Thank you, ladies. Grab your bibles, go to Ephesians chapter 6. Kurt, are you close where you can hear me? Kurt is. Kurt is Peugeot. Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to read two, three verses there, and then we'll flip over to Hebrews and read a couple verses in Hebrews as well. Ephesians chapter 6. Notice, we're starting in verse... 5. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Now, you ought to pay special attention to the last three words, as unto Christ. Not with eye service, and by the way, that's what a lot of people do at work. If you've ever worked a public job, a lot of times you hear these words. Hey, get to work. Boss is coming. Well, the boss is looking at you. You better get busy. What that meant was they wasn't working, but they only work when the boss is looking. A lot of people, that's what the Bible means here when it says, not with eye service, as men pleases, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God. Again, last three words, from the heart. with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men." Now, he's just telling us we're working for men, but notice what verse 7 said. You're doing it as to the Lord and not to men. So, no matter what job you have—now again, you shouldn't do a sinful job. Someone mentioned, I don't remember where he was at, I heard it preached, but someone mentioned that as soon as a guy got saved, the next day he gave up his job, and that was because he drove a beer truck. So he went in the next day and turned in his resignation. We had that happen here years ago. Someone got saved, and they were a beer truck driver. So they came to us and said, I gotta take care of my family, but I don't think it's right for us to drive the beer truck. And we said, you are correct. I know my security guard was not here a while ago when I came in. Can you see if he's out there now? If not, grab one of the guys and see if someone can take care of that. Thank you. And so I remember he asked us, we said, can't, I mean, the Bible puts a curse on those who help people get alcohol. And so we told the guy and he gave up the job and he got a better truck driving job. He was a truck driver, got a better truck driving job. By the way, anytime you make a sacrifice for God, God will always bless you for that. He will never be in your debt. You and I will always be in God's debt. But the fact is that unless you have a sinful job, unless you have a job just like that, It doesn't matter whether you have a good boss or a bad boss. Some bosses are harder to work for than others. And again, if you have a boss that's hard to work for, it doesn't matter. We still are supposed to have this attitude toward them because we have to look past who they are and we have to realize, you know what, I'm not doing it for him. I'm not doing it for her. I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it because this is what God told me to do. I'm doing this because it makes God happy. And that's why it said, Hebrews in your Bible, Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 makes this statement in verse 7. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7. Verse 17. Says obey them to have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls almost identical to what the verse 7 said as they must give an account. Now that's the reason you're supposed to do it and the reason they are who they are is because they're going to give an account. But they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. So who do they give account to? They give account to God. And again, if they give a bad account to God, they go to God and talk about how you're not being a good worker, not being a good servant, not being a good employee. That means you're going to have to answer to God. Now tonight, I told someone today, I can preach this because I'm not Brother Nichols. I am in a leadership position at church, but I'm not talking about me tonight. I'm talking about how to be a good follower. I told people years ago when I came to Liberty Baptist Church, I did not ever take the associate pastor job as a stepping stone. Most people that are associate pastors are associate pastors with the intent to be a pastor. Now years ago, I didn't want to be a pastor because it scared the crap out of me. I had no desire to be a pastor. As I got a little older, it doesn't scare me near as much. But the truth is, I had no desire to be a—I mean, God would have had to—I told people, He would have had to write it across the sky with one of those big banners that said, you're supposed to be a pastor. And then I looked at it, and I thought, well, He can't be talking to me, and He'd have to say, yeah, you, Brother Bob. I mean, I'd have had to know that God—I mean, He'd have had to be that explicit, because I had no desire. to be a pastor. As the years went by, I mean, like I said, it doesn't bother me as much, and I've had some offers and turned them down. But the fact is, I became associate pastor because I felt like, I mean, that was what God wanted me to do. And when I came to Liberty Baptist Church, I do work for you, but the truth is, I work for Brother Nichols. I have a completely different relationship with Brother Nichols than you do because I'm an employee. You guys are church members. The truth is, in some ways, he actually will care more what you think than he will care what I think. Now, he does—I mean, Brother Nicholas is a good guy, and there's times he'll even ask me something, but—and if I said something to him, he would listen, but the fact is, I don't have—I don't have the right to say stuff—he will listen because he's a good man, but I don't have the right to say anything sometimes because I'm just—I work for him. He's my boss. But that's not true of you. You are his church members. I mean, you are the sheep. He is your shepherd. And the fact is, he would care more about your opinion than he might about mine in some areas. Because, again, me, I'm, I mean, and by the way, I tell people this all the time. My job is to make his job easier. That's what my job is. When I came to Liberty Baptist Church, Brother Nicholas hired me as youth director and principal of Liberty Christian Academy. He put me over the grounds. Later on, some of you remember, when Brother Henderson left, I then became the Sunday School superintendent. And there's been a few other jobs that he's tacked on. You say, what all do you do? Whatever Brother Nicholas tells me to. That's my job. And by the way, if he tells me to quit that and go do this, that's what I'll do. By the way, there's some jobs if he took away from me, I would miss them. There's other jobs if he took away from me, I'd go, thank you, Jesus. But the truth is, I do what I do because he tells me to. And when I came to Liberty Baptist Church, that was what my job was. My job as associate pastor is to, I mean, be a helper for the preacher. Now, you also have responsibility. God, we just read the verses that told you what your responsibility is, whether it's a public job or whether it's following your pastor. But again, we have a responsibility to follow the one that's