"Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat." (Luke 22:7-8)

In one of the hardest, most trying times of His life, Jesus stood tall and led those who were following him. In verse seven, Jesus realized that they must have a place to observe this Lord's Supper, this last supper.

He realized that there were many details to be cared for. He realized that there had to be some preparations for some things. I draw from that the first leadership characteristic: A leader always prepares for the important things.

The institution of the Lord's Supper was a very important thing. He was going to give this as an ordinance to the local church. He was going to give this, so that we, two thousand years later, as we did tonight, could remember His broken body and His shed blood in an institution or in a celebration.

He was preparing for the things that were most important. I say to you that a leader prepares for the important things. Let me give you four things I believe He was preparing for:

1. He was preparing Himself for the task at hand.

He was getting ready; He knew what He was going to face. He knew that He was going to face the cross in just a few hours. He knew that Judas had just slipped out a few moments before.

He knew that He would be betrayed with a kiss. He knew that Peter would deny Him. He knew that He would be falsely accused. He knew all of those things.

First of all, He had to have a solitary place, an upper room, where he and His followers could go to prepare themselves. A leader always prepares for the important things. He was preparing Himself for the task ahead.

A great leader is one who prepares himself for his leadership. A great lady leader is one who prepares herself for her leadership, who studies leadership, who studies great leaders, and who studies the Word of God about leadership.

One day you are going to have someone call you a leader; they are going to be a follower of yours, and they are going to wish you had listened to a message like this tonight.

2. Jesus was preparing the disciples for the loss of His leadership in just a few days.

He had to. He knew that these eleven men, for three and a half years, had been dependent upon Him. They were following His every move. Every time a question came up, they asked Him, the Master, "What are we supposed to do bout this?"

And, Jesus knew that when He went to Heaven, they were not going to have Him any longer. He also used this special night in the upper room to prepare them for when He would not be there.

It is just like parents. It is just like you preparing your children for the day they leave the nest. That is why it is of utmost importance for parents to be leaders in this day and age.

Do not let the public school lead your kids. Do not let the television lead your kids. Do not let the worldly philosophies be the leaders for your kids.

You, as the God-given leader in your home, must take that responsibility to prepare them for when they are not going to have you to go ask what they need to do.

I have many parents of teenagers here in this church that I pastor, and I realize what a great importance that is and what a great responsibility you have to have teenagers. They are about to walk off into life. Are they going to be prepared?

Have you prepared them for when they are going to be a leader? Have you prepared them for when they are going to be a husband, or when they are going to be a wife, or when they are going to have children, or when they are going to have a Sunday school class, or when they are going to be a deacon in a local church, or when they may stand behind a pulpit?

Some of your thirteen and fourteen-year-old boys . . . you cannot anymore picture them standing behind a pulpit pastoring a church than anything in this world. But, do you know what? God just may call them, and you had better have put some preparation into their lives so that they are proper leaders someday.

Would you not hate to have some deacon board come back to you as a parent someday and say, "You raised a brat. We called him as pastor, but you did not prepare him."? Would that not be an awful thing? You do not know what is going to be in the future; so you must prepare for the important things.

3. Jesus was preparing His disciples as He developed their leadership.

Not only was He trying to prepare them for when He would not be there, but He was preparing them for when they would have to step up and start the early church.

They would have to be the pastors of the early church. They would have to be the ones who would stand before the council. They would have to be the ones without Him who would see the persecution that would arise.

Throughout the book of Acts we see men who had watched the Lord Jesus and had been prepared for leadership. They had to step into leadership and were able to do so just fine. He was preparing them for the important things, for when they would exercise leadership.

4. He was preparing for that which would accomplish these things.

What was it that He told them to go and prepare? Look at verse eight. "Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat." Here is what He said, "I need you to go find this room. I need you to go find us some food to eat. Get some dishes to put it on. We need some glasses. We need some tables, and we need some chairs."

