LEADERSHIP
Introduction:
I do not offer these thoughts as the definitive or final words on the subject of pastoral leadership. However, these are the things learned during over fifty years in the service of the Master. Some of these things I consider to be good advice for every young pastor and others are those things which have, after trial and error [and sometimes heart-break] worked best for me. Others have found their own solutions and methods which have worked for them.
It was a great temptation to fill this manuscript with nostalgia and sometimes, I fear, I succumbed. However, the real purpose has been to search out Scriptural answers to the problems which are common to those who step out in the Lord’s service in Gospel Ministry.
How well this has been done, or if it has failed, I now leave up to you, the reader.
Whether you adopt any of the thoughts or not, I leave to you and simply pray that Our Lord will be as gracious to you as He has to me over the years.
It is impossible for me to recall all those to whom I am indebted for their encouragement in this endeavor. The one person , without which it could not have been done, is my faithful companion for many years, my wife, Edwina. She has put up with my quirks and failures with grace and has suffered far more than I in physical deprivation and sacrifice for the sake of my ministry. After all, I experienced a divine call into the ministry and could find satisfaction in no other life. She, on the other hand has had to rely on her dedication to the Lord, her commitment to the marriage vows, and her love for her husband. True, I had all these too, but above these there was always that call which could never be ignored.
Surely, there will be a special crown for preacher’s wives !
CHAPTER ONE
Principles and Principals of Leadership
Since most leaders learn to use catch phrases, slogans and maxims to great advantage, we may as well begin with one; the average person follows PRINCIPALS while leaders follow PRINCIPLES.
One dictionary defines principle as a first or basic truth and principal as a chief, prince or leader. In any group or situation the principal (leader) will follow certain principles. The people will then follow the principal. The principles that guide the principal may be morally right or they may be wrong or even evil, but they are always present. He may have as his guiding beacon an inordinate desire for fame, glory, power, wealth or, sad to say, even the fulfilling of his own lustful desires. It is to be hoped, however, that his guiding principle will always be the welfare of those he leads. Whatever guides him, without PRINCIPLES he can never be a PRINCIPAL.
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Sunday, April 16, 2006
FIRST THINGS FIRST
TEXT: Prov 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwords build thine house.
Introduction; Consider the folly of the rancher who would build a large plantation home before he cleared the ground for his first crop!
How might we apply this practical truth to each of our lives?
I. Order in service.
A. God is orderly and demands order in all things.
1 Cor 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1 Cor 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
B. God was orderly in creation. What if he had randomly placed man on earth before it was ready for him?!
C. In the Tabernacle and in the journeys of the Israelites there was order.
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
D. Even in the resurrection there will be order;
1 Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
II. Christ followed the order of our text.
A. Birth, life, ministry , church, teaching, death, resurrection and then;
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
III. As a church we must observe order.
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
A. The order;
[1].Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
[2] so walk ye in him:
[3]Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him,[4] and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, [5]abounding therein with thanksgiving.
IV.As individuals there is an order we must follow.
A. First,. the cross. This is the foundation for all else.
Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
1. Whether family, church, nation or individual life, all built here is safe.
B. Baptism.
1. The Divinely prescribed order is; Salvation, baptism, service.
Acts 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
C. Study.
2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
A lack of study is what Solomon referred to;
Prov 26:7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
D. Stewardship.;
2 Cor 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
V. You can't raise Christian children without christian homes and that takes christian parents.
VI. Christian parents require Christ in hearts and lives.
VII. How is your field coming along?
TEXT: Prov 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwords build thine house.
Introduction; Consider the folly of the rancher who would build a large plantation home before he cleared the ground for his first crop!
How might we apply this practical truth to each of our lives?
I. Order in service.
A. God is orderly and demands order in all things.
1 Cor 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1 Cor 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
B. God was orderly in creation. What if he had randomly placed man on earth before it was ready for him?!
C. In the Tabernacle and in the journeys of the Israelites there was order.
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
D. Even in the resurrection there will be order;
1 Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
II. Christ followed the order of our text.
A. Birth, life, ministry , church, teaching, death, resurrection and then;
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
III. As a church we must observe order.
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
A. The order;
[1].Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
[2] so walk ye in him:
[3]Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him,[4] and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, [5]abounding therein with thanksgiving.
IV.As individuals there is an order we must follow.
A. First,. the cross. This is the foundation for all else.
Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
1. Whether family, church, nation or individual life, all built here is safe.
B. Baptism.
1. The Divinely prescribed order is; Salvation, baptism, service.
Acts 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
C. Study.
2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
A lack of study is what Solomon referred to;
Prov 26:7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
D. Stewardship.;
2 Cor 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
V. You can't raise Christian children without christian homes and that takes christian parents.
VI. Christian parents require Christ in hearts and lives.
VII. How is your field coming along?
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