Like we could go live and the mic's not working and you wouldn't know. Welcome to Leadership Live. This is a live stream where we give you a leadership principle from a biblical perspective, and we're so glad that you're with us. I'm your host, Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California, and I'm joined in studio, which is just my office, with Deacon Oliver Gonzalez, and he's at the control panel. He's pressing buttons, and he's turning knobs, and he's flipping switches, and I think he's playing Tetris, and he's helping me out today, and we are so glad that you are with us. So this is going to be a short live stream, about 30 or so minutes, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a leadership lesson, and then I'm also going to answer a leadership question, but before we do that, I just want to let you know about some new things we're doing here at Verity Baptist Church, And one new thing that I want to let you know about is that we have some Spanish sermons that are available. And if you go to our Rumble account, you'll find two Spanish sermons that are on there. And this is something we're going to start doing on a regular basis. There's a sermon that I preach called La Fe Contra Las Obras. And then there's a sermon that our deacon, Deacon Oliver Gonzalez, preached called Todos Los Dias De Mi Vida. So if you are a Spanish speaker or if you know a Spanish speaker, and you're looking for some good Spanish content, I want to encourage you to go on our Rumble account, go on our Rumble website, and find those sermons, listen to them, share them, and that's just something new. We haven't done Spanish content in the past, but we're going to try to do this uh... on a regular basis also while you're there on a rumble account make sure you check out our sermon from last sunday and that we have it featured there of course and also make sure you subscribe to our rumble account you'll notice that we have one point nine seven K subscribers, and we'd like to get to 2,000 subscribers, and if you can help us with that we'd appreciate it So make sure you subscribe to us on Rumble and check out that content all right well let's get into the lesson for today and The lesson today is on the subject of and we're answering the question how to get people to want to follow you and of course we're talking about leadership here and And when it comes to leadership, you need to have people that are following you. If you're going to lead, you need to have people that are following you. And the question is, how do we get people to follow us? And this is a question that I'm often asked about husbands with wives or parents with children or employers with employees, pastors of course with churches. How do you get people to want to follow you? In order to answer that question, I want to begin with answering another question and kind of we want to peel back this onion a little bit and let's begin with this. What is leadership? What is leadership? Now John Maxwell, who is a very well-known leadership expert, has a very famous quote in which he says, leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And he's very well known for that quote, leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And I would agree with that, that leadership is influence. When we're talking about leadership, we're talking about having influence over people and exercising, leveraging influence on people. peel back the onion a little further, and let's answer this question, what is influence? Because we're talking about how to get people to follow you. Well, before we can figure that out, we need to know what is leadership. And then once we know what leadership is, that it's influence, now we want to answer this question, what is influence? And here's how I define influence. I define influence as the ability to guide and move people in the direction they need to go and for them to do this voluntarily without using manipulation or coercion. So when we're talking about leadership and we're talking about influence and leveraging influence over people, what we mean by that, or at least what I mean by that, and the way that I define influence is the ability to guide and move people in the direction that they need to go and for them to do this voluntarily without using manipulation or coercion. So then the question is, how do we get people to allow us to do that? How do we get people to allow us to influence them, to allow us to guide them, to allow us to help us move them in the direction that they should go? And to allow us, those are the key words, for it to be done voluntarily, without manipulation, without coercion. How do we get people to want to follow us, to allow us to influence them? Now, in the Bible, we have, of course, an account of a very famous, well-known leader by the name of David. And in 1 Samuel 18, the Bible tells us about David. And the passage I'm going to read to you here, of course, David is known for killing Goliath. David is known as a very famous king in the Bible. But this passage, 1 Samuel 18, is actually, we see David before he was a king. Before he had the position of a king, however, he was already a leader and people already wanted to follow him. And I want to read this for you because I think it's very insightful. 1 Samuel 18 and verse 5, the Bible says this, and here are the key words, behaved himself wisely, and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. In 1 Samuel 18, 12, the Bible says, and Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. Therefore, Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over thousands. And he went out and came in before the people. And David, verse 14 says, But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them. So here we see David before he's really been given the position of course of king and before he's even really been given a position of leadership. We saw in the story that Saul eventually made him captain and that's a position of leadership. But before that the Bible tells us that he behaved himself wisely, that he was accepted in the sight of all the people. So all the people had already accepted him as a leader because he behaved himself wisely. And even after he was made a captain, the Bible says that David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him. The Bible says that Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely. And the Bible says that all Israel and Judah loved David. because he went out and came in before them. So we see that here David already had influence over the people even before he really had a position of authority. 