Kingdom Leadership Series: How to Lead Like God Leads

www.advancingthekingdomonline.org

Part 1: Introduction

I. Introduction A. Each one of us has been called to lead. It may be at home, in school, in sports, in business, in church, in the military, or in civic organizations, but sooner or later each of us will be called upon to lead. We are all at every level leaders. (Admiral Mike Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations)

B. You were born to lead in the areas in the areas of your natural gifting.
God has designed and equipped each one of us to do things that literally no one else on earth can do as well as we can. Psalm 139:14 . . . I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. (Holman Bible)

C. The truth is that you have been made in the image of God.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . .

D. Not only have you been made in Gods image, but He has called you to walk in dominion in the earth.
Genesis 1:26-27 . . . and let them have dominion ( = to govern, to rule and to reign) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (KJV)

E. The bottom line: you have been created to look like God physically, and to function like God spiritually, intellectually and morally, as you carry out His mission for your life on earth.
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father . . . (NKJV)

John 17:22-23 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one . . . (NKJV)
F. Your ability to walk in dominion is directly tied to the gifts God has given to you.

Your greatest leadership skills and ability lie in the area of your natural, God-given gifting.
G. Think about three words that describe you at your best. Write them down. Now take a moment and share them with the person sitting next to you. It is highly likely that these three words are central to the strengths of your leadership style and capability.

H. Did you know that you are an inspiration to other people when you are operating in your God-given gifting? Most people will be inspired when they see you walking, talking and operating in the gifts that God has given to you. It blesses them and encourages them . . . because they are seeing Gods gifts and handiwork in action!

I. The ability you have to inspire others also brings with it the power to influence them.
True leadership is the result of people being inspired and influenced by the deployment of a persons God-given gifts. The sequence looks like this: 1. God 2. Gifts 3. Inspiration 4. Influence 5. Leadership.

J. The Trinity is clearly involved in and central to this most important concept of leadership:
1. God the Father gives the gifts.

2. The Holy Spirit is the Power and the Presence behind the inspiration that flows from the gifts.

3. Jesus walked the earth and provided a living example of what practical execution of the gifts looks like.

II. Your Leadership Ability

A. Definitions
Lead: to show the way by going first; to act as a guide; to go at the head of one positioned at the front; one who goes first; a person with commanding authority or influence

Leader:

Leadership: possessing character, communication and relationship skills that encourage others to follow you when you are placed in a position of authority.

B. Ask yourself this question: Is my present leadership ability helping me or hurting me?

Leadership ability is the lid that determines a persons level of effectiveness . . . the higher the leadership, the greater the effectiveness. (John Maxwell)

C. What motivates you to lead?

Why would people want to follow you? How would those closest to you describe the impact of your leadership on them? D. What principles guide you as you lead others?

Who taught them to you?

Whose leadership examples are you following?

E. The shadow of the leader.

Each of us has a leadership style that casts a shadow before those who have been placed under the influence of our authority. How does the shadow of your leadership style impact other people?

III. The Need for Kingdom Leadership A. Get a roomful of Southern Baptist preachers together and youve got enough ego to blow Washington, D.C. off the map. (Southern Baptist pastor Richard Jackson addressing his own troubled denomination.) This quote, however, could just as easily apply to most other church denominations. B. When we reflect on the history of the Church, are we not bound to confess that she has failed to follow the example of her Founder? All too often she has worn the robes of the ruler, not the apron of the servant. (Professor Michael Green, Regent College, Vancouver)

C. I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame that heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other. (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross) D. There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. (Mother Teresa)

E. Jesus said there was one characteristic that would enable all men to know that we were his disciples: by the love that we show to one another.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (KJV)

F. No matter how extraordinarily gifted a person may be, if he is deficient in love, all of his gifts count for nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (NKJV) Its not how much you do, but how much Love you put into the doing that matters. (Mother Teresa)

G. Love is relevant. Something thats missing in the body, in the nations of the earth is love given in an apostolic way . . . Youre not going to get in the palm of His hand if youve got an agenda, if your motivations wrong, if your egos bigger than your desire for the Lord. Hell desire you to be there if youre an instrument of His love. Then Hell release you. (Carl Brettle) H. The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. (Teilhard de Chardin)

IV. Agape Love

A. All the circumstances of life are arranged for this one purpose: to enable one to learn agape love in order to be qualified to administer the law of love in eternity. (Dont Waste Your Sorrows, Paul E. Billheimer) B. Agape love = the love that characterizes God Himself; the love which loves because of its own inherent nature, independent of the excellence or worth of its object.

1 John 4:7-9 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (NKJV) Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (KJV)

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (KJV)
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (NKJV)

C. The elements of agape love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
Love never fails . . . (AMP) How do you measure up when compared with Gods agape love criteria?

D. The importance of agape love. Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (NKJV) Luke 10:29-34 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. (KJV)

E. Definition of love from a survey of 4 to 8 year old children.

1. Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad but you dont yell at him because you know it would hurt his feelings.

2. Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken. 3. When someone loves you, the way she says your name is different. You know that your name is safe in her mouth.

4. When you tell someone something bad about yourself and youre scared she wont love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only does she still love you, she loves you even more.
5. When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.

6. Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.
7. Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.

F. The greatest leader (and lover) who ever lived is Jesus Christ.
He demonstrated extraordinary leadership during His earthly ministry, and documented the principles of kingdom leadership in the Bible. He chose as the centerpiece for His leadership style the most powerful force in the world: love!

G. Even when He was only twelve years old, the leadership qualities present in Jesus were clearly and readily discernable to the wisest people of that day: Luke 2:46-47 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. (KJV)

H. Your destiny is to be conformed to His image. Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son . . . (KJV) I. The image of His Son is love personified. The more we can learn, embrace and demonstrate the principles of Kingdom Leadership in our own lives, the faster we will be transformed into His image.

J. Kingdom Leadership: Leading by demonstrating the powerful and loving influence of the King of Kings.

Copyright 2006 by Bill Fries. All rights reserved. www.advancingthekingdomonline.org