January 7, 2007
important in their life; most of them would rather be popular than to do what is morally right.
9. Just one out of every six people believe that spiritual maturity is meant to be developed within the context of a local church or within the context of a community of faith…this could be why we are small
10. The proportion of adults who are born-again has risen dramatically in the past quarter century, from 31 percent to 45 percent.

With all of this…gives us more reason than ever to be intentional for Christ…to be intentional with our faith…to be intentional for the church…in inviting people to belong…to be as George Barna labels them…a revolutionary born-again Christian…and it is more reason that we be intentional about leadership…leadership in our homes…leadership in our community…leadership in the church

And in the leadership of GOD

Over the next few weeks…I am going to preach a series of sermons…most will be topical on this subject of leadership in a broader view than "the church"…for as Christians we…in one aspect or another are called to be a leader…whether it is at the work place…in our homes…with the group we play with…and in the church

Today I want to give a guide…as you will…not as in a guide book…but in how we are guided and then using the same attributes guide yourself in leading…

There are a number of Scriptures that gives us the attributes of how God leads us…and today we are going to use two…first Exodus 15:13 [READ]

Here is this passage we see two out of the three attributes…Love and Strength

Love…unfailing love…or another word "mercy"…this is in relation to the covenant made with Abraham…that God will always be there for them…and for us who are the redeemed today

God guides us with an unfailing love…because He wants to…not because He needs to…but because He wants to guide…so with this we can trust His guiding to be one of good…that will not harm us but to prosper us in ways that we cannot comprehend…It is His love that allows us to trust our faith in leading others…but only if we lead out of the same unfailing love…because we made the choice to love and lead with the same love

The one characteristic that this love has is the ability to lead for the greater…in other words the ability to lead others into the presence of God whether it is for salvation, for church, for morality in a corrupt world, whether it is in work…employment…it is this love attribute that drives all the others…and when we use this love of God as He guides us in guiding others…an environment is created where trust can have a place so the other attributes can be engaged…and the next attribute is strength…not ours but God's
It is in His strength that He guides…and we can only truly effectively lead by using His Strength…Here is the difference

Our strength is limited…we can only do so much…but His strength is unlimited…it is a supernatural strength that can do so much more…but what is this strength…what do we mean when we say by God's strength?

To have an understanding of strength…we need to understand it through the eyes of the Hebrew culture…in Hebrew words have a tendency not to lend themselves to the abstract or what we would nonfigurative…but more in the picturesque or figurative and this holds true for the term "strength"

To understand God's strength we need to picture it in terms of power…force…security…boldness…transfer this to concept of leadership is that we need to exercise faith in invoking God's strength…in other words you need to confidence in the faith that you claim to have and trust God through the power of the Holy Spirit will allow you to act with a power and a force that will be seen as God's…that you can listen with security and speak with boldness…all because you have the assurance of the hope that faith gives

Does this mean you will automatically be listened to…or be motivational to lead others in the work of the Lord…or for yourself…NO…God's strength in us needs to be constantly renewed…distractions in today every day life tends to take us back in relying on our own strength…

There was a picture in the newspaper caught my attention. Above the caption "Strong Man" was a photo of a workman displaying what seemed to be superhuman strength. He appeared to be lifting a piano up to a second story apartment porch. An explanation under the picture plus one discernible clue, however, told the unseen story. By looking closely you could see a cable attached to the piano. The real power to lift it was coming from a crane above, rather than from the man below.
That scene reminded me of the way the Lord works in and through those who trust Him. When we seek God's strength we could do amazing things…it seems to others…but in the reality of things it is God...

God leads us by guiding us through His love and strength and we need to follow the same when leading and guiding…and there is a third attribute God guides…we see this again in many different Scripture…the one we will look at today is from Nehemiah 9:12 which was read