Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
Lent 6 Leading the Procession
“… If it is leadership let him govern diligently…(Rom.12:8)”
The best leader is the one who leads with Jesus THE leader in mind. Just how did He lead? “As the Father has sent me that is the way I send you,” He said.
There are four basics in diligence to learn from Jesus.
First, after He called disciples He poured Himself into them. He held nothing back from them. His bearing was confident, determined, caring and patient. He was showing how the Spirit worked through Him.
Second, wherever He went He taught by word and example. His words were lived out in front of them. While He knew they wouldn’t really understand who He was and what they were to do until after His Resurrection, He maintained His faith in His Father before them.
Third, He trusted His disciples even though He knew they would leave Him when the going got rough. He lived by the promises of His Father not their inability. It was His Father’s will that He invest in them everything of Himself.
Fourth, and most significant, His was a spiritual mission. He was bringing the spiritual Kingdom of God into a polarized world dominated by the devil. The world was consumed in spiritual confusion. Thus Jesus was the disciples’ mission, He was their message and He gave them the Spirit to carry on the mission and ministry with which He gifted them.
While that is the Lord’s example there is a stark and wide contrast between sinners who are called to lead and the sinless Lord who sets the example. The one truly vital realization necessary for fallible human leaders, whether pastor, elder or committee chairman, is to understand what diligence means. It starts with learning two levels of faith, first, trust in the Lord, His Word and Spirit and second, trusting the Spirit in the gifted members of the Body committed to their care. Notice the Cross here, the vertical beam of trusting the Spirit and the horizontal beam of trusting the Spirit in others.
Pastors are not ‘lone rangers’ who alone hear what God wants for a local Body. Unless they recognize and lean on the gifts that the Lord gives to the whole Body they will only find the spiritual disarray of division, suspicion, distrust and confusion. When leaders have a spirit of control it arises out of fear and distrust in the Lord’s message of faith in His Spirit’s ability to transform the heart with His message and gifts. It also may mean there are strongholds that block the ability to trust in others. They don’t trust the Spirit to speak through others. They tend to manipulate rather than affirm in order to get their personal control agenda across. They tend to choose people who defer to them or are too timid to challenge. None of this is what Paul means by diligience.
A true leader is diligent when he realizes he is in over his head before he starts. He doesn’t take control He gives over control to the Lord. His leadership is to lead people to the Lord, to the Word, to the Spirit, to worship, to being disciples, to be ministers and to be missionaries. His trust is in the Lord to do through His Spirit what HE wants not what a leader thinks. If the Body is in worship, prayer and discipleship the Lord will reveal Himself and His will for them together. Leadership in the Body is not the same as that in the world. Diligent leadership in the Body is to lead people to the Lord and let Him do the work through His gifts.
Now taking from that trust, teaching and personal investment, a leader in the Body of Christ does the same. Five points of recognition lead to diligent leadership.
First, he must recognize and realize that before he even begins, he is in over his head and needs the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Word.
Second, he also must recognize he is just one in the mix of a people who have been called together to let the Lord lead them in the Spirit. He is as much dependent on them as they are on him.
Third, he must recognize he has to spend time building trust between himself and others and, this most importantly, to trust them, learning and leaning on their gifts so that those in the Body grow and mature. This means that he has to spend time learning who the people are, what they respond to, their attitudes, their level of faith and knowledge.
Fourth, he must recognize he can’t allow himself to believe he is the only one who hears and knows what God wants for them. Be careful when anyone says, ‘God told me to do this.’ The Body should immediately question this because that statement requires confirmation. This is why God give gifts of discernment, intercessory prayer and wisdom to check that it is consistent with what God wants in the local Body.
Fifth, he must recognize the need to make himself available and personally accessible. His first priority is the Body in which he has been called to be a leader. His schedule is determined by the needs of the Body. His task is to lead the Body to the Lord and His Word then let the Spirit do the rest.
Hear Paul’s leadership instruction,
“3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't (Rom.12:3 on, Message Bible).“
Next, more on gifts and their meaning for us. Stay tuned……….