over us. By the way, Brother Nichols is our pastor. There can only be one head. There's only one head of Liberty Baptist Church. It's not you. It's not me. It's Duane Nichols. Until God removes him from that position, he is the pastor. Now, not every—again, I have it easy because my parents raised me up and taught me, I mean, pointed me in the right direction when it came to this. My dad told me a long time ago, you don't ever raise—because, again, he got this from the Bible, by the way. It's a biblical principle, not just my dad's principle. But he said, you never raise your hand or your voice against God's anointed. He said, that's a good way to get in a lot of trouble with God. And so someone asked me one time, but Block, what would you do if, I mean, if you didn't agree with Brother Nicholas? I would do one of two things. If I thought it was a big enough deal, I'd go talk to him about it. If at the end, by the way, and he still did it his way, if it was a bigger deal, I'd go someplace else quietly. Say, well, you mean you wouldn't try this if there's anyone else that believes like you do? No, by the way, I would not want to face God if I did that. Because God's the one that put Brother Nicholas as the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church. Brother Block's not the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church. By the way, you aren't either. But again, understand, your job as a church member is a little bit different than mine, because he is actually my boss. But you're his, I mean, you're the sheep. And you know what a smart sheep does? Listen to the shepherd, because the shepherd's a lot smarter than the sheep. That's why you have a shepherd, because you need one. That's why kids have parents, because they need them. By the way, those of us who are parents realize sometimes the kids don't think they need parents, which means actually that's probably the one that needs them the most, the one that doesn't think they need a parent. But again, to be a good follower. Now, it's much easier if you follow by choice. It is. It's much easier if you follow because you want to follow. If you're made to do anything, that's why I tell kids all the time, get your own standards. And if you really want to do this the right way, get your standard higher than the one that, I mean, for instance, if Brother Nicholas says that I have to cut my hair here, you know what? I'm going to cut my hair a little higher because that way he's not making me do nothing. I'm doing it because that's where I cut my hair. If the school rule says you have to have your dress down here, have it a little bit deeper. You know what that means? They're not making me wear my dress down there. I wear my dress down here because I chose to do that. So I always tell young people, get your own standard. I mean, and by the way, that way no one should have to make you do right. You should do right because you want to do right because it pleases not only your pastor and your parents, but it pleases your Lord. By the way, pleasing your pastor pleases the Lord. I tell young people all the time, you cannot be a good student, you cannot be a good, I mean, you can't be a good Christian unless you're a good student. You can't be a good Christian unless you're obedient to your parents. If you don't have the proper relationship with your parents, you don't have the proper relationship with God. If you don't have the proper relationship with your pastor, you don't have the proper relationship with God. You say, well, he's not perfect and they're not perfect. No, they're not. I don't know how many times I've had kids, I've had to tell children this through the years. Years ago, one of the young people came in, and by the way, they were right in this instance. I didn't tell them they were right, but their parents were wrong in the thing that their parents were doing. It was kind of dumb. I thought it was kind of dumb. Did I tell them that? Of course not. Here's what I told them. You don't have a choice in this thing. And I said, who are you? Are you the parent or are you the kid? Well, I'm the kid. And I said, kids don't get an opinion. They said, well, my mom and dad don't listen to me. I said, they don't have to. Well, it would save them a lot of trouble. And by the way, it might. Some of the husbands would be a lot smarter if they listened to the wives once in a while. Some of us, the parents, it wouldn't hurt us. I mean, sometimes our kids have some good ideas. But by the way, I told them, your parents don't have to, because they said, they never listen to me. I said, your parents don't have to listen to you. They're your parents. Now kids, for some reason nowadays, think they get an opinion. You might not be like me, but if I'm standing around three or four men and some eight-year-old or ten-year-old kid comes up here and wants to give his opinion and act like he's one of us, you know what I want to do? While you're not looking, I want to go like that and just knock him. Because if he wants to come up and shut up and listen, I don't have a problem with that. He might learn something, but if he wants to come up and act like he's one of us, Lord help him. I mean, when you're not looking, I'm going to beat him up because he's a doofus. And he deserves it, so don't defend him. But the truth is, When it comes to being a good follower, there's lots of examples in the Bible. Probably the best followers that we could find in the Bible was a man by the name of Joshua. Maybe a young man by the name of David. Maybe a young man by the name of Timothy. Maybe the fellow named Elisha, who was one of the greatest prophets that ever lived. The truth is, all of those guys were followers who later became a good leader. And that's one of the points we'll look at. But tonight I want to give you some things, some attributes of a godly follower. Some attributes of a godly follower. Now, you say, Bill Block, are these any good? Sure they are. They came from Brother Howes. And you say, are you serious? Yes, Brother Howells gave, I taught this in Sunday school several times through the years. He has attributes of how to be a good son, attributes how to be a good kid, a daughter, a mother, a father, a servant, a master. I mean, and so I, it's one of those things that when I looked at this, I thought, you know what? No one, Brother Nicholas can't get up and tell you, you guys ought to follow me and do what you're told. And by the way, the Liberty Baptist Church, honestly, we have, Brother Nicholas will tell you this all the time, we have some great church members at Liberty Baptist Church. The church I work for in California, Again, with that way I've been taught and raised, I mean, one time one of the deacons came down and the pastor announced something. He came down to me and he said, I don't agree with him. And I said, what? He said, are you going to do that? I said, yeah, the preacher announced it. And the preacher said, we're going to do it. We're going to do it. He said, well, he ain't God. And I said, no, he's not God. But he is God's man. And that's pretty close to God. I