Leadership 2.0

 Leadership 2.0

Topic of Discussion Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Takeaways from Genesis 1:1

• God loves at all times

• God made away

Applying Genesis 1:1 to Leadership

• What do we do when we feel like no one is listening, no one cares, no one is responding to anything & we basically have to pull teeth to get anything done.

• God will always provide us with everything we need 

In Leadership 1.0 we learned about God creating everything, God always having us on His mind even before He created the first star. How He had a plan and looked ahead before He ever did anything and how we can apply that to leadership. So in 2.0, let's dive a little deeper into Genesis 1:1 and look at two more things and how they can be applied to leadership. The first thing: God loves at all times. So how can we find this in Genesis 1:1? It doesn’t say it anywhere. How do we know God loves at all times from Genesis 1:1? I think the best way to find this is again looking at the word CREATED. Thinking about what we learned about the word CREATED from 1.0 and knowing that before God created anything, He looked ahead and already made a plan should prove that God loves at all times that in order for God to create something so incredible as planet earth that it would be able to sustain life no matter what was done to it or on it from beginning to end should give us all the proof we need. But just in case we need more proof, let's look at ourselves. What does the bible say about us? It says in Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image in the image of God, He created Him, male and female, He created them.” It says in Jeremiah 17:9 that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” and then in Romans 7:24-25 it says “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord. Huh?! So we are created in the image of God, our hearts are deceitful above all things, and we can’t wait to leave these bodies we are in on this earth. Are we some kind of walking contradiction or something? No, but what I didn’t add in here is what God didn’t either when He began to make the plans to create the heavens and the earth. You see God so desperately wanted to prove to us that from beginning to end from infinite to infinite He loves us that before we and the earth were ever created, God put a plan in motion so that when we got side tracked, we took our eyes of Him, we got lead astray to a place that we couldn’t see or hear Him, we got told a lie, and then made a mistake that would cost us our very lives, that we couldn’t come back from, that no one on this planet could ever overcome or outrun, God had already made a plan for that. That plan consisted of that even though we were the ones that made the mistake which we know as sin, God was not gonna let that stand in the way of Him loving us. God is not able to look at sin so instead of Him destroying us, He put a plan in motion before the beginning of the creation of this world that when we did sin, He would still be able to love us and that our mistake would not have to cost us everything but in turn would cost Him everything just to prove to us that He loves us. It says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him would not die but live forever.” WoW! That is incredible! What a loving God we serve! I do think this is all the proof we need Amen?!

So how can we use this in leadership? I’m so glad you asked, so one way we can use this in leadership is when we as leaders get caught up in our thoughts and in our feelings. Some of those thoughts we may think and feel from time to time are: I feel like no one on the team is listening, no one cares, no one is responding to anything, we may feel like we have poured our hearts and souls into this team and ministry, and we  may feel like we are still having to pull teeth to get anything done. We may feel like our best is not good enough. So what do we do in these situations? We may ask ourselves is it the team's fault? Is it my fault? Am I a crappy leader? What am I doing wrong? Maybe we are wondering if it’s time to throw in the towel and pass this thing off to someone who is better equipped and qualified than we are. I mean after all I'm just a volunteer. I don’t get paid to do this job. I don’t have a degree to this job, so why am I here? These are all questions and thoughts that every leader of anything will at some point in time have towards their team and themselves. So what do we do? How can we shut these thoughts and questions up in our minds before they have a chance to reach our hearts and souls? Remember what I told you in 1.0  about how important it is to bathe everything in scripture? This is one of those times as a leader where if we are not prayed up and in our word, we will end up speaking louder than God and end up making a great big mess and if we’re not careful will end up losing the respect of our team which is far worse than losing our team altogether. So what do we do? Well there are several things we can do and the first one is to be still and be quiet. We must make sure God speaks louder than us! We need to keep our mouths shut and don’t make a move regarding our team or ministry until our hearts, souls, and minds have had the chance to listen to God, not just merely hear Him. James 1:19 says “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God”. The next thing to understand is to remember that this is not our team or ministry, it is God’s. I know I said this in 1.0  but I am saying it again. When we understand this, we also understand that we can ask God what is the best way to run and lead His team. Next is understanding that the people on the team and ministry don't understand the load that we are carrying. We can try to get them to understand until we are blue in the face but they will never fully understand because God didn’t put them in charge. God put us in charge. God didn’t give them the vision of where the team or ministry is going. He gave us that vision. He didn’t ask them to protect the vision and the team and ministry. He asked us to do that. So when we see the situation from this perspective, it makes a little more sense why the people on the team and ministry don’t carry it as close to their heart as we do. However this perspective rarely makes us feel better. And this leads me into the next two things I want to talk about which are God made a way and God will provide us with everything we need.

Isaiah 43:19 says “God will make away where there seems to be no way.” Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” and then Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, they are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Now I could stop right here but let me speak on this for just a minute. God will and has already made away and God has already provided us with everything we will ever need to do what He is asking and calling us to do. We just need to always keep our minds, ears, eyes, and hearts turned and focused to Him. That means reading your bible. Praying. Having someone in leadership that we can talk to that has already been where we are that can talk us off our ledge and take us to Jesus when we’ve gotten lost in the midst of all our doubts and questions. And remember in all things in regards to any and everyone on our team and in our ministry that “love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.” 1Corinthians 13:4-8.