THE LEADERS CHARACTER

Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter Hebrews 11:23-27

sa pananampalataya sa Diyos, ang mga magulang ni Moises ay hindi natakot na sumuway sa utos ng hari; nang makita nilang maganda ang sanggol, itinago nila ito sa loob ng tatlong buwan. 24Dahil sa pananampalataya sa Diyos, tumanggi si Moises, nang siya'y mayroon nang sapat na gulang, na tawagin siyang anak ng prinsesang anak ng hari. 25Inibig pa niyang makihati sa kaapihang dinaranas ng bayan ng Diyos kaysa magtamasa ng mga panandaliang aliw ng mundong ito na dulot ng kasalanan. 26Itinuring niyang higit na mahalaga ang pagtitiis sa hirap dahil sa Mesiyas kaysa ang mga kayamanan ng Egipto; sapagkat nakatuon ang kanyang paningin sa mga gantimpala sa hinaharap. 27Ang pananampalataya din sa Diyos ang nag-udyok kay Moises na lisanin ang Egipto kahit magalit ang hari. Matatag ang kanyang kalooban sapagkat para niyang nakita ang Diyos. (Hebrews 11:23-27)
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THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter THE LEADERS CHARACTER Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter Hebrews 11:23-27 Rick Warren

Few leaders have made as great an impact with their lives and ministry as Moses. God used Moses because he made the right choices and those choices shaped his character.

FOUR QUESTIONS EVERY LEADER MUST ASK 1. THE IDENTITY QUESTION: ____________________________________________________________? By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. V. 24

Success = (Gods) hands formed and shaped me. Job 10:8 (GN) We are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph. 2:10

2. THE RESPONSIBILITY QUESTION ____________________________________________________________? He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. v. 25

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THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter Leaders recognize: I cant live off others I cant blame others I am free to choose

(Joshua) (You) may choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:14-15 3. THE PRIORITY QUESTION: ____________________________________________________________? He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. V. 26 The Worlds Value System: ________________________________________ v. 24 ________________________________________ v. 25 ________________________________________ v. 26 Moses Value System: 1) Gods ________________________________________ is more valuable than popularity. V. 24 2) ________________________________________ are more valuable than pleasures. V. 25 3) Gods ________________________________________ is more valuable than possessions. V. 26 iii

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter

4. THE DIFFICULTY QUESTION: ____________________________________________________________? By faith, Moses left Egypt, not fearing the kings anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. V. 27

Test of a leaders faith: These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and wont last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in Gods richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever. 2 Cor. 4:17-18 (LB)

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THE LEADERS CHARACTER Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter #LL56 Hebrews 11:23-27 Rick Warren

This is the first of a set of three special Leadership Lifters in which we're going to look at characters of the Old Testament and draw insights about leadership from their lives. The first message, which is included on this tape, we're going to look at the leader's character. We're going to look at whom I consider to be the greatest leader of the Old Testament and that is Moses. In the next tape we're going to look at the leader's faith, with the examination of the life and ministry of Joshua who followed Moses. Finally we're going to look at the leader's prayer life by examining the life of Jabez in the Old Testament and Jesus' prayer life in the New Testament. When you look at people in the Old Testament who made an impact, it's hard to find anybody who made a greater impact that Moses. He freed a nation from slavery after 400 years. He was used by God to give us the Ten Commandments. He wrote the first five books of the Bible. Few leaders have made as great an impact with their lives and ministry as Moses. God used Moses in a tremendous way. Why? Why of all the people did God choose him? I think that God chose Moses because of the choices Moses made. Moses made four critical choices that determined his destiny and they're choices that each of us as leaders in the church have to make in order to be used by God in a great way. Choices determine your character. Your character is determined by day to day decisions and problems and issues that you are confronted with. And when you make the choice on those daily issues the accumulative effect of those produce the character in your life. As we look at the life of Moses there are four questions I believe every leader must ask. They are the Identity question, the Responsibility question, the Priority question, and the Difficulty question. When you settle these issues in your life, you are in a position for God to use you in ways like you never thought possible. We're going to look at these four questions and see how Moses answered them, because his answers are the answers that we need to come up with. 1. The first question is what I call the IDENTITY QUESTION. Every leader must first ask the question, Who am I? This was especially essential for Moses since he had an identity crisis early on. He was born Jewish and yet he was raised Egyptian in Pharaoh's palace. As he grew up he had to decide, What am I really? This was going to have a major consequence in his life. In fact it would affect the rest of his life. Here was his choice: He could pretend that he was Pharaoh's grandson in which, if he accepted that he would have fame, he would have fortune, he would have a luxurious lifestyle, he would have a great career. Or, on the other hand, he could admit his Jewish roots and if he did, he would be disgraced, humiliated, thrown out of the palace and forced into slave labor.

