 Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to the session. Everyone can hear me okay? Give me a thumbs up if you can hear me okay? Alright, thank you. Alright, let's begin this time with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our session. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for giving us this beautiful day Lord even as we come together to study your word pray Holy Spirit that you will speak that you will minister to our hearts Lord that our hearts will be good and strong to receive what you have to speak to us today God we thank you. We submit this day into your hands in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, so last class we looked at chapter 16 we looked at the heart of a leader and we looked at a few aspects of a leader number one was a life of servanthood and we look at the life of Jesus so he did not have an inferiority complex nor did he have a superiority complex so there was this place where he walked in humility but he also walked in authority and that's a balance that eventually we will find when we step into leadership there will be times when we walk in humility but we also walk in authority and as we develop this ability we will learn how to not saying that we all already know it but we will learn from our mistakes we will learn the Holy Spirit will guide us, teach us on how to live this life of servanthood. We looked at three temptations to avoid to be self-sufficient to be spectacular, to be powerful thinking that I can do all things I know there are verses there but not just saying it's my ability my skills and my gifts but to always trust in God to be humble, avoid being celebrity, mentality basically also to be powerful in the sense that of people or taking control of the people that you are ministering to especially so we must be as leaders we must be motivated and love, keep a constant check on our hard attitudes, why am I doing what I'm doing, we looked about being totally committed being positive even during the ups and downs and how David, for example in the second first Samuel 30 when he came back from his war he saw that enemies had come and taken his wives and children but it says that in first Samuel 30 and verse 6 he says David encouraged himself on the Lord he stayed positive so it's very important for us as believers and as leaders especially you know we get into this place of okay there is going to be ups and downs there are going to be challenges but you continue to fix your eyes on Jesus continue to stay positive and know that every season that we're going through is ordained by God and God knows how to handle us right okay let's get into chapter 17 developing the leader in you now all of us you know we have been given a leadership mentality when we talk about leadership we all have some kind of leadership skills in us I just want to share this right leadership how does it come one leadership comes through hard work two leadership can be given just given to somebody and three leadership is inherited and think of this leadership can come through hard work and have people who work hard and they become leaders then you have leaders who people have just given leadership they may not have worked hard for it they may not even thought of it just been given leadership and three leaders you know gain leadership to inheritance maybe their parents you know it's just inherited to them but how can you and I develop ourselves four important areas when it comes to leadership and you know when you talk about leadership it's a vast topic right there's so much apart from influence it's a vast topic when you talk about leadership but how can you and I let's look at a few areas here four areas to grow in leadership number one competence when you think about competence what is the first thing that comes to our mind knowledge if I want to be a leader in any aspect I need to be knowledgeable I cannot tell myself okay God will make me a leader so I just sit around and wait it's not going to work we must be competent we must have knowledge we must be able to understand and be able to learn and develop ourselves very very important in leadership now when you talk about it in ministry so for example you want to be a leader even if it's just in a volunteering team you must have the knowledge you and I must have the knowledge we must be able to get into God's word read God's word understand how God works understand about the principles of leadership gain that understanding apply it in our life make mistakes learn from those mistakes and grow that's what competence is competence is the aspect of you know growing your skills trying that skills in your life in whatever area that God has called you for that will help us to develop as leaders next point under that is skill if I want to be a good leader I need to develop skill these skills can be people skills your job skills your talking skills your listening skills what you can do as a leader especially when it comes to competency skill is something that you have to keep pressing on and on no matter what phase of leadership you may be a leader for 10 years 15 years it's alright we have to keep growing and I'm sure you've heard of this saying there's no point a leader who does not look at growth remains stagnant and his leadership skills just stop there look at the example of the great apostle Paul he's come towards the end of his life and he's writing and he's saying listen I don't look back I don't look at what I've done what churches we have planted what ministry we've done I'll press on forward for the goal for the things that God has for me so you and I we look back and we look at our places where we have been successful look back we look at places where we have failed but we don't have to live in what happened before we live what's going to happen further on so you build your skills you build your competence and you keep growing experience and when you talk about experience it is something that comes out naturally for example if you are preaching the first time you're going to be preaching or the first 6 months of preaching it is natural to be nervous to make a lot of mistakes it's natural because you're just doing it new it's new to you but if you look at 5 years down the line you will see yourself so much better why? because when you started off you were nervous you didn't know how to speak or we didn't know what example to give when to speak what to speak but over time you have gained experience experience is something that cannot