SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: Lighthouse believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at John chapter 15, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
SPEAKER_01: Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
SPEAKER_01: But I have called you friends.
SPEAKER_01: For all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you.
SPEAKER_01: And the concept I'd like to bring to you night in a brief manner is that Jesus demonstrated this concept that you're not just a servant, you're a friend.
SPEAKER_01: And in friendship leadership, we tell our friends what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: We edify, we give understanding to, we lay out the plan, we communicate.
SPEAKER_01: And in friendship leadership, he said, I want you to know everything that I've heard of my father.
SPEAKER_01: And what I've been trying to do is make that known unto you.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, if you're a leader, you owe your followers edification.
SPEAKER_01: You owe understanding.
SPEAKER_01: You owe, if you would, to present the plan and to talk about some of the things that are going on in such a way that they go away and they go, I get it.
SPEAKER_01: It's a means of respect.
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is communicating and being in conjunction with somebody, in Christianity, there's no big shot.
SPEAKER_01: There's no I'm in charge and you need to know it.
SPEAKER_01: There's we're in this together, and I want you to know what I know, and I want you to understand what I understand, and we need to work together as a team on this.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say, as we come up to leadership conference, friendship in the way of leadership is so important.
SPEAKER_01: We have so many meetings that explains what we're doing, why we're doing, how we're doing, and what are the problems with what we're doing, and how can we work it out and make it better.
SPEAKER_01: I hope a leader in our church will not say, I don't know what's going on, they don't tell me anything.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know a pet peeve of mine is I can't stand that.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you quiet?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on, they don't tell me a thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: In the military, that never fly.
SPEAKER_01: In the military, if you don't know, we'll find out.
SPEAKER_01: There's always someone to ask.
SPEAKER_01: Leadership takes the initiative to find out what they don't know.
SPEAKER_01: They don't tell the followership, well, they don't tell me anything like there's some kind of leadership victim.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have leadership victims.
SPEAKER_01: We just have some that maybe are not as educated as they should be and should not be passing around discord.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying anybody is, but if someone in here has said they don't tell me anything, well then find out, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Victim or Miss Victim, what's going on because we're not trying to be secretive.
SPEAKER_01: This is not CIA stuff going on here.
SPEAKER_01: This is not, you know, we're not, we're not in the two shop talking about you can't reveal this to anybody.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is everything's an open book on what we're doing and why we're doing it and how we're doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we keep things a little bit under the lid while we're planning, so you don't hear change one to change two to change six.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because once in a while that can cause people to go, do they know what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: Well, sometimes there's a metamorphosis that God reveals as we go to make something better.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me tonight?
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is friendships say, Well, here's what I know so far, and I'll find out a little bit more, and once I know, I'll let you know, because I'm a leader, and friends tell other friends what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And friends want other friends to participate.
SPEAKER_01: Look in your Bible, look at Genesis chapter 45.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis chapter 45, it's a new era, it's a switch that's going on.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many factors that we'll not go into everything tonight, but look at Genesis chapter 45 and watch this concept of friendship leadership, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number three.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Doth my father yet live?
SPEAKER_01: Brother, in those days they didn't have texting and email.
SPEAKER_01: He hadn't earned anything for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: First thing he wants to know is, hey, is my father still alive?
SPEAKER_01: And his brethren could not answer him.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, it wasn't that they didn't know, it's that they were in shock.
SPEAKER_01: After not seeing him for so many years, after them putting him in the pit, selling them off, selling him off to the Midianites, they were shocked that he was still alive, and his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's friendship.
SPEAKER_01: Come near.
SPEAKER_01: Come a little closer.
SPEAKER_01: Come a little closer, I pray.
SPEAKER_01: And they came near, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think, please look up here, I don't think he said, Whom you sold.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he was scolding.
SPEAKER_01: I was going to say, hey, here's what happened.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all sold me into Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: But then he goes on, now therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, he's trying to get a little intimate with him.
SPEAKER_01: He he knows that leadership has changed now.
SPEAKER_01: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: He knows he's in charge.
SPEAKER_01: He knows God has put him in charge.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, uh, uh uh, nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's doing, he's defining reality.
SPEAKER_01: He's giving understanding.
SPEAKER_01: For these two years hath the famine been in the land.
