Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture. Sadly, this unbiblical pursuit has infected our churches too. Let’s talk about this on this episode of The Podcast.
In my book Shepherd Leadership, I have two chapters that address a godly leader’s confident humility and humble confidence. You can also check out several blog posts on videos on this subject by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In March 1966, at the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon was quoted—
“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ’n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but His disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.”
Maureen Cleave, the reporter who included this quote in her article about the Beatles, tried to clarify that John was talking specifically about the Church of England, especially when John mentions the disciples of Jesus twisting the words and example of Jesus as it is recorded for us in the New Testament.
But I wonder if the same argument could be made today about the “stars” in the evangelical movement? Many of those who claim to be preachers of the Gospel have both an online and in-person following that rivals that of the Beatles of the 1960s. Their gatherings are rock concert-esque, with their fans spending lavishly on their books, videos, and seminars.
But here’s my question: Are these “rock star preachers” making Jesus famous or themselves famous?
How would John the Baptist’s words sound coming out of the mouths of these mega-stars: “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease. He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so” (John 3:30 AMPC)?
Before John was born, the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that John “will be great in the eyes of the Lord” (Luke 1:15).
Notice: “Great in the eyes of the Lord” is so infinitely better than “great in the eyes of the world”!
John’s whole life was one of confident humility (or humble confidence). He spoke God’s Word confidently, but wasn’t seeking the praise of men nor intimidated by the criticism of men. As a result, God’s Spirit remained on him in an unmistakable way.
God will use anyone in the way that He used John, if they will only have the same attitude John had: “I must decrease and Jesus must increase.”
May I suggest this attitude-adjusting prayer for everyone who has been called by God to herald the Good News about Jesus—
Heavenly Father, as I preach today may all eyes move past me and turn to Jesus. “He must increase, but I must decrease. He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.” Thank You for this opportunity You have given me today to point people to You. May I only be seen as great in Your eyes, but may the world view me only as Your humble servant.
And [God] humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. … Know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you. (Deuteronomy 8:3, 5 AMPC)
God allows us to be humbled and hungry so that we can learn that He is our only source. Proud people will not open their hearts and minds to learn because they see themselves as know-it-alls.
Because He loves us, God humbles us. If we will yield, we can learn from God and grow in intimacy with Him. “Know also in your minds and hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you” (Deuteronomy 8:5). But the proud are deprived of all of these blessings.
Verses 11-20 add a warning about forgetfulness. Success tends to make us think we have accomplished something in our own power, which stokes our pride. Twice we are told to “beware”…
…of forgetting that God is our Provider
…of thinking we are our own provider
Humility keeps us dependent on God and increasingly intimate with Him. Pride pushes God away.
Check out my series of posts about forgetfulness called Fading Gratitude.
When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble (those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness. (Proverbs 11:2 AMPC)
The pruning, trials, and discipline the Lord allows us to experience are for an important purpose: To allow ourselves to be emptied of ourselves. This humility that empties us of ourselves makes room for us to be full of the presence of God.
On the other hand, remaining full of yourself—also called “pride”—will also bring an emptiness. But this emptiness comes with shame and is absent of God’s fulfilling presence.
You and I must choose one or the other: humility before God or pride in ourselves.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
If you’re a shepherd leader, what do you do when the sheep under your care go, “Grrrr!”?
To make sure that you haven’t done anything that caused the murmuring, you should humbly pray, “Search me, O God” (Psalm 139:23-24). And then, if you see you have done something wrong, repent and make things right. You may want to check out my blog post A Leader’s Sincere Apology.
After this, Moses has given us in Exodus 16:8-9 two actions to take with murmuring sheep:
If it wasn’t anything that you did, you need to remind yourself that the people are murmuring against God.
If it wasn’t anything that you did, you need to remind the sheep that they are murmuring against God.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
To you the term “silent killer” might conjure visions of a lone assassin from a spy movie, or perhaps more mundane but equally deadly things like high blood pressure or carbon monoxide leaks. In today’s episode Greg and I are discussing toxic behaviors that creep into the workplace. They aren’t quite as deadly as the ones listed above, but can still cause massive anger, frustration, and discord in your organization. Join us as we discuss some of the most prevalent toxins we’ve seen, and highlight how you as the leader are responsible for being the safeguard against them.
[0:20] Toxic things can sneak into our workplace unless we proactively look for them.
[1:35] Leaders need to be honest with their team so their team feels they can be honest with them in return.
[3:43] Greg and I discuss some of the toxic behaviors we have seen that create problems in the workplace.
[3:54] -Gossip
[4:51] -Office Politics
[6:42] -Negative Competition
[8:37] -Negativity
[10:20] -Bureaucracy
[12:46] -Braggadocio
[14:12] -Bashing
[14:46] Toxicity will come to every organization. We as leaders shine in the way we deal with it.
