Got Leadership? The qualities you need and the ones you don’t need!

Got Leadership? The qualities you need and the ones you don’t need!      Kelly Durant 1-28-18

I Timothy 3:1-7  ¹ Here is a saying you can trust. If anyone wants to be a leader in the church, he wants to do a good work for God and people.  ² A leader must be free from blame. He must be faithful to his wife. In anything he does, he must not go too far. He must control himself. He must be worthy of respect. He must welcome people into his home. He must be able to teach. ³ He must not get drunk. He must not push people around. He must be gentle. He must not be a person who likes to argue. He must not love money.

 ⁴ He must manage his own family well. He must make sure that his children obey him and show him proper respect. ⁵ Suppose someone doesn't know how to manage his own family. Then how can he take care of God's church?

 ⁶ The leader must not be a new believer. If he is, he might become proud. Then he would be judged just like the devil.

 ⁷ The leader must also be respected by those who are outside the church. Then he will not be put to shame. He will not fall into the devil's trap.

2. In South America there are often funny jokes about politicians. The past ten years the environment here has been too heavy for jokes and I don’t even dare make a joke about any certain politician, because some people claim they get very offended when you laugh at their favorite person’s mistakes. I wish people had the ability to laugh at their selves!

In Colombia there was a former president who seemed to always confuse things. He visited the United States and laughed that the Americans could not spell Colombia right, they spelled it Columbia. Anyway, he was disturbed at how unprofessional people were. When he was saying his last words and leaving all the people were saying, “Goodbye, good-bye!”

Pres. Turbay thought, that’s it, that’s enough, I need to educate these English speaking gringos, “You are not saying my name right, you must yell, Turbay, Turbay, not goodbye, goodbye (you idiots)! Ha! In is pride he thought he knew more than others, but he was the wrong one!  The mistake of pride keeps repeating itself in many world leaders.

3. Let’s go direct to the Word of God; What are the qualities needed in a leader? We just read them. If a person is going to lead in this Corps, in this church, they need these things here as the scripture of today states.  Leaders must: free from blame, faithful to his wife, not go too far, control himself, be worthy of respect, welcome people into his home, be able to teach, not get drunk, not push people around, be gentle, not like to argue, not love money, manage his own family well, his children obey him with respect, manage his own family, not be a new believer to become proud, must be respected by those who are outside the church.

I can tell you there are people with many of these things, but if they are failing in several of them, then it ruins their testimony, and then they cannot lead because no one will respect them thinking that they are a hypocrite in the faith.

One of the worst things is pride! I have preached against pride more than any other subject! The problem is, people who think they know more than you, who do not like what you do, who always have a critical word, do not even perceive that they are prideful. Pride comes when a person has not been praying to ask the Lord to keep them humble, and keeping them faithful whether they get any gain from leading or not.

5. So the Holy Scriptures makes it clear each thing a person needs to be a good leader. Now let’s look at the things a person cannot have if they are going to be a good leader. To know what something should be, you need to know also what it should not be, right?

There exists the disrespectful type of person, one who thinks it is normal to complain, to criticize, to talk bad things about the pastors or leaders. Maybe you have meet people like this in the church, or at your job, they seem to have more bad to say than good about others. This is a bad quality, because if they cannot respect an authority here on earth, how are they going to respect the Lord when they are in eternity?

Related to this is pride. Proud people think they know how things should be done and they do not listen to others to learn new things. These kind think that if it is not their way, then it is wrong, so they are often argumentative. They do not take suggestions and they create divisions. And for the third type, there is the novice, and this is person who when they are in authority with not too long of a record of serving the Lord get lifted up and their ego. This makes them big headed and impossible to work with since they lack maturity and experience. Instead of serving others, they think others should serve them doing the little jobs. All jobs are important.

6. How do you think Jesus led? Did He lead by being a one man show? No! Did He lead by not trusting anyone to take over His job of evangelizing about the kingdom of God? No! In every way possible He was the perfect leader. Let’s recall just a few points.

