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All right, so this morning I'm
gonna continue the series that I've been preaching through a
little bit here and there over the past, I don't know, a month
maybe, on strong leadership. So we've been highlighting different
men as good examples of leaders in the scripture. We looked at
Moses and we looked at David, we looked at other leaders and
this morning we're going to be looking at the Apostle Paul.
And just because of the abundance of scripture from the Apostle
Paul and about the Apostle Paul, I'm only going to highlight a
few attributes. Obviously, if you just study all this stuff,
he's got a lot of great attributes that demonstrate his leadership.
But there's a few that I think kind of are very representative
and highlight the Apostle Paul that are somewhat unique, and
there's always overlap with these different men of God and people
that we see in leadership. Of course, you're gonna see that
quite a bit, but there's definitely certain things that really characterize
the people that we look at. We looked at Nehemiah and Moses,
for example, were two, I think, pretty different types of leaders.
But very, very good leaders in their own rights, and possessed
overlapping skills, certainly. But they definitely had attributes
that were a little bit more unique to them, or at least more accentuated. So we're going to look at a few
of the highlights here from the Apostle Paul. We started off
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. And we're going to look at 1
and 2 Thessalonians a little bit, because one of the things
that he was teaching that church was how to work hard. And one of the things that we
see about the Apostle Paul in his leadership is that he led
by example. And he made purpose to explain that he's leading
by example. Like, look, this is how you live
the Christian life. This is how you do it. This is
how you get things done. And made sure that he was presenting
himself and walking in a way that he could say, look, this
is the pattern and you can follow this pattern. And a good leader
ought to be able to do that. A good leader doesn't just bark
commands and bark orders and everyone else just does them.
Now, there's definitely an element of that. Of course, a leader
has to be in a position to direct other people and can't do everything. However, a leader also ought
to be able to show how it's done, right? A leader is not going
to be afraid to get his hands dirty. A leader is going to be
able to get in there and be like, no, look, this is how you do
it, right? And be able to do because they
know what they're talking about. They know what they're doing
in the area that they're leading. And the Apostle Paul was no stranger
to hard work, to labor, and he was demonstrating and showing
people how it's done. He also is very strong in his
boldness. He's a very bold character. We're
going to get into that a little bit as well. And we'll cover
some more attributes as we get into the sermon. Look at verse
number one there. We're going to read a little bit about this letter
that he's writing to the churches at Thessalonica. for yourselves, brethren, know
our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. And just
a brief note, you know, he's not alone. Like we read these
epistles, the Apostle Paul gets a lot of the highlight and he's
a key figure and gets a spotlight on him and for good reason, but
he's not alone in his ministry like ever. There's always people
that are laboring with him and stuff, and you don't even always
know all of their names. There's definitely a lot of work
being done with the Apostle Paul. Because if it was just him all
by himself, then... Where's the leadership, right?
Who's following if he's just a one man all by himself? Of
course there's people with him and the churches that are getting
started here are also kind of these followers of the Apostle
Paul. But one thing, and I didn't add
this in my notes, one thing that he, and this is important to
keep in mind before we even get into everything, as he said to
the churches at Corinth, that it's not about the man, right? And there's carnal Christians
there that were saying, well, I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos,
and I'm of Cephas, and I'm of Christ. And there's divisions
because people were just really wanting to stick to one man and
just be like, this is my guy, and I'm a follower of this guy.
And he explained, look, you're carnal. If you're just going
to hold to one leader and just be like, no, this is my guy,
this is the man, you are carnal. Bottom line, because he said,
he that watereth and he that planteth are one. And he's like,
one guy does this, another guy does this. We're all just laborers
together. We're all these ministers by whom you believed. Everybody,
he's putting himself on the same playing field, as it were, as
anyone else. He's not trying to elevate himself. It's just like, well, look, instead
of focusing on that one man or that one leader, a spiritual
leader, he's like, We should all, we're all of Christ, right?
