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Principles of Leadership
Nehemiah 2:11-16
He was by far one of the
best leaders in all of history.
And anyone who is willing to follow the principles put forth in this book
can also become a great leader.
Nehemiah had walls to build, and we have a church to build, a family to
build, a business, a marriage, etc.
Bro. Jerry has a youth group to build, and he has assistant leaders
who want to be the best that they can be at leading.
And there are many other leaders in the church and many of you are
future leaders which we are wanting to begin developing.
Not only do we have all
the above things to build, but all of us have a life to build.
We are parents building little lives.
And we are all either leading people to heaven or leading them to
hell. They are in our
workplace, at our school, and in our circles of life.
These leadership principles apply to all of us!
Nehemiah was a Jewish man
living hundreds of miles away from his home of
When God opens a door no
man can shut it, and when God closes the door on a deal no man can kick it
down! Nehemiah goes from being
the cupbearer to being the contractor, and God's anointed leader of His
people.
Principles of Leadership:
1.
Leaders understand the value of solitude.
Leaders spend lots of time
alone.
v. 11-16
This is a picture of solitude.
This is a guy who is awake while others are sleeping.
Most of us don't like to be alone.
We are used to constant conversation and companionship.
We are used to the noise.
Be honest, even when you are in the car alone, you can't stand it and
you turn on the radio. Teens
post on the FB page, "Bored, it's been over 5 minutes since I heard from
anyone...htc [hit the cell!]"
If you are at home alone the TV has to be on, even if you are vacuuming and
cannot possibly hear it! And if
your computer dies or the power goes off, then maybe you'll talk to God, you
know, since there's nothing better to do.
Leaders understand that
times of quiet are vital in life.
·
In
the quiet we receive a clear vision from God.
He wants to speak to us if
He can get a word in edgewise.
He WILL speak to us if He can cut thru the noise!
Nehemiah needed 3 days to hear from God.
Before he begins the work he wants to pause and make sure he does it
God's way, not his own way.
Otherwise he will be wasting time and money.
Some would look at him and say, what a waste of time, he could have
been 3 days down the road on this project.
But it is never a waste of time to get alone w/ God!
Later it was proven that Nehemiah was miles ahead...because of the
time he sat still! This multi
year project was accomplished in 52 days ... unbelievable!
"Time spent in prayer and
planning is always recovered in performance."
So don't rush in to your day, take time to pray.
I got up early one
morning,
And rushed right into the
day;
I had so much to
accomplish,
I didn’t have time to
pray.
Troubles just tumbled
about me,
And heavier came each
task.
"Why doesn’t God help me?"
I wondered.
He answered, "You didn’t
ask."
I tried to come into God’s
presence;
I used all my keys at the
lock.
God gently and lovingly
chided,
"Why, child, you didn’t
knock."
I wanted to see joy and
beauty,
But the day toiled on gray
and bleak.
I wondered why God didn’t
show me.
He said, "You didn’t
seek."
So I woke up early this
morning,
And paused before entering
the day.
I had so much to
accomplish
That I had to take time to
pray.
By Regine
Anne Baldomar
You can't out give God.
Give Him time each day and He'll give you more back.
Give Him 3 services a week and you'll have more free time than those
who lay out of church!
ill.--Elijah found himself
discouraged, needing God. He
got alone w/ God on a high mountain.
It was there that he heard a mighty wind.
But God was not in the wind.
And a great earthquake rumbled w/ powerful noise.
But God was not in the earthquake.
Then a fierce fire swept thru.
But God was not in the fire.
And then there came a still small voice...it was the voice of God!
·
In
the quiet we receive the power of God.
Isaiah 40:31
31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not
be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Nehemiah knew this
undertaking was impossible w/out the power of God.
And at GBC I think we've seen what we can do, but I'm thirsty to see
what God can do!
How did Moses prepare for
his ministry? 40 years alone in
the desert!
How did the Apostle Paul
prepare? 3 years in the
Jesus spent 40 days in
solitude in the wilderness fasting and praying to defeat the devil and yield
not to His temptations. If
Christ needed solitude, how much more do you and I?
Mark 1:35
35
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went
out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Luke
4:42
42 And when it was
day, he departed and went into a desert place:
Luke 5:16
16 And he withdrew himself into
the wilderness, and prayed.
Matthew 14:22
22 And straightway Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side,
while he sent the multitudes away.
John 6:15
15 When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed
again into a mountain himself alone.
