Well, good morning. Pleasure to be here with you guys. I've been gone. I travel for work a fair amount and I was in Orlando for this last week. And I was preparing for this study. My wife thought I was crazy for saying yes because this is the week I'm home and then I go back to Orlando next week for a week. So was spending time with God in quiet time deciding what I was gonna talk about today and what he would have me talk about today. And what's ironic about the song that Daryl sang as I was listening to Pandora, And that song came on multiple times. I can't tell you how many times in that quiet time where I was just concentrating. So it made the topic very easy to pick out, which is good for me. Hopefully it is for you. There's a handout going around that we're going to use, and I hope you brought your Bibles. We are going to be getting our work out there as well. For time's sake, I've got all the scriptures written down here, but I'll give them to you so you guys can turn them in your Bible as we go through if you choose to. But we're just going to spend some time today talking about godly leadership. And the reason that this topic came up for me, not just that song, but the song was definitely a direction for me. The reason this came up is, first off, this is the business that I'm in. But second and most importantly, when I look at the world, I think this is one of the biggest crises that the church as a whole faces, is a lack of leadership. So as we look into this, again, my heart in the past, as you guys know if you've been here with me, my heart in the past has been for training men and for working with men in the church. And leadership is a big part of being a Christian man. And I think oftentimes in today's society, it's not taught well. So we're going to start today just to give you some context as far as what I'm bringing to you. Obviously, first and foremost, the authority and the source for all of this is the Bible. OK, so we're going to cite scripture references throughout this morning. Second, you're going to hear me reference one person who's been a mentor of mine for a number of years, John Maxwell. I don't know if you guys know John Maxwell. It's actually where I'm going. I get the pleasure of going and spending a week with him next Monday. I get to go hear from him personally, which I'm really excited about, but you're going to hear a lot of stuff from him. another mentor in my life, a coach that I have who's a really strong Christian man who just happened to run Payless Shoe Stores and Radio Shack for the Tandy Corporation. So these are men that are speaking into my life who have lived more life than I have. So I wanted to just let you know that I have not figured it all out. I'm on a daily journey to learn this. So a lot of what I'm sharing with you is wisdom I've gleaned from them. So I'm excited to get into this this morning. This was written on a plane at 35,000 feet heading back from Orlando, thanks to onboard Wi-Fi. So we can be productive and fly at the same time. So let's, if you guys are okay with it, let's open in prayer and we'll start digging into this this morning. Father God, thank you so much for bringing us together this morning. Thank you for these men. Father, these men are showing up. They're demonstrating what it is we're gonna talk about today. Father, just ask that you quiet our minds, open our hearts to what you'd have us take away from this this morning, how you would have it impact us and change us, and how you would have us change the world around us. Father, thank you so much for your grace, your mercy, and your love, and the ability to gather together to learn more about you. In your name we pray, amen. So leadership, obviously, is a big topic. It's a big word. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word leadership? And this is where we all participate. Responsibility. What's that? Responsibility. Responsibility. OK. Influence. Influence. Accountability. Accountability. Integrity. Stepping up integrity. Right. OK. So what's interesting is Maxwell did a study. this was years ago, he did a study and he asked just a group of people, not just believers, just a group of people, what's the first thing to think of leadership? And the saddest thing from that study was, none of those answers came up. The average answers he saw that came up were power, money, corporate, right? So the world has taken this leadership concept from a very godly principle to make something totally different out of it. So the world sees leadership differently than what we're going to talk about this morning. We're not looking at that type of leadership. We're looking at a godly type of leadership. So often, the other words that came up in this study were dominance, fear, oppression. How many people have ever worked for a boss that uses that type of leadership style? So that's the worldly idea of leadership. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of the respondents came back with. What we're gonna talk about this morning is what would God have us define leadership as, okay? So on the top of your handout here, I just gave you guys this to take notes on. You can doodle on the back if you get bored, but most importantly, I'm gonna give you some little pieces that you can hopefully take away and be blessed later by. So the top there is a quote from John Maxwell, and this is really kind of the context of today. Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. So the reason I wanted to bring this definition right out of the gates, first thing we talked about, is the fact that a lot of people, world today tells us that there are a select few who are leaders and the rest of us are followers. Yet that's completely contrary to what God would have us believe. And we're going to talk about that as we go through this. So leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Okay, that's good news for all of us because we all then can be leaders. We all are called to be leaders and we all should be developing our leadership if we want to have the maximum impact for God this side of heaven. Okay. So as such, everyone's a leader, especially Christian men. Okay. So before we were saved, and I know everybody's story is different in here, but before we were saved, we didn't have the same responsibility to be a leader that we do when we accept Jesus Christ. Because he calls us to be different, salt and light. We're going to talk about that. He calls us to