S1E1: Leading the Hardest Person

Welcome to session one. The topic that we're going to tackle today is near and dear to the hearts of many pastors and leaders. And it's centered around this idea of how do we lead the hardest person that we know. Now, when we think of that question, the first thing we automatically think of is, you know, is that somebody that I work with? Is that somebody on my team? Is that someone in my family? And I think those are all great things to consider, but really the hardest person to lead. Is a person that we look at when we look at ourselves in the mirror. It's ourselves. We are the most difficult person to lead. And a lot of reasons surround that. Maybe we're too busy, maybe we don't have accountability in our lives. In fact, if you're like me, you take it really easy on yourself at times. And so there can be a hard, you know, time of really kind of wrapping that accountability in. But the truth is that we are in ministry. The ch the truth is that you and I have been called. To steward the local church, to be a ⁓ shepherd of a flock. And one of the things that we have to be concerned about is how we lead ourselves. It's one thing to simply start a church and to begin to grow that, but it's quite something different to stay in it for the long haul. And so the session one that we're looking at today is going to be all about how to lead the most difficult person. Because Lance Whitt, and I love what he says here, he says this quote he says, You can't live your life at warp speed without warping your soul. So when you think about planning a church, you think about doing ministry, things are happening so fast, and if we're not careful, our own souls can become warped. So we gotta step back, we've gotta take care of ourselves, we've got to lead ourselves well. Looking at the statistics, and I'm sure many of you are familiar with them, but I'll rattle off some of them. But 90% of pastors Feel like they're inadequately trained to do what they are supposed to do. And while we can say and defer back to, well, the Holy Spirit can guide us and can grow us and can lead us, absolutely. But 90% of pastors say they don't have the training or the resources necessary to do what they need to do. 70% of pastors say right now they're fighting depression. 70% of pastors also say that they don't have a real close friend. 50% Pastors right now say they're so discouraged that they would quit if they could find anything else to do. And 80% of pastors, this one's really floored me. 80% of pastors believe that the ministry has impacted their family. And the truth is, is that when you think about statistically, pastors being in it for the long haul, again, what our four sessions are going to be looking at during our time together. But only one out of ten pastors are gonna actually retire from the ministry. This should be alarming to us. This should be something that catches our attention because the truth is, at the core of this very difficult topic, is this. Many pastors don't know how to lead themselves well. They might be able to lead others, they can lead teams, they can lead movements and things like that. But they can't seem, we can't seem to lead ourselves well. And so my prayer is that God would have you finish the race that He's called you to, that He would have me finish the race that He's called me to. Because the truth is as we think about life and ministry, speed of life and intimacy with God are not great partners. And so we've got to learn to slow down. We got to learn to make sure that we're leading ourselves better so that we can steward this life that God has given us, so that we can do the ministry that God has called us to. And so the point I want to make here, kind of the bottom line of where we're going today, is simply the statement. We have to lead ourselves well if we're going to go the full distance in ministry. That we can't just go hard for a year or two or five or ten. We have to be in it for the long haul. And in order for us to do that, we've got to lead our ourselves well. And so we're gonna looking at two foundational things I think we're gonna see from the scripture in our time here in this first session. And we're gonna see a couple of things that I think can be applied to our lives and things I think that if we can simply apply them to our lives, we're gonna see hopefully some traction for us to make some improvements, to begin to lead ourselves better so that we can be in it for long haul. So the first thing we're gonna look at and kind of the first kind of stop on our on our with our time here today is simply this. We need to be an example to others. Your congregation and family will look to you as an example of how to follow Jesus. I hope that kind of scares you, that that scares me a little bit, that that my kids, that the people in our church, they look to me as an example of how to follow Jesus. And we see in Philippians chapter two verses one through four. So if you've got that, grab a Bible if you've got that. But in Philippians chapter two verses one through four, We see something here. We see a nugget of truth that will help us understand this point a little bit better. Because when you think about Philippians, the book of joy, and really chapter two, which really kind of jumps into this whole idea of finding joy in service. So what we do vocationally by vocationally, but that joy in serving our flock, here we can see that we serve not only our church, but we serve our community. We serve at work, but we serve our family as well. But let's read these. Verses here from Philippians chapter two, starting in verse one, going through verse four. It says, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. So