Every Future Leader

A couple of weeks back I was sharing on the subject of friendship. With some encouraging feedback I have received, I was asked to share a little bit further on the subject. So I’m taking this week’s Ezine as an opportunity to elaborate on some of the things I believe God put on my heart to share with everyone.

A profitable friend is someone who STANDS by you; refreshing, being loyal to and also sacrificing for you. A true friend according God’s Word is also someone who brings out the best in you. He or she would always want what is best for you.

Proverbs 27:17

“As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

This also means that a true friend always encourages you to do your best. We are not perfect and have flaws in our lives. God therefore gives us friends who would help us be changed and transformed into what Christ has in mind. Genuine friends build us spiritually and want us to become more & more like Christ.

Someone once said, “A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you’ve been, accepts who you’ve become and still gently invites you to grow.”

Your best friends aren’t necessarily those you play with or shop with or usually hang out with or chat on the phone or the Internet days and nights. They are those who pray for you and lovingly guide you spiritually. A true friend is not necessarily the one you play with but the one you pray with. Jesus is our friend and wants us to grow spiritually.

To help us grow spiritually, inevitably at times friends got to tell the Truth which, in my opinion, is an unselfish act. We care enough to be honest and seek to offer true help. Jesus Christ does that for us. He tells us that we are sinners that we might find salvation. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” This shows honesty and loyalty in friendship when we are able to lovingly confront our friends with something we know they have to change for their own good.

Oscar Wilde wrote, “A true friend always stabs you in the front.” Proverbs 27:6 also says “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Sometimes we need to be told the truth – when we’ve offended someone, when we’ve made mistakes, when we are about to make bad decisions and when we’ve sinned. I think that’s what Paul had in mind when he admonished the Ephesians to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Such friend who “speaks the truth in love” will risk being liked in order to help you. But that’s in God’s nature as Jesus dealt with people’s sins and wrongdoings and will also deal with us in loving honesty. Sometimes the truth hurts. But the truth of Jesus is like a surgeon’s scalpel. It cuts to heal and is for our greater good.

As a church, we seek to build such community who radically accepts someone right where they are at and at the same time lovingly expects the person to grow.

Are you being such a friend to people around you today, in Ablaze, our church, school, uni, office and beyond?

Though it’s rare to find such friend, each of us can start being that type of friend in someone’s life today.

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I have come across the following article which resounds lots of experience I have had in worship leading over the years. It’s just a good reminder why I do what I do in worship ministry. Pray it will bless your heart as it did me.

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“I have been leading worship is small groups and corporate settings for many years. No one loves worship leading more than I. The rush that comes when the band starts playing and the audience begins to respond can only be described by those who have experienced it.

While leading worship in small groups I have seen the floors of dens and living rooms covered with people on their faces in the presence of God. On many occasions I believe we could have sang “Mary had a Little Lamb” and God would have shown up.

In corporate setting I have seen people dance, shout and clap their hands while at the same time others knelt, bowed and wept. On some occasions people have been physically healed and some have come to salvation during worship services without the aid of a sermon. I have seen altars crowded with people repenting of sin, reconciling wrongs and being refreshed and filled with the Holy Spirit.

As wonderful as these experiences have been I have come to understand that the experiences themselves are not the origin of worship; they are the overflow of worship. It is so easy to worship our praise and praise our worship. Because music is a universal language we can find ourselves worshiping the music instead of God. Because we enjoy seeing people being touched by God we can find ourselves worshiping the experiences that sometimes accompany God’s presence.

The purpose of our worship however is not to experience the hand of God it is to see the face of God.

Worship is for God! He is the giver and the receiver of worship. All true worship has God at its center. It’s all about Him.

While enjoying breakfast with a long time friend who is a pastor, he asked if I would be interested in working with the praise band at his church. He felt there were some hurdles keeping the praise team from reaching their full potential. I would be doing some teaching and working with the music.

We didn’t get far into the conversion before I realized the reason he wanted me to come. “When the worship is good it opens people up to hear the word. I preach better when the worship is good,” he said. When I suggested that worship was not to help him preach better he was visibly offended. Needless to say I never received a formal invitation.

We are so wrapped up in what satisfies us that we miss the real reason for worship. First of all we are born with a nature with self in the center. We grow up in a society that tells us to better ourselves. Hollywood and the media are constantly at work to persuade us to pamper ourselves. We even choose the church we attend based on what it has to offer us rather than how we can serve its people.

I Corinthians 6:20 reads, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Nothing is our lives has to do with us. Saint and sinner alike have been bought with the blood of Jesus and we are not our own. If our lives are not centered around us how much more our worship. Though we benefit greatly from worship, the purpose of worship is not to make us feel better. It is to glorify God. Worship has one agenda; GOD.

