Tag: leadership

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Authentic Discipleship

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8

One of the most common problems in our society today is that young people have few if any real mentors to teach them how to live. Much of their learning is from the streets, so to speak or from television and movies. To be a mentor implies that you’ve spent enough time around someone to have influence on their behavior. But, in our society it seems positive role models are lacking.

To be an authentic disciple of Jesus, which is what we are called to, we must have positive role models as mentors. We must have sufficient time spent with a mentoring individual in order to learn from him or her. St. Paul knew the power of mentoring, and he was confident enough in his own walk with Christ to be an influencer on the many churches where he ministered. He invited them to follow his example and they would indeed find the peace of God.

What’s lacking in your life? Many people in churches today say they are drifting week to week and have no real peace in their lives. It seems what they believe hasn’t made a sufficient enough impact on them to find real peace. As such, our churches are filled with many lonely and hurting people who believe, but have no place to work out those beliefs in a constructive way, a way that brings lasting peace from their faith in Christ.

We must have more mentors. The Apostles like Paul, and their successors like Timothy and Titus, knew that the church would never survive unless it had the kind of leadership that lived out the way of Jesus. They knew the faith had to “caught” not “taught”.

As Christians, we must walk in the power we’ve been given, the power of the resurrection; it’s transforming power can make us into the mentoring leaders which are so desperately need. The call of our times is to rise to this challenge. What a privilege it is to be called to disciple someone in the faith, and that is exactly what Jesus called His followers to do. He didn’t call them to build big churches, but rather to build, “big disciples”. Our call is still the same. We must go and make disciples. We can do it if we remember, Christ is risen…and so are we!

Grace & Peace,

+Pastor Brad

Prayer

Lord, help me to be an authentic disciple. Help me to learn from those you put in leadership over me, and lead me in turn to show others your way. Amen. Alleluia!


Image credit: https://nmsp6.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/why-im-not-a-fan-of-jesus-defining-the-relationship/

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Giants in the Kingdom

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Philippians 2:3

Ever notice how batteries and memory chips in today’s electronics have gotten smaller, yet exponentially more powerful? Real power can be found in small packages. The same is true in life. The real stature of a person has nothing to do with size.

Too often people equate size with power. For instance, in the modern era, taller men have been seen as stronger leaders in military and politics. Even in fairy tales, there’s always a giant in the kingdom who holds all the power. Yet in reality, physical size and looks have nothing to do with one’s ability to think or lead. So why do we tend to think in such terms? Because we look on the outside, rather than the inside.

However, God always looks on the inside. The truth is real leadership is born out of a humble nature, and St. Paul shows us the life of Jesus as our example. In the opening verses of Philippians chapter two, we see Paul calling believers to have the same mind and character as Jesus. People are not usually drawn to follow conceited personalities. Humility always trumps haughtiness.

True leaders always put the interests of those they lead above their own. The ability to do so, to lay down selfish ambition and esteem others as better than ourselves, is not part of our human nature, it reflects real power –resurrection power. Do you sense that power within you?

Are you living dad to day in the power of the resurrection, finding victory even in what looks like defeat? Let’s face it, life can seem to defeat us if we only see the need to raise ourselves up. But, when we stop putting ourselves and our ambitions first, and begin to see our life as a tool for Christ to love others through, then we find the quiet, confident power of the resurrection at work within us. Then, He raises us up to be giants in His kingdom.

Remember, Christ is risen…and so are you!

Grace & Peace,

+Pastor Brad

Prayer

Father God, forgive me for my selfish and conceited ways. Help me to live daily in the power of your resurrection that allows others to see you and your spirit, in and through me. Amen. Alleluia!

Image credit: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/08/how-tall-are-the-2016-presidential-candidates