be bought experience is something that is naturally acquired and not only in ministry in any area of our lives experience is something that comes naturally look at this example if you aren't married you may not be very good with kids you have no experience with kids and when somebody is married they have had kids their kids have grown up now you know what experience is you have gone through it you have set up the whole life with fever all these things that happen you have seen kids growing up you have seen the tantrums you have seen the good things that they can learn and so if somebody asks you hey what is the first thing you will say you are not going to open a book and say let me tell you what to do it's all inside it's experience don't worry initial years is going to be a little difficult but as the baby grows as the child grows he is 2 years old 3 years old it's a beautiful time you will enjoy it let's come out of experience and experience is something that we can always hold on to it helps us build our competence 2 Timothy 2 what you have heard from me through many witnesses and trust to faithful people will be able to teach others as well look at this Paul is writing his last letter Timothy who was a young boy he met many years ago about 17 years ago Timothy has grown up he is in his early 30s so Timothy has the experience he has watched the apostle Paul he has watched his ministry he is leading the church now Paul is saying to him Timothy what you have learned from me what you have seen the abilities what you have experienced what you have seen faithfully and trust to people that they will be able to teach others so number one is confidence grow in your competence whichever area you are in you can even be a life growth leader you can be a worship leader you can be a volunteer leader whatever area of leadership keep looking to grow number two confidence confidence is again an aspect of our personal something that we are wired with now for example there are people who are low on confidence by nature normally if you look at intro words they don't talk much it's not like they are low on confidence they just prefer not to talk much and there are some of them who are very low on confidence the reason could be maybe because when they were small their teachers were rude to them or harsh on them maybe their parents were harsh on them saying you are not good enough you are not doing this you are not doing that they don't believe in the skills that they have but remember when it comes to leadership it is very important to develop confidence listen, Moses was not confident he had zero confidence in himself he said no god I can't go you are telling me to Egypt you are telling me to bring 2 million people out of Egypt now I can't I can't even talk he gave a lot of excuses but thank god that God enabled him when he went confidence is something that can develop over time just because we are not confident doesn't mean God is not going to make us leaders let me share this example in my personal life I've never from the time I was small I've never really went on stage a complete introvert I would never talk to people, never go on stage, never participated in school programs, school skits never even as I said for my 10 standard marks card I didn't want to go on stage to collect it I was just so nervous I wanted the certificate but I didn't want to go on stage my parents dragged me and said you have to go confidence is something that can develop but I remember after I became a believer and I knew that if I want to become a leader I cannot behave this way I cannot tell myself ok do what I am doing ministry is about people so I must be able to talk to people I must be able to build confidence in myself and only then I can minister and bring confidence to others through the word of God if I myself am not confident how can I make others confident and help them to trust and go on so without with no confidence we can do very little but here is the interesting part, here is the encouraging part that God through his spirit gives us a spirit of boldness he gives us boldness he gives us courage to step out confidence comes from positive experiences and sometimes confidence comes through people it's easier to take small steps rather than big steps so look at small steps meaning look at ways that you can build confidence in a small way one of the things that I did since I was an introvert became a believer, I knew that I had to build confidence, how do I do it my comfort zone is me and my bible or me and an instrument I don't need people around me I just don't need people around me I can survive, I can thrive alone in a room with my bible and I can thrive I can really do well that's what ministry is about you leave me in a room for 48 hours, it's fine, I can be there alone, it's fine because that's how I was wired but I had to step out of it so I began to take small steps, what did I do some examples that I'll share and you can probably apply it and try it in your life I would write down sermons it was I think 2009 2009, early 2009 so I would write down sermons and I would stand in front of the mirror and I would preach the entire sermon, 45 minutes preach it and I would act like there were people sitting in front of me then I would probably take out the guitar and sing a few songs behave like there are people around me over time confidence came in it's built through positive faith in God see difficulties as an opportunity to grow again as a leader we need to be positive and trust God, have faith in God knowing that God will give us these opportunities to grow confidence is built by believing the gifts that God has placed in you sometimes God places gifts in us and we can say I don't know it, I don't want it I don't want to use it you believe in the gifts that God has placed in you now, right now you may feel that hey this is not it's not something that I'm gifted in I was never gifted to preach or talk on stage no, it was a big zero it was not in me to be able to preach again this is going on stage, no it was not but over time the Holy Spirit gives us these gifts inside of us and he expects us to believe in that gift and believe that he is with us when we step out and begin to use those gifts right, so very important use the gifts that God has given be confident about it you may be just taking one small step maybe God has given you a gift for praying and intercession but now you feel you can pray only 10 minutes that's okay, there's nothing to be ashamed of hey God