SPEAKER_01: And yet there are five years in the which there shall be no earring, nor or no uh earring nor harvest.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is he's explaining what his dreams have shown to him.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, we're we're two years into this first part of the plan, and then there's gonna be another uh uh where we've already had seven years of plenty.
SPEAKER_01: Now we have two years of famine, we've got five more years to go, so I do know what's happening, and I do want to know what's going on, and I want you to know what God has revealed to me.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be friends in this.
SPEAKER_01: And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: Boys, you're not gonna die.
SPEAKER_01: Your children are not gonna die.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to take care of you and God's blessing, and we've got the stores put up, and I'm in charge of a whole lot, and believe me, I'm gonna take care of my family.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, when they come up, Joseph has four in his families.
SPEAKER_01: There's 66 in their family, there's 70 total, and David, uh Joseph says, I'm gonna take care of you all.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's gonna work out.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, may I say to you, friendship leadership puts people at ease.
SPEAKER_01: It explains and says, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: I know there's people dying out there.
SPEAKER_01: I know what's going on, but you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I'm governor over the land, I control the grain.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the one who God set up for this, and I'm the one who gave the, he gave the the vision about the insight on the dreams, and he said in verse 8, so now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.
SPEAKER_01: And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, you think you sent me?
SPEAKER_01: You didn't.
SPEAKER_01: Let yourself off the hook.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, don't take credit for where I'm at right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here because God sent me here, and I want you to know I'm I'm even helping Pharaoh along, and uh he made me a father to Pharaoh, meaning like I'm advising Pharaoh on what to do, and the Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egyptian.
SPEAKER_01: Haste ye.
SPEAKER_01: Go up to thy father and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: God hath made me Lord of all Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Come down unto me, tarry, tarry not, and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children, thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast, and there will I nourish thee.
SPEAKER_01: Yet there are fair five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all thy hast, all that thou hast come to poverty.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, your eyes see in the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you, and ye shall go tell my follower of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that he has seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
SPEAKER_01: What he says is here's reality.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's happening, here's what's taking place, here's what God is doing, and here's your part in that.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go tell my father, and I want you to make sure you bring him up.
SPEAKER_01: It's all planned, it's all prepared.
SPEAKER_01: I've got a place for you, I'll nourish you, I'll take care of your children, I'll take care of your children's children.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: That's friendship leadership.
SPEAKER_01: That's edifying.
SPEAKER_01: That's uh that's that's security.
SPEAKER_01: That's you can buy in.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say uh servitude leadership is a big part of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Debtor leadership, but friendship leadership is let me tell you what I know.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what God has said to me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you and edify you with the plan, and here's what's gonna happen next, and you're a part of that, and everything's gonna be alright.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know at the leadership conference, we're gonna tell you what we know, what we're planning for, what God has done for us, and I want to tell you this: I think everything's gonna be alright.
SPEAKER_01: When we put the effort in, however it comes out, God is pleased.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm we're putting in prayer meetings, we're putting in extra things, we're adding a few things, we're in we're uh enhancing a few things, we're doing a few things to order to serve people, it'll benefit us as a church later.
SPEAKER_01: And we believe that God's gonna do a wonderful work at leadership conference, and we want everybody as friends to know that now.
SPEAKER_01: That means we show up to meetings.
SPEAKER_01: We commit to meetings, we show up to meetings.
SPEAKER_01: Talk to me a little bit, or the message is getting longer now.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be your friend, but you're not being mine.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get through this quick tonight, and the rains are out there, and maybe you're a little soggy and wet and everything, but I want you to get home tonight, or I want you to go have a meal or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is I want a good spirit in our church as we go into meetings.
SPEAKER_01: I want people communicating with each other.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want people sitting there like a bump on a log in uninterested.
SPEAKER_01: This is God's work, this is God's plan.
SPEAKER_01: This is an opportunity that we get to do and that we'll stand before God later.
SPEAKER_01: I hope people take notes.
SPEAKER_01: I hope they get involved.
SPEAKER_01: I hope they, if they sign up for something, they don't wait until the last minute and say, Well, nobody told me.
SPEAKER_01: Well, find out.
SPEAKER_01: Be proactive.
SPEAKER_01: Find out who the leader is.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I thought I was supposed to be involved in this, and and I don't even know who the leader is.
