Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 2, 2020 | [re]START - Restart Leadership

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August 2, 2020 | [re]START - Restart Leadership · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Great to be here at Topeka Bible Church on a perfect morning.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Last week, uh, I was on Sunday morning uh down at family camp with a lot of good people.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: We had a great family camp.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Hank, for finding that camp so long ago.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a great place.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um and Craig, uh, I watched his message and um I knew I had to get back because otherwise it looked, it was just too good.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, anyways, uh good morning.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to um talking to you this morning, and since I have no less than 60 slides this morning, I am really happy that they just got them up because restarting leadership is what I'm talking about.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's no subject right now at this precise moment that people are talking about more.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: A global, a global uh some sort of a network across the world just released this statistic that uh 86% of their respondents, this is worldwide, think that there's a leadership crisis in the world today.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, you can imagine why people think that.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh, wow, what the things we have going on really require leaders, but as someone has written, our world has never needed leaders more than it does today.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of leaders, we find ourselves up to our knees in pygmies.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that was pretty well put.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And as I've studied leadership and continue to study leadership, those of you who attended Men of Success know that I try to keep up with all the leadership books.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I noticed this statistic, sociologists and psychologists tell us that there's only one natural leader for every 14 or 15 people.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we our spiritual mentoring, our spiritual discipleship program at Topeka Bible Church is basically built around small groups.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We think that you grow spiritually in community, connecting is what we're all about.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: But those small groups we recommend is about half that size, about seven or eight people.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in one with 15, then you can probably think of your natural leader.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're in a group that has only half that, then someone there, and maybe it's you, has to put on the mantle of leadership, has to slip on that ring, even though you're not a natural leader, and you will especially benefit from what I'm gonna share with you this morning about how to be a leader, how to become a leader.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because the fact of the matter is you are looked at as a leader in someone's eyes, maybe a lot of people's eyes, certainly in children's eyes.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have children, if you have grandchildren, they look at you as a leader, another way of putting that, by the way, as a person of influence.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: You are a person of influence and in a number of people's lives.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Children, of course, especially.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are involved at all in ministry here at Topeka Bible Church or anywhere else, then you're a person of influence, and you will, I hope, enjoy this this morning.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about leadership, and in a dearth of leadership, we look to the person who is sometimes considered the greatest leader who has ever lived in the Christian church since Jesus.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: His name is the Apostle Paul, and while he's better known as the first, as the greatest convert, greatest missionary, greatest church planter, greatest evangelist in the early church, we find as we move through the book of Acts that more and more he begins to shine as this remarkable leader.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And as we read the epistles, the letters he wrote, we also find remarkable examples of this.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just gonna turn to one chapter, a very interesting chapter.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a cell phone or a Bible, turn to Acts chapter 27.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 27, close to the end of the book of Acts, and I'm gonna tell you the story of a shipwreck.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go through this whole chapter rather quickly, but the reason I chose this chapter is it immediately follows a two-year lockdown.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we're coming out of a lockdown, we're coming out of a quarantine, and the time in Paul's life where he was put on the shelf for the longest period of time was two years when he was put in a prison at Caesarea.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Those of you who've gone with me, uh with Melody and me, to Israel know and are smiling, I see some of you.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's because this is the first place I always take people, one of the great archaeological sites in Israel.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Caesarea by the sea.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you first go to the theater, and then you walk over here and you see the remains of Herod's palace, which was built out into the sea with a freshwater pool of all things, just mere feet away from the salt water.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: But this is where the prison was that Paul was in.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Herod's palace, this is first century, this is this is about 50 years after Christ died.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: We have this gigantic racetrack here of horses.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you can imagine that when Paul was down in this horrible dungeon, which was dark and smelly and dank and humid, that he could hear maybe the horses running around and the cheers of the crowd from the theater and from the racetrack.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh this is where he was stuck.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Quarantine, you could say, locked down for two years.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now they did allow Luke, his companion, to visit him regularly, and I think that Paul used his time well, and Luke did, because Luke says at the beginning of his two books in the New Testament, Luke and Acts, that he did a lot of research for these books, and I take it he probably used that time talking to Paul, and that's where he got his research.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul wasn't completely wasting his time, but can you imagine his frustration?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And once in a while, once about every year or so, they they call him out, the governor does, because the his Jewish enemies, the religious people, want to kill Paul.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're not content that he's in prison, so they keep driving from Jerusalem to Caesarea and saying, Would you bring him back to Jerusalem so we can have an official, you know, on-site trial there, intending to kill him on the way.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the Roman rulers here, they don't want to displease their Jewish people.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so while they say, well, no, because they know what's going on, they keep him in prison.