Briefly, we can deduct that He was very meek and humble. He connected deeply with everyone, with the Jews and gentiles alike. He loved everyone no matter their shame and sin, He trusted them to repent, not caring if they were a cheating tax collector, or a prostitute.

7. Let’s observe other details about how Jesus led and what we should be doing. We all should be imitators of Christ, amen? He formed a team of 12 disciples. The great thing about Jesus was He had the power to give them power. He gives each of us His power if we ask!

Matthew 10:1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

8. We can also notice that Jesus did not expect His followers to instantly become leaders. He took His time to train them. How long was their training? It was 3 ½ years before He resurrected and then He sent them out in all different directions to preach of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus was an expert in what we identify as doing on-the-job-training.  The disciples learned from His example and teachings how to love God, how to love others, and how to obey God’s will by observing the laws that are above all laws.

He rebuked when it was necessary. Basically, every encounter with every person Jesus met was a teaching moment. We who know the Lord must do the same for those who are younger in the faith, we must lead by showing them the way, and using life’s circumstances to highlight God’s will for us.

9. And finally, when Jesus was ready to leave the earth and leave His disciples in charge He left them several commandments. Mark 16:15 ‘to go and preach the gospel to every creature’, and Matthew 28: 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

And the good thing is Jesus will always be with us! He gave us the Holy Spirit, and he never asked His disciples to do anything more than what He did Himself. He was the maximum example for all eternity of pure love and sacrifice, giving His life to all humanity, and for Him to expect that we give our lives in loving service as well is not too much to ask.

10. There are many people who think they cannot be a leader because they are not smart enough, not educated enough, or gifted enough to be of any use for God. If you think like this then rebuke the liar, the devil, because you are God’s child and He will give you the power if you ask Him! God values the humble and rebukes the prideful!

The disciples waited on the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost as Jesus commanded and it came down like a fire and suddenly the ones who were ignorant and unlearned men became empowered to preach to others, even in a new languages. God gives us the power for the hour,  but you have to ask Him for it and be obedient to do what He expects you do. Each person has a different calling. Now let’s see Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now to Acts 8:1. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

After the disciples got the power, God allowed a persecution in Jerusalem and they spread out into all the world to preach the gospel as He wanted. The each went in all directions even as far as India! And God used them as leaders because they were ready and they set up churches all over the Roman Empire, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and Africa.

11. Here in Winchester God is expecting the ones who have already had their time in preparation to lead. And each of us need to see where you and I are on the leadership path.

Are you just starting out in the faith and you need more preparation? Or have you been around a few years y already but just need a little more on the job training. Or for those who have been around awhile, God expects you not to be a novice, but to be humble and pure, leading with all the qualities found in God’s word we are focusing in on today. 

If you think to lead here is difficult, think about how hard the ones in Jesus and Paul’s day had it! Many of them were called to be martyrs in the faith travelling far away: Dying for the entertainment of the Romans! Thank God we are not in a persecution time, but persecution could happen at any moment under an anti-Christ leader. It is happening in other countries and we must pray more for our Christian brothers who are killed every day in the hands of communists, religious fanatics, and demonic leaders!

12.  So this year our focus will be on developing leadership. Each one of you here are our team! Every Soldier has a job to do and everyone has a place of service. We will define this in a more detailed way soon.

Some of you may need to come serve with us during our daily duties so you learn more about what we do in the Salvation Army. We will gladly give anyone on the job training. Do you know what your gifts are? What about your passions and desires in God’s will? Ask yourself, how can I develop this and identify who you think could help you.

And my wife and I can help you with Word studies, so you advance in your walk with the Lord. Leaders are needed and we are commanded to “teach others to teach others”. Will you talk to us about what your role can become?

13. So the challenge is Jesus had 12 disciples but how many people have you ever taught or trained in the things of God? If you are a true Salvationist then you are living in holiness and you are qualified (review 1 Tim 3:1-7) Will you take up the leadership challenge?

