You Are a Leader
Pastor Dan preached, again, from Nehemiah yesterday. The message was about leadership. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as a leader, but everyone is a leader, whether they think so or not. Husbands are leaders to their wives. Parents are leaders to their children. Friends are leaders to one another. Bosses are leaders to their employees. Teachers are leaders to their students. The list goes on and on.
Now that you know you are a leader, let’s look at what “being a good leader” looks like, according to Pastor Dan’s message from Nehemiah 5:1-18.
Leaders face crisis instead of avoiding it. Leaders take risks instead of playing it safe. Leaders defend those on the fringe instead of the favorites.
Pastor Dan also pointed out that Nehemiah realized that he was doing the same thing he was calling others out for, and he confessed this in Nehemiah 5:10. “For even I, my brothers, and my servants are doing the same. Let us stop exacting on the people.”
In Nehemiah’s confession, he shows that “leaders own up instead of covering up”.
Authentic Leaders:
• Are open about their weaknesses.
• Is someone people relate to.
• Provide a model for what people aspire to be and a guide on how to get there.
• They hold a higher loyalty with their followers because they are one of them.
Isolation is not healthy for a leader. You should not give people orders then go off by yourself for a long period of time. You may have to go off on your own for a short period of time on occasion, but do not isolate yourself because good leaders lead with people instead of isolating.
What Good Leaders Do:
• Leaders own up, instead of covering up.
• Leaders lead with people, instead of isolating.
• Leaders focus on the mission instead of the perks (what’s in it for them).
Philippians 2:4-8 shows us how Christ proved to be a good leader:
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!
As you consider your own role of leadership, here is your challenge: Leading by character gains influence.