Leadership is developing followers around you that you can reproduce yourself into to make them into leaders.
Today I want to talk about leadership principles from Jesus. You know, it's funny.
There's actually a number of books out on leadership principles about Jesus.
I remember there was a book years ago called Jesus CEO and it was written by a woman.
I don't even know if she's a Christian or not, but it was excellent. It was excellent on the leadership principles of Jesus.
And what's funny about this is I've been in ministry a long time,
but I don't think I've ever heard anybody speak on something like leadership principles of Jesus.
I've heard people say Jesus was a great leader, greatest leader of all time.
In my opinion, Jesus led well.
And there are some aspects of discipleship involved with the life in the ministry of Jesus.
But I'm going to call this leadership principles of Jesus.
The last one was leadership principles of Jethro.
And I want to look at Matthew nine, because in Matthew nine, we see Jesus doing kingdom ministry.
He starts to gather people.
They're starting to follow him.
And it's amazing that right at the very beginning.
Now, Matthew four is the very beginning of his ministry.
Matthew nine is sort of a summation of how he did ministry.
But in both cases, he's starting to recruit and develop a team around him.
And in the last episode, I talked about Jethro's advice to Moses was build a team.
Build a team of able-bodied men of character.
And Jesus is about to do the same thing.
But what I love about this passage is that Jesus shows us how he did it.
So this is very, very practical about how to do leadership from the perspective of how Jesus did kingdom ministry.
So I'm going to start with Matthew nine thirty five.
Matthew nine thirty five we read, then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
So here's first principle from Jesus.
Do it. Do it.
What do I mean? Do it.
I mean, do it.
Like, what is it?
What is it you're leading in? Model it.
Do it.
In other words, it's one thing to just talk about it, but you do that which you're talking about.
So Jesus is doing it.
He's preaching and these guys are following him and hanging out with him.
And so the first thing we see is Jesus doing it, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
And then it says and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Number two, see it.
First, do it.
Number two, make sure everybody sees it.
So again, we're not just talking about somebody from a pulpit or someone behind a podium talking about something.
Jesus was actually doing it.
He wasn't asking them to do something yet that he wasn't modeling first.
So we do it.
Then they see it.
And listen to this.
When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.
Now, Matthew's writing is remember who Matthew is.
Matthew was a tax collector.
Matthew was an accountant.
Matthew went after his own people.
The Jews and extorted money out of them for the Romans.
This guy is pretty smart.
He's also pretty savvy.
Anybody who has a job like that must be able to take some hits from people who don't like you.
Probably didn't have too many friends.
So he says in his writing of the ministry of Jesus that Jesus was moved with compassion.
So feel it.
First, do it.
Second, see it.
Number three, feel it.
I'm wondering if the reason that Matthew says it this way is because he was moved with compassion.
He felt what Jesus felt in his life.
And so one of the key leadership principles of all time is that we feel what Jesus felt.
We see as Jesus sees.
We do as Jesus did.
And so Jesus is modeling all of this.
He hasn't called the disciples to do anything at this point.
This is from Matthew 4 to Matthew 10 in the book of Matthew.
They're just watching.
They're watching.
They're seeing Jesus do it.
They're seeing what he does.
They feel what he feels.
And then look what he says next.
He says, they're weary like sheep without a shepherd.
And then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Verse 38, therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
So Jesus does it.
He sees it.
He feels it.
And now fourthly, he prays it.
And so he's telling them, look, it's not good enough just to do it, just to see it, or just
to feel it.
But now I want you to pray it.
I want you to take these needs and all that's happening in our world that we're living in,
and I want you to pray for more leaders. I want you to pray for more workers in the harvest.
Well, Jesus doesn't stop there. Now, this is where this passage gets super interesting,
because we see now a bridge into chapter 10 about where Jesus is really going with this thing. So,
He's doing it. He's allowing them to see it. They maybe are even feeling it as He does. He's
challenging them to pray it. And then fifthly, look what He does next. And when He had called
His 12 disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all
kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these,
and then it starts to give the list. So, number five, give it away. So, do it, see it, feel it,
pray it, give it. Give it away. This is where the real test, the real struggle of the test
of a leader is, is can we start giving away the ministry? And so, as we talked about in the first
episode with Jethro, he challenged Moses, look, you're going to wear yourself out. Well, Jesus,
same way. Jesus is going to wear himself out if he's the only one doing it. Jethro is saying to
Moses, look, what you've been doing by yourself is not right. The right way now is to build a team
of trusted followers and trusted leaders that can grow into this area. Same thing, same thing with
Jesus. Jesus is looking around and He's noticing the key men around and Holy Spirit has spoken to
Him. This is who they are. Now, are you willing to give it away? Are you willing to give it away?
