Last Sunday, at VALLEY Christian Church, I taught on the story of Gideon from Judges 6 & 7. It’s an amazing story where God gives Gideon’s army the victory despite being outnumbered 450 to 1! Gideon was victorious even though he had an Underdog mentality that said, “The Odds Are Against Me”.

The climax of the story comes when Gideon, who had once been a weak & fearful man, rises to his feet and leads his army with three clear and concise statements.

“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do.” Judges 7:17 (NIV)

If you are a leader in any area of life, these three statements are the essence of leadership whether it is in the church, in business, government, family, education, military, sports or entertainment:

1. Watch Me

2. Follow My Lead

3. Do Exactly As I Do

When I was a boy, I remember learning the action rhyme, “Monkey see – Monkey do. Monkey does the same as you.” Funny, after all these years, this simple children’s rhyme cuts through all of the clamor, blame-shifting and manipulation modeled by so many leaders today and tells it like it is;

Your life is a living example to those you lead. You cannot lead others in anything you yourself do not live out.

So, if you’re a leader (lead monkey) of any kind, the bottom line is this; all the teaching, coaching, correcting, threatening, cajoling, advising, counseling, encouraging, begging, pleading, inspiring, motivating, prodding, caring, instructing and disciplining will never accomplish what living it out as an example will!

Remember, “Monkey see – Monkey do”!