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: After two years had passed, Festus succeeded Felix.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like a black and white TV show.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I take it that Paul is beginning to see that he's gonna be either stuck here for life or they're finally gonna cave and take him back to Jerusalem and he'll be killed.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul, chapter 26, after two years, stands in front of Felix and says, I appeal, and Festus and says, I appeal to Caesar and King Herod, King Agrippa.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So as a result, because he's a Roman citizen, they have to honor this.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so now we're gonna find as chapter 27 begins that Paul is put on a ship to go, to be taken to Caesar.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So let's follow this and then we'll find the ten lessons of leadership, and I'll move to this as quickly as I can.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: When it was decided that we would sail to Italy, this is mostly the Christian Standard Bible with some of my tweaks.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: When it was decided that we would sail to Italy, that's where Rome was, where Caesar was, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be significant that there's other prisoners at the end of the story, to a centurion named Julius of the Imperial Regiment.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: There were a number of centurions around.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: They usually had not a hundred, but usually about 90, 85 to 95 people, soldiers.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: But if he was in the Imperial Regiment, he had a thousand soldiers.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this Julius is one of the really top military guys.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's sort of a Brian Button, he's sort of a Dan Skoda, he's he's somebody that's really important, he's somebody with a lot of character, all right?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna become really significant because, like all the other centurions in the Bible, he's gonna be spoken of well.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be a pro a pro-God type of a person.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Which is true in our military, by the way, from what I hear.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've been told by the five-star general that used to attend our church that something like 80 to 90 percent of the top officers in our military are all believers.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Verses two and three.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: When we'd boarded a ship, he says, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus of Thessalonica.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of Paul's friendship.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: There was a team of three.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Paul did everything.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is, I didn't include this in the leadership tips, but there's a recent book on leadership that's put out, a secular book, that says in our modern world, no leader, leader should try to do things alone.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Today you have to do it with a team.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul always had a team, and this team on the ship with him is Paul, Luke, and Ari, a very common Jewish name today.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: The next day we put in at Sidon, this is 70 miles up the coast in what we call Lebanon today, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive care, which is astounding, which is what are you doing, Julius?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure some of his sub-officers said.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you realize that if Paul absconds, if he runs away, we all lose our lives.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have to deliver him to Caesar.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the first point I make is that leadership, leadership, this is an integrity point.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders are trusted because they keep their word.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow, in just one week, Julius had gotten to know Paul well enough that he realized this here is a person who will keep his word.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: This here is a person of honesty.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: This here is a person I can trust.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's so good that this is the first point of leadership, because leaders should lead with character.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: They should be trustworthy.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Here's an article in Success Magazine.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: 10 questions.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a trusted leader?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: A leader is trusted when they do what they say they'll do.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you give your word, keep it.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you say you'll do something, do it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a rather new success book by Amy Lyman, a woman who writes success books and leadership books, and her title is The Trustworthy Leader.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Trustworthy Leader, leveraging the power of trust to transform your organization.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Effective leadership, said my friend Fred Smith, starts with character.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: When leaders fail, get this.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: More often it's a result of character flaw than a lack of competence.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so check yourself.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: First thing you have to do is check your character, which is why I love this event this last week so much.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't watched the 22-minute video all over the internet, you ought to watch the video of Jim Ryan receiving the presidential medal, the highest civilian award a person can achieve in America.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Hank will back me up on this when in the 90s, especially late 80s and 90s, when Jim and Ann Ryan and their kids Ned and Catherine and so forth sat right over here where you can't see any other building where Dennis is sitting.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Every week in that same pew, just so sweet, he walked around, and you would have never known that Jim Ryan had been the very best runner in four different events in the entire world holding world records.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: You would never know that he'd been named the sportsman of the year in 1966.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: You would never know that he was maybe the most famous person who had ever lived in Kansas or one of the most famous behind Eisenhower and so forth.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because he walked around Topeka Bible Church, leading with sort of an aura of grace and humility and kindness and integrity.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, that's what these people, that's what President Trump last Thursday or whatever it was, said about him.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: He said, uh, he said, I've talked to people all over Washington who knew Jim Ryan when he was a congressman.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: They said everyone respects him.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and he's a man of charity, generosity, and faith, said the President Trump.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Catherine got up.