mean, he's as close as we're going to get to God. He's God's man. And I said, we got to obey him. He said, well, he's not my boss. And I said, well, if he's your pastor, yes, he is supposed to be your boss. You're supposed to follow him. Now, my daddy would have said, get away from him because you don't want to get struck by the lightning when the lightning comes down. You don't want to be like the folks of Korah when the earth opened up and swallowed them up. When I find anyone who raises up their voice with their hand against God's anointed, I stay away from them. First, I don't want them rubbing off on me. Second, when God punishes them, I don't want to be close by. But again, we want to be good followers, whether it's your boss, I'm mainly talking as far as church and God, men and women of God, but it also applies to your boss at work and others, but the attributes of a good follower, what a good follower, some of the characteristics that a good follower will have. Before we look at these things, and I'm just going to read through some of them quickly, give you a verse on a couple of them, let's pray and ask God to help us in that. Lord, we ask you to help us as we look at these thoughts. Lord, I pray that you'd just help us if we look at some things that a good follower, Lord, all of us are followers of somebody. Lord, if we have no one, if we're even our own boss in this world, we still, as Christians, have you to follow, and you are our master. And, Lord, we want to give ourselves to you. We want to bring glory and honor to your name. We want to do what the Bible tells us, and whether we eat, drink, or sleep, whatever we do, we do to the glory of God. I pray, Lord, you'd help us to realize that that may even carry over to our job in the public. It always will follow over to our position here at Liberty Baptist Church, and whatever ministry or action you put us into here at Liberty Baptist Church, help us, Lord, to follow our leaders and be a good follower and teach us what that might be and what it might entail. In Jesus' name, amen. The first thing a good follower, the first attribute of a good follower is, a follower of character is more concerned with being a good follower than if his leader is being a good leader. It is not my job to determine how good a leader Brother Nichols is. None of my business. By the way, Brother Nichols is a good leader. And for those of you who don't know him personally, he's actually one of the kindest bosses that I've worked with several bosses through the years. Now, Brother Nichols sometimes come across as brash from the pulpit. If you know Brother Nichols, and many of you know him privately, he has one of the biggest hearts, I mean, of anyone I know. He's kind of like someone else I know. I don't know, Brother, is Albert Perry in here tonight? When I first got here, Albert Perry, I didn't know Albert Perry like I know Albert Perry today. And back then, he looked a little bit different, not much different. But when I first met him, and he has a sense of humor that you get to know him, you don't know if he's being funny or if he's being sarcastic. By the way, sometimes he's being sarcastically funny. So, I mean, sometimes he's being both at the same time. But I didn't know him at the time. So, I mean, first, I mean, when we came here and he did something, back then he used to ride a motorcycle. And I mean, and he was, you know, pretty rough guy. He's still, you know, a pretty rough guy, but he just don't ride a motorcycle today. But when I first met him, he would say stuff and I was kind of afraid of him because I thought, I don't know if he's going to beat me up or if he's going to give me a hug. I didn't know what he was going to do. Now, I mean, he might give me a hug, but back then I thought he was going to beat me up. So, I didn't know when he was talking whether he was joking or not. It took me a while to get to know him. But the truth is, you and I are supposed to not worry about the boss. We're supposed to worry about ourselves. Brother Nicholas gives great advice about that. Here's what he always says, draw a circle around yourself and do what? Take care of the guy in that circle. As a follower, you should not worry about whether your boss is a good leader. You and I should worry about whether we're a good follower or not. When you think of David, in 1 Samuel chapter 16, David's anointed king over Israel. In chapter 17, he goes and kills Goliath. by the way, and becomes a follower under Saul. A guy that, as far as God was concerned, God had already taken his hand off of Saul. David is now, could by rights be the king of Israel. But by the way, God hasn't put him in that position yet. God's anointed him, but hasn't went ahead and given him the throne. So you know what David does? David follows Saul. And if there's anyone that's a bad boss, trust me, Saul was a bad boss. Most bosses don't try to kill you, repeated me. Saul did. David's playing the harp for him, and then Saul tries to kill him. David's doing this, and then Saul's trying to kill him. David did good, and Saul always, I mean, Saul returned it with evil. But yet, David still did good. You know why? Because he wasn't concerned about how good, he wasn't concerned about Saul and Saul's activities, he was concerned about himself. And David was doing what he was supposed to do. Which, by the way, later on, David became the king and was a good leader when he was a leader. So again, When you think of that, if you read 1 Samuel 18, verse 9, the Bible says that Saul eyed David. I mean, the boss, if you say, well, my boss is out to get me. If there's ever been a boss that was out to get anyone, I mean, Saul was out to get David. And then, I mean, and by the way, sometimes you might work for a boss. You say, what are you doing in a case like that? If you can't follow your boss, you find another job. Unlike the military, you can't leave the military. You leave the military, you're going to go to jail. So you probably can't leave the military. If you're doing the Spurs, you can't leave the Spurs. I mean, but the fact is, I mean, there are some teams that own you, some people that own you. But the regular job, they don't own you. You can give your notice and go someplace else. But the fact is, most of us don't have a boss like that. We don't have a boss, but there are. I remember one time years ago, I worked for a lady that did not like me. She wasn't my boss. I hired on and there was someone else over me. Then they made her my boss. Now, do I like working for ladies? And the answer to that is no. My mad speech in Bible college was, I don't like bossy. I mean, I had my mad speech. You don't have to do a mad speech. My mad speech was about bossy women. I don't like bossy women. But the fact is, She was my boss, so what did you do? I smiled and you said she didn't like you. She didn't. But again, I was paid to do my job, so I did my job. It even made her look good. Not that I necessarily was all overjoyed about that, but the fact is, that was what I had to do to do my job. I was really thankful when she no longer was my boss, but the