Now the subject this morning is the marks
of a leader, and I want to read
two scriptures to you.
The first, a very short one, in 2nd
Timothy 3, and then we'll go to the
first chapter of Daniel.
2nd Timothy chapter 3, and just verse 10
and 11.
Paul's second letter to Timothy was the last
letter he wrote on this earth, and it's
a deeply emotional letter.
Bishop Handley Mole said he found it very
difficult to read this letter without something like
a mist covering his eyes.
He felt so moved, so emotional as he
read these words.
And he is challenging Timothy to take over
many of the leadership positions which he had
when he was on this earth.
And he's showing him in verse 10 of
chapter 3 the example he has set him.
And he says, Timothy, you know all about
my teaching, my way of life, my purpose,
faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions and sufferings.
What kinds of things happened to me in
Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra?
The persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued
me from all of them.
And then back to Daniel chapter 1.
And just the first eight verses.
Daniel chapter 1, verse 1.
In the third year of the reign of
Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
into his hand, along with some of the
articles from the temple of God.
These he carried off to the temple of
his God in Babylonia and put in the
treasure house of his God.
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his
court officials, to bring in some of the
Israelites from the royal family and the nobility.
Young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing
aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed,
quick to understand, and qualified to serve in
the king's palace.
He was to teach them the language and
literature of the Babylonians.
The king assigned them a daily amount of
food and wine from the king's table.
They were to be trained for three years,
and after that they were to enter the
king's service.
Among these were some from Judah, Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.
The chief official gave them new names.
To Daniel, the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah, Shadrach,
to Mishael, Meshach, and to Azariah, Abednego.
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with
the royal food and wine.
And he asked the chief official for permission
not to defile himself in this way.
You'll often hear the question, is that person
the kind of person who is a leader?
In other words, we recognize that some people
naturally take the lead in the situations they
are in, while other people equally naturally tend
to be followers.
Now in this session, we're going to consider
what the qualities are, the characteristics, that make
some people the kind of person that others
naturally want to follow.
What marks out people as leaders?
Now we could, of course, just head straight
into a list of obvious characteristics.
Characteristics which you've heard over and over again
already this weekend.
Spiritual maturity, strength of conviction, a servant heart,
and so on.
Now these things certainly are important, but they're
not the whole answer when it comes to
what marks out a person as a leader.
So I don't want to concentrate this morning
at all on general Christian characteristics.
Every Christian, we want to see spiritually mature.
Every Christian, really, we want to see with
a servant heart.
I want to concentrate on specific qualities, specific
characteristics, which are essential in leaders.
You see, you can have two people who
might be equally mature in the Christian life.
They might have similar educational backgrounds, similar experience,
and both will be able to exert some
degree of leadership by the example of their
lives, the wisdom that they've gained from their
experience.
However, you will sometimes find that one of
those people is able to gather others quite
naturally and lead them forward.
But the other person, a very similar person
in many ways, if he tries to do
the same thing, if he tries to gather
others around him so that they will follow,
somehow, it just doesn't happen.
Why is that?
Why are some people seemingly naturally good and
others, equally mature, just don't seem to have
the same effect?
Well, I think when you come right down
to the basics, God gives the gift of
leadership to some Christians.
And he does not give that same gift
to other Christians.
Paul writes to the Romans about spiritual gifts
in Romans chapter 12.
He's urging the Christians at Rome to recognize
and to use their gifts.
And this is what he says in verse
8.
If your gift is encouraging, then let that
person encourage.
If it's contributing to the needs of others,
then let them give generously.
And if it's leadership, the gift of leadership,
if it is leadership, let that person govern
diligently.
And I think we should all praise God
this morning, that in every generation of the
Christian Church, the Lord Jesus, the risen Lord
Jesus, gives the gift of leadership by his
Holy Spirit to certain people who can lead
others forward.
And to recognize and to encourage people who
are given that gift is a great responsibility
of the church in every generation.
Now just before we ask the question, how
can we recognize these people?
Let me say one further thing, and I
think it's a very important thing, about the
gift of leadership.
Faith is also a gift.
This does not mean that there are some
Christians who have not been given the gift
of faith, and therefore they don't need ever
to exercise faith.
No, all Christians are to walk by faith.
But some are given a special gift in
this area.
You were encouraged to buy yesterday a book
concerning George Muller.