be, to take a higher standard, to be held to a higher accord. Okay. And a lot of that comes through our influence of the world around us. And we're going to talk more about that. So we're all called to daily living. There's a Chinese proverb that John Maxwell shared at a training I was at, and I thought this was really interesting. He who thinks he leads yet has no one following him is simply taking a walk. And I don't know about you guys, but I know a lot of people that are just taking a walk through life. And that to me, that one little saying, well, it made me laugh when I first heard it as well. It made me think, man, how sad is that? Because how many leaders today, I'm not going political, but how many leaders today fall into that same trap? They're simply taking a walk, okay? That's contrary to what we're gonna look at today that we're called to do. So leadership obviously is a serious issue. And specifically in the church, And so as I've been studying this, because with John, what we're going to, what John Maxwell, we're going to be doing is really gearing towards and focusing on how we can help churches in leadership development for their core leaders. And this is, I don't know if you guys have heard of George Barna. He's a statistician, a church expert, pretty highly regarded. This is his quote, leadership remains one of the glaring needs of the church today. He defines it as a crisis. So I want you to think about this. His words, and these are pretty strong, he goes on to say that essentially the American church, not the world church, but the American church is dying due to lack of strong what? Leadership. Are we noticing a regression in our influence as a church? Not Hayden Bible, I'm talking the collective church. Are we noticing regression of the influence we're having? Yes. Now here's what's ironic. As we've marched forward in time, through the means of technology, has it become harder or easier to reach the masses? What's wrong with that? Right, action. We're in a time that we've never before had the means necessary to get this gospel message out to the world the way we do right now. I don't even remember the number, but it was over five out of 10 people in the world have a cell phone these days. in the world. So we are in a technology-driven world where we have the means to get a message out to the masses in very short order. Kim Kardashian can tweet something and it goes across the world, yet the church is struggling with its influence. So we're going to talk about that, but that's problematic. Where is the church gaining ground globally? Where it's persecuted. Now we go back to the Bible, what do we see? Where was the church growing the most? When it was persecuted, right? So just little patterns, things that came up that I wanted to point out to you. But we are not growing, we are losing influence as a church in the United States of America, and yet overseas, ISIS, children are being crucified, children are being sold into slavery, they're being murdered, terrible stuff is happening, and yet what's happening to the church? It's growing, right? So what's wrong with this picture? We're going to talk about that. God the Father, the ultimate leader, calls every believer to lead others. Okay, we've talked about it. I believe Steve had a sermon about it a while back about discipleship and that we are all called to be disciples. What is discipleship boiled down to its simplest form? Discipline. Good example. It's influence. I'm going to jump ahead a little bit, but I want you guys to hear this one. People do what they see. They don't do what they hear. Leadership is influence. Discipleship is influence. We don't win people by telling them about Jesus. We win people by telling them and living what we're telling them. There has to be consistency there, okay? So the best leadership book of all time is obviously this book, the Bible. So if you would, grab your Bible and we're going to start jumping in to see what the Lord would tell us about leadership specific to the Bible. So before we get into an actual scripture, I'll knock my microphone off. We wanna look back to Israel. So I was looking back to this and thinking through, okay, there's patterns, obviously, that we can learn from in this book. Everybody remembers Israel and the kings of Israel. In times of prosperity, were their kings good or wicked? They were good, right? When they had a good king, times were good. Israel was protected. They were prosperous. Everybody was happy. Life was good. What happened when they had a wicked king? They were plundered. They were on the run. At one point, they were made slaves. Okay? Lack of leadership versus leadership. We see it clear back to the time of Israel. Proverbs 29.18. Let's look at that quickly if we could. And the scriptures I'm going to read are from the ESV. So if a couple of words are different, that's why. I know a lot of people have a New King James But Proverbs 29.18 says this, where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, or in other words, the people are discouraged, but blessed is he who keeps the law. So what does that tell us? We need leaders because leaders cast what? It's a V word. Vision. Without vision, people perish. Leaders cast a vision, okay? So without a vision, people cast off restraint. They are discouraged. People cannot be unified behind anyone, any leader who is not clearly communicating a vision, okay? Who is the visionary with the disciples? Jesus Christ very clearly outlined his vision for them and for the world. There is no denying that. There's no dispute. It is clear it is black and white. They knew what he was there to accomplish, and they knew what their role was going to be in that. He clearly outlined his vision, okay? And as a result, he had a great following behind him. The call to leadership in the Bible is a consistent pattern. Again, being taught by people much smarter than myself, I've been taught to look for patterns. in Scripture, because where there are patterns, it's telling us something, right? We can learn even more from patterns that we see in the Bible. So I want you to just think through this. When God wanted to raise up a nation of His own, He didn't call upon the masses. He called on what? One man. Who? Abraham. He called one man, a leader, To start his people of his own, he called one person. He didn't call a group, he called one man. Second, when he wanted to deliver the people out of Egypt, what did he