Princes, Take The Lead

I'm just happy that we're together. I'm really happy that we're together, and what a great, how are y'all feeling about MOCA so far? I mean, yeah, isn't this great? Isn't this a great place to meet, to start meeting? And I think God's going to do some amazing things here.

I really believe that the Lord's going to bless this, and God's going to do an amazing thing. But it is Father's Day, and I do want to take an opportunity to share with fathers, and I got a little bit, without beating around the bush, I'll wait till the end to kind of give you some announcements, and we're going to roll right through this. But I believe that God, I've heard this message, probably about five or six years ago, I heard this very message, and it really touched my heart, and I wanted to share it with fathers today. And it's in the book of Judges, and I just want to, it's a word for the men, but it's also a word for all of us today. I think that we can all gain something from this, and this is going to be a bit hard-hitting, okay?

This is a tough message for men, because it's something that men need to hear. I think there's something going on with men today where we've replaced our leadership with something else, and we see this in the very word of Scripture. And we're looking at Judges, and if you know anything about Judges and how it's laid out, it's between the time of Joshua and the time of King Saul. So God placed judges over the people, and you know it was never God's intention in the first place to have a king over his people. He always wanted to be the God.

He wanted to be king over his people. He wanted a theocracy, but the people wanted a king, and then they chose Saul, and then David, and then the lineage of Jesus, and he always takes things and works them out for his good, amen? But they placed these judges during this period of time, and one of these judges' name was Deborah. And if you're following along with me, and let me just make a quick thing. If you want to follow along, since we're not doing connection cards right now, we're not doing notes or anything like that, you can go to the YouVersion Bible app to events and look up Salt Church, and I have all the verses there and all the points there.

Also, let me just say this, if you have the Church Center app, you can download it from our website. If you can download that, that's a great way to give electronically to keep up with events electronically, keep up with your small groups electronically. You can do all of that from online. So we're doing that. We're doing a lot of things digital lately here in this time when we can't have a lot of paper and stuff like that.

So make sure you download those things. And also, if you're new with us today, if you're visiting today, it's kind of a scattered crowd today. I didn't expect a big crowd, but if you're new with us, you can go to saltchurch.org, and then you scroll down to the bottom, and it says connect with us down at the very bottom in the blue letters, and you can fill out a digital connection card to connect with us. Let us know that you're with us today.

You can also connect on our Church Center app if you're a regular with us, but you can do all of that from the convenience of a phone. So thank goodness for technology we can get through this, right? Amen? But if you turn with me to Judges 4, starting with verse 1, it says, Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Over and over and over, they kept doing evil.

God would rescue them, they would do evil. God would rescue them, they would do evil. And now that Ehud was dead, so the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. So what does it mean that God sold them? It wasn't that God just decided to sell them.

They actually sold themselves. God didn't leave them, they left God. So God gave them into the hands of their enemy. And there was this commander Sisera, the commander of the armies, who was based in Hereseth, Hagoyim. I got that right, Hagoyim.

I had to practice that one. Because he had 900 chariots fitted for iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for 20 years. They cried to the Lord for help. Isn't that great that we have a father? It's Father's Day, and no matter what your father was like in this life, we have a father that over and over again will save us and rescue us if we call out to him, amen?

He does that for us. So the people were calling out to him, a good father that they called out and he took them back. And then it says, Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lebedoth, was leading Israel at the time. And she held court under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.

Now, there might be a lot of different thoughts about women in ministry. But let me just say this. Our church, I'm not going to go into a discussion about women and leadership today because that's not where I want to go with it. But right there, just let the churches speak for themselves. We affirm women in ministry and their ministry calling and them walking along men in ministry.

And God's got an anointing on your life, women. And we're so excited that you are stepping up to the occasion in ministry. So she went to Barak, son of Abinoam. I know there's a lot of names here, so just follow along with me. Abinoam from Kedish in Nethalai and said to him, The Lord, the son of Israel, commands you, go take with you 10,000 men from Nethalai and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.