SPEAKER_01: So ask somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Brother Northcut, where are you at?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you at, Scott?
SPEAKER_01: To my what?
SPEAKER_01: Now, Scott, stand up.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any question on leadership conference, go ask this guy.
SPEAKER_01: He'll be your friend.
SPEAKER_01: And if he doesn't know the answer, we'll find out the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody says, I don't know to go to.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows now.
SPEAKER_01: Go see Scott.
SPEAKER_01: You go see him, and and he'll find out who your leader is, what it is, what's going on, and he'll get that leader in touch with you.
SPEAKER_01: What I don't want is, well, you know, I thought I was gonna do this, but nobody contacted me.
SPEAKER_01: That won't fly at the judgment seat of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I signed up, but that was the end of it.
SPEAKER_01: Sign up and be proactive and knock on somebody's door.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, when you go for a job interview, you don't just go in and that's it.
SPEAKER_01: You follow up, you send a text, you send an email, you show interest in what the job is.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: I know we're not paying very well.
SPEAKER_01: I get that.
SPEAKER_01: That's a joke.
SPEAKER_01: I know we're not paying very well.
SPEAKER_01: But the idea, my brethren, is this this is more important sometimes than the job for money that God has given us.
SPEAKER_01: We get to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not scolding you tonight.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying if you jump in and you hear somebody with kind of a bad attitude and they say, Well, I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's told me anything, anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: May I say something?
SPEAKER_01: Tell them, well, we can go see Scott if it's about leadership conference.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Call me, text me, ask me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mind that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not above that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll try to be a friend and we'll find out the answer and get that information to you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to say this: if we don't quite know something yet, we're still formulated, and we haven't got to that yet.
SPEAKER_01: Be a little patient as these things unfold and as we add a few things and and and fine-tune a few things and a few new leaders and a few doing that.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard some wonderful, innovative things that are going to happen at this leadership conference.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited about it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you say, was that all cleared with you?
SPEAKER_01: It was cleared enough with me to inform me, and I'm going, hey man, that sounds good to me.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, every decision ought to not rely on me.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: It's good that we have leaders who say we want to do this, we're thinking about doing this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to tell you this: don't go off and do something in the leadership conference and not tell somebody, we don't like this.
SPEAKER_01: We don't like this concept.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna ask because if they say no, I'm still gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: The concept is why don't you ask and be a friend about it rather than just, well, I'm just gonna do this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to ask anybody, I'm just gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01: And then they'll just forgive me later.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, don't you understand what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Man, go to somebody, get permission.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what if they say no?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we may say no to the big picture, but we won't say no to everything unless it's some, you know, something that goes against policy or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: But we're big boys and big girls.
SPEAKER_01: We we can we can we can listen, we can, we can decide whether it'll work or not.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, we want to do things decent and in order.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: We have men and women coming here, they're paying money, they're given time, and we want to serve them.
SPEAKER_01: But it's this this conference is not just for them, it's for us.
SPEAKER_01: It's for our church, it's for our growth, but a great opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, God gave this facility and God gave us this building, and God gave us this campus to use for others.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, we got a praise the Lord, we got a platform we can use.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, we got a building, and we got a bookstore, and we got a fellowship hall, and we got different places that we can utilize for people to come.
SPEAKER_01: In our first uh buildings where we're at, we couldn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way we could accommodate what God has done for us now.
SPEAKER_01: But praise the Lord, we can.
SPEAKER_01: Have I sound scolded tonight?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to scold you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to define reality that we need to be mature about this.
SPEAKER_01: We're volunteers working together for God.
SPEAKER_01: We're fitly framed, we're jointly compacted, and friendship communicates what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Take your Bible, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Look at one more scripture, 2 Samuel 10.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Samuel chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01: No, I haven't heard anything.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not scolding anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a name or a face in mind.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to make sure that our atmosphere, as we prep for meeting after meeting after meeting and plan after plan, and as we uh grow a little bit, increase a little bit, do things just a pinch different, add this, do this, move that room around, new leader here, new leader there.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they're not quite informed.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we'll get them up to snuff.
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh, uh, did you hear somebody's doing that?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we hadn't heard that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that person ought to check in with us on that, and we'll see if that'll all work out.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, by the time leadership conference is over, we ought to not be grabbing at each other's throats.