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: They asked her to speak, and she said this, Dad, thank you for being the man that you are.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know that today is all about your accolades in the public eye.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you have been such an amazing dad and a husband of over 50 years to mom, and just a man of character who loves the Lord with all of his heart.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then Ned got up and he said, Congressman who was speaking to me, and he said, Many in Congress are drunk on power.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Your dad walked the halls as one of the most humble, gracious people I ever knew.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: And uh you would never know that out of the billions, he said, said, There are billions of people in the world.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: How many do you know who are the single best person in the world at what they do?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was so gracious, so kind, and so humble, you never knew that he was the best person in the entire world at what he did.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: If I can, said Ned, be half the man my dad is in integrity, honesty, and nobility, I'll be happy.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just had to share that.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Former TBCer and still a good friend, still communicates, but he's gotten this award that's been won, you know, by people like uh only Babe Ruth and uh Tiger Woods, and the only other track and field guy is Jesse Owens to have won this award.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with integrity.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Start with integrity.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And as you keep reading, notice he says in chapter 27, verse um, that was three, verse four, he says, When we'd put out to sea from there, we sailed along the northern coast of Cyprus because the winds were against us.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: After sailing through, and then he starts naming all of these places, and then they switched to another ship on board when they got up here.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: They'd come to Sidon.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: They, it's taking them a long time because the winds are shifting, and they finally get to Myra, and now they're put on another ship.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: These are not good ships, these are more like barges with one sail, they're sort of blocks, they operate really poorly in bad seas because they're like barges and they're like cows moving in, you know, in a flood or something.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're just blocky.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so they start going here, and now because the winds have suddenly shifted to the northeast, they have to hide underneath Crete, and it's really becoming a mess.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so he says, with difficulty, verse 8, we we came to a place called Fair Havens, right here underneath Crete.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then we read much time had been lost, and the voyage was already dangerous, because winter's coming.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, your Bible says it was past a Day of Atonement, which means it was October.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: You just didn't sail because the Mediterranean just gets rough.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul began to admonish them.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's a prisoner.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's a prisoner.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he begins to admonish them.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: He begins to admonish the owner of the ship who's on board, and the captain of the ship, and the centurion, who's really the boss.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: The centurion was the highest up, so the centurion could say what happened.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he begins to get on their case.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo in the ship, but also of their lives.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, you did what?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You did what?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're a prisoner.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's uh lesson number two is initiative.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders step forward.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders step forward.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the thing is, the problem is that many potential leaders, as John Maxwell writes in his recent leadership book, let success pass them by because they're waiting for someone to grant them influence.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Paul did not wait to be told, go ahead and speak up.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: He just stepped forward.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have a uh the the the the this little arrow thing shows uh this is this is carried in a couple of uh leadership books that too many people are passive.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: They allow people to step on them, they they keep quiet.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then there are others, of course, who are too aggressive.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about me and my needs, and I step on you.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: But in the middle is this kind of assertive leader who says, we're gonna step together, and I'm gonna be assertive, I'm gonna open up my mouth, I'm gonna exercise influence.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Abigail Adams, one of the great women in early America, wrote in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1790: These are the hard times in which a genius would wish to live great necessities, call forth great leaders.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a great leader, you're gonna have to step forward and take initiative.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 11, but the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what the prisoner Paul said.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe no surprise.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And they decided to put out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm you know, Paul pulled out his guitar and goes, by the time we get to Phoenix, we'll be drowning.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm sorry.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: A harbor of Crete, and we're gonna spend the winter there.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Dream on.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna get 40 miles farther along.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just why why would you do that?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's stupid.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number three lesson high EQ.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is intel, this is not intelligence quotient, this is emotional intelligence here.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: High EQ.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find in the rest of the chapter that Paul does not sit around going, they didn't listen to me, right?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Inc.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: magazine.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: EQ is massively more important than IQ for leaders.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to choose our leaders for their intellect and expertise and their fire, and then we fire them for their lack of emotional intelligence.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: For the lack, for the fact they feel sorry for themselves, that they're self-pity, or they're aggressive, or they're defensive dance to the old Daniel Goldman stuff from emotional intelligence back in the 1990s.