If anyone has ever been given a special
gift of faith, then it's that man, Muller.
And when it comes to leadership, I think
our attitude must be quite similar.
You're not to sit back at the end
of this message and say, well really, I
shouldn't have been here this weekend.
I just don't have the gift of leadership,
and so I can relax.
I don't ever need to think of taking
the lead again.
No, that's not how we should respond.
I believe we are all called to lead
from time to time.
We're all called to take the initiative as
situations arise in our Christian lives.
But there are certain Christians who have been
given a special gift, special abilities from the
risen Lord Jesus Himself, and these abilities make
other people want to follow them.
Now, how can we recognize these people?
I don't think there's an easy formula.
I don't think there's a particular list of
characteristics that you can carry around with you.
And as you meet people, you examine them,
and you tick off these characteristics.
And if you've got a tick beside every
characteristic, then you've finally discovered one of God's
gifted leaders.
No, I don't think it's going to happen
like that at all.
But I do believe there are some general
principles.
And this morning, I just want to share
four with you, four key signs of God's
gifted leaders.
Now, the first sign, and we've already mentioned
it, is this ability to draw others to
follow you.
The ability to draw others to follow you.
Someone once said, there are two quick questions
you must ask a leader.
First, what do you want?
What do you want?
In other words, what are your dreams?
What are your visions?
And then the second question you should ask
every leader is, where are your people?
Where are your people?
You may have great visions, great dreams, but
no one's following you.
You may be given a great position of
leadership, director, but is anyone following you?
If you have no people, then the title
is a very little consequence.
Jesus had the most amazing impact on people.
A carpenter's son, without special education, without ever
writing a pamphlet or making a tape, has,
as some writer has put it, made more
impact on this world than all the armies
that have ever marched, all the navies that
have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have
ever sat, and all the kings that have
ever reigned.
He took a band of poor, unschooled Galilean
provincials and used them to light a revolution
of love that continues to burn in the
hearts of men and women throughout the world
today.
Just imagine, here's Jesus approaching Matthew, the tax
collector, and the simple words, follow me, Matthew
responds by immediately leaving his occupation and becoming
a follower of Jesus.
Now, his occupation was a government job.
He was working for the occupying forces in
his nation.
I wonder what they felt of him just
laying down his tools and following Jesus.
Here's Zacchaeus, up a tree.
He thinks he's safe from the scrutiny of
Jesus.
Suddenly, he is ordered, come down.
Jesus says, I must stay at your house
today, and he immediately gets down, and off
he goes with Jesus.
This same man, Jesus, could turn away a
mob intent on stoning a woman caught in
the act of adultery with just one sentence
of rebuke.
The amazing impact of the Lord Jesus on
people.
Now, we've already said this is a God
-given gift, but as you think of the
life of Jesus, there were certain aspects of
his character which must have just drawn other
people to follow him.
Let me mention four.
The one that always stands out for me
is the reality and the sincerity of Jesus.
Dr. Luke reminds Theophilus at the beginning of
the Acts of the Apostles of all that
Jesus began to do and to teach.
You see, a very notable feature of the
life of Jesus was that there was no
dichotomy.
There was no difference at all between his
words and his deeds.
There was total complementarity.
And I was so encouraged that Ian reminded
us yesterday morning of how vital being is
as well as doing.
What Jesus was and what Jesus did dovetailed
perfectly.
When John the Baptist sent his disciples to
inquire whether Jesus was the Christ, here was
the reply of Jesus.
Go back and report to John what you
hear and what you see.
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
and so on.
One of the most attractive aspects of the
life of Jesus, that which so many people
found utterly irresistible, was here at last they
had found a spiritual leader whose deeds matched,
dovetailed with his words.
The Apostle Paul could also write to the
Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 17,
I'm sending Timothy to you.
Now listen to this astonishing statement.
He will remind you of my way of
life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what
I teach everywhere in every church.
There's a man talking about himself.
Timothy's going to remind you of my life
and you will see that my life agrees
perfectly with what I teach everywhere in every
church.
How we need leaders in the church today
whose way of life motivates, whose way of
life inspires others to follow.
So they don't lead by instruction from a
distance.
They lead by example alongside.
The reality, the sincerity of Jesus was one
reason why so many followed.
A second reason which always stands out for
me was his love and sheer interest in
people.
