04 Leading by Example

Paul writes to Timothy and obviously Timothy is a young leader. He's actually working more in an apostolic role within an area. Paul speaks to Timothy as a young leader on his team. This is helpful to us in all leadership areas. Because I think Paul's going to be emphasizing how the various things that we need to do bring health into the church.

1 Timothy 4:12. Timothy and Titus are great letters. They are letters from an apostle to two young leaders. Titus and Timothy are serving alongside Paul within the churches. Paul says this, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young. But set an example for the believers in speech and life and love and in faith and in purity.

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through the prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress."

Don't Let Anyone Look Down on You Because You're Young

It's just great instruction to a young leader. Let's break it down. I'm not bringing anything new. I'm just bringing you what the Bible says on these subjects. The first one He mentions is don't let anyone look down on you, in this case because you're young.

Timothy was very young. And in that culture that would be something that would not have given him a lot of credibility. One of the challenges in leadership is in some ways I have to lead. And I can only lead if you give me permission to lead.

Every leader's challenge, especially in the church, is that your relationships will change. To illustrate what I'm trying to say: I remember years ago, I used to waveski surf, which is a form of surfing. There was a guy that was world champ at the time, Nicky Carstens.

He was actually the top guy in the world. I think he's—he's probably here somewhere. Oh, he's in the Transkei. He was world champ. Best in the world. And he was really, really good. And I was a young guy. Probably about three years, four years behind him, just starting to get good at surfing.

So, this was our relationship. He was a world champion. And I was a young, starting to get better. And then I got saved. And, he was still a way better surfer than I was. But I got saved and led him to the Lord.

And our relationship changed. We were more like peers. We became friends. I came eighth in the world. At that point, he was probably about third in the world. So we were surfing similarly to each other in terms of our relationship. And we were friends.

We got into drugs together and then, I led him to the Lord. Actually, I led him into drugs and then led him to the Lord. So, we were friends. And then I came on to eldership. Then He backslid. I led him back to the Lord and we planted JoshGen.

But he, in some ways probably saw himself as very much my equal. And I remember planting JoshGen with this guy. And I realized this is gonna be a really difficult relationship until I can help him understand that while I am his friend, I am his leader too.

I use the example of using different hats. Because sometimes when I was with Nicky, we would just hang out and talk about surfing. And we're just friends. But there were times where I had to say, I'm not talking to you as a friend now, I'm talking to you as a leader now.

I had to have that conversation with him. It was a little bit awkward, but I had to not let him look down on me because he knew me. Familiarity breeds contempt. I had to say, Nicky, Jesus has made me the leader here. I didn't ask for this.

And I have to lead you. And I can't lead you unless you see me the right way. Do you see me the right way? Will you give me the right? Will you yield? It was this changing point in our relationship. We made that transition and I'm still friends with Nicky.

And we can joke with each other and be friends, but he's learned, that sometimes I have to speak to him as a leader. And when he speaks to me as my leader there is a different response. I think, for everyone who comes into leadership in the church, you have to reestablish your relationships.

Reestablishing Relationships as Leadership Changes

How will this work? And then even on the dynamics of an eldership team. The relationships change very quickly on any team. Because we're all changing at different paces and we have different capacities. So by way of an example. I'm trying to think of someone...

Let's say for example, Ryan Kingsley. He now leads the church up in Benoni. One of the Four12 churches. Ryan Kingsley joined up with us. He was a Christian, but he was very young. And many of the older guys, like Mike d'Offay, I could use as an example.

Mike was in eldership long before Ryan was. Ryan was one of the young guys trained in leadership. And here is an elder who's solid, mature, good Bible teacher. And so Ryan's coming through the ranks. And he would have led Ryan, he would have spoken into Ryan's life, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The challenge is realizing that Ryan has got a different gift. So as the relationship grows, things start to shift and change. At some point Ryan is Mike's peer. They were peers with one another. Mike was more of a teacher. Ryan was probably more of an apostolic leader.

But then that relationship has shifted again. So Ryan Kingsley is now arguably one of the strongest apostolic voices in Four12. In some ways, Ryan now could probably outrank Mike. His voice would be louder. Those are interesting dynamics to walk through. On an eldership this can happen.

You have the first elder. He's solid, and it's going well. And then suddenly this new guy comes through and suddenly everything's changing. We see this dynamic even in our Bibles. You'll see when Paul and Barnabas start their journey, it's Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas and Paul.

Which means Barnabas is the leading figure. But then somewhere along the way, you see a shift. And it's Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas. And one of the things that's key for us as we move forward is to understand, who am I? What grace do I carry now?

Know Your Place and Measure of Faith

Where am I in relation to others? Because we need to know our place. We need to know what grace and what faith God has put upon us. The danger is, Bible says, don't think too highly of yourself, but in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you.

The reality of it is, probably 90% of us think too highly of ourselves. So we think we're better preachers than we are. And I remember years ago trying to illustrate that to my eldership team. In the early days, some of the guys were always asking, "Why aren't I getting more chances to preach? Because the people tell me it's amazing when I preach."

And so I realized, okay, I don't know if they are as amazing as they think they are. But they think they are. So there's always this tension on our team because they feel like they're not getting the opportunities that they should be getting.