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: What a great book, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Success Magazine lists uh the four habits of emotionally strong leaders.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, they don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So at this point in time, maybe you've tried to be a leader and maybe someone ignored you.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Get over it.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't engage in self-pity.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can't moan and lead at the same time, Helen Keller.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Self-pity is our worst enemy.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: If we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, spent enough time there.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's repeat the first three lessons.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Integrity, leaders are trusted because they keep their word.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Initiative, leaders step forward.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Three, high EQ.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, obviously things are getting worse.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, We took such a violent beating from the storm.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: The waves get really high that the next day they begin to throw the cargo overboard.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So water's coming on this sort of a barred ship.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're going lower and lower, so they've got to throw stuff overboard, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: They keep the valuable stores, the grain the sheer shipping so far, but they they they begin to throw the cargo overboard, and on the third day they they throw the ship's tackle overboard.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: They keep the anchors, but they throw the rest of the heavy stuff overboard, the iron stuff, with their own hands.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we have here a crisis situation.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh they had to be absolutely freaking out, right?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh where they are right now is they went up to Myra, and here they were at uh Fair Havens.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: They decided to go 40 more miles over here, which is stupid, so now they get blown out.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Look at how far they've gone.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: This storm is blowing them out here in the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Adriatic, the Mediterranean.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you that if you've been there like I have, those are the most beautiful blue waters in the world.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, boy, when they get a little choppy, I've been in a couple of, I've taken a couple of cruises with my tour groups out there, and if it gets even the slightest bit choppy, my wife, anyway, is running to the edge of the and she's anyway, you know what she's doing.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're all we're all doing this.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's horrible.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I remember, you know, the only time I've ever been thought I might die in a storm like that was when I was up in Canada.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd taken my there was some of us from TBC, Al Rimmel, and others had got up to go fishing.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: We like to go fishing for walleye and northern pike and so forth.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: We'd fly in a float plane 100 miles up into Ontario, and we land on a on a place, and we stay in a cabin far from anywhere, and they give us like rowboats with motors, and we'd go out, and I had I'd taken my son, who is about 14, Craig, with me who preached last week.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And one day we're out just miles away.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden I saw the see the dark clouds coming, and I start saying I saying, you know, we're catching a lot of walleye.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I say, we gotta get back.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we start heading back, we get we get out in the open lake, this huge mongoose lake, you know, bigger than Lake Perry, where you can't hardly see the shore on the other side, and all of a sudden the waves are so high, and I am I am just we are being thrown all around, and and I'm thinking, you know, I'm gonna lose that kid freezing cold out there, and I'm looking for a little island to put in at, but you know, the terror Of thinking that you or your loved one is going to drown just took over, and I was making all kinds of bargains with God.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're just crazy.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, why, what, how, this is just terrible.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think of these people, 276 of them on the ship, in a day when there's so many ships that went down constantly, and they have despaired of life itself.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And after they'd gone a long time without food, 21, Paul stood up before them and said, Oh, by the way, we made it back, in case you're wondering.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was really amazing.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then you wouldn't have sp then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss, which sounds like I told you so, but what it is is, okay, I'm a prisoner.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't listen to me last time.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you one more piece of advice, and right now, they're all going to listen to his advice.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, now I urge you, keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this remarkable how with such optimism and confidence and hope he speaks, leaders speak with authority and with confidence.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: You say, I'm not a confident person, and I'll agree with you that confidence is the hardest thing.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Of all of the leadership traits, everybody agrees it's the hardest thing to sort of manufacture.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: But you simply have to do it, even if you're grabbing the hem of God's garment.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: When there's a crisis, someone needs to speak with confidence.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence themselves, seeing how you react.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in control, they're in control, said Tom Landry.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: They were astonished at his teaching, Jesus' teaching, because he spoke with authority, not like the scribes.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But now he said, I urge you to keep up your courage.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because he says, not one of you will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now he there's an optimism here, right?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders give hope.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders are the people who speak as who positive.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: A leader is a dealer in hope, says Napoleon Bonaparte.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Not a person who's whining, not a person who says, Oh, we're lost, we're lost.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders exude positive energy and optimism, Jack Welch wrote in his book, Winning.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we must do.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is the people we want to follow in life.