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter If you were confronted with those two choices, what choice do you think you would make? Moses did not hesitate, but he made the choice to admit exactly who he was, to confirm the identify that God had given him because he was a man of integrity. He refused to live a lie. He made his decision that affected the rest of his life. In Hebrews 11 where we have the story of Moses, v. 23-27, in v. 24 it says, "By faith, Moses, when he had grown up refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The word "refused" there in Greek literally means "to reject. It means to disown, no turning back, slam the door shut and put a dead bolt on it. So Moses refused to live a lie. He insisted on being what God made him to be. And no amount of peer pressure could sway him from that. This is very important because this is the first issue you have to deal with as a leader. The point is, God made you for a purpose. And only you can be you. As I've said many times before, when you get to heaven, God isn't going to say, "Why weren't you more like Billy Graham? Why weren't you more like John MacArthur? Why weren't you more like...?" He's going to say, "Why weren't you more like you?" Because only you can be you. You are one in five billion. There's never been anyone like you. If you don't be you, who's going to be you? The point is, God made you for a purpose and being successful equals being me being yourself. That's the first foundation. Quit trying to be like everybody else. I know when I first entered into the ministry, I had a deep desire to mimic the models in ministry that I admired. I tried to preach like them, I tried to dress like them, I tried to use words and phrases, even hold my Bible the way they did. But I eventually discovered that was ineffective. The only thing I could be that God could use was to be me. So quit trying to be like anybody else. There's a great relief when you accept your identity. God chose your genes, your parents, your background, your makeup or SHAPE. Job 10:8 says "God formed and shaped me." In previous messages we've talked about how we at Saddleback say that SHAPE stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences. These five things shape you and form you to become who God made you to be. They set your identity. Ephesians 2:10 says "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do." The word "workmanship" there is the Greek word from which we get the word "poem" poema. You are a work of art. You are unique. There's nobody like you. God made you to be you. He doesn't want you to be a leader like someone else. He wants to use your personality, your abilities, your experiences for the glory of God. Settle the issue of identity Who am I?

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter

2. The second question you must answer as a leader is the RESPONSIBILITY QUESTION. The responsibility question is this: What will I do with my life? You have to stop making excuses, you have to stop blaming other people and take the initiative if you're going to be a leader and decide what does God want me to do with my life and then get on with it. Hebrews 11:25 "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." It says, "he chose". Circle that word. I think that, next to salvation, the greatest gift that God has given you is the ability to choose. He's given you the freedom to choose. That's why we're different than animals. God made us in His image and we have the freedom to choose. As a leader, your leadership will be based on the type of choices you make. That is the responsibility question. What will I do with my life? What will I do with my ministry? Your future is determined by your choices. Notice three things in Moses' life that are issues that each leader must eventually deal with. God's will explodes in your life when you make the right choices and say "Based on what You made me to be, then I'm going to accept responsibility for that and I'm going to make the right choices." Notice three things: v. 24 we have Moses refusing. In v. 25 we have Moses choosing. See the difference? First there's the negative, then there's a positive. God always backs up a negative with a positive. The Christian life is not just a matter of don'ts. It's not a matter of "I'm not going to do this... this ... this... Its a matter of "I am choosing to do this." He's refusing and then he's choosing. v. 23, as a child, God chose Moses. But in v. 25, Moses had to choose God. Big difference. God chose Moses even before he was born to be the liberator, the savior, the deliverer of the nation of Israel. He chose him even before he was born. But Moses could have short-circuited that plan by not choosing God. So God has chosen you for ministry. John 15, Jesus says, "You have not chosen Me. I have chosen you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." God chose you from the foundation of the world. He chose you to be saved and when He chose you to be saved, He chose you to be a minister. But you must make the choice yourself to choose God's will for your life.

