Leadership?

Leadership Exposed

2 Chronicles 10:11

"For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

There are two principles of leadership that have been passed down throughout the years. One of the principles of leadership has been highly successful, but sadly it is rarely followed. The other principle of leadership seems to be the prevailing principle followed to the detriment of churches, homes, businesses and nations. The story of Rehoboam acquiring the throne of Israel exposes both principles of leadership.

Rehoboam took over the throne of Solomon after his death. Within a short time of Rehoboam taking the throne, the people came to him and said to him in verse 4, "Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father,..." Rehoboam responded by telling the people he would give them an answer to their request in three days.

During these three days, Rehoboam went to his counselors to ask what he should do. The old men who worked with his father told him to be kind to the people and do what they asked. In other words, they were telling him to serve the people. He then went to the young men with whom he grew up and asked them what to do. They told him to be harsh to the people and tell them that he would be more demanding of a leader than his father. In other words, they were telling Rehoboam that leadership is about the position, and that he must be demanding of the people and make them serve him. Sadly, Rehoboam followed the young men who grew up with him. These young men had never led a nation, but they thought they knew better than the old men who knew what leadership was all about. Israel was divided because Rehoboam followed the wrong model of leadership.

There are many leaders today who follow the wrong model of leadership to the detriment of what they lead. Many pastors make their position about themselves and not about those whom they lead. If you are the pastor of a church, your purpose in pastoring is not about what your people can do for you, but it is about you serving the people. Every pastor who makes his position about himself destroys his church.

Those who hold government leadership roles must understand that the privilege of their position is to serve their constituents. There are too many government officials who have made their position about what they can get out of it, and that is why there is so much corruption in government. If every person who holds a leadership position in government would make his position about serving his constituents, they would find that people would want them to stay in office for a long time.

It doesn't matter what leadership role you have, if you make your role of leadership about the position, then you will harm those whom you lead and the institution or organization that you represent. Whether it be the home, church, business or government institution, every leader should realize that their purpose of holding a leadership role is to serve those whom they lead. Don't ever make leadership about the position, but make leadership about serving the people. If you will make your role of leadership about serving the people, then you will have the privilege of serving them in a leadership role for a long time.

Preparing

Preparing in Spite of Troubles

1 Chronicles 22:14

"Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto."

Years ago when I was learning to fly airplanes, part of the training my instructor put me through was learning to fly in spite of clouds and storms. To prepare for these, he had me close my eyes as he made several maneuvers to cause me to become disoriented. Then, he put a hood over my head, which was something like a sun visor hat. When he told me to open my eyes, I was to immediately look at the instruments to orient myself with what the plane was doing. The purpose of this was to teach me to stay focused in spite of clouds and storms so that I would be able to successfully fly through any trouble.

David did this in his life. David said, "...in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD..." You will notice that David didn't wait till everything was running smoothly to make preparations for the LORD's house. No matter what he faced in his life, he continued to prepare for the house of the LORD. In spite of wars, he kept sight of his purpose of preparing for the house of the LORD. In spite of family turmoil, he kept preparing for the LORD's house. In spite of death, he kept preparing for the LORD's house. David did not allow the troubles of life to sidetrack him from preparing for the house of the LORD.

The Devil would love to get you to let your troubles sidetrack you from doing what you are supposed to do. One of the reasons the Devil tries to send troubles your way is to get you to stop serving God and focus on your troubles. He is not as concerned about you destroying your life in sin as he is with you doing God's will for your life. So, he will send every obstacle and trouble your way just to get you sidetracked from God's purpose of placing you on this Earth.

Christian, your troubles of life are not going to change if you allow them to sidetrack you from serving the LORD. If you stop doing what you are supposed to do to focus on your troubles, then you have left the very thing that will cause God to help you through them. God allows your troubles because He can do greater works through them. You must not allow your troubles to keep you out of church. You must not allow them to keep your from soul winning. You must not allow them to keep you from your ministry. Don't allow your troubles to sidetrack you from what you are supposed to do.

