One of the best pieces of advice I have ever been given in my life is to learn to tell people no, because you learn who someone really is when you tell them no. You know what I mean? Like, there's some situations in life where you don't really find out what a person's made of, you don't really find out what their actual character is until you tell them no. I've had people that I thought were like the nicest people in the world, and then I said no, and that that changed. Like, oh, there's that's a different you that I've never seen before. That's one of the reasons that people think other people's kids are sweet all the time. You're like, your kids are so sweet. It's like, yeah, you're not the one that tells them no. And if you saw them when they've been told no, you would know a d you just know a different side of them. I I love them, they're all they're amazing, good kids, works in progress, but you learn a lot about who someone is when you tell them no. There are some situations in life that have a way of making the invisible qualities inside of us become visible. And not just not just bad things. I'm not just talking about pride or arrogance or like a hot temper. There are some things that come out of us in difficult situations when we're up against a wall, when there's high pressure. There's things like courage, there's things like integrity, honesty, humility. There are certain situations in life that just have a way of bringing that stuff to the forefront. And today we're going to talk about one of those situations that many of us, maybe all of us, at some point in time will find ourselves in, and that's having authority, being in charge of something. You learn a lot about who someone is when you tell them no. You learn a lot about who someone is when you put them in charge of someone else. So, for some context, we're wrapping up a series we've been in for several weeks this morning called In Relation to. What we've actually been doing is going through the entire book of Ephesians in the New Testament. We started Ephesians after Easter Sunday last year. And so we've only taken like a month and a half, two months off, but here we are, almost a year later, and after Easter, we're gonna start the last, very last section of Ephesians. We have we've taken our time with Ephesians, but it's I said this at the beginning of the Ephesians series when Paul, the author who wrote Ephesians, Romans, a lot of the other books in the New Testament, Paul, his writings are like cheesecake. It's just dense, you know? Like, like there's some foods that you can eat a lot of. Like when they bring bread to your table at O'Charlie's or someplace that brings bread. Have you ever noticed how much bread you can eat? Like something happens with bread when it enters your body and it just like dissolves and turns into air instantly, which is why you can eat loaves of bread. Like, no one's ever eaten a whole cheesecake in one sitting, I hope. Um, because you know, cheesecake, it's like the same as eating a bunch of hard-boiled eggs. It's just so dense that a few bites, and you're like, man, this is this is heavy. Paul's writings, they're dense. That's why it's taken us so long to go through it. It's just, it's like biblical cheesecake. You just have to take your time and look at it layer by layer. And recently we've been in this series where Paul's examining three key relationships that basically all of us find ourselves in at some point in time, at least one of these relationships: husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees. And last Sunday we began that third relationship, employers and employees, and we talked about what God's perspective of working for someone else looks like. If you weren't here, listen to the message. Today we're gonna talk about the other side of that relationship. What is God's perspective on being in charge of someone else? Like, let's think for just a second, and it doesn't have to be simply being in charge at your company or wherever you work. How many of us, and raise your hand, show me your life, raise your hand if you are in charge of someone, if you have authority over someone in your life, okay? It's the majority of us. Some some shred of authority. The questions we're gonna ask this morning, really two questions. What do we do with authority as Jesus followers? Those of us who say, I follow Jesus, I know that's not all of us, by the way, and that's why we have people getting baptized every week. People are saying yes to Jesus. It's awesome, but but those of us who said, Yeah, I follow Jesus, how do we handle authority as Jesus followers? That's the first question. The second question is what needs to happen in our hearts? What needs to happen inside of us to assure that we handle authority properly? And so let's go ahead and start by looking at Ephesians chapter 6. And if you have a Bible, you can turn there. Um, also, if you have our mobile app, I'm just reading off the mobile app, so turn to the message in the mobile app this morning and you can even take notes and do it all there. It's really handy. So Ephesians 6, 5 through 9. I'm gonna go ahead and read what we read last week regarding employees and explain. He begins by saying, Slaves obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. And we can pause there for a second. It's talking about slaves. And again, listen to the podcast if you weren't here last week. In the Roman world, there was no such thing as employers and employees. Paul's writing to people living in the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago. That wasn't a part of their culture. There was no such thing as a corporation. There was no such thing as like a company, and I'm gonna go work for this company. Everything was private. There weren't banks, there wasn't anything like that. And so their entire culture