Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS019413A
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00:01 Hello, I'm Mike Browning, welcome to Let God Speak.
00:03 Leadership is a challenging role. 00:05 Some people with strong personalities, 00:07 they're natural leaders, 00:08 but most have to learn how to lead. 00:11 Regardless, all leaders have a powerful influence on others. 00:14 From the scriptures today, we'll seek to understand 00:17 the power of spiritual leadership. 00:44 Well, folks, on our panel today, 00:45 we have Gayl Fong and we have Colin Hone, 00:47 and we're glad to have you both. 00:49 Thank you for coming. 00:50 And, Gayl, welcome to the program. 00:52 This is your first time, we appreciate you being here. 00:55 We'd like to invite everyone to join with us 00:57 in prayer today. 00:59 Father in heaven, 01:00 we come to You to ask for Your guidance, 01:02 the guidance of Your Holy Spirit 01:04 as we study the Scripture today. 01:06 Help us to understand its message to us, please. 01:09 In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. 01:10 Amen. Amen. 01:12 All right. 01:13 Now we need to talk about 01:14 what qualities make for a good leader. 01:16 Colin, that's our first step today. 01:19 Well, let's go to 2 Kings 22:3, 01:24 this is with Josiah 01:27 where he restores true worship back to Israel. 01:30 And in verse 3, it says, 01:32 "Then the king stood by a pillar 01:33 and made a covenant before the Lord 01:36 to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments 01:39 and his testimonies and his statutes 01:41 with all his heart and with all his soul." 01:43 So he made a covenant with God 01:45 that he was going to keep God's commandments, 01:47 restore worship, and with all his heart. 01:51 And then he not just spoke about it, 01:52 he then went about in action and doing it. 01:56 You see him, 01:57 you know, shutting down all the idol worship 01:59 around Israel. 02:00 You see him, you know, 02:02 shutting down the offering of sons and daughters 02:04 where they are offering their children 02:06 to the god of Moloch through fire. 02:08 And he shut down that practice, so he put it into action. 02:11 He spoke it, made a deal with God, 02:14 with all his heart to follow Him, 02:15 keep His commandments. 02:16 And then he actually put into action what, 02:19 you know, he was a man of not just words, 02:21 but of action. 02:22 So that was good leadership, wasn't it? 02:23 A good leadership role. 02:25 A lot of people want to lead others. 02:29 But is this really an easy job? 02:30 I mean, that's the question. 02:32 Well, I think leaders have a huge responsibility. 02:36 And this is certainly shown throughout the Bible. 02:41 They can exert a great influence 02:43 for good or evil, 02:44 just as Colin has shared with King Josiah. 02:48 And God is going to actually ask us 02:50 for an account of how we deal with the responsibilities. 02:55 He gives us. 02:56 And it's an illustration of that in Luke 16:1-2. 03:00 I'll just read those verses. 03:02 He said, "He also said to his disciples 03:06 there was a certain rich man who had a steward, 03:08 and an accusation was brought to him 03:11 that this man was wasting his goods. 03:13 So he called him and said to him, 03:15 'What is this I hear about you? 03:17 Give an account of your stewardship, 03:19 for you can no longer be steward.'" 03:22 And it's quite serious 03:25 when you think about the responsibilities 03:27 that God gives to leaders, 03:28 whether we are a leader of a great nation 03:30 or if we are leader in our home as a parent 03:33 or in our community. 03:34 Yeah, okay. Now, thank you Gayl for that. 03:37 That's true. 03:38 I want to look now 03:40 at some of the experiences of the apostles 03:42 in the New Testament. 03:45 And I'd like to talk about it for us, if you could. 03:48 What do you think of Peter and James 03:50 and their approach to dealing their leadership style, 03:52 if you like, in dealing with a very important issue 03:55 that came up? 03:56 There's a record of the next Chapter 15. 03:58 Yes. Well, 04:00 what, to give you some background, 04:01 what was happening? 04:02 Just like any church, 04:04 they had disputes back in their days. 04:06 Their dispute there was over circumcision, okay? 04:09 That was a long-held practice by. 04:10 And was it to be applied to the non-Jewish people? 