Run With Horses

Spiritual Leadership Might Not Be What You Think It Is!

 
Jesus and parables : Man who found treasure in a field , reburied it , IN HIS JOY sold all that he had, and then bought the field. Which one is most meaningful to you? Why? Let me know at talk@runwithhorses.net Is it possible you could have a chance to share it with someone this week?
 
Spiritual leadership is not what you think it is!
 
What?
What do you think of when someone says, “leadership” or “leader”?
Where does that c ome from? Maybe the business world? Military? Sports?
Characteristics of a worldly leader – commanding presence, big personality, has the answers, limits their focus to the big picture and important work, is out front, seen in action by others, the face of the organization.
How does that image compare with the life of Jesus, He was definitely a leader!
Where traditional leaders are expected to lead from a position of strength, Jesus lead from a position of truth, cushioned with grace and humility. Don’t mistake that for weakness!
He always did the right thing at the right time in the right way. He looked for where the Father was working and joined Him there. He lead with a heart of compassion that never avoided the difficult conversations because they were uncomfortable.
 
 
Why?
Biblical spiritual leadership is important! And it is missing from many of our homes, churches and communities.
A spiritual leader is a beacon of light in any environment, bringing God into every situation. All of life has a spiritual component, even if many refuse to acknowledge it.
God gives us all a degree of spiritual influence that we should intentionally use in the mission of Christ on earth. That is the purpose of the church and ultimately our lives. Using our influence to lead people towards reconciliation with God is the way that we glorify Him. Our gifts serve the purpose of building up His church so that it can accomplish this great task. The Holy Spirit works in us towards maturity so that we will not remain infants but mature in the Word and our ability to apply it to our own life and lead others to understand and apply it to their lives. This is spiritual leadership. This is the life of every follower of Jesus. This is what it means to be a disciple maker.
 
How to?
Bring the attitude of Jesus into every relationship. Mercy, grace, and humility mark the life of a Biblical leader.
Keep the main thing the main thing. We can easily get distracted by arguments that lead nowhere. Learn to lean on the spirit and recognize where God is working. Love others first. Be quick to repent and confess your own mistakes. Go the extra mile to put others first. Serving others is the path to influence in their lives and will open doors for the big conversations.
Don’t be afraid to lose face or to fail. Ultimately God wins! Live like you believe that.
If you have biblical priorities and your life and conversations reflect that, you will have a chance to speak to those around you because of the difference in your life and theirs. Be ready to give an answer. (NOTE: The questions only come if you actually live different than those around you!)
 
Where do you have spiritual influence? How are you using it now? How can you use it better?
There is value and meaning in every relationship that God gives you. Be a spiritual leader in every area of life and give God the glory.
 
 

How is your Influence?

How is your Influence?
 
If Christianity is about relationships, maybe you can say that disciple making is about influence.
How is yours?
 
Start at home.
Spouse
Kids
Extended family
Friends
Neighbors
Co-workers
 
What are we talking about?
Living a life of intentional relationships. Like all else in the life of a disciple, the focus is to glorify God in all we do and say. Disciple making is to a large extent about conversations. Relationships are built on both life experience together and what we talk about as we go through them with others. To glorify God is to be intentional in our conversations. What do you usually talk about with those around you in the many different contexts of your life? What would it take to include your spiritual life in those relationships?
Get to know people and consider how to spur them on toward love and good works.
 
Why is this so important?
You have a network of relationships that God has given you. What are you doing with them?
To be a disciple maker is to be intentional with our relationships. To Love people is to want their best. Their best is to be a devoted follower of Jesus engaged in His mission to reconcile the world to God.
This is God’s plan for the world and for the church. People investing in people for the glory of God. People using their gifts to build up His church. This is God’s plan A to reach the world and there is no plan B.
If you aren’t willing to have a spiritual conversation with others who will?
 
How do you life a life of intentional relationships?
Like just about everything else in life start with prayer.
Begin praying specifically for the people around you. Who are you near each day? How can you use your gifts to encourage and help them to follow Jesus? What does that look like?
From Praying move on to considering specific actions and conversations that will move you both toward Jesus. Being intentional means planning and preparing to have those valuable conversations.
It might be an invitation to read the bible together or a light conversation about something God has been teaching you recently.
Talk to other believers around you about your desire to grow spiritually. Often this can be the catalyst for others to consider their own spiritual life and habits. Be the spark plug who energizes others toward spiritual change. Refuse to accept stagnation in yourself and you will encourage others to grow as well.
 
 
 

Believing, Being and Doing - Truth, Character and Actions

Life has a purpose – To glorify God. God gives us a LOT of information about how we can do that as we live a life in relationship with His church and attempt to carry out His command to make disciples.
 
Practically living out your purpose has three main parts, Believing, ,Being and Doing.
What you believe will impact how you understand your purpose and how you view yourself in the world. Who you are will impact your ability to live out what you believe about your purpose. What you do each day is the result of your beliefs carried out through the filter of your personality and gifts.
 
Believe -
How do you determine truth?
What is your theology? Foundation for thinking about God, Life, Purpose, Truth
This is your thinking – intentional, deep consideration of truth as well as the beliefs that you pick up from pop culture, things you assume to be true even though you haven’t examined them yourself.
 