One of the most challenging aspects for me
of the life of Jesus is the fact
that this busy man with responsibilities on his
shoulders that it's hard for us to contemplate,
always had time for individuals.
The woman at Syker's Well, legion chained in
the tombs, Zacchaeus up a tree.
And even when Jesus was hanging on the
cross, he had time for individuals.
He looks down and sees a broken-hearted
mother and the weeping disciple and immediately his
concern is not for himself.
In the agony of crucifixion, his eye is
fixed on individuals.
Woman, behold your son.
Son, behold your mother.
He turns to a dying malefactor.
Today, you will be with me in paradise.
And even as he's hanging there, he's praying
for the people who've placed him there and
for us, sinners down through the centuries.
Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.
Think of the time, the care, the patience.
Jesus was willing to invest in Peter.
What an aggravating character.
One minute, he's having to rescue him from
the waves as his water-walking experience ends,
rather embarrassingly.
The next moment, he has to rebuke him.
He says, Peter, you're a messenger of Satan.
And then God actually has to open up
heaven to quieten him down on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
Three times he denies him in Pilate's judgment
hall.
And so much more could be said about
Peter.
But Jesus stuck with Peter.
His love for him is obvious.
Simon, Simon, I have prayed for you that
your faith might not fail.
Are you at all surprised this morning that
Peter followed Jesus?
And who became the leader of the church
in its early days?
Who, if strong tradition is correct, died crucified
upside down because of his faith?
Yes, it was faltering, weak, mistake-prone Peter.
A man whom a leader had invested in.
A man who was transformed by a leader
who loved people.
And if God hasn't given you an interest
in and a love for people, you are
not ready for leadership.
One Christian writer asks the question, why did
people flock to Jesus?
And his answer is this.
There are all kinds of reasons, but perhaps
the most fundamental was that Jesus chose to
be their friend.
If you're not willing to be friends of
people, even aggravating people, you are not ready
for Christian leadership.
But then thirdly, Jesus wasn't only interested in
people, he was interested in life.
He was interested in the world around him.
Jesus was an utterly interesting person just to
be with.
With all due regard to the poet Swinburne,
Jesus was hardly the pale Galilean who he
describes.
The world has not really grown gray from
his breath.
Jesus brought color, energy, and life to his
surroundings.
He was such a creative person.
He motivated people to action by using illustrations,
great parables to preach, great truths.
His teaching has proven to be utterly unforgettable.
The unforgiving servant, the sower and the seed,
the hidden treasure, the pearl, and so on.
Who can forget the creativity of such teaching?
You know, one danger in leadership is that
you just become too narrow.
Beware tunnel vision amongst Christian leaders.
You are so committed to your objective it's
taking all your time and energy and commitment
to goals and objectives is obviously essential.
But please be careful that you don't become
boring and utterly uninteresting to be with.
Otherwise, those who you seek and trust will
follow you, will very soon disappear.
I've been asking quite a lot of OM
leaders recently about their interests outside their work.
What hobbies have you got?
It's interesting.
You just got a blank expression from some
of them.
What, what?
Hobbies.
Have you heard of hobbies?
I hope you've got a broad, wide interest
in life.
I think Jesus had.
He was just a thrilling person to be
with.
Now, let me just give you a fourth
point before we move on.
I think the fourth reason why people followed
Jesus was that he was so committed to
truth.
Mark tells us how his ministry began.
Mark 1 14.
Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news
of God.
Throughout his ministry, he never ceased to proclaim
the truth of God.
Whenever people came to him, he faced them
with truth.
The rich young ruler approaches.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
And the response of Jesus is to present
to him the truth of God.
He marks out for him the law of
God.
When Satan comes to the Lord Jesus, once
again, the response of Jesus is just to
present him with truth, a wall of truth.
It is written.
Truth motivates.
Truth, wrapped up in enthusiasm, motivates even more.
In 2 Timothy 3 and verse 10, the
verse we read a few moments ago, Paul
is challenging Timothy to follow his example in
leadership.
How does he begin?
He reminds him of his teaching.
He says, Timothy, you know all about my
teaching.
Now Paul was writing in a day of
doctrinal extremism.
He'd earlier warned Timothy to avoid those who
devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which
promote controversy rather than God's work.
But in this day of instability, Timothy had
found someone whose teaching was consistent, whose teaching
was clear.