SPEAKER_01: There ought to be a friendship about this.
SPEAKER_01: We ought to be able to say that was great serving together.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, didn't God really do something?
SPEAKER_01: Because God blesses unity.
SPEAKER_01: God blesses harmony.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 2 Samuel chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01: In 2 Samuel chapter 10, look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: And when David heard of it, the it was the Ammonites and the Syrians were coming up against David's army.
SPEAKER_01: When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty man.
SPEAKER_01: The children of Ammon, they're mentioned, if you would, in verse 8, and the Syrians, these are the two uh enemies that are coming up.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him, before and behind, he chose all of the choice men of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Put them in array against the Syrians.
SPEAKER_01: So he decided in the midst of the battle, he made a command decision.
SPEAKER_01: And when he saw the intensity of what was happening, he chose out, if you would, a very valiant choice men, and he put them against the Syrians, and the rest of the people he delivered in the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.
SPEAKER_01: So he so he looked at the battle condition.
SPEAKER_01: He looked at where his greatest opposition was, and he put his best in there to attack that.
SPEAKER_01: And then he put everybody else against the Ammonites.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he said in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me.
SPEAKER_01: But if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, there was flexibility involved.
SPEAKER_01: In leadership, in management, in operation, there has to be flexibility.
SPEAKER_01: There has to be, well, here's what's happening, so here's what we need to run to and do now.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we didn't foresee.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we couldn't, if you would, have control over.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna address that as it comes.
SPEAKER_01: And Joab says, I'm gonna take these choice men and put them against the Syrians.
SPEAKER_01: Evidently the Syrians were great fighters.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, now everybody else we're gonna put under the hand of Abishai, my brother, against the Ammonites.
SPEAKER_01: But we are in this together.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me, nobody cuts and runs.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody packs up their toys and goes home because it didn't go their way.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we need some character.
SPEAKER_01: You don't quit your job when things don't go just the way you want it to go.
SPEAKER_01: You stay right in there.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: There's a paycheck.
SPEAKER_01: How much more for God's service?
SPEAKER_01: When things don't go exactly the way you want, and you would have done it a different way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you, every leadership opportunity we have, it could be done in how many different ways, but what submission does, it says this is the way they've got it planned, and I'm gonna submit to myself to that.
SPEAKER_01: I might make a suggestion, but if that's overruled, then I'm gonna go with the plan and I'm gonna participate.
SPEAKER_01: What we don't want is a bunch of, and please don't say, take this wrong, we don't want children who quit.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want adults who are children that quit.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want, well, well, you know, I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that offender, we will say something or write it down, and after the conference, we'll try to get it right.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't quit in the heart of the battle.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, there has to be a camaraderie.
SPEAKER_01: There has to be a we're in this thing together.
SPEAKER_01: We're defining the friendship of the whole thing, and we're in this thing together.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we don't need Judas's quitting.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Judas quit for money.
SPEAKER_01: Judas quit because he was a thief.
SPEAKER_01: Judas quit because he was carnal.
SPEAKER_01: It would have been better for Judas, Jesus said, had he never been born.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is we don't quit for selfishness.
SPEAKER_01: We don't quit for self-centeredness.
SPEAKER_01: We get on through, and even if we disagree, we agree that we disagree and go on and finish the job.
SPEAKER_01: Is that still all right to say that?
SPEAKER_01: Man, I tell you what, uh, I I was in charge of volunteer organizations in the military, special forces all is all volunteer, and people don't come and quit.
SPEAKER_01: You get screened to even get in.
SPEAKER_01: They don't quit when it gets a little tough.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they're in there for.
SPEAKER_01: We don't we look, there's a camaraderie in those types of units that's unique, and it takes some character.
SPEAKER_01: And please don't think in my days 40 years ago, all the men were not robust and I mean, big muscles.
SPEAKER_01: There were some wiry guys in there that had character and just kept going.
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't even think they could carry their own pack, but they had a mental toughness that they just wouldn't quit.
SPEAKER_01: They would just keep on going.
SPEAKER_01: And some of those big boys would pass out on the trail, and those wiry guys just kept on going.