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter Notice in v. 24 it says "When he had grown up." You might underline this. "When he had grown up, he chose." One of the marks of maturity is when you begin to accept responsibility for your spiritual life. As a baby, it was ok for Moses to live off his parents' faith. But someday he had to make the decision on his own of who was going to be his God and what were going to be his values and what was his identity. Leaders recognize three very important truths and they're all illustrated here in the life of Moses. 1. The first truth that every leader must recognize is I can't live off someone else's spiritual commitment. That's a difference between a leader and just an average person. When I meet people on planes, etc. and they find out I'm a pastor they'll say, "My parents were Christians." Whoopee! or, "My uncle was a missionary ... My wife's a believer." You need a personal relationship to Christ and you need a personal ministry. You don't get into heaven on somebody else's spiritual apron strings and you don't serve in ministry on someone else's spiritual commitment. It's time to grow up and make that choice. I can't live off other's spiritual commitment. 2. I can't blame others for the direction of my life. We are in a society that wants to blame everybody else for everything. There are things that you cannot control and there are things that we've all been victims of, some of you in serious, major issues. And while you cannot control all the things that happen to you, you can control your response. And that's your choice. That is your choice because God's given you that freedom of choice. So don't blame the environment for your future. You are as spiritual as you want to be. When you cut through it all, you're as close to God as you want to be. If you say, "I'm not very close to God. Why?" It's because you don't want to be closer. You're as close to God as you want to be. It's your choice. God has no favorites in His family. He does have intimates those who know Him well. Who are those? Those who chose to make the effort to know Him well when you choose to make the effort through Bible reading, through quiet time, through prayer. You get to know somebody well when you spend a lot of time with them. The more time you spend with God the more you become an intimate of God. The Bible says in Psalms that the people of Israel knew the acts of God but Moses knew the ways of God. The people saw the acts of God. They saw the fire, the pillar, the water, the spreading of the Red Sea. They saw all the acts of God. But Moses knew the ways of God because he was God's friend. Did God love Moses more? No. Moses made choices that others were not willing to make. You are as close to God as you want to be. 3. I'm free to choose my response to life. Nobody can ruin my life except me. God won't ruin it. The devil can't, if you're a child of God unless you make choices. So it's your choice. Even what other people do to you. Nobody can ruin your life except you if you've given it to God. So the responsibility issue is, What am I going to do with my life? Joshua 20:4 You may choose for yourself today whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." 4

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter He's saying, I'm facing the same issue that Moses made. Joshua was his successor. Joshua watched Moses be a man of choice, be a man of character, a man of integrity. He saw it work and years later he's making the same decisions. He's saying, As for me and my house I don't care what you guys think, we're going to serve the Lord.

3. The third issue is what I call the PRIORITY QUESTION that every leader must eventually face and we see it in Moses' life. The Priority Question is this: What is really most important? If you're going to be used effectively by God you've got to establish some kind of value system. You clarify your values, your morals, your ethics, your priorities. This is what Moses did. He decided what was important. v. 26 "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward." Circle "regarded" which means I made a moral choice, a value judgment. And circle the word "value". It says he considered, he regarded. The word "regarded" literally means evaluate. It's the word that's used of weighing in the balance. It means to judge the value of something. This is not something you do quickly, a snap judgment. You are seriously considering, What is the direction of my life and what are going to be my values? If you were asked by somebody, "What are the values that you are basing your life on?" Could you name them? You ought to be able to say, These are things that are important to me. We've just talked about ten of them on Sunday morning. You don't lie, you don't steal, those kind of things. Basic values of life. The fact is, if you don't decide what's important in your life, other people will do it for you. They will decide what's important and they will force their values on you. We, in America, are right now in a values war. Don't let anybody kid you about it. We are in a values war. The media is on the wrong side. When Madonna makes the cover of this weeks Newsweek of a book that is sheer pornography that says something is happening in our society. They may put down the idea, but there is a values war. And we know who's behind it. (It's not the Democrats.) It's Satan. He is the god of this world and he is trying to warp the world to his value system. What is the world's value system? The world's value system is summed up in these three verses. The only good thing you can say about the devil is he's consistent. He doesn't have any new tricks. The same three tricks he pulled on Adam, he pulled on Jesus. The same three tricks he pulled on Jesus, he pulled on Moses. They're the same three he pulls on you. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the world, the pride of life. We see these in v. 24, 25, 26. The world's value system. 5

