The Presbyter's Page
Electronic Edition – October 2001
Original articles published August 1996
Section 12 - LA
District UPCI
Donald Bryan - Presbyter
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Sermon Thought: “Restoring
The Dream"
The Top
Ten Mistakes Leaders Make
How to Get
Moving When You're Running Out of Gas
Sermon Thought:
“Restoring
The Dream”
II Kings 4:8-20
"And
it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and
she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by,
he turned in thither to eat bread. And
she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of
God, which passeth by us continually.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set
for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall
be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”
"And
it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay
there. And he said to Gehazi his
servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before
him. And he said unto him, Say now unto
her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be
done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of
the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. And he said, What then is to be done for
her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.”
"And
he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to
the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou
man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had
said unto her, according to the time of life."
"And
when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to
the reapers. And he said unto his
father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him
to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died."
Everyone has had dreams and visions of things you hoped for or wanted. Dreams give hope for the future. Dreams direct and keep a person motivated. Most of a person’s dreams will pass but there always seems to be one that you really wish would happen. Whether it was to have Godly children, a revival church or a saved family, these dreams you really want.
But have you ever gotten something you wanted and then lost it? The dream was taken away. Perhaps the dream was a child that backslid, a home that fell apart or an intimacy with God that was lost. Then you became a member of the Shattered Dreams Club. Shattered dreams destroy hope. In Luke 24:17, the disciples were sad or depressed. Why? They had seen Jesus crucified. “We had hoped that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” They had their dreams destroyed.
In II Kings 4, the Shunammite woman was a great woman who loved God. But she was barren. She obviously had had a secret desire to have a child. But she had concluded the dream would never come. Her dream had died.
The prophet stands before her with a fresh Word. “You will have a child.” She was so shattered she couldn’t believe the Word of God. “Don’t lie to me.”
The restoration of a dream starts with realizing where the dream started unraveling. Satan always aims his weapons at your faith. Satan may not erase your knowledge of Jesus, but he will bump you enough to derail your faith. Lost faith turns into unbelief. And God’s biggest problem is with unbelief. But you’ve been given the promise! And although every dream goes through three stages – death, burial, and resurrection – it will live!
The Shunammite woman has the child. The child grows up. But then the old fears come back. The son dies at high noon. While everyone else’s world is shining, her dream is dying. Her faith plunged to the bottom again. Although she was a woman of faith, she had doubts. We let the devil condemn us because of doubt. The problem with doubt is not so much that it limits God, but it often keeps us from asking God. For instance, the prayer meeting in Acts 12 for Peter’s deliverance was full of doubt. They couldn’t believe God answered, even when Peter stood at the door. But, even with doubt, they kept asking.
So, the Shunammite woman’s son is dead. What do you do? You go back to where the dream started. She laid the son in the prophet’s little chamber, saddled the donkey and goes to the prophet. And here is where the difference lies. Can you go back to God now? Where will you turn? When your dream has died again, do you still have faith? What do you do? Speak the promise again. Even if you don’t feel it. Even if you have doubt. When you’re down, watch what you speak. In Numbers 14, Israel in a time of discouragement spoke their death when they told God they wished they had died in the wilderness. God turns them around to die!
The Shunammite woman had doubt but she didn’t go by feelings. She spoke “all is well.” Even though she told the prophet again not to lie to her, which expressed her doubts, she also spoke faith. What do you do? Speak revival. Speak salvation. Speak your promise. Speak it. Do you feel it? Maybe not, but speak it anyway. The dream’s alive!!
The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make
What makes leaders fail? Why are bad leadership habits perpetuated? Most leaders have neither been formally trained nor had good role models. So, often we lead as we were led. We wing it. Leadership is influence. A leader takes people where they would never go on their own. But how does a leader avoid losing influence? The average leader faces at least ten common mistakes that can be avoided. What are they?
1.
The Top-Down Attitude – The number one leadership hang-up is having a
top-down autocratic attitude. Effective
leaders see themselves as servants at the bottom of an inverted pyramid. The top down attitude is characterized by
the leader who believes everyone should serve him, as opposed to him serving
the organization.
2.
Putting Paperwork Before Peoplework – The greater the
leadership role, the less time there seems to be for people. The greater the leadership role, the more
important peoplework is. People are
still a pastor’s business. A leader
must make room for people.
3.
The Absence of Affirmation – Everyone thrives on affirmation and praise. As leaders, we wildly underestimate the
power of the tiniest personal touch of kindness. One of the commodities in life that most people can’t get enough
of is affirmation.
4.
No Room For Mavericks – Mavericks can save us from the slide toward
institutionalism. But most
organizations usually kill off mavericks before they can take root. Mavericks are the ones who don’t know
something can’t be done.
5.
“Dictatorship” in Decision Making – Leaders must get beyond “I
know all the answers.” When people have
a say-so and input into an organization, the group does more and supports the
objectives.
6.
Dirty Delegation – Over managing is one of the great cardinal sins of
poor leadership. Nothing frustrates
those who work for you more than sloppy delegation with too many strings
attached.
7.
Communication Chaos – Never assume that anyone knows that more attention
must be given to communication. When
left in the dark, people tend to dream up wild rumors. Communication must be the passionate
obsession of effective leadership.
8.
Missing the Clue of the Organization’s Culture – Corporate culture is “the
way we do things around here.” Never
underestimate the mighty power of your group’s culture. Learn to respect values different from your
own. To ignore the culture has been the
unseen killer of many a leader.
9.
Success Without Successors – Finishing well is an important measure of success
in leadership. Mentoring is a
nonnegotiable function of successful leadership. Every group needs leadership that knows when to let go and plans
their departure well.
10. Failure to Focus on the
Future
– A
leader’s concentration must not be on the past nor on the present, but on the
future. Vision is an effective leader’s
chief concern. Prepare yourself. It’s later than you think.
How to Get Moving When
You’re Running Out of Gas
Have you ever run out of gas? At one moment your car is cruising down the highway, and the next it’s sputtering to a stop. You get out and start pushing it to the nearest gas station, but as soon as you stop pushing, the car quickly comes to a halt. Without gas, a car can’t do much of anything.
The same is true with a person and motivation. Without motivation, it’s just hard to get
going. On the other hand, when you’re
empowered by motivation, no task is too difficult. Having motivation is like putting gas in your tank. It’s what keeps you on the road. If you’re having trouble motivating
yourself, here are several suggestions to help get going:
v
Add Up The Rewards Of Beginning – When you have trouble getting started, remember
the benefits of beginning. Remind
yourself that the finished product will bring you satisfaction. And keep in mind that the highest reward for
our effort is not what we “get for it”, but what we become “because of
it.” If that’s not incentive enough,
consider the negative things that could happen if you don’t begin. Often, those negative costs only increase
the longer you wait.
v
Generate a Sense of Urgency – Once you’ve convinced yourself that you should
begin, the next obstacle is actually getting started. At this point, procrastination can kick in. To combat it, instead of choosing the last
possible moment to get started, look at your project in a different way. Ask yourself, “When is the earliest I can do
this?” If you want to make something
look different, keep putting it off.
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