Follow Your Leaders

Paul is saying one thing:  follow your leaders. He is not asking them to be Paul worshippers or Paul disciples. He is encouraging them to follow the Lord Jesus as he follows him.  Everyone is an example and it’s either good or bad. The wicked are setting an example that many follow. The evil in the world are saying wrong is right and right is wrong and many blindly follow. Paul says follow Jesus Christ as he follows him thereby being an example of a spiritual leader.

I Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

Paul was careful to give glory to God. The church at Corinth was under pressure of the wickedness of the day. It was a hard place to have a church. Anywhere you live is a hard place to have a church. The devil is in every neighborhood. We’ve been saved, many of you right here. We can’t get caught up in the numbers. It can get discouraging. People who can come to church but don’t will have to answer for that.

We’ve had a great example of following the Lord in brother Ev and Sister Margaret. God put us together with them in a furniture store right after we became pastor here. They have taught Sunday school. He was ordained a deacon. They have been a good example for us. We’ll never have any better friends than them. Look at the times I was unable to preach. I didn’t have to worry because of the deacons’ willingness to step in.  It’s an example of love for the Lord and faith in God. When it looked dark, they kept trusting God. We’ve been through some tough times over the years but they helped us get through. They still serve God today despite health problems. This tells me we can go on. These two will still be an inspiration even though they are moving away.

As long as we have health and breath to come to church, we should. We’ll all give account. We have to go on. The sick would love to be here. Shame on any of us when we just lay out. Ev and Margaret are in good standing with us and the Lord. They have been our servants and I challenge all of us to follow their example. We can make our example count for someone else. We can be followers of their good example as they followed the Lord. Hopefully our example will lead someone else to follow the Lord. That should be our prayer.