About Leading and following
Tracking Stephen R Owen Apr 2016 talk
Christ is the greatest leader ever to set foot on the planet
– and the greatest follower
Was he the greatest leader because he was the greatest
follower?
·
He knew who to follow (God the Father)
·
He followed his path perfectly
o
In the temple as a child
o
In gethsemane (Father if it be thy will, let
this cup pass from me)
o
On the cross
o
When the going got tough, he followed the Father
§
When his apostles wouldn’t stay awake, he was
patient
§
When he was starving, he resisted temptation
·
Which is better? To be a great leader or a great follower?
·
How do you know when you’re on the path at being a great
follower
·
Do you have to be a great follower before you can be a great
leader?
·
Leadership vs management
– Kevin Brown
o
The world teaches that leaders must be mighty; the
Lord teaches that they must be meek. Worldly leaders gain power and influence
through their talent, skill, and wealth. Christlike leaders gain power and
influence “by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by
love unfeigned.”1 – Stephen W. Owen Apr 2016
·
Who to follow?
o
Following men
§
In business
·
If our leaders and our principles align, we can
succeed
·
If not, we must choose between the boss and our
eternal success
·
Brooke and leadership at Hotteez
§
In the world
·
Politics
·
Workplace
·
friends
o
Following God
§
Following our conscience
§
Following the truth
·
Don’t want to pay tithing
·
The LDS church is “too (boring/strict/straight
laced…) “
John 7:16-18 …16So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who
sent Me.17"If
anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the doctrine, whether it is
of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18"He
who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of
the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.…
·
Jesus was
referring to himself as the is the only one who has no unrighteousness
·
He stated that all of His teachings are not His:
He’s a Follower too
·
If you’re willing to do God’s will, you’ll be
given more of “the doctrine”
o
What is “the doctrine?”
o
There are shades of gray to this.
§
If you’re willing to do his will a little,
you’ll know some truth
§
As we grow, follow promptings immediately
§
Perfection: perfect willingness, perfect truth
·
He who speaks from
himself seeks his own glory (Sean)
o
What can a person who speaks for himself eventually receive?
o
In the end, he receives only what he can give
himself – which is falseness
o
As we speak, we should examine ourselves – where
are our words coming from?
§
In business
§
As a parent
§
As a podcaster / video recorder
·
Are we looking for followers or to serve people?
§
In a church speech
·
Nervousness is a focus on yourself
·
Arrogance is a focus on yourself (if you relish
the bully pulpit and the notoriety that comes from it, you’re speaking from
yourself, not serving Christ)
·
Love is a focus on others
Christ is the good shepherd
John 10:11-15 1I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. 12But he that is an hireling, and not the
shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the
sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13The hireling fleeth, because he is an
hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and
am known of mine.
·
What does it mean to be the hireling? To leave the sheep? How
do we know when we are leaving the sheep?
o
It is not about being our own shepherd,
o
because
we are someone’s sheep.
o
We just have to choose whose sheep we are.
·
How do we choose against making the Lord our shepherd?
·
What happens when we choose not to be his sheep?
As we make choices in our (families,
alone time, at work) we decide who our shepherd is.
o
One of them is kind and leads us to perfection,
o
His way is called restrictive, stodgy, boring, unchristian,
etc
o
Or we can follow another shepherd. He makes it
appear easier, then he loads us up with burdens.
o
29"Take My yoke upon you and learn from
Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is
light."
Why does not following the Lord not always result
in our burdens being lighter?
o For even hereunto were ye called: because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps 1 Peter 2:21
Why would we flee from the Lord?
o
And a stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of
strangers John 10:5
o
Who would flee
from the Lord?
§
We may feel
that from the guilt we may feel
§
We may not
know the love He feels
§ We may not embrace a being we don’t know
There is always more