SPEAKER_01: The idea, brethren, is a lot of it's right up here in the mind and in the heart.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody still all right tonight?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to inspire you to say that we're doing something wrong, but brethren, volunteer church organizations that God puts together.
SPEAKER_01: We want to follow the Holy Ghost of God, and the Holy Ghost is not a quitter.
SPEAKER_01: When he commits us to something, he wants us to fulfill it.
SPEAKER_01: And he's tolerant and he's flexible and he's comforting to us.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, let's keep going.
SPEAKER_01: One more scripture I want to show you tonight, because may I say to you, friendship type of leadership causes us to want to participate.
SPEAKER_01: It causes us to want to buy in.
SPEAKER_01: It causes us to want to commit.
SPEAKER_01: It causes us to want to take ownership of.
SPEAKER_01: It causes us to want to serve beside the person next to us.
SPEAKER_01: Even though maybe our personalities clash a little bit, we're still going to work to get along.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're doing it as unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Is this okay tonight what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you say it's almost like a pep talk.
SPEAKER_01: Call it what you want, because sometimes preaching is a little peppy.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is let's get behind this thing and let's not let principalities and powers divide us over superficial things.
SPEAKER_01: If the depth and the harmony of friendship leadership is there, and we're describing what's going on to the best of our ability, and we're defining reality, and we're saying, here's what we know, and here's what we plan on, and here's what we need to be flexible.
SPEAKER_01: And if you need help over there, we'll run to you.
SPEAKER_01: And if we need help over here, you run to us, and we'll just make this whole thing work out for the Lord by God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: I want to show you one more.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Nehemiah 4.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah 4.
SPEAKER_01: That's the one, right, Curtis?
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah 4.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea in Nehemiah 4 is similar.
SPEAKER_01: And again, this takes volunteer mental maturity.
SPEAKER_01: We're all volunteers.
SPEAKER_01: We're all here.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, uh, would you agree that salvation is a want-to?
SPEAKER_01: It's not salvation is not a have-to, it's a want-to.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is a, I freely accept Christ as Savior.
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you, service is a want-to.
SPEAKER_01: Serving after we're saved.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's going to get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: They'll enter into heaven, but not everybody's going to get rewards.
SPEAKER_01: There's some that will suffer loss.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't suffer the loss of their salvation, but they will suffer the loss of their rewards.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: They were superficial and got offended down here.
SPEAKER_01: And they didn't know that the comforter could comfort them in that offense.
SPEAKER_01: The comforter, through the word of God, could keep them going.
SPEAKER_01: And they're going to be saddened a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And I know God wipes away all the pain.
SPEAKER_01: And I know God wipes away all the sorrow.
SPEAKER_01: But it does say that there are some that will suffer loss in their rewards.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean they'll suffer the loss of their salvation, and God will wipe that all away.
SPEAKER_01: But brethren, we don't want to get to heaven and find out we were created in Christ Jesus unto good works, but something offended us and we used that like we were victims and didn't serve.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Not here.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to be victims with each other.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on, we ought to be man and woman enough to say, hey, that offended me, I'm gonna go talk to them.
SPEAKER_01: Or I'm just gonna eat it and keep on going.
SPEAKER_01: Either way works.
SPEAKER_01: Go to your brother or go to your sister if you want, or just let her alone and cast your cares upon God and move on.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: But what we don't want to do is, well, they haven't told me anything.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And discord, discord, discord, doubt, doubt, doubt, and disharmony, disharmony, disharmony, because you know they should have told me they don't know who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, brethren.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we just don't know yet.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we can't read minds.
SPEAKER_01: We can't read minds.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't know somebody didn't get it.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't know we missed somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Come to us.
SPEAKER_01: Let us know.
SPEAKER_01: We'll try to fix it.
SPEAKER_01: Go see Scott.
SPEAKER_01: That's the buzzword for the next three weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Just go see Scott.
SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what about this?
SPEAKER_01: Go see Scott.
SPEAKER_01: Scott might say, go see Art.
SPEAKER_01: Scott might say, go see Brother Cheney.
SPEAKER_01: Scott might see, go see Cal.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good one, amen.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you finally got it.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Numbers or Nehemiah chapter four, and we'll finish so you can get on home tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited about what's going on because I know some of the men and women are coming, and we get to serve them, but it's for our church.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, please listen.
