Follow The Leader

Pastor Tim Howard
July 30, 2009

Have you ever been in route to a specific destination only to discover you were lost? You can almost feel your blood pressure rising as your emotions begin to fluctuate and your intellect reminds you, this is an extremely important appointment so you don’t want to be late.

One time a Pastor friend of mine named Ron lost his way as he was trying to find a small country church where he had been invited to speak. He left the hotel room early to assure a timely arrival and to enjoy the scenic drive but not being familiar with the country roads and landmarks he ended up totally and completely lost. Even though it was humbling for him to admit he needed some help, he decided to stop at the first country store he found. A man named Karl, the proprietor of Karl’s Feed & Fuel, gave him these directions.

“First you take Rural Route 18 -- that’s this road here -- go south to the big red barn with black trim. Black trim and not white! The white-trimmed one is the old Wilkerson place and the Timmitville Bridge is out, so you don’t want to go that way, trust me”.
He nodded to acknowledge he was listening. “Anyway” he went on, “after you get to the barn, head due east on Berrybriar Road until you hit Clear Creek, which you follow
North -- maybe two, three miles till you get to the big aluminum grain silo. That’s Earl Simmons’ place. Then turn north onto County Road Number 7, follow that a mile or
so -- winds around a good bit -- and then turn left where you see the big herd of Guernsey cows”…

To Ron’s surprise a man interrupted the conversation and said: “Pardon me, my name is Lyle. Didn’t mean to listen in, but are you the visiting pastor speaking at the church on Petersburg Road?” “Well yes, I am” Ron said. “Well, pastor, why don’t you just follow me to the church. I know the way.

Sometimes you can lose your way in life and it’s a lot easier to follow someone than to figure things out with your own intellect. You don’t have to keep track of barns or silos or Earl Simmonses or Guernsey cows. All you need to do is follow the leader.

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus told those who were lost and needed direction for their lives to follow him. I won’t just tell you where to go and what to do, I will actually lead you and show you the way. FOLLOW ME! Wow that simplifies everything. All we need to do is follow Him: Do what He does, go where He goes, say what He says and things will work out. Jesus will get you to your appropriate destination because He knows the way. Believe it or not, God has already been in your future. Psalms 139 makes it clear that he “goes before us.” He charts a path for us and knows where we should stop, when we need to rest and the best route for the journey.

To follow someone, you must trust them and to trust them you must know them. I invite you to visit one of the many church families in Kings County this weekend to deepen you knowledge of God. Don’t settle for only acquiring knowledge about God when you have the privilege of really getting to know him personally. If you are ever lost and need directions He will show you the way. All you need to do is follow Him.