04:13 To the gentiles, as they called them. 04:14 And so there was a dispute. 04:16 And so what happened then is Peter and Paul get up 04:19 and they start giving their testimonies 04:21 of how God worked miraculously through gentiles 04:25 and that they also have been saved in the same way by Jesus. 04:28 Yeah. 04:29 And so, and so they preach from the Word of God. 04:32 And then they even quoted scripture 04:33 where Peter quote scripture, where he says in... 04:38 Well, he's quoting scripture and he says in Acts 15:16-17, 04:43 as the prophet said, "After this I will return 04:45 and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, 04:47 which has fallen down, 04:48 I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. 04:51 So the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. 04:53 The rest of mankind, not just..." 04:55 All of gentiles. "The gentiles. 04:57 Even all the gentiles are called by name." 04:58 And so James gets up. 05:00 And after Peter and Paul have given their testimony, 05:02 quoted from the Word of God. 05:04 James gets up and makes the decisions 05:07 that the gentile should not be troubled from turning to God 05:10 and they're accepted into the faith. 05:12 So it's a scripture driven decision 05:14 that he was calling for. 05:16 That's right. 05:17 And I think that's powerful lesson 05:18 when it comes to leadership. 05:20 And going back into the Old Testament now 05:22 and the experience 05:23 that followed the death of Solomon. 05:25 His son Rehoboam took the throne 05:30 and a delegation of people came to Rehoboam and talk to him. 05:37 And it's recorded in 1 Kings 12:4. 05:43 1 Kings 12:4. 05:44 And this is what the delegation of people 05:47 said to Rehoboam the new king. 05:49 "Your father made the yoke heavy. 05:52 Now, therefore, lighten 05:53 the burdens in service of your father 05:55 and his heavy yoke." 05:57 And he wisely said to them in verse 5, 06:01 "Depart for three days, then come back." 06:04 So he needed time to think the answer through. 06:06 That was good. 06:08 And so then verse 6, 06:09 "King Rehoboam consulted the elders 06:12 who stood before his father." 06:13 These are the old wise, experienced men. 06:17 And he says, "How do you advise me to answer these people?" 06:20 In verse 7, they said, 06:21 "If you will be a servant to these people..." 06:23 Now, isn't that an interesting thing? 06:25 Yes, it is. 06:26 We've talked a lot today about certain leadership 06:27 and how powerful it is. 06:29 And this is a long time ago. 06:30 And they're saying, 06:32 "If you will be a servant to the people, 06:34 and serve them and answer them, 06:35 so on speak good words, 06:37 they'll be your servants forever." 06:39 But verse 8, "He rejected the advice 06:41 which the elders had given him and consulted the young man." 06:46 What did they say? 06:47 There is none. He asked them. 06:49 In verse 10, "The young man said, 06:51 'Thus you should speak to this people 06:53 who have spoken to you, 06:54 saying, 'Your father made our yoke too heavy.' 06:57 Say this, 06:59 'My little finger shall be thicker than father's waist.'" 07:02 And they go on giving some very unwise counsel. 07:06 Verse 11, "Whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you. 07:09 I will add to your yoke. 07:10 My father chastise you with whips, 07:12 I'll chastise you with scorpions." 07:14 I mean, this was really incredible. 07:17 So how did this go? 07:19 Well, it went disastrously 07:23 because he did not follow the wise advice of the elders 07:28 who had learned, 07:29 I'm sure over the years of how to be a leader. 07:33 And they gave him excellent advice, 07:35 but he didn't follow that. 07:38 And from my study that, 07:40 his character had been molded, sadly, in his early years, 07:44 not perhaps by the best example. 07:47 And the first example for us is always our parents, 07:51 our mom or dad or someone who is caring for us. 07:54 And he, 07:56 perhaps he missed out there and his character was very, 08:00 was not strong in doing what was right. 08:04 He obviously was a very proud young man. 08:07 And it says in 1 Kings 08:10 12:16-17, 08:14 it says, now, "When all Israel 08:16 saw that the king did not listen to them. 08:19 The people answered the king saying, 08:22 'What share have we in David? 08:23 We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. 08:26 To your tents, O Israel. 