And I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, this is the enemy, Sisera, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands. So she's basically saying, Listen, Barak, I'm giving you this. The Lord has spoken to me. You're going to go, you're going to win, and you are going to get the honor. God's going to give you the honor, man of God.

He's going to give you the honor, and he's saying you're going to win this. So take them up and take charge of this. Go into battle, and God's going to give you this. But here's Barak's response. He says, If you go with me, I will go.

But if you don't go with me, I won't go. I want you to put some emphasis behind that. I don't really want to go, but if you'll go with me. So he started pulling back. And it says, This is what Deborah says here.

Certainly I will go with you, but because of the course you are taking, listen to this, the honor will not be yours. For the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. That's right. So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh. So women, let me just start by saying this.

You are fully welcome to ministry and leadership. Amen. Because God affirms it here. However, not the expense of men usurping their responsibility as leaders. Okay?

It's not that men are to forfeit women's ministry, but they're to walk alongside women in ministry. And man, listen, you are destined to be leaders. You are destined to be honored. And you are destined to be celebrated. And you are meant to have purpose.

And there's so many men today who are walking without purpose. They have no purpose because they've forfeited or abdicated their responsibility for their ministry calling, their calling as men. And therefore, women have had to step in and thank God for women. You know, thank God they've come in and they've done what they've done. But men, God has something.

God has something. God has something special for you. God has something authoritative for you. God has something. He wants to make world changers.

And He wants you to step up. And that's what we're going to talk about today. So, the title of this message is Princes Lead. Princes Take The Lead. There's a song in chapter 5, if you go on the chapter 5 of Judges, in those days when a victory was won, they often sang a song.

I sang a song. You could see it back in Exodus. I will sing unto the Lord, for He will triumph glory. He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider cast into the sea when they crossed the Red Sea.

Right? Well, they began to sing a song here. It says, When the princes of Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves, praise the Lord. Right? Amen.

If the men take the lead, when the princes take the lead, praise the Lord. When the men of salt take the lead, when the men of salt step up, praise the Lord. When the young men stop playing video games till 3 o'clock in the morning and wake up and start getting on their knees before the Lord. At 6 o'clock in the morning, ask Him for His presence. Praise the Lord.

When the men step up and say, I honor you with my life, God. Praise the Lord. And it's important because there's a real problem. And it's not necessarily at salt. I praise God for our men.

Man, don't think I'm beating up on you here. We've got some great men. In fact, I've been... It's been a privilege of mine since we started Salt Church to actually be able to connect with men really well. A lot of churches start off with women, really, honestly, because the men are somewhere else.

But in our church, we've had men step up and help us carry this podium. But in general, more women are involved in church, more women are involved in ministry than the men. It's just... Statistically, it's what's happening. Women are stepping into ministry in place of men.

In Judges 15, 17, it even talks about this. I love this. And this really just connected with me. In the district of Reuben, there was much searching of heart. So, the Reubenites, if you want to call them that, were searching their hearts.

And it says, why did you stay among the sheep pens to hear the whistling of the flock? So, they were calling out to battle these different groups from the far parts of Israel to come out and fight for the Lord. But Reuben said, let me think about it. Let me pray about it. Let me sit on it for a while.

I'll get back with you on that. There's a lot of men... That's a response. Let me get back to you. Let me pray about it.

Let me think about it. Let me... I might, but you know, I'm not quite ready. And then it says, in the district of Reuben, there was much searching of heart. And Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.

So, Gilead didn't show up for the battle either. In fact, it said, during that time of year, the Jordan River would swell and it was really hard to cross. So, they decided, it's too hard. Man, church and ministry and this God thing, it's pretty tough. And God's calling us to something, but you know, it's just too hard.

So, let me think about it. And then others are like, it's too hard. And then Dan, it says, why did he linger by the ship? See, the Danites were shipbuilders and sailors. And they were busy with their jobs and their work.

Well, we got to work and we've got to focus on those things. We're too busy with our work to get involved. And then Asher remained by the coastline and stayed at the coves, right? Because they were comfortable. That's a good one for Virginia Beach right there, right?