fact is, if you can't work for your boss, you go find another job. When you work for some place, you give yourself to that boss and you have the right kind of character and the right kind of attitude. Second thing about a follow with character, he works hard to please his leader. You want to ask God every day, God, what can I do to make you happy? What can I do to please you? Remember what the verse says, whether you eat, drink, or sleep, whatsoever you do, do what? To all, to the glory of God. God, what can I do to make you happy? I appreciate this. There's folks that do this for Brother Nicholas. There's folks that do this for me. And I, trust me, Brother Nicholas deserves it. I don't deserve it. But there's folks that know I like a certain kind of nuts or a certain kind of jerky or a certain, and like I really need that stuff. I mean, but I mean, you know, see this? And the baby still hasn't came and he's been, I mean, I've been in this position for months. I mean, I really don't need that stuff. The other day, someone brought me some jerky. Now, the bad thing about jerky is when I open the bag, I can't close the bag. It has to stay open. So that means, and I can't waste food because mom taught me not to waste food. So that means I have to eat the whole bag. That's the problem about jerky. But the truth is, find out what makes the boss happy. You ought to try to make the boss happy. Now, God is ultimately our boss. That's why I said even when you work a public job, you're doing it as and to the Lord. But in our case, we get to work, I mean, we're under Brother Nichols, and he's a good preacher. He's a good boss. So we want to make him happy. We ought to try to please him. Number three, follow with character is a need filler. And what we mean by that is find out what needs to be done and do it. Now, there are a lot of people that do stuff around Liberty Baptist Church that don't get told what to do. They don't get asked what to do. They just do it because it needs to be done. That's a good trait. By the way, that's a good trait to have on your public job. If you only do what you're told to do, you might be a good employee, but you do stuff, I mean, that you're not even paid to do. You do stuff that, I mean, again, my dad, I had a good taskmaster. My dad taught me how to work, and I tried to teach my boys. My boys have never had a problem. I've never had a problem getting a job or holding a job because we know how to work. We don't complain. I mean, the fact is, we kind of enjoy working. But again, you ought to try to be a need-filler, do whatever the boss needs. If he needs a toilet clean, and those of you that know me know I'm not too proud. Now, we have some other people around here. We have some folks, I mean, we have some ladies that, I mean, are really nice, I mean, really sweet and precious ladies. You know what? They're not too proud to plunge a toilet. They're not too proud to lean down to pick up trash. They're not too proud to, I mean, you know, have a baby burp, I mean, burp all over them. Now, if you really want something gross, I'd rather do the toilet. than the baby burping thing. I mean, you know, that, that. I mean, trust me. Because the toilet, I can wash my hands and the smell is gone. That smell, you wear that home with you. I mean, that's with you. I mean, unless you've got to change the shirts with you. I mean, that, the baby smell lingers. And it usually gets through the shirt and onto the skin. I mean, it's one of those things, I mean, you better scrub with a Brillo pad. I mean, it's, that milk that was half partially digested, it's some bad stuff. Some of you know what I'm talking about. It's bad. But again, you gotta not be too proud to do whatever needs to be done, a need filler. The fourth characteristic of a good follower is they do not have to understand why, don't have to understand why, it is his choice to do the job. Now, there are things that I don't understand why Brother Nichols tells me to do stuff. I don't even ask him why. If he tells me to do it, I do it. Someone said, if Brother Nichols asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? Yep. I figure if he wants me to jump off a cliff, now, Brother Nichols wouldn't just say, now, some of us are mean, we're evil. He'd be like, hey, buddy, go jump off that cliff. Okay. And he goes, oh, I didn't, stupid, I didn't think he was gonna. Now, Brother Nichols wouldn't ask me to jump off a cliff unless he needed me to jump off a cliff. Brother Nichols isn't cruel like me or some of the rest of you that would do it because, I mean, so like, well, the guy's so stupid. I mean, watch this, this guy's really dumb. I mean, I can't even do anything. But the fact is, my job is to do whatever Brother Nichols asks me to do. I don't, now, I've never been in the military, but one of the things that all you men and women have been in the military to learn is you do what you're told. You don't always understand it. You don't always like it, but you do what you're told. And by the way, if you don't, you're liable to die someday. You're liable to get hurt bad. I tell kids every time they come out on the farm, I tell them, I make it very clear to them, this is not the city. There are real snakes out here. There are real spiders out here. There's real thorns out here. There's real dangers out here. You will get hurt. If I tell you to stop, you better stop. You allow me to get hurt. Now, anytime someone tells you to stop and you go, and you want to carry on the conversation, if it's a real dangerous situation, it's too late to explain it to you. You're dead. It's kind of like saying, don't cross the road. That's why I do this, because there is a truck coming. So, I mean, if you have to, if you, if we have to take time to explain it, it's probably too late. Don't touch that. I mean, there's probably a reason why we gave you those directions. They had a purpose behind them. So do what you're told. I'm sorry, number five, a follower with character is willing to change midstream and go in a different direction if the leader requests it. Now, this is a tough one, because we typically, if we start doing something, they give us a job to do, and while we're doing that job, they come and say, stop that right now, I need to do this. And we're into this, and it's like, oh, I don't need five more minutes. I mean, I don't, stop. That's a tough one, because sometimes, I mean, we think we're doing, I mean, but understand, your job is to do whatever the boss says. Your job is to follow the leader. Your job is to obey. So if he says leave that there, Whether you want to leave it there or not, that's why sometimes kids have our time. Mom and dad says, go do this. Come on, man, there's only five more minutes. And I don't know any kid that's never told their mom and dad that. Come on, mom, can I do it in five? I mean, my show's almost over. Now, it really bothers me when a kid says my show's almost over and it's still got 30 minutes. That's not almost over. That's not even close to being over. That's like it just started. There's a big difference between almost over. I mean, your