08:28 Now see to your own house, O David!'" 08:31 So Israel departed to their tents, 08:33 but Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel 08:36 who dwelt in the cities of Judah. 08:38 So it actually was the beginning 08:39 of the split of the empire. 08:43 Yes. 08:44 And Israel really went downhill from that point, didn't it. 08:46 So he did not lead with humility. 08:49 And he showed his character was a very weak 08:52 and vacillating character. 08:54 We talked about the power of humility a little while ago, 08:58 and it seemed to be seriously lacking 09:02 in the experience of this young man. 09:04 So that was too bad. 09:07 Compare this with the leadership of Josiah 09:09 that we mentioned earlier. 09:13 Then, Colin, sorry, a little bit earlier than that. 09:18 We first of all, before we come to that, 09:20 we're going to talk about 09:21 the experience of Jeroboam and his son Nadab later. 09:25 That's recorded for us in 1 Kings Chapter 15, folks, 09:29 just a couple of pages over. 09:31 So you've got Nadab or Nadab 09:34 or however you want to pronounce it. 09:35 He becomes the king 09:37 and he's a son of Jeroboam and become... 09:39 And in verse, chapter 15:25-26. 09:43 It says, 09:45 "Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel 09:48 in the second year of Asa king of Judah, 09:50 and he reigned over Israel for two years. 09:52 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, 09:54 and walked in the way of his father, 09:57 and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin." 10:01 So what you found there 10:02 is that the father had influenced his son, 10:06 and he walked in the same ways. 10:08 Which shows us that as parents 10:10 that we can have a great influence 10:12 for good or evil over our children. 10:15 And that's not always the case. 10:17 Children can still make their own decisions, 10:19 but they can influence in a negative way 10:22 or a positive way. 10:23 We pick up our parents' model by osmosis almost, 10:26 don't we, without even thinking about it, 10:28 unless we do deliberately choose otherwise. 10:31 But in this case, 10:33 I noticed at the end of verse 26 10:34 where you read there. 10:35 It says that he made Israel sin. 10:37 So his model not only affected his children, 10:40 but the entire nation. 10:42 That's the incredible thing about it all to me. 10:44 The whole nation was affected. 10:45 That shows that leaders, 10:46 how leaders can actually affect the whole nation. 10:49 They can affect a whole church potentially 10:52 in the way that they're leading. 10:53 Okay. 10:55 The people of God are definitely an influence, 10:56 there's no doubt about it. 10:58 Now we'll come to Josiah. 11:00 Gayl, like we mentioned earlier on. 11:03 Now, just comparing Josiah's positive leadership 11:06 with what we just read about with these men. 11:09 Yes. 11:11 Obviously, Josiah, he say, 11:13 he comes to the throne very young. 11:15 I mean, he's only eight years of age 11:16 when he actually is placed in such a responsible position. 11:21 But we notice that, 11:23 that a number of years later 11:27 when he's in his 20s, as Colin was, 11:29 has read out earlier when we began the study, 11:32 that he has set his whole heart to follow the Lord 11:36 and he wants to bring the nation with him. 11:38 They are just two opposites that we see here. 11:42 He is leading the people upward to God spiritually, 11:46 whereas we found that 11:50 Jeroboam and Rehoboam actually 11:52 led them downward away from blessings. 11:57 Yeah, yeah. 11:58 You see the influence on his life as well. 12:00 There was the influence in his life 12:01 was by a priest who was a man often after God. 12:05 And he didn't have the influence from his parents 12:06 because obviously his father died young 12:09 and his grandma was ruling and she was doing quite evil, 12:12 but he was set aside and trained up 12:14 in the ways of the Lord. 12:15 I thought that was really interesting. 12:17 Yes, it is very interesting indeed. 12:18 And what a powerful influence a man of God can be on a child. 12:22 Yes. 12:23 You know a powerful positive influence. 12:25 Yes. 12:26 Moving on to Nehemiah now, 12:28 we've spent a lot of time in Ezra and Nehemiah 12:30 this last couple of months of study 12:33 which has been so interesting. 12:35 I'd like to go to Nehemiah 1:3-4 12:40 and look at the kind of leadership 12:41 we have here from Nehemiah. 