04/26/18 DOCKSIDE TALK... YOU'RE BEING FOLLOWED
NOTES... (you can hear the gulls in the background. If you notice, they might be laughing at the story I use at the beginning.)
Some people cannot handle leadership responsibilities.
People need to live up to their responsibility to lead others, including their children. Even when children have good steps to follow, they may choose not to follow them. This is true of us. We can choose not to follow Jesus. But at least we should give our children and grandchildren a worthy path to follow.
We are all being followed. Sometimes it is people and sometimes it is our lifestyle, our past.
Through Paul, the Holy Spirit of God gave instructions to Timothy, and therefore to all of us, concerning the qualifications of elders, leaders, pastors in the church. There are requirements for leadership. People may choose not to follow those requirements, but they will answer to God for their rebellion. Just as we want our children to do the right thing, it is still their choice.
Among other instructions to Timothy was that he should not put his approval on someone too quickly, because the person needs to be tested and proved before they take leadership. He was also told not to believe the accusations against a leader unless the accusations are valid and verifiable. Even those who accuse must be qualified to testify. They must not be disgruntled witnesses.
(I had trouble seeing my electronic Bible in the bright sunshine)
1 Timothy 5:24-25
24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
Those who are candidates for leadership, pastoring, must be approved and must meet moral and spiritual qualifications. This passage tells us that some men live their lives openly, including their sins. Their sins go before them, announcing their failures in life; gossiping, angry, hateful, lustful, perverted, doubtful, not qualified. SOME MEN'S SINS GO BEFORE THEM. This makes it easy to decide.
(I come back later to the last part of verse 24)
In verse 25 we are also told that the good works of some men go before them. Their internal life is evidenced by their outward life. We can see some men who are loving, kind, honest, gentle, strong, just, morally upright.
Notice too, God's plan is for men to head churches (as it is plan for men to be the heads of families). That is the clear directive of God. This is not to say that there are not godly women who have ended up being pastors. Sometimes there are no godly men available and God calls on a Deborah to get the job done.
Some men are obviously qualified. But some men are not as well known, though they are also godly. Their good qualities in a quiet person or a less known person will show up when they are examined and when they are tested. Their hidden value shows up later, rather than sooner.
Also look at...
Revelation 14:13
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Here we are told that a believers will be followed by their good works.
According to the Bible, our bad works follow us and our good works follow us. What is following you?
It could be evil works, hidden (or secret) sins. The sins are not hidden to teh one who is sinning. Hidden sins, Secret sins are sins that are hidden to other people. However, a person can lie about his sins, in order to hide them from other people, and then that person can start believing his own lies. It is possible for a person to harden his heart to such an extent that he is blind to his own sinfulness. That person has been deceiving others so long that they have deceived themselves. The Bible refers to this as, "Deceiving and being deceived."
Remember, the Holy Spirit tells us about our sins. He does not fail, but people may shut God out and therefore they become deceived.
This is seen in 2 Thessalonians where we are told that those who hear the gospel and reject the gospel before the rapture will not get saved during the rapture, because God will send them strong delusion, so that they will believe a lie, because when they had the gospel they chose to disobey it and therefore they chose not to be saved.
We all choose what it is that will follow us. Jesus has told us to follow Him, to do as He does, to walk in His steps. Some folks come to the Lord late, with a long list of sins and failure in their past. When they trust Christ for salvation, they are forgiven of their past. The sins are forgiven, but the consequences of our sins are not removed at the altar of salvation. Sometimes the consequences of our sins haunt us for the rest of our lives, even though we have been forgiven.
If, after we get saved, we continue to sin from time to time, or we choose to go back into sin, then those sins will follow us and testify against us. God keeps the record of unrepented sins and He holds people accountable for their sins, thoughts, words, deeds. Sins, for which we repent, are forgiven and we will not have to face in judgment. But we will not receive all the rewards, trophies, crowns we should if we allow sin to corrupt our way, even if we do repent.
This is one of the important reasons to get save early in life and to follow Him fully, all of the time. We will not give opportunity to Satan or sin to rob us and corrupt our walk with God. Your faithful walk with God will be evident to God and others. The family of God is comprised of those who DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER. It is futile to say you are a believer if you are not doing the will of God, if you are not walking in the light, if you are not walking the strait and narrow, but rather the wide and broad way that leads to destruction. It is futile to say, "Lord, Lord, have we not..." when in fact He says, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I know you not."
Live in such a way that your life is followed by your good deeds, even when your earthly life is over.
