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As leaders, we are called to set the example for our organization. As Greg and I discuss in this episode, the quickest way to make a positive change in your organization is to exhibit the traits you want to see. Do that with consistency, and your team will begin to reflect those traits back to you.
[0:00] Welcome to our new studio!
[1:06] The way a leader leads influences the way the team follows.
[3:03] A leaders team will reflect the attitude they exhibit.
[5:53] Leaders need to constantly be interacting with their team to “check the pulse.”
[7:13] Recognizing innovation in your team is a compliment to your leadership.
[9:10] If there’s a trait we want our team to embody we must exhibit it first.
[10:20] If you don’t recognize potential in teammates you will always hire low-potential individuals.
[13:04] Consistency is important to how a leader reflects values.
[15:13] Leadership vs Bossing
[17:10] Jesus set an example for us of servant leadership.
[18:26] At some point your team will test you to see if what you’re saying is real.
[22:06] If you’re going through a difficult time, a coach can help you navigate. We would love to help you!
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us would feel much more secure if we knew exactly where life was taking us. That way, perhaps we could be ready for what lies ahead. It would certainly help to decrease our anxiety if we knew we were ready for what was coming next.
In Luke 19, Jesus is on the path toward Jerusalem and Calvary. And in just a 5-verse section, the word “ahead” is used three times.
First, we read that Jesus “went on ahead” toward Jerusalem (v. 28). He knew exactly what was awaiting Him there; in fact, He had told His disciples numerous times the precise details of what was ahead. Even though His experience was going to be excruciating, for the joy that was even further ahead (see Hebrews 12:2), Jesus persevered.
Next we read that Jesus sent two of His disciples “to the village ahead of you” to retrieve the donkey colt that was awaiting Him (v. 30). What is unspoken here is that Jesus had obviously spoken to the colt’s owners aheadof time about what He would require.
Finally, we read that those two disciples “who were sent ahead” found everything just as Jesus had said it would be (v. 32).
I find this to be so comforting! What all of this means is:
I never walk an unknown path!
Jesus has already walked this path, and is fully aware of all that is ahead of me.
Jesus has already spoken to others aheadof time to help resource me along this path.
Phillip Keller pointed out, “Sheep are notorious creatures of habit. If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until they become ruts; graze the same hills until they turn to desert wastes; pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites. … No other class of livestock requires more careful handling, more detail direction, than do sheep.” So Keller explains how good shepherds visit paths and pasturing areas ahead of time to make sure they know how to lead their sheep.
David gives us these reassuring words about our Good Shepherd: “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Jesus is teaching us to pray as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and each phrase of this prayer is a reminder of how we interact with the King of Heaven—Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
We all have a desire to feel secure—to feel our needs are going to be met. In fact, our anxiety level is usually tied directly to how insecure we may feel. The problem for many of us, however, is that we have mistaken wants for needs, and when those aren’t met as we think they should be, we again experience increasing levels of anxiety.
We see this on full display in Luke 12. First, Jesus addresses a man who is greedily desiring his share of his father’s inheritance. Jesus says, “Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
To illustrate this point, Jesus tells a parable of a rich landowner who harvested more crops than he knew what to do with—a harvest which he calls “plenty.” His solution was to build bigger barns for his abundant harvest, to which God announced, “You fool” (Luke 12:13-21).
This man was not called a fool because he was successful. He was not called a fool because he had plenty. Rather, he was called a fool because his “plenty” caused him to forget his heavenly Father.
This is an invaluable lesson. Sadly, we tend to be a very forgetful people!
After God delivered His people from their bondage in Egypt, and they almost immediately start worrying and then complaining about whether their needs will be supplied. God tells them that He will supply every day exactly what they need (Exodus 16:1-35).
This provision of manna every single morning when they got up was intended to keep them reliant on God and thankful for His provision. But after a while they thought they deserved more—they wanted plenty (Numbers 11:4-6). Later on, Asaph would pinpoints the main culprit of the Israelites’ stumbled throughout their history: forgetfulness (Psalm 78:11, 22-25).
Jesus taught us to come to God in prayer as Our Father. Just as Jesus was daily dependent on His Father, so He teaches us to have that same level of daily abiding.
Jesus reminds us what the daily supply of manna really signified; namely, that He would be our Bread from Heaven for all of eternity (John 6:28-40)!
So that’s why we pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Once again, this is an acknowledgement that no one else can provide for us, and it is a request that we would stay daily dependent on Him. It’s not, “Give us today our weekly bread.” Or, “Give us today our daily wants.” Or even, “Give us today plenty of things.”
We need our Father for daily bread so that we never, ever forget or vital, indispensable connection to Him!
Even when we don’t have plenty, we are told not to worry but instead to look to our Heavenly Father for His daily supply (Luke 12:22; Philippians 4:6-7).
Stop praying to yourself! God isn’t impressed with your “powerful” prayer! Jesus tells an interesting story about two men: one thought very highly of his spiritual status and the only could barely lift his eyes. Jesus said that the proud man’s prayer received no help from God, but only the humble man’s prayer was heard. This is a short clip from my series called Kingdom Praying. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“If the fetus gets in the way, ditch it. If the old person gets in the way, ditch it. If you get in the way…” —Francis Schaeffer
“The god of convenience, ruling capriciously in the hearts of men and women, and supported by worshipers of the god of wealth—greedy, self-interested profit-takers in the guise of abortionists and abortion-rights advocates—is the putative lord of life and death where children in the womb are concerned. …Christians must insist that all political candidates seeking their support, at whatever level of government, be firm in their commitment to resist the present abortion regime and expose the lie of the pro-choice agenda by every available means. …The Law of God is holy and righteous and good. Abortion is unholy, unrighteous, and evil. If we want a just and loving society, we will worship God and obey His Law, and we will work to dethrone the god of convenience and to expose the folly and self-interest of all its followers. And we will look to God to explain the nature, meaning, and value of all lives.” —T.M. Moore
Elihu is angry at Job “because he justified himself before God.” Better stated: “Job was more concerned about justifying himself—making himself look good—than he was about making God look good.” Elihu is angry at Job’s three friends because they acted like God and pronounced a guilty verdict against Job. Elihu is righteously provoked. After holding his tongue for 31 chapters, he cannot remain silent any longer!I conclude that Elihu is righteous in his response because God doesn’t have anything negative to say to or about Elihu (as He does with the three friends) at the end of the Book of Job.