SPEAKER_01: Our young generations need to see the adults getting along.
SPEAKER_01: We are setting an example to them.
SPEAKER_01: And they need to see adults getting along in church, in leadership, in pressure, in growth, in finances, in additions, in doing new things, in new leadership, where they say they weren't perfect, but they kept trying.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: The adults weren't perfect, but they didn't give up.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I want our children to go, okay, everything wasn't perfect, but they didn't give up, and they didn't cut and run.
SPEAKER_01: They kept at it.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Nehemiah chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would, look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he was the king's cupbearer, but now he's a leader out there.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked and rose up and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Nehemiah said.
SPEAKER_01: Be not ye afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Be not afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I gotta tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that kind of what Joseph was saying?
SPEAKER_01: Look, there's a famine, but don't be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid of that famine.
SPEAKER_01: We're good to go.
SPEAKER_01: We've got Goshen, and I've got all the grain for you, and everything's taken care of.
SPEAKER_01: And David with Joab, they said, Look, we'll put you against the Syrians, we'll put you against the Ammonites, and don't be concerned, because if you need help, we'll be there for you.
SPEAKER_01: And Nehemiah says, What?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Be not afraid, remember the Lord, which is great and terrible.
SPEAKER_01: And fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: If you think this is kind of an inspirational pep rally, what did Nehemiah just say?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, don't be afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, hey, remember the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is for our brothers.
SPEAKER_01: This is for our sons.
SPEAKER_01: This is for our daughters.
SPEAKER_01: This is for our wives.
SPEAKER_01: This is for our households.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what we're doing tonight?
SPEAKER_01: We're saying this is our opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, let's let's take advantage of God's gift to us, time.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, time?
SPEAKER_01: We're still breathing.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: One of God's gift is time.
SPEAKER_01: One of God's gift is that we we have a life to live down here.
SPEAKER_01: You say, no, don't take time for granted.
SPEAKER_01: Don't take another year where we get an opportunity to serve for granted.
SPEAKER_01: Because time goes by quickly, and what we want is no regrets.
SPEAKER_01: No regrets.
SPEAKER_01: We used our time wisely.
SPEAKER_01: We redeemed the time.
SPEAKER_01: We gave it our all.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't slack off.
SPEAKER_01: We weren't complacent.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't coast.
SPEAKER_01: We climbed.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't stop peddling.
SPEAKER_01: We kept it down.
SPEAKER_01: We kept rolling towards what God had us to do.
SPEAKER_01: We kept moving forward.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15, and it came to pass.
SPEAKER_01: When the enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone unto his own work.
SPEAKER_01: And what we've got to do is decide that everything that we're doing is important.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what it is you're doing, what it is you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: If you're moving chairs, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If you're prepping for this, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If you're playing music, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If you're uh in the sound ministry, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If we're making improvements up here, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If we're cleaning something up, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If we're organizing something, that's important.
SPEAKER_01: If we're assigned to be hospital and shake hands, hospitable, then that's important.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, you still with me tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is we are tasked to do, that is important.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone does his own work.
SPEAKER_01: It came to pass.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16, from that time forth that the half of the sir of my servants brought in the work, and the other half held both the spears and the shields and the bows and the habigens and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah, they which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, brethren, those that were actually doing the building, and those that were bearing the burdens for the buildings.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know something.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not good at turning wrenches, but I can give wrenches, I can carry wrenches.
SPEAKER_01: I can give to somebody who knows how to turn a wrench.
SPEAKER_01: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not good at instruments, but I can help somebody that knows how to play.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not good at a lot of different things, but we can support those who are, and we can bear the burdens of that.
SPEAKER_01: The idea, brethren, is just as important as those on the wall or those bearing the burdens, with those that laid.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, they were carrying everyone with us, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and the other held hand held a weapon.
SPEAKER_01: Now please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: The idea was not to fight, the idea was to be ready to defend.
SPEAKER_01: But the only idea that they wanted to defend for was so they could keep building.
SPEAKER_01: We want to keep moving forward.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be in a fight all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be in a fight with all these situations that are going on that, well, what about this?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear about that?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, I didn't hear about it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm on the wall.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean you're on the wall?
SPEAKER_01: We got things to do here.
SPEAKER_01: Well, don't you have an opinion about that?