here Paul is, he's got a call. He he's calling the Philippians here to look out for the interest of others. And so as pastors, if you want to think about as we serve our community and as we serve our families and as we serve our congregations, as we steward this call that God has called us to, we too are called to look out for the interest of others. And we need to be examples of how to do this. We have to be examples of Christian humility. Have you ever thought about it that you have been called to steward your flock, the c the flock that God has called you to? And we can lead them well and we can do all those things, but we can't really lead them to where God wants to be. We can't lead them well for a long duration of time if we aren't leading ourselves well. I think sometimes in ministry we get this whole idea wrong that we have to do more. We've got to do it better. But what we need to be, as we see from the scripture, is more like Christ. We don't have to do more. We don't have to do better. While yes, we can argue that there's excellence, and I believe there should be excellence in all things we do. We need to be more Christ-like. And the truth is that the will this will only happen when we begin to intentionally make Christ the center of our lives, not what we do. You're not defined by your ministry, you're defined by your relationship and your standing. Through Christ Jesus. And so when you think about going the distance in ministry, we need to look out for the interest of others, but we need to look out for ourselves. We we we can't lead others well for running on fumes. We can't be in it for the long haul if we're not imitating Christ and finding the that rhythm in our lives to be able to do that. And in the interest of the people that you lead and the people that you love, the best gift. That you could ever give them is a healthy you. And so some practical things around this kind of first point here, and practical things that you and I can consider doing and incorporating into our lives. And maybe you've done some of these things. But number one, have a day of rest. Jesus rested. You know, we need to have a day of rest. Second thing is that we need to delight in the Father. Jesus delighted in the Father. We see this in the scripture. We need to know, delight in who the Father is and and how that relationship is in our life. Number three, we need to find a rhythm and we need to stick to it. I know some of us may not be planners and that's okay, but that doesn't mean you can't have a rhythm of rest, a rhythm of finding your identity in Christ, a rhythm of knowing that you're in it for the long haul. And finally, number four, say no to things. I mean Jesus didn't heal everyone. And so you and I, we we can't be We're not called to be the savior Jesus is. And so we need to learn to say no things. We need to find kind of the space in our lives to make sure that we're investing in ourselves and we're pouring into ourselves and we're growing in a deep, meaningful relationship with our Heavenly Father. Because we'll never be able to take care of all the needs of those that are in our flocks if we can't take care of ourselves first. We have to be an example. We need to be a picture of the destination. And if we aren't doing that, and if we don't have that healthy rhythm of really being that imitator here and demonstrating with humility what that service looks like and how we're relying on Jesus, then we really can't be the example. So again, that's point number one. Point number two, again, going to a different block of scripture now. But we need to be an imitator of Christ. Now, if God has given us a platform of leadership. And maybe leading the church that you've been called to plan or supporting the church and whatever your role is, then we need to be known as imitators of Christ. Not by a title, not by some, you know, title we give ourselves, but we need to be imitators of Christ. It's interesting when you look back at Scripture, we can realize that Scripture doesn't call us to be workaholics. Scripture does not call us to be the most driven people in the world. Scripture calls us to be imitators of Christ. In fact, 1 Corinthians 11 1, we see it stated in the scripture, he says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So here Paul is saying, imitate me. Because what is Paul doing? He is imitating Christ. Now you might think, and I might think when we first initially read this, man, that's quite a bold statement for any pastor or leader to say, because we automatically don't want people to imitate us because we're fallen, we're broken, we're sinful creatures. And while all that is true, we're also In a relationship with the Lord. We're also learning from the scripture. We're also being led by the Spirit. And so people that are in our congregations should be able to imitate us. We're not their saviors, Jesus is, but they should be able to imitate our conduct. They should be able to imitate how we interact with people because we should be inner we should be imitating Christ in all that we do. And if you ask someone to imitate you, you better be someone who is following Jesus closely. And you, and if you're not making room in your schedule and and kind of building that rhythm and you're not following Jesus closely, then why would God ever have anyone follow you or be an imitator of you? So again, Paul here is calling in this church here. We think about this particular scripture, he's calling the men and women of the church to follow him. And again, if you dig into this block of scripture and get into context, the idea wasn't to p follow Paul. He wasn't a replacement for Christ, and that's not what he's