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The gauge of a leader’s level of servant leadership is measured by how that leader interacts with their most difficult teammate. Check out this full conversation from The Craig And Greg Show here.
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Leaders are wired to be either naturally confident or naturally humble. God designed each leader that way on purpose, but we still need to put intentional effort into bringing humility to our confidence or confidence to our humility.
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Thermometers are passive, they cannot change a thing. But thermostats can respond to the environment to make change happen. Good coaches help their people learn how to respond. Check out this full conversation from The Craig And Greg Show here.
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Happy birthday, USA! 🇺🇸
If we want to keep the freedoms we enjoy, it doesn’t really matter what political party is in power. But it does matter if we are bowing our knees to King Jesus. Psalm 2 tells us how to lose God’s blessing (throwing off our dependence on God) and how to keep God’s blessing (honoring Jesus as Lord).
Today is a day of celebration, but it should also be a day of reflection. Let’s make sure we are all bowing our hearts to Jesus, and let’s pray for our elected officials, that they will also acknowledge Jesus as their King.
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The Bible is not only the inspired Word of God but it is rooted in history too. Every prayer was prayed by a real person in distress, and every song of praise was lifted up by someone who personally experienced God’s deliverance.
The reason why this is so important is that it makes God’s Word relatable and applicable to us. If the Bible merely contained moral stories set in some make-believe world, we may have a hard time seeing how to apply the principles to our daily lives. But, thankfully, this isn’t the case. We can read the real-life experiences of real historical people and then we can allow the Holy Spirit to help us apply this inspired Word to our lives.
There is a collection of 15 songs in the Book of Psalms called “The Songs of Ascent.” Even these songs have an important historical background.
The books of Kings and Chronicles tell the sad history of Israel and Judah sliding farther and farther away from God until finally, God must punish them. He punishes Judah by bringing King Nebuchadnezzar against them, who destroyed the temple at Jerusalem and carried the people into exile in Babylon. But even as they are being taken away, God speaks a prophetic word through Jeremiah that in 70 years He will raise up another leader, Cyrus king of the Persians, who will allow the exiles to return home. You can read all of these historical accounts in 2 Chronicles 36:15-23; Jeremiah 29:10-14; and Isaiah 44:28-45:6.
Second Chronicles ends with this proclamation from King Cyrus: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of His people among you—may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 26:23).
The phrase “let him go up” is both literal (since Jerusalem is 2500 feet above sea level) and spiritual. Listen to these words from King Solomon, “The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below” (Proverbs 15:24 NKJV).
The Songs of Ascent were a rallying cry—an encouragement to all pilgrims to keep climbing up.
In Hebrew literature, the main point is usually found in the middle of the poem or story, unlike our Western literature which puts the payoff at the end. In the first Song of Ascent, the middle is verse 4. But the second half of Psalm 120 seems out of place for people ascending up to Jerusalem to worship God. Verse 5 begins with the words, “Woe to me.”
The psalmist is expressing his pain in living among the people of Meshech and Kedar. The people of Meshech were vicious people who traded human lives for money and who conducted themselves as terrorists (Ezekiel 27:13; 32:26). Their name literally means “drawing away.” The people of Kedar were nomadic sons of Ishmael. Being nomadic means they were never at rest. Their name literally means “dark place.” Very noteworthy is that there is no mention of God in verses 5-7.
The middle verse of this song (v. 4) turns the people of Meshech and Kedar over to God. It is a reminder that we are not the ones to dispense justice. If God knew how to overthrow the powerful kingdoms of Judah, Babylon, and the Medes, if He knew to call Cyrus by name at just the right moment, He also knows how to deal with these sinners.
This Song of Ascent shows the stark contrast between keeping our eyes on the dark culture around us versus keeping our eyes on the God who is never weighed down by the darkness. As we go higher up, we focus more on God; as His saints focus on Him, His light shines on them; as His light shines on them, they point sinners living in dark valleys to the God of light and love.
Staying down is easy. Getting up requires intentional effort. Going up requires us to overcome the pull of sin and the frustration of watching for judgment to fall on sinners.
Going up is a lot of effort, but the rewards are so worth it! As the apostle Paul reminded his friends in Rome, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Let’s keep climbing up and let’s keep lifting our eyes to the only One who has the eternal light.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in our look at the Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here.
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Some of our best lessons are learned in difficult places, so let’s not be too quick to rush in and soften the blow for someone who has taken a tumble. Check out the full conversation I had with my podcast partner Greg. And be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.
