Press the arrow to listen to Glenn Packiam Everlasting God as you read today’s devotion on leadership.

Scripture
Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 2 Timothy 2:7

Observation
Ministry 101 class is in session. Professor Paul takes chalk and writes four points on the blackboard. Today my call is to write these sentences not just in a notebook, but on my life.

1. Ministry is hard, so suck it in and in the process you will find a band of battle brothers. (Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:3)

2. Don’t get caught up in money-making schemes; trust the Commander and his commands. (No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4)

3. There are leadership rules that are not obvious until broken; so learn them fast, follow them diligently and succeed. (Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. 2 Timothy 2:5)

4. When God rewards hard service with good things you have permission to enjoy. (The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. 2 Timothy 2:6)

Prayer
Father, as I look through the list, it’s the third one that I need the most help with. There are so many leadership lessons to learn, then to remember and most of all to apply. Yet I know that godly leadership is not about memorizing principles from gurus, but in being led by the Holy Spirit. So Spirit of God, please be my mentor today. Give me wisdom, knowledge and understanding. It is your job to remind me and mine to obey. Today I listen and walking slowly to hear from you. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe sing “Pure” while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
He said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water ‘” But he lied to him. 1 Kings 13:18

Observation
The old prophet heard of a young prophet preaching in his territory, and he was threatened. So he invited the young prophet to his home for dinner. It would be a long and leisurely conversation with the aim of slowing the young man down.

The king had not heard the word of the Lord, because the old prophet had not spoken. So God sent in someone from the outside to speak. The old prophet was so accustomed to mixing his words with God’s word that it was not trouble for him to tell the young novice truth as lie. The result for the young prophet was tragic. He became a one sermon wonder.

One of the traps awaiting a young leader is an old leader whose life has been filled with compromise. Iron may sharpen iron, but dead wood only dulls.  The old man’s half-heartedness cost the young man his life.

Application
Not all leaders weather well. I remember once being invited by an old pastor with whitened hair to preach on Sunday and to share lunch with his wife that afternoon. While we prayed together before the service, I kept having the thought the man was an adulterer. I shook off the thought thinking, “But he’s a kindly old man with decades of fruitful service.” Over lunch he sighed and said, “Ministry is necessary only because of the fall of Adam. Were it not for him, every man would be a priest of his own home. But because of his fall I must take care of the families of others.” I was young but disturbed. Something seemed askew in what he said.  I wasn’t in ministry because of failure but with hope of success. I made a note to myself that I did not want to become pessimistic about ministry like him when I grew old. A year later the city paper paraded the old preacher’s story; not only was he an adulterer, but one twice over with two mistresses. He was trying to slow me down to his pace to comfort his own compromise.

There are half-hearted men along life’s way who are threatened by whole-hearted devotion to Christ. A young leader must learn to keep on walking to where God has him next to be. There are reasons why God gives commands, even when they are odd enough to cause us to walk home without dinner. If that young man had gone home hungry, God might have filled him with a message that could have become the 40th book of the Old Testament.

Prayer
Father, help me to deflect the discouragement of cynical leaders who have let their failures become their high water marks. Keep me walking on. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Natalie Grant sing In Better Hands while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
That is why we never give up. 2 Corinthians 4:16

Observation
In factories there are machines designed to wear products out. It is all part of quality control to discover how many times a car door can be slammed or a couch jumped on by little children.

Accelerated wear and tear is not isolated to manufacturers, for God too uses a similar process with his display models called leaders. Public ministry accelerates the grind on a pastor’s life. It is not just the people pressure or work load, there is the unseen demonic abrasion and assault. I have a friend who served in a marketplace role where he oversaw literally thousands of people, who has now moved into a senior pastor role. He said to me, “I had no idea of the expectations and exhaustion of ministry.”

Paul called himself a “fragile clay pot”. Ministry revealed to him how weak he really was. Yet he concluded his thought bracket in triumph with the resolve never to give up. How so? Because the pressure on the inside is equal to the pressure on the outside. That internal pressure is the weight of glory that every godly person carries inside of their being.

Application
A tire can handle road pressure when properly inflated. So too as a leader I need not only to keep the presence of Christ fresh in my life, but I need to live with a continual self-reminder of what is within me. I can only feel pressure without because there is power within. If there were no power within there would be no sense of external pressure. Therefore I must never give up.

Prayer
Father, today, I ask not to just to be equal to my tasks but to be in awe of what you have placed in me to make that so. Amen.

Scripture
The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas. But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. Acts 14:1-4

Observation
There is something about leaving home, going on a missions trip and speaking to non-believers that makes preaching come alive. Unplugged from our native environment we are forced to depend on the Lord more. Unaware of what is going on in the minds of hearers we become more attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul and Barnabas found that missionary journeys are where God shows up in power.

Iconium was one of their early overseas experiences. There Paul preached with “such power that a great number…became believers” and “the Lord proved their message was true by giving the power to do miraculous signs and wonders.” Powerful preaching was not measured by Paul’s story telling skills, the timbre of his voice or the skill of oratory. We’re just told that many believed. Perhaps what we call “powerful preaching” really isn’t. Maybe instead the technique of “great preaching” is a cover up of what is not happening in the hearts of hearers. Power should be measured by the change in people.

Even with all of this evidence of God’s power, not everyone marched to Paul’s tune. There was another proof of powerful ministry: some people chose not to believe. So rejection too is evidence of God’s work in a preacher. When John Wesley quizzed his preachers, he would ask them first if anyone had been saved under their ministry. If they said no, then Wesley would ask, “Did you make anyone mad?”

Application
The worst critic of any sermon is the preacher who gave it. The drive home from church can be brutal. Paul’s experience helps us pastors to get the criteria correction for measuring success. Is there evidence of life change in the hearts of the people? Are there signs of answers to prayer bringing health to the people? Are there some who are rejecting the message? Are there some undermining what you are saying? (That’s evidence that there is something powerful to push away from.) These are the critique questions of good preaching.

Prayer
Father, today I ask that when I speak you would speak through me. Amen.