Like Christ is the head and he's the one that we should be focused
on and giving the glory to, right? And not this striving about which
man you follow because that's not what it's all about. And
he was very good about making sure that people understood that
as well. But let's dig into this here. I like some of the things
that we see about the apostle Paul and the things that he's
teaching here and showing by example. He's pointing out here
for yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you that
it was not in vain But even after that we had suffered before and
were shamefully entreated as you know at Philippi We were
bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much
contention. So he's offering up himself and
and those with him as an example of of how to stay bold in saying,
look, even though we suffered affliction, even though we were
being persecuted, even though, you know what the things that
we went through, some of the things that we suffered. He says
that at Philippi, how they were shamefully entreated, but he's
letting them know that, why? So that they could be encouraged.
to see, wow, you still continued. You didn't let that stop you.
You didn't let that defeat you in the cause. You kept going. And that boldness is very significant
and very important in leadership as well, too, is not being easily
taken down. If you want to be a leader, you
can't be taken down because you're shamefully entreated. You can't
just let that get you out just because people are treating you
bad or treating you wrong. You've got to develop some thick
skin. You've got to be able to continue to roll with the punches,
as it were, if you're going to be leading people. If you're
too soft and too weak, you're just going to get knocked out
and you're not going to be leading anybody. And he says this, verse three,
for our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor
in guile, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, even so we speak. And look, this always needs to
be primary. And as you read the scripture,
you should be seeing this regularly. The honor is given to the Lord
in everything. as we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel. We ought to be handling the gospel
of God in the same manner of like, look, God lets us do this. And what an honor it is to even
be put in trust with something as important as leading people
to Christ, showing the good news, showing how to be saved. Like
this is our job, this is our duty, but thank God that he allows
us to even do this. Not as pleasing men, but God,
which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used
we flattering words as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness,
God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, neither
of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ. So He knows his own position
and the position of those who are with him, the apostles of
Christ, is an elevated position in general. But he's like, we
didn't seek our own glory. We didn't go doing this. We didn't use flattering words.
We're not covetous. We're not seeking anything really
from you. We are here to serve. He says
this in verse seven. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherisheth her children. And we'll get into
that a little bit more later, but the heart of the Apostle
Paul is also a really important attribute of his leadership.
The heart he has for the people, which is something that Moses
had, something all good leaders are gonna have. It's all about the
people that are following you. That's why you lead. It's for
the people. It's not for yourself ever. It's always for the people.
So you have to have the heart and it's demonstrated very frequently
with the Apostle Paul as well. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So, being affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not
the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were
dear unto us. the people in that affection
in his heart to the point where he's saying, look, I know we
came to preach the gospel, which is extremely important job and
God entrusted us with this task of preaching the gospel, but
we love you so much that even just the gospel, which is, you
know, the most important thing and it's gonna have the biggest
impact in people's lives. He's like, we love you so much that it wasn't
just the gospel, we were willing to impart our own souls unto
you. I mean, we were committed, we love you, we care about you,
not just to get you saved, but to see you grow, to see you thrive,
to do what we can and just give ourselves completely to be able
to see your success. That is the mindset, that is
the heart of a good leader. Verse nine, for you remember,
brethren, our labor and travail. So, yeah, I mean, it sounds good,
but you know what? There's work behind that desire
to want to give of your own souls, if it's not just gonna be words,
right? It sounds great, but you know
what? You need to back that up. So a good leader is not just
gonna say the right things, but is gonna do the right things,
is gonna prove the right things. that what they're saying is genuine
and sincere. So, which is exactly what they
did. And now he's gonna point this
out, for you remember brethren, our labor and travail. For laboring
night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of
you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witness,
and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved
ourselves among you that believe, as ye know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his
children. That's the heart. He's saying,
we instructed you. He said, first of all, we labored
night and day, Because we don't want to be chargeable into you,
meaning we didn't want you to have to pay for us. And we're
going to see later, they have that authority to be able to
do that. It wouldn't be wrong to receive
the carnal things of being taken care of, having your needs met,
while they're doing this spiritual work, and preaching the gospel,
and preaching the word, and instructing, which is a great work in itself,
and is worthy of being recompensed just with carnal things that
they could continue focusing on. So it would have been just
fine to do that, but he says, no, we didn't do that. We didn't
even want to be chargeable unto you. Why? Because he's showing
them something. He's proving them a point. He's
trying to just make sure it's clear. Look, you don't have to
do any of this for us, but we're going to do it anyways because
we care about you. We love you. No, I'm not going
to take anything from you. Not going to be chargeable unto
you. I'm going to work with my own hands. We're going to work.
