 All right welcome back and now let's pick up from where we stopped present the notes okay so right so be careful of familiarity even as we lead people we give them opportunities we develop this sense of friendship but we also need to maintain that line right okay next point be what your team be what you want your team to be basically lead by example and the entire passage of Nehemiah 5 Nehemiah was a wonderful example for for a leader right remember we talked about this he didn't just tell what people should do but he himself did it right when they had to build a wall he came up with the idea okay whoever's closest to the wall will build that side that portion of the wall and as they were rebuilding the wall Nehemiah had a lot of benefits he had a lot of comforts he could have gone and sat in the palace and said okay I'm the cup bearer so I have some work there or he could have just relaxed but he didn't as a leader what did he do he chose to get in put his hands to the plow and do the work right and he didn't enjoy the privileges that were already there for him so when it came to a place of making decisions and challenges he led by example right so it was not like you know everyone are watching where's Nehemiah have you seen in those movies somebody will be holding an umbrella and we see sipping juice right it was not like that for Nehemiah Nehemiah was doing the work so when everyone saw that hey Nehemiah is doing the work so we also should do the work or if somebody is not doing the work you see Nehemiah is doing how can I sit around do nothing I have to do the work so when you do what you when you lead by example it will there will be a ripple effect on the people you are leading and the team okay your life example speaks the loudest so so let that more than the preaching let your life example speak the loudest get the facts first and then act Proverbs 13 16 every prudent man acts with knowledge but a fool lays open his folly get the facts right now as you deal with people you know one of the things that we as leaders always do is we try to work with our gut feeling you know what's the meaning of that gut feeling I have a gut feeling that 2025 will be a year where we will you know probably you know just an example right we may start online life groups it's a gut feeling it's not it's not something that I know will happen it's a feeling right and as leaders it's good to have gut feelings right but it's also important to get facts right so when it comes to you know leadership as leaders we intuitively we know okay this is something that we can do this is something we can't do getting the facts right is basically before you step into something get it all on fact get get everything in reality so remember this one time we were planning to do a I don't remember which year but we were planning to do a short-term Bible college and this was an I think it was a disservice and this pastor or this ministry he said okay we'll do everything we have a place we'll get everything we'll get about 60 to 70 students so we always had it in mind that there are about 50 60 students we would go and teach and come back otherwise we won't do it so what happened was everything was sorted the entire timetable for the you know I think it was five or six weeks of Bible college entire timetable the preachers I mean the teachers the tickets everything the venue the food everything was already spoken of right we had planned it from our side now that that person said we will get 60 odd people for your short-term Bible callers now I remember I happened to go to the first week I don't remember what topic but also I happened to go for the first week I went there there were about six people sitting six or seven people so I said okay maybe slowly they'll come so I we are there for the whole week so Monday went Wednesday still the same right below 10 when Friday came it was still very bad like nobody's come so remember asking the pastor what happened we were supposed to and he said no no they'll come they'll come slowly only I knew it's something no when he was telling me no they will come slowly I knew in my heart like there was a gut feeling that something is not right here even as you know when we go for missions we're excited we are interested to teach we have filled with I didn't have that feeling something was wrong something was a miss that gut feeling was something's not right and this pastor's never there in that venue he will tell somebody to translate one of the students must translate I said this is not right something's not right so I remember say you know just coming back to Bangalore and before the next person could go I informed coordinator and informed pastor and you know we just stopped it why because we need to get the facts right the fact was he said that they will get 50 60 students it's not resourceful it's not doesn't make sense for us to catch a flight go all the way there stay there for a week leave all the ministry here and there are 10 people there right so we need to be able to be prudent in certain things and those hard difficult situations or difficult decisions we must stand strong so he said no we're gonna close it down now that pastor may have felt bad he may have said hey why but we can't help it you need to make a prudent decision give honest feedback correct someone and afterward he will appreciate it more than flattery Proverbs 28 23 don't assume that people know what you expect from them don't assume that people know what you expect from them tell them that's why we have team meetings just because you know a person is there in the organization for 10 years don't assume that he will know everything they may know a lot of things but as leaders we need to tell them it can we need to get this done give honest feedback right if there are things that are not being done tell them if there are things that are being done but it's not done in the right way tell them if there's sometimes communications and confrontations what that need to be made do it but do it lovingly one of the responsibilities of a leader is to make sure that the individual is doing well in the organization so for example there are life group leaders who have been leaders for the past nine ten years their leaders like group leaders for the past nine ten years they are leaders even now I called them I talked to them I say you know some of them are before they're in church before me I called them I talked to them hey how did life group go you know getting to know understand okay was it then they share and I give them some feedback and give them some ideas or some strategies or well but we do it right and many a times