definition of almost over is a lot different than our definition of almost over. But the truth is, we have a tough time sometimes when we're doing something and we're told to stop that and do something else because, I mean, sometimes we don't want to. And we, by nature, sometimes don't want to do what we don't want to do. But a good follower will be willing to stop in midstream and do whatever the boss asks. Number six, a follower with character does not need to receive recognition for everything he does. Now, when you think of that, go to Matthew chapter 25, verse 26. Remember the guy who buried his talent in the ground? Notice what Matthew chapter 25, verse 26 says, the statement he made, why he did it. Matthew 25, 26 says, his Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. What he says is, you know, I get money sometimes and I didn't even do any work. I didn't do anything. By the way, the fact is, if you work for McDonald's, you probably don't actually work for anyone named McDonald's. I don't even know if McDonald's still owns McDonald's. The fact is, most McDonald's are privately owned. If you've ever worked for McDonald's, it's usually owned by Fred Rodriguez or Sally Smith. I mean, it's owned by individuals. But the fact is, most times when you work for someone, you don't actually work for someone who actually still owns the company. That's probably their name. If you work for Ferguson's, Ferguson's probably not even alive. It's probably owned by someone else, maybe someone from China or India or somewhere else. The fact is, you might not actually be working for that person. But in this case, what he says is, you know what? Again, he said, again, you might not get recognition. You know who gets recognition for your hard work? your boss, the company. They're the ones that make some money. There are people who say, well, you know what? I don't know why I work so hard and they get all the money. Well, if you'd like to start your own business, you can do that. A lot of people have tried. It's not quite as easy as it might seem. That's why there's a lot of companies that... How many of you have been here at Liberty Baptist Church for at least 25 years? How many of you can even remember how many times that restaurant right down here on the corner has changed names? It was a steakhouse, it was a Chinese, I mean, I don't know how many different things it's been. It is easy to start a business. It's not always easy to keep the business going. Some of you know that because some of you have had businesses. It's not always easy, I mean, to keep it. But again, understand, you say, well, I'm working, this other guy's making all the money. Yes, he probably is making more than you. If he wasn't making more than you, he wouldn't be able to pay you. I tell the kids all the time when they used to mow for me, I'd say, guys, much as I like being with you guys, I don't like to mow yards for free. If I mow a $25 yard, they tore up, you know, $150 worth of equipment. I told them, guys, I just paid to mow that yard. Fact is, I just mowed all these yards today for free. And I don't really like, I never made much mowing the yards, but I didn't really want to mow them for free. So I would tell them, please quit hitting stuff. I've had kids hit those water meters, those big old metal, the metal water meters. Now sometimes when the grass is real tall, and that's why I don't even like mowing. If I, if someone used to, I had to do that when I was first starting the business. I mean, sometimes a guy would come say, can you give me an estimate? My kids would go, dad, please don't. And I'd go down in the grass is this high. I mean, you can't even see your own children in the grass, let alone bricks and trees and things like that. Those yards are really, really, really hard to mow. And I used to mow some of them. Then I learned from a brother, Galardo started a yard business. And he told me, he said, I hate those. He said, you know what I do? He said, here's what I do. I figure how much is the most I charge for it. I double it. Then when I give it to him, they always go, well. He said, but one time I thought I did that and I out thought myself. I named a really outrageous price and they said, okay. So he said then I was stuck. But the fact is, yes, the boss makes money. Yes, you didn't get patted on the back. Now, by the way, a good boss When he gets praised by his boss, a good boss will come down to you and say, thanks a lot, guys. I mean, you guys, he will recognize the teamwork that you put in. Not every boss is like that. If you have one of those, you ought to thank God for that. But again, whether you get recognition or not, you're not paid for recognition. You're paid to work. I'm not paid for recognition. We're paid to work. Number seven, a follower with a real character wants his leader to get credit. Truth is. I like the Spurs. I thought they was going to get beat last night. I was pretty excited when they won. And Papa gets a lot of recognition. I wish he'd shut up about politics stuff because he's a ding-dong when it comes to politics stuff. But as far as a coach, he's a pretty good coach. Now listen to me, he's had some great players through the years, but there are good coaches that give them any kind of play and they can still have a good ball team because they're smart guys. Again, understand, you may be working for a boss that's a great boss. You may be working for a ding-dong, but regardless, you're still doing whatever you do for the Lord. You do right, God will bless you for being the right kind of follower. A real follower doesn't worry about whether he gets credit. He'll want the boss. He'll want the leader to get the credit. A follower with character desires to build his leader. You can actually make, by the way, kids, you can actually make your parents, I mean, you can make them better parents. Wives, you can make your husband a better husband. Worker, you can make your boss a better boss by you doing what you're supposed to be doing. And by the way, by you doing right, sometimes, remember what the Bible talks about the person that lives right and then the one on the contrary wise is convicted? When it talks about the wife being submissive and the wife being obedient and the wife doing right to the husband, even if he's not right, because then it convicts him. The Bible uses that quite a bit. I mean, he tells us when you have enemies, you know what you're supposed to do. You bless them, they curse you, and you pray for them. I mean, you do good to them, and when you know what it does, it convicts them, it moves them, it changes them, it makes them different than they were. You can make your boss a better boss. Number nine, a follower of character does not show up at the last minute. Now, the Bible teaches to redeem the time. Now, what that means is to make wise use of. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 16 makes this statement. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Colossians 4 or 5 says walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. Again, makes means make wise use of. Brother Nichols has a rule. Now you don't have to get here till church starts. All the staff, we're supposed to get here 15 minutes before church starts. So it means if I get here at 10 till, now if you got here at 10 till, you're early. If I get here at 10 till, guess what? I'm late. I'm supposed to be here 15 minutes before church starts. So the truth is, for me to be on time, I have to be, now for me to be early, I'd have to be earlier than that 15 minutes. But again, a good follower will show up at the last minute. When you show up at the last minute, sometimes it worries the boss. Think about tonight. If we had a special speaker, and one time this happened years ago, we had, I don't know if it was a missionary or a Bible or a singing group, but they got on 1604 and went the wrong way. They got directions from us. Instead of coming around this way, they went around that way. And church, I mean, Brother Nichols came in here not prepared to preach, because he wasn't supposed to preach that night. So he came in here, and they hadn't showed up early. They didn't set anything up. We get a call. We say, where you at? Well, I'm on 64. Where you at? And when they told us, it's like, oh, goodness graces, we're out there like going right where we used to paintball out there. I mean, now on the other side of town, it's like, You're a long ways away. I mean, because they went the wrong way on 1604 around 410 where it was. But again, if you don't know anything about San Antonio, 410 is a 45 mile loop. 1604 is a 90-mile loop. You can get in on 1604 and drive an hour and a half to get around the city. It's a long loop. They went the wrong way. So church time came. I mean, we did the singing, and he's having me run back in, call him, come back in, tell him where they're at. So he finally had to, I mean, he had to get up and preach. Now, listen to me. That's not the, that's, trust me, the next time they called, hey, I want to know if I can come preach at, no, no, our schedule's pretty busy. We got a lot of stuff going on. Maybe, call me back, maybe, you know, 25 years from now, I mean, you know. Because Brother Nichols, that didn't make him feel very comfortable that night. I mean, when someone was supposed to be there, and they didn't show up. They didn't make it on time. So be on time. Workers should be on time. Notice number 10. A follower with character will someday be a leader with character. Now, I mentioned four guys earlier. Joshua, David, Timothy, and Elisha. By the way, all of them were godly followers. You know what a follower can be? A leader in training. The Bible says that Elisha, what did he do? The Bible says that he poured water on the hands of Elijah. They asked, in 2 Kings chapter 3, they asked, Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the kings of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. Now what that meant was, Elijah said, Come here, guy. I mean, you know, and he's, I mean, he's washing his hands and that guy's pouring the water. How many of you ever poured water on somebody's hands when they wash their hands? That doesn't usually, usually you're not the boss when you're doing that. Okay? Pick that up. I mean, clean that up. I mean, Elisha was a follower. The fact is, he was a follower by choice. The fact is, Elijah tried to run him off. Kept saying, stop following me. Leave me alone. Get out of here. Go back. Elijah said, not happening. And then later he said, what do you want? By the way, you'd think he'd ask something simple. He said, I want twice as much power of God as you have. And by the way, if you check, if you listen to Brother Nicholas Preece, Brother Nicholas has told you, you count the miracles up that's recorded in the Bible, and he performed twice as many miracles as did his predecessor. So the truth is, he was a good follower who turned into a great leader. Listen to me, if you're a terrible follower, who would make you a leader? I mean, if you can't even, if you can't even, you know, you can't do what you're told, why would we want you then telling people? I mean, again, a good follower usually makes a good leader. By the way, young people, if you can't obey mom and dad, listen to mom and dad. Why would you think someday that you're going to be smart enough and leadership enough that you can boss your kids around and leave them? It is important that we follow our boss, that we give ourselves to our boss. Again, remember the verses we read early, as unto the Lord. But again, a good follower many times turns into a good leader. Now not, like I said, I had no desire to pastor, so I did not take Associate Pastor of Liberty Baptist Church so that I could become a pastor. But most guys who become pastors, you know what they were before they was a pastor? An Associate Pastor. Most managers, before they was a manager, you know what they were? Assistant Managers. And before that, they usually were just an employee. You don't usually become a general or, I mean, some high-ranking military guy just overnight. You know what it usually takes? 20 or 30 years. And you know what you started out as? A private. And then whatever's after that, and then whatever's after that, and then whatever's after that, and whatever's after that. And then you may have to go to some college. You probably took some courses. You had to get some training. The truth is you don't become... Now, we all look at that big guy and we think, man, I want to be like that guy. Well, you know what? You could be. Be a good follower. As a kid, you know what you need to be? A good student. Learn. I tell the kids all the time, when you're a baby, you know what you're born with? A blank head. I mean, there's nothing there. I mean, it's a clean slate. So, what we put in it as parents, what we put in it as teachers, what we put into that head is what that kid's gonna have. By the way, It's pretty hard to pray and ask God to help you remember the things if you don't have anything. That'd be like saying, brother, if I prayed and said, God, help me remember geometry. Well, first off, I never learned geometry, so it'd be pretty hard for God to remind me of the things I learned when I never learned it. That'd be like Brother Reese calls up and says, hey, Brother Block, you want to help me overhaul this engine? So I can go to God and say, God, help me to overhaul this engine. God would say, bub, You know how to put the oil in there. You know how to check the tire pressure. You know how to change the air filter. That's not, that's about all you know. So, I mean, unless God did a miracle like the speaking in tongues miracle, I'm not working on a car engine, okay? If you see Bill Block with this, if Bill Block works on your car engine, let me tell you what you're in. Trouble. That's what you're in. You're in trouble. All right? That's not a smart thing. Hey, Bill Block, can you help me with my car? By the way, if I say, sure, you should get in your car, and if it doesn't run, push it away from me. Do not let me work on your car. That doesn't show your intelligence level at all. Now, if it's a lawnmower, I probably can work on your lawnmower. But the car, I tell