has given me a gift of praying intercession for praying 10 minutes, that's okay it's just starting off, build confidence in that gift okay, God I know that you will help me you will put a burden in me read the book of Jeremiah, it's so powerful the burden that God put in him and the way God just used him to speak to Jerusalem he was there before during and after the fall of Jerusalem the Babylonians came and overpowered them and the way that God used him was so powerful see what you have rather than what you do not have don't focus on what we do not have see what you have you have five loaves of bread and two fish, use it I don't see what I don't have it's easy to focus on what we don't have but you can say God thank you for what you have given me five loaves of bread, two fish you take it Lord, even as I pray you multiply it and let it be a blessing to thousands of people right, confidence is built by encouragement, stay around people who can encourage you stay around people who can encourage, exhort, correct you encourage, exhort, correct you at times correct in love that correction is only because they want to see you get better stay with people who are encouraging encouraging, hey go ahead don't worry, I thank God that at a young age I became a believer thank God for leaders and people who are around always encouraging me to tell you the number of mistakes I've made so many but the encouragement, the push, now go ahead continue, you can do it and really got me through, imagine you know you're just trying to step out, trying to do something and you have some leaders and what did you do, why did you mess up this way what's gonna happen, it's just gonna bring us down but be around people who encourage you, who look at you as leaders and can build you up so the first one was competence, second one was confidence third one is compassion hello Jesus, when he ministered he ministered with compassion there was no place where Jesus was ministering without compassion, that was the basis of his ministry, compassion whenever he went, when he saw the multitudes he had compassion on them when a leper came running to him, oh if you're willing you will heal me, Jesus had compassion, he said I am willing when he saw the sick, when he saw the the blind, those who are you know, fury and weak and Jesus says, you know these are like sheep they're gone astray, it's compassion a very important attribute of a leader is to have compassion without compassion ministry to people becomes a burden without compassion, ministry to people becomes a burden, so if people come up to you and say you know, I've got headache I've got back pain, I've got leg pain if you don't have compassion for them what's gonna happen, become a burden again they're coming, again the same prayer point they're compassionate, because we don't know what they're going through you know, we can say hey why don't you just eat well, exercise and sleep we don't know what they're going through they will be in pain, maybe their soul is in pain that's reflecting on their body so let our ministry be driven by compassion have a burden for people when you have a burden for people people will not become a burden to you Jesus whatever he did was motivated by compassion he loved us, he loved the people that he saw he may ask what about the high priest and what about the Pharisees and the Pharisees everyone, he loved everyone they didn't love him, they didn't care about him he loved them, how do we know on the cross itself Jesus said father forgive them they don't know what they're doing he's talking to the Romans, he's talking to the high priest everyone there, father forgive all these people they don't know what they're doing ministry must be based out of compassion out of the love of Jesus Christ and that is when people will notice people will realize love is something that is always seen outwardly it's seen, you can see it in our face you can see it in our actions Jesus just didn't say John 3.16 doesn't say God so loved the world and there's no full stop there we all know God loves the world but what did he do about it that he gave his only begotten Son when you and I walk in love, walk in compassion we will give we'll come to this place of giving we'll come to this place of doing ministry out of love not to be a burden at all fourth point, collaboration as leaders we must develop the ability to collaborate that needs to work together with others right so some of the things that we do here at ABC let me just share, I've shared it before for one conference media team, first administration administration team accounts team media team graphics team ministry leader team pastors involved in that conference all these teams work together as leaders we must develop the ability of collaborating and working together nothing that we can do in any of our conferences can be done by one team it cannot be done even if it's an event it cannot be done and so as leaders develop that ability to work with others you need to be able to sit and you know make sure that whatever you're doing is done together as a team that will make it successful because sometimes when leadership comes we don't want to listen to others some of this place of 10 years 15, 20 years in ministry so you don't tell me what to do you listen to me that's wrong because if we want to be effective leaders we must be also willing to collaborate and work together, that's a skill that's something that God expects of us look at Jesus he could have done everything on his own but no he chose 12 people he collaborated with them and I'm sure if you think of it the Bible says that he made a money keeper so he was in charge of all the money so Jesus wanted to go somewhere I'm sure he would have checked the Judas, Judas how much money do we have can we go to Submaria how long can we stay there okay so Peter how do we get to Submaria should we go this way do you think Jesus didn't know how to do it he knew how to do everything on his own I'm sure he collaborated with this he got them involved and when we do that it just builds us as leaders God places people in your life strategically you must establish a connection so that you can give into them and they can give it to you God places people in your life strategically now when God places people in your life there are times when they are just for seasons and there are times they could be there for just a very short season or it could be for a couple of years or it could be for a long time so when God places people establish