12:43 And this is what it says, Nehemiah 1:3 and 4. 12:46 "They said to me, 12:48 "And the survivors who are left 12:49 from the captivity in the province 12:51 are in great distress and reproach." 12:54 Nehemiah's back in Babylon and he hears this news about 12:57 the people back in Jerusalem. 13:00 And he goes on to say in verse 3, 13:01 "The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, 13:03 its gates are burned with fire." 13:05 Look at the response of Nehemiah. 13:07 Now here's a man who has the capacity to lead. 13:10 "So it was, when I heard these words, 13:12 I sat down and wept 13:13 and mourned for many days." 13:16 He didn't just cry and worn and get sad and everything. 13:19 He didn't wring his hands, only, he says. 13:21 I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 13:23 Now there's a good response. 13:25 So compare this 13:28 with what they've just been reading about 13:30 where these men lead people into evil. 13:31 Here's a man. 13:33 What do you think that his approach here? 13:34 Well, there's two things he was upset 13:37 and sad about what was happening. 13:38 It really affected his heart. 13:40 But what he did is, he just said, 13:42 okay, I'm gonna take action now. 13:43 He comes and says, I'm going to go to you, Lord. 13:46 And it was with prayer and fasting that he began, 13:49 which means he was going to God to ask Him, what do I do? 13:52 I want direction from You, not from what I think is right. 13:55 But, you know, what's your will in this situation. 13:57 So prayer and fasting, 13:58 you find that right throughout the Bible, 14:00 the great leaders were men of prayer and fasting, 14:02 and Jesus Himself was always in prayer and fasting. 14:05 Yeah, that's true. That's true. 14:06 And Ezra did the same. Yes. 14:08 He went to prayer and fasting as well, yeah. 14:11 Which means they're relying on God to lead them, 14:13 not on their own selves and their own abilities 14:16 or their own giftedness in themselves. 14:18 They're realizing that that they need God to lead. 14:21 And it's interesting in a crisis 14:24 that they had already set their heart towards God. 14:27 Otherwise, they would not have turned there. 14:29 That's right. 14:30 They were already spiritual men. 14:32 And so they had the confidence then to go to God in prayer. 14:35 And not only that, prayer and fasting, 14:36 which indicated the earnestness 14:38 of how they felt about this whole problem. 14:41 Despite all of that, was everyone influenced 14:44 by the leadership of these great men 14:46 of faith and prayer like Nehemiah? 14:48 Well, sadly, no. Not everyone. 14:51 Although they had a massive influence 14:53 on the nation. 14:55 It would appear throughout their times 14:57 that the tendency for the people themselves 15:01 to remain faithful did not last. 15:05 Okay. And they often struggled. 15:08 Although being a faithful leader 15:11 does not mean that you can always choose the outcome. 15:15 No, that's right. But they, they... 15:17 But then as you pointed out, they had a huge influence 15:19 despite the fact that it didn't always go so well. 15:22 There's always opposition when you step up for God. 15:24 That's okay. 15:26 Of course, that makes sense, doesn't it? 15:27 It makes lot of sense. It does make sense. 15:28 And I guess, they have to be faithful. 15:31 It's the faithfulness. 15:32 But even Jesus, 15:34 He wasn't always followed and accepted 15:37 with what He had to say. 15:38 He didn't even always 15:40 have a positive influence for young people. 15:41 Well, let's be honest, Israel 15:43 in the whole rejected Jesus and crucified Him. 15:46 And you know, you see what Jesus says 15:48 in Matthew 23:37-38. 15:52 His response to that, to Jerusalem. 15:55 You know, He'd come, He spoke with them. 15:56 He healed them. 15:58 He'd done incredible miracles, raise the dead people. 16:01 And yet still they rejected Him. 16:02 And he goes in verse 37, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 16:05 the one who kills the prophet." 16:06 He says, you've killed all the prophets before. 16:09 "And stone, those who are sent to you," 16:11 you know, sent to her, 16:12 "how often I wanted to gather your children together 16:14 as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." 16:16 He wants to gather them around and love them and protect them. 16:19 But you were not willing. Usual picture. 