people all the time, here's about what I know, and this is good stuff. If I take the key, put it in, and turn it, and it goes vroom, vroom, vroom, that's about all I know about mechanics with a car. I don't know anything. There's a lot of things I don't know anything about. By the way, a lot of things you don't know anything about either, which is why you should be a good follower. You should listen and learn and get smarter. Joshua was a good follower. Became a great leader. David was a good follower. Became a great leader. Timothy was a good follower. Became a great leader. Elijah was a good follower. Became a great leader. And when to lead someday, learn to follow now. Number 11, a follower with character understands when the leader has a difficult or bad day. By the way, kids, that's a good policy to apply. Husbands, wives, a good policy to apply. There are some days it's not a good day to bother somebody. We used to do that. I don't know if any of the rest of you ever did that. We used to do that with my mom. My mom was really good at reading dad's moods. Sometimes we'd come home and say, I need to talk to dad. And she would go, I don't think you want to do that right now. Because dad worked the graveyard shift. So when dad worked the graveyard shift and he hadn't had any sleep, that was not a good time to talk to dad. By the way, it wasn't good to go, I'll just go wake him up. That wasn't too bright either. I don't know if any of you like that. When my mom even sent me in to wake my dad up, We would get in, we would go down, because Dad used to work at a job where sometimes he would work the night shift, so sometimes he was allowed to doze off a little bit, and the guys would then mess with him. So anytime someone would mess with him, they would swing at each other. So when we'd go wake Dad up, we would get down on the floor by the bed, we'd reach up like this to wake Dad up. Because if we stood here like this, we'd probably get our teeth knocked out, because Dad would wake up swinging. I mean, he woke up like that. Or we'd go back and mess with his feet. We either wake him up with his feet or we wake him up by laying down on the floor and reaching up over the bed. There are some days, I mean, you just have to understand, some days the boss is in a bad mood. Some day, husband or wife or folks, they're in a bad mood. That's just a day, by the way, that's a day to be kinder than you normally would be. Maybe even be a little quieter. Lord, sometimes people don't understand. I mean, last thing we need you to do is just keep yakking. They ought to just give out free corks and we could just go around and just go boop, boop. Boop. Can I do anything for you? Yeah. Leave me alone for about 10 minutes, all right? Give me a little peace and quiet. Well, I want to help. OK. Come right over here. What do you want me to do? No, no. Stay right there. No, no, no. You're good. Right there. You've got to learn to read the moods. I mean, sometimes your boss has a bad day. But you know what? That would be the day that we get all mad. We'll want to quit. We'll go around gripe about the boss. Sometime you say, Brother Nicholas ever had bad days? Not very often. Truth is, Brother Nicholas is pretty consistent with his moods. But he's human, and being human, there'll be some time that him or your wife or your husband or whoever, the school teacher, the principal, another student, there's days, there's times they just have a bad day. So give them a break about that. Number 12, follow the character, serves at times and expects nothing in return. If you're working a job where you're getting paid, that is your return. If you volunteered, you know what it meant when you volunteered? You volunteered, that meant you did it for nothing. We've had people get mad at Liberty Baptist Church. Every once in a while, Charlie will honor somebody at a Valentine's banquet. And if someone doesn't get honored and they feel like they've been here and they've done more than the person we honored, we've had folks get the feelings hurt. We've had folks leave the church because they got the feelings hurt because they didn't get honored at the Valentine's banquet. You know, I've been there for 25 years. Nobody ever noticed me. Listen to me. If we're doing it as unto the Lord, we're not supposed to do it for people who notice us anyway. And if you do it as unto the Lord, there is someone that notices you. When you say nobody noticed me, there is someone that notices you. The Bible tells us in Proverbs, the eyes of the Lord in every place, you know what he's doing? Beholding the evil and the good. God sees it, nobody else sees it, and sometimes no one else does seem to see it. but you're not doing it for them in the first place. You're doing it because it's the right thing to do. You're doing it because God, I mean, because that's what you felt like the world wanted you to do. A father with character does not believe a victory can be won, should keep quiet while his leaders win the victory. You know that when we sing the song about the spies, what do we say? Ten more what? Why were they bad? Because Moses sent them across there to spy out the land so we could see how to go win the land, because the Jews were supposed to get the land. Were they not? That was what was promised. It was called what? The Promised Land. So God was going to give them the land, but see, they came back and said, whoo, can't do it. God was wrong. Now, if you don't believe, if God's leading the preacher, God's leading your husband, God's leading the boss, and he said, let's go this way, and you don't think that's a good idea, you know what you do? Keep your mouth shut while you follow them. What he says is, if you don't think they can win the victory, keep your mouth shut while they win the victory. Number 14. Hey, Paul, with character, needs to realize a man's intensity may determine the immensity of the task given by God to man. Notion of the Bible is in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse 6, makes this statement. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Say, who was that that was talking? Here's what Paul said. Paul said, you know what? Before I got saved and I was living for the devil, I mean, I was doing it big. I remember Brother Vineyard said that. Brother Vineyard said that when he got saved, he decided if he spent all those years living for the devil, I mean, and working that hard for the devil, he could spend the time now that he's saved working that hard for the Lord. If anything, we ought to work harder because we have ground to make up. And if you go the wrong way, then you finally get turned the right way. There's others, I mean, that's been going the right way for a while. You got ground to cover. You better get moving. Lots of times people, I mean, who've been doing nothing, and Brother Nicholas is not one of these people. Some pastors give someone a responsibility thinking that will make them more faithful to the church. Brother Nicholas isn't one of them. If you want to know who Brother Nicholas puts into a job, he used to put someone doing something. He puts