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter v. 24 "Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaohs daughter." He's talking about power and prestige. That's the first value of the world. Power and prestige. One of the values of the world is, I want to be famous, I want to be looked up to. I want power. I want prestige. Why else would people pay fifty bucks for a card that's gold when they can have one that's green that doesn't cost that much. People want to have a certain color card so they can say, I have prestige. I have power. The second standard of the world is in v. 25. Pleasure. "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than joy the pleasures of sin for a short time." In v. 24 he rejects the world's measure they're standard of evaluation, being famous. In v. 25 he rejects the world's pleasure. In v. 26, he rejects the world's treasure which is possessions. Power, pleasure, possessions. Measure, pleasure, and treasure. "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasure of Egypt." All of the wealth of the world in that day was concentrated in Egypt. And it would have been Moses. He was in line for it. And he walked out the door from a position of prestige (the measure of the world), all the pleasures of the world he could have in the palace of Egypt, and he rejected the world's treasure the world's value system. It's ironic. Those things were all offered to Moses and by these standards Moses had it made. But he walked away from it. It's interesting to me that he walked away from the very three things that most people spend their entire lives trying to get. He walked out the door. That's why God used him. He knew that these things don't last. This is very important. You must understand that as a leader in ministry, in order for you to say, Yes, to God there are things you must say No to. You cannot say Yes to the world and Yes to ministry at the same time. It doesn't work. Jesus said it like this, "You can't serve two masters. You'll either hate one or love the other." The problem with a lot of Christians is not that they're not willing to serve in ministry but it is that they're afraid to say no to the world's value system. Compromising only makes you miserable. It's like trying to sit on a fence. Ouch! You need to learn to say No. I refuse to be sucked in again. I'm going to go against the flow. I'm going to reject what the world says is important. The priority question of What is really important? And Moses rejected the world's standard and instead came up with his own value system. What was Moses' value system? 1. God's purpose is more valuable than popularity. As Pharaohs grandson, the heir to the throne, that's a position of popularity. But Moses wasn't impressed. Don't ever sell your life out for popularity because it doesn't last. One minute you're a hero, the next minute you're a zero. It just doesn't last. One of the things you have to learn as a 6

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter leader is to hold in your hand lightly both praise and criticism. Because one minute they love you and the next minute they hate you. One minute you're doing great and the next minute you're doing lousy. You must learn, if you're going to be effective in ministry, to live for an audience of one. Really what matters is, What does God think about this? Because you cannot play to the crowds. I make people happy all the time and I upset people all the time. It's par for the course. The pioneer takes the arrows. If you're going to call the shots, you take the shots. You hold both criticism and praise lightly. Like chewing gum: You chew on it but you don't swallow it. 2. People are more valuable than pleasures. v. 25. Moses is on Easy Street. He's got a royal lifestyle. Any whim he wants is going to be satisfied. Immediately. But in order to do right, he had to choose discomfort over pleasure. Do you realize that all the discomfort we've been through in this church in 13 years using 54 different buildings, all the discomfort of setting up and taking down? Saying, I want to have a ministry without discomfort is like saying, I want to have a baby without my tummy getting big and going through labor. It's an impossibility. It's par for the course. Notice why did he give up for people. v. 25 He chose to be mistreated "... along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasure of sin for a time." He did it for the sake of people. He said I want to do this to help others. That's why we put up with inconvenience in ministry to help others. That's called service. The problem is a lot of people only want to serve God when it's convenient. But a lot of ministry isn't convenient. A lot of ministry isn't exciting. It's just ministry, service. 3. God's peace is more valuable than possessions. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as greater value than the treasure of Egypt because he was looking ahead. Moses knew that no possession could give inner peace. Peace comes from doing God's will. Americans think it's life, liberty and the purchase of happiness. There will be an awful lot of Christmas spending in the next couple of months. I wonder if they'll still be elated in January when the payments come in. I like the sign we put on La Bomba: "My other car's a heap of junk!" It says, Don't worry about your possessions. A man's life does not consist of the abundance of things that he possesses. It's amazing that Moses gave up the very things we spend our lives trying to get. What motivated this man? V. 26 He was looking ahead to his reward. The reasons that he was able to have 7

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter his values right values are determined by perspective. Or your values are determined by your vision. And Moses was a man of vision. So he had his eyes on the future reward, not on the measure, treasure, pleasure of today.