Truth motivates.
And so Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3
and verse 2, the elder must be able
to teach.
To Titus, he writes, Titus 1 and verse
9, the elder must hold firmly to the
trustworthy message as it has been taught, so
that he can encourage others by sound doctrine
and refute those who oppose it.
And I look back to my youth fellowship
days in Carlisle.
I remember a young man who went off
to Bible College.
His name was Derek.
He was a keen, keen young Christian.
He went off to Bible College and after
the first year he came back, and I
don't know who he'd been listening to, what
particular lecturer, but he came back believing utterly
in sinless perfection.
He believed he was totally perfect.
Now you don't think there are people like
that around today, do you?
But I was talking to a pastor not
far from here.
I preached in his church, and he said,
come and sit with me in the study.
I want to tell you something.
So I went and sat with him.
He said, Peter, I've never sinned for six
years.
I said, what do you mean?
You've never sinned in thought, word, or deed?
He said, yes.
I felt like saying, I'll ask your wife
just to confirm that.
But you know, after we talked, he said,
look, I'll show you the way to the
motorway.
Just follow me.
So I got into my car and followed
him in a 30 mile an hour limit,
and I looked at my clock, and he
was doing 43.
So I flashed him, and he came walking
back, turned down the window.
I said, isn't that sad?
First time for six years.
This fellow actually came back from college, utterly
convinced that he was perfect.
You know what he did?
He got a little group around him who
were equally convinced they were perfect, and then
he went back to college, and he must
have met another lecturer.
Because he came back a totally convinced Calvinist.
I mean, John Calvin was in error.
He wasn't strong enough.
Absolutely convinced if there'd been six points in
the tulip, he would have had them all.
And he presented Calvinism as it's never been
presented before.
He got a little group around him, went
back to college.
I can't remember what he came back with
next, but at the end of three years
of Bible college, our youth fellowship was divided
asunder, as we say.
There were little groups all over the place.
And you know the disciples become more extreme,
don't they, than the person who has trained
them and taught them.
See how vital it is for the leader
to have stable doctrine, to know where he
stands, to know the Word of God.
Now when Paul says the elder must be
able to teach, I don't think he means
that every leader must be able to get
up on the platform and preach the Word
of God.
He doesn't mean that.
He means that a leader must be a
man of the Scriptures, must saturate and soak
himself in the Scriptures, and must be able
to relate the Scriptures to everyday life, and
must be able to take others on with
him by persuading them from the Word of
God.
We've seen all weekend, haven't we, that leaders
do not lead by dominating.
They lead by persuading, and we must persuade
men from the Word of God.
Well, that's my first point.
A leader is a someone who has a
God-given ability which just makes others ready
to follow.
Part of that ability is this sincerity and
reality, this deep interest and love for people,
this deep love of life which makes people
so interesting to be with, and this commitment
to truth which is so motivating.
Now I've got three other points, but we'll
be more brief with those which remain.
A second key sign in a leader gifted
by God, in my opinion, is this ability
to grasp the key points in a given
situation, to grasp the key points in a
given situation.
The gifted leader is able to put his
finger on what's going on, and he has
a sense of what ought to be done
in a given situation.
In other words, they're going to come more
quickly than others do to have a vision
for the situation they're dealing with.
You see, it's one thing to be able
to draw others to follow you, but you've
got to take them somewhere, haven't you?
You've got to have a clear goal.
You've got to have a clear vision of
where you want to be.
Let me just give you one biblical example
of this, seeing what others don't see.
That's why I read to you the first
chapter of Daniel.
Now the scholars tell us that Daniel was
a very young man in chapter 1.
He was probably 16 or 17.
And Nebuchadnezzar faces Daniel with a very great
test.
I think Nebuchadnezzar was quite an intelligent fellow.
I think he knew history pretty well, and
he'd heard what the Pharaohs had done, left
them in the fields to make bricks, and
their national spirit had risen up, and they'd
marched off to freedom.
Nebuchadnezzar said, that's not going to happen a
second time.
And so he hatched this plan.
It was a very good one.
Take the finest young men of the nation,
and put them into a university course for
three years.
Teach them all the language and all the
literature of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, so that
they would become utterly Chaldean in their thinking,
and they would never ever again want to
lead their people to freedom.
And everything seemed to be going very well.
The students were signing up nicely.
No reaction from the National Union of Students.