was based on people being masters and people being slaves. Now, slavery looked very differently in the Roman Empire than it than it's looked in our nation's history. It wasn't based on race. Oftentimes, slavery was something that people opted into. It was actually called being a bond servant. That's why sometimes, if you're reading some of Paul's letters, he will introduce himself as a slave of Christ, but some translations will say bond servant of Christ. And that's actually a more accurate translation. It's just that that word bondservant, that's not something we know about. That's not part of our culture. That's where people would say, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give my life to you. I'm in your service. Do with me as you will. And that was generally a temporary arrangement. They would do, they would work, they would have a living, they would have an income, and eventually, hopefully, their master would release them and they would be free, they'd become a citizen, it was a big deal. That's how their entire culture was structured. And so when Paul's writing to these people, he some people will say that verses like this show that the Bible condones slavery. That couldn't be the furthest thing from the truth. God's always freeing people in Scripture, He's a God of freedom. But Paul is writing to the people of his day, and he's just talking to them in the situations that they're in. And 60 million people in the Roman Empire, over a third of the entire population, were slaves. And those people were starting to follow Jesus, and he's saying, okay, if you're a slave, you know, if you're an employee in our culture, you're someone who has a dynamic where you're underneath someone else's authority. Here's how to behave. He says, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. In other words, pretend that Jesus is your boss and work for that person just like you would work for Jesus directly. Try to please them all the time, not just when they're watching you, as slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm as though we were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. So we went through all of that last week. And here we get to the next part. This is the master's part. This would be employers or anyone in the room, if you're a teacher, if you're a coach, if you're a manager, if you have any type of authority over someone else, parents, like this applies. He's talking to you right now. Treat your slaves, we might say subordinates, in the same way. Don't threaten them. Remember, you both have the same master in heaven, and he has no favorites. So we're gonna unpack this for a little bit, and it's just like one sentence. Again, it's biblical cheesecake, right? One sentence, but there's a lot there. There's a lot there. There's really, there's really three three statements that he makes that are pretty powerful. Number one, he says, serve them, treat them the same way. We'll get into that. Then he says, don't abuse them, don't threaten them, don't take advantage of your authority. And then finally he said he tells us to remember something. So let's let's just unpack that together. How are we, as Jesus followers, to use authority? Well, what he says here is pretty crazy because he says, begin by treating your subordinates, the people that work for you, the people that are underneath you, in any way, shape, or form. Treat them the same exact way as he just told slaves, employees to treat their masters. And that's that's actually really, really crazy. He's telling the people in charge to be just as committed to the well-being of the people underneath them as he told the people underneath them to be as committed to theirs. So he's saying basically, view yourself, if you're an employer, view yourself as you work for your employees just as much as they work for you. You serve them. Serve them. He says, treat them the exact same way. So he just told employees, people that are underneath those in authority, to pretend like they're working directly for Jesus. And he would tell those of us that have people underneath us, pretend like the person underneath you is Jesus and treat them the exact same way. Serve them. So those of you who have employees and people underneath you in any way, do you serve those people? Are you committed to their needs? I was talking to a friend of mine who works for a very large company. Like, like I've never worked for a company that has international recognition. It's a company that that is like publicly traded, and all of us know this company. And so I don't even know what it would look like to work for a company that has like a hundred plus thousand employees, but he's he's one of those. And this is a company that has subsidiaries and and divisions and all kinds of other things. And sometimes they'll have a product and they'll sell it and it'll become its own company itself. And that's actually something he's going through right now as he works on this one specific product that this company makes, but the company is actually about to break that product off from their main thing and have it be its own thing. And what that means is that a lot of the people who work for this company on this product are wondering whether or not they're gonna be part of the new thing. Because it's becoming its own thing, but it doesn't seem like everyone's gonna go with it. Now, the executives at his company have already ensured their seat at the table. They are automatically on the board of the new company. They are automatically in positions of authority. They're they're covered. And what they've done is they've told all the people underneath them, hey, business as usual, don't worry about, you know, whether or not you're gonna have a job. Uh just keep working, keep doing it, you know. And and and he's a really smart guy, and so he