The best leader is the one who leads with Jesus THE leader in mind. Just how did He lead? “As the Father has sent me that is the way I send you,” He said.
There are four basics in diligence to learn from Jesus.
First, after He called disciples He poured Himself into them. He held nothing back from them. His bearing was confident, determined, caring and patient. He was showing how the Spirit worked through Him.
Second, wherever He went He taught by word and example. His words were lived out in front of them. While He knew they wouldn’t really understand who He was and what they were to do until after His Resurrection, He maintained His faith in His Father before them.
Third, He trusted His disciples even though He knew they would leave Him when the going got rough. He lived by the promises of His Father not their inability. It was His Father’s will that He invest in them everything of Himself.
Fourth, and most significant, His was a spiritual mission. He was bringing the spiritual Kingdom of God into a polarized world dominated by the devil. The world was consumed in spiritual confusion. Thus Jesus was the disciples’ mission, He was their message and He gave them the Spirit to carry on the mission and ministry with which He gifted them.
While that is the Lord’s example there is a stark and wide contrast between sinners who are called to lead and the sinless Lord who sets the example. The one truly vital realization necessary for fallible human leaders, whether pastor, elder or committee chairman, is to understand what diligence means. It starts with learning two levels of faith, first, trust in the Lord, His Word and Spirit and second, trusting the Spirit in the gifted members of the Body committed to their care. Notice the Cross here, the vertical beam of trusting the Spirit and the horizontal beam of trusting the Spirit in others.
Pastors are not ‘lone rangers’ who alone hear what God wants for a local Body. Unless they recognize and lean on the gifts that the Lord gives to the whole Body they will only find the spiritual disarray of division, suspicion, distrust and confusion. When leaders have a spirit of control it arises out of fear and distrust in the Lord’s message of faith in His Spirit’s ability to transform the heart with His message and gifts. It also may mean there are strongholds that block the ability to trust in others. They don’t trust the Spirit to speak through others. They tend to manipulate rather than affirm in order to get their personal control agenda across. They tend to choose people who defer to them or are too timid to challenge. None of this is what Paul means by diligience.
A true leader is diligent when he realizes he is in over his head before he starts. He doesn’t take control He gives over control to the Lord. His leadership is to lead people to the Lord, to the Word, to the Spirit, to worship, to being disciples, to be ministers and to be missionaries. His trust is in the Lord to do through His Spirit what HE wants not what a leader thinks. If the Body is in worship, prayer and discipleship the Lord will reveal Himself and His will for them together. Leadership in the Body is not the same as that in the world. Diligent leadership in the Body is to lead people to the Lord and let Him do the work through His gifts.
Now taking from that trust, teaching and personal investment, a leader in the Body of Christ does the same. Five points of recognition lead to diligent leadership.
First, he must recognize and realize that before he even begins, he is in over his head and needs the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Word.
Second, he also must recognize he is just one in the mix of a people who have been called together to let the Lord lead them in the Spirit. He is as much dependent on them as they are on him.
Third, he must recognize he has to spend time building trust between himself and others and, this most importantly, to trust them, learning and leaning on their gifts so that those in the Body grow and mature. This means that he has to spend time learning who the people are, what they respond to, their attitudes, their level of faith and knowledge.
Fourth, he must recognize he can’t allow himself to believe he is the only one who hears and knows what God wants for them. Be careful when anyone says, ‘God told me to do this.’ The Body should immediately question this because that statement requires confirmation. This is why God give gifts of discernment, intercessory prayer and wisdom to check that it is consistent with what God wants in the local Body.
Fifth, he must recognize the need to make himself available and personally accessible. His first priority is the Body in which he has been called to be a leader. His schedule is determined by the needs of the Body. His task is to lead the Body to the Lord and His Word then let the Spirit do the rest.
Hear Paul’s leadership instruction,
“3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't (Rom.12:3 on, Message Bible).“
Next, more on gifts and their meaning for us. Stay tuned……….
Views: 4
Comment
About
© 2025 Created by HKHaugan.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Kingdom's Keys Fellowship to add comments!
Join Kingdom's Keys Fellowship