correction and feedback is taken and it's wonderful because these leaders take it in the right way but also correction and feedback has to be timely there are times when you're giving a feedback we need to give it immediately right so for example you see that something is not right right don't wait for two months to give that feedback give it immediately so for example what happened was one of the life groups I remember it was I think one of the youth life groups and they said I got to know that you know they were discussing the Sunday sermons but it was only for 15 or 20 minutes so it's not wrong but I remember I called up and I said hey how is life group I didn't call up and say okay I heard this from this person that you're I hope you're changing this now it is okay how is life group how are things going on are you able to minister to people okay so how long do you spend time in discussions and they said okay 15 minutes okay see what I suggest you can do is spend 45 minutes in discussions because that is more important than the other things right and correction must be given immediately imagine I give it after two three months slowly that ten minutes would have come to five minutes and then eventually there's no discussions only it can easily become a time of playing life group we want fellowship we want you know youth to get together learn but the point is that they grow right give feedback now there are you know if you're in an organization usually you have yearly reviews right every year probably January or December you have reviews don't always wait for those reviews you can always correct your people now in terms of ministry correct them immediately right you see okay this is something that you feel that you can change change and I've received correction I still receive correction right immediately also at times it comes after some time so but you work on that correction right never say take it like you know okay who are you to tell me or why are you still correcting me at this age right even if you're 80 years old and you're being corrected that's okay yes look at the next point don't waste your words on the inattentive really let's read that Proverbs 25 12 Proverbs 25 12 was 25 12 a warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewelry made of the first finest gold if people are willing to listen and learn you share you spend time with them you speak into their lives you correct them you give them counsel but when people are unwilling to learn move out step out meaning don't waste your time when people are unwilling to learn can you give me an example where this happened in the Bible yeah unwilling to obey or unwilling to take correction Israelites in the desert okay Thorom and Gomorrah okay but one beautiful example why all of you all have gone to the Old Testament come on new covenant Pharisees okay so think about this Jesus wasn't Jerusalem did they listen to what he was saying they say oh Jesus oh you are only Messiah very good the Bible says he could not do much there because they didn't believe him and they were not attentive to they didn't believe Jesus right so what did Jesus do he moved out very simple went to Judea went to Samaria went to you know other places ministered people were healed people were delivered people thousands of people followed him right though he didn't what did he say if they don't listen shake the dust off your feet and go meaning there will be people who will take feedback there will be people who will defend that for the rest of their life right so Jesus didn't waste his time he moved out if you look at Jesus's ministry he hardly did anything in Jerusalem hardly most of it was outside in his hometown he was not appreciated at all a prophet is without honor in his own hometown why we've seen this boy he was walking around we know his father and mother now he's saying I'm a messiah what do we do crucify him we kill him he needs to be stoned to death according to the law of Moses but what happened remember that happened he opened the book of Isaiah he said today this prophecy is fulfilled what did they say are you saying you're the messiah he said yeah I am the messiah what are you talking about I've seen you when you were born I've seen you when you were eight years old I've seen you playing with your friends now you're saying you're the messiah they took him to the mountain to throw him off the cliff I was told him to death what did Jesus do he walk back he said you can't do this now and he moved out of the city so there will be people who you speak into there will be people who will receive there will be some of them who will not receive and that's not in your control but as a leader you move on you don't look at this and say see I corrected this person now he may go and put it in the newspaper or in the news channels or he may go and tell the whole you know hundreds of people that hey this is what happened don't bother because you in your heart know you have done this to correct him for his or her good right so you look at what you're doing you are right before God's eyes you know you've done the right thing just move on don't ponder about all of that right guard against greed demonstrate contentment without complacency Proverbs 1527 Proverbs 1527 he who is greedy for gain troubles his own house but he who hates bribes will leave as a leader you have the position right you have a position where people look up to you you have the access to finances to people to resources and one of the biggest if you look at organizations one of the you know big things that have caused a downfall of leaders is greed I want I want I want I want greed guard against it guard against you know things that can overpower you can look at for example when you look at church right now when you look at ministry globally you've got pastors see you've got people who are living in multi-million dollar mansions and God has blessed them yes but we need to guard against greed I want more I want more I want more God we must learn and develop this ability of living with contentment godliness with contentment is of great gain I'm not against getting a good house getting a good car getting a good you know enjoying the things that is there around us but when it when it becomes too much it can become greed and it can destroy us as leaders money should not control you you and I as leaders must control money and we look at ministries many of them have fallen in no time why greed too much of wrong you know expenses and and wanting of more has led to a downfall of ministries and organizations right so be content don't be complacent as leaders meaning don't just say okay what should