“A champion is one who gets up when he can’t.” —Jack Dempsey
Once again, archeological finds in Israel confirm the historicity of the biblical accounts of the kings of Judah and Israel. John Stonestreet shares some of the most recent finds. Jewish archeologist Nelson Gluek states, “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”
“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.” —Jonas Salk
Scott Hubbard writes, “Stepping into leadership means stepping into mistakes, regrets, and many small but stinging failures. And surviving in leadership, I am learning, means stepping upward on those mistakes—owning them, learning from them, and having the stability in Christ to keep leading after them.” Read more about how leaders can fail well.
J. Warner Wallace addresses the claim that all religions are true or are essentially the same.
“The Scriptures represent the Holy Spirit, not only as moving, and occasionally influencing, the saints, but as dwelling in them as His temple, His proper abode, and everlasting dwelling-place. And He is represented as being there so united to the faculties of the soul, that He becomes there a principle or spring of a new nature and life.” —Jonathan Edwards
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There seems to be a belief among some leaders that the louder they yell, the better they’re understood. No need to call anyone out, but we’re sure someone just came to mind. When you received that kind of coaching, did you receive it well? Of course not! Coaching should be focused on correcting and improving for the next time, not berating for things in the past. So tune in, and learn more about how you can coach up.
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Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Bruce Barton said, “When you’re through changing, you’re through!” I think the same thing could be said about a leader’s learning—when you think you’ve learned it all, your leadership is beginning to crumble.
I never want to get to the place where I think I have “arrived” as a leader, but I want to be humble enough to admit that there are so many things I have yet to learn. Jesus reminded us, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom” (Matthew 13:52 CEV).
“New and old treasures” tells me that there’s some good stuff we need to protect, and also some good stuff we haven’t yet learned.
Here are three new things the Holy Spirit has recently taught me:
Acts 6:3 says, “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.”
My lesson: The résumé for those that are to be placed in ministry leadership positions should include servant-heartedness, Christlike character, wise experience for the task, and reliance on the Holy Spirit.
“This Moses whom they disowned…is the one God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer” (Acts 7:35).
My lesson: When God calls someone His leader, it doesn’t matter if the world calls them disowned. It’s not about popularity with men, but faithfulness to God.
Notice the plural pronoun “they” in 1 Kings 11:33.
My lesson: When King Solomon sinned, he then gave license to the people to follow his example. As the leader goes, so go the people.
I hope you are learning new things every day. In fact, feel free to share in the comments something new you’ve learned.
This is part 73 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
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Every year, Jews from around the world made four pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for various feasts and sacrifices. These journeys reminded them of God’s goodness as they went to the Temple to worship, and they helped refocus on God’s ways as they returned to their regular routines.
Jerusalem is over 2500 feet above sea level, so the pilgrimage there was a physical workout as well as a spiritual workout. These workouts were beneficial for God’s people, preparing them to minister in their cities in the following months.
The Book of Psalms contains 15 songs that these pilgrims would sing to and with each other as they traveled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms of Ascent are still instructive for Christians today.
Please join me for this look at the life-changing truths these pilgrimage songs can still teach today to all of God’s people. We would love to have you join us in person, but if you are unable to do so you can watch the videos of these messages on my YouTube channel.
Here’s what we have covered so far:
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Two of my favorite authors in one book? I knew this was going to be good before I even cracked the book open, and Joseph Loconte’s superb behind-the-scenes biographies in A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, And A Great War didn’t disappoint me at all!
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien’s lives are intertwined on so many levels. Tolkien was instrumental in leading Lewis to Christianity, and without Lewis’ encouragement, the world may never have been enraptured with The Lord Of The Rings books. Both men were incredibly creative in numerous genres of literature, and both were highly sought essayists and speakers.
And, as Joseph Loconte recounts, both of them had their creativity forged in the cruel furnace of Word War I—or “The Great War” as it was known then.
Loconte tells of the horrors of this war, the disillusionment that so many felt—both on the front lines of trench warfare and at home on the supply lines—and, how these experiences became the driving force for the creation of Narnia and Middle Earth. Loconte shares the personal correspondences and private journal entries for both of these authors as they went through this horrific war, and then he shows us how those experiences became the settings, good and evil characters, and epic quests that millions of readers have enjoyed for so many years.
If you’ve never read the Chronicles of Narnia or the space trilogy from C.S. Lewis or the Middle Earth stories from J.R.R. Tolkien, this book will be an excellent primer. If you have read these engrossing stories, reading Loconte’s book will give you new insights that will help you appreciate these timeless works even more.
As a postscript from me, I am so thankful to my son Harrison for putting this book in my hands!
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Craig T. Owens 