saying here. But he's saying to follow his example. Paul was a follower of Christ. He had devoted his life to following Jesus. And the idea here is to simply follow me as I'm following Jesus. May that be our cry. May that be our kind of saying going into this next season of ministry. Everyone, follow me as I follow Jesus. Let's follow Jesus together. At my church, we say follow Jesus, cultivate people. We want to follow the Lord, but we're doing it because we know that it is the way that the Lord cultivates people. As I'm following Jesus and God brings people into my life, I'm gonna have an opportunity to cultivate them. As others are following Jesus and I'm coming into their lives and I'm learning from them, I'm going to be cultivated because of their following of Jesus. And it's paramount that we steward this well because God has given you a platform. Whether you're an associate pastor, a senior pastor, Whatever your role is, if you're a church planner, if you're coming in to revitalize, it doesn't matter. If God has given you that platform, you and I must steward that well. And so some practical things here kind of wrapped up around this idea of being imitators of Christ. You can't imitate Christ and do life alone. You can't be unknown to other people to help hold you accountable. Satan loves isolation. We see this in the scripture. That's his first thing that he does, he begins to isolate someone. He gets in their head, he begins to deceive them. Another thing we can do is we let others speak into our lives. Are you known by other pastors, other spiritual leaders who can speak into your life? Are they loving you and challenging you? I mean, these are all things that we need to do in order to be great imitators of Christ. And I would say, lastly, they're kind of in an application to take those things that you're hearing. Listen to those people you respect on the spiritual level who are speaking into your life. Reflect on that feedback and grow. Follow the Lord. Continue to improve on the things that God is showing you that you need to work on because that's going to help you and I become better imitators of Christ. And so we take those points right there and we think about, okay, session one, how do we bring this into some application? And here in about a minute or less, I'm going to give you three points of application, and then you're going to be able to dive a little bit deeper into this in the small group time. But here's how you lead. The most difficult person in the room, which is ourselves. Number one, feed yourself. I'm not talking about food. Yes, we need food, but no, feed yourself with a consistent diet of the word of God. The word of God changed my life. It changed your life, right? The word of God changes lives. And it will continue to feed us. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. And now as we read the Word of God, our lives can be changed. And He continues changing us day after day. He makes our heart his heart. So feed yourself. Number two, stretch yourself. Stretch yourself. I'm sure some of you heard this statement before, but I heard it and it's kind of stuck with me. But if the vision for your ministry in the church does not require God to move in some way, then it's then your vision is too small. It's not big enough. And so I think some of us might be in that season where we need to be stretched, where we need to trust the Lord in a new way. We need to kind of have that new faith. I always think back to the day one faith as I call it from church planning, where you just hope someone shows up to your first service and you just have faith that God is going to bring that one person or that one family to be able to come in and hopefully they have a life-changing encounter with Jesus, right? And we have that day one faith. And you might be into day one thousand or day five thousand, whatever your case may be. We need to have that day one faith. We need to stretch ourselves and believe that God is doing something. in us and through us and through our obedience and because of that we need to develop and continue to develop that relationship so feed yourself stretch yourself number three rest find a rest for yourself you gotta have the rest the best gift again that you can give your church and your family is a healthy you and I'm not talking about take long extended naps there's nothing wrong with naps but I'm talking about finding and celebrating the Sabbath. How's your use of the Sabbath? Are you being controlled by technology? Well, well, put some parameters up, put some boundaries up so that you can find that yourself rested, so that you can hear clearly from the Lord. And then finally, lastly, as we get ready to close out this first session, pace yourself. You're in it for the long haul. Don't be, don't be the nine out of 10 pastors that don't retire from the ministry. Be in it for the long haul. So you got to pace yourself. The church needs you. The church, I mean, God has called you to do something specific in this point in redemptive history. And I believe that we have got to pace ourselves because we need to be in it for the long haul. Little sustained efforts and rest and stretching of our faith and leaning into the word of God will really yield big results. We owe it to our family, we owe it to our congregation to invest in ourselves. And so, pastors, I pray for you. And I pray for your congregations that you are able to find a way to begin to build rhythms in your life to lead the most difficult person that you know, which is you. And for me to be able to lead the most difficult person I know, which is me. Let's do the hard work and let's believe and see what God can do over the next six months.