16:21 He says, "You weren't willing..." 16:22 And now, because of you weren't willing, 16:24 "See, your house is left to you desolate. 16:26 Wow. 16:28 You know, He said, basically, I've done everything I can. 16:32 I've sent prophets, and you've just rejected them. 16:35 Now I've come Myself. 16:36 You know, I'm God in the flesh. 16:38 I've come down to love and care for you. 16:41 And you're even going to reject Me and crucify Me. 16:43 And now He's saying, "Your time is finished." 16:46 They missed their opportunity, their great opportunity, 16:48 defining moment had come and gone, 16:49 they hadn't even realized. 16:51 That was very true. Very true, indeed. 16:53 Now back to Israel, Nehemiah's time now. 16:55 Again, they had enemies there, didn't they? 16:58 They had a lot of enemies. 17:00 Nehemiah didn't just once again step back 17:03 and bring his hands or even just pray. 17:04 He did some interesting things, didn't he? 17:06 Yes, he did. 17:07 When he was challenged, he always prayed first, 17:13 but then he was a man of action. 17:15 And in Nehemiah 17:16 4:15-16, "It happened, 17:22 when our enemies heard that it was known to us, 17:26 and that God had brought their plot to nothing, 17:28 that all of us returned to the wall, 17:31 everyone to his work." 17:32 But to work they went, but they went armed. 17:35 They did not just expect God to do everything for them. 17:38 They went with their sword on one side 17:40 and they implement to build a wall on the other. 17:44 So they were very prepared, of course. 17:45 This was very intimidating to the enemy. 17:48 Yes, that was fantastic. 17:50 Not taking God for granted, and we mustn't do that. 17:54 Colin, how did Nehemiah 17:56 demonstrate his leadership qualities 17:57 while he was dealing with these issues? 17:59 Well, one thing I found about most leaders and even Nehemiah 18:02 is they led by example. 18:04 Yes. And they also empowered others. 18:06 They didn't just say, let's do it all ourselves 18:08 or let's dictate it. 18:09 They actually empowered others 18:12 and surround himself with leaders 18:14 who were even more capable themselves. 18:15 And you read in Nehemiah 3:1-3 where it says when the... 18:21 about the rebuilding of the wall. 18:23 "Then Eliashib 18:24 the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests 18:27 and built the Sheep Gate, 18:29 they consecrated it and hung its doors. 18:31 They built as far as the Tower of the Hundred, 18:32 and consecrated it, 18:34 then as far as the Tower of Hananel." 18:35 So he had cooperation, and he empowered others to go 18:37 and do their parts. 18:39 "And next to Eliashib the men of Jericho built. 18:41 And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built." 18:44 And he keeps on continuing on that, 18:46 that they all enabled others and empowered them to lead. 18:51 He didn't just dictate, 18:53 you know, he was a very empowering leader. 18:56 Okay, and there was a sign of good leadership 18:58 to bring in other capable people. 19:00 Some leaders, I think, are afraid to do that. 19:02 But that would be a mistake, 19:04 obviously, to go down that track. 19:07 Nehemiah quite showed other 19:08 characteristics of good leadership, too. 19:10 Didn't he, Gayl? 19:12 Yes, he certainly did. 19:15 He was a true servant leader. 19:17 As some Colin has brought out about 19:19 Jesus being an excellent example, 19:22 one of the best example that we could ever have 19:24 of, for a leader, Nehemiah, 19:27 he exemplified servant leadership. 19:29 He was a very humble leader and a very godly man. 19:33 He put his trust in God 19:35 because he was continually being bombarded by the enemy 19:39 on personal attacks against himself 19:42 from within and from without. 19:44 Okay. 19:45 And so, yes, he just didn't, 19:48 he just didn't give instructions. 19:49 He actually was working on the wall with them. 19:52 Everywhere you see, he was there in boots and all. 19:56 Okay, way to go. 19:57 And that's real servant leadership. 19:59 That's good. 20:00 Very good. Thank you. 20:05 there's an interesting statement here 20:06 I'd like to read. 20:07 "Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month." 20:09 That's when he arrived, 7th year of the king. 20:12 "On the first day of the first month, 20:13 he began his journey from Babylon. 