do? He called one man, Moses. What's significant about Moses? Moses was not a communicator. We just talked about leaders have to clearly set the vision. That requires pretty decent communication skills, and yet God chose one man in Moses who had a speech impediment, who had a difficult time communicating, and he led his people out of bondage through that one man, okay? When it was time for the people to cross over into the promised land after they'd been wandering, did he lead the group or did he lead one man? Joshua, one man led the people across the river and into the promised land, one man. Every time God desires to do something great, he calls a leader to step forward, okay? And we're gonna talk about how that applies to all of us, but that's the pattern. Every time he moves, every time something great is happening, he's calling leaders to step up and direct people forward, okay? So on your fill in the blanks, this comes from my coach, Mike Fleming. So this is the second sentence on that fill in the blanks. And we're going to spend just a little bit of time here because this took me about six months to really fully understand what the heck he was talking about. He says this, he said, Ben, God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. I'll say that one more time. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. I'm sure there are people smarter in this room that just figured that out a lot faster than I did. What do you take from that? Can we ever be qualified? In our natural state as human beings, we are never going to be qualified, yet he can qualify us if we're obedient to his call. We're all called, whether we're husbands, whether we're grandparents, whether we're working, whether we're retired, it does not matter. We are all, as Christian men, called. We have a calling, and we're gonna unpack that in a little bit, but don't miss this thing. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called, and I think too often, Christian men especially, use the fact that they're not qualified as an excuse. I'm not qualified. I'm not a natural-born leader, okay? Somebody asked John Maxwell on the plane, is there such a thing as natural born leaders? And he laughed and he said, well, I've never met an unborn leader, so I sure hope that everyone is a natural born leader. His point being, we all have the ability to be leaders. No doubt it is a gift and some are gifted at a stronger level or a higher level in leadership than others, but we all have the ability to lead because God is the one doing the qualifying, it's not of us. We're called to be obedient to his call when he calls. Okay, so Moses being the perfect example. Moses tried to use this as an excuse. He tried to shift it to who? Aaron, his brother. He tried to say, whoa, whoa, not me. I'm not the guy. No, you need to use him. He's the communicator. And God said, Moses, I'm calling you. He had to get to the point where he trusted God that God would qualify him for the call he was stepping into and let it go. And that's what he did, okay, was part of God's plan. Don't miss that point because he will qualify each of us to whatever he calls us to. So where are men called to lead? Next thing on your sheet. The first one, our home and our family. And that could be a whole study in and of itself. Our home and our family. We want to fix a lot of what's going wrong with this country, we can start right there. Home and our family. Number two, in our church and in our faith. And number three, our workplace, if we're still working, and the world. So home, family, church, faith, workplace, world. Okay, so we're gonna unpack those here this morning. So at home. that the song that Daryl picked, I had not heard the story to that level, but that's exactly what we're talking about here, the husband and the wife, okay? So how many people here are married? How many people here have never been married? Okay, guess what, Joseph, this applies to you too. Because if you can learn this ahead of time, you'll save yourself a lot of grief that I didn't learn. Okay, so husbands and wife, now there is a method to God's madness why he created this union that is sometimes amazing and sometimes a challenge for everybody involved, okay? But there is a reason for everything God does. So husband and wife, so the place that we're called to lead at home, we're called as men, as Christian men, we're called to be the head of the household. Now I don't want to skip past this too fast because I have done that in the past and I haven't thought through what the implications of that really mean. That means that when I meet Him, when my time comes and I go to meet Jesus and I'm standing before God the Father, He's going to hold me account to how I led my family. Because He's just entrusting me with them for this point in time. They're not mine. My wife is not mine, my children are not mine. My job is to be good steward of them in this journey we call the earthly life. And I'm gonna be held accountable to how I do there. So we look back and where did this start? Not a trick question. Adam and Eve, right? The first husband and wife. Now what can we take from that? That was one man leading. It's okay, CNN's not listening. One man leading one woman. Okay, it's not one man leading one man, it's not one woman leading one woman, it's not one man leading two women, it's one man leading one woman. Husband and wife, this is the perfect relationship. Okay, so if you guys go to Genesis 3.16. Because this headship started with the fall, and that's what we're gonna look at right now. Genesis 3.16. says this, to the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain. You should bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. The last part of that verse is not saying that her desire is going to be for her husband like we would like it to be desire for the husband. It's the desire to rule over the husband. And yet the husband is going to rule over her. Does that make sense to everybody? We'd like it to be a different kind of desire, and yet that's not what God's talking about. He's talking about there is a power struggle going to be in place now because of this fall. Going forward, this is how this is gonna work. And I don't know about you, but this is a struggle in every relationship, and it's not a husband or a wife's fault. This is because of the fall. This goes clear back to that time. We have to deal with the consequence of that action. Yet it's still very