So, then if you look at the passage, it starts to name the 12 apostles. There's Simon,
who's called Peter, Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, John, his brother, Philip in
Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. He's the one writing this gospel account. James,
the son of Alphaeus, Lebeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot,
who betrayed Him. So, look at next, verse 5. These 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying,
do not go into the way of the Gentiles, do not enter the city of the Samaritans, but go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Now, look what He tells them to do. Heal the sick, cleanse the leopards, raise the dead,
cast out demons, freely you have received, freely give. So, in other words, what Jesus is
commanding His leaders to do is do what He's been doing. So, by the fact that He's modeled it,
He's now handing it. He's now giving it away to them. And so, men and women, whatever your job is,
if you're working in a company somewhere, if you are working in a church somewhere,
if you're working as a mom or dad in a family, you're modeling something and it's going to get
replicated. If you're an angry person, you're going to replicate anger. If you're a person
who lies a lot, guess what? You're going to start having people around you who lie a lot.
You're going to reap what you sow. And so, Jesus is reaping now what He's been sowing for,
we don't know how long, maybe a year or two before He actually gave away His power and authority
to the disciples to go out and do what He was doing. And so, leadership is doing it, it's modeling
it, it's feeling it, it's praying about it, and then looking around. Starting to look around like,
who's following me? Because someone once said that any leader who thinks he's leading and nobody's
following is taking a hike. Leadership is developing followers around you that you can reproduce
yourself into to make them into leaders. I think leadership's as simple as who comes early and who
stays late. So, who in your ministry or in your life likes what you do, they're pumped about what
you're doing, that's your next level of leaders. Not people who say that they are, but those people
who actually show up. So, when we built a men's ministry here, it's called Wholehearted Men, it's
under the rubric of worshipper warrior men here at the road. First, it was just a group of
about five guys, and then it became 10 guys, and then 15 guys, and then it was 150 guys, and then it
was 200, 250, 300, and I think we're around 425 right now on Tuesday mornings. But the cadre,
so we call our leadership team, all came out of those early days because when nobody, and we didn't
have a breakfast, we didn't have, we didn't have a donut, okay, we didn't have anything. We just came
and prayed and then did a little teaching.
And then, you know, went to work at like 530 in the morning.
That group was key to the next level of leadership
because they were showing up when nobody was noticing.
So sometimes you have to look around and say,
who's just doing this?
They're not doing it for a position.
They're not doing it to be noticed by anybody.
They're doing it because they love that.
They love seeing people get healed.
They love prayer.
They love sharing their faith.
They love leading worship.
Whatever it is, there's something in them
and they do it.
And if you see it as sacrificial,
that's your next level of leadership.
Not their education, not how skilled they are,
but rather look at their heart.
God doesn't look at the outward in a man.
He looks at the inward in a man.
And so when we're looking at men and women,
we need to be asking the question, is their heart right?
Because if their heart's right
and they're passionate for the kingdom
and to grow, sky's the limit.
Nothing can hold back somebody like that.
The only limitation is what they have in their own head
and in their own heart about their limitations.
But you, as a leader who's raising them up,
don't put limitations.
Don't put limitations on them.
Just love them and then give them the assignment.
Give them the guidance that they need.
And they follow through and they're successful
and then give them more.
He who is faithful with a little will be given more.
This is an exciting,
it's an exciting adventure to lead people.
It's an exciting adventure, especially to take young people
like I have right now in this room
behind these cameras here,
who are passionate about the Lord,
but they're also, they have a passion area.
And in this case,
it's those that have a passion for videography.
They have a passion for making movies.
They have a passion for developing a storyline
through testimonies and things like that and empower you.
I mean, I don't know anything about that,
but I do know their heart so that's how we grow.
So hopefully that's helpful for you.
Episode one was the leadership principles of Jethro.
This was leadership principles of Jesus.
And so stay tuned for the next episode.
God bless you.