happen should happen if I have to do something I'll do it if not it's okay right develop this ability right as leaders okay stay away from woman and wine so this is for the men and for the women stay away from men and wine Proverbs 31 3 to 5 let's read don't spend all your energy on sex and all your money on woman they have destroyed kings listen Lemuel kings should not drink wine or having a craving for alcohol when they drink they forget the laws and ignore the rights of people in need in a world that we're living in stay away it says you stay away from woman and wine but it's both right for men and for women two things to guard against guard our hearts against is woman and wine people from opposite genders and wine guard against these if you're married stay faithful to your spouse maintain a healthy distance from people right why is this right now what are you doing you are building barriers around your life you're protecting your life you're protecting you know for example everyone are going for a party everyone are drinking you have to be there what will you do fruity you'll be there but don't drink no you can have fruity right very simple right but now let me tell you something it's easy to say it in bible college in the classroom yes or no but if you're outside in real life the enemy is coming all guns blazing it's not like he's sending one baby devil he's going to send his force but remember that the force inside you is greater than that right so you got to enjoy life right sometimes you know some of my friends have asked me they still ask me what do you do to enjoy life you don't drink you don't smoke so i asked him what do you do to enjoy life drink and smoke so after that are you happy i said yeah i'm very happy i said i like to drive i like to go places i like to i i've got two beautiful children who i enjoy my life with you know i've got a beautiful family so i enjoy so when you look at it it's all about perception for them drinking and alcohol is enjoying for me if i go sit in one mountain and look at the scenery is more than enough for me i'm just looking from a mountain no mangler was beautiful we would go to these mountainous areas and just sit and you can see everything or go sit on the beach just watching your kids play it is such a joy it is talking about it just fills your heart with joy so when you as leaders don't just because they are doing you don't do it stay away from it guard yourself from it right um going down this the path of uh you know getting addicted it all starts off with one sip once and then it just goes on it just multiplies so stay away from it guard against it remember that your if you're married especially remember that you got a you got family to look after and stay away from these things right last one stay god controlled and god directed proverbs 21 one proverbs chapter 21 verse one good leadership is a channel of water controlled by god he directs it whatever ends he chooses so as a leader ultimately god is our guide so develop the ability right we talked about all of this right you you plan you prepare you surrender to god's hand and say god you lead us that's it as simple as that and we follow principles we follow godly principles it's not like you lead us and we don't do anything about it god says okay take the step i'll lead you you take the step right so you are a channel of god's blessing to the organization to the people that you serve stay yielded stay surrendered very important what does yielded mean right to yield means to to just yeah to be submissive or to let go of right stay yielded the boat when a ship is going right sometimes it's the if you put off all the engines the wind will take the boat forward right it's yielded the the boat is yielding to the to which side of the wind it's going so it's very important as leaders to stay god control hey god is controlling me and god is directing me god is controlling my life god is directing my life god is controlling my business my organization god is directing my organization so whatever i do i do it in line with god's principles god's precepts and i surrender it to god knowing that god will lead us in the right way the moment we have that established in our heart we know that okay we will make mistakes but god is in control right the Israelites made mistakes god is in control god can never make any mistake look at the you know when we read all through first Kings second Kings first Samuel second Samuel read the life of David and how god directed his path and even the previous the prophets Elijah Elijah how god directed them they were god controlled and god directed they didn't let the enemy dictate terms they didn't let the enemy say okay this is what we'll do to even if they said it they knew that god is in control and god will direct them so we as leaders need to develop disability and even as we do that we will be able to you know grow in our leadership right any questions on leadership going to the starting like we have discussed like that leadership is like in three it can be given over a period of time it can be earned or it just inherited inherited so like when earning when it comes like is it a good thing to earn leadership when we are not supposed to so it's not like god doesn't want to want us to become leaders he wants us to become leaders right but especially when we are in the season or like when we are not supposed to but like like there is a season or times we have to be under leadership yeah but since like in that place when you're not supposed to take a leadership but is it good earning is different but taking is different right yeah so so see as believers we must understand what season of life we are in right as you said right so so for example bible college right you know that you're under leadership most of the time right because most of the time you'll have to listen to your teachers and the you know the the staff and what they're saying and so there's the certain sense of leadership that's already given to you like okay class leader why do we have all this you know leader for time leader it's because we want you to develop the ability to envision yourself hey one day I'm going to be a leader so so it's it's not wrong to pursue leadership in small ways right now so if I look back I was given leadership I was a class monitor class cap class bible college when I was in bible class captain now I knew that's a season I knew that I'm not going to be I'm not going to graduate after I graduate I won't be the class captain I knew that I wanted to do something like I wanted to see myself getting into a leadership role I knew it but I also understood that okay I have