Principles for Spiritual Leadership from Exodus 14

Principles for Spiritual Leadership from Exodus 14

1. Our availability and willingness to follow the Lord's leadership and depend on the Lord's empowerment makes us spiritual leaders. Moses learned that leading is about what God can do in and through us, not what we can do for God.

2. God may allow us short-term failure in leadership to build character and dependence, and to reveal his power and glory. Moses did exactly what the Lord told him and it made the situation worse for the Israelites.

3. The key to leading people who are discouraged and won't follow is to keep focused on the Lord and follow his leadership. Moses would have to learn that Following the Lord is the only way to be a successful spiritual leader.

4. God allows adversity so that he can multiply his miracles and reveal his power and glory. God wants people to realize that he is Lord.

5. What may seem like aimless wandering in the wilderness could very well be a part of God's plan. (Ex.14)

6. People will question leadership when the direction seems detrimental to the cause. Don't give in to the naysayers, but allow God to prove Himself. (Ex.14) 

Ready or Not, Here it Comes!

It takes discernment to discover a vision for the church. Discernment is needed because a vision and strategy must originate with God. Consequently, much prayer and listening to God is needed. Waiting upon the Lord's direction is paramount.

When God is ready to make his vision known, the means by which God makes it known is through a leader. This is seen throughout the Bible. The most notable example would be Nehemiah.

It says in Nehemiah 7:5, "Then God put into my heart." That is how God communicated his vision to Nehemiah. It is also how God communicates his vision to his church. He will put the vision on the heart of the pastor.

As the pastor of First Southern, I am excited to share what God has put on my heart. I am more excited to share the journey of how God put the vision into my heart, and confirmed it along the way over and over.

You don't want to miss this Sunday!

Follow the Follower

What does it mean to pursue the Lord? The short and simple answer to this question is obedience. A passionate pursuit of the Lord is revealed in an unwavering and uncompromising obedience to the Lord. Nevertheless, what does that look like? Well, the Bible is filled with an exuberant amount of illustrations that give a mental picture of what this pursuit looks like.

Let me share the example that got me thinking about spiritual leadership in the first place. The king's name is Asa, and he can be found in 2 Chronicles, chapters fourteen through fifteen. When we first meet Asa, we find him passionately pursuing the Lord, "Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In those days the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 14:1-3). What a testimony of obedience on the part of Asa. Obedience is revealed in the fact that Asa, "did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord." What did Asa do that was "good and right in the eyes of the Lord"?

Asa radically obeyed the Lord when "He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandments" (2 Chronicles 14:3-4). As you can see, Asa was a man who sought the Lord and led others to do the same. And as a consequence of his pursuit of the Lord, Asa and the people of Judah, were blessed by God.

God brought about peace and prosperity pursuant to Judah's obedience, "We have sought him and he has given us peace on every side, So they built and prospered" (2 Chronicles 14:7). God's favor is upon those who obey him no matter what the cost. There are several lessons from Asa's example.

People know when a leader is following the Lord. They know when you love Jesus because you live a life of obedience. You don't seek out your own agenda, but the Lord's. You know that the church belongs to Jesus, and he is the head of the church, and he is the one who directs the church. When you are really following Jesus, and he puts something on your heart, the people will believe it is from the Lord because you are following the Lord.

People will follow a leader, who is following the Lord. Believers who are following the Lord will follow a person following the Lord. It's that simple. Don't forget that the key ingredient to your leadership is your obedience. I have had many people affirm this truth to me over the years. I have had people say, "Pastor, I know you are walking with the Lord." Now, this encourages me as well as inspires me to seek the Lord every day. Why does it inspire me? People can see when a leader is following the Lord. Are you following the Lord?

God will bless a leader, who is following the Lord. How God blesses you is up to God, but he will bless those who follow him. King David understood this truth, "For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face" (Psalm 11:7).

The Character of Spiritual Leadership

For the first eight years of my ministry, I was on a quest, a quest to be successful. Tragically, the standard I used to measure success was faulty. I often would look to preachers I admired and used their ministries and abilities as my motivation. I had this vision in my mind that I would be in a large church with a television ministry. This quest for success started immediately after the first sermon I ever preached.

I was in my freshmen year of Bible college, serving as a youth pastor in a small rural church. I was presented with the opportunity to teach the adults on a Wednesday night, and I agreed. However, I had never prepared a sermon, nor knew how at this point. Fortunately, I took notes from chapel the day before my opportunity, and was able to preach that sermon. After I finished my sermon, a deacon came up and told me I was a good preacher, and one day he would see me on television or hear me on the radio preaching.

For many years, I believed that to be true. I used that deacon's encouragement as a guide to success. My goal was to get into a situation where I could have a television ministry or radio ministry because that is what God wanted, at least, that is what I thought he wanted.

It took John Piper's book, "Brothers We Are Not Professionals," to remind me of my privileged calling as a pastor. In this book, Piper says, "We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry...professionalism has nothing to di with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry." Somehow, I lost sight of what it meant to be a spiritual leader. I was trained properly, and learned about spiritual leadership, but somewhere in my ministry, I lost touch with my calling as a pastor, a spiritual leader within the church.

I believe that part of the problem was the influences around me. There are tremendous amounts of books on leadership that have been embraced by church leaders that are practical and pragmatic, but they are not spiritual. There are conferences and seminars on leadership that often times focus on creativity and culture, but not on the spiritual aspect of leadership. There obviously needs to be a balance, and some do well in finding the balance, where others don't.

My goal, as a pastor and spiritual leader, is to be all that God wants me to be, and not get caught up with what is trendy, but instead, with what is biblical, spiritual, and faithful. So, what is the character of spiritual leadership? I have found in my study of scripture some foundational truths that answer this question.

Spiritual leaders must passionately pursue the Lord. You cannot pursue the Lord without obedience. Spiritual leaders determine to do the will of God. They pray as Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but your will be done."

Spiritual leaders must have a courageous confidence in the Lord. You will never please God without faith. A spiritual leader will trust the Lord when others are saying, "It's impossible." God is the God of the impossible, and spiritual leaders must have confidence in God's ability to do more than we ever ask or think.

Spiritual leaders must have a prevailing prayer life with the Lord. Prayer is essential to spiritual leadership. Prayer is the fruit of a passionate pursuit of the Lord, and a courageous confidence in the Lord. You will never be a spiritual leader apart from a prevailing prayer life.