At one point we needed to know who we were in relation to one another. So I asked the team—how many were with us in that meeting? Can you remember? There were probably about 12 of us. 12 men and their wives. Maybe 15.

Small eldership team in those days. And I remember saying, "Okay, so who's the best preacher among us?" And I said, "We need to be honest, not pastoral." Because pastoral says, "You're amazing." We need to be honest, just to be good. Let's get a measure where we are now.

"Okay," they say, "Andrew, you're the best preacher." Okay. So if you had to rate me out of 10, what would my average be? If you're going to rate me what would my score be? "Seven. Eight on a good day." Okay. That's helpful. So there is a measuring stick.

Now, I would ask you. If I'm a seven, sometimes an eight, I want each of you to rate yourself. How do you think you preach? Now, I want your wife without telling you, to tell me what she thinks. How does she think you do if Andrew's a seven or eight?

I was setting the guys up. Because I knew we were thinking too much of themselves. And their wives often way too much of them. Because here is their knight in shining armor. Their wives were asking, "Why isn't my husband getting more opportunities?" or whatever it was.

I said to the guys, "You can grow in grace. But we can't give you more than God has given you now." I knew, if Russell thought I was a seven or eight, I think Russell would rate himself a six or a seven. I asked Russell to rate himself.

I asked him to not tell us and keep his score to himself. Then I asked the team to be honest. I want us to shoot straight. How well does Russell preach? I can't remember who said what, but I think one of the guys gave him a 2 out of 10.

One guy gave him a 3 out of 10. Russell got such a shock. This was not what he was—he must have wondered, "Is this a joke? Seriously?" And then I could see Jenny, his wife, was getting uncomfortable. Then Russell said this, "I don't understand, because every time I preach, people tell me it's amazing and they love it."

And I said, "Russell, if I was going to ask"—and we did that afterwards—"Who's the best pastor among us?" Russell would rate extremely high. Which means Russell loved people so well. He was like a father. So when your father stands up to preach, he's the best.

He loves us. The problem is that there are also visitors there. And they don't know Russell. They're just listening to him talking. That grace was not flowing. There is a difference between grace flowing to a man and grace flowing from a man. Grace couldn't flow to a person.

When you love someone, you have a grace flowing to the man. In other words, we love him so no matter how he preaches we enjoy it. But if you do not know him, you just rate him on how he preaches. So, Russell ended up with a 3 out of 10.

Measure of Grace in Leadership

I think he has grown and developed significantly since those days. But it was such a learning curve for us as a team. Because everyone thought too much of themselves. One of the challenges for us is we need to think in accordance with the measure of grace that God has put in our life.

Now we are moving from one degree of glory to another. So I haven't yet arrived. There might be some areas in me that need to change. But this is who I am now and I need to know what that is. And I also need to know my area of influence.

How much has God given me? Not, what do I think I should have. That's the problem with Facebook. Facebook gives everyone the same. How much grace has God given me? And then I need to build my life accordingly. And so within every team, we need to get to the point where the teams learn who is strong in what area.

For example, if Howard came onto eldership, which I know he feels called to. If Howard came onto eldership right now, and they were both in my Elders meeting. We should listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. Which one would have a louder voice in influencing the church forward.

Hence my point. Then we must remember that dynamics will change. Now he comes on to eldership. And he says, "Hey, I'm an elder now." I'll say, "Hang on." There were 12 apostles. You can't even name all of them. Most of you'd get to about three or four, maybe five.

Because we all know who the ones were with the strong leadership gift. But we don't always remember the names of the others. It is like that on every team; there's different grace. When you come onto a team, you must understand you come with a measure of grace.

And as you open your mouth or don't, your measure increases. And people will recognize the wisdom or the lack of it. As a leader, you're always building or destroying your own credibility. And we can't give you what God hasn't given you. I can't say to the people, "Listen to this guy," because we think he's an elder.

You might listen for a while because you know me. But if you watch him long enough and you see cracks continually happening, at some point you draw your heart back from him. And you will say, "I don't know if I trust this guy."

I can't give you what God doesn't give you. So you have to make sure as you grow in leadership that you are not damaging even the calling of God that He has put upon your life. You have to realize that every mistake you make builds or destroys the grace and the calling that God has put upon your life.

And so be wise in how you do things. If you keep quiet, people normally think you are wise. But if you're too quick to share opinions you might get into trouble. So these are things that teams need to work towards. And you as a leader need to work forward in knowing who you are in the team.

Be Faithful With the Influence You Have

Also, what area of influence has God given me? If you want to grow into more leadership, the key is, be faithful with what you have. I remember when I knew I was called to leadership I came to church and laid down my ministry.

I joined the church and made tea because that's what they let me do. And I remember thinking, "I have no authority in this church, but I can make tea. I'm going to make tea well. I don't have a say in where this church goes because I haven't been given that authority."

My opinion is pointless and meaningless. I have not been given the steering wheel. So what have I been given? And how do I do that well? And I would encourage you, whatever area of influence God has given you. With your wife. With your kids.

Whatever area of influence God gives, be faithful with the little. He will give you more. I don't want more for the sake of having more. But I do want to be faithful. And so for each of us, we need to measure who we are.