real today, okay? So Genesis 3.16 also talked about, though, it's not just the result of the fall, but it was also God's perfect design because nothing happens outside of the will of God, right? Nothing took him by surprise. So he had this planned and ordained from the beginning. So we're going to look to the Word for a model to follow. So let's look at 1 Corinthians 11.3. Because this head over the household, man ruling over the wife, we have to be very careful here as Christian men, because we can't let this go to our head, because it is not the type of leadership that the world sees as leadership, or based on that study they saw as leadership. It is a servant leadership, which we're gonna talk about. So 1 Corinthians 11.3 says this, but I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. So he's starting to show us the hierarchy here. We have accountability still. We're not the dictator. We don't get to lord over somebody. We're accountable for how we're leading our family, our wife and our children. Next verse, Ephesians 5, 22 through 24. Ephesians 5, 22 through 24 says this, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. This is not a verse we get to bring up in an argument. This is where God is continuing to tell us how this works, how we can do this relationship thing while we're here in a way that honors Him, okay? Because there are real consequences we're gonna talk about here. But where's the other model that we see? So we went through the relationship, the husband-wife model. What's the model that we see that Daryl talked about when he was singing that is the ultimate model for us to follow how this submission works in the godly way? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And this is a point of contention with a lot of Christians because it's hard to wrestle with the fact that Jesus is God, yet he's submitting to God. Even though they're the same, he's still submitting because ultimately he wants the Father's will, not his will to be done, and he was obedient to the point of death. and sacrificing himself, yet he's equal, how does this all work, okay? The son submits to the father. We see that clearly through Scripture multiple times. I didn't pull the Scripture references, but I can get them for you if you want them. We see that all over the place. They're in the same substance, equal in power and glory, yet the father demonstrates headship. We can apply that to our relationships as well. Equal in substance, equal in power, and equal in glory. One is not better than the other, one simply submits to the other for headship, okay? So there is another model we can use for our marriages and for our relationships, or our soon marriages, whenever God brings that person into our life if we're not yet married. So this isn't good or bad, this just is. It mirrors the relationship of Jesus Christ and his church, like Gary said. This is also one of the biggest sticking points for which groups? The feminist movement, right? Big sticking point. Why? Submissive is a dirty word when taken out of context. So at first glance, if somebody's not looking at the context of how God is orchestrating this relationship, if somebody doesn't take time to look at the context as to God's overall design and what it really is, all they see is one word. submit, and to them that equals weaker vessel." Wait a sec, we see that too, right? So, taking out of context, if not looking at the whole and looking really at what God has called this and designed this to be, that's where the church gets attacked very regularly, not just by the women's movement, but also the LGBT community. Because, okay, if the Bible says one man and one woman, well, if I want something different, which is what? If I want something different, I have a hard time with that scripture now. Okay? Now, and the problem for me that I've watched in the church globally, I'm not talking about Hayden Bible, because we wouldn't have all of you standing here if we didn't have good leadership in the church. We wouldn't have the two up here helping, Eli and Joseph, helping do worship if that wasn't modeled by their parents, if that wasn't modeled by their fathers, if they didn't see the necessity of coming to church and contributing and using your gifts. If that wasn't modeled, people do what they see, not what you tell them. If that wasn't modeled, we wouldn't have a room full of people right now, okay? So I'm not talking about that, but problematic church-wide, the church is becoming weak. Because the church is saying, okay, to be a leader, we have to attract people, and to do that, we have to soften our message. And yet, when we look at the ultimate example of leadership, Jesus Christ, He was not soft. He was tender, and He had His emotions in control, but He was not soft. And He never, ever varied or strayed from His principles. You had principle-centered leadership, okay? So we'll keep going through this. So again, we talked about it. This is not lording over our wives. It's rooted in love. And then this is a good question. How can something that has existed eternally in the most perfect relationship the world has ever, will ever know, be bad or wrong? Nothing God does is bad or wrong, right? So this is our model if we want to please Him in how we live with our wives. Ephesians 5.25, you should already be close. Here's a call for us. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. How many people have heard that scripture before? Has that caused terror for anybody else? I don't know if it's just me, but when I read that, I mean, the first couple of times, I'm like, okay, that makes sense, love your wife. Then I really start thinking about that and how much Christ loves, loved, and does love future, his church. How do I ever stack up to that? How can I ever love my wife at the same level he loved his church? How can I do it? Can I ever get there? I don't think I can, but what I clearly see here is that I'm called to strive to that daily. I am imperfect this side of heaven. I am a sinner this side of heaven. I needed a Savior in Jesus Christ on this earth to save me from my fate. I will never in my mind, my opinion, be able to love my wife the same way He loved the church, but it tells me I'm called to get there daily. Much like sanctification, the process of us becoming like Christ. I can't be like Christ, but I'm called to be more like Him every single day. Okay? So that's a big one. Don't miss that. That is our