 
Be -
Who are you? What kind of person are you? Character traits and personality as well as practical skills.
You are changing over time. Are you growing and intentionally applying yourself to be a better person, however you define it (belief system)? Are you stagnant, the same person you were 10 years ago, just older? How will you be remembered when you are gone?
 
 
Do -
What are you doing? What actions characterize your life? What habits have you developed over time? Are they mostly intentional or just the result of defaulting to the easy path?
You will do something with your life. How will it be talked about at your funeral? How will God judge your life’s actions?

Where are you going?

23_03_02_wed show notes
 
What are you aiming for?
 
As a Christian we are on a journey. Do you know where you are going? Who is leading the way?How do you determine what to do? Who are you becoming?
 
What?
Direction, aim, purpose, goal – Everyone in world talk about this – meaning to life, goals, etc.
 
Why?
It’s valuable to think about who you’re becoming. You make choices, and your understanding of your goal or purpose affects your decisions. If you don’t have a goal, your choices will be random. If you have a clear understanding of why you’re here, you can make decisions easier. It gives you a reason how to evaluate this choice over that one. Are you moving closer to your aim or not? Choices are related to your purpose. Does this choice move me closer to my goal or farther away?
 
How to?
1. What does the Bible say?
Clear goal of becoming like Jesus. Master and disciple. What kind of person to become.
Who to BE – character traits – patience, kindness, love
-- You could take the Bible out of context, use it to justify what you want to do, make a lesser issue into a major one and lose sight of what’s really important.
 
2. How did God make you?
God has given you concrete gifts – Musical? Not? If not, you won’t be an effective singer! This helps determine how your purpose is played out. Still should be humble, patient, etc., but your path is different.
 
-- Understanding this can help you not to compare yourself with others (I’m better; I’m worse.)
 
3. The church family – around you. You don’t exist in a vacuum. God gave you abilities, your church family has needs. Depending on who you’re around affects your understanding of your purpose. Practical application of what God has given you, to meet needs around you.
 
-- Depending on your church, you may be called to help in a totally different way than if you attended a different church with different needs or ministries or members. (lots of foreigners? Elderly? Children? Special needs?)
 
Examples:
-- Norman didn’t let kids go to Japanese preschool, saw bigger picture. Won’t help us in our parenting endeavor.
-- Random choices can lead you into a corner… feel lost. Have no way to evaluate what’s good, better, or best.
 

A Disciple Maker Needs People

Foundational Relationships for a Disciple Maker
Christianity is about relationships.
 
 
We need to be around people on the same journey. Co-workers in the harvest field.
Why? Encouragement and support.
Where do you find them? Hopefully in your church family!
What kind of relationship do you have? Deep friendship based on mutual foundation of Christ and commitment to His mission.
 
We need to be around people who are new to the journey and those who haven’t started it yet.
Why? These are disciples and future disciples of Jesus. These are the two groups of people we focus on pouring our lives into.
 
What do we mean by people new to the journey?
How do we connect with them?Where do we meet them? What do we do with them? Teach them to do what you do!
Goal is to help them be disciple makers.
 
What about those who haven’t started yet?
Where do we meet them?
What do we do with them?
 
We need to be around people who are more mature and further along the road to Christ-likeness than we are.
Why? We see area that we need to address in our own lives and are challenged to grow.
Humilty.

Serving Others - A Key to Spiritual Growth

Serving Others – A  Key for Spiritual Growth
Why?Part of spiritual maturity is considering others better than ourselves. Serving them is one way that that is done. It requires humility.Serving others uses our spiritual gifts to build up the church.Serving requires some degree of sacrifice on your part. You build new patterns and behavi ors that aren’t natural to the flesh. Who?All believers! If you are a follower of Jesus you have the opportunity and responsibility to serve His church.
How?Be early when the church meets. Showing up late is disrespectful to others as well as often misses crucial times of fellowship and connecting with people.
Smith Family return to USA!

Why Do We Need The Church?

Why The Church?
God knows we need each other.
. For Fellowship
. For Encouragement
. For Direction . For Spiritual Growth – we challenge each other
. For Physical Support/ Help
. For a Testimony To The World – they see our relationship
. For the Mission

Preparing Your Mind For Church!

Prepare your mind for church
 
Church = a diverse group of people at various stages along the way in their spiritual journey toward Christ-likeness.
 
We often have different ideas about what it means to get together with the church. Some of us just want to sing and lift our voice in praise. Others are hurting and just want God’s comfort. Some come just for the time to talk to other believers and share how God is working in their lives. There are as many reasons and ways to show up as there are people in the building!
 
You want to show up to fellowship with your church and focus your heart and mind on Christ as you worship Him. In reality, if you are a mature disciple of Jesus, committed to His church and the mission take the Gospel to all people, your church gathering is a time to use your gifts to encourage, build up and support your church family.
Worship? Absolutely! By humbly submitting ourselves to serving the people that Jesus died to save.
Worship? Absolutely? By submitting our needs to God and turning our thoughts to helping others who are wandering, hurting and needing a friend.
 