Who do you say? Let me say this. If you get entrusted a home group, do it well. Be found faithful in it as best as you can. As we are faithful with little, there is more. At the same time realize that at the end of the day, your credibility, as much as we lay hands on you, is based upon you.

I can't give you what God hasn't given you. I do not have that authority. I'll give you an example. I want to pick on somebody who is very secure. Howard. I'll pick on Howard again. No. If I had to say that I feel that God is calling this guy to be the leader to take JoshGen forward.

Saul and David: Leadership Builds or Breaks Trust

I'm out of ministry for whatever reason. You would initially give him your heart. But every decision he makes either builds or destroys that which he's being given. And if he makes consistent mistakes. When Israel was called to go and fight the Philistines, there were two kings.

The first two kings. The first one's name was Saul. And the second one was David. Saul was not doing well and made mistakes. And the fruit of that was he was losing battles. When the leader gets up and says, "We're going to go and fight some Philistines, who's with me?"

And you look at the last three groups that went out and most of them came back dead. You will not go with him. I don't know if I would. But then David comes through as a leader and David wins these battles. He's been found faithful in the secret place.

When David says, "We're going to go fight some Philistines," you will be excited to go. David by himself will take out a hundred. Then he has got this man and that man on the team of mighty men. They are even better than David.

We are going to go and do some serious damage. And we're all excited. We've all got faith. The difference between a church of faith and a struggling church is the leader. In the Navy, the ship goes down and the captain goes down with the ship.

But in the church, when the captain goes down, the ship goes down with the captain. As leaders, we have to make sure that we steward the grace on our lives. How many years has it taken for the Lord to get me to where I am now?

I have been saved since 1990, so it's 33 years. I can destroy 33 years of building with one weak moment. And I may never, ever recover what God has given me with one weak moment. So young men, young women, win your battles now and hold your line now.

The Example of Christian Leadership

Fight your fight now and grow, and build. Don't let people look down on you because you're young, but at the same time earn the right to lead people forward. Then he says, "but set an example for the believers." I want to emphasize the word "example," because I think it is the most important word in Christian leadership.

Example. I can only take people where I've gone as a leader. I can only give you what I have. People imitate leaders. They imitate their faith. They watch You to learn what they should do. And it's a biblical principle. It's actually right. Children do the same with parents.

That's why parents often say—you see your kid do something and you realize, "Oh, they got that from me." And that's exactly the same with the church. So if you come into an eldership team, the weakest elder, the least zealous elder will become an example.

It'll create something within the life of the community that potentially is weak. Not strong or not reflecting God well. Paul says, "Set an example for the believers." Set an example in speech and life. Set an example in speech. I would ask you, what is your language filled with?

The Power of Leaders’ Speech

Speech can destroy nations. When Israel was going into the Promised Land, a land that God had promised them. They were on the border. Twelve spies were chosen. These were the leading men in the community. God says, "I'm giving you the land, go spy it out."

God told them, "I'm giving it to you. I'm with you." They go in and they see giants. They see fortified cities. They see the problems. When they come back to Israel, they spread a bad report. This land is a difficult land. There are giants there.

We look like grasshoppers in our own eyes. There are ten negative reports and two positive reports. Which tells you how democracy works in the kingdom. It doesn't. Not in the Kingdom of God. It might be the best secular thing we've got. But not in the Kingdom of God.

The report of the ten spies actually destroy a nation. So I would ask you the question, as you come onto the team. As you come into leadership. You're going to see problems. Don't think you are wise because you see them. Because that's what happens.

"I'm suddenly seeing all the problems. I'm so wise." There will be problems all the time. The church is always going from disorder to order. And as you fix the one thing something else breaks. It's like a farm. It's always broken somewhere. There's always something not right.

There's new people coming in, not reflecting values. There's old people getting lazy or pulling back. All the time. Where I was going now? Where was I going? Thanks Honey. So here is the thing. You need to see the problems, but the way of fixing them is not by negative reports.

We're all dying. The future of the church. I mean, you get language like this: "Brother, I'm so concerned about JoshGen. It's not what it was." Don't say that. You are killing us. You are killing us. It's been like that from day one. JoshGen was not what it should be.

But we don't need to hear what we're not doing well. We need to hear how to do things better. Elders that start to pick up the problems, the giants. There will always be giants between us and the promise. Always. They will always be real things.

They were real giants. Those spies weren't lying. But if you see the giants and you don't see the promise, you become the death of that church. That whole community will die. And I say this because as young leaders come in, very often, even the watchmen on the wall, they are the death of the church.

I remember years ago. I heard about this preach. I wasn't there. A guy got a mannequin in front of this church in a wedding dress, and he says, "This is the bride of Christ." Then he got up and he started ripping the dress apart.

He said, "This is wrong, that's wrong, this is wrong, that's wrong." It is not hard to do that. The challenge for leaders is not to pick up what's wrong, but to make what's wrong right. How do we make what's wrong right? How do we see the promise that God has for us?

And there's always a giant between the promise and the reality. Always. So teams need to develop in faith. They need to be the example. In other words, when there's an area of lack, don't talk about it. You live it differently. Love is always something a church loses because it's costly.