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter 4. That brings us to the fourth crisis in Moses life and the fourth issue that all of us must deal with and the fourth question that all of us must answer as leaders in ministry. That is what I call the DIFFICULTY QUESTION. How much am I willing to commit? How much am I willing to commit to fulfill my ministry? Because ministry requires perseverance. V. 27 By faith Moses left Egypt not fearing the kings anger. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. He never took his eyes off the goal. Thats why God used him. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. You must constantly visualize your goal. By the way, visualization I not a New Age word. Its a Biblical word. It all depends on what youre visualizing. If youre visualizing your navel then thats New Age. If youre visualizing some crystal, thats New Age. But dont let anybody take meditation and visualization out of scripture. Thats what the Bible says is the way you get close to God by meditating on Gods word. Constantly keep the Lord and His will before you. The secret of success is persistence. The secret of persistence is vision. Keeping your eyes off the problem and on to the final goal. I used to have a poster in my office that said, Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal. There are incredible obstacles in ministry. Weve faced incredible obstacles as a church. Moses refused to give up no matter what happened and thats why God used him. God uses people who dont give up. If I had to summarize Moses ministry in one word it would be endurance. Imagine: forty years in Midian being a nobody and then forty years of leading the children of Israel across a wilderness that should have only taken a couple of weeks a bunch of crybabies who were griping about everything that happens. A thankless job. Here is a test of a leaders faith: How long can I wait? How long can I wait to see the fulfillment of a vision that God has given me for my ministry? Do you ever get tired of waiting? Waiting for an answer to prayer? Do delays tempt you to give up? The test of faith is how long can you wait. And the key to endurance is vision. 2 Corinthians 4 These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and wont last very long, yet in this short time of distress will result on Gods richest blessings upon us for ever and ever. So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over but the joys to come will last forever. When you look at Pauls ministry, if you were to turn a few chapters over, he gives a testimony and says, Five, six, seven times I was whipped and shipwrecked and Ive been beaten and stoned and Ive been left in prison without food and Ive had no clothes and Ive been run out of town. And Ive died once and come back to life. Then he says, these troubles and sufferings are quite small. Thats what you call perspective. In the long shot, the long haul 70, 80, 90 9

THE LEADERS CHARACTER, Lessons From the Life of Moses Leadership Lifter years of trouble is nothing compared to millions of years in heaven. Keep your perspective in all of this. Yes, youre going through grief right now but its nothing compared to the joy youre going to get if you respond in the right attitude. The key to endurance is vision. If you want to make your life count, youve got to make the right choices. Because the choices determine your character and God uses people of character and it begins with these issues. Prayer: As we close tonight, would you say, Lord, help me to resolve the issue of identity. Help me to understand who You made me to be and help me to understand what You made me to be. Help me not to try to be somebody that Im not but to be exactly what You made me to be. Thank You that You formed me and shaped me. Thank You that You say I am Your workmanship, that You created me to do good works even before the foundation of the world was made. Thank You for not only saving me but for shaping me. And thank You that You have a plan and a ministry for my life. Lord, help me with the responsibility question: What Im going to do with the rest of my life. Help me to make the rest of my life the best of my life. Help me to realize that I cant live off other peoples commitment. And that Im as close to You as I want to be. Tonight, Im telling You that I want to be closer. I want to love You more and I want to know You more. And I want to know how much You love me more. Like Joshua, I want to choose, no matter what other people do, we my house will serve the Lord. Father, help me to settle the priority question of whats really the most important. There are so many things that are pulling at my life in different directions. Help me to know what counts and what doesnt count. Tonight, I want to say, Dear God, I reject the worlds value system, that it is not worth giving my life for power or prestige or pleasure or possessions. Help me to remember that Your purpose is more valuable than popularity, that people are more valuable than pleasure and that Your peace is more valuable that possessions. Would You help me to resolve the issue of difficulty? Tonight, I want to say that I dont want to be a half committed Christian but I want to be a wholy committed Christian, fully devoted to You, totally dedicated, that all that I have and all that I am are Yours and I will follow You any where, any place, any time to do anything that You want me to do. And when difficulty arises help me to keep my eyes on the goal, that I do have a destiny on a city on the hill and when prayers are unanswered help me to realize that Youre testing my faith. Teach me to wait upon You and realize that these times of distress are really short and insignificant compared to the glory that we will receive and the joys that are going to last forever. In Jesus name. Amen.

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