They were at the beach. We just don't have time because we're comfortable. And we're chilling. And God's calling them to the battle. So, Asher remained at the coastline.

So, they were comfortable. And throughout history, this has in large been an issue. Both Christians and secular publications alike talk about two categories that men tend to fall under. One of them is subservience and the other one is superiority. Subservience being irresponsibility or expressed in irresponsibility, independence and entitlement.

Or superiority, toughness, you know. Or external success and status, I've got to make something of myself in this life. And people look at me that way. Or intimidation, like if it's not my way, it's the highway, right? And men tend to fall in one of these two areas.

And it pulls them away from their true calling and true purpose as men of God. But Judges 5.18 says this, and this is the good news. The people of Zebulun risked their very lives as did Naphtali. Naphtali and the terraced fields.

They risked their lives. There were men that came out to risk their lives. And it says, and when I was a child, 1 Corinthians 13.11 says it like this. When I was a child, I talked as a child.

I thought as a child. I reasoned as a child. And when I became a man, I put away my childish thoughts. So today, I'm calling men. I'm calling people to come out.

I'm calling men to step forward. That they, like the Zebulunites, if you want to call them that. And Naphtali and all. They came out and they put their best foot forward as men of God. They came out to fight, to battle.

And God is calling us to risk our lives. I risk our lives. So I want to, there was a popular ministry in the 1990s. And quickly, because I know this is more of a condensed service. I got a lot of stuff to cover here.

But there was a man named Bill McCartney, who was a national championship winning football coach for the University of Colorado. And he got saved in 1990. Gave his life to God and started a ministry called Promise Keepers. In the 1990s, it was a huge, huge ministry calling men to come out. Calling men to step up.

In his gatherings, in that movement, which isn't as much as it was then. It was a great movement in the 90s. But hundreds of thousands of people would come together. Hundreds and thousands of men would come to one event to declare themselves men of God. And become more, better men.

Even in one time, one time in D.C. on the mall. Over a million men showed up that day to declare themselves men of God. People who would step up to the fight and be better men for our nation and for the world and for Jesus Christ.

And they gave seven points. There were seven points that, seven commitments that were made with Promise Keepers. Seven promises. And I want to hit those real quick for you, man. And I want you to get these in your heart.

Get these in your spirit. Take them with you. Think about them. Let them get in your bones, guys. Okay?

Because it's time for us to be men. It's time for us to make these commitments. The first commitment is to pursue vital relationships to hold you accountable to your promises. To have accountability. To have people in your life that help you and show you what to do and how to live.

And people that you can ask hard questions with and that can encourage you and build you up. But, see, men are so tough. We don't like that. We don't like to talk about it. I had a guy the other day that said he was at a prayer meeting.

And he was with a group of people and the Holy Spirit was there and just started pouring in his heart. And he started breaking down and all the hurt and all the things started coming out of his life. And he was just breaking down, crying there on the floor. And he says, you know, I've never done that before in front of other men. And God was just doing that.

It was just wild. And it was so relieving and freeing. But that's what the problem is with us men. We're such men that we don't like to cry. And we don't like to talk to other men about the issues that we're going through.

And we need to make commitments. And we need to make relationships and find the right people. So that when we're going through things, we can talk those things out. Number two, commit to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity, okay? We need to be pure people.

Assess ourselves, our integrity, our lives, and if you're honest with yourself, and if I'm honest with myself, when I assess myself, I see things that I need to fix. I see things that I need to work on, and I have people in my life that call me out on those things. I have mentors in my life that tell me, Leon, you're not doing that right. You need to do that better. You need to be a better husband.

You need to be another father. You need to be better. Your attitude stinks. Sometimes my attitude just stinks, and I have people that say, your attitude is awful, you know? You need to correct that.

You're right. My attitude's awful. You can't be somebody behind the curtain. You've got to be the same man, practice the same integrity over here as you do when you're in the home, okay? You can't be here at church and act one way, and then go home and act another way.