SPEAKER_01: I really don't.
SPEAKER_01: I got things to do that are more important.
SPEAKER_01: If you decide to dip into all that discord and disharmony and disunity and gossip and backbiting and stuff that's going on, you'll miss building the wall.
SPEAKER_01: The idea of having defense is so they don't stop us from building the wall.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, that's what God assigned.
SPEAKER_01: God did not assign them to fight, he assigned them to build the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah says, I'm doing a great work.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot come down.
SPEAKER_01: I can't come down and meet with you and play all those chess games mentally and follow all your soap operas.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Sambalot and Tobiah and Gishim, they all had soap operas going on.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and Nehemiah said, I can't come down to that.
SPEAKER_01: I got things to do that are important.
SPEAKER_01: You guys run your own soap operas, write your own script, make your own problems, be selfish if you want, but I got things to do.
SPEAKER_01: And he stayed up there and worked with his workers.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's still all right?
SPEAKER_01: This is what friendship is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Friendship is defining reality and staying with it.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to say anything, Jesus finished his course.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus finished all the way through, even though he had detractors, even though he had the Roman guards saying, Come on down, if you be the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Even though the Roman government, even though the Pharisees were against him, he kept going.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say, he left a posterity for his apostles to enter into.
SPEAKER_01: He gave them work to enter into.
SPEAKER_01: And that started with prayer.
SPEAKER_01: It started with prayer.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean that started in prayer?
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, they are all assembled in Acts chapter 1, praying and waiting.
SPEAKER_01: All the men and the women, if you read it, they were praying and they were waiting for the promise of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, did they know what the promise of the Father was?
SPEAKER_01: Not exactly.
SPEAKER_01: They were just told to wait until the Holy Ghost came.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Holy Ghost was already in them at that time because Jesus had breathed on them.
SPEAKER_01: He breathed on them and said, Receive you the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_01: But the Holy Ghost had not come in power yet.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: And they were in prayer waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Well, didn't God tell them everything was going to happen?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell them on the day of Pentecost thousands were going to get saved because they everybody heard them speak in the language that they could understand.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell them all that.
SPEAKER_01: He just said, Tarry and wait, it's coming.
SPEAKER_01: And so while that was going on, they were praying.
SPEAKER_01: And prayer is certainly a foundation for everything.
SPEAKER_01: Would you agree?
SPEAKER_01: If you read the book of Nehemiah over and over again, they prayed.
SPEAKER_01: And brother praying is asking God, help us, show us, cause us to be active, and we'll wait on thee and your power.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what it says in verse number 17.
SPEAKER_01: And they which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens, and those that laid it, everyone with his own hand, wrought in the work, and the other hand held a weapon.
SPEAKER_01: And they builded every one.
SPEAKER_01: And the uh they they kept the builders, everyone had a sword girded by his side, and so builded.
SPEAKER_01: And he that sounded the trumpet was by me, and I said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, the work is great, large.
SPEAKER_01: We are separated on the wall, one from another.
SPEAKER_01: In what place, therefore, ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither thither unto us, our God shall fight for us.
SPEAKER_01: If you hear the sound of the trumpet, come and help wherever that sound is.
SPEAKER_01: Come and support that.
SPEAKER_01: May I say, uh, brethren, that's what we've read so far in the friendship type of leadership.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Joab said, Hey, we're gonna put this to group to fight the Syrians, and if they're too strong, you come and help.
SPEAKER_01: And if the Ammonites are too strong, we'll come and help you.
SPEAKER_01: May I say Joseph was very supportive about I'm doing this for you.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God's done through us.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna support each other.
SPEAKER_01: You go down and pick up dad, pick up my father.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna take wagons, you're gonna take all these things to show him it's real.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna take a change of clothing, you're gonna take, if you would, all these great things.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna take food, and I want you to load everybody up and bring them back up here, and it'll all be ready for you when you get here.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know Pharaoh's servants were rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: Pharaoh, the Egyptians, were rejoicing that these Jewish people were coming.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they were Joseph's family.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, they were worlds apart.
SPEAKER_01: The the Joseph's family were shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: That was an abomination to the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_01: Culturally, they weren't together, but they were happy that Joseph's family was coming because that made Joseph happy.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph was the one that was having them survive by God's grace, through God's will, through God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, when there's when there's God involved, all kinds of wonderful things can happen.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph was the leader now.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't the firstborn anymore.