(Source: http://www.umyf.net/~cornerstone/p_n_w1.htm)

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I would like to share a personal leadership lesson I have learned over the past few weeks.

As leaders, it’s obvious that we are to lead. And that means there are people who follow us. I believe that every leader who truly desires to lead wants to lead well. As a result, people want to follow the example and model after the leaders. However, I have discovered that the Christ-centred art of leadership isn’t just about knowing how to lead well but to follow well.

Many times, we ask “Is there anyone following us? “Am I worth following?”

While these questions are valid, the better question instead should be…

“Am I following God?”

No one may follow us but we first need to ensure that we know whom we are following, and that we are following God.

I was reminded the time when Jesus was perhaps at the lowest point in His life. On the way to cross, His disciples deserted Him. Very few were still following and believing in Him. The majority had despised and rejected Him.

BUT WITH HE STILL FOLLOWED GOD! HE’S STILL ALL FOR GOD’S PURPOSE FOR HIS LIFE! On the way to the cross, He was determined to get there and laid down His life as purposed by the Father!

All matters is that He could follow the Father and finish His business!

Over the years in my journey as a leader, I have learned that it’s NOT only about how well I lead but it begins with this notion that I’m first called to follow God.

My first and foremost loyalty and allegiance is to GOD! And I want to follow hard after Him!

That helps me stay secure in my calling as a leader knowing that though no one may follow me, I am following MY GOD. And that all matters to me.

I pray that in the midst of uncertainty in your life, remember if you don’t know what else to do, just simply follow God. He is our guiding Light and Shepherd who faithfully leads His flock.

Mark 8:34-38 (NIV)

 ³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

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Last week I was compelled to pick up the devotion book I bought a few years ago and to spend the next few months devoting myself to the stories and the move of the Holy Spirit through my ‘never met’ heroes in the Christian history. I felt God has begun to deepen conviction & devotion in my heart for Him. Not sure you have read this book before? After I have read just the first page, it ruins my life (in a good way)!

Extreme Devotion is a collection of prayers, sayings, writings, and brief biographies of sixty Christians who died for their faith; from Stephen, the church’s first martyr to Bahram Dehquani-Tafti of Iran, who was shot to death in 1981. In today’s age of uncertainty, spiritual pluralism, and self-indulgence, the words of the martyrs remind us of the worthiness of Jesus and the costliness of the gospel. They humble us with their commitment, they fortify their faith with their honesty and certitude, and they direct our vision toward eternal realities that far outshine anything this world has to offer.

Click here to check out the first few pages.

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Later this month, Life Church TV is offering an online event that has the potential to help thousands of individuals around the world who are struggling with pornography. From May 23-28, the church is partnering with XXXChurch.com to host ThePornEvent.com, a 25-minute interactive experience where people can learn more about the effect porn has on our lives and relationships.

The PornEvent.com is open to people everywhere, so feel free to leverage it to help individuals at your church. Expect a non-threatening environment featuring stories, helpful answers, and an open conversation with people who’ve traveled a similar path. ThePornEvent.com is for anyone who is interested in what it looks like to live a life beyond pornography.

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After the US trip, God has given me a new vision to seriously consider various ways to invest in the future leaders of the church, societies, nations and the world.

This is the dream God puts in my heart as I look into the next 15 years of my life. In light of God’s calling, I’m more than convinced that this is one of the key things I’m entrusted to do for the rest of my life.

As a result, I have modified my personal blog into a small project and campaign to facilitate that piece of dream. ‘Every Future Leader’ is birthed with my personal belief that the future of our world is shaped by the life and quality of every future leader.

God has chosen His church, His people to be His only instrument to carry out His plan & purpose for the world. We, God’s church, therefore are to be prepared for that purpose. Preparation does take time, effort and intentionality. There is no better time than right now for us to rise up and get ready to be used by God.

As a leader to another leader, the future of our society, nation and the world depends on us. Would you join me and many other leaders on this journey to be better leaders for God’s glory so that the church would shine God’s light as she should?

Meet me regularly @ www.ablaze.org.au/torchie

See you at church this weekend.

Torchie

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If you have watched Drive Conference 10 Session 1 online today and would like to share the lessons that you have learned, please feel free to leave your comments here. I think the recording of the session will be made available @ http://northpointonline.tv in a few weeks time.

So stay tuned and be blessed!

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Jason, my new friend at our Ablaze Service pleasantly surprised me with his wonderful gift, a bag specially hand sewed with my name initial, ‘T’ on it! He said he made it for me after visiting our service a few weeks ago. What can I say? I’m so blessed by his gesture! Thanks mate!

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