call. Now I want to turn to 1 Peter 3.7 because there are consequences attached to us not heeding that call. 1 Peter 3.7. I'll give you some time to get there. Are we there? Okay. First Peter 3.7, likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel. There's that other verse that's problematic. Since they are heirs with you of the grace of life so that your prayers may not be, what? Wait a second. Do we get the gravity of that verse? What is he telling us there? If we're not right with her, He doesn't hear us. If we're not right with her, our prayers are not heard. Our prayers are hindered. That's big. I don't know about you, but that really worries me a little bit because I need Him to hear my prayers. I call on Him often. I really appreciate the fact that He's listening, right? So if I'm not honoring Him and how I'm living with her, it's not her prayers who are hindered, it's mine. Leadership comes at a price. Those who are called to leadership, which we all are at different levels, those who are called to leadership are held to a higher standard, okay? Don't miss that consequence. We have to get in good relationship and good standing. If we have a wife, if we're in that type of relationship, we are called and held to a higher standard. Now children, how many people have kids? Grandkids? Great grandkids. There you go, okay. Now, I still never even figured out how to do what I just talked about with the husband and wife. I'm working on it daily, but that's a big, big challenge. It is for all of us, if we're being honest. If not, you can just say it's not a challenge. That's fine. God knows. What I'm also talking about is children. Now, children, that's a huge challenge. I'm in this right now, right? So I'm new to it. I'm not coming from wisdom of having gone through and had kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. I'm in it. I have a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old. All boys, very loud, very busy. We break stuff a lot. Okay? So, but what's amazing to me is God is using that as he does everything else to teach me. He teaches me every day through those boys, and I'm so thankful for that opportunity as he does in my relationship with my wife. Here is the call for us with our children. I want you to hear this too. Even if your kids are grown and gone, grandfathers, you have a responsibility. It doesn't end when your kids leave the house. You have a responsibility to share that wisdom with your grandkids, especially if you have a son who's not following Jesus. Okay, there is wisdom there. The Bible talks about it multiple times, how we are to be in relationship with, and we're gonna talk about that in a little bit, with people of different levels of wisdom, right? I need to be in relationship with people who've gone through this before me because they can share what they would do again, what they would do different, and what they would make sure they would do. I can learn from other people's experiences. Maxwell calls it failing forward. I can glean wisdom from other people. We're called to do that. So the call for leadership, home family, under the children heading is spiritual training and guidance. Let's go to Proverbs 22.6. Proverbs 22.6. Hopefully everyone has heard this scripture. Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Okay, train up a child. Has everyone heard that verse before? So how do we practically apply that in our lives? Whether we're a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, what does the training up of a child look like practically? People do what they see, not what they hear. More is gleaned from what people observe than from what they're told. That's the human brain, okay? We model what we see. So we have to be very careful as men that we're modeling the behavior we want, right? Never forget this conversation. It wasn't that long ago. And I won't say what it was, but our boys did something. It wasn't bad, it was just annoying. And I went, man, talking to Bonnie, man, that just, where do they get that? And then I'm thinking to myself, oh, got my answer. They do what they see. So we have to be very careful at what we're modeling, right? They are always watching. Dads, grandpas, great-grandpas, they're always watching. Last verse for this section, Ephesians 6, 4. I'm glad you're getting finger burn. That's the idea. Ephesians 6.4, again, the spiritual training and guidance, the call for spiritual training and guidance for our children, our grandchildren, great-grandchildren. It doesn't even have to be our children. Maybe it's children of somebody else that we need to model to, right? This is far-reaching, and it's a big call. Ephesians 6.4 says this, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Big or little call? Takes daily action. We have to be intentional about this every single day because it is not natural for us, okay? We have to be committed to them and in the process, committed to the discipline of growing in our leadership, which is what we're gonna talk about. And then there's some carryover for both. We're to lead in leadership, leading our families through godly servant leadership, providing direction, again, the vision. What are the values of our family? Where are we heading? What are we here for? Why are we here? How do we engage other people? What is our purpose? How do we share God and Jesus with other people? Okay, we have to lead in leading. Number two, lead in worship. Leading by ensuring family members are worshiping in a way consistent with scripture. Here's the biggest thing for me, and this is something I still have to discipline myself to do because it is not natural for me, yet that's also not an excuse. If we want our children and our wives, if it's important to us that they have daily quiet time with God, what do we have to do? We have to have daily quiet time with God. We have to model the behavior we expect to see down the road because guess what? Just like Daryl said, he was reading picture books to his kids, his kids are gonna be reading picture books to their kids. because he modeled what he wanted to see carried forward in the generations, right? Modeling is absolutely huge. If you expect it, you have to model it, okay? Now, let's go into church and faith leadership in the Bible, because again, I think this is an often misunderstood part of leadership, because a lot of people would say, leadership in church, I'm not a pastor. Leadership in church, I'm not an elder