1 Samuel 18 30 says this, So here the Bible tells us that he had a reputation of someone who behaved himself, the Bible says, wisely, who behaved himself very wisely, who behaved himself more wisely, is what the Bible says, than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was much sat by. So we see here that influence, leadership is influence, influence is the ability to motivate people and to be able to move people in the direction they need to go. And we, of course, want to do that without manipulation, without coercion. We want people to be voluntary followers. And I think we can see that from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus famously said to his disciples, follow me. And really that was putting himself in a position of leadership. But notice that you don't see Jesus saying, I'm the leader, I'm in charge. He's just asking them, follow me. And they voluntarily followed him. That's what we want. And we see that that happened even with David. And how did he get there? He behaved himself more wisely. So let me just give you some thoughts in regards to behaving yourself wisely and the way you act and the way that you treat people and the way that you carry yourself so that people will respect you and will want to follow you so that, like David, your name could be much set by. So here are some thoughts. How to gain influence, right? Because that's what we're asking. How do we get people to want to follow us? How do we gain influence? Number one, be respectable. Be respectable. In matters of character, integrity, morality, we need to be respectable people. The Bible says in Exodus 18.21, when Moses was choosing leaders, The Bible says, moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, that's referring to men of talent and skill, able men, such as fear God, that's regarding their spirituality, men of truth, that's referring to their honesty and integrity, hating covetousness, that means they weren't greedy, and place such over them to be rulers. That's talking about leadership of thousands and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. So we see that God decided and God is telling Moses that you need to pick men that are able men, that fear God, men of truth. And what that's telling us is that your character matters in leadership. And if you want to have influence over people, and if you want to even have influence even without having a position of authority, it needs to begin by being respectable. And you need to be someone that people can look to and they can respect in matters of character, integrity, and morality. But even more than that, I would say not only do you want to be respectable, but you need to be likable. Proverbs 18.24 says, So you not only want to be respectable, but you want to be likable. What that means is you can't be a jerk to people and expect them to follow you. You can't be rude to people, mean to people, harsh with people, and think that you're going to have their heart and they're going to willingly give you their heart. and want to follow you. So be respectable, be likable. Number three, I would say be exceptional, exceptional. If you want to lead others, then you need to be succeeding, at least in the area that you're trying to lead people in, you need to not be failing. If you want people to look at you and say, that's someone I want to follow, that's someone I want to lead, then you need to be exceptional. You need to be succeeding in whatever area you find yourself in. So if you're in some sort of a trade in the secular world, and you want to be a leader, a foreman, then you need to be the best person at that job, or you need to at least Be trying to be the best you can be. Be exceptional, be successful in the areas of your life that people can see because that's gonna make them want to listen to you and want to allow you to influence them. So be respectable, be likable, be exceptional. Number four, I would say be knowledgeable. Be knowledgeable. And of course, if we want to lead people, then we want to try to become experts in the given fields that we are helping people in. So be knowledgeable. And then lastly, I would say this, be copyable. Be copyable. And what I mean by that is this, that people want to follow someone who's succeeding, not just to admire you. And this is the difference between a celebrity and a leader. People might follow a celebrity just because they admire them and have no desire to want to be like them or feel like they cannot be like them. However, leadership, when people follow us, is because they should be looking at what we're doing and then wanting to do that. And that's the whole point. We're trying to move them in the direction they should go. And so we need to be copyable. And what that means is that we want to try to live our lives in such a way that people can imitate it, that they can copy it. People will want to follow you if they believe that they can reproduce your success. So like, for example, I'm a pastor in our church. We, the Lord has blessed our church, and I think we've been a successful church. But I don't think anybody would look at what we've done here and say, I can't do that. I think that they could look at our ministry and say, that's copyable. If that guy can do it, I can do it. And they can learn from us and learn. our systems and learn our plans to be able to be those things. So if the question is, how do I get people to want to follow me? You need to understand that what you're talking about is leveraging influence because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And influence is our ability to move people in the direction and to motivate people to move in the direction that they need to go as volunteers without coercing them, without manipulating them, without doing anything in that way. And the way that we can gain influence, the way that we can become people that people want to listen to, want to copy, want to be influenced by, is by being respectable, being likable, being exceptionable, being knowledgeable, and being copyable. So I hope