The Plate-Spinning Picture of Church Leadership

This is one of the best illustrations I've ever learned in leadership. As a young boy, we didn't have TV. The Boswell Wilkie circus would come to town and they would have clowns and bears and all sorts of things. They would do acrobatics. I remember this man coming up and he had these sticks with plates.

And he would put a plate on the stick and he would spin it. Because the plate was spinning like a top, it would balance on a little stick. Its movement is keeping it there. Then he got another one and another one and another one.

I was amazed. How did he do that? My mom would kill me if I tried that at home. Then I noticed as he was moving down row, the momentum on the first plate had started to slow down. And as it slowed down, it started to wobble more and more.

And at one point, before that plate lost all its energy and fell, he runs back and he starts spinning each one down the row again. But now he's just touching them. Then he adds another stick and another stick. That is a picture of the church.

As you build something into the life of the church, you get it going, you work hard, you spin it. You put energy into it. And it moves. Yeah! We are worshipping how we should be. And then you talk about giving. And as that plate spins, you say, "OK, let's talk about loving."

The worship plate then starts to wobble. The church always goes from order to chaos. Always. And so leaders always have to swing it back. So the worst eldership meetings are like this: "The worship is really bad! We're not giving anymore!" We just have to go back and spin those plates.

Or build them properly in the first place, if we haven't done that yet. Are you with me? Leadership is full of problems. In fact, this is how I led JoshGen. Where's the problem? That was how I led it. What is a weak area?

And instead of moaning about it and talking about it, I just decided I'm going to live the opposite of the weak area. I'm going to set an example for the believers. I'm going to make sure that the teams with me set an example.

Faith-Filled Speech Over the Church’s Future

Because people imitate our faith. Paul mentions a few areas in speech. Be wise how you speak because your speech can now destroy the church. Is your speech filled with faith? I'm not saying ignore the problem. I mean, if three hundred people left the church in the last two days, and there is only four hundred of you, there's a problem. We need to talk about that. You don't want to live in denial and stupidity.

But at the same time, is our language filled with faith? I ask you, what do you believe for us in the future? What do you believe God might do through us?

What has God spoken about us as a people? Why are you here? We need our speech to be filled with faith. Speech that speak of where we are heading. We are a people that overcome. The Bible says, we are a people that takes a hold of things.

We are a people that forcefully advances the kingdom. We are a people who have God with us. We expect the King of kings to meet with us here and now. We expect the gospel to change lives. We expect baptisms and deliverance. We expect these things.

And our speech reflects the faith of our hearts. These are things that we as leaders have to guard. Because you will see the cracks. Thanks. How healthy is JoshGen now, out of a 100%? If I had to rate her right now, I'd probably say she was probably 65% of what she should be.

If you look at us right now. One of the measures I would use would be, how many people are giving? Probably 70% to 75% are tithing faithfully. How many of us are worshipping well? If we were to take the chairs out and say, we are going to go wild for Jesus.

How many people are going to go wild with us? As leaders we need to set an example for the believers in speech. Rude joking. No. You can never swear. I have used bad words in Afrikaans. But I didn't know the meaning of them.

I was preaching in Namibia. And I was preaching in a language that I don't even understand properly. Talking about "Johannes de Dopper wat kameelperd klere dra," which basically means John the alcoholic that's wearing giraffe skin clothing. Not knowing what I'm saying. They had grace for me because they knew I didn't know what I was talking about.

The fact that they even listened to me was a miracle. But you can't use words that are bad. You have to watch your language. I am using it as a humorous illustration. And He says, for the believers in speech and in conduct. And this is such a key thing.

In how I live. Because what I am, is more important than what I say. My life in everything. The way I conduct myself. The way I do life needs to reflect the King and the kingdom. How do I conduct myself in terms of submission?

A Leader Must Be Under Authority

I lead Four12. In some ways I could say, there's no higher authority on the earth in Four12 than me. But am I a man also under authority? Christine was in a meeting with some of the core guys on Zoom, two days ago. I sometimes, even with that core team.

I know better than they do in some areas. And she will still watch me submit to what they say. Because I want to be a man under authority. And when we're working as a team, even though I lead the team at times, I want to come under the team.

Because I want to model something. I want to live something. I never want to be the Pope. I never want to be this untouchable leader. You can't touch me, I'm God's anointed. I want to model humility. I want to model submission. I want to model team.

Always. I can say to the team, I hear what you are saying, but no, I want to do this. I want it to go like this. And I could do that. But, woe to me if I do. How do you model? How do you conduct yourself in the team?

Loyalty to the Leader in Team Ministry

How do you conduct yourself with leaders? How do you carry yourself with them? How do you conduct yourself in loyalty to your leaders? I mentioned this earlier. But you know. Men came to King David under a lesser covenant than the one we are in.

And he was the leader that God had placed over them. The mighty men came to David and said, we are yours, David. Success to you, son of Jesse. When a man comes onto an eldership team, he can't be fighting for his own ministry.

He's got to fight for the team and for the leader of the team. His thinking needs to be, how can I serve the leader? And there's an incredible story in the Bible about Moses. He is leading Israel. At one point they're coming against a foreign army in battle.