Everything was really moving forward in this Chaldean
university.
But you know, part of the plan was
that they would be given food and drink
from the king's table.
The significance of that was that it had
first been offered to idols before being given
to them.
And for Daniel to partake would have been
to take a massive step, to turn away
from all his training, to turn away really
from his nation, and certainly from his faith,
and to accept a new way.
And then we read these marvelous words in
verse 8.
Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the
royal food and wine.
And as far as we can see, he
was the only man who did that.
He took the lead.
I can imagine the elders of Israel coming
round these young men and saying, look, what
a fantastic opportunity.
We thought life under Nebuchadnezzar was going to
be rough, but you have got tremendous opportunity
for learning.
Grab it with both hands.
And the people seemed to be going that
way.
But Daniel saw what others could not see.
He was a God-gifted leader, as you
can see throughout the rest of the book.
He had a vision which others didn't see.
And he made this enormously courageous stand.
It's a very important part of God's gift
of leadership.
Now again, we recognize it's a gift.
But at the same time, certain things must
play their part.
Two things.
Daniel himself said, the people who do know
their God shall be strong and do exploits.
Daniel's exploits were based quite simply on his
knowledge of God.
It's so simple, but nonetheless vital to stress.
The visionary leader is always going to be
someone with a real knowledge of God.
There were deep, consistent, personal relationship with him.
Secondly, I believe clear priorities help in sharpening
our vision.
Leaders will be people that everyone wants to
use.
If you're a Christian leader, you've already experienced
that.
I don't need to say it.
Leaders are people that everyone wants to use.
And if you're not careful, you'll find yourself
involved in a hundred and one things, none
of which you'll be able to do very
well, because you're doing too much.
And you'll find your mind getting utterly cluttered.
Clear, decisive thinking becomes difficult, if not impossible.
Now, I've had to warn you to beware
of tunnel vision.
People become very uninteresting if they're like that.
But I also have to warn you of
the opposite.
Over-involvement, over-extension of your life and
of your ministry.
I said earlier that one question you must
ask a leader is, where are you going?
Do you have a clear, definite goal?
Are you dashing in a hundred and one
directions at the same time?
A cluttered mind will result.
And that ability to grasp the situation, to
see what others do not see, will very
quickly die.
Well, that's a second mark.
Through a knowledge of God and clear, uncluttered
priorities, a leader is someone who often sees
what others can't.
Very quickly, a third key mark.
And that is the basic confidence that you
can get the job done by God's help.
But a personal confidence that the job will
be done.
And that confidence inspires confidence in others.
Now, often this confidence is most vividly seen
when all the circumstances appear to be against
you.
Others around you are feeling there's no point
in going on.
But the leader has that confidence that the
job will be done.
Listen to Paul in 2nd Corinthians 1, verses
8 to 11.
We don't want you to be uninformed, brothers,
about the hardships we suffered in the province
of Asia.
We were under great pressure, far beyond our
ability to endure, so that we even despaired
of life.
Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sense
of death.
That's how they felt.
They felt they had come to the end
of their lives.
But, Paul says, this happened that we might
not rely on ourselves, but on God who
raises the dead.
Now, there's an example of a leader seeing
what others didn't see.
Even as he faced the prospect of death,
this leader could see what God was doing.
But then he continues, He has delivered us
from such a deadly peril, and He will
deliver us.
On Him we have set our hope, that
He will continue to deliver us.
That's that basic confidence, that basic trust, even
in the most extreme circumstances.
And so, Paul says to Timothy, 2nd Timothy
3, in verse 10, the verse we read,
Timothy, you haven't only observed my teaching, but
you have observed my faith.
You have observed my confidence in God.
Now, this assurance that the job will be
done was so evident in the life of
Jesus.
I will build my church, the gates of
hell will not prevail.
All that the Father has given me, shall
come to me.
The mustard seed will become the greatest of
all shrubs.
It's a picture of the growth of the
church.
Just a handful of people, a mustard seed,
that Jesus was absolutely confident, it would become
the greatest of all shrubs.
Listen to Martin Luther, at one of the
worst moments, the blackest periods of the Reformation.
Though they take my life, my goods, my
honour, my children, my wife, yet is their
profit small, these things shall vanish all.
The city of God remaineth.
Absolute basic confidence, that the job will be
done.