You need to practice solid integrity and purity in every area of your life. We need to be men of God. Thirdly, I want to hit on this a little stronger. Commit to building strong marriages and families through love, protection, and biblical views. You need to manage, I heard it said like this, manage the exposure of your kids to the things of God.

God. See, culture says this, well-rounded, educated, happy kids is what you're aiming for, right? We want them educated, we want them well-rounded, and we want them happy, and that sounds great, right? But what God wants is something even greater and even better. He wants Christ-centered, biblically anchored world changers.

And that's your goal for your children is to be world changers. Manage exposure with your kids. I love this. I got this from a teaching, and I had to share it. It's not my own.

It's someone else's. But it says, managing exposure this way. What we expose them to is what they become, right? We believe that. What someone is exposed to is what they become.

But here's three ways you can expose your children, you and your wife can expose your children to the right relation, in the right way. Expose them to the joy of knowing God personally. And knowing God personally. Meaning, people don't reject Jesus, they reject hypocrisy. And if you're not loving Jesus in your home in front of your kids, you're a hypocrite.

And you need to live out what you believe in front of your kids, and your kids will follow suit. Integrity. And don't just have rules. Rules without relationship is rebellion, right? That's what leads kids to rebellion.

Expose them to the joy of knowing God personally. Secondly, expose them to the presence and power of God in his church. Expose them to the presence and power of God in his church. And the crowd gets really quiet on that one because we allow our kids to decide whether they should go to church or not and whether they should be in the spiritual environment or not a lot of times when they're not ready to make those decisions. And one day they will.

One day they'll be adults. But while they're under your influence, while they're under your household, going to church isn't an option. It never was for me, guys. And I didn't like church too much when I was a kid. And look at me now.

I'm doing church. I'm leading a church. And it was there. Anytime I was living under the roof at home, it was a no-brainer. You wake up, you better be home.

I'll party in the night before whatever I was doing with my friends. I was back in church the next morning, sitting in that pew even when I wasn't living for the Lord because I knew what I was supposed to be. I knew that was something that was put in me and I had to do that. See, kids should never have to ask, are we going to church this week, Daddy? Are we going to church this week, Mommy?

It should never be. It's like saying, are we going to eat this weekend? I mean, it really is, right? See, my kids will actually love church. In fact, I didn't know this, but Miranda had actually planned for the kids not to be here because we're both in ministry and it's hard for us to keep up with the kids while church is going on.

So they're actually being taken care of right now while we're doing this. But I told Savannah yesterday, I said, because I didn't know, I was like, oh, we're going to church. We're going to church. She was like, oh, we are. Yay.

I'm so excited. Yeah, they just love church. And I'm telling you, it's great to have your kids in an environment with other kids that love church and you can love church together. And you know what? When your kids aren't here, my kids miss your kids.

Did you know that? They really do. And I'm sure your kids would miss my kids not being here today. But we need our kids in church. They don't have an option for that.

Thirdly, expose them to the thrill of being used by God. Being used by God. Teach them that they don't go to church, but they are the church. That church doesn't exist for us, but it exists to serve the world. That's why we do it.

We do it together. That's why we come together. That's why we work together. That's why we honor God together. So expose them to the joy of knowing God personally.

Expose them to the presence and power of God. Expose them to the thrill of being used by God. And then the fourth promise is this. Commit to supporting the mission of the church by honoring and praying for his pastor. Right?

This is not my words. This is their words. Actively giving his time and resources. And I can tell you this. I need the prayer.

I need it. There's times it's very stressful and the resources are thin. And it's, I'm telling you, men of salt, when y'all come and say, I'm in, pastor, what do you need? Man, I'm telling you, we can make, it makes a difference to step up and say, you can count on me. You know, doing events and being at events and being in ministry functions and having, you know, just supporting the cause of what we're doing as a church.

It's important. Pray for your pastor, support your pastor, and actively give your time and resources to the work of the church. And then five, commit to reaching beyond any racial denominational barriers to demonstrate, excuse me, stutter there, demonstrate the power of biblical unity. Okay, this is a big one for the day, right? That my heart and my prayer is that this church should not be a church of one color.