Holding Up the Leader's Hands

And God says, Moses lift your hands. If you keep your hands high, Israel will win the battle. So Moses gets up on the hill and Israel is ready to fight. And Moses lifts his hands and the battle starts and Israel is winning. But the problem is the battle is taking long and Moses starts to get tired.

I mean, he's just holding his hands up. But you try that for a while. Even in worship, sometimes if the presence isn't very strong, I feel like my arms get tired. When the anointing is very strong you don't feel it. But Moses gets tired.

As he drops his hands they start losing. It is a fascinating thing. You're holding your hands up and a nation is winning a battle. You dropped your hands and they lose the battle. So, Aaron and Hur come alongside Moses and they held his hands up.

So that he's able to do what he's supposed to do. He couldn't do it by himself any longer. He was too tired. Israel wins the battles. The best eldership teams are men that'll say, I will hold up the hand of the leader. I'll stand alongside him.

I want him to win because if he wins, we win. I don't need to win. Will Marais was so good at this. He was such a gift to me and to us. Will used to say this: "Somebody does the polishing, and someone else gets the shine."

Will Marais gave himself to me. He did the polishing. And people would love him. And he would say this—and I didn't need him to say this, but he understood the Kingdom—"If you like what I'm doing, you need to meet Andrew. He can do what I can't do."

And all the time he pointed past himself to the leader of the team. And we are who we are because of a man like him. He influenced and impacted nations, but his heart was never to say, "I'm Will Marais." It was when he joined us, but that died somewhere.

When he joined us, it was, "I'm Will Marais." But somewhere in this journey, he changed, he learned, and he carried a value. And because he honored others, he will probably be one of the most honored men in our history as a church. He lived to honor others.

Honor Others Instead of Seeking Your Own Honor

And I think as an eldership team, this has got to become your heart posture. I live to honor others. And if I honor others, then God might honor me. See, I don't need to fight for my honor. If I fought for others' honor, God will honor me.

But if I fight for my honor, then God will resist me. And so as the teams of elders and leaders, I would ask you: carry this heart posture. It says, "I want the leader to win. I want people to love him. I want the leaders to look great."

Don't sit there thinking, "Why aren't they honoring me? Why aren't they coming?" I mean, it's a funny thing, you know. As you grow in leadership, I remember in the early days, Emsie saying to me, "No one's coming to me for perspective." I think we feel like this sometimes.

"They keep going to those older women." Honestly, elders' wives, who has felt like that? Come on, show me. None of you? Thank you. One honest person. Thank you. Because there's people around you. But here's the thing: God put you alongside me, babes. But you look at them.

We run together. Ultimately, we are pointing to Jesus. Get a heart value that points to the leader. If we choose leaders that want the glory, then we're stupid. We're not reflecting Jesus well at all. But the teams always want to point to the leader.

"Success to you, David. We are yours." And they give themselves to the leader. That is important. If a team isn't given to its leader, that team will not flourish. I remember coming to leaders years ago, learning these lessons before I was in leadership.

I decided I will give myself to my leaders. I love the story of King David, because it was something I took to heart when I saw it in my Bible. One day King David said this. This is the heart posture that we carry.

The Leader Must Watch His Own Heart

And I know it could sound like a cult. I know. But every truth has a corresponding truth. The leader has to watch his own heart. But this is what we have to carry. David was sitting with some of his men. There's a fortified city.

I think it's Bethlehem, if I remember right. And there is a well in the city. David is just sitting with these men. And I imagine they've been fighting all day. The battle was still going on. And you know what it's like when you've been out in the bush all day.

And you are thinking, "Imagine drinking a Coke." Ever been there? David says this: "Imagine water from that well in Bethlehem. Oh, just imagine." And if I remember, three of these mighty men—He's not asking them to do anything. He's just saying, "Imagine." Three of these mighty men fight their way through the Philistine army to get to that well.

So there's a fortified city. Three men, at risk of their lives because David said "imagine," fight their way through the army. I can imagine men fighting while one man is trying to scoop water. Now they fight their way back out because everyone wants to kill them.

There's a whole army. They somehow survive this and bring the water to David. And David says, "What did you do? I can't drink this water. You put your lives in danger to bring me a glass of water." And he pours it out before the Lord as an offering.

He said, "I'm not going to touch it. It is holy." And what it does is, David's team becomes as the army of the Lord. Because God had angels in heaven who live to honor and glorify Him. And God somehow gave David on the earth men who lived to honor and glorify him.

"We are yours, David. Success to you, even if it costs us our lives." And because David's kingdom reflected Heaven's Kingdom, the Kingdom came through David like it never did before. And he led Israel to its largest victories because of the men that God put alongside him.

And if you see David, you see a man who got that kind of glory and stayed humble, repentant. We need teams that look like that, because it looks like God. Jesus, who's equal with God, said, "I'll say or do nothing, Father, unless it's what You want."

Father, even if I pay the price on the cross to save the world. If I'm the one separated from God. If I'm the one who takes the sin of the world upon Myself. Father, not what I want, but what You want. And the Bible says, and I often marvel at this.