We're going to provide for ourselves and we're going to work in labor
for you. And look, that's an important lesson to learn because
I think it could get to a point where people can look at, say,
a leader or a pastor or someone in especially a spiritual context
and say, oh, yeah, it's real easy for you to say that we all
need to go and serve the Lord and we need to pray and we need
to read our Bible and we need to go sewing and we need to do
all these different things. It's kind of like, but it's easy for you because
you don't have a job. This is what you do. You see
how that's an easy mindset to get into and just be like, oh,
yeah, and just kind of blow off what the leader's saying. Because
you don't know what it's like to work hard. Well, yeah, no,
we do know what it's like. Yeah, no, I am working. We are
providing for ourselves, and we're going to help you and provide
for you, too. in a spiritual sense. So when you show people
it can be done, oftentimes we limit ourselves and our own minds
of what we could even do. You might feel exhausted, you
might feel worn out, you might feel like, man, I don't know
how I could do anything else. But then you see someone else doing
all this stuff, you gotta realize, hey, you can do that too. And especially when you see people
who have all kinds of other things, responsibilities and workload,
it's like, well, wait a minute. If they can do this, why can't
I? And that's good. A good leader should be able
to show that, too, and demonstrate that. That it's not just, oh, because
you have all this time, or because I'm retired, or because whatever. You can do it. And don't limit
yourself on what can be done. But is it work? Absolutely, it's
work. Yes. Yes, there's going to be work
involved, but it's totally doable. It's totally doable to serve
God significantly with your life and still provide for yourself
and provide for your family and work and do other things as well. It's all doable. It is attainable. But oftentimes, people just need
to see it in action. They need to see it for themselves
to where it really clicks in and hits home and says, oh, OK,
yeah, I get it. And sometimes you may not even
always know. Like, well, how do you even do that? I don't
know, but it's possible. So start working on it and figuring
out how you can use your time wisely and redeem that time that
you have. And then he goes on to say, after
he talks about being chargeable, you're witnesses how wholly and
justly and unblameably. They're living out what they're
preaching, which you have to do that too, right? You can't
just be a total hypocrite and expect people to follow you.
He's like, look, we gave you the example how to live wholly, how
to live justly, how to be unblameable, to be able to keep yourself and
walk in integrity and walk in honor and provide that as a way
to be, as a way to live. And then of course he goes into
the exhortation and the comfort. As a father doth his children,
the heart needs to be there for a good leader. The Apostle Paul
had a great heart for the people and cared about them as his own
children. Why? That they, that ye, he says,
that you, that y'all would walk worthy of God, who hath called
you unto his kingdom and glory. Flip forward to 2 Thessalonians
chapter three. Just a page or two forward 2nd
Thessalonians chapter 3 start reading verse number 4 The Bible
says we have confidence in the Lord touching you that you both
do and will do the things which we command you And the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God And into the patient waiting
for Christ now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which
he received of us. Now, this wasn't even in my notes,
but this jumped out at me. Just in these two verses, he's
commanding them. Now, of course, of course, this
is under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This is the word
of God, right? So his commands actually carry a lot of weight
because it's the word of God. It's not just the Apostle Paul
as a man. This is God's word being delivered. A key thing to keep in mind as
we're looking at this, and I'm looking at more characteristics,
but a leader does command, right? There's plenty of time to give
commands. Our command should be under the authority of God
and Christ, and God's command from his word, of course, needs
to be in union for us to give proper commands, which is, of
course, the case here. But he's commanding them something
here, and look at what it says. to withdraw yourselves from every
brother that walketh disorderly." So if someone's not walking orderly,
then they're disorderly and you need to separate yourself from
them. And then he tells us exactly, what does that even mean? What
does it mean to separate for someone who's walking disorderly?
Verse seven, for yourselves know how ye ought to follow us. And he gives himself as an example. You know how you ought to follow
us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you. So separate
yourselves from those that walk disorderly, but we didn't walk
disorderly among you. Why is that? Verse eight, neither
did we eat any man's bread for naught. Naught just means for
nothing. We didn't just go in and eat someone's bread for nothing,
but wrought. which means like worked with
labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable
to any of you. Not because we have not power,
and that's what I was talking about earlier, they had the ability,
the power, the authorization to be able to receive of the
people because they were preaching spiritual things on them. He
said, not because we have the power, but to make ourselves an example
unto you to follow us. That's why we did it. We were
doing it so that you can see the example, you can see the
labor, you can see the travel, you can see the work going into
this. and follow us. A good leader can show people
how to follow. Verse 10. For even when we were
with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
should he eat. And this theme comes up in 1
and 2 Thessalonians. Apparently this was, you know,
The churches of Corinth had their problems. Thessalonians had their
problems. Galatia had their problems. They all kind of had these different
issues that they were working out in their respective churches. But here it seemed to be, because
this comes up so much, is the work ethic. The work ethic. You need to work. You need to
labor. You need to travel. You need to do this, right? And
how important that is, it's so important that the Bible says,
hey, we commanded you this, that if any would not work, neither
should eat. You're not willing to work? You're not going to
go out and work? Then you know what? You don't get to eat. It's as simple as
that. That's how it's vital. You have
to work. If you want to eat, you have
to work. Verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk
among you disorderly, and there's that word again, disorderly,
the people you're supposed to separate yourself from that are
walking disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. So
the disorderly people, the people that just aren't working, just
not doing anything. And of course, look, we're talking
about able-bodied people. We're not talking about people
with these handicaps and just can't work, you know, so like,
You gotta use just common sense when you read the Bible and you
can't just overly apply things. This is talking about the generality
of people who don't work when they easily could work, but they
just choose not to and they're being busybodies and get involved
in other business instead of actually working. Verse 12, now
them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus
Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. So apparently these people, because
they weren't working, were going around and getting involved in
other people's business and hanging out and then being fed by the
other people. And he's saying, look, you need
to withdraw yourself from these people. And don't just supply
them all this food and stuff, because now you're just enabling
them. They need to get to work. You need to show them they need
to get to work. So this is what he's commanding. Verse 12, now
them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus
Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread, but
ye brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey
not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company
with him that he may be ashamed, yet count him not as an enemy,
but admonish him as a brother. Now the Lord of peace himself
give you peace always by all means, the Lord be with you all.
Flip if you would to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter
number three. We see one more reference of
how the Apostle Paul was showing themselves, him and the people
who are with him, as examples for the people, and highlighting
that and demonstrating that as a model to follow, as this is
what you ought to be doing, and making it very clear what needs
to be done. Philippians 3 verse 17 is we're
going to pick up in the chapter, Verse 17, the Bible reads, Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk, so
as ye have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. who
mind earthly things. So he's warning them about the
enemies of the cross of Christ and saying, don't follow their
leadership. Don't pick up anything from them.
I've been warning you about these people. Look, we gave you the
pattern. We gave you the example to follow.
Watch out for these guys whose God is their belly, their glories,
and their shame, and they're worried about the earthly things.
Watch out for those guys, and don't follow their example. don't follow anything from them
really. Verse 20, for our conversation is in heaven. So what's the difference
that he's drawing here? They mind earthly things, we
mind spiritual things. And that's a huge contrast that
he's trying to separate. We're not worried about the earthly
things, we should be spiritually minded. Our example, our conversation
there. Conversation isn't just how you
speak, it's how you live. It's kind of a representation
of how you live your life. That's what that conversation
is. It's an older word, but that's basically what it means. Our
conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it
may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. according to the
working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."
