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Andy Stanley - Leading Through Part 3 Leading With Clarity · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Today, we're in part three of a four part series
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  Speaker 1: we've entitled Leading Through. Leading Through in the subtitle three
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  Speaker 1: Essentials for Navigating Uncertainty. Now, the past several months, I
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  Speaker 1: don't need to tell you this have been challenging for
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  Speaker 1: all of us. That they've been brutal for some of us. Right,
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  Speaker 1: they've been brutal financially, mentally, socially, relationally, and consequently, we're
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  Speaker 1: all trying to pick up the pieces and we're all
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  Speaker 1: trying to move forward the best that we can. But
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  Speaker 1: many of us are responsible for helping other people move
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  Speaker 1: forward as well. Family members, employees, team members of students.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps you feel responsible for entire community. So if you're
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  Speaker 1: a parent, a manager, a business owner, an executive, a teacher,
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  Speaker 1: a city or state official, people are looking to you
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  Speaker 1: for direction, they're looking to you for inspiration, and they're
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  Speaker 1: looking to us for hope. And I don't have to
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  Speaker 1: tell you this. You're a leader. I'm leading under normal
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  Speaker 1: conditions is tough enough, but leading people through what we've
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  Speaker 1: just experienced not for the faint of heart. I won't
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  Speaker 1: tell anyone if you won't. Nobody prepared us for this, right,
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  Speaker 1: We don't have all the answers at least I don't, right,
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  Speaker 1: we don't always know what to do, and if you're
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  Speaker 1: like me, we're kind of making this up as we
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  Speaker 1: go along. I mean, these are uncertain times, but at
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  Speaker 1: some level, uncertainty, uncertainty is a permanent part of life.
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  Speaker 1: And to the point of this series, uncertainty, uncertainty is
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  Speaker 1: why the world needs leaders. It's why your family, it's
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  Speaker 1: why your company, it's why your city needs you. So
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  Speaker 1: in this series, we're discussing three essentials for leading through
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  Speaker 1: disruption and uncertainty. Now, these three leadership principles, they're always important,
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  Speaker 1: but in times like these they're more important than ever.
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  Speaker 1: So we kick things off with a narrative from the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament that kind of gave us the big picture
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  Speaker 1: as it relates to our roles as leaders. We were
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  Speaker 1: reminded that leadership is a stewardship. It's temporary, and we
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  Speaker 1: are accountable. Everybody is acountable to someone for how they
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  Speaker 1: steward or manage their influence. Then, last time, we discussed
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  Speaker 1: the first of our three non negotiables for leading in
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  Speaker 1: times of uncertainty, and we said that every leader, every
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  Speaker 1: leader exercises authority at two levels. We have our positional
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  Speaker 1: authority as boss or manager, or parent or teacher, but
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  Speaker 1: if we've led ourselves well, we also have what we
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  Speaker 1: called moral authority. Moral authority the alignment moral authority is
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  Speaker 1: the alignment between what we say and what we do,
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  Speaker 1: between what we expect of others and what we expect
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  Speaker 1: of ourselves. That provides us with moral authority. It's the
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  Speaker 1: credibility that we earn by walking our talk. It creates credibility,
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  Speaker 1: and credibility creates influence, and in times of uncertainty, influence
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  Speaker 1: is everything, which means gaining and maintaining moral authority is
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  Speaker 1: critical to our ability to lead well when things aren't
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  Speaker 1: going well. Today we're going to talk about the second
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  Speaker 1: of the three Joels, and if I'm honest, I think
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  Speaker 1: this is the most challenging one because today we're going
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  Speaker 1: to talk about providing clarity. Clarity. Now, you know this
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  Speaker 1: leadership for the most part is about taking people on
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  Speaker 1: a journey. But the challenge is that most of the
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  Speaker 1: time we're asking people to follow us to places we've
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  Speaker 1: never been. For example, oh, i've got one. A pandemic
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  Speaker 1: combined with an economic shutdown that's left us teetering on
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  Speaker 1: economic meltdown while navigating social unrest during an election year.
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  Speaker 1: Ever been there before? No, really me either. This is
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  Speaker 1: my first time, and like you, this is my first
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  Speaker 1: time to have to lead through this particular combination of events.
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  Speaker 1: And like many of you, I feel responsible for leading
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  Speaker 1: my family through all of this. Like those of you
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  Speaker 1: who are point leaders, I feel responsible for leading our
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  Speaker 1: five hundred plus staff members through this, and honestly, I
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  Speaker 1: feel some responsibility for leading all of you through this
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  Speaker 1: as well. Now, maybe you had a class on leading
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  Speaker 1: through pandemics and economic shutdowns in grad school, but I didn't.