Furthermore, the greatest test of your Christianity is if you continue to do what you are supposed to do in spite of your troubles. When the world sees that you continue going in spite of hardships and heartache, then the world will see that you truly believe in your purpose. The Christian faith is made stronger when you continue going through your troubles.

Have you allowed troubles to sidetrack you from doing what God wants you to do? Have you stepped back from your responsibilities because of your troubles? Have you allowed troubles to sidetrack you from what you are supposed to be doing? Be careful that you always stay focused on what God wants you to do. Troubles will come, but they should never cause you to stop serving God. When troubles come, take them to the LORD and let Him deal with them. Then, leave your troubles with the LORD and go serve Him. This is how you keep your troubles from sidetracking you from what you are supposed to do.

Favor?

Can You Do Me a Favor?

1 Chronicles 11:17

"And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!"

When reading through the list of David's mighty men, we often miss why these men were in the list. We see the great feats that these men accomplished, but we don't see the greatest feats of these men. Inside this list are some of the greatest truths that you can apply to your life, and the verse above is no exception.

What was it that caused three men to become the mightiest of David's captains? Was it their great individual feats? No, it was not! It was not that one of these men slew three hundred men all by himself that caused him to become the mightiest. Yes, this was a great feat, but this is not what caused him to become one of the three mightiest. It was not that one of these men was with David when he defended a parcel of ground full of barley that caused him to become the mightiest. Certainly a lot can be said about people who stand with their leader when they make positional stands for the old-time religion.

So, what was it that caused these men to become the mightiest of David's thirty captains? What caused them to become the mightiest is that they risked their lives to fulfill a desire that David verbally expressed. David simply thought out loud about how he wanted a drink of the water from the well where he grew up in Bethlehem. These three men heard their friend and leader express his desire, and they risked their lives to be sure to fulfill that desire. They understood that fulfilling the request of a friend is one of the greatest things they could ever do for David.

One of the things I feel we have lost in Christianity is the selfless action of doing whatever you can to fulfill a friend's desire. Certainly, obeying leadership is of utter importance, but doing something for someone because they express a desire is what defines great friendship.

If you are going to become one who fulfills the desires of friends, then you are going to have to start living a selfless life. Let me make this clear, life is not about what others can do for you, but life is about what you can do for others. When you fulfill the desires of people, you will be amazed of the great satisfaction that comes from that.

Furthermore, you are going to have to start listening to people. You will never fulfill the desires of people if you don't listen to them when they talk. Many times people simply express desires inside of a conversation. It may be that they talk about one of their favorite foods. It could be that they simply talk about wishing they could have something. It could be that they see something that they mention they would like to have someday. You will never know these things if you don't listen to them. You must listen to people as they talk if you want to become a person who fulfills desires.

You will win people's hearts over to you if you will learn to help people realize their desires. I know that you can't always give people what they want, but you can do everything in your power to help them get something they desire. I challenge you today to listen to those around you and see if they subtly mention something they desire. Then, take that desire and make it your command to give to them what they want. You will be surprised how the LORD will supply the wherewithal to meet these desires if you will simply be willing to be the delivery boy for God.

Trusting,,,

Trusting a "Bruised Reed"

2 Kings 18:21

"Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him."

The verse above is a message that the king of Assyria sent to King Hezekiah. Hezekiah rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not compromise his beliefs in God. Hezekiah understood that God commanded His people to live a certain way, and the king of Assyria attempted to change that. The king of Assyria told Hezekiah that he shouldn't trust in the "bruised reed" of Egypt. What he was telling him was that his trust in what God did in the past wouldn't work for him in the present. He was saying that God's methods were outdated and that those methods were no longer relevant for Judah. Thankfully, Hezekiah would not compromise his beliefs and was willing to die for God's way of living. As you finish reading the story you find that God blessed Hezekiah for not compromising, and instead killed the king of Assyria.