[17:47] When I wrote Shepherd Leadership, I spent two chapters discussing the balance between confidence and humility because of how important it is.
[19:08] One of our main jobs as leaders is to develop others, but toxicity squashes that.
[20:26] A coach can come alongside you to be the “detector” for the silent killers that might be lurking in your organization.
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.
And the Lord said to [Moses], “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A rod.” … And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on donkeys, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. (Exodus 4:2, 20 AMPC)
What Moses originally called merely “a rod” he later called “the rod of God.” He recognized that what he thought was his was in actuality what God had given him to use.
When we recognize that what’s in our hands isn’t our creation, but a God-given talent, it marks a defining moment in both our maturity and our humility. Or to borrow a phrase I elaborate on in my book Shepherd Leadership, this helps us view our God-given talents or positions with confident humility (or, if you like, humble confidence).
With this shift in Moses’ understanding and language in mind, this is how we should treat every strength God has given us:
• I will have to give an account to God for how I invested or squandered what He entrusted to me
When we realize that we are not self-made men or women, but that any talents, abilities, or opportunities we have are God-appointed, we show a marked maturity in our understanding of our stewardship of God’s gifts. As our maturity grows, our confidence and our humility will grow proportionately. And as we become more confidently humbled in the way we steward God’s gifts, our leadership cannot help but exhibit more of God’s blessing on it.
All of this growth starts with just the simple recognition that what’s in my hands is there only because God placed it there.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week I shared this thought with you from Pastor Tim Keller: “Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. This wedding of Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God. … Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.”
“Untethered from reality” means that we determine the manner in which we come to God in prayer, the way prayer works, and the way God must respond to our prayer. But what we read in the Bible is the opposite of this (Isaiah 1:11-15).
I think there are two opposite and equal erroneous thoughts about how we approach prayer:
I’m not worthy to come into the presence of an all-holy God
I can waltz right into God’s presence whenever and however I please
Both are wrong and both are strategies the devil has used to keep us prayerless. Either we don’t go to God at all or our prayers are unheard because the Bible says that our arrogance has made our prayer ineffectual.
Our Prayer Book—the Bible—helps us find the balance. George Whitefield noted, “Reading the Bible is a good preparative for prayer, as prayer is an excellent means to render reading effectual.” So here’s what we read about those two errors.
I’m not worthy. God is unapproachable in His holiness, but Jesus has made it possible for us to enter in through His righteousness (1 Timothy 6:15-16; Isaiah 6:1-5; Hebrews 4:1, 14, 16; John 16:23-24).
I can come anyway I want to. Passages like Psalm 15:1-5 and Isaiah 58:2-4 make it clear that we cannot simply approach God in a way of our choosing.
Let’s unpack that second error a little more. We have to be clothed in righteousness in order to come into God’s presence, but we cannot be clothed in a righteousness that is apart from Jesus. When we say that we are praying in the name of Jesus, it means we are praying in the nature of Jesus and through the righteousness of Jesus. We must be wearing His righteous robe (Romans 3:22-24; Isaiah 61:10).
So I think we need to pray before we pray. Let’s try these actions which are tethered to the reality of our Prayer Book.
Worship. This is a deep pondering of who God is; it is humbly assigning Him the highest worth. In face, the Old English spelling of this word (“worthship”) gives us insight into what worship does. It is this kind of humility that God responds to (Isaiah 6:5-7; 57:15; Luke 18:9-14).
Confession. As we are worshiping, we will see our inadequacies (much like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, or the tax collector did in Luke 18). We then need to confession these shortcomings. Dick Brogden wrote, “Confessed sin opens the portals of heaven into our darkness, and light and glory overwhelm shame. Confession is our glory for it lifts our heads and eradicates shame.” We see this so vividly lived out in the prayers of David (Psalm 139:23-24; 51:1-2; 19:12-14).
Repentance. I think we could also call this Repair. After confession where we have fallen short, we resolve now to both take a different path and repair what was damaged (Matthew 5:23-24; Mark 11:25-26; 1 Peter 3:7).
Petition. After worship, confession, and repentance / repair, our heart’s attitude is now in the place for God to heed our cries for His help (1 Peter 3:12).
Let’s learn to pray before we pray. Don’t just rush in and rush out of God’s presence. Take time to worship, confession any sins the Holy Spirit reveals, make things right, and then present your petitions.
Our hearts need to be prepared to present our petitions. This is how we know that God will hear our voice.
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 2:2-3)
In essence, Paul asks, “Does it make sense that after the Holy Spirit reconciled you to the Father through your faith in Jesus that then God would say, ‘You’re now on your own—figure it out yourself’?”
Of course not!
When the Bible says that God opposes the proud, that means that He stands back from those who say, “I can do it by myself.” But the Scripture goes on to assure us that God gives more grace to the humble. That means that God is an ever-present help to those who say, “I cannot do this by myself.”
If you want to check out the blog posts that I mentioned: 
Craig T. Owens 