20:15 And on the first day of the fifth month, 20:17 he came to Jerusalem, 20:18 according to the good hand of his God upon him." 20:21 It was a spiritual journey for him, for Ezra. 20:25 And this is the reason why God was with him. 20:27 "For Israel had prepared his heart 20:29 to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, 20:32 and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel," 20:36 which is a really interesting statement. 20:39 Colin, what do you? 20:40 You can see what's driving Ezra here, can't you? 20:42 Again. 20:43 Did you notice that there was a similar pattern 20:45 with other leaders we spoke about earlier, 20:47 where the king, he said with all his heart 20:49 he wanted to make a covenant with God 20:50 and keep His commandments and His statutes. 20:53 And then Ezra went and taught the people the same thing. 20:56 He put it on his own heart to do that. 20:58 And then he taught the people so they could do will, 21:01 God's will. 21:02 And he just did, he led by example. 21:04 So, he says, I'm making a covenant. 21:05 I'm gonna keep the commandments of God and statutes. 21:07 And then he taught the people about God's will. 21:10 And because he knew 21:12 the covenant they'd made with Israel and made with God 21:14 is that when they kept the covenant of God, 21:16 that God would protect them and bless them. 21:19 And when they didn't, God withdrew their protection 21:22 and disaster came upon Israel. 21:23 So he knew it was in the best interest of Israel. 21:25 It was vital 21:27 to the survival of Israel, I think. 21:28 There's something very interesting about 21:30 how they seek the Lord 21:32 because the Holy Spirit is seeking us. 21:36 And that's what draws us to want to know 21:39 God in the first place. 21:40 And he, as it's been read, 21:42 he prepared his heart to seek the Lord, 21:44 so the Holy Spirit has been moving him. 21:46 And so as he gets into the word, 21:48 he is just so blown away by the word, 21:52 he falls in love with Jesus and his spirit filled 21:55 and his passionate drives him. 21:57 Thank you, it's lovely. 21:58 Yeah, I can see that tears is definitely good. 22:02 And there's something else 22:04 that stands out in the life of both Ezra and Nehemiah, 22:08 Gayl, isn't there? 22:10 They were both great. 22:11 They were great leaders, but they also had goals. 22:15 I believe the Holy Spirit 22:16 that God had put goals upon their heart. 22:19 And Ezra certainly, his goal, 22:21 he longed for them 22:23 to not only complete building Jerusalem and the walls, 22:27 but his passion for them to know God 22:30 and to teach them the laws and the statute 22:33 so that they would love God and obey Him and follow Him 22:36 and receive all the blessings. 22:38 And Nehemiah was passionate for Jesus. 22:41 He was. 22:42 Yeah, because he could have gone and say. 22:44 Finished the task. 22:45 For 52 days 22:47 they did under his leadership to finish the wall. 22:48 That was amazing, wasn't it? 22:49 It was amazing. It was amazing. 22:51 Now, specifically, what do you see 22:52 is the main goal that they had? 22:54 Well, there was always to uplift the Word of God. 22:58 It was to restore the temple worship. 23:00 They always wanted the temple worship 23:01 because the temple worship pointed to the Messiah, 23:05 the sacrificing lambs. 23:06 Yeah. 23:08 They wanted to restore the Word of God, 23:09 restore visible worship, true worship to God. 23:12 So God's people write about the Old Testament. 23:13 I believe also in the New Testament, 23:15 the last days were always want to restore 23:17 true worship to God, to His Word. 23:21 And you can see that right through 23:23 the whole Old Testament, New Testament of all leaders. 23:25 Yeah, yeah. 23:26 I think worship is the highest form 23:28 that we can give to God is giving Him our heart, 23:30 our soul, our mind, all that we are. 23:33 And that's true worship, isn't it? 23:34 But to do it God's way. Yeah. 23:36 Not the way we think. No, that's true. 23:37 So it wasn't just a material, 23:39 a material restoration of Israel 23:42 that these men were interested in, was it? 23:44 They had been far beyond that? 23:46 Absolutely. Yeah. 23:47 Worship was at the heart of it, true worship. 23:49 Yes. Yeah. 23:50 Restored relationship with the living God. 23:52 Yeah. 23:54 Now getting back to leadership qualities, 23:55 which is what we're trying to unwrap here today. 