Misc. Leadership Principles – Part Seven
INTRODUCTION:
This will be the tenth and final teaching on The Leadership Principles of Jesus Christ for the time being. We have covered a great deal of principles in Nine Chapters of Matthew including the first verse of Chapter Ten. This teaching category will resume in Chapter 10 of Matthew. I will then move on to other areas of the Word of God where I feel there is a need. Thank you for following along, studying, and applying all of these leadership principles with me. Jesus Christ was truly the Master Teacher and none as great as him will ever follow. May God be with you who have stayed committed to God’s Word.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. –
Isaiah 26: 3
These twelve Jesus sent forth,
and commanded them, saying, Go not in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not: But go rather to the lost sheep of
the house Israel. And as ye go, preach,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Heal [attend to] the
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. –
Matthew 10: 5 – 8
There are two (2) important principles here
and the first one is often misinterpreted and misunderstood causing no end of
problems for the believer. There are
two trains of thought here.
Let’s say that Jesus Christ initially said
to go to the Gentiles and the Samaritans.
The question is: IS THAT
ENGRAVED IN STONE? The answer is NO! You must learn that
revelation given once can change.
Revelation given twice does not and will never change. Don’t take my word for it.
And for that the dream was
doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because
the thing is established by God,
and God will shortly bring it to pass. – Genesis 41: 32
Revelation given twice on the same subject
establishes it – it will absolutely come to pass.
However, what about revelation given once?! Now here is the critical decision point.
If
or when circumstances change, then revelation can change.
So the point has arisen among
believers: “Can one change their
mind?” YES. If a circumstance changes,
God can change the revelation that He previously gave to you. You must be very sharp on this principle or
you will wonder why things may be going wrong.
It took me years to learn this principle and even more years to apply
it. The only thing that defeats the
adversary is the rightly divided Word of God.
You MUST KNOW THE WORD to defeat the enemy. I cannot stress the importance of this principle enough. Learn it now and do not ever forget it.
Look at the last part of Matthew 5: 8. Isn’t that so true and so beautiful? “Freely ye
have received, freely give”. Keep that
attitude of gratitude and you will always look forward to witnessing. Remember the first person who witnessed to
you? Where would you be today without
that person’s boldness – simply the way they acted without fear. You will never forget the first person that
shared God’s Word with you. I took a
class called “Witnessing and Undershepherding” and that verse of Scripture
closed the class.
. . . . . . . . . freely ye have received,
freely give.
Now, another important leadership principle
that is most important – so important and simple that we often overlook
it. Now the world will teach you just
the opposite. And when I say ‘world’, I
am almost always referring to Satan.
Provide neither gold, nor
silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither
shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman
is worthy of his meat. – Matthew 10: 9, 10
Jesus
Christ told them they didn't need a lot of money or a lot of clothes. Christ warned about too many material
things. They were to travel light. Now we must remember this. It is ok to have money, but the old cliché
that money cannot buy happiness is true.
Happiness is a fleeting thing, anyway, while joy is an inside job – a
permanent thing. Too many material
things can only drag you down. They can
seriously hinder the movement of the Word in your life. Don’t take this too lightly – this is a
serious matter. I always used an
extremely simple example here that hits home.
Remember
when you were a very young child and it seemed all you had were the clothes on
your back. And then your mother came
along and gave you a nickel to go and
get a Popsicle. Why, you felt like you
owned the world, didn’t you? And that
ice cream never tasted so good as it did way back when. You see that is what the benefits are when
you learn to travel light. That’s how
you can feel all of the time.
One
more example: You have something around
the house that you just want to get rid of because you no longer have any use
for it at all. So you finally sell it
or give it away. And for some strange
reason, you feel better – a lot better.
You feel like a load was lifted from your shoulders. I have an exercise machine in my home right
now that I need to get rid of. I KNOW
beyond a shadow of any doubt that when it’s gone, I am going to feel
better. You see, this stuff is referred
to as chaff and you should ‘burn it up’ – get rid of it. Jesus Christ said to travel light. Just do it.
Now
regarding the subject of witnessing, Jesus Christ gives us some sound advice.
And
into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and
there abide until ye go thence. And
when ye come into a house, salute [greet] it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace
come upon it: but if it be not worthy,
let your peace return to you. And
whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement than for that city. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and
harmless as doves. – Matthew 10: 11 - 16
Christ
said that when you go into a city or town, inquire WHO IN IT IS WORTHY. And when you come into a house, salute or
greet it and let your peace come upon it if the house is worthy. BUT IF IT IS NOT WORTHY, LET YOUR PEACE
RETURN UNTO YOU. And who will not
receive you or hear your words, when you leave that house or city, shake off
the dust of your feet. FORGET IT AND
KEEP MOVING - DON'T STOP MOVING. Shake
it off and don't get discouraged. Why
should you? You don't think that goats
are going to encourage you. Jesus
Christ said forget it and move on. That means you forget it and move on. Christ said that it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that
city. Vengeance belongs to God. It is a trick to seek vengeance. Christ forewarned his disciples that he was
sending them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. He said to be wise as
serpents but harmless or simple as doves.