Don’t be stuck in a rut here in the church, getting bored because you aren’t active enough, there is plenty to do! Become a leader and experience God’s power through you!

And finally above all, a leader needs to know how to lead a person to Jesus, to explain Salvation, that is what all of this whole operation is about; positively changing lives through the knowledge of Jesus! And His Words of truth transforms the heart of those who believe and obey. Lead today! Lead your family, lead your friends, lead strangers to know Jesus!

Culture Shifts: It’s a War of Good vs. Evil

Culture Shifts: It’s a War of Good vs. Evil                                                      Kelly Durant

I Corinthians1:22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks[b] foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

2. Today is Cultural Day celebrated by the Salvation Army in the Southern Territory! Here in Winchester we are authentically culturally diverse with people from over 6 nations in our midst! We are atypical! The typical with most churches is they are predominately 90% white, black, Latino, or something else! Church, across the nation, Sunday is the most segregated day of the week! But you cannot stop people wanting to meet with those with whom they feel comfortable.  It is natural for birds of a feather to flock together but a wealth of knowledge can be gained from mixing with those different from you and even better is living years immersed in another culture.  I feel privileged by God to have gained 14 years of wealth in South America in 5 different countries that are not similar in culture, music, food, or political pasts.

Cultural events are an opportunity to get to know people from other experiences in life other than yours. I grew up in your typical mid-west American setting where 90% are white and I only met a foreigner, a Chilean, for the first time when my best friend had an exchange student live in his house.  We experienced many funny situations because Fernando arrived not knowing any English and everyone had a laugh and a hard time communicating with him in the beginning. Many youth today go to schools surrounded by hundreds of others who are different and from other countries. But different is often either accepted and embraced or protested and mocked. Reality checks need to be done on the motives of either. Movies influence attitudes.

Have you ever noticed how jokes about another culture shape how many people may view that other culture? When I was young people use to tell Pollock jokes; How many Pollocks do you need to change a lightbulb?  Five, 1 to hold the bulb and 4 to spin the ladder! The impression I had a long time ago I recall was that they must be pretty dumb, but I have read articles on the intelligence of different nations and they actually rate quite high in intelligence. Read about their fight for solidarity! One deduction I make concerning these jokes is that those of another culture concocted these jokes to counter the influence of them and to diminish their influence as immigrants.

3. Today I want you to think about how you see other cultures, how others see your culture, and then determine what you think God’s view is concerning your culture. How is your culture influencing you for good or for bad? Are you aware of the strengths and weaknesses, the historical and current influences which overtly or subliminally influence and control your decisions, habits, and attitudes? How Biblical is your personal culture? To be counter-culture is often a positive, have you ever thought of that?

Today we are extrapolating the implications of the cultures using the example of what Paul said from his time: “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks[b] foolishness”,

Basically, the attitudes from his time still remain today! Paul was criticizing his own race! Paul really rips his people in the book of Romans. Today the people of the humanist secular type mentality who are resistant to the things of the spirit and the miraculous and think of themselves as logical and scientific, are basically the same as the Jews who wanted a sign to believe. We might compare this mentality to certain liberal European or communist influenced cultures. There have been and there will always be people who are doubtful, unbelieving, unspiritual, and unwilling to accept that more realities exist in the world than what their limited experiences offer them as a reference. In other words, these types of people thinking they are smarter than those who believe in signs are actually more ignorant and they are “fools”.  Faith is a real quality whether it is backed up by a sign or not!

4. The Jews, and all cultures around Jesus in his time, were given many miraculous signs of healings, demon liberations, and even the one of the raising of the dead (Lazarus). But the sign that Jesus came out of the grave is the one that is most important to proclaim to all! If a person will not accept this amazing feat by the Son of God, then they by their unbelief cannot be saved into eternity. If you doubt that Jesus holds the keys to life hereafter, then God honors your choice; the hereafter and resurrection will simply not be there for you after you die. You chose, but..

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.