Our worship is not hindered by others but magnified as we have the opportunity to live out the truth we believe and practice the unity that the Holy Spirit gives.
 
Good questions to ask about your church family
1. Who are these people? Background, education, skills, struggles, family life, work and hobbies
How well do you know them?
2. Where are these people on the journey? Spiritual maturity, awareness and use of spiritual gifts, how well do they serve each other? How do they connect with the surrounding community and love their neighbors?
3. Is the church on Mission? How aware are they of the call to be and make disciples? Are most people involved in disciple making ministry? Is the church unified around Jesus and what He is doing to reconcile man with God? Is there an outward focus?
4. What is your role in this church? What are your spiritual gifts? How can you use them to build up this group of believers as they carry out the Great Commission? Who can you serve?
 
If you ask and answer these kinds of questions, you can now pray specifically about your unique fellowship with your church. You are called and equipped to serve HERE with these people. Pray about the details! Focus and what you can do to live out the life of Christ in this fellowship.

How Do You Go To Church?

How do you go to church?
Your attitude makes a difference!Many people go to church to be refreshed from the challenges of the week. For fellowship and encouragement, for a good bible challenge and inspiration to make it through another week. All good. 
But there is more to it than that. The church family is not about you. God uses it to change you and to carry out his mission of reconciliation with the world. He is at the center. He leads His church.
Humility is important. Part of having the mind of Christ.Give up trying to control God’s church and let Him lead it. Surrender your will to Him and pursue becoming the person He is making you. 
Humility is needed to prepare out heart to be changed by the Holy Spirit.From reading the NT is obvious that unity is important to God. The goal of the church is to have unity as we carry out the mission of Christ.
We should daily be approaching God and His Word with a desire to be changed. That means seeing ourselves as He does. Letting go of our wants and desires and submitting ourselves to His will. This is a life of denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. Not pursue your passion until you get what you want. Surrender your passion to Jesus and let Him change it to worship.  How do you go to church?Other people are there, surprise surprise! What do you do with that fact? How do you approach them? The church gathering IS NOT ABOUT YOU.It is foremost about God. Give Him first place on that day at that time along with every day and all your time.But people are there. Inconvenient I know. But what do you do with the fact that these are people God loves, Jesus died for and He has gifted you to serve?
Consider others better than yourselves. Phil 2:3
Genuinely strive to love the church. People are not always/usually easy to love. They have bad habits, many are immature, hypocrites abound – and that is just in the leadership of the church!But God calls you to love them and gifts you to serve them. 
Pray for a real desire to help your church family grow. Really consider how you can serve the people in your church. Prayer is great, always pray for them, but you need a real relationship and time with them to get to know them and their struggles. Care about them, care for them.
Real humility will allow you to get together with your church family and serve them as you worship God. Serving His family is PART of worshiping Him.
This week, examine your heart first. Approach God with humility and a desire to be like Him. Get together with His family joyfully, with a heart to serve and love these people God is changing to be like Jesus, one day at a time.And give thanks!

You CAN Lead A Bible Study

You CAN Lead A Bible Study - A small group of people studying and learning together provide encouragement and accountability.
How to?Pray. Specifically for yourself – humble, teachable, Spirit’s leading you, motives.Pray for wisdom for who to invite, what mix of people.Pray for the timing of when to start.Pray for the first passages you’ll study. (https://www.dbsguide.org/ for a guide and some recommended passages)Ask your church family, Christian friends to pray for you as you prepare.Pray about the length of time for this initial study. Goal is 6 months to a year.Pray about other leaders who will grasp the vision of every church member being a disciple-maker and leading Bible studies.
Pick a date to begin. Invite friend(s). Determine the location. Determine how often you’ll meet. Weekly or biweekly is best. Pick an easy spot to use based on who will be part of the study. 
If you’re more of an introvert, you’ll have different issues to deal with than if you’re an extrovert.(here is an overview of the DiSC profiles; https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/disc-styles). Know yourself, your tendencies, and the value of engaging each person directly with God’s Word themselves.
Discovery Bible study gathering format
I. Welcome and Introductions – How are you and how was your week?Use questions like these to build relationship and get to know each other:    • What are you thankful for this week?     • What are you concerned or worried about?     • Who needs our help? How do we help them? II. Review Last Meeting    • Have someone retell the lesson from the previous meeting.     • What did you do differently because of this lesson?     • Who did you tell and how did they respond? III. Read & Re-tell the new passage    • Have one person reads the Bible passage out loud.     • Have someone else retell the passage by memory. Once they finish or get stuck others can help fill in the details. IV.. Look and Understand – What is God telling us here?    • Read the passage again.     • Discuss what this passage says about God, Jesus, or His work in the world. V. Look again and dig deeper.    • Read the passage once more.     • Discuss what this passage says about or to humans. VI. Respond    • According to this passage, what am I doing right?     • What do I need to change? VII. Who can I share this with?    • Who else needs to hear this lesson?     • How and when can I tell them?     • Who can I invite to study the Bible? A similar format along with recommended first Bible passages to start with can be found here:   Discovery Bible Study Guide - https://www.dbsguide.org/
You can do it!