SPEAKER_01: God has put his hand on Joseph, and now Nehemiah is the leader, and the nobles weren't the leaders anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph, I'm sorry, Nehemiah was the leader.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just saying to you, brethren, we have to submit to God's chosen leadership.
SPEAKER_01: You do.
SPEAKER_01: You have to, hey, when you're in the military, you didn't like all your commanding officers.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me you did.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't even like all your enlisted leaders.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me you did.
SPEAKER_01: But you stayed with it.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't pack up your toys, you didn't pack up your sea bag and say, I'm leaving this ship.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I don't like him or her.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and try it.
SPEAKER_01: They have a place called the brig for you.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's plenty of room.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was one of the Marine uh lieutenants in charge of a brig sometime.
SPEAKER_01: We welcome those deserters.
SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
SPEAKER_01: Come on in.
SPEAKER_01: We'll make it so you wish you weren't here.
SPEAKER_01: You wish you were back under that leader again.
SPEAKER_01: The idea, brethren, is we may not like exactly everybody's personality who's leads, but come on.
SPEAKER_01: That's what charity's for.
SPEAKER_01: Charity suffers long.
SPEAKER_01: Charity's kind.
SPEAKER_01: And charity's patient.
SPEAKER_01: And charity doesn't vaunt itself.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't brag about itself.
SPEAKER_01: It's not easily provoked.
SPEAKER_01: Charity doesn't get puffed up.
SPEAKER_01: Heady, high-minded.
SPEAKER_01: Charity doesn't cause discord.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: And on last Thursday, we prayed for charity and we need to continue to do so.
SPEAKER_01: There are meetings upon meetings upon meetings upon meetings.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: There are opportunities and opportunities and opportunities and opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: You say, but they you gotta make me a leader.
SPEAKER_01: Good leaders are first of all good followers.
SPEAKER_01: Because good leaders are always good servants.
SPEAKER_01: It's Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And good leaders are debtors.
SPEAKER_01: They're in debt to those that follow them.
SPEAKER_01: And good leaders make friends and tell their friends what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And good leaders know how to submit because when we're filled with the spirit, we sing to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
SPEAKER_01: We give thanks.
SPEAKER_01: And the third thing we do, we submit to one another.
SPEAKER_01: That's being filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm excited about leadership conference.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: We get the opportunity to serve and we got the opportunity to see God bless.
SPEAKER_01: But leading up to it, there's always some challenges, always some things going on, always maybe a little bit of drama here and there, and a few things that we didn't uh do just quite right, or a few things we didn't see, uh, a few new innovations that we still need to communicate and develop.
SPEAKER_01: There's more things going on, and in the next three weeks, we need to be servant leaders.
SPEAKER_01: We need to be, if you would, uh leaders who understand debt and the debtor leadership, but also we need friendship leadership where we communicate a whole lot, edify one another, tell each other what we know about the vision, tell each other what we know about what's going on, let other people know that this group's doing this and this group will be taking care of that, and this is going on at this time, and the master schedule says this.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, did you notice this on the master schedule?
SPEAKER_01: Nope, I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, we probably need to fix that.
SPEAKER_01: And do it with a way that you go to somebody that can make the decisions to make it better.
SPEAKER_01: Not on Facebook complaining, not on Facebook saying they don't know what they're doing over there.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, we don't know what we're doing on this world sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: We're trying to do the best we can.
SPEAKER_01: And if God's spirit is gracious with us, shouldn't we be gracious with each other?
SPEAKER_01: Man, we're gonna give an account.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't there?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't there something in the New Testament about brotherly love?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, it's in there.
SPEAKER_01: And the opportunity we get, we don't want to implode.
SPEAKER_01: We want to get stronger, we want to get more, if you would, familiar with each other.
SPEAKER_01: And I think this concept of friendship, he said, I didn't call you servants, I call you friends because a servant doesn't know what his master's doing.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know, I've told you what I can tell you about what the father told me to tell you.
SPEAKER_01: And I've explained what I can right now.
SPEAKER_01: You may not understand everything, but you'll understand more of it later.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is I've called you friend.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619 461 5561.