And it's talking about the holiness and, hey, we need to have that
mindset that we are focused on heavenly things and the things
about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and not the things of
this world. And he was, again, trying to separate himself from
others and show the example that they were giving. Turn if you
go to Galatians chapter one, And this leadership characteristic
or quality that I want to highlight here is very specific. There's
many things that we see that could be applied as we've been
looking at different leaders, leadership styles, leadership traits that
could be just applied broadly to just about any leadership
role that you may have, whether it be at a workplace or at home
or in church or whatever, you know, it doesn't always have
to be spiritual. But this specifically though, we're gonna be, you could
still probably, you could apply this to some extent other ways,
and it would be staying focused on the task that was given to
you, right? So from, you know, you could
be in leadership, but whatever authority is above you as a leader,
you know, staying focused on that directive that was given
to you or whatever that defining directive is, staying true to
that cause. A good leader is gonna need to
stay true to that. With the Apostle Paul's case,
it is the gospel. Right? That is the main objective. That is the main goal. That is
what he's keeping at the forefront and staying obedient to God's
calling and focusing on the gospel. Galatians chapter one, verse
number 13, the Bible reads, for you have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure, I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it. profited in the Jews religion
above many my equals in my own nation being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of My father so he was saying you've
you've heard about basically the type of life I lived before
in the Jews religion I Profited man. I was zealous. I persecuted
the Church of God. I was really I excelling in the
Jews' religion and being lifted up because of his zeal and because
of his desire to follow the Jews' religion. and the traditions that were
passed down. See, the Jews' religion isn't found in the Word of God,
it's found in tradition. It's found in other sources than
the Bible, which is why we don't listen to the Jews' religion
to help us get to know God better. We have the Bible, we have the
Word of God. Verse 15, but when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
a son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood. So the Apostle Paul received
his commission literally from the Lord Jesus Christ. Like he
received a command, he was told and it was clear what he needed
to do. And when that became clear to him, he says, I didn't need
to ask anybody else what to do. And we shouldn't have to. When
something's clear in the Word of God, when God speaks and just
says, hey, this is what I want you to do, you don't need to
ask anyone else, well, hey, what do you think? It doesn't matter
what anyone else thinks, because anyone else could be wrong. I
heard this from the Lord. I got this from the Bible. This
is right. And then just be able to move
forward with that, right? And look, the Apostle Paul also,
he wasn't just some novice. Obviously he was kind of learned
in a lot of these things too. He didn't just start into this
as someone who just had absolutely no understanding of the things
of God at all. When he got saved, he already had a good background
of knowing the scripture, but nonetheless, it doesn't change
this point. That when you hear from God,
when you hear the word and he heard the command, he, Conferred
not with flesh and blood. He says neither went I up to
Jerusalem to then went to them which were apostles before me
But I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus Then after
three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him
15 days But other the Apostle saw I none save James the Lord's
brother the Apostle Paul got a directive and he went and did
it and Now look, he still went and fellowshiped with other people,
but he's not saying like, oh, I need to see what they say about
this and what they need to do. Look, when God says to do something,
you just do it. Because oftentimes it is man
that has a tendency to kind of warp things a little bit or twist
it and maybe end up not doing things quite right. And if you
just get too stuck on following tradition, you can fall in the
same trap of maybe doing something wrong. But it's like, look, you
got the word of God. He said this, just do this and
do it this way, do it the way he said to do it. Great, that's
all I need to know. Now I can go out and do the work.
And that was definitely something that the Apostle Paul wasn't
afraid to do. And even the apostles that were before him, when they
needed a correction, he was willing to just stand up and do the correcting.
You say, oh, yeah, but you're new or unseen, and these other
guys have been apostles way before you, and they studied under Jesus
and everything else. Yeah, but what's right is right,
and what the Word of God is, the Word of God is, and it says
what it says. So if someone's wrong about that, if someone
fails in some area, it doesn't matter how long they've been
doing it versus how long you've been doing it. If this is what's
right, then this is what's right at the end of the day. And obviously,
people who have been doing things a lot longer, serving the Lord
a lot longer, should have a lot more wisdom, just kind of in
general. That's generally the way it works. But in every specific
situation, every instance, anybody can be wrong, and you just gotta
follow completely with what the Word of God says. And a good
leader should be able to do that as good as you can. Again, everyone
has their faults. Paul had his faults. Peter has his faults. Every human being has their own
faults. Everybody has a flaw, everybody.
