Video sermon is aired today as Pastor Prince is still away in Israel with his leaders. Pastor will return next week.
Topic: Grace-Based Leadership (Preached on 12 July 2012)
There are some leadership that God deals with and causes them to come to naught while there are some leadership that flourishes.
In the book of Judges 9, the bible tells us that before Gibeon died, he had 70 sons and many legal wives. Abimelech was the son of Gibeon. The bible shows us that Abimelech actually forced his way to be the head leader of the 70 sons.
If a leader promotes himself just like we see in this story, something is wrong. A real leader is humble and not self promoting.
In order to achieve his goal for himself, Abimelech hired gangsters to kill each and every one of the sons but Jotham was unharmed.
Judges 9:7-21
True leaders are secure in what God has made them to be. If you are a teacher, you don't have to make yourself to be a preacher. Notice this olive tree in the chapter is secure in what God has made it to be. The fig tree is mentioned next in the verses. The fig tree realised his ministry is sweetness. Then, look at the vine tree. They are all secure in who they are and they make the best leaders.
The bible teaches leadership. You can find the word "ruleth" in the bible.
If there is no leadership at home, bad decisions will be made and the devil likes that. Don't have to be a forceful dictator at home but look to be a loving decision maker. Just like Pastor Keith whom Pastor points out. Any leadership that threatens does not come from God.
If you carry on reading the story of Abimelech, you will see that his ministry is full of pride and threat. Pastor shares how Abimelech died in this story. There was a certain woman who dropped an upper millstone on his head and that crushed his skull. If you read on during his dying moment, he told his armorbearer to draw his sword to kill him lest everyone knows he was killed by a woman. That was the amount of pride he had.
A leader will lift people up to God, not like the world where it is a top down hierarchy.
Today, the church print lots of books not because Pastor Prince wants to be a famous author, but to serve people, spread the good news of the finished work. It is not about Pastor but because only God can do it.
So what makes our leadership effective? Look to 1 Corinthians 3:10-17. Whatever foundation we lay, it is faith. Everything is based on Jesus Christ and His finished work. You cannot build on your own foundation. God tells us to be careful on what we build and we can only build on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
Why do young people enjoy shouting and screaming for their idols? Young people always want to see Jesus in human flesh. Know that you are the Jesus with skin on to your children. It is better for your children to scream or shout when they see church leaders rather than we see them shouting for people in the world. Don't get too concern cause we all know they are actually shouting for Jesus; they want to see Jesus in flesh.
Back to 1 Corinthians, from verse 12 onwards, it describes the type of foundation breeding the sort of returns. It mentions that though the foundation is burned and he suffers a loss, yet he is still saved.
"The Day" in verse 13 is referring to the day of fire/testing. It is not 24 hours but just a season. The seasons of good days are longer than the season of testing. The day of fire will reveal what sort of foundation it is built on. If your foundation is built on wood, hay or straw, they will be burnt.
In bible representation:
- Wood represents mankind.
If you depend on your flesh, it will burn up. In reality, we need less human smarts and depend more on God's grace. Some people think they are too smart.
- Grass represents people.
- Flower represents the glory.
Isaiah 40:7-8
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
Moses built his health on the correct foundation. If you built all your works through your own efforts, the day of fire will destroy it.
- Silver represents redemption.
- Gold represents righteousness.
- Precious stones represents the breastplate on Jesus' heart.
God is saying if you build your ministry on grace, you will receive your reward. The day of fire will reveal your foundation built on grace.
Back to 1 Corinthians 3:17, it says:
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Many believers are frightened and interpret this verse for sexual scenes. Many times, we have read this verse out of context. The context in this verse is referring to the ministry. It is talking about building your ministry on gold, silver and precious stones and not on moral values. The word "defile" is the same greek word as "destroy". The word "defile" is defined as "corrupt" by Matthew Henry translation.
God is actually saying to us that whoever comes and teaches you to depend on your wooden head, heart or hands, or preaching the false doctrine, He will burn it up.
The greatest thing you can do for your pastor is to pray for him. Pastor shares about how he was under attack a few times in 2012 specifically on his throat. Once he had to undergo a day surgery to remove something that was stucked in his throat. All these are indications that he is doing something correct for the Lord.
Back to 1 Corinthians 3:17, many believers associate these verses in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Verse 18: Flee sexual immorality. Never trust your flesh and assume you can handle it.
Verse 19: Our body is a temple of God. Paul always uses the phrase "Do you not know".
Verse 20: You are bought at a price.
There are believers who interpret that God destroys your body due to sexual immorality but we know that both context are different. Pastor is not saying that there are no consequences to sexual immorality. There are consequences and your body may bear the brunt. But we cannot interpret the verse out of context.
We are not called to produce to fruits but to hear the fruits.
In closing,
Back to Isaiah 40:7-8, it talks about men trusting in their own efforts will fade away. The word of our God stands forever. Don't listen to preachings saying because the word of God stands forever, Jesus will remember your sins forever. That is never the case because all our sins have already been judged on the cross.
In fact these verses are repeated in the New Testament in 1 Peter 1:23-25. It is the gospel of grace that was preached to you.
24 For, “All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”. And this is the word that was preached to you.
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”. And this is the word that was preached to you.
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