23:58 The characteristics of a great leader 24:03 are definitely being uncovered here. 24:05 Colin, and what stands out for you? 24:07 Well, I see a lot of things stand out but one thing I'd say 24:10 is there are men of prayer, fasting, two, they were humble. 24:16 Now how you look like, the most humble person 24:18 in the whole Bible that God speaks about was Moses. 24:21 He was the most humble man. 24:22 And so what, when you're humble, 24:23 you're teachable. 24:25 Yep. 24:26 And when you're not humble, your pride, your leaders, 24:28 I know everything. 24:29 I know what to do. 24:30 But humble people can lead because they can be teachable. 24:32 They're teachable from God Himself. 24:34 Yeah, yeah. 24:35 So that's one of the things I think drives these people. 24:38 And they also, they led by example. 24:40 They got involved themselves. 24:41 They didn't just say it, 24:43 but they actually led by action. 24:44 Okay. 24:45 Now we're going to move on a bit more quickly here. 24:47 Now, I'm going to come back to you, Colin. 24:49 There's another leadership characteristic 24:53 that's outlined here that you do find a good leader, 24:55 we've mentioned some of these characteristics already. 24:58 I'm going to refer in Nehemiah here in Chapter 5, 25:03 and I'm going to read verses 14-15. 25:06 Nehemiah 5:14-15, 25:08 which says, "Moreover, from the time 25:11 that I was appointed to be their governor," 25:13 this is Nehemiah 25:14 speaking or writing for himself, 25:17 "from the 20th year 25:18 to the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, 25:20 12 years, 25:22 neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions." 25:25 In other words, 25:27 he was the governor and they were allotted 25:28 quite a lot of substantial amount of provisions 25:32 and he didn't use that. 25:33 He used his own. 25:35 Verse 15, he says, 25:36 "The former governors 25:37 who were before me laid burdens on the people. 25:40 Took from them bread and wine besides 40 shekels of silver." 25:43 A lot of money. 25:44 "Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, 25:47 but I did not do so because of the fear of God," 25:49 which was interesting. 25:51 So basically he didn't. 25:52 He worked for nothing 25:54 because he could see 25:55 that the people were under significant pressure already. 25:59 So, again, you know, there's some 26:01 good characteristic coming in here? 26:04 Well, let's see. 26:05 He didn't want to take advantage 26:07 of the people for financial gain, 26:08 even though he had a right as a governor 26:10 to provisions and he provided the table of food for them. 26:14 He provided everything, 26:15 he didn't take advantage through money. 26:17 So what does that tell you about someone? 26:18 That it was in his heart. 26:19 Amen. Yeah. 26:21 It was in his heart to, to bring worship back to God, 26:23 to build one of the goal that God had given them. 26:25 So once again, the servant leader 26:27 comes to the fore here, 26:29 just as we see in the life of Jesus. 26:31 And Jesus just very briefly, Gayl, 26:32 did raise the issue of servant leadership, 26:34 didn't He there? 26:35 Yes, He did. 26:37 He certainly showed those qualities. 26:40 And in Luke 22:25, 26:45 the Bible says this reading there, 26:51 "And he said to them, 26:53 'The king of the Gentiles exercises 26:56 lordship over them, 26:57 and those who exercise authority 26:59 over them are called benefactors." 27:01 But just skipping down to verse 27, 27:03 "Yet I am among you as one who serves. 27:06 That's what Jesus did. 27:07 And we're going to finish right up there. 27:09 Thank you. That made it very clear. 27:11 Jesus put His own signature 27:13 on the servant leadership model. 27:15 So, folks, the best leadership 27:17 is driven and directed by prayer, as we've seen. 27:20 Enlisting power and direction 27:22 from God makes leaders vital and successful. 27:25 Jesus being the best model for this. 27:27 He was a servant and loved the people. 27:30 They knew He desired their best goods. 27:32 No wonder the humble people followed Him gladly. 27:35 Well, we're glad you're with us on Let God Speak today. 27:37 You can view all our past programs 27:39 on our website. 27:40 Please check it out. 27:41 Teachers notes are there 27:43 and you can e-mail us if you prefer. 27:44 Join us again. God bless. |
Revised 2020-03-21