Long before the term “fake news” made it into our lexicon, Charles E. Robinson wrote an article in 1934 “as a solemn warning to all Christians” about the rising tide of anti-Semitism. He was especially upset about a book that made an erroneous case blaming Jews for global economic and political turmoil. I am thrilled with the strong spiritual and intellectual legacy in the Assembly of God fellowship!
“There’s a lot of blood, sweat and guts between dreams and success.” —Paul Bear Bryant
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Pastors are called to be shepherd leaders. Karl Vaters points out that some pastors get caught up in “the green room syndrome” that disconnects them from their sheep.
Here is another clip from The Church Lobby Podcast where Karl and I talk about this.
The biblical passage I reference in this interview is John 10:1-16.
Check out other parts of my interview on The Church Lobby podcast here. Or check out the full conversation Karl and I had on The Church Lobby podcast here.
Get more information on Shepherd Leadershiphere. And pre-order my newest book When Sheep Bitehere.
“When the Lord chose His twelve disciples, it was ‘that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach’ (Mark 3:14). A life in fellowship with Him prepared them for the work of preaching. …
“The law of their first calling remained unchanged: their unbroken fellowship with Him was the secret of their power to preach and to testify of Him. …
“The same principle stands for all His servants, for all time: without the experience of His presence with us, our preaching has no power. The secret of our strength is the living testimony that Jesus Christ is every moment with us, inspiring, directing and strengthening us. …
“But remember that this power is never meant to be experienced as if it were our own. It is only as Jesus Christ as a living Person dwells and works with His divine energy in our own hearts and lives that there can be power in our preaching as a personal testimony. …
“For it’s only when His servants show in their lives that they obey Him in all His commands can they expect the fullness of His power and His presence to be with them. Only when they themselves are living witnesses to the reality of His power to save and to keep from sin can they expect to experience His abiding presence, and the power to train others to the life of obedience that He asks.
“The living experience of the presence of Jesus is an essential element in preaching the gospel. If this becomes clouded, work becomes a human effort, without the freshness and power of the heavenly life. Nothing can bring back the power and blessing but a return to the Master’s feet so that He may breathe into the heart, in divine power, His blessed word, ‘I am with you always!’” —Andrew Murray
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I hope you’ve noticed so far that the parts of Christ’s model prayer that we’ve looked at so far are both an acknowledgement of the holiness of God and the greatness of His Kingdom, and also a request for us to be empowered to live in a way that makes those things known to Earthlings.
One of the ways we live to make these things seen is found in the next phrase: Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10).
In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens shows us a scene where the Ghost of Christmas Present has taken Scrooge to his nephew’s home. After dinner, these young adults begin playing games. Dickens says, “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
Jesus loved children! Being around “the littles” lately at on our school campus, I have a whole new appreciation for this. Because Jesus loved children, their parents wanted them around Him, and He wanted them around too (see Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:14-16; Luke 18:15-17).
Children are loud, busy, adventurous, and easily distracted. But they are also loving, trusting, curious, innocent, and easily comforted. And Jesus loved to bless them!
What does this have to do with “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”? Jesus taught us to address our praying to “Our Father.” That means we are to interact with Him as His children.
Children love to do the will of their parents. They’re not trying to earn their approval, but joyfully obeying out of innocence. When we obey God as loving children, we are doing His will on earth as it is done in Heaven!
So once again, this is both an acknowledgement and a request.
In Psalm 131, David uses this same picture of a contented child for us.
Childlike is lovingly dependent. Childish is selfishly independent. Childlike is trusting someone wiser. Childish is believing I know best.
Our prayer request should always be, “Father, may I trust You and obey You as an innocent child.”
Peter described the ministry of Jesus as “doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil.” Historical records tell us the first Christians lived this exact same way! This clip is from our current series of sermons on prayer. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
Belshazzar was unknown outside the Bible for quite awhile, prompting one biblical skeptic to say, “the whole story [in the Book of Daniel] is disfigured and falsified by the author, who was neither an eye-witness of the occurrences, nor accurately acquainted with the history of them.” Once again, archeology has confirmed the historicity of both Belshazzar and Daniel.
On YouVersion I shared this on Job 1:20-22. The Old English spelling of worship is “worthship.” We worship God because He has infinitely greater worth than any other person or thing. It’s not that Job wasn’t sad about his losses, but He saw Jehovah as the One of greatest worth in spite of his earthly losses.
“Leaders are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models—that is, they are responsible for learning.” —Peter M. Senge, in The Fifth Discipline
Never stopping praying for your loved ones. It could be that with their very last breath they will call on Jesus as their Savior!
As leaders, we are called to set the example for our organization. As Greg and I discuss in this episode, the quickest way to make a positive change in your organization is to exhibit the traits you want to see. Do that with consistency, and your team will begin to reflect those traits back to you.
Craig T. Owens 