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  Speaker 1: There aren't any maps, there aren't any instructions. We're on
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  Speaker 1: our own, but we're not alone. We're not alone because
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  Speaker 1: there are people looking to us for direction, reassurance, and hope.
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  Speaker 1: This is the tension. Come on, this is the tension
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  Speaker 1: every single leader lives with. Every father who's lost his job,
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  Speaker 1: every mom who finds herself parenting alone, every small business
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  Speaker 1: owner trying to stay afloat, every manager who senses that
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  Speaker 1: all eyes are on him or her when he or
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  Speaker 1: she walks through the office or signs on to zoom.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're an intuitive leader, and you probably are,
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  Speaker 1: you know that intuitively, the thing that people want from
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  Speaker 1: you most you can't provide because what people want from
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  Speaker 1: you most right now is certainty. People crave certainty. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: here's how we know that. When Paul petiticians are running
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  Speaker 1: for office. What are their stump speeches filled with certainty?
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  Speaker 1: Elect me, and I promise elect me and things will change.
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  Speaker 1: Elect me, and the things that no one else has
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  Speaker 1: been able to get done, I'm going to get them done. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: in our country, the only way to get elected is
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  Speaker 1: to over promise, right, and then when they under deliver,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. We're stuck with them, right, And besides,
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  Speaker 1: it was somebody else's fault. But fortunately for you and
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  Speaker 1: fortunately for me, we're not running for anything. So do
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  Speaker 1: not give into the temptation. We're going to come back
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  Speaker 1: to this. Do not give into the temptation of promising certainty.
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  Speaker 1: You can't deliver on it. You'll just disappoint people. And
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  Speaker 1: the reason you can't provide it is not because you're
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  Speaker 1: not a good leader. You can't provide certainty because certainty
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  Speaker 1: rest in the realm. We have no control over the future.
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  Speaker 1: And if you promise it and you don't provide it,
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  Speaker 1: you will lose credibility, you'll lose trust, and you will
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  Speaker 1: lose influence. And in times of disruption and in times
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  Speaker 1: of uncertainty, the worst thing you can do as a
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  Speaker 1: leader is lose this dynamic trio. So here's the bottom
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  Speaker 1: line for where we're going for the next few minutes.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas you cannot provide certainty, you must you must provide clarity. Parents, leaders, influencers, mayors, senators.
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  Speaker 1: You can be uncertain, you can be uncertain, but you
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  Speaker 1: cannot afford to be unclear. Our mandate as leaders is
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  Speaker 1: to be clear even when things are not certain. Clarity
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  Speaker 1: is honest, and clarity is we're going to discover is enough.
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  Speaker 1: And here's why I say that clarity is actually perceived
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  Speaker 1: as leadership. Clarity is actually experienced as leadership. Clarity in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of uncertainty creates its own influence, its own momentum.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, and you've probably experienced this somewhere along the
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  Speaker 1: way in any group, whether it's a family or a business.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever pays it's the clearest picture of the future and
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  Speaker 1: then provides the clearest instructions on how to get there.
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  Speaker 1: They are ultimately viewed or perceived as the leader because
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  Speaker 1: clarity is perceived as leadership. So if you're at the
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  Speaker 1: helm of an organization or a department or a work group,
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  Speaker 1: you have to be cleared to retain your influence during
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  Speaker 1: times of uncertainty. Positional leadership titles and tenure they really
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  Speaker 1: don't count for much, do they. Clarity wins the day.
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  Speaker 1: People crave certainty, but in times of disruption and uncertainty,
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  Speaker 1: clarity is the next best thing to certainty. In times
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  Speaker 1: of disruption, clarity will suffice. Clarity addresses uncertainty. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: remove it. You can't remove it. But clarity is your
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  Speaker 1: best bet for equipping your families, your coworkers, in our
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  Speaker 1: communities to navigate it. Clarity says this. Clarity says, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what the future holds, but here's what we're
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  Speaker 1: going to do in the meantime. Clarity says, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know what's going to happen, but we're going to prepare
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  Speaker 1: for whatever happens. Clarity says, here's the plan for now,
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  Speaker 1: and we will adjust the plan as circumstances demand. Uncertainty.