told me, he said, basically what we're being asked to do is juggle while playing musical chairs, but we can't hear the music. Right? Like we're juggling, we're doing our job, we're always juggling, we're always trying to take care of this and that and this and that, but we know that there's also a game of musical chairs going on, and at some point in time, chairs are gonna be removed. We we don't know if if it's gonna be our chair, someone else's chair, and we can't hear the music. We don't have that information. Our employers are the only ones that hear it, so they're telling us, hey, don't worry about it, business as usual. They've already reserved their chairs, and now we're trying to juggle and play musical chairs, knowing that several of us aren't gonna have a seat at the table in a few months. That that's that's business as usual in our world. That's that's the way organizations work. Those at the top first ensure their own success most of the time, first ensure their own success, and then they see who they can they can take with them, the people that are the most helpful to them. Let's look at an example of Jesus' leadership style. John chapter 13. It says, before the Passover celebration, this is right before he goes to the cross, this is part of that last supper that we we do the Lord's Supper through. Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his father. He had loved uh his disciples during his ministry on the earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything, and that he had come from God and would return to God, so he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin, and then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. Now, let's establish a few basic criteria. Number one, feet are gross. They're just gross. Like, like it like in our culture, we don't walk around on dirt roads with sandals like they did back in the day. We wear shoes with socks a lot of the times, and our feet are still gross. They're just a different kind of gross. Our feet are like moisture gross. You know what I mean? Like, anyone else have damp feet? I have damp feet, they just get moist. I had athlete's foot in my left foot for a solid year and a half. A year and a half. It was it was rough. Anyone else? Just me? Clay? Hey, yeah. Athlete's foot's the worst. It's because I'm so athletic. I'm just prone to it. Um just a thing. That's why they call it athlete's foot. So but feedback in Jesus' day, open-toed sandals, bathing is sort of like optional. Um, and you're walking on dirt roads all day long. Like, just let's just like let's think about this. Toenail clippers have not been invented yet. Let's just let's just go there. I'm just, guys, it's important. When we read scripture, we have to remember this is stuff that actually happened. So go with it, visualize it, picture it like it would have been. Don't picture some tame moment where Jesus is washing the well-manicured feet of well-to-do people who have been wearing sneakers all day long and took a shower yesterday. That's no, these are fishermen, right? These are like the these are rough and tumble dudes who have been walking around and who knows what. And Jesus washes their feet. Now, in their culture, foot washing was a thing that you would do, but it was always something reserved for the lowest ranking servant in a household. Always. And here's Jesus, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, even if you don't believe that, they believe that. So even if you don't believe Jesus is God, they did. And he's washing their feet. Now, Peter, one of the disciples, he protests. He's like, Jesus, you can't do this. I will not let you wash my feet. And Jesus doesn't allow him to abstain. Jesus washes every one of their feet, including Judas, who he already knew had betrayed him. And just to make sure that we understand that this isn't just some theological metaphor, verse 12, after washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, Do you understand what I was doing? You call me teacher and lord, and you are right, because that is what I am. Jesus knew exactly who he was. Since I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow, do as I have done. So he's clear. Like, no, I want you to follow my example. So this is gonna be really cool. Here's what we're gonna do. We have basins and water on the sides of the room. And if you would mind taking your shoe, I'm just joking, we're not doing that. Some of you guys are like, oh, why did I go to okay? No, you're good. You're good. That was a thing that they did in their culture, so it it was normal. What would the equivalent in our culture today be of washing the feet of those who were under your authority to serve them so demonstrably, so so obviously? You know, I think sometimes we, those of us in charge of anything, of anyone, we can we can get in the trap of comparing ourselves to the world's standard. And so by the world's standard, I'm a good boss. I'm not a jerk. Like that's where you start. I'm not a jerk, you know. I'm in a good mood most of the time. I'm pretty patient, pretty understanding. If I compare myself to the world standard of what a good boss is, I'm good. But we are Jesus followers, and the world standard, that's not our standard. Jesus, he's the standard. And that's that's super inconvenient. Like, I just want to side note, this entire series has been the worst for me to write. Like every message I've written has been the worst. Because it's not like I'm writing this stuff going, I am such an awesome husband. I can't wait to tell men how to be like me. Or I'm I'm such a I'm such a great employee, I'm such an amazing employer. I can't wait to share the wisdom within me. No, no, no. It's like I've basically been writing these messages being like, I suck. Oh my goodness, I'm the worst. Have I ever washed, I don't, I would I wash the feet of my employees? Like, would I? I don't know. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. But but seriously, in our culture, like, ask that question. Compare yourself to Jesus. Have we ever done anything remotely similar? Where we've made ourselves low and we put the people underneath us, above us, and serve them in a way that was undeniable. Undeniable. What would that look like for you to do that? I encourage you this week, like, pray about that. You know, God, show me what it would look like for me to wash the feet, so to speak, of my employees, of the people who work for me, the people that spend their time trying to execute my vision, my goals. What would that look like? Wash their feet, serve them. That's what Jesus does. That's what he does right now, by the way. Like Jesus right now is serving you. It says in Romans 8.34 that who will condemn us? Who's gonna condemn us as Jesus followers? No one. For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and right now he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us, praying for us. That's what it means. He's like right now, Jesus is praying for you, pleading for you to God the Father. Because he understands you, because he lived life. That means if you ever mess up and God the Father is like, you shouldn't do that. He's like, okay, dad, just before you lose it, like, here's the deal. So human beings need at least eight hours of sleep to function properly, and they have small children and they've been interrupted from sleep every single night for the last five years. I'm not speaking from experience, but like, you know, they're just tired. Just give them some grace. Like, he's pleading for, he's like explaining to God the Father what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you're dealing with. He is serving you right now. So serve the people underneath you. That's number one, serve. Number two, he says, don't threaten them. Don't, in other words, don't abuse your power. We all have stories of someone who has abused their authority, or at least it feels that way. Like when I was in high school, I had a coach, and uh, he still lives locally, but he doesn't go to church here, so I can talk about him. Um, he's a great dude, great, great guy, a great coach. But my senior year of high school, he took us to see the movie Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington. You guys know that movie? Football movie, you know? And uh and we it was brand new in the theaters, we watched it, and that movie, Denzel Washington, about every 15 minutes, gives a super inspirational, intense speech. You know, and it's kind of like one of those typical sports movies like, is that all you've got? Dig down, show me what you're made of, like, come on, kind of moments. And something in my coach just changed when he saw that movie. And he's like, I'm gonna do that every day, every practice, every time out. And it's just like halfway through the season, we're sitting there like, yeah, we know that we're not men, and you know, we don't deserve to be in this gym. And like, we get it. Tell us what to do on the court. Like, can you give us a can you draw a play up? Can you please tell, like, we need your help to beat this team. We don't need to just find the strength within us. Like, stop it, you know? And so that was not him abusing his power, but we've all had situations where someone above us is like doing something that makes us kind of go like this. I sent an email out to a lot of us this last week saying, hey, tell me your bad boss story. Because I was trying to think of a story to share about a boss that I've had that's abused their authority or done something that frustrated me. And I have a few stories, but I'm like, you know, I tell my stories all the time. I want to hear your stories. And what I thought I was gonna get was a bunch of funny stories. What I got instead were a bunch of really disturbing stories. Like, like I was, I was I was anticipating having like something really funny to share, and what I got was just sadness. Like I'm reading these emails, going, oh my goodness, I can't, like I can't believe you've been through that situation. Like, that's nuts. I'm so sorry for you. Three, three of the stories that came in had to deal with one day they were at work and their boss was taken away in handcuffs. Three, which was a fairly high percent of the emails I got back. Like, what in the world? You know? The one that that takes the cake, though, was this one guy emailed me and he's like, hey, so one day I'm at work and I worked for this company, and the CEO was was in the security industry, um, kind of a semi-well-known company, and he made a legitimate threat on the president of the United States life. And so the Secret Service shows up at our office, takes our boss away, and investigates all of us. What like you know when you're talking to someone who has a job and you're like, don't you hate Mondays? And they're like, ah, Mondays are the worst. Like, you know when you're when the Secret Service shows up and arrests your boss, and because he said he was gonna shoot the president, you know, and they're all like, like, what in the world that happened to someone at our church? He's an awesome dude. He doesn't work there anymore. Um, and that guy is no longer in charge of that company. Go figure. We all know what it's like to have someone who has power abuse their power or use their power for something crazy. And he says, Don't threaten them. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew chapter 20. His disciples were actually fighting about which of them would be the greatest in his kingdom. And in verse 25, Jesus calls them together and says, You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and the officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. See, the reality is any anyone in the room who who is an employer or a coach or or anything that's like that, there is an invisible sign above your head that says, I can fire you, or I can bench you. By bench, I don't mean lift you with my pectoral muscles. I mean like if you're a coach and you can put that person on the bench. Does that make sense? Um verbs, they have different meanings. So, like, you you do. I mean, I was at a conference, I heard a guy talking about this years ago. It's always stuck with me. There is an invisible sign above your head that says, I have authority over you and I can use it to make your life worse. Sometimes those of us in leadership forget that that sign's there, but it's there. And your employees, your people, they see that sign. Now, how big that sign is, that depends on you. That depends on your leadership style. How big does the sign need to be? I can only think of three or four examples in my life where I had. A legitimate need to remind someone that that sign was there. But I've known many leaders who have a need for some reason to remind people constantly that it's there, to constantly flaunt their authority, to constantly remind those under them, hey, I have power over you. I can make you do what I want you to do. And if you go about it that way, just know that you're not doing it the way Jesus does it. If you go about it that way, you will have what's called positional leadership. In other words, people will follow you because they have to. People will follow you because of your position. And they'll recognize, well, you're in the position above me, so the only way to have a decent life is to do what you say, but that's the only reason they follow you. And you better pray if that's your style, that your position never changes. Because once that position's gone, they're not going to follow you at all. There's another type of leadership called relational leadership. That's where people follow you because they want to follow you. That's because they respect you. That's because they see your character. That's because they know that you respect them, that you serve them. They will follow you not because they have to, but because they want to. I have worked for leaders like that. It's a joy to go to work for someone like that. It's a joy because you know that even when you mess up, they are committed to helping you improve, to making you better. One of my favorite stories like that is a story. It's in a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, really good book. Sounds manipulative, but it's not. It's a great book, written in the 1930s. And tells the story of this test pilot. And think back to when airplanes were like new and they're trying to figure out how they work. And so this guy was a test pilot, and he was flying a new type of engine, new type of plane, and all of a sudden mid-air starts to have problems, goes down, crashes, he barely survives. He has to do a crash landing. We'll come to find out, the the gentleman who filled his plane with fuel that morning just put the wrong fuel in. That's all that happened. Engine was fine, he just put the wrong kind of fuel in. So he he marches straight to the dude who fueled his plane. Like straight up to him. And can you imagine you're that guy? Like, so sorry, I almost killed you. You know, I didn't realize it was diesel. I don't know what kind of fuel it was, but like, like how nervous this guy must have been. He walks up to that guy, looks right at him, and says, From now on, you are the only person who filled who fuels my plane. Just you. And the other people around him are like, what are you doing? Do you don't you remember what this guy did? Like, you almost died today because of this guy's mistake. And he said, Yeah, but who do you think the last person who's ever gonna put the wrong fuel on my plane is gonna be? Like, I am more confident in this guy from here on out than anybody else. Like that, that is, that's good leadership. To have understanding and grace for people's mistakes, even when it might cost you dearly, and to give them a second chance. Don't don't threaten the people underneath you, don't abuse them. Now, now let me say this caveat. That does not mean you do not exercise your authority. That doesn't mean you don't use your authority. There is nothing as useless as a leader who refuses to lead. That's just useless. I'm a leader who's afraid of leading people. You shouldn't be a leader. You have to use your authority. We we're given authority for a reason. Jesus was not shy about using his authority, he used it often, he still does. So not abusing something does not mean that you just you just don't use it. If you're a leader, your people need you to make decisions. They need you to have hard conversations sometimes. They need you to have the awkward conversations so that they don't have to. I've been in situations before where one of my people needs me to have an awkward conversation with someone, and I don't, I just don't, I don't want to. Like I really, I don't want to. I don't want to talk to that person about that thing. It's gonna be awkward, it's gonna be weird. And I've had times where I have put that aside selfishly because I just didn't want to deal with it. And every time I've done that, what I've done is I've just made their life harder. Shout out, by the way, to Christy Lingerfeld on our team. As I was typing the message, I felt very convicted. And uh, Christy, I put off that one conversation for a really long time. She might be in the room, I don't know, but I had it. Sorry it was so late. It's done though, it's good. Sorry I put you through that. Christy, you'll know what I'm talking about. So, like, sometimes, you know, you just you you have a person underneath you, they need you to make a decision. They're like, please make a decision. You have the