to do well here and if I'm faithful I'm doing well here God will look at it God will honor it God will speak to people's heart and God will open the door for me to get into that place of leadership so I'm not doing this leadership in the season that I'm in just so that you know people see me oh hey you know if it's bible college no if they see me they will appreciate me that I'm doing it no I used to do it because it was been given to me God has assigned it to me and as a leader I should do it so I do it it was a very small role right I would make the roster for worship or I would yeah I would ensure that everyone were on time into the class right if any teacher was not available not coming to teach make sure that all the students are sitting and reading and just learning not wasting that one hour there's a very simple things right make sure that evening you know I would make you know tell the hostel warden make sure that everyone study during the 5 to 6 5 p.m so very simple things but when this task was given to me it was not so interesting initially you know who's going to go like kush upper you're going on telling the you know but for me I envisioned that hey one day I have to get to be a better bigger leader no so you start small now so so when you look at it don't look at okay this is nothing so I want to be a leader only after I finish this no look at it from the beginning itself right you may feel that this is not a not my season of being a leader right maybe you can take a break like you can take up some opportunities take up areas that you like and then take a break right first year in bible college I was the class captain next year I said I'm not going to be class captain for them right why they all hate me they'll hate me even more so I don't because I'm going to be strict I'm not changing that just because they hate me my classmates doesn't mean I'll say oh okay do what you want no I will continue to do so it's better they should not hate me so give the leadership to somebody else but you know what the best part was they forgot in second year also they're coming to me they would come and say should we do this I said ask the leader no you tell us what to do so you start small if leadership is given to you and you feel you're not ready don't just say no but take some time pray about it see remember that God will take you from meager beginnings from small it's very rarely that God will you know once grow but always look at yourself growing into a leader don't say you know I want I'm comfortable being here you want to speak in the mic students can hear in the example that you have given there you have given a leadership so it's right but what if we were given with something and but we are also stepping our foot into another place yeah so then you have to be wise right so so another reason why I didn't want leadership be class captain in second year was because I auditioned for worship team I auditioned for worship team and I got through right so then I knew okay I need to spend more time learning this instrument and learning so if you look at when I look back in my second year at bible college I spent hours in learning the instrument learning how to sing on youtube watching videos watching people learning them so there's no more hey are you doing this are you doing this I felt that second year was more of a like I need to develop myself right so but it was still there you know those leadership so the people in the students in bible college said hey you're already you're leading in church so you tell us you teach us how to lead worship or send us some songs that we can learn so all of that was there right so so I would say that if if leadership comes to you don't be afraid to say no also if it's not comfortable for you if you feel that you're not ready but if you're ready and you feel it's too small it's okay take it up right if it's given to you maybe god is speaking to them and you know saying okay give it to this person there's a reason why it all you know how it started for me I had not auditioned maybe but doing five days of prayer I think okay it all started this way I remember this very very clearly I was connecting just like how you guys connect the guitars and keep everything ready for us I was connecting the guitars everything and keeping it ready for the team to come morning for the five days of prayer we had morning two evening right take what we do so the team was coming and and and so I'm keeping the guitars everything ready just checking it we had our old mixer and so we are setting all of that and all of a sudden pastor j came and said call you want to sing with me what happened said no I can't sing no I was very scared you sing okay I sang he led I sang after songs I didn't know but I stood there whatever I could sing I sang finished over third or fourth day he came call you play the guitar I lead you play the guitar what happened now door open right and then eventually I auditioned for the worship team got into the worship team so when you see remember that leaders can see through you they can already see what you are what you know they have that gut feeling and this is what you will be like like when we look at when I look at people here I can see through sometimes you know okay this is what they will do this is what God has called them you can see the calling of God like that's the one of the abilities that God gives as leaders and you will also be able to see it as you grow in leadership can we take the responsibility and the rollout leadership that were not given to us you can ask for it nothing wrong you can so if for example you feel that you are better in this area go and ask for it right so I say so thank you for the opportunity that you're giving me this is one area that I can also do better so do you think I can take up this area now the leader may say hey we already have somebody in that area but maybe next time I'll give it to you they say okay and or they may say okay are you sure you're able to handle two areas say yeah I can do it right you ask for it nothing wrong in asking for it also but your hard attitude should be right when you ask for it it is it shouldn't be that okay so that people will look it is for your benefit right that you want to grow in the things of God and that's that's something that we must maintain right hard attitudes okay any other question online okay all right so we'll stop here we'll continue from next week we'll go into the next chapter and then we can I'm guessing we should be able to finish it with ease so thank you so much everyone have a great day ahead and a good week ahead I'll see you next week God bless you all