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  Speaker 1: Uncertainty is not your enemy, it's your opportunity. It's our
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to lead well. And here's the thing. For some
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  Speaker 1: of you, clarity, Your clarity will actually establish you as
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  Speaker 1: the leader. So be clear even when you're not certain, which,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, is most of the time right now.
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  Speaker 1: One of my two favorite biblical examples of this principle
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  Speaker 1: is found in the Book of Joshua. If you grew
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  Speaker 1: up in church or you know a bit about the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament, Joshua was the one that followed Moses as
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  Speaker 1: the leader of the ancient Hebrew people. The nation of
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  Speaker 1: Israel begins landless and lawless. It was a nation of
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  Speaker 1: slaves and slaved by a pharaoh, but loved and chosen
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  Speaker 1: by Yahweh. So you know the story. God raises up
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  Speaker 1: Moses to face down the Pharaoh. Let my people go.
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  Speaker 1: Remember this story. And finally Pharaoh said, please go. And
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  Speaker 1: then Moses leads the people south to Mount Sinai, where
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  Speaker 1: God gives them their law. Then they go north to
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  Speaker 1: the land that God had promised them, the promised land.
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  Speaker 1: But when they get to the border, they blink, They
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  Speaker 1: lose faith, they lose their nerve because there's way too
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  Speaker 1: much uncertainty. And so for the next forty years, Moses
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  Speaker 1: is forced to leave the nation of Israel around through
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  Speaker 1: the desert, and after pretty much that entire generation dies,
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  Speaker 1: the entire generation that originally exited Egypt. After they're gone,
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  Speaker 1: Moses again leads the people to the Jordan River, the
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  Speaker 1: border between No Man's Land and the Promised Land. But
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  Speaker 1: here's the problem. By now, Moses is a really old
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  Speaker 1: man and the time had come for him to relinquish
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  Speaker 1: his role as point leader. So as the nation prepares
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  Speaker 1: to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, Moses hands
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  Speaker 1: the leadership baton off to Jooshua. But there's a really
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  Speaker 1: big problem. And the problem is this, the leadership environment
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  Speaker 1: had changed dramatically. I mean, Moses had mentored and trained
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  Speaker 1: Joshua in the fine art of wandering. Every single leadership
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  Speaker 1: lesson that Moses handed down to Joshua, it was all
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  Speaker 1: related to successful wandering. For example, wandering one oh one,
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  Speaker 1: follow the cloud, wandering two oh one, proper manna etiquette,
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  Speaker 1: wandering three oh one, snake bite remedies, and it goes
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  Speaker 1: on and on and on. So when Joshua took over,
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  Speaker 1: the days of wandering were over. This was a new day.
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  Speaker 1: It was a brand new leadership context. They were transitioning
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  Speaker 1: from wandering to warring, from wandering around to settling down.
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  Speaker 1: So as Joshua imagine this, as Joshua watches Moses, you know,
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  Speaker 1: shuffle off to die, he felt completely overwhelmed. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he was responsible for an entire nation, thousands of families.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, talk about uncertain So it's no wonder that
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh their Lord spoke these words to Joshua. These were
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  Speaker 1: such powerful, reassuring words. Here's what God says to Joshua
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  Speaker 1: as he stands there, overwhelmed with this new responsibility in
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  Speaker 1: all of the uncertainty that came along with it. God
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  Speaker 1: said this, Have I not commanded you, Joshua, be strong
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  Speaker 1: and be courageous, which I'm tempted to ask, can you
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  Speaker 1: really command someone to be strong? And can you command
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  Speaker 1: some one to be courageous? Well? Apparently so. The implications
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  Speaker 1: are this, Joshua, behave courageously, lead courageously, do not be afraid,
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  Speaker 1: and do not be discouraged. Again, can you command someone
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  Speaker 1: not to be discouraged? Apparently so, to which Joshua probably thought, well,
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  Speaker 1: that's easy for you to say, Lord, right. But the
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  Speaker 1: reason the reason God told Joshua not to be discouraged
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  Speaker 1: was because Joshua was discouraged. And I love the fact
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  Speaker 1: that God told Joshua not to be afraid, because it's
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  Speaker 1: proof that Joshua was in fact afraid, and of course
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  Speaker 1: he was. This was new territory. I mean literally and
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  Speaker 1: figuratively right. Joshua had never done this before. Everything about
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  Speaker 1: this situation reeked of uncertainty. But the Lord wasn't through
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  Speaker 1: and this next part would be repeated many centuries later
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  Speaker 1: to first century followers of Jesus and apparently to us
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  Speaker 1: twenty first century followers as well. This changes everything. Four,
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  Speaker 1: He says, the reason you can be strong and courageous,
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  Speaker 1: and the reason you do not have to be discouraged
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  Speaker 1: is because the Lord, your God, will be with you
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  Speaker 1: wherever you go. Don't miss this. The basis of Joshua's
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  Speaker 1: courage was not his ability to predict or forecast the future,
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  Speaker 1: and neither is yours, moms, dads, owners, operators. The basis
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  Speaker 1: of his courage. The basis the foundation of his leadership
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  Speaker 1: was the presence of God. Now, what happens next is
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  Speaker 1: one of the reasons this is one of my favorite
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  Speaker 1: stories as it relates to this principle. What happens next
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  Speaker 1: is so instructive, it is so relevant to all of us.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Joshua did next. Look at this. So Joshua
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  Speaker 1: ordered the officers of the people. Because the people were
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  Speaker 1: divided up into groups, and each group had an officer.