But you still need to be able to stand on the word of God and
say, well, this is what is right. Turn back, if you would, to Acts
chapter number 17. Just a few other highlights here
real quick. Kind of on the character of the
Apostle Paul and how well he internalized the command to go
forth and to preach the gospel and how that drove him to do
the work that he did. He truly received that calling
from the Lord and then did it. He said, I didn't let anything
slow me down. I didn't have to do anything
else. He's like, I just went and started doing. That's what
I'm commanded. Well, then that's what I'm going
to do, right? In Acts chapter 17, we see this
also just internalized. Look at verse number one, the
Bible says, Paul as his manner was went in
unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the
scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered
and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ and some of them believed and consorted with
Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and
of the chief women not a few so I just what I want to highlight
is in verse number two where it says as his manner was and
What did he do? Well, as his manner was, he's
like, well, here I am. I'm in Thessalonica. Oh, hey,
look, there's a synagogue here. So I'm going to go in there now
and preach Jesus. I'm going to go in and preach Christ. I'm
going to preach the gospel. I'm going to go, hey, this is
a great opportunity. I'm going to go and do this. And he didn't waste any
opportunities. And especially as you look down
further in Acts chapter 17, look at verse number 15. The Bible
says, and they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens,
and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come
to him with all speed, they departed. So Paul kind of separated ways
with the rest of his group and he ends up in Athens. And then
he sends for Silas and Timotheus to come and join him. So now
there's a time where the apostle Paul is waiting for more people
to join up with him. And what does he do? Does he
go and he's like, you know what? I think I'm just gonna go take
a break, go on vacation, check out the sites, just kind of relax. No, what does he do? Now while
Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him
when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. So he's looking
around, he's seeing like, man, look at all this idolatry, and
it strikes home and it hurts his heart because he sees a whole
bunch of people that are just completely given over to idolatry.
And he's internalized the importance of the gospel, like this matters,
this is important, this is his job, he needs to be preaching
the gospel to people. And he's looking around, he's being like,
man, these people just are just full of idolatry. They need to
hear the gospel. Verse 17 says, therefore disputed
he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons
and in the market daily with them that met with him. Basically,
anyone that's going to listen to him, he's going and trying
to talk to. And it's kind of like, hey, Jews, what are you
doing about all this idolatry? You need to be preaching about
this. You need to be teaching about this. Hey, you guys in the marketplace,
hey, anyone that's going to listen to me, look, the gospel of Jesus
Christ, this is what you need to hear. You need to get rid
of these idols. That's his manner. That was in him. He took the
word of God and made it part of him and made that his desire
to go and do these things. It's not something that has to
be unique to any one person. It's something that anybody can
do. You can choose to love God that
much and to love the gospel that much. You can say, I am going
to embrace this fully. He did that, right? And I'm not
saying this in a way, this isn't trying to sound like self-righteous.
And I'm not even speaking of myself. It's not something that
should just be words that are like, oh yeah, and to think highly
of yourself. You can literally just choose
to say, I'm going to focus a lot more on the gospel. Like this
really does matter to me and take time and digest the word
of God to the point of thinking like, man, you know, when we
get reminded of hell, we get reminded of our sin, we get reminded
of these things and the importance of the gospel and the importance
that it's given to us and it's something that we should be honored
by, that God's allowed us to do this and he's given us this
duty, he's given us this task and it's something that we have
to do. Look, we should be internalizing this as much as possible so that
we can, seize every opportunity we can. It's one of the motivating
factors behind our soul winning challenges, specifically the
one where we're supposed to try to give the gospel to at least one
person every single day. Why? Because we want to be in that
mindset. We want to build up spiritually that heart that's
going to be, man, look at what's going on around me. We need to
do something about this. We need to fix this. People need
to hear the gospel. They need to get saved. That doesn't have to be unique
to one person. We can all, anybody can develop
that heart and that desire. You can do it. People already
do it. I mean, I see it, I see it. It's not like it's, like
nobody has a heart or desire. I'm not trying to make it sound
like that at all, but to improve and to really just, man, people
need to hear the gospel and not waste it. And you know when it
is? It's when nobody's looking is
when that's proven. your heart, your desire, when
no one's looking. Paul was waiting for his friends
to show up, and he sees all this stuff going on. His buddies aren't
there to see the work that he's doing. He's just doing it. That's
what I'm talking about here. Now, it is also one of the things
that makes him a great leader, especially a great leader with
the gospel of Jesus Christ, because he's living it, because he's
doing it. Because it's real. Because it's sincere. Because
it's genuine. Because it's not a show. It's
not fake. It is real. If you are seeking leadership
in a spiritual sense, any young men out there want to be a pastor
one day. It's something, a position that
you desire to have. You need to have your sincere
faith work for the Lord that doesn't matter who's around,
who sees it all. You have to have that for yourself. It has to be in you. And if you feel like, I don't
know, you get real easily distracted with all the cares of this world,
then you've got to work on that. Start getting your heart right.