someone doing a bigger job that's already doing a little job well. And that's what he promotes from within. By the way, a lot of companies do that. Brother Nichols, one time I asked him when he gave me another job, I said, there's people around here that want jobs. He said, yeah, I don't give people jobs because they're looking for a job. That's because someone wants a position. I don't give people a position because that's what they're looking for, they're looking for a position. Now, I can tell you that a position sometimes can be, I mean, it can seem important. I've often told the kids, and I've mentioned a time or two from here, before I got my honorary doctorate degree, I thought it was going to be a really big deal. Because Brother Nichols got one, then he got another one. Then a lot of folks I went to college with got one, and some of the other guys I went to college with got one. I'm thinking, how come they all got a doctor's degree? I don't have a doctor's degree. I'm working as hard as they are. And by the way, when I got it, you know what I meant? Nothing. I mean, it didn't give me a pay raise. I mean, it didn't make people look at me with awe. When I walk around, it's not like, ooh, Brother Dr. Block. Now, Brother Patton's the only one, and he does it, I think, just to be smart aleck, but Patton's the only one that calls me Dr. Block. And the fact is, if anyone should get a doctorate degree, it's probably Brother Patton. He's been a faithful pastor for many, many more years than I've been an associate pastor. I mean, and by the way, living for the Lord. And there's a lot of people that deserve a promotion that you and I might get, but the fact is, Brother Nichols will take someone who's already doing something and give them something more to do. He doesn't take someone that's over here doing nothing, you know, and ain't doing nothing on purpose, and give them a position. A lot of bosses don't do that. They find someone that's already responsible in one area, and they give them a bigger area of responsibility. That's why we give, that's why we let kids have pets. Because we hope they, I mean, if they're going to kill the dog, I mean, we'd rather they kill the dog or cat or the bunny or the rabbit or the chick than something else. I mean, something a little bit more important. That's why we start them with a BB gun. Besides, it's less dangerous. But I mean, we start them with a little responsibility. If they handle that well, we give them something bigger. That's why we start them with a tricycle. Then we give them a bicycle. Then we give them a, because we're not very bright, we give them a car. I mean, but, I mean, we move them up. Again, understand, a follower with character needs to realize a man's intensity may determine the immensity, how big the tasks are that are given by God. God likes to take faithful—and by the way, there was a time he looked for a man, and what the Bible says was he couldn't find any. He said, I sought for a man to stand in the gap and build up the heads, and I found none. There were some times he looked around, he was actually looking for someone to give him the job, and nobody wanted the job. Number 15, I'll be done. The follower with character understands that climbing the ladder of success means using his hands, not keeping them in his pockets. James chapter 2 in your Bibles, and I'll be done. James chapter 2. James is a real practical guy. What James says in James chapter 2 verse 18 and then verse 20 says this, James says this, Now I said the last one said a worker of character would realize doing the job means using his hands, not putting them in his pockets. Think about a ball player. You know what the coach will always tell you if you're a baseball player? Get down. That's why if you watch a baseball player, they have their hands down here. You know why? Because they're ready to field the ball. If they're standing up like this, I mean, well, by the way, you walk up to the bat, someone who actually knows what they're doing will get ready to bat. We'll say, get ready. Some of them get ready. It's like, you know, you know. I mean, but when they say get ready, what they mean is get your elbows up, get the bat back, get ready to swing. Because if not, when the ball comes in there, I mean, you've got to do all that preparation while the ball's coming and you don't have time for that. You're supposed to get ready before they pitch. So again, understand those hands in your pockets, usually that means you're not doing anything and you don't intend to. In basketball, they tell you get your hands up. Now, they don't mean like that. They don't mean you're a convict, get your hands up, not like the police, but they mean get your hands up, play defense. And that means, by the way, you're supposed to stay in front of the person. You're supposed to slide and stay in front of the person. If they're left-handed, you're supposed to play them to the left side. If they're right-handed, you're supposed to play them to the right side. Say, well, if they're ambidextrous, then you, I don't know, you play them in the middle. I don't know. But the fact is, they tell you, get your hands up. If you're standing there like this, you're not ready. That means the guy's going to be by you, and you're going to be chasing them. You know what God says? James says, I want you to be a worker. Don't talk. Don't talk to me. Don't tell me about your faith. Let me see it. And a person of character, a follower of character, will be someone that realizes his hands shouldn't be in his pockets, his hands should be busy, not idle. The Bible says a lot about idle people, and none of it's good. The ones who stand around idle, none of it's good. God likes workers. He brags about the bees, He brags about the ants. You know what He brags about them? They work and they don't have a boss. They don't have someone whipping them and driving them and pushing them. They do it because they're supposed to be doing it, and it needs to be done. Again, being a good follower is not easy. Being a godly follower is not easy, especially if you're working for a lost boss. Now, I'm so thankful. I am lucky. I work for a saved boss. Now, I do have the hardship. You guys pray for me and God help me. I do have five lady teachers, and so I do have the emotions that I have to deal with. I'm just joking. They're fairly easy to work with. But the truth is, if you have a lost boss, Don't think about working for him. Work for the Lord. You're doing it for God. If you have a saved boss, thank God you have a saved boss. If you are a boss, you ought to try to be a godly boss. But the fact is, most of us will be followers at least in some part of our life. Many of us will be followers our whole life. So the typical rule is we always answer to somebody about, I mean, for almost anything we do, we answer to somebody. Be a good follower. Father, thank you tonight. Pray, Lord, you'd help us put you first, to glorify you, to try to please you. You tell us constantly throughout the Bible that we're servants, servants of God, and Lord, as a servant, we're supposed to obey.