To be a church of many colors, of many tribes, as many tongues, and that reflect heaven, as I talked about last week. Reflecting heaven today in the world. And we will be unified on the gospel. We will not be on anything else. We will not build our foundation on anything else but the gospel of Jesus and what he's about.

A Jewish carpenter for Nazareth that no one thought of would be the Messiah of the world. Would be the Christ, the son of the living God. We will live that way and we will demonstrate that as a church. And men, we need to be that. Sixth is, is commit to influencing his world, being obedient to the great commission and the great commandments.

Reach people for Christ. Your sphere of influence is, I can't reach. You've got a sphere of influence. I mean, ask yourself, when was the last time I shared the gospel with somebody? When was the last time I led someone to Christ?

Maybe it's time to get out there and start talking about that again or reaching people again and stop getting caught up in our work and our things and our own lives and think, think about what God has for you to reach the world. We have a great commandment. Love one another and we have the great commission to reach the world with the gospel. We need to share Jesus with other people, leading people to the Lord. And then seven, and lastly, commit to honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, obedience to God's word, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spirit. Amen. In other words, be the leader God has called you to be. In fact, this is the first commitment of promise keepers that I left to last. You need to be, look, all hell is coming down on the church and on the world.

And we need men that will step up and say, I'm going to lead. I'm going to be obedient. I'm going to follow Christ. I'm going to listen to His voice. I'm going to get up early in the morning.

I'm going to pray. I'm going to seek God for my church. I'm going to seek God for my family. I'm going to seek God for my community. I'm going to seek God for the ministry that He has given to me.

And we are going to change the world. I'm going to commit to being a mentor to people. I'm going to commit to connecting with young men. I'm going to connect with people above me to help me grow in what God wants me to be. And I'm not going to abdicate my leadership and my role that God has called me to be and do.

When the princes of salt take the lead. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. In closing, I want to ask, as we have a little, if we can have a little background music or something like that.

Because this is a powerful moment of the service as I close out you out there online or right here in this service. Maybe some of you have realized that, yeah, you're right, Pastor. I need to take some steps. That I need to be a better man of God. Some of you, even women, are like, I need to be a better woman of God.

Yeah. It's true. I could stand to be a better man of God. Always growing. See, that's why salt always makes a difference.

And a little bit of salt goes a long way. Because God has called us to something powerful, something greater than anything we could ever imagine. And you need to seek Him with all of your heart. And He will change and transform you, make you the man that you were originally made to be. From the very beginning, Adam forfeited his leadership.

But Jesus Christ restored it. The second Adam made things all right. He brought people back to righteousness. And today I want to offer you that opportunity. If you're here with us, you're listening out there, or you're listening right here.

To commit to God today or make a recommitment to God today. Commit and recommit. Because you're welcomed and you're wanted. So today I'm going to offer this opportunity. And it's not, the Bible says in Romans 3.

23, All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. That's why Jesus came to this world. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And it's not by how much you do. So many people are like, well I want to get my life right, pastor.

So I'm going to start going to church. That's not how it works. Of course, I'm glad you want to go to church and get your life right. But really it's all about committing to Jesus or recommitting to Jesus Christ. It's by faith.

It's by faith. The grace of God is placed on our life by simply having faith in the Son of Jesus. The Son, Jesus Christ. So if you would pray this with me. All of us can pray here.

All of us here present today. And all of you out there, if you want to know Jesus personally, you can know Him today. Just place your faith in Him. Lord, I admit that I'm a sinner. I'm far from You.

I confess my sin to You. I believe that You are the Son of God. And that You died on the cross for my sin. That You gave the ultimate price. Today I receive You as Lord and Savior over my life.

Today I commit myself. Today I recommit myself, Lord, as a godly man, as a godly woman. And that You come and make me right. I know I can't do it on my own. It's all about placing my trust and faith in You.

I give my life to You. Today I walk with You from this day forward. You died and You rose again. And You did all of that so that I could know You. Relationship is all I desire from You, Lord.

Transform me from the inside out. In Your name. Amen. Amen.