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  Speaker 1: So Joshua ordered the officers of the people. And what
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  Speaker 1: he didn't order them to do, and what he didn't
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  Speaker 1: say to them is as instructive is what he did
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  Speaker 1: order and what he did say. What he didn't say
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  Speaker 1: was this, Hey, now that I'm in charge, nothing to
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  Speaker 1: worry about. He didn't say that. He didn't say this,
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  Speaker 1: rest assured everything's going to work out fine. He did
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  Speaker 1: not predict the future. He didn't give them what they
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  Speaker 1: wanted certainty. He knew better. He couldn't provide certainty. So
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  Speaker 1: don't miss this. He provided the next best thing, clarity.
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  Speaker 1: He gave them something to do. He gave them something
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  Speaker 1: to do immediately. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people.
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  Speaker 1: He said, go through the camp and tell the people,
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  Speaker 1: get your provisions ready. And then he anchored their attention
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  Speaker 1: to the next thing they would do and exactly where
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  Speaker 1: they would do it. Three days from now. This is
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  Speaker 1: so amazing. Three days from now, you will cross the
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  Speaker 1: Jordan River right here, to go in and to take
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  Speaker 1: possession of the land the Lord, your God is giving
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  Speaker 1: you for your own. Now. It does not get any
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  Speaker 1: clearer or any more specific than that, right, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't get any clearer than that, collect your stuff, pack
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  Speaker 1: some lunches, and three days, not one day, not two days,
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  Speaker 1: not four days, and three days. We are crossing the
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  Speaker 1: Jordan River. And we are crossing the Jordan River right here. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Of course they're thinking, wait a minute, wait, wait, how
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  Speaker 1: are we going to get all the these people across
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  Speaker 1: the Jordan River. Joshua was like, hey, and three days
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  Speaker 1: show up right here, we're crossing the river. Yeah, but
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  Speaker 1: once we're across the river, you know, what are we
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  Speaker 1: gonna do? Then? Hey, three days show up. We're crossing
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  Speaker 1: the Jordan River. Our parents and our grandparents said there
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  Speaker 1: are giants in the land, to which Joshua would have replied, look, look,
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  Speaker 1: pack your stuff. In three days, we're crossing the Jordan River.
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  Speaker 1: And we're crossing the Jordan River right here. Clarity in
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  Speaker 1: the face of overwhelming uncertainty. Everybody knew their assignment, everybody
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  Speaker 1: knew the time frame, and everybody knew what to do next,
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  Speaker 1: But nobody knew what was going to happen, including Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: including you. Right, It's like it's like driving on a
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  Speaker 1: deserted road late at night, and the only way to
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  Speaker 1: know what's up ahead is to keep driving. It's like
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  Speaker 1: driving on a deserted road at night with your headlights
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  Speaker 1: on and the only way to know what's up ahead
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  Speaker 1: is to keep moving forward. That's your job. That's my job,
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  Speaker 1: my friends. That is leadership. And during times of uncertainty,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of clarity is more important than ever because
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  Speaker 1: because if you are unable or if you are unwilling
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  Speaker 1: to be clear when things are uncertain, you will contribute
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  Speaker 1: to the uncertainty. In times of disruption, people need to
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  Speaker 1: know that somebody has a plan, and if that somebody
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  Speaker 1: is you, give people something to do, give them something
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  Speaker 1: to do now, and give them give them something to
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  Speaker 1: do next. Don't pretend, I mean this is huge. Don't
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  Speaker 1: pretend you know more than you do. It's always tempting
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  Speaker 1: as a leader to pretend that we know more than
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  Speaker 1: we do. Right, when people are looking to you for hope,
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  Speaker 1: it's always tempting to pretend, right, That's always a mistake.
