I don’t know much about leadership directly
As I have never really had a position of leadership
But I am an alpha male
And have great ambitions
For what I am able to do
But being a Christian
Is about being a follower
Christ is ultimately our Leader
And our primary Leader
I think one of the best analogies
Is what a young kid or animal
Thinks of their parent or person
God is our Creator
And so it is natural
To want to be like Him
To want to please Him
And to feel loyalty towards Him
He is not just our Heavenly Father
We are His creation
Being a follower today is hard
Our society encourages everyone
To do their own thing
There is a lack of community in America today
Because no one wants to follow
Not everyone should be or wants to be a leader
There is nothing wrong with this either
No one is entirely at the top level of leadership
With no one else to answer to but God
Serving God is a privilege
Not an obligation
It is amazing how small we are
And how unimportant we are
In the grand scheme of things
But that God still cares about us as individuals
Even though we are nothing in power or intellect
Compared to Him
But this does not impede our relationship with Him at all
He only feels a separation between us
When we do evil
Because He is perfect morally
And He has made the greatest sacrifice
To bridge the gap we created
When we think of the leaders of the early Church
They were disciples
Jesus did not choose people
Based on their intellect, ability, or experience
What transformed them was the Holy Spirit
What a wonderful thing that God
Wants to dwell within us
But to get close to God
We must commit and be disciplined about it
We can get closer to God over time
But we only have a spiritual connection
That grows over time
If we really want it
And we need to prove this
By our dedication and consistency
God doesn’t want nominal Christians
He wants something better for us
We think of our plans and desires for the future
As almost sacred
But frankly God has better plans for us
If we think back to our time on earth
When we are in our second (eternal) life
We would laugh at what we consider important here
What does God really want from us?
To follow Him and learn from Him
He calls us all like He did the disciples, prophets, and patriarchs
We have to take the time and have patience
But once we really show God
Means more to us than anything else
We will make our peace with God
We seem to have a non-stop stream
Of negative thoughts about God
I think it is hurtful to God
Because God has feelings too
It is good to start with honesty
But respect is important too
We often see the problem of suffering
Rehashed over and over again
Isn’t it obvious now that most problems
That we can trace to their source
Are caused by our own bad decisions and foolishness
Or that of other people
The reason why we still struggle with such issues
Is not because we do not have a rational answer
The question isn’t “Why do people suffer in general?”
But “Why do I or someone I love suffer?”
Or more specifically “When will the pain end?”
There is no answer that is emotionally satisfying
Instead of expecting God to conform to our way of thinking
Maybe we should try to understand the way God thinks
He does have the answers to everything
But we will not know everything He does
Even if we follow Christ
There are just some things that we cannot understand
Except through faith
But God obviously does care
As He has suffered greatly for us
Today we think we can explain everything
But that is just because the things we investigate
Are either trivial or an implementation of an idea
We are unwilling to consider
Taking another approach to solving problems
Because there is so little trust left in society
It is hard to trust God
Because so many we have trusted
Have failed us publicly
We have to understand God is different
Your pastor is not in the same place as God
Neither is your church
God is good but even His people are not
As I have never really had a position of leadership
But I am an alpha male
And have great ambitions
For what I am able to do
But being a Christian
Is about being a follower
Christ is ultimately our Leader
And our primary Leader
I think one of the best analogies
Is what a young kid or animal
Thinks of their parent or person
God is our Creator
And so it is natural
To want to be like Him
To want to please Him
And to feel loyalty towards Him
He is not just our Heavenly Father
We are His creation
Being a follower today is hard
Our society encourages everyone
To do their own thing
There is a lack of community in America today
Because no one wants to follow
Not everyone should be or wants to be a leader
There is nothing wrong with this either
No one is entirely at the top level of leadership
With no one else to answer to but God
Serving God is a privilege
Not an obligation
It is amazing how small we are
And how unimportant we are
In the grand scheme of things
But that God still cares about us as individuals
Even though we are nothing in power or intellect
Compared to Him
But this does not impede our relationship with Him at all
He only feels a separation between us
When we do evil
Because He is perfect morally
And He has made the greatest sacrifice
To bridge the gap we created
When we think of the leaders of the early Church
They were disciples
Jesus did not choose people
Based on their intellect, ability, or experience
What transformed them was the Holy Spirit
What a wonderful thing that God
Wants to dwell within us
But to get close to God
We must commit and be disciplined about it
We can get closer to God over time
But we only have a spiritual connection
That grows over time
If we really want it
And we need to prove this
By our dedication and consistency
God doesn’t want nominal Christians
He wants something better for us
We think of our plans and desires for the future
As almost sacred
But frankly God has better plans for us
If we think back to our time on earth
When we are in our second (eternal) life
We would laugh at what we consider important here
What does God really want from us?
To follow Him and learn from Him
He calls us all like He did the disciples, prophets, and patriarchs
We have to take the time and have patience
But once we really show God
Means more to us than anything else
We will make our peace with God
We seem to have a non-stop stream
Of negative thoughts about God
I think it is hurtful to God
Because God has feelings too
It is good to start with honesty
But respect is important too
We often see the problem of suffering
Rehashed over and over again
Isn’t it obvious now that most problems
That we can trace to their source
Are caused by our own bad decisions and foolishness
Or that of other people
The reason why we still struggle with such issues
Is not because we do not have a rational answer
The question isn’t “Why do people suffer in general?”
But “Why do I or someone I love suffer?”
Or more specifically “When will the pain end?”
There is no answer that is emotionally satisfying
Instead of expecting God to conform to our way of thinking
Maybe we should try to understand the way God thinks
He does have the answers to everything
But we will not know everything He does
Even if we follow Christ
There are just some things that we cannot understand
Except through faith
But God obviously does care
As He has suffered greatly for us
Today we think we can explain everything
But that is just because the things we investigate
Are either trivial or an implementation of an idea
We are unwilling to consider
Taking another approach to solving problems
Because there is so little trust left in society
It is hard to trust God
Because so many we have trusted
Have failed us publicly
We have to understand God is different
Your pastor is not in the same place as God
Neither is your church
God is good but even His people are not