authority, you have the power, use your authority, help me. And you're like, ah, I don't want to, you know. I've done that before. It's it's not good. So don't abuse your authority. Use it. But don't abuse it. Number one, we serve. Number two, we we're committed to using, but not abusing our authority. The final thing he says is to remember. Ephesians 6, 9, remember, you both have the same master in heaven, and he has no favorites. This is a big deal. You know, there are some institutions in our world where you're you're kind of given retirement or your future is based on the highest level you get. You know, so if you're a teacher, for example, a lot of a lot of counties work this way, if you're a teacher and you make it all the way up to like an administrative role and this is your salary, your retirement's gonna be based on on how high you climbed. It's gonna be based on that for the rest of your life. That's not how heaven's gonna work. Like when you're standing in front of God, I don't know how that whole system works, right? Like God knows that, but if you're standing in front of God, he's not gonna look at you and be like, let's see here, Tom, uh, oh wow, you were a VP of sales. Well, that that's good. That means you're in the business class section of heaven, and you know, we we base we base your rewards here on on, you know, how how high did you climb in the world? Jesus said that the lowest will be the greatest in heaven, that the the first will be last, that the last will be first. So God's kingdom just works differently. And we have to remember that that while on this earth there are seasons that we're above others and seasons we're below, then in God's in God's eyes we are all below. And he lifts us, he lifts us up higher than we deserve to be. But we are equal in that we are all under the authority of God. There's not one person in this room, not one person in this room that can claim a higher standing with God than anyone else, because Jesus died the same death on the cross for me as he died for you. The same blood, the same sacrifice. We are all given the same righteousness. So in God's eyes, we are greatly equal. That's why in Galatians chapter 3, verse 28, he says there's no longer Jew or Gentile, slavery-free, male and female. He's not talking about the fact that these things don't exist. They do. He's saying that in God's eyes, there is no difference in quality or importance between these things. That we are all equal. God has no favorites. We're one in Christ Jesus. So those of you who are who are in positions of authority, just remember you are no more important to God than the person you're telling what to do is. They value, that they are valued just as much by God as you are. So treat them as such. You know, sometimes when I'm having a conversation with my wife, I can forget that that's God's daughter. And I can forget that. Like he has adopted her into his family, and so when I'm when I'm rolling my eyes or complaining about something that I think she should do differently, I'm like, I've actually had times where I have complained to God about something that my wife has done that's frustrated me. I'm sure she has too. Okay, so just I mean, she's not in the room right now, but like she totally has done that to me too, I promise. But like, sometimes I'm I'm caught in that moment. Like, I'm I'm oh, I'm talking about his daughter. Like, would I ever go to my wife's actual father, who is six foot five, I'll just want to say that, and like say, you don't really, you know what really annoys me about your daughter, you know? Like, no, I would never do that. That's a dumb thing to do, but I've done that sometimes when it comes to to people with God, right? I'm saying that because the person that works underneath you, the person that you're in charge of, that is God's child. That is his son, that is his daughter, just like you are. And so when you when you talk to them, if you have to have a hard conversation with them, if you have to fire them, that happens. But if you have to do that, just understand your heart, it better be right, and your intentions better be pure, and it better be intended to be done in such a way that is loving and kind and gracious and generous, because that is God's child. And they are just as important to God as you are. And that's why Paul finishes by saying, remember, remember, you both have the same master in heaven. You both have the same master. So the three things that we do, if we want to use authority correctly, we had two questions, right? How do I use authority wisely, rightly, as a child of God? Well, number one, it's pretty simple. You serve. Number two, you use but don't abuse. Number three, you remember that they belong to God just like you. That's that's the answer to that question, according to Ephesians. That's how we use authority. Second question, this is really fast. What needs to change in our heart to ensure, to ensure that we do use authority the right way? And the answer is really simple. It's the same word that we began this entire series with. It's the word submit. Everyone's favorite word, right? That's the S word in my family. Submit. Like it's just it's like a loaded word. But we started this whole series because Paul begins in Galatians chapter 5, verse 21. He says, and further submit to one another. It's mutual, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. We're supposed to submit to each other, and then he begins talking to wives about what submission looks like. Then he talks to husbands about what submission looks like, and children and parents and employees and employers, but that whole word submit, that's an umbrella statement over all of it. We are all called to submit to one another. And that begins when we submit our lives to Jesus. So if you want to know what needs to happen in your