Look, we have this flesh that's going to war against our heart
and our spirit, right? But you can work on that. Don't
just think like, oh, well, it's just not there. It's never going
to be there. No, it can be there. It can. Because here's the thing. There's
nobody in this world other than Jesus Christ who can say, well,
that's always been there. Right? Was it always there for
Paul? No. Was it always there for any
person, any great leader at all in the Bible? No, it wasn't always
there. Not always. Ephesians chapter six, turn to
Ephesians chapter six. We're almost done, I got a few
more references, one more main point after this and then we'll
call it a morning. Ephesians chapter six. The dedication
the apostle Paul had to the gospel is demonstrated even through affliction, even imprisonment.
Ephesians chapter six. We start reading in verse number
18 of Ephesians, chapter six, praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with
all perseverance and supplications for all saints. Now, we started
in verse 18 because it's talking about what? Praying, right? Prayer,
supplication in the spirit. Verse 19, and for me, for me
what? That prayer is made for me that
utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an
ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. So when he's talking about this
prayer, I know we kind of cut into the middle of this passage,
He's asking for prayers, hey, and pray for me. Pray for me
that I'll boldness. Pray for me that I don't stop
preaching the gospel. He's like, that's why I'm even
in prison right now. I'm in bonds. He's locked up because of his
preaching the gospel. That's why he's in prison. He's
saying like, just pray that I can continue to preach boldly. Pray
for boldness for me. I need it. And of all people,
it's like, really, the Apostle Paul, you need more boldness?
Why? Because his heart's there. He
wants to do it. But yeah, anybody can be impacted
by the negative consequences, by the imprisonments. I mean,
most of us here, I would say most of us don't even know what
that's like to be thrown in prison for preaching the gospel. Right? We don't know what it's like
to get beaten and to get whipped and scourged and all the things
that happened to many of the Christians in the early church.
suffered and experienced, and other people in other parts of
the world experience. We don't know what it's like firsthand. But we could learn, but we could
still have the heart. Just because you don't have those experiences
doesn't mean you can't have that same heart. The Apostle Paul
had that heart. Even in the tough times, hey,
just keep praying for me, because I want to keep doing this. I know I
need to keep doing this. If our gospel would be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, or I know I need to keep doing this. So
pray for my boldness. Pray that I don't buckle under
this pressure. Pray that I don't just stop speaking because it's
easier to just shut up than it is to have to continue dealing
with these people that just won't stop seemingly unless I'm dead. That's the opposition that's
out there. And the opposition's real, right?
Like I said, we may not be experiencing it to the same extent, but Satan's
out there. People who ate the gospel are
out there. There's people out there that don't want the truth being spread.
They exist. So yeah, there's gonna be tribulations and trials
and things, and we need to make sure that we have that boldness.