Now, we've seen already this weekend, that not
all leaders have this confidence as a natural
quality.
Timothy, well, may well be an example of
someone who had to learn this.
We've noticed Paul encouraging him towards courage and
boldness against the spirit of timidity.
And again, it's something which can be learnt
through knowledge and experience.
As your knowledge and your experience of God
grows, so your faith and your confidence will
increase.
We've mentioned the character Moses many times this
weekend.
And we've realised how he commenced a nervous,
timid man.
His response to the call of God was,
who am I, that I should go to
Pharaoh?
A little later he says, oh Lord, I've
never been eloquent, I'm slow of speech and
tongue.
And eventually he was a very honest man,
he just says, oh Lord, please send someone
else.
Exodus 4.13. But you read the song
of Moses someday in Exodus 15.
They haven't entered the promised land in Exodus
15.
But in the song of Moses, Moses is
an utterly changed man.
He's a man exuding confidence and assurance.
He's a man who has learnt by experience
that God is great.
And those with confidence in him will never
be ashamed.
Let's just briefly mention the last key sign
of a gifted leader.
And it's an obvious one.
The gifted leader is willing to fight through
all obstacles.
You see, you can draw other people after
you.
You can know where you're going.
And you can have that confidence which inspires.
But it's not much use if when you
come up against the first obstacle, you just
fall away.
The gifted leader has a clear goal.
And he has the determination to persevere until
that goal is accomplished.
He's not easily deflected from his course.
He's a bit of a bulldog, really.
Tenacious, determined.
Let's just go back to Daniel.
He made a wonderful start for God as
a teenager in chapter 1.
But was he diverted from his course?
Certainly, there were incidents enough to make most
men falter.
Remember chapter 2?
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.
I said he was an intelligent man.
He wasn't a very pleasant man.
He had this dream and he forgot the
dream.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
So he called the sorcerers and the magicians
in.
He says, you got two jobs this morning.
One, you tell me what my dream was.
You just remind me.
And then secondly, interpret it for me.
And I said, now come on, Neb.
That's a bit too much.
We'll interpret the dream if you tell us.
But what man on the face of the
earth could tell you what your dream was?
Nebuchadnezzar said, I'm busy.
There's only two prospects this morning.
You do what I tell you or you
lose your head.
Now, Daniel was one of the wise men.
And then when you get to chapter 6,
you've got the lion's den incident.
These were things which would have deflected many
people from the course that they were on.
But you know, that 10th verse of Daniel
6 is just magnificent.
When Daniel learned that the decree had been
published, that's the decree concerning the lion's den,
what did he do?
He went home to his upstairs room where
the windows open towards Jerusalem.
Three times a day, he got down on
his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his
God.
Now listen to these words.
Just as he had done before.
The prospect of a lion's den did not
deflect this man one iota.
He just did as he'd done before.
Perseverance, dogged determination, whatever the obstacles, moving forward.
Nothing will stop these men.
There are four significant marks of gifted leaders.
We need to pray that God will give
us leaders like this in our churches today.
The kind of people that others want to
follow.
Reality, sincerity, a love for people, interesting people
who love God and who love God's world.
And people who have an utter commitment to
truth, which is so motivating.
People who can put their finger on what's
going on.
They see what others don't see.
They have the confidence that the job can
be done because they know God and have
a clear objective.
And when the problems arise and the temptation
is to give in and others are giving
in all around, as Paul said, he could
be knocked down, but he was never knocked
out.
God's leaders are not knocked out.
They're knocked down from time to time, but
they get up and they march on through
the obstacles.
We need to pray that God will give
us gifted leaders with those marks in his
church today.
I've talked individually with many of you this
weekend and I've learned of situations where things
do seem, at least on the surface at
church or at the CU or wherever, to
be going wrong.
And we need to think through whether we,
first of all, have grasped the situation clearly
and whether we're willing to persevere.
Maybe you might even want to write down
on a piece of paper the name of
a person that you've almost given up on.
And this morning God has just touched your
heart and you've said, no, I'm going to
persevere with that person a little longer.
A situation that you've wanted to run away
from because it is difficult.
God has just tapped you on the shoulder
this morning and said, I'm going to fight
through the obstacles in that situation.
Let's just take a moment in silent prayer
and meditation and don't be afraid to scribble
something down if God has said it to
you that maybe means action in the near
future.