that connection work together what is the perfect example we can use I think the perfect example in scriptures is that of Paul and Barnabas all his 14 years away he's heard of Saul he's making tents in Tarsus the same guy who has seen Jesus who was on the road to Damascus he's seen Jesus, he's heard the voice of Jesus 14 years he's gone missing nobody knows about it but God in his wisdom very strategically spoke to Barnabas when you go to Antioch first go look for Saul of Tarsus bring him and come to Antioch strategic minister together is the network okay? everyone can hear me okay? you had disappeared for a minute but now you're back I'm back okay thank you so look at Saul of Tarsus what did God do? he brought the right person just for that first missionary journey he probably was with Paul for maybe about 6 to 7 months so they go they go on their first missionary journey there's a disagreement after that we don't hear anything about Barnabas but we know all the fault only towards the end Paul writes and he says bring Barnabas to me sorry bring John Mark he says but until the end we don't see anything about Barnabas he probably brings people into our life to help us become effective leaders they speak into your life you speak into their life think about people God has placed in your life as a potential source of encouragement support and strength it's not like one person can fulfill all everything in your life you must be connected with many people yes there will be leaders in your life as a leader as a believer you may have one leader but you've got to be able to also receive from others now again when I say this we must also understand that there's a divine order in that so we must not go beyond the order that God has given us we connect with people different leaders within the church within the ministry you connect with them you can learn from volunteers as a leader I remember this long time back I think it was 2010 I used to come to church and there used to be this young couple the mother would carry the child and arrange the chairs I remember that very clearly and I used to watch that and say wow look at that commitment person she's only a baby probably one year old baby and putting the chairs doing ushering in the church that calls for commitment do you think we can learn something from that as leaders to say to expect others to learn from us but there are things that God can make us learn from even the smallest things that others are doing God may have something for you to give them and you need to connect with them and sometimes God may have things that he wants you to learn and he can speak to somebody else remember God spoke through a donkey he can speak through any one so these are the four ways that we develop ourselves as leaders number one competence, number two confidence compassion and collaboration there's much more but let's look at five levels of leadership any questions, any thoughts five levels of leadership taken from the book it's a mandate written by John Maxwell the five levels of leadership five P's number one position people follow you because they have to as a leader people follow you because they see something in you and they do it they obey the rules why did people follow Moses they wanted to stone him at one point why did they follow why did they come out of Egypt because there was a leadership position that was already bestowed upon him God had already told Moses, I am going to choose you to bring the people out of Egypt position, people follow because they have to people follow you because they want to now you see the difference there people follow you because they want to what is the best example here we can use remember David, David is running from soul he is afraid of his life anointed as king yesterday I was reading a passage giving now first Samuel 21, very interesting passage David is running away from soul and he goes into gap the king Ashkish is there and when he enters there they recognize David aren't you the one who killed Goliath and they sign David killed thousands and sorry Saul killed thousands David killed 10,000 aren't you the one who was anointed as the king of Israel and now David at that time he realized that if he says yes and if they recognize and they are going to stop him there and they are going to capture him put him into prison or maybe even kill him and the Bible says that I may be digressing but there is a point that I want to bring up Bible says that he acted mad he acted insane he started scratching the walls he started dripping from his mouth he acted insane and then the king said why did you bring him here Goliath why did you bring a mad man in my presence let him go tell him never to come back again and he runs away from there that's when he writes Psalms 34 he goes back into the caves Psalms 34 one of the most brilliant Psalms Psalms 34 and how the Lord just delivered him listen after that what happens is 400 odd soldiers come to Saul sorry come to David and say we will follow you whatever you say we will do those 400 odd soldiers came because they believed in David they saw the leadership skill in him so there are times when God can take you through seasons bring you into a place of position of leadership and then you will see people following you they follow you because they want to you may be wondering why are these people I don't know much I'm still learning you may be wondering that but they are following you because God has sent them to you and the permission is given meaning you give them the permission you say ok if you want to follow David did that 3 is production people follow you because of what you've done for the organization do you think this happened in Moses Joshua's life Moses you see the transition Joshua gets into the leadership Joshua says 24-15 Joshua 24-15 you choose this day whom you are going to serve but I saw me in my house we will serve the Lord what did they say they said no we will do what you say whatever you say whatever Joshua you say we will follow you because we have seen why because we have seen the hand of God we have seen how God deliver us from the enemies we have seen the mighty hand of God in every area of Moses's life we will see the hand of God in your life people have seen what you have done in your ministry or in your organization and they will follow you people develop them people follow you because of what you have done for them what you have done for them what you have spoken into their lives the sacrifices that you have made