or a deacon. Reality of it is, we're all leaders in the church. God has ordained and put people in certain types of leadership and certain positional leadership in the church, yet we're all called to be leaders in the church. Steve can't do this on his own. The elders and the deacons cannot do this on their own. We are a body of Christ. We are the church. It's not this building. We are the church. We all have to lead inside of the church. And for some of us, that may mean supporting the leaders who God has placed in the position. Maybe we're not the ones that get up and speak every Sunday. That's fine. They need support too. Maybe it means we come and do service for somebody because we're leading by the example we want the other church members to follow, right? Lots of ways we can lead in the church. Being a pastor does not have to be one of them. So let's look at Mark 16, 15. Because if leadership is simply influence, what's the calling for all of us? How are we all called? baseline, even if we don't have a positional leadership gift, what is our baseline requirement, okay? Matthew 16.15. Sorry, Mark 16.15. Thank you. Next one's Matthew. Mark 16.15, and He said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. If leadership is influence, is that a calling? Is that just Steve's calling? That's our calling. As the body of Christ, as men in the church, our calling is to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation, okay? The next place this comes up, Matthew, and yes, it's Matthew this time, Matthew 28, 19 through 20. Again, I'm sure you've all been here multiple times too. Again, our calling, regardless of what our position in the church is. Matthew 28, 19 through 20 says this, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. There's another call for all of us men in the church to be leaders in this world, regardless of your qualifications, regardless of your perceived natural abilities. This does not matter about giftedness. This is all about your call in the world. Okay? Are we all good with that? Okay. All right, so without influence, there's no following. We talked about that with that proverb. Lots of people are just taking a walk, and unfortunately, a lot of people in our church, not Hayden Bible again, but the global church, a lot of people are simply taking a walk. And then they wonder why no one's following, or fewer are following, okay? So these three areas directly correlate, and that's starting with 1 Timothy 3.12. Let's go there real quick. Now, how many people, as you're flipping there, know what 1 Timothy's all about? Yeah, Steve knows. Any other elders or deacons know, hopefully? Okay, so 1 Timothy is all talking, not all, but primarily talking about the qualifications of leaders, and in this context, leaders in the church, but we can take things from this for our time this morning, okay? So 1 Timothy 3.12 says, let deacons each be the husband of one wife, Managing their children and their households well. So as I read through that, I really stopped and paused looking at that word managing. What does he mean by managing their children and their households well? Are we keeping a time clock? Is it that type of managing? Curfew. Managing well. Okay? So in this context in 1 Timothy, they're talking about for a church leader to be qualified to be in the church, they have to manage their household and their children well. How do we judge that righteously? Can we see the fruit? Can we see how their children are? Can we see what their children's desires are? Can we see what their children's focus is? Can we see how the house is in harmony or in disarray? There is fruit that we can tangibly take off of that tree and see, do they manage this home well? Guys, that's our calling. And we're never gonna have a perfectly managed home, but if yours is out of whack, this is a calling. You gotta get your home back in control and back focused. You have to cast that vision. Sometimes we have to recast the vision, okay? But he calls us. to manage our children and our households well. So the last of the three places I wanted to look at, because I think it's impactful for all of us, obviously, is the workplace and the world. So we've got people in this room that are about to start college. We've got people that are in the workplace. We've got people who are retired from the workplace. We've got a complete mix in this room. Yet we still have a calling in these areas. So let's look at that. Let's look at Matthew 5, 14 through 16. Bless you. Yeah, 5, 14 through 16. So this is in the context of being in the workplace and the world. What is our calling for leadership in those areas, right? Whether we have a workplace or we're retired and now we're just in the world, what is our calling for leadership there? Matthew 5, 14 through 16 says this, you're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Light and salt. We are called to be leaders in the world. Now, did this say tell everyone that you're a leader? Show them. Live consistently with the principles that you profess to believe. Live in consistency with the faith you profess. That is how we lead in the world. That is how we have an impact in our country. That is how we have an impact globally to get people to follow Jesus Christ, okay? He doesn't say, tell them, He says, show them, you are a light, okay? The next one, how many people in the workplace have non-believers that they work with? Pretty safe bet, right? So how does that work? How does our calling in the workplace work with those people? Demonstrate your beliefs on a daily basis. The word that I thought of as soon as I was in this part of preparing for this is compromise. I've been guilty of it, and I think a lot of us have, that in certain situations in a workplace, we may overlook something. We may not say, you know, that's probably not appropriate here. You know, we may not be open having this in our workplace because we're not sure if it would offend somebody, right? Be the light on the hill that everyone can see. We are all in our mission field. Now, some people God has called to be in a mission field in a different country. Some people God has called to be in a mission field as a pastor, and yet we're all called to be in the mission field because He has us where He wants us right now. And He has us meeting the people He has us meeting right now. Don't look past that. So, as we're wrapping this all up, putting a bow on this, we want to look at what