality. But His Jet. Turn with me to Psalm 23, a very well-known scripture. YHWH Psalms, the 23rd chapter. Psalm 23. Just reading three verses the other. It's a Lambly Psalm as you're all, often you're aware of this. The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me to lie and glean postures. He leads me besides the still waters. He restores my soul, my life. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. He was doing the right thing for His name's sake. Yes, though. I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil. For you are with me. You're wrong and you'll stop. They comfort me. He's a gentle, He's gentle. I mean, He's a coach. He's encouraging us. He gives us an example. But an example to follow Christ and follow Him is, we've got to be great followers and follow Him in this sort of way. In this sort of example that He gave us of suffering. And sometimes when you think we've done enough, we've got to do more. Great leaders. When you think they've done enough, they call to do more. George Washington, my wife reminded me, was going to retire. And he said, I've had enough. I'm going to retire. And then they called Him for a position of leadership. And He said, have I not done enough for my country? The same thing with God. I mean, we could say, have I not done enough for His work, for His church? While we've got life, we've got a separate example of encouraging others to greatness. In greatness is God's work. That's the greatness.

And brethren, we all have different opportunities in serving. We all have different opportunities. Whatever it may be, turn with me to Romans 12. Romans 12. We all have different opportunities.

Romans 12. Verse 6 to 8. Having then gifts different according to the grace that is given to us. Yes, each one of us has specific, unique abilities to do God's work.

I don't know what your abilities are, but you know. And if you're not sure, get on your knees, ask and it shall be given to you. And God will answer. He says, you know, you'll never leave your forsake you. He says, it's there to help. So, you have certain opportunities to serve God towards greatness and inspire others to greatness, which is God's work. So, how can you do it? I don't know. You know what your abilities are. God is training you for a bigger position. That's for sure. And He said, you'll never leave you. But in the meantime, you do have a gift. You do have a gift. You have a natural gift from birth, which probably has been enhanced at baptism, which has been amplified.

Maybe God's given you some unique gifts, some unique talents, some unique abilities. You know what they are. And you can serve God by being an example in some of those gifts you have. And upon baptism, you might have not explored that yet, but God may have enhanced some of those gifts.

I mean, I know when I was in school, I was very good at math, science, and all the other things. But the subject that I had, the worst marks, and that I failed, and I had to do it three times, and I had to do it more times till I dropped my university entrance, kind of, was languages, was English.

And Portuguese, and Frickans, I was useless. Languages is my weak point. And now God is using me translating and doing languages for other things. Not perfect, but I'm using the ability that I have, that God's given. And you have abilities. You have abilities.

So I'm not giving you this, referring to myself for any reason. Just showing it's God that's done it. It's glory, not mine. It's his. He's done it. He's doing it, not mine.

And so God has given you gifts. I don't know what they are, but you can serve God with your gifts, whatever they are. If it's prophecy, if it's, you know, if it's preaching, the capability to speak and to encourage others, let's do that in proportion to our faith.

If it's serving, if it's somehow in serving in any way, because ministry does not just mean being a minister, but it's any service that you may do. Like this, you can serve other people, men and children. You can serve others. We all can serve.

If you're a teacher and you've got a talent in teaching, well, if you have a talent in encouraging people, in exhorting, well, use it. If you have a talent in giving, and you can give off specific things, if that's your talent, like maybe you have a talent in doing certain things, use it. Use it liberally.

If you have a talent that's not giving you a talent to be a leader with encouraging, Christ-like leader with Christ-like characteristics, use it with diligence. If God has given you a talent to be merciful to people, be an example of mercy to others, use it with cheerfulness. So whatever is your talent that God has given you, you can serve by being an example, like Christ is an example to us.

In summary, I used those three words from John 13, that Christ is our Lord and our master, and our example, and I just used as a brother, one equal to us.

And using those words, using those principles, we then expound on that to say, we've got to do the right thing, we've got to encourage others, like a teacher, encourage our coach, and we've got to be an example. And to be a good example, we have to be a follower, a great follower of Christ. And one of the areas is, we are going to have certain sufferings in our lives. That's what we're called for as we soar. So brethren, we all have your individual skills, we all have your individual capabilities, but God has called you and I for a great position as sons and daughters of God in His Kingdom. And therefore, as leaders. And you and I are now going through an opportunity of learning how to be true, Godly leaders, like Christ is a leader. So let's make sure we do the right thing, make sure we help and inspire and build morale, and inspire others to greatness and greatnesses, what great greatnesses are then. The vision that God has given us of His Kingdom, and through it, by setting the right example, like the Lord, the Master, and our example of our brother. May God give us all strength to be leaders like Christ is a leader.

May God give us all strength to be leaders like Christ is a leader.