look at the apostle Paul look at the apostle Paul the people that he has ministered to Paul, Timothy, Silas they didn't run away from oh it's better to Paul is a problem maker wherever he goes he starts preaching and then at the end everyone are getting upset and they want to beat him up and then now because we are with them we get beaten up and we all get thrown into prison so let me just try and give an excuse and move away from him no that didn't happen they knew imagine Timothy in his early 20s why would he put his life in danger being with the apostle Paul why should I go through all this trouble he is doing it because he got a vision from God why should I go through put my life in danger I am only in my early 20s why should I get beaten up put in the prison very easy to think and put that good but what did Timothy do he said no he held on to Paul he said no Paul you chose me and I was 17 you chose me you showed me you spoke into my life and you have changed me you have showed me I knew the law I was behind the law but you showed me what is grace what it means to live in the power of the Holy Spirit you showed me miracles you showed me the grace of God you showed me how to live how to trust God you showed me how to destroy the works of the devil you showed me everything so I cannot let go I want to hold on I will stay with you I will trust you what an amazing picture that would have been people follow you because of what you have done for them third and fifth one person what people follow you because of who you are and what you represent what a powerful that would be one of the most powerful level of leadership people follow you because of who you are and what you represent Paul says follow me just that imitate me this as I imitate Christ who you are and what you represent when you are totally committed to the things of God and you're passionate you're walking in power you're walking in anointing you're serving God with a servant heart you're doing what God has called you to do people will follow you because of who you are because of your sacrifices and who you represent and say hey this person as a leader he represents Jesus so let's follow him and moving up the steps of leadership the higher you go the longer it takes the higher you go the higher the level of commitment you know sometimes you go backwards we think okay the higher you go the more relaxed life is going to be and you look even in the corporate world the higher you go there are perks there are benefits but the commitment needs to be much much more the higher you go the easier it is to lead that's true that's true look at the apostle Peter he was trying to lead he was reading this small group probably believers and just new to all of this he's a fisherman he doesn't know anything about leadership he had to go he had to learn and then there were about 10,000 people who pledged allegiance to Jesus in the first sermon now he's got a big church ahead you know just looking to him the higher you go over the years I'm sure he just raised him up raised him up and came to this position and he said no nothing matters what matters is God what matters is his work it's just easier to lead the higher you go the greater the growth in ministry the higher you grow the things of God the higher you grow on your leadership the better you become as a leader the greater is the growth God gives us you never leave the base level or the levels below where you are meaning here you grow don't forget about the base level right remember that you were once there you know God will give these areas of you know enable us to come to this positions of leadership but as we grow in that positions of leadership don't forget to take people along with you don't forget your base level leaders give them opportunities take them along with you a leader is not somebody who just grows up and starts dictating things to others but a leader is somebody who takes people from the base level and encourages them to join along with them as a leader you won't be on the level with all your people remember that there are people who don't want to become leaders there are some people who are happy being where they are they don't want to take too much of effort they just want to realize still things in life remember there are when God has called you to a place of leadership there will be people who will be down meaning they it's not a it's not God's fault it's their fault they don't want to become a leader they don't want to grow on the things of God so as a leader understand that there will be people who don't want to grow they don't want to come up and you must also understand that your level of leadership just needs to increase right so sometimes it won't be at the level of the others in the crow look at an eagle eagle eagle can fly a crow can fly eagle can fly above the stones but a crow cannot both can fly both have the wings both can fly but when you get into this leadership role and you go higher and higher and higher as an eagle you don't want to always come down to that level right so of course we are not putting the others down we are saying God is raising you up as a leader and there are greater positions that God is bringing you to not everyone want that so maybe we must stay assured in our heart there are people who want to learn there are people who don't want to learn as a leader I want to grow finally you must work to carry other leaders with you up the steps you carry leaders along with you you give them opportunities give them resources you may have to be able to spend time with them anyone as we do this we will be able to grow as leaders and here is the most interesting part as leaders God gives us the time for our weaknesses He knows our challenges He knows our strengths as well and when we are yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit when we trust in His Holy Spirit He begins to minister to us so He guides us He leads us Proverbs says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord so God is ordering our steps He may take us through these seasons He may orchestrate some impossible situations in our life but we can continue to trust God and say God I know that out of this will come something that you want us to be better leaders people who are completely committed to God right so we will stop here next class we will pick up from chapter 18 developing the ability to minister the Word and in the Spirit thank you so much for joining this class have a great day ahead see you on Friday God bless