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that when Ronald Reagan came into office, and maybe you're not that old, of course, but I mean, he always exuded a kind of optimism and hope that made him one of the most beloved uh presidents ever.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritual leaders, which you and I are, are optimistic, not because man is good, but because God is in control.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul was able to be optimistic and give hope because he knew God was in charge.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And in his little book, John Piper, The Marks of a Spiritual Leader, that's his leading statement of his tips.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're optimistic because God's in control.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then notice this.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then Paul talks about God, even though he's amidst secular people who don't worship him.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: He says, last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, Do not be afraid, Paul.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Bold.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders believe and honor God and are not afraid to say so.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Can you say, can you say these words out loud with me?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's in church, it's not even out in public.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can you say, the God, say it with me, the God to whom I belong and whom I serve?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: And now say these words.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's faith.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that you can and must communicate in a day like ours, a day of crisis.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: So lesson four was confidence, leaders speak with authority.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson five was optimism, leaders give hope.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson six was faith, leaders believe and honor God.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, he ends this after this nice, encouraging, optimistic, hopeful thing.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: He said, um, his last line, nevertheless, we must run aground on some islands.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get shipwrecked.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Courage.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders say the hard truth.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're not afraid of the truth, they're not afraid to say the truth, even though the truth will get them in trouble sometimes, they're willing to say it.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Fred Smith, leadership's most vital quality is courage.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Aristotle, the most greatest virtue any of us can have.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Courage, you have to have.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Courage, leading with emotional courage, Peter Bregman's book.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: How to have hard conversations, create accountability, and inspire action in your most important work.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: How?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Courage.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Being bold to speak out.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: So just before dawn, Paul urged them all to eat.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: For the last 14 days, he said, You've been in constant suspense and have gone without food.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: You haven't eaten anything.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now I urge you to take some food.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: You need it to survive.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not one of you will lose one hair from his head.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this interesting what he does?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: How practical this is?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Energy.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders focus on the things they can change, not on what they can't.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing Paul could do about the fact that the ship was going down.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing Paul could do about the fact that they hadn't listened to his advice.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing Paul could do about some of the most important things.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: So he used his energy for the things that he could do.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: He could get the people to eat.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: He could get them to build up their energy.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So when the ship did break apart, they would have the energy to swim to shore.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, but hold it, God's sovereign.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: He said they would all be saved.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this interesting how this works so often in Scripture?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have God's sovereignty on one side, and yet you have man's operation on the other, and they cooperate together, right?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Dennis is teaching in the book of Romans.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: God is in control.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: God is sovereign, it's going to happen.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: On the other hand, God uses man, and therefore Paul steps forward and says, you have to eat so that you'll have the energy to swim to shore.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let go of things you can't change.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on the things you can.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most popular leadership messages today, you'll find all across the internet all kinds of signs that you can buy for your office that say something like this.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about the things you can't control.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Worry about the things you can control.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let go of things you can't change, focus on things you can.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul did that.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Parents, if you can't change a child, don't worry about that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do what you can.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Teachers, if you have a recalcitrant child that drives you crazy, figure out what you can do.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about what you can't.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: After this, Paul took some bread and he gave thanks to God in front of them all.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that great?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then he broke it and began to eat.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're all encouraged and they ate some food themselves.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a famous painting of this.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a great picture.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: In the hold of the ship, here we have bread.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, it's not communion.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are, you know, certain high church people that go, I think he celebrated communion.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, not with 275 non-believers.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, but we get to this morning, right?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um so he prays, and as a result of this, they're they're they're freaking out and so forth, but he calms them, he prays to God in front of them, he and then he gives this example modeling.