heart to make you the leader that you're meant to be, because I I want to believe and trust that every person in here who has any shred of leadership in you, anyone who has, even if you have one person who looks up to you, that's leadership. I want to trust and believe that you want to be be wise with that. I want to trust and believe that you want to use that well. That you want the people who are underneath you to be blessed and encouraged and grow. That you want God to be proud of the way that you lead. And if that's your heart, you're like, okay, well, what needs to happen inside of me to ensure that? Because let's be honest, leadership is hard. And those of you who have people that you work for, just give them grace sometime. It's it's hard to be in charge. It's hard to have to make those decisions. It's hard when you have multiple people who come to you and they want they want something done from the same limited resources, and you've got to choose who gets what they want, who doesn't. That's a tough situation to be in. So have grace and compassion for your leaders. But leaders, being a leader is not easy. Being a boss, being an employer, being a coach, being a teacher, being a parent, like a manager, whatever it is, it's not easy. It will test you. People will test you, situations will test you. And just like we said at the very beginning, you learn a lot about someone when you put them in charge of something. Those moments that test us, they make the invisible become visible. Well, what needs to happen in my heart to ensure that that's right? And the answer is I need to submit to Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as a good leader who can't be led by someone else. Doesn't exist. And all of us have the opportunity every day of our lives to submit ourselves to the one who made us. And so if you want to know where to start, if you want to know what to do, to help you lead, to help you employ, to help you go about your life in such a way that the people that you have authority over look up to you, that they want to follow you. The answer is daily, every single day, submit yourself to Jesus. Begin your day by praying, Jesus, I give my life to you today. Remind me as I go about my day that I belong to you, that I'm not as high up on the ladder as I might think that I am. It also means you're not as low. And so, Lord, I submit myself to you. Help me, God, lead my people the way you led yours. You prayed for them, you washed their feet, you served them. You never abused your power. You also never refused to use it to help them out, to do things they couldn't do. Help me remember that they belong to you just like I belong to you. Lord, I submit myself to you. For those of you in the room that have given your lives to Jesus, submission is a it's a it's a way of living. It's not just a one-time decision, it's a way of living. So every day, submit yourself to Jesus. And if you're here and you've never done that, you've never given your life to Jesus. I can't encourage you enough to do that. I I couldn't even think of the I couldn't even limit the number of reasons I could say to do it. Number one, he's God, he made you, he knows you, he loves you. You will never have a better leader in your life than Jesus Christ. You'll never have someone that you learn from like Jesus. You'll never have someone that you grow with like Jesus. And you'll never know what your life can be until you give it to Jesus. I'll tell you that. You will never know who you are meant to be until you give your life to Jesus. Because when you submit to him and you give him your life, you'll find out who you really are. Because you'll allow him to do with you what he's always wanted to do. He's your maker, he's your creator, he knows what you're made of. And that begins in your heart just by saying, Jesus, I believe in you. I give my life to you. You don't even have to know what all that means. It's I'm I'm still learning what all that means. Just give your life to him. And I will say this the first the first thing you do after that, the first step of obedience in your journey of following Jesus is to get baptized. And so here's what we're gonna do. We have someone getting baptized right now. Um, and they're in the lobby because we couldn't put anyone on stage this morning, but that's kind of fun. So we're gonna get a chance to surround them. Here's the deal we're gonna pray, we're gonna release. If you have the ability to stay for just a few minutes, I encourage you to make your way to the lobby and we're gonna cheer this person on. Here's what's really cool. Um, you guys all know Elon. A lot of you know Elon on our team. Um, it's Elan's daughter Lila that's getting baptized right now. So that's awesome. That's awesome. So we get a chance to celebrate them. So, but for anyone here, if you want to know how to lead, it begins by submitting. Give your life to Jesus, see what happens. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Lord, for the love that you've given us. Thank you, Jesus, for the way that you lead us. You know, you're you're a good leader. You're a good boss. And Lord, those of us in the room who are in positions of authority, we want to be like you. We want to lead our people the way that you lead us. So, Lord, I pray that you give us the ability to remember these words. That if we were challenged by anything that you have in your word, that we would adjust accordingly, Lord, and that we'd be okay with with recognizing that we've got room to grow, and that we would daily submit ourselves to you. We love you so much, Lord. Thank you for this morning. Thank you for uh for everything that you're doing in our lives. Bless every person in this room as they go out into their weeks. Lord, just make us like you. Help us change the world. We love you, and it's your name we pray. Amen.