There
is a lot of advice and guidance in these verses. I have done door to door witnessing and many people are kind and
many are rude. Often, the true
Christians’ reputation is smeared by the counterfeits that go around teaching
the WRONGLY divided Word. Many people
are fooled. I had three (3) of them
constantly trying to get in my home, but I kept turning them away because I knew
what they represented. One day, God
told me to let them enter and they were pleased with that…………………. Until I excused myself and brought my
working Bible into the room. This one
Bible, open to me now, has a myriad of notes in it. The pages are so worn in various places, I had to reinforce them
with paper. I sat down one on three and
opened up my Bible and their eyes were fixed on it. Within 20 minutes, I had one of them convinced that their
doctrine was erroneous. This was very
upsetting to a so-called elder and they wanted to leave quite soon. I was polite at all times but firm showing
them what was written. They never came
back. So be wise as a serpent knowing
the rightly divided Word of God, but harmless as doves. Oftentimes, they wanted to argue with
me. I just smiled and said “I didn’t
write the book”.
The
adversary goes nuts when you witness the rightly divided Word of God. It is the only thing that defeats him. So expect the unexpected. Witnessing is an art and needs to be
developed. It happens to be one of my
strong points and I signed up many people for a 36 hour Biblical Research class
which taught the ‘how’ of the more than abundant life.
Let’s
move on. Fellowship with darkness
is deadly. God and Jesus Christ
warns us time and time again about men – men who reject the Word of God. Emotions are dangerous and many times we
feel so good manifesting the joy of
God’s Word in our lives that we could lose some of our sharpness regarding the
world and the world’s people. This has
happened to me often and caused me no end of grief. Let’s get into real–life details, but first let the Word of God
set the stage.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? -- II
Corinthians 6: 14
And have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. --
Ephesians 5: 11
Often you are so blessed, you think the world is not
really such a bad place and people are ok.
Yeah, that’s the love of God, isn’t it?
It’s a trick from hell – a very subtle one. Let’s see what Jesus Christ said in Matthew.
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the
councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be
brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them
and the Gentiles. – Matthew 10: 17, 18
It happened to me and God Almighty made a total fool
out of all of them and allowed the adversary to cripple my accuser with a
serious stroke. I walked away free and
went back to moving the Word of God with even more boldness. I love it when I can make the adversary
squirm. You see, I BELIEVE in the power of God without any doubt. That’s all it takes – you’ve got to
believe. It’s not hard. The more Word you renew your mind to, the
more you can believe.
In the record in Matthew, Jesus Christ warned
his disciples to BEWARE OF MEN for they will deliver you up to the councils,
and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
He told them they would be brought before governors and kings for his
sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. Christ was preparing them for what would happen. God will prepare you ahead of time with two
of the manifestations of Holy Spirit – Word of Knowledge and Word of
Wisdom. These are not gifts – the word
is in italics and was added by the translators. Every born again believer has the ability to operate all nine manifestations
ACCORDING TO THEIR BELIEVING.
Following
is another fantastic leadership principle of Jesus Christ. At times it is very wise to rehearse what you
are going to say, BUT there are times when this is not true. God calls the shots. If God knows you are possibly going to get a
little upset if you have to appear before the ‘man’, He will tell you to
completely relax and don’t even think about what you are going to say. Can you imagine that? He will give you the words as you need them.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what
ye shall speak: for it shall be given
you in that same hour what ye shall speak. –
Matthew 10: 19
Now watch this!
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
Father which speaketh in you. -- Matthew 10: 20
Now if that doesn’t blow
your mind, you better check for a pulse.
The Word of God is life in the fast lane. Everything the world has to offer is temporary and is like a
walking death. You ain’t gonna’ make it Jack. Take it from one who has been there.
I want you to know that
when I teach the Word, I do plan out much of my teaching, but when I start
typing, the Words just flow like a river.
I hardly think– God gives me the Words so the glory always goes to Him.
And in conclusion, if you
experience problems with your family regarding your stand on the Word of God,
don’t cop out. Don’t choose to be a
loser. It’s the enemy. He works through the ones you love the most
to hinder you. He sucks. You will be hated of all men for Jesus’
sake. How may times have I taught that
when you stand on the Word of God, you have no friends? What did Christ say about this subject?
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and
the father the child: and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be
hated of all men for my name’s
sake: but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved [sozo – body, soul, and SPIRIT].
Don’t
cop out. The enemy works to make you
feel bad. God is the greatest power in
all of the universe. Remember the
benefits of your work. Let God’s Word
comfort you. Don’t let any person on
earth make you lay it down and your personal adversary will try every area of
your life that he feels is vulnerable – especially your weaker areas. REMEMBER the benefits of your work.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour
is not in vain in the Lord. –
I Corinthians 15: 58
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed
[disappointed in his or her expectation] . –
Romans 10: 11
CONCLUSION:
This
will, for the time being, conclude our teachings in this category. It is truly amazing how many very important
leadership principles that Jesus Christ taught in only ten (10) chapters of
Matthew. These principles can and will
change your life if studied, worked and applied in your everyday life. I thank you for staying with me throughout
this series. We will return. Since I have prepared this teaching, I have
also completed two teachings called “Don’t React” and “Ambitious Rivalry” which
will explain so much of what is going on in the world today. God bless you. You are the best.
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