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  Speaker 1: Don't pretend you're not a leader. You're not a leader
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  Speaker 1: because you know everything. Omniscience is not a freerequisite to
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  Speaker 1: leadership or parenting, although in parenting it would certainly come
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  Speaker 1: in handy sometimes right. But clarity is an essential. Be
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  Speaker 1: honest and hopeful. Be honest and hopeful. You can be
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  Speaker 1: honest about what you don't know and clear at the
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  Speaker 1: same time. Besides, the sharp people around you, come on,
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  Speaker 1: They're going to know when you're bluffing. Pretend to know
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  Speaker 1: more than you do, and you will lose credibility. And again,
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  Speaker 1: that's the last thing you want to lose when trying
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  Speaker 1: to navigate your family, your community, the folks at work
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  Speaker 1: through a season of uncertainty. The truth is pretending. Pretending
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  Speaker 1: always erodes credibility quicker than admitting you don't know. Pretending
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  Speaker 1: always erodes credibility quicker than even admitting that you don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Uncertainty exposes a lack of knowledge, but pretending pretending exposes
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  Speaker 1: a lack of character. Pretending to know when you don't
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  Speaker 1: know is a sign of insecurity. Saying I don't know
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  Speaker 1: when you don't know, that's good leadership. In fact, you
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  Speaker 1: actually gain rather than lose and by expressing your lack
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  Speaker 1: of certainty, you give the people around you permission to
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  Speaker 1: do the same thing. You send them an extremely important message.
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  Speaker 1: In this family and this organization, it's okay not to know.
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  Speaker 1: It is not okay to pretend to know when you don't.
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  Speaker 1: So be honest and hopeful. Be honest and hopeful, be
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  Speaker 1: realistic and reassuring, and be candid and be clear. My
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  Speaker 1: brother in law is a successful real estate agent here
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  Speaker 1: in the Atlanta area, actually a successful broker in the
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  Speaker 1: Atlanta area and up around Lake Burton, and his parents.
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  Speaker 1: This is amazing. I've known Rob for a long long time.
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  Speaker 1: His parents actually started their company seventy two years ago.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing. Right when Rob first got into the business
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  Speaker 1: with his parents, his mom gave him some really, really
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  Speaker 1: good advice. She said, Rob, never pretend to know more
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  Speaker 1: than you do when you're selling a house or showing
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  Speaker 1: someone in a house. And this she gave him a statement,
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's a perfect example of confidence in
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  Speaker 1: the face of uncertainty. She said, Rob, when somebody ask
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  Speaker 1: you a question and you don't know the answer, get
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  Speaker 1: in the habit of saying this, I don't know, but
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  Speaker 1: I will certainly find out. I don't know, but I
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  Speaker 1: will certainly find out. You see, I will follow a
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  Speaker 1: leader who doesn't know, but who is committed to finding out,
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  Speaker 1: and so will you. But I'll hesitate to follow someone
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  Speaker 1: who pretends to know. So acknowledge the uncertainty and then
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  Speaker 1: point to the future with confidence, say things like this,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know right now. I don't know right now,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: but I am confident we can figure this out together.
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  Speaker 1: Say things like this, we've come on. We've never faced
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: anything like this before. But with God's help and with
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: your talent, I'm not worried. I don't know. I don't
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: know when we're going to open our doors again. But
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, here are three things we can do,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and we can do now. Our role as leaders come on.