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders lead by example.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: He took some bread in front of them.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even if he had to swallow it with no water in his throat, he was going to show them that he was gonna do it.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what leaders have to do.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: They have to model.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you run a business and you tell your employees or whatever, that they need to get there on time in the morning, you better get there on time in the morning.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe get there a little early.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a leader, if you want your people to act professionally, then you need to act professionally.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you want your business to be full of kindness, then you have to be full of kindness and generosity.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: A leader is one who knows the way, who goes the way, and who shows the way.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul did that because Paul was a great leader, Jesus the same way.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul said, imitate me as I imitate Jesus Christ.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the difference between a boss and a leader.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: A boss says, go.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: A leader says, let's go.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why it's credited to Bill Malden.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's General Patton who actually said it first.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's General Patton used to say, you know, if he says, if you try to push a piece of spaghetti, it'll curl up.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to get your soldier to follow you if you try to push them.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, instead you pull them.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: You go in front of them.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Leading spaghetti.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a leader, Bill Malden said, you don't push what spaghetti you pull.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Get out in front and you model the behavior that you want.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Seven, courage, leaders say the hard truth.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Eight, energy, leaders focus on the things they can change, not what they can't.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nine, modeling, leaders lead by example.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: One more with which I conclude.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it ends the chapter.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: The soldiers planned, get this, to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because their lives would be forfeit if they lost the prisoners.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: If the prisoners escape, they get killed.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the rule is, and the prisoners knew this, their soldiers are drawing their weapons, gonna kill the prisoners so that they can't get away.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: But get this, the centurion, Julius, wanted to spare Paul's life.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul had said, we've all got to be saved together.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he kept them from carrying out their plan, and everyone reached land safely.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's really neat?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is that leaders save people.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: They save people maybe who don't deserve saving.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: They give life to people who are pretty much dead in their organization or in their family.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're basically good leaders, great leaders, are saviors of people around them.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: The people around them recognize that.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: They think of them as their deliverers and as their saviors, and you find Paul saved the lives of numerous prisoners just because of who he was.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the leading person on that ship, the centurion, the godlike figure on that ship, said, Nobody here dies because of that man.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't help thinking, of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: People are drowning, people are dying, people are about to be killed, and so forth, but the captain of the universe, the God of the universe, looks, and in the person of Jesus Christ, he looks at all of the prisoners, he looks at all of these people who don't, you know, believe in him, he sends Jesus down and he says, In the person of Jesus, you have access to salvation, you have access to life.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: These two people, Jesus and Paul.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Paul was a mirror of Jesus.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's books written on how even here Paul is tried the same number of times before the same number of Roman authorities as Jesus was, etc., etc.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you find the same saving messages in both of them.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders save people.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Which is so so appropriate, right?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because here we are at the Lord's table.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Did you all get one of these things?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: So as we celebrate the Lord's table this morning, I want you to picture being on that ship.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to picture yourself being one of the prisoners.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of little, just stick it on here, jump on the water, you'll be fine.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: So your life jacket is Jesus.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: In the person of Jesus, you were about to die, but Jesus came along and God saw Jesus, and because of Jesus, God said, I'm gonna let you live forever.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna have you go down.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then still you're jumping in the water, and you're not sure you can make it because you were sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters, lifted me.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now safe am I.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Think of yourself as first a condemned prisoner and then a drowning swimmer.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: And as you strip this off and take the bread and drink the cup, as Doug will comes out and plays When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Look at Jesus.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look at Paul like Jesus.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Say, thank you, Lord, for saving me.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we certainly do appreciate the greatest leader that the world has ever seen, your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who modeled this kindness and this integrity and this perfection and this courage and this sacrifice for our sake, and because of whom you give us salvation.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Who pulled us out of the waves when we were drowning.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the bread and for the cup, which represent his body and his blood.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
• 36:06
  unknown: Amen.