that helps a little bit with the teaching there, and I hope that makes sense. And of course, I want to remind you that In this live stream, we're doing a lesson, and we're answering a question. I'm going to answer a leadership question here in a minute. But if you have a leadership question that you'd like to hear us answer on the broadcast, then you can submit a question. You can either just leave it as a comment below, or you can email it to us at info at VerityBaptist.com. And if you send us the question, we'll take a look at it. And we've gotten lots of questions. Obviously, we can't answer all of them. But we're going to try to answer all of them. But just be patient with us in regards to that. But we're trying to answer good questions that people are sending in. and we'll deal with that here in a minute. Before we get to our question for today, though, let me just remind you a couple of things. First of all, I want to remind you that we'd like for you to follow us on our social media platforms. Of course, we've already talked about Rumble. Make sure you subscribe to us on Rumble. We'd appreciate your help with that. Also, Facebook. You can follow us on Facebook if you've not done that yet, Instagram. and also on X. Make sure you follow us on all of those different platforms, and we'd appreciate you doing that, of course. And now let's get to the question, all right? And the question today was submitted by one of our church members here at Ready Baptist Church. His name is Luke Vincent, and here is the question for today. The question is, how should a leader handle criticism from clients, followers, and employees? How should a leader handle criticism from clients, followers, and employees? A couple of things when it comes to handling criticism, and I just want to give you several thoughts in regards to this. Number one, realize that in leadership, you're going to be criticized. That is just part of being a leader. So you need to not be surprised by that. Newton's third law of physics states that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. And I would say that there is also a law of leadership. which says that for every decision there is an equal and opposite criticism. You are going to be criticized as a leader when you make decisions, when you decide to go in a certain direction. You're not going, some people are just not going to be happy with the things you're deciding and you will be criticized. So I would say number one, realize that in leadership you will be criticized. Number two, I would say this, realize that most people who criticize are doing nothing. And that's just something that you need to be aware of, and maybe it'll give you a little bit of comfort to realize that most of the time, people who are winning, accomplishing, succeeding, doing great things for God, doing great things in their lives, they don't have time to sit there and criticize you or think about you. And usually it's the people who are doing nothing who are accomplishing nothing that are criticizing. Not all the time, not 100% of the time, but I would say a lot of the time and maybe even most of the time, people who are criticizing you are doing nothing. It's very easy to be a backseat driver. It's very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. It's very easy to stand far off and have this idea that says, well, I know how to do it, and they didn't make the right decisions, and they didn't do the right things, or whatever. So just realize that and realize that if you're being criticized, it's probably because you're doing something. You're accomplishing something. You're doing something good. You're doing something great, and that's why you're being criticized. So just, I would say, realize those things. In leadership, you're going to get criticized. And when you do get criticized, realize that you're probably being criticized by people that are accomplishing nothing, and you're being criticized because you are accomplishing something. The third thing that I would say, and I know that this is hard, but you're just gonna have to learn this as a leader, and it's don't take it too personally. Don't take it too personally. When people criticize you, don't take it too personally. I know it's easy for us to get our feelings hurt and to take things real personal, but you know the Bible says this in Ecclesiastes 7, verses 21 and 22, it says, And I think that's a pretty interesting passage there, where God is telling a master to take no heed unto all the words that are spoken. Don't pay too much attention to what people are saying. lest thou hear thy servant curse thee." And you say, well, if I hear my servant curse me, you know, that's going to hurt my feelings. That's going to make me upset. That's going to make me mad that I'm being criticized. But then he says, for oft times also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewiseest curse others. And the truth is this. You have probably criticized someone. I've criticized people when I shouldn't have. So when I get criticized, I shouldn't take it too personally. So realize that in leadership, you're going to get criticized. Part of the game. Realize that the people that are criticizing you are probably criticizing you because they're doing nothing and you're doing something and then realize that You shouldn't take it too personally because you probably criticize people too when you were an employee You probably criticized your boss or when you were a church member, you probably criticized your pastor. So don't take it too personally and then number four, so those are some things to try to Encourage you here's another encouraging thought number four Don't believe all of it when somebody is criticizing you don't believe all of it Realize that people exaggerate they don't take They they tend to exaggerate things and make them sound worse than they really are so don't take all Criticism as true or realistic when you're being criticized don't take it too personally and realize that it's probably not as bad as what they're making it out to be and Because people tend to try to make things sound a lot worse than they are now with all that said let me say this number five Not only should you not believe it all But don't dismiss it all when you're being criticized you need to realize that there probably is