is godly leadership. We've talked about what leadership isn't. We've looked at the model in the Bible for how we are to fulfill our calling as leaders. So, on your handout, the middle, we're going to look at some fill-in-the-blanks here. From the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, we know that being a servant leader, which is the key, In the most general sense means being, and we're going to go through these, a voluntary servant who submits themselves to a higher purpose which is beyond their personal interests or the interests of others. A voluntary servant. We are not forced to do this. We step up into the call. God sends the call, we have to step up into that call. He will qualify us in the process, and we have to go out in faith that he's gonna give us what we need, okay? The next one is a leader who uses the power that is entrusted to them to serve others. It doesn't say serve themselves. Second one is a leader who uses the power that entrusted to them to serve others. God will equip us to serve others if we step up to the call. That is His design. His call for all of us is to help and influence others as their call is to do the same for us. That's why we are a part of a church body and we're not doing this solo. Okay, we are to encourage and edify each other. There's process, believe it or not, for keeping track if we go astray and how do we bring them back into the flock and get them to renounce their old ways and bring them back on the right tracks, right? We are called to do this in community and in relationship. Impacting other people is big. The third one, a servant who out of love serves others' needs before their own. I would underline the word before. A servant who out of love serves others' needs before their own. A servant leader doesn't think first, how will this impact me? They think first, how can this impact the most others? Jesus modeled that perfectly, obviously. Jesus didn't worry about how it impacted him. Jesus's mission and vision was to be here to impact others. to serve others. He washed their feet when he had every right to demand they wash his. Okay? A servant. And the last one in that grouping is a teacher who teaches their followers in word and deed how to become servant leaders themselves. So that's fantastic when we get to a point where we have this whole servant leader thing figured out. That's not where it ends. We're called to make others servant leaders because isn't a disciple a servant leader? Same thing. A disciple is seeking out others who are lost, right? The analogy of the flock and the one that goes astray. They're seeking out the lost to bring them back into right relationship or bring them into right relationship, okay? They're a teacher who teaches their followers in word and deed, and they want to create more servant leaders, okay? So four biblical qualifications of leaders. And I give you these just so you can, I guess, do a gut check for yourself as you're progressing in your growth in godly leadership. So, you can see, I'm not going to go through and read these just for time sakes, but you can see there are some main texts that where I'm drawing these qualifications primarily from. So, you can check these, go back and read them later, but I've given you them so we don't have to read them all here this morning. So, the qualifications spelled on these passages can be summarized in four words, and I thought these were really great, easy to remember. They're four words. Commitment, conviction, competency, and character. You all see those? Okay, so the first one, the fill-in-the-blank, is commitment. Is this person, is this leader clearly committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Is there a passion to know Him in all fullness? Number two is conviction. Do they have biblically informed convictions? Because you can either lead people in truth or you can lead them astray. It's still leadership either way. We want the leadership in truth. So do they have biblical informed convictions about who God is and especially the meaning of Jesus's death and resurrection and how that impacts all of us? Number three, competency. Do they know how to make their way through the scriptures? Good news is this can be learned. It's like a muscle. All right, if you work it out more, what happens? The muscle grows. If you stop working out for a month and a half, what happens? Exactly, right? So this can be learned and this can be easier. We have to be in the Word. And the fourth one is character. Are the would-be leaders taking on the character of Jesus Christ? Character. Principle-centered leadership comes out of character, okay? Okay, and if you flip it over, we're going to wrap up with five signs of a godly leader. And if you want, feel free to flip to 1 Corinthians 4. This is really the section that we're taking this out of. So Paul, obviously, is writing here. And in this specific verse, verse 17 of chapter 4, we can take out five characteristics of a Christian leader in one verse. It's amazing what you can get out of the Word, okay? So if everybody's there, say, I'm there. So 1 Corinthians 4, specifically in verse 17, we're going to pull out five things that I see here. The first one, a leader influences. We talked about that. If leadership is influence and you consider yourself a leader, yet you're not influencing other people, there's a disconnect. A leader influences, influences action. Neil. I'm not reading the scripture. I'm taking five pieces out of that. This is where it came from. 1 Corinthians 4, 17. So Paul's writing this letter, but... No, I'm not reading the scripture. I'm just, I'm telling you where it came out of, okay? So you can read chapter four this afternoon, and I would encourage you to, but out of this verse 17, this is where we're drawing these five things. So first off, a leader influences. Paul desired to move the Corinthians, that's who he's writing the letter to, back to a Christ-centered mindset, back to Christ-centered behavior, back to right relationship with Him, okay? His influence was directed toward the benefit of others even at self-expense, which we see in verses 10 through 13 there. Okay, the second one, a leader loves. Paul describes Timothy in that sentence or in that verse as my son whom I love. Can't imagine a politician or a business leader saying that, but leadership has got to be based out of love, a love for others. Because without loving others, you're not going to be a servant