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  Speaker 1: Our role as leaders is to do all we can
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  Speaker 1: to ensure the people around us whom were following us,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: don't lose home, that they don't despair. But at the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: same time, we have to refuse to pull any punches
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  Speaker 1: as it relates to the reality that we're in. The
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: reality of the situation. We have to face, as we've
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: talked about before, the brutal facts, and that's difficult if
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: your personality and your temperament sets you up to kind
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: of be all sunshine and roses and you know, kind
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of dance around the brutal facts, you set people up
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: for disappointment. Right on the other hand, if you're more
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: like me that you have a tendency to want to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: bury people under the facts and the statistics and the
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: forecast and woe is me, you leave people with no
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: option but despair. But if we will stand in the middle,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: if we're willing to rein in that part of our
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: temperament and our personalities that tends to go one way
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: or the other and offer hope rooted in reality, then
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: you've done your family. You've done your community a great service.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: You've led well. You've provided clarity in the midst of uncertainty.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: So face the brutal facts and then people something to do.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Be clear even when you're not certain. And one last
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: thing on this, please please do not be too proud
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to seek wise counsel. Okay, this is important. Leadership is
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: not all about simply making decisions on your own. It's
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: not about making decisions on your own. Leadership is about
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: owning decisions once you make them. So if you don't know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: ask and in times of uncertainty, come on, we don't know,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: so ask. In nineteen nineteen ninety five, after Sandra and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I decided that we wanted to stay in the Atlanta
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: area and start a new church, I went to see
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: my friend Ron Blue to get his advice. Now, I've
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: mentioned Ron before in this series, and one of the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: reasons I chose Ron is because he knows the right
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and oftentimes inconvenient, uncomfortable questions to ask. So after I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: went through my speel about why I wanted to start
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: a new church in a town full of churches, he
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: looked at me and he smiled, and he said three
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: words that Well, these were the three words that I
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: needed most to hear. Here's what he said. I'll never
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: forget this. He smiled, He looked at me, and he said, Andy,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that's good thinking. That's good thinking. And I can't tell
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you what those words did for me in that moment,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: but I can tell you what these words didn't do
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: for me in that moment. They did not remove the uncertainty,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: but they did strengthen my resolve to move ahead in
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: spite of the uncertainty. So when you don't know, seek
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: out some people who might know. They may not have answers,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: but they may have insight. And oftentimes, especially during disruption
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: and uncertainty, insight is enough. It's enough to keep you
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: moving forward, and it's enough to keep you moving to
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: people who are following you forward as well. Once again,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: you can't provide certainty, but we can provide clarity. And
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: in times of disruption and in times of uncertainty, clarity
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: is enough. It is the next best thing to certainty.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Uncertainty come on. Uncertainty will not be your undoing as
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: a leader, as a father, as a mother. However, your
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: inability or your unwillingness to be clear and to give
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: clear directives in the midst of uncertainty, that may very
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: well be your undoing. So be clear, be clear, even
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: when you are not certainty. Clarity is leadership. People will
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: follow you in spite of a few bad decisions, but
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: people will not follow you if you are unclear. And
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the reason they won't follow you if you're unclear is
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: not because they don't want to, it's because they can't. Now.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I mentioned a minute ago that one of my two
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: favorite stories as it relates to this principle, was the
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: story of Joshua. I like to close with my other
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: favorite story as it relates to this principle. This one
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: is more familiar. After Jesus rose from the dead, there
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: was still a great deal of confusion and uncertainty about
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: what would come next. In fact, his disciples straight up
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: ask him, what's coming next? You know, are you going
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to establish a kingdom? Is this the thing we've all
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: been waiting for? Is this the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies?
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, what's next? And from our vantage point, if
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: you think about it, from our vantage point, we can
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: understand how it would have been impossible. It would have
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: been impossible for Jesus to explain what came next. So
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: instead he gave them something to do, and they did it,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: and we are the result of it. They moved forward
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: in spite of unimaginable uncertainty, fueled by these parting words
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. And here's the thing. This is so emotional
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: for me. Their obedience did nothing to diminish the uncertainty,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: but their obedience to this to do list changed the world.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: You'll remember this if you grew up in church. And
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: then Jesus came to them and he said all authority
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: in heaven and hon oorth has been given to me
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: all authority. Therefore, here's what I want you to do.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I want you to go and I want you to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: make followers or disciples of all nations. I want you
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to make followers of me from people all over the world.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I want you to baptize them, and I want you
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to baptize them in the name of the Father and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then I want
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: you to do something else. And then I want you
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: to teach them and to obey everything I have commanded you.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: In other words, it is more important. It is more
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: important for you to know what to do than it
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: is for you to understand what's going to happen. It
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: was more important for them to know what to do
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: than it was for them to understand what was going
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to happen. And then Jesus said, oh, and one other
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: thing I almost forgot, as was the case with Joshua.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: And surely I am with you all the way to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the very end of the age. And he was, and
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: they did, and we're the proof. So mom, Dad, owner, manager, boss, coach,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: elected official. You cannot provide certainty. Don't even try what
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: you can provide. What you must provide, especially in times
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: like these, is clarity. In times like these, clarity is
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the next best thing to certainty. So be clear even
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: when you're not certain, and we'll pick it up there
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: next time. In Part four of Leading Through,