He said, "I want you to go care for those things that you think are little details." He said, "This is a big detail because I am preparing more than just the room. I am preparing the person who is going to sit in the room."

You ladies, you clean your home, and you wash those dishes. Those are not just dishes. Those are not just beds. Those are not just clothes that you wash. Those are ingredients of your children.

Those are things that you do for the good of the people who wear those clothes and for the people who eat from those dishes and for the folks who are nourished by your meals. What I am saying to you is that a leader prepares for the important things, but he realizes that no job is unimportant.

A leader does not think that the little things are unimportant. Jesus said, "I want you to go and prepare, that we may eat." You say, "Well, those are little things. Why did He not just go hire someone to do that?" It is because He was developing leadership in His disciples.

Do you know why it is a good thing for you to get your hands dirty in the work of God around here? Do you know why it is a good that you can clean a toilet around here or go work on a bus and get all hot and sweaty as some of you did yesterday. Do you know why?

It is because I would like to prepare some of you for an even greater measure of leadership someday. A great leader is never going to be a great leader unless he learns to exercise great leadership in little things.

A leader never thinks anything is unimportant. The leader must look at every detail as important. You do not understand even what went into making this morning a success. You may not even understand all the little details.

Someone months ago had to reserve a skating rink. Someone had to earn some money so we could rent that skating rink. You see, there are lots of little details that go into making a big day. You maybe did not even realize it.

That is leadership, though, and leadership is able to see down the road what needs to be done, so that at about eleven fifteen I could stand behind this pulpit and open up a Bible with the sermon of salvation's message and preach it with power! All of the things we did led up to what happened at eleven fifteen right here this morning.

Everything that happened led up to that man walking down that aisle right there and being dealt with right there by Brother Dave Dobbins. He received Jesus Christ as his Savior. Everything was done. Those little details all went into the big detail, which was someone getting saved. Do you see what I am talking about? This is leadership. If a leader never looks past what he is doing presently, he will never be a great leader. If you never can see the big picture, you will never be a great leader.

Brother Sapp, you work with children every day of your life. Do not get bogged down in the daily grind of these children. You look at the big picture, as I know you do, and you see the future. You can all see that he is developing leadership in these young men and these young ladies in our Christian school. See the big picture.

A leader, though, realizes that the big picture is just made up of a lot of little pieces. You put a beautiful puzzle together. You had to spend a lot of time to put each piece where it fits. Sometimes, you had to get a little frustrated, did you not? "I cannot find where that piece fits."

That is just like you do with your children, just like we do in our marriages, and just like we do in the church situation. Sometimes we say, "Well, maybe I will just sit over there, and God will just have to show me." Lo and behold, if you stay at it long enough, and you be a good enough leader, you will find right where that piece needs to go. Why! . . . to complete the big picture.

So, I said to you, point number one: Jesus, as the example of leadership, PREPARED FOR THE IMPORTANT THINGS. I ask you a question, Leader . . . What is it then that is most important to you? Daddy, what is it that is most important to you, that you are preparing for? Now I am going to hit me right where it hurts here.

I love to play golf. Are you preparing more for your golf game, or are you preparing more for how your kids turn out? Or are you preparing more for what kind of relationship you have with your wife? Or am I preparing more for what kind of pastor I need to be?

Do you see what I am saying, Leader? What is it that is important to you? That which is important to you, you will prepare for. You will prepare to be a good daddy. You will prepare to be a good husband.

Success often rests on good preparation. It is the responsibility of the leader to be prepared. A leader must start by preparing for the important things.

NOTICE

The above message is from the book ". . . AND THEY FOLLOW . . ." by Pastor Corey Bane, pastor of the GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH in Delaware, Ohio. Every message in the book (14 of them) is about leadership. You can purchase one copy for $6.00. (postage paid) Write to: DR. COREY BANE, 3180 STATE ROUTE 37 WEST, DELAWARE, OHIO 43015 Ä or by calling: (740) 369-3813.