Luke 22:41
41 And he was withdrawn from them
about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
John 12:36
36 These things spake
Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
We will never have the
vision and the power amidst the noise and clatter of this world ... we must
get alone w/ God!
It was in the eerie
solitude of
A leader sees more in the
night than others see in the light.
Leaders understand the
importance of solitude.
2.
Leaders patiently gather all the facts.
v. 13-14
Nehemiah is on a reconnaissance mission.
He is carefully surveying the situation close up and first hand.
Leaders don't rush into a project ill prepared.
Before you can lead you
have to learn. Leaders make a
mess of things when they try to lead w/out doing their homework.
Nobody seems to have the
time to do it right, but everybody finds the time to do it over.
"Measure twice, cut once!"
Nehemiah starts by the
gate of the valley...that's on the SW wall of
"Luck is where preparation
meets opportunity." Nehemiah
wasn't lucky, he was prepared!
Most of us would be shocked if we realized how many opportunities passed us
by just this week. We didn't
even recognize the opportunity, much less seize it!
Because we weren't prepared.
We would rather pray for a miracle than prepare.
We would rather sit around and hope for a miracle in our finances
than take a few minutes to budget and do wise financial planning.
We would rather ask others to pray for our kids to straighten out
their life than to set ground rules of discipline and get off the couch and
enforce it!
God will only do what He
can do after we do what we can do!
ill.--When Lazarus died
Jesus came and told the people to roll the stone away from the tomb.
Once they did He raised him from the dead.
Well if Jesus is that powerful why didn't He just wave his hand and
roll the stone Himself? Because
He wanted the people to do what they could do before He would do what ONLY
HE can do!
ill.--in Bible college I
wanted to preach ... now! I
wanted opportunities to be in the ministry.
I sat and waited for the phone to ring w/ my invitation to preach.
It never rang! I
thought, maybe someone from the Billy Graham Association would come by
campus and say, Billy's sick today, can you come fill in for him?
But God used a wise teacher of mine to say, come w/ me to this
halfway house for alcoholics and just talk to somebody about Jesus.
And then I heard about an apartment complex that needed a Bible Club
and God told me to go start it and preach to those kids.
For years God wanted me to be willing to do what I COULD do and today
He is showing me things only HE can do ... and I love it!
Some think I'm a lucky
guy. I would agree, except for
the fact that the Bible says I'm a blessed guy, and it's in large part
because I prepared!
3.
Leaders keep their eye on the big picture.
v. 15
"by the brook" -
This is the brook Kidron...located on the
Nehemiah has an overview
of the ruins, and also a vision of what it will look like when he is done
with it! Leaders do this or
else they won't be able to see the forest for the trees!
Leaders plan out the details, but don't get bogged down in the
details and minutia. He keeps
his eye on the big picture. Now
he has to delegate and trust others w/ the details while he made sure the
main project was on track.
Some of you are amazed at
how you can ask me questions about things in the church and I don't know the
answers...but I always know who WILL know, so they can go ask them.
"Who did the new roof?"
"What did the materials cost?"
"How did they fix the portions that were damaged?"
I answer, "Some good guys did it for a good price and I can tell you
this, it doesn't leak anymore!"
Micromanagers and control
freaks wear out and break down quickly!
4.
Leaders carefully choose their words.
v. 16
They don't speak until it's time.
They don't run off at the mouth until they know what they are talking
about. I used to think I had to
share every thought that popped into my mind.
"Here's everything I know on that subject!"
And as I spouted off I revealed that I often don't know what I'm
talking about! I thought I was
impressing folks w/ my knowledge but they were rolling their eyes saying,
"There he goes again!"
"It's better to keep your
mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all
doubt."
Share all the details too
soon, before people are ready to receive them, and you can start a
groundswell of discouragement before you ever start, because human nature is
for us to think of reasons it can't be done.
Remember, this same project was attempted a few years before and it
was shut down. And Nehemiah
knows that the #1 thing he's gonna hear once he shares the details w/ his
workers is, "We tried that before, it won't work!"
v. 12
You don't jump up and tell everything you know immediately.
You wait for God's time and place like Nehemiah did.
I promise you folks, God
has really big plans for this place.
It's why He has kept us around.
I can't tell you all the details, and I don't have it all crystal
clear myself, but if I did share what I know it might just scare you, or
overly excite you to where you couldn't focus on what God has for us to do
now!
We'll continue w/ more
principles of leadership tonite.
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NOTICE! Our sermons are free to download, copy and paste, edit and use as you see fit...but only our free subscribers get the newest messages, featured sermons, and some free gifts we shower on them from time to time!
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