Jesus does the heavy lifting in salvation. I mean, the Father sends His Son, which is a hard thing to do. But Jesus dies the way He dies. Suffers the way He suffers. Lives the way He lives. And then the Bible says, so therefore God gave Him a name above every other name.

But then it says, but actually His name isn't above every name. There's one name higher than His, it's God's. So He wins the whole world. He wins you and me. He wins us to God. And then the Bible says, but on the last day, the Son Himself will bring everything that He's won and lay it before the Father. And say, "It's Yours." And He Himself will bow His knee before the Father. This is God. As leaders, this is what we need to look like. Am I making sense here?

Leadership Is a Holy Calling

This is holy. Leadership is a holy calling. And we need to learn the ways of our King. And there needs to be a unity and a oneness in us. Jesus prayed for us, that we'd be one as the Father and He were one.

Which means as teams, this has to be how we work. And so we have to work through issues. We've got to work through disappointments. Because the reality of it is, it's difficult to do that. And sometimes you don't feel like you get rewarded or you don't get noticed.

But a godly leader doesn't need to be noticed. He does it because that's what Jesus did. I love that picture of the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus sees the price. Jesus sees what it's going to cost Him, personally. And He bows before God, sweating drops of blood.

This is not a nice moment. Father, would You take this cup from Me? I don't know if I want to drink this cup. This is going to be a bitter taste to Me. It's going to cost Me everything. But not what I want, but Father, what You want. And actually, for Your glory. Not for mine. Because Jesus does it for the Father's glory, not for His own. When teams start to look like that on the earth, truly the kingdom of God has come. Now we see the hearts of men properly aligned.

We need teams that work together that way. And I'm not saying we don't deal with leaders that are wayward. If leaders are abusive, we need to deal with those things. Because the whole team has to reflect God. But I'm talking to the potential elders, now.

Leaders Must Set the Example

This is the heart posture. Does this make sense? Do you see this? And again... I'm not going to actually balance that out. Let me just leave that where it is. I remember in my own life thinking, I want to carry that posture. I remember before I was an elder, when I was in church, if they asked us to do something, I was sold.

I was going to set the example. Even if no one sees it. I'm going to be the one. When they asked us to dance wildly, even if I didn't feel like it, I would dance wildly. That's me. If they said, "This is an important thing," it was important. Because I was a man under authority and I understood God had given them responsibility and authority over me. In other words, if you say, "Jump," I will say, "How high?" Not, "Why?" And there was a posture that I carried and I want to carry for the rest of my life.

That posture of God. I want to live for someone bigger than me. Something bigger than myself. Be an example in everything. In the gift of the Holy Spirit. We need leaders to show believers how to prophesy. How to drive demons out. If you have never driven a demon out? Ask God. God, set me up, please. I'd love that moment. Learn your authority in Christ. To see creatures, man. Creatures that have been there since before the world was created. Far more powerful than we are. Far more powerful. Thank You. I believe. I know this.

One angel kills 80,000 soldiers in one night in the Bible. One angel. And demons are fallen angels. So, you get an idea of who we are wrestling with? And then you encounter one, in a person that's bound. And at the name of Jesus, a creature that could rip you to pieces, destroy you, bows its knee, and starts to cry out for mercy. If you realize what's going on here, you will be thinking, who am I that God would give me this? Who am I that God would entrust this to me?

And to see the demon leave and the person set free. And then to remember that we rejoice not because they listen to us, but because He's written our names in His book. And you can ask God. If you've never had that opportunity, "Lord, give me an opportunity."

Authority, Holiness, and Deliverance Ministry

Elders, if you're ever going to go drive demons, can I come along? Just make sure there's no sin in your life. I remember driving demons out of this one man. He was a Satanist, and there were about six of us in a circle around him.

And I was still a young Christian. And it came out of him and the demon goes... you know it is not that man. The demon looks at one of the men. I'll never forget this. He says, "You can't drive me out!" With an evil voice, "You can't drive me out!"

"Because you masturbated three days ago." And the guy said, "What?" "You can't drive me out because you're addicted to porn. You can't drive me out because you haven't forgiven." I said, "Keep quiet in Jesus' name before you got to me." Being an example in church attendance and what's valuable.

Leaders Should Prioritize Apostolic Input

Remember this. People learn by what I do, not what I say. We've got a Four12 conference coming up. As an elder, as a saint for me, that was my priority of the year. I would have to be half dead to not go there.

Whatever it cost me. I'd hitchhike there if I had to. To Bloemfontein. Because for me, this is a time when I'm sitting under apostolic input. I read my Bible. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. I want to learn. I can tell you those conferences changed my life.

I would not be doing what I'm doing if I did not go to those times. I remember over and over again, sitting there and feeling the Lord challenging me. Convicting me of things that I wasn't doing or was doing. And adjusting and adjusting and learning and getting stuff imparted.

For me, as an elder, your priority should be to go to the Four12 Conference. When there's apostolic guys coming in, I would move anything I could to try and be there. There are times that I can't. Although I wouldn't miss one of the big conferences, but there are times that I can't.

Let's say there's someone here saying, "My sister's getting married." But even then... Because I was devoted. I wanted to model devotion. You know, JoshGen was birthed at that devotion. I remember once, to give you an idea of this heart of submission and devotion.

