Worth Repeating - July 31, 2017

Joshua 24: 31 Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel. (NIV)

Personality is a prime factor in natural leadership. . .The Spiritual leader, however, influences others not by the power of his personality alone but by that personality . . .empowered by the Holy Spirit.*

It is sad that the nation of Israel could only maintain their godly momentum during the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who had been with him. Where was the next leader? Why was there no one ready to fill the void left by the death of Joshua?

There are dangers for dynamic leaders. Even a truly godly minister runs the risk of having church members who are more loyal to him than to Jesus Christ. Another hazard for successful leaders is the ego trap. How many megachurch preachers have gone from being humble servants of God to becoming arrogant, greedy and impure? Oh, but this is no reason to keep a good man down. We need men of God to rise to positions of leadership - men who have prepared themselves for the job, just like Joshua did . . . well, men who are prepared by God, that is!

My home church is a growing and thriving congregation these days, thanks in no small part to the efforts and personality of our senior minister. He is energetic, innovative, and preaches the truth week after week. I worked for a few years as his part-time administrative assistant and I can tell you this: his organizational skills could use some fine-tuning but he is no phony. He is genuine and authentic and I would like to see him stay that way. His church family needs to pray for him, encourage him, and hold him accountable. We also need to be praying that God is getting his replacement ready so that no one sadly says of our church, “They served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Jim.”

We are called to worship him, not the music, the preacher, the sermon, or the children’s program. God alone is deserving of worship.*