some truth to how you're being criticized or what you're being criticized about. And isn't this why we get so offended when people criticize us? Because we can acknowledge that there's a little bit of truth there. And there probably is a little bit of truth to the criticism. So we as leaders need to be brave enough to acknowledge the parts that are true. I'm currently teaching a course in our Biblical Leadership Institute on the subject of self-leadership and personal success. And one of the principles of self-leadership is that we have to be honest with ourselves at the very least and when you're being criticized You should not just accept it all as truth and say everything they're saying about me is true Because it's probably not but you should also not dismiss it all and you should look at it now sometimes you might get criticized and and it's all 100% just not true. That is possible. But by and large, I would say that there's probably some truth, especially if it kind of hurts your feelings a little bit or kind of makes you upset. Realize that you're feeling that way because there's probably some truth and you should be brave enough to acknowledge that truth. Now, I'm not saying that you need to necessarily, you know, tell everybody that or announce that, but to your own self, you want to be able to acknowledge that truth. And then I would say, number six, you need to work on it. Work on the parts that are true. If you're being criticized, especially if you're being, maybe receiving the same criticism from a lot of different places, you should acknowledge whatever is true and you should work on it. Work on the parts that are true and that's just going to help you become better. It's going to help you become better than you currently are. And, by the way, it's going to keep others from giving you the same criticism in the future. If you're criticized about certain things on a regular basis, then you need to start working on those things so that you can become better and so that people will at least stop criticizing you in regards to that. And then I would say number seven, if needed, and there's a big if needed here because you don't have to do this all the time, but if needed, and I would say if you actually have a relationship with the person that's criticizing you, then you should communicate to them, to that individual. that you are acknowledging the parts that maybe are true and that you're going to work on yourself and try to mature. And of course, if you have that conversation, I would encourage you to have that conversation in a kind way. But I think people will respect us if we can look at where our faults are and realize, hey, you know, you said this and I think you were exaggerating and maybe all of that wasn't true, but there is some truth there. And I want to acknowledge that and I want to let you know that I'm working on that. So when it comes to receiving criticism, I think those are seven steps that are good. Realize you're going to be criticized. Realize that most people who criticize you, not all, but most people that criticize you are doing it because they're doing nothing and you're doing something. Don't take it too personally because you've probably criticized people as well. Don't believe it all, because it's probably not all true. But don't dismiss it all, because there probably is some truth. And whatever there is true, you should work on it. And if needed, again, if you actually have a relationship with this individual that's criticizing you, then maybe you need to talk to them about it, communicate with them, and let them know that you are hearing them, and that you are going to work on it, or fix it, or whatever. So anyway, I hope that helps, and that is the answer to that question. So again, if you are out there, and you're listening, and if you have any questions that you'd like for us to answer on the live stream, then make sure you leave it as a comment in the section below, or email it to info at VerityBaptist.com. All right, so we're going to end with a leadership quote. But before we do that, I just want to let you know of a couple of things. First of all, don't forget about our banned but not bound email list. And if you've not yet joined our email list, we have over 4,500 who have subscribed to our email list. And this is how you can get our content straight to your inbox. And we call it banned but not bound because we've been banned from so many social media platforms that we thought that this email list would be a great way to Make sure that we stay in contact with you even if we disappear off of whatever platform you're listening to us on so make sure you subscribe We have a sermon video library on this website as well, so you can check out our content. And then, of course, we have our email list. And if you click on the email list, then you can just give us your name, your email address, submit the little question there to make sure you're a human being. And then you can sign up for our Man But Not Bound email list. And we'd love for you, of course, to do that. And then also, I just want to remind you that if you have found this, content or the content that we're producing here at Ready Baptist Church to be of value, if it's helped you, then we want to ask you to support us financially. And you can do that by going to readybaptist.com, hit the Donate Now button, and you can donate to our church. And we, of course, appreciate your support with that. All right, well, let's go ahead and get to the leadership quote of the day. And we talked about this in the lesson, so I think I want to use this as a leadership quote for today. And it is the leadership quote from John Maxwell. Again, he's a leadership mentor and author. And he said, leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And that's a very good leadership quote there. We talked about that in the lesson. So we hope that that is a help. All right. Well, this concludes our broadcast for today. And I do want to encourage you to join us next time on Leadership Live, where we give you a leadership principle from a biblical perspective. I'm your host, Pastor Roger Jimenez, and I'm here with Deacon Oliver Gonzalez. We appreciate you spending a little bit of time with us, and we hope that you have a good rest of your day. God bless you and good day. you you