The Apostle Paul is a great example of someone who, even in the hard
times, is still remaining faithful to the main purpose, to the main
cause of This is my job, this is what I've been directed to
do, this is what I need to do. And keeping that the mission. Turn a few to Philippians, actually
no, turn a few to Romans 16, Romans 16. It's the last place
I'll have you turn, Romans chapter 16. This came up in the beginning
of the sermon in 1 Thessalonians. But we also see this demonstrated
in many other parts of the Bible. And I think one more aspect of
the strong leadership of the Apostle Paul that is highlighted
and I think demonstrated with the Apostle Paul is his care
for the individual. Not even just for the people
as a whole, but his care for individuals. His care for specific
people under his ministry, under his teaching, under his leadership. He knows and cares for people,
specific people by name. You're in Romans 16. I'm gonna read for you from Philippians
chapter one. Philippians one verse three, the Bible says,
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer
of mine for you all, making requests with joy for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now. What a warm greeting
at the beginning of his epistle to the church in Philippi. Hey,
I thank God upon every remembrance of you. Put yourself in that
church of Philippi and you've got the apostle Paul writing
to you. And he's saying, hey, I thank
God for all the things I remember about you. Always in every prayer
of mine for you all, making requests with joy. I'm happy. I'm praying
for you guys. And I'm praying with joy for
your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. He cares about the people, and
he said, I'm praying for the church, and I don't think he's
lying about that either. I think he's actually praying for the
people in that church, and he's joyful about even just the thoughts
of that church. Romans 16 is highlighted even
further. Look at verse number one. We
have this huge list of people that are kind of like these shout
outs to different people in Rome. He says, I commend unto you Phoebe,
our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Sancriab. So now he's referencing, he's
saying, look, I'm commending you. I'm endorsing Phoebe, our
sister. She's been a fellow laborer with
me. She's a servant at the church, which is at Sancriab, that ye
receive her in the Lord as becometh saints. and that ye assist her
in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been
a sucker of many, and of myself also. Hey, she's been a great
help, and I want you to help her. And she's coming your way,
and you take care of her. And this is Phoebe, our sister.
He knows her by name. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my
helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their
own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the
churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that
is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Eponidas,
who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet Mary, who
bestowed much labor on us. He's listing off people, names. Hey, also Mary, also Eponidas,
also Priscilla, Aquila, Phoebe. Salute Andronicus and Junia,
my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles
who also were in Christ before me. Here's a couple other people
and we don't know anything about Andronicus and Junia But he's
mentioned in my name he knows him he knows him well There's
a lot of people the Apostle Paul knows by name that we're serving
the Lord He's like they're my kinsmen. They're my fellow prisoners
and they're of note among the Apostles people knew him then
we don't really know him other than this one reference right
here because the Apostle Paul is just naming him by name and
Greet Amplius, my beloved, in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our
helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. Salute Apelles, approved
in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus'
household. Salute Herodian, my kinsman.
Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the
Lord. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa,
who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which
labored much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord,
and his mother, and mine. Salute, Asynchronous, Phlegon,
Hermos, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.
Man, I have a hard time even pronouncing these names, and
he knew them all, and he's writing them all out in this epistle
from memory. He knows these people. And yeah,
this is a long, he had a long ministry, but he worked with
people, and got to know those people, and loved those people,
and prayed for those people, and is greeting those people,
and the people matter to the Apostle Paul. Not just in the
collective as the whole of the people, the individual matters. They all matter. And a good leader
A good leader should be able to know the people to some extent
personally. One of the reasons is because
he's working with them. These are my fellow laborers.
And he's bestowing honor on them and showing, hey, greet this
person, this person, this person. Treat this person good. Help
this person out. They're workers. Support them. And we see the biggest list here
in Romans 16, which is why we turn there. But this isn't the
only place that he's talking about people specifically and
people who helped. You see that heart? Man, that's
got to be there. Keeping the directive, right? The Apostle Paul had the boldness.
He kept the right directive. He had the right heart. He cared
for the people. He led by example. Demonstrated
and taught by example. He said, here's how you do it.
He was a hard worker. He labored day and night. It was a lot of great attributes.
And again, we can go through so much of this. That was one
of the hard parts is just trying to pick out certain aspects and
certain qualities in his leadership because there's so much there. But even with all the great qualities
and characteristics, he was careful to teach and to warn about the
elevation too high for any leader. No one should be elevated too
high. We're brethren, and good example, yes. Follow the work,
yes. You know, hey, here's the way
you do it, let's do it. But it's never all about the
Apostle Paul. It's about the Lord.
Strong Leadership - The Apostle Paul
| Sermon ID | 11724158545035 |
| Duration | 50:37 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Thessalonians 2; 2 Thessalonians 3 |
| Language | English |
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