I recently heard a sermon by a supposedly fundamental Baptist educator who compared how independent, fundamental Baptist do things to "grandma's couch." He said that the only reason we like grandma's couch is because of all the memories that the couch had, but that grandma's couch was outdated and no longer useful. He then said that the way fundamental Baptist did things in the past does not work in bringing people to the church. The whole analogy of the sermon was that the methods of the past were outdated and that we need to be willing to change our music, style of dress and church services to a contemporary service for the sake of keeping people.

This mentality is the same mentality that the king of Assyria used against Hezekiah. Christian, you must realize that we are to follow God's methods whether or not they work. It is not a matter of whether we become popular or not. It is not a matter of whether our churches grow into mega churches. It is not a matter of whether we seemed outdated to the world. The whole matter is that we must always do what God tells us to do even if it doesn't seem to work. I often say that I would rather preach to a small crowd and stand for right than to preach to large crowds through compromise.

Furthermore, we must watch out that we don't fall for the mentality of trying to bring God down to man. 1 Peter 1:16 says, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." You will notice this verse does not say that we are to bring God down to our level. On the contrary, God is saying that we are to bring ourselves up to His level. Holiness should not be measured by the world, holiness should be measured by God. Too many Christians compromise and want God to come down to their level when they need to change how they live and dress to become like God. We should not lower our dress and music standards just to get a crowd. Instead, people should change their music and clothing styles to meet God's standards.

Christian, the compromisers will always try to convince you that the old-time way doesn't work anymore. You must stand strong and not accept their compromising ways. God's methods have worked in the past in times of compromise, and they will still work today. However, even if they didn't work, we are never to change God's way of doing things for the sake of being successful in the eyes of the world. Success is not measured by crowds and popularity, but success is measured by whether we successfully follow God's way through whatever we face.

Good enough?

I'm Not Good Enough For You

Judges 10:13-14

"Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."

One of the common characteristics of Israel in the Book of Judges was that after a judge died they would go back to serving the gods of the land. This action wearied God. In fact, it brought God to the point that He told them He would no longer deliver them from their enemies. God continued by saying to them, "Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen;..." God was telling Israel that if He was not good enough for them, then they needed to rely on the gods that did nothing for them.

I believe God is teaching an important principle in this verse that every leader and follower needs to learn. God was teaching that you should not waste your time on people who won't heed your advice. This does not mean that you don't love them, but constantly telling people what to do when you know they are not going to follow it is a waste of your time and theirs. If your advice is not good enough to follow, then let them go follow the advice of whomever they will follow.

There are many preachers who waste their time counseling people who never follow their advice. Preacher, why waste your time with those who never follow your advice? When you constantly spend time giving advice to someone who never follows it, you are taking time away from those who will heed your advice. I don't mind helping people. In fact, I love to help people; however, I am not going to try to help people who don't think my advice is good enough for them. I don't need to pat my ego by saying I counsel all these people. To be honest with you, I would rather spend less time counseling people who want my advice than wasting hours of my time counseling people who will never follow it. God did this with Israel, so why would you not follow His example? I am not saying that you should not help these people, but there must come a time when you tell them to get whoever's advice they are following and stop wasting everyone's time.

Moreover, let me personally encourage you to stop shopping for advice. There are many people who look for advice, not to know what to do, but to find someone who will tell them what they want to do. Christian, you can always find someone who will counsel you to do what you want to do, but that does not always mean that it is right. You need godly advice that will guide you down the pathway God wants you to walk. It may not always be what you want to hear, but if your life is happier because you followed godly advice then you should be satisfied.

Let's be careful about wasting time in the counseling arena. Yes, everyone should get godly counsel, but let's be careful about wasting someone's advice because it is not good enough. If you find someone who doesn't think your advice is good enough for them, then let them go to whoever it is that they think is good enough. It may not be the right thing, but sometimes you have to let people experience ungodly advice so that they will follow godly advice for the rest of their lives. Don't ever give up on people, but don't waste your time with people who never follow what you tell them to do.