Anyone from any culture must become as a child to believe. It is God’s test. It was God’s test for the Jews and still is for all cultures.  Faith is not seeing to believe, faith is believing and then you will see, or I should say you will have no more doubts of the unexplainable of God because God will reveal Himself in small but noticeable ways to you through the Holy Spirit.

5. It is carnal and prideful to want a sign from God, but many people want one. I even asked God for a sign to know if I should serve Him or not (but I did already believe) and soon afterwards I dreamed a few very vivid dreams confirming God was perusing me and that I needed to escape with my life away from the selfish self-absorbed culture in my day. This is one reason, along with being convicted by the Word of God that I chose to serve Him as a young man at age 21. So God will even show you or me signs, but it is usually not through miraculous signs but through the witness of people with whom He makes us cross paths with. The gospel of Jesus is preached everywhere and multitudes of people everywhere get a chance to hear, believe, and follow, or to reject and mock. But you and I must be a messenger of God’s love! Acts 2:17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

What is my culture? Now it is just unadulterated Christianity! But growing up American for me in the 1960s meant I had been exposed to a country in turmoil that had a problem respecting blacks and minorities. It meant I learned that the youth should protest against a corrupt system when it creates wars only for certain politicians to get rich. It meant that I knew I was privileged as a middle class person to be able to work and be a little wealthier than most of the majority poor in other nations.  It also meant that I was exposed to powerful loud music, psychedelic drugs, the supernatural beliefs of the Irish, of Native Americans, and of Hinduism. I also had friends of friends who read Ouija boards and followed the Satanic Bible. Good and evil is in abundance in this American culture! I don’t know about you but right now I hate seeing evil growing like weeds overtaking the beauty of the good fruit that could exist in this developed society. We are in a cultural war of good versus evil and we must fight and defend what is Biblical, righteous, and pure or we are failing God and allowing corruption and hell to take over.

I do thank God for the good within this technologically advanced culture.  The predominating American culture of the 1960s meant that people in society were very Biblically literate and God-fearing and most everyone was honest, hard-working, loving and Christian.  Communities were safer, people gave their word and trust was given, few divorces existed, and no one locked the doors to their houses or cars. I miss those days! Christians have failed to fight evil!

6. Cultures shift. The U.S is not what it was. Also, no longer is Cuba the richest happiest island of the Caribbean either. Stale despotic politics leading to poverty and hunger has killed the joy of these formerly highly educated and culturally wealthy people. Extreme corruption is affecting almost every nation today! Google it, you find that India, Mexico, Russia, all Muslim countries, and now even the U.S. is seen as one of the worst! 75% of Americans agree that the current corruption is at its worst and is out of hand!  (by Steve Forbes, a well-respected news outlet) https://www.facebook.com/SteveForbesCEO/photos/a.433882903357704.102553.372261619519833/982226698523319/?type=3&theater   

What happened to the Greeks, mentioned in verse 22? They dominated the world for a time, they brought in enough peacetime that the old men had enough leisure time talk all day and philosophize and write down interesting things such as what we read from Homer, Plato, Socrates, and the rest. They might have been a great culture before, but they degenerated. They became so proud they could not listen to anyone else’s wisdom so they became fools.

Think about what we know now, of all the Greek mythological stories of gods with winged shoes, and others with lightning bolts, and yet they considered that wisdom.  Some of their philosophical deductions and mathematics are quite amazing when you consider the framework of the culture in which they lived. In their society you thanked God you were not born a slave, nor born as a woman! You would think they would have embraced the account of Jesus crucified and then resurrected (which is less far-fetched than their stories) but no, they were too proud of being who they were, and their culture of stubbornness made them become an old bunch of bankrupted degenerated fools who rejected God’s truth and they have not even recovered even until this day! What a humiliation despite trying to be right with God through their own form of Christian Greek Orthodoxy. Things just always had to be their way.

