CHAPTER FOUR

Mark of a Great Leader - Following God’s Plan
God has a definite plan for every phase of His work. There is an order that must be followed if the results are to be pleasing to Him.
Before Moses returned to Egypt from Midian, God told him that the final statement made to Pharaoh would be concerning the death of the firstborn. Yet God warned him that all the other plagues must be brought forth first.
Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
A lot of time and suffering could have been avoided if only Moses had been able to cut straight through the preliminaries to the final event.

It is often a temptation to try to short circuit God’s plans in order that we can see results quicker. We may desire to see children saved and elicit a profession of faith from them even before they become conscious of guilt for sin. Sometimes we recruit a person into the service of God without waiting for the Holy Spirit to do His work of conviction. The desire to see growth in numbers has caused some to forego the strong teaching needed to enable a Church to endure. If not careful to follow God’s plan, we can become ‘result’ oriented and forget that God demands obedience and He will provide results.

Here are a few simple Scriptural truths;
He has chosen by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. I Cor 1:21
It is to be the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. Rom 1:16
He has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30
We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8,9
He has ordained good works in which His people are to walk. Eph 2:10
There is no other medium through which He receives service and glory except a New Testament Church. Eph 3:21

Each of these statements are true, but if we should isolate one and ignore the rest we will answer for not following God’s plan. ‘With the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ is a wonderful Biblical statement, but there have been occasions when confessions have been planted in a person’s mouth and then elicited with a series of planned questions and the person told that is all that’s necessary. He may have never sat under the Gospel witness, may never have felt conviction for his sins, never have been brought to a state of repentance nor really trusted Christ and His substitutionary work. In short, he may have met none of the Biblical requirements of hearing, being convicted, repenting, trusting; and yet be assured of the impossible by some would-be leader who is too impatient to follow God’s plan.

Eph. 2:10 ‘We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ .
In these `good works’ too, there is an order which must be followed. Baptism, membership in a local, New Testament Church, obedience to scriptural injunctions in morality and dutiful doctrinal practice. All these are necessary and each must be followed in an orderly fashion. Sects and cults have multiplied and many individuals have been led away from acceptable service to God because some `leader’ refused to follow God's plan and insisted on trying to ‘enter the promised land without ever crossing the Red Sea!’ Boards, conventions, committees, etc. which usurp the authority of local churches have all come into being because principals have not chosen to use God's plan as their guiding principle.

The ‘social gospel’, modernism, liberalism, universalism, so-called ‘higher criticism’ and other ‘isms ad nauseum’ have been spawned, nurtured, and continue to plague God’s people because someone chose to follow a course other than God’s plan.
Admittedly, it would have been more ‘energy efficient’ and a considerable saving of time if the Passover had been the first thing on the agenda for Moses when he returned to Egypt. It would have saved the Israelites some sorrow if Pharaoh had not been angered by Moses’ requests to let them go into the wilderness to worship. They would not have had their tasks increased again and again. The question is, however, would the Israelites have been ready to accept the Passover and the subsequent challenges without the preparation of experiencing God’s protection in the preceding plagues? Also, would the Egyptians have been willing to share so much of their wealth, had they not experienced the increasing wrath of God in the plagues?

However unwieldy God’s orders may seem to men, they have a purpose and that purpose is often very practical, but even if there were no practical purpose, the mere fact that God has so ordered is sufficient reason for any leader to follow without question.