Laying Down Freedom to Honor the Team

Dudley Daniels led the team that I was in. I eventually planted the church and came into leadership. And then I came onto his apostolic team. And one day Dudley said this. This was our value. This was JoshGen. Dudley said this, he'd been an alcoholic before he got saved.

He actually ended up not being able to minister because of liver failure eventually. So he drank too much and then got saved. He then hated alcohol. And then some of our guys from New Covenant had gone to an African country. And they drank wine.

And there were African pastors who didn't believe that you were allowed to drink. And that had caused a whole nation to shut to us. Because somebody used their freedom and drank wine. And so Dudley said, "I wish I could ask you. I can't, because the Bible doesn't force us, but I wish I could ask you to lay down wine."

And I remember hearing that and thinking of David's mighty men. I know I'm free to drink wine. But David mentioned I imagine. God, I want to model something. My dad's a wine farmer. I'm laying down wine. I know I'm free to drink wine.

But I'm laying it down because I want to model something. I came back to JoshGen and I said exactly that, "I can't force you. But Dudley's asked and therefore I'm going to do this. Would you consider doing it with me? You're free, but..."

I think the whole of JoshGen said, "We will lay that down with you." Melanie's dad was a wine farmer, my dad was a wine farmer. We laid it down. For a number of years. Because we only wanted to honor the leader of the team.

I knew I was free. He didn't try and tell me not to do it. I wanted to go above and beyond the call of duty. I believe we caught the attention of God. I believe God saw that and said, "Now I'm going to bless you. Now JoshGen is going to touch nations. Because you were found faithful. You gave beyond. You exceeded my expectations. I didn't even ask you to do that. You did it for Me. Now I'm going to shower you with rewards." How we posture ourselves in these matters are important.

Lead by Example in Giving and Prayer

Learn the value. It's not a law. It is actually, love. That's what it comes down to. I mentioned giving. Another example is prayer. Never arriving at the prayer meeting. If you are going to call a prayer meeting, be wise. If you're in leadership.

But if there is a prayer meeting, surely the leaders need to be there. And they need to be praying, not arriving late. Don't put the blanket down unless you want people to lie on it, as a leader. But where it's laid down, leaders are there.

Lead by Example in Worship

And they praying and they participating. Worship. Years ago, I went to a church in Brazil. I tried to stir them up in worship. One of the elders stood at the back. When worship started, he was sitting in his chair, with his arms crossed.

And I remember thinking, we'll never get this church to worship the way God says it should worship. I think one of the great measures of a church is how it worships. It's that intimate love for God. With all my heart, mind, soul and strength.

The first measure I'll have when I walk into a church is I'll just watch how it worships. I can see how much obedience there is by how you worship. I can see how much love there is by how you worship. So, as a leader, are you setting an example in worship?

Here's a question. The Bible has some things to say about it. Shout to the Lord. If you haven't shouted to the Lord yet, you haven't set an example. Because the Bible says you should. Sing to the Lord a new song. If you've not sung a new song, you're not setting an example.

You haven't broken through that yet. Bow down. Be still. That's an easy one. We've done that. All of us have done that one. What about dancing with all your might? With all your might. Like everything in you. Until I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.

We had one worship session years ago at one of our conferences. It was amazing. Before we started JoshGen or Four12, we were part of New Covenant. And in one of our worship sessions, at our conference there were about three and a half thousand of us.

During this one worship session one man died of a heart attack and one man broke his leg. One worship session. I kid you not. I kid you not. A man burst his heart dancing before the Lord. And you know what? His wife came up and shared, ah, it's an amazing story.

All his life he said, before he dies, he wants to experience one of those conferences. He had never been able to go. Finally he got the resources and the ability to go. And in one of our worship sessions, danced so hard before the Lord that he burst his heart and he died.

He was old. She said, "This is how he would have wanted to die." He went in glory. Young men were like, "I want to go like that too. I want to die like that. I don't want to die in a wheelchair or on a bed. I want to die worshiping."

Set an example for the believers. Set an example for the believers? They'll imitate your faith. Some of them will break through in worship because you broke through in worship. Don't put the lid of what God can do. Live in the light.

You Can Only Take People Where You've Been

Are you still seeking people to speak into your life? "Hey man, how am I doing? What am I not doing well?" What you do ripples down into them. You can only take people where you've been. Years ago, and I know others have taught it since then, but I remember just seeing this for the first time for myself.

How Moses was in Egypt, and then God called him out. He goes to Mount Sinai. He gets the call of God at Mount Sinai. Goes back. Leads Israel, how far? To the Promised Land? No. To Mount Sinai. Gets the law. Gets the promises and dies.

He sends spies to go look at the Promised Land. He can't take them where he hasn't been. You can only take people where you've been. If you want to build a church that's going to be generous, be generous. If you want to build a church that's going to love Jesus with everything, then love Jesus with everything.

If you want to build a church that's going to be zealous and sold out for He in how it worships, then be sold out in your worship. Set an example in everything. In love, set an example in love. And your language should be people, people, people, people.