7. So if cultures rise and develop, and then degenerate and fall, what are we to conclude looking at history? In the past 2,000 years the nations that have been the most Christian have prevailed! Did God allow the U.S. to defeat the empires of Japan and Germany? I think so, but only because people were repentant and praying desperately for the mega murderous Satanic evils to be defeated! In the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, the U.S. had a more Godly culture and young people donated their time to the churches. Today young people arriving from Cuba, or even those born in the U.S.A. do not give time to the church because that culture is lost. It’s sad that Miami ranks at the bottom, #51, in volunteering in churches or for the community. Miami with a small Jesus culture has a majority culture of vanity and selfishness. Goodness and Godliness in cultures must be maintained and fought for or evil men take over! The evil kings of Judah cost all the people in the Hebrew nations to lose their freedom many times over. Christian leadership is absolutely essential for the light to overpower the darkness!

When it comes to culture, we must always evaluate what is good and what is evil. Here is the problem, we have people calling the good evil and the evil good. Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

You can see the Hebrews did a cultural shift back in Isaiah’s’ time and what happened? Their idolatries, pride, and sins overtook them to the point that God allowed them to become overtaken, humiliated, and made slaves to another pagan nation. This is the cycle of the rise and fall of nations that is all based around culture, whether the culture is worshipping, honoring, and obeying God persistently or not. Don’t blame God for the fall one day if you don’t fight for Godly values to be conserved in your city.  

8. All cultures offer good and evil so how can you discern what is what if you grow up in just one and do not have anything to compare it with? The less there is of God the more the ignorance. Can you see the point of why everyone needs to mix with other cultures to discover how others do things? It is really frustrating to see certain closed cultures lose out by always relying on their own ways and people while living in another country, trying to live as they did back home in the new land instead of trying new ways appreciating a new culture.

Christians have their own culture as well, depending on the denomination. People who attend a church usually have a community experience of worship, Bible study, camps, meals, and fun with people which they normally would never mix with. Rich and poor, white, black, and brown often mix together and everyone enjoys one another because we are all of the same blood, the blood of Jesus. Only Jesus can unite cultures, and the church is the last resort for racial healing! Jesus brought us the culture of the kingdom of God which is one of love and it must preside over all! Col. 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

But be careful with the Christian culture you associate with! Some churches are stuck on philosophies, or politics, or on ancient irrelative traditions, or on doctrines proven to be erroneous, and on their own self-righteous stubbornness thinking that only they are the chosen ones going to heaven! Sadly, many Christian churches are essentially useless to Jesus’ cause and mission of loving people into God’s kingdom because they have accommodated the modern day cultural shifts degenerating their mission. Cultures are always remaking their selves and you must ask the question, how are we as a collective group changing and shifting? Where will it lead to, and is God in it? Again, do you really see your nation and culture as God sees it?

9. The Salvation Army has its own culture as well but it has adapted to the cultures of 130 countries! What is the main theme of our culture? It is holiness, service, compassion, and love! Serving others in the name of Jesus! For me, no matter how long a Captain or Major has been commissioned if there is not a spirit of holiness, service, compassion, and love in them then they have shifted away from the original culture of being what a true Salvationist is! May God help you and me to never shift away from this legacy because it is what the true kingdom of God is made of: It is in doing as Jesus did! And we always say, Do something!”

Diverse music, marching bands, camps, clubs, shelters, rehab centers, all of these things make up our culture and you can be proud of it for enduring 152 years. Past great great-grandfathers at a great sacrifice built these operations and today people called by God maintain them all in action all with the motive to win souls to Jesus. You as Soldiers are the front lines keeping our Corps in order, inspiring, and alive with programs, mission, and effectiveness.

So, no matter your race or culture, Jew or Greek, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Colombian, or North- American, you can have the culture of Jesus in your life superseding the surrounding culture you live in now or the one of your past upbringing. Don’t seek signs or worldly wisdom from the so called halls of higher learning of any culture. Accept the good and eschew the evil of all cultures being aware of what is what in each of them. The reward for you will be: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” in you!