Leadership is a great and serious responsibility, that is why God set strict standards for leaders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. “A bishop then must be blameless…patient….not a novice…must have a good report…” “Likewise must the deacons be grave…faithful in all things…” Failure to measure up to those standards can have serious, far reaching consequences. The reason is because as a leader you are a role model for everyone who is following you. Esther 1:10-18 The king commanded the queen to come out so everyone could see her beauty, but she refused. What was so bad about that? Something was very bad about that; every woman in the kingdom looked up to the queen. As soon as they saw that she totally refused to follow her husband’s wish and got away with it, they would be doing the same thing. “The queen can do it, why can’t I?” This was not the way it was supposed to be; the king had to do something about it. So what was the end result? The queen lost her position of authority. The king found a new queen. When a leader seriously fails, he loses the respect of all his followers and ends up finding a new job.