Set an Example in Purity

I need to finish. In faith, I mentioned that earlier. Purity. Live a sinless life, as best you can. There's no one perfect. We will all still fall short of the glory of God. But there's sin and there's sin. Be quick to deal with sin.

Don't open the door. Stronger men than you have fallen because they flirted with it. You can't afford to flirt with sin. The Bible says that the fathers of our faith even hated clothing stained by corrupted flesh. In other words, if someone had been a sinner in those clothing, they didn't want to touch the clothes.

In case somehow they were contaminated. Men, watch out, like with pornography, watch yourself with these things. It's on your doorstep. It's knocking. It wants to devour you. Spirits of lust. Demonic spirits wanting to take you out. Watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. Because God sees.

Keep Growing in Progress

And what you do breaks down through you. In purity. In progress. Let everyone see your progress. And I'll finish with this. Have I gone an hour? I have. Progress. Progress. We are growing and moving forward. Here's the thing guys. You still have something to do, because you're not dead yet.

There's one degree of glory to another. Be a learner, be a student, be moving forward all the time. Realize every little battle you win is one step closer to the promised land. Because Israel inherited the land God promised them one step at a time.

We all say, give me my inheritance. It's going to start like this, one step. One step, one step, one step. Every battle you win moves you forward. And every battle you lose causes you to get stuck. You can spend 40 years in the wilderness and never walk in the promise.

Or you can move from one degree of glory to another. Beat your body into shape, run your race to win the prize. If you fall and fail, get before God. The Bible says we have a High Priest who intercedes for us. The Bible says we can come into His throne room freely in our time of need.

God help me in my time of need. I'm battling, I'm falling. Give me grace. Please, so I can break through. The Bible tells us, the book of Revelation 2 and 3, it's full of promises that Jesus makes to His people. This is the line repeated there, for him who overcomes, I will.

For him who overcomes, I will. You are called to be an overcomer. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. He will raise up your mortal body as He raised up Christ's dead body. You can break through by faith if you remain in Him and He in you.

He promises that you will bear fruit for the Father's glory. I don't care how many times you've fallen, God's power is able to break the stronghold of sin and death. He's a living God and He's with you and He wants you to succeed.

God Is Looking for Workers

He wants you to come through. He's looking for workers. I'm telling you part of the reason why you are here. God is looking for workers. I feel I should finish with this. When God wants to do something He always needs a man. And the Bible tells us that His eyes roamed to and forth across the earth.

Picture His eyes roaming. Who will go? Who can I send? And God's looking for somebody that says, Yes Lord, send me. I'm here. I'm Your man. I'm Your woman. I'm here. And it's like these eyes are roaming across, backwards and forwards. Who will go?

And then one man hears the call and says, here am I. I'm here. Pick me. It's going to be by grace, God, because I can't do this without You. But I'm Your man. I'm here. My life is Yours. I'll give myself to You.

And men like that change history. God is still wanting to change history. To bring it to His Son. But it's gonna take men and women saying, we are here Lord. We will seek Your kingdom. We'll beat our bodies into shape. We'll run our race.

We'll do whatever. We want You to get Your glory on the earth. And so I want to pray with you in closing today. We'll pick us up tomorrow again and move into some other subjects. But I do feel like in this moment that the Lord is looking.

And I know it's a process. And I know there are steps towards it. And we can't run faster than He'll let us. We can't go beyond the place He's taken us. But we can be found faithful where we are. And we can lift our hand and say, Lord, I'm here.

I'm here for Your glory. Take my life and use it Lord. I feel like if you are saying, God... I'm guessing you're all going to respond because you're here, because you want to do this. But I do feel it's good to respond to the Holy Spirit in the moment.

The Cost of Living for Christ

We've been hearing the price. We've been hearing what it is that we're going to have to walk through. We've been hearing that it's going to kill our flesh. It's going to cause us to not live for ourselves. To live for Him. To live for others.

To lay down our lives. To pay a greater price than what's even asked because we want to. But if you want to, if you're saying, God, make me like that. I want to be one of those that brings Your kingdom, Your power, Your rule, and Your reign.

Closing Prayer: Take Our Lives and Use Us

Then let's stand before Him quickly in closing. Father, we are Yours. You bought us with Your blood. The blood of Your Son. And Jesus, You have saved us. And not only saved us, but You've called us to be those who'd be workers in Your vineyard.

Members of your body. We are here, God. Would you take our lives? Would you take all of us and use us for Your glory? Father, teach us how to win the battle in the secret place. Teach us how to overcome. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that we're not on our own.

You're with each one of us to teach us and disciple us. To teach us to be obedient to the King. And Holy Spirit, we ask that You would work in us and through us. For some of us that have got stuck or lost sight of the big picture.

Or we've maybe even fallen in an area. Would You break the power of sin and death, God, in this moment? And would You restore and redeem. And would You bring us through into all that You have for us. For Your name's sake. That the nations of the world would see the beauty of Christ reflected through His church.

His body. And that as members of Your body and those that might lead within the house, that we would lead as servants of the living God. As members of Your body, as those who have learned Your ways. Full of wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit.

Form Yourself in us, Father. And I think for each of us, let us win the battle we face. And move on and move on and move on. That our progress will be visible to all until we stand before You one day in glory.

Amen.