leader because you will think of I first, okay? Third one, a leader is faithful to Christ. Now, right here we see this is how Paul describes Timothy, and it's also a fair description of Paul himself, okay? Leader is faithful to Christ. Now, only a cause, these are just some notes here, only a cause greater than himself could inspire Paul to do what he did under such difficult circumstances. Leaders need to be led by a cause greater than themselves. Because you see, as leaders in the church, we already have our leader established. We talk about the hierarchy. Who is our leader? Jesus Christ. If we don't know Him, if we don't know His vision, if we don't really know Him in fullness, we aren't gonna be inspired with a greater purpose than ourselves. We have to be in that close relationship, constantly seeking to know Him better, to be inspired for something bigger than ourselves. The fourth one, imitable. Imitable, imitates Christ. I-M-I-T-A-B-L-E. Do they imitate Christ? Now how do we do that practically? We already established the fact that we can't be Christ this side of earth, we can't be like Him, we can't be perfect like Him, we're fallen. Yet, how do we imitate Christ? What does that practically mean for us in Coeur d'Alene and Haden? And there's that verse, love our neighbors as thyself, right? What is that talking about? Servant leadership, them before myself. Right? Hold them to the same level of worth that I hold myself. So Paul speaks of my way of, this is quote, my way of life in Christ Jesus is something that is worth imitating. Leaders should always live lives imitating Christ. And then the fifth, leader has integrity. You know, a lot of times the leaders who are simply taking a walk that we talked about before have lost followers or don't gain followers because of lack of integrity. Without integrity, there is no respect. There will be no following. There will be no leadership. There will be no influence. There will be no impact. OK? Here's a little quote on that one that I was talked about in a training I thought was awesome. It was not my idea. They said, the audio must match the video. And for me, that's a really simple way to remember that and remind myself, is my audio matching my video? Because I can be up here and talk a great game, and I can tell you all the right words. Is my video matching my audio? I'm not perfect, but am I daily working towards perfection? Does my video match my audio? So how do we grow in leadership in closing? So there's two laws, lots of ways in the Bible. Obviously, I've had you flipping through your Bible quite a bit this morning. So we could do that more, but we're out of time. So how do we grow in our leadership practically? And two of the ways I wanted to share with you come from John Maxwell, which means they come from the Bible, okay? So the first one is a theory he calls the Law of the Lid. Has anyone heard of the Law of the Lid by Maxwell? Okay, the Law of the Lid simply means that as we've all agreed that leadership can be developed, leadership is not held for a select few, we are all leaders, and as a result, we are all called to constantly growing in our leadership, because if we're not growing in our leadership, we're not having more of an influence. If we're not having more of an influence, we're falling short of our calling, okay? So law of the lid simply states your influence is directly capped by your leadership lid, right? So naturally speaking, how we're wired coming out of the womb, some of us may come out in our leadership on a scale of one to 10, maybe a seven, and others maybe a two. What we know is that you will never have influence greater than that lid. Now, how do we raise that lid? Just what we're doing this morning. We look to God's Word to how we can be better and grow in Christ-like godly leadership so that we can have a greater influence over people on the time we have here on earth, okay? Constant growth is one of them. Who we are becoming Not who we are, who we are becoming determines that lid, okay? And that's all influenced by the time you spend daily in the Word seeking Him. The second law and the last of the two I wanted to share with you is the law of the inner circle. Has anyone heard of this one from Maxwell? So the law of the inner circle talks about what? Wisdom. Here's what Maxwell says. You will become like the five people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely. The law of the inner circle talks about having people surrounding you who can share wisdom with you to help you make right decisions, take right action, and hold you accountable to what you said you were going to accomplish, what your vision was, what we're called to. Yes. Absolutely, and should be. Absolutely. But we have to be very mindful as who are we choosing to speak into our lives. Because it has an influence, again, that word we've been talking about, it has an influence on us whether we recognize it or not. All right, so we have to do an audit or an inventory to really see who are those five people, Christ should be one of them, who are those five people that we're allowing to be in our inner circle, okay? And I'll leave you with this quote and then we'll pray. This comes from General Mark Welsh, he's the commander of the US Air Force in Europe. I thought this was a great quote. He says, leadership is a gift, it's given by those who follow. You have to be worthy of it. All right, my prayer for us is as we grow and continue to grow as leaders in the church that we can get to the point where we're worthy of those following us. So let's pray. Father God, thank You so much for our time this morning. Thank You so much for Your Word and the guidance that it gives us that, Father, as we wrestle with challenges and growth, let us just remember that we can always go back to Your Word and find models and teachings that guide us where You would have us. Father, I ask that for continued growth for the men in this room. I thank You so much for them showing up. Thank You for the leaders of our church. Thank You for the pastors, the elders, the deacons, and I thank You for every man who showed up this morning who is a leader in this church at some capacity. Father, I ask that You Let this stick with us. Let us marinate in this over the weekend and allow us to see the opportunities where you would have us grow in our influence of people around us. Father, thank you so much. We love you and we ask all this in your name. Amen.