January 4, 2015 PM
Dr. Michael Catt – 1643
#1 in series
NOT ON MY WATCH
INTEGRITY OF A LEADER
Leadership studies from the life of Nehemiah
BACKGROUND
Deuteronomy 28 – 30, Moses told the people four things.
1) Israel would drive the Canaanites from the Promised Land. (Joshua 1-12)
2) They would be blessed as they obeyed God.
3) If they were disobedient, they’d be driven out into captivity. (Babylonian captivity, 586 B.C.)
4) If they repented, Jehovah would restore them to their land. (In 2 Chronicles 36, Cyrus decreed a remnant could return and rebuild the temple, 538 B.C.)
All of these find their fulfillment in Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Hebrew Bible. Ezra led an early return to rebuild the temple.
• Jerusalem fell around 586 B.C. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem around 458 B.C, then Nehemiah arrived around 445 B.C.
• This is the last of the 17 historical books in the Old Testament.
• This book contains the largest account of revival in the Bible.
In this book, you discover how to:
• Be a leader with a heart for God.
• Apply biblical principles in problem solving.
• Develop spiritual stability.
• Turn obstacles into opportunities.
• Be an instrument of revival
We face a leadership crisis:
• Situational ethics, moral compromise, scandals, etc.
• Average men in great positions
• Leaders who play on the fears of the people
When Nehemiah heard of the condition in Jerusalem, it broke his heart.
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.” – Psalm 137:5, 6
I. CORE VALUES ON LEADERSHIP
“A crisis of leadership engulfs the world. Political leaders, economic experts, editorial writers, newsmen, spokesmen in the fields of education and religion raise the hue and cry: men who know the way and can lead others on the right path are few.” – Leroy Eims, Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be
1) ____________________________________ apart from strong leadership.
Nehemiah is the greatest book on leadership ever written.
The greatest problem in the church and home is a leadership problem.
“And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land.” – Ezekiel 22:30
“Roam to and fro and seek if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth.” – Jeremiah 5:1
“Leaders are made, they are not born; and they are made just like anything else has ever been made in this country – by hard effort. And that’s the price that we all have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be tolerant of a society which has sympathy only for the misfits, only for the maladjusted, only for the criminal, only for the loser. Have sympathy for them, help them, but I think it’s also time for us to stand up for and to cheer for the doer, the achiever, one who recognizes a problem and does something about it, one who looks for something extra to do.” – Vince Lombardi
2) Leadership is ____________________________________.
John Wooden talked about how to build a winning team. His principles work whether you are talking about a team, business, church or a family.
1. Get the team in condition. What goes on in between the games is more important than the game. It’s not enough to just show up.
2. Teach them the fundamentals.
3. Get them to work as a team, not individuals. You may recruit individuals, but you train teams.
3) The test of a leader is __________________________________________.
4) The basis of leadership is _________________________________________.
“When God wants to accomplish a work, He always prepares His workers and puts them in the right place at the right time.” – Warren Wiersbe
In Hebrews 13:7, 8, you see three characteristics of godly leaders:
• They have a message worth _____________________________. “Remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you.”
• They have a lifestyle worth ______________________________. “Consider the outcome of their way of life.”
• They have a faith worth _________________________________. “Imitate their faith.”
5) Leaders never stop ______________________________.
“The believer who wants his ministry to make a permanent difference must be arrested by a desperate sense of need. Needs come in assorted shapes and sizes, but all of them await the touch of someone with the agony of caring.” – D. McCarthy
6) Leaders have _________________________________________________.
7) Leaders are people of __________________________________________.
There are prayers that move the hand and heart of God and there are prayers that don’t get any higher than the ceiling. Jesus showed us the difference in the Parable found in Luke 18:9-14.
• The Pharisee prayed to be heard and seen, to impress others. “Talking to himself...”
• The publican did business with God. He prayed to accomplish something.
8) Leaders ______________________________________________.
“It would be no surprise, if a study of secret causes were undertaken, to find that every golden era in human history proceeds from the devotion and righteous passion of some single individual. This does not set aside the sovereignty of God; it simply indicates the instrument through which He uniformly works. There are no bona fide mass movements; it just looks that way. At the center of the column there is always one man who knows His God, and knows where he is going.” – Richard Ellsworth Day, Filled with the Spirit
Questions to Ponder: