Servant Leadership

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 (NIV)

Leadership is all about serving others. It is not about being served.  It is not the position, the status it brings, or the title one gets. However, it is about an aptitude and attitude because if you take on a position with the wrong mindset and attitude, life will be miserable. Your reign or tenure in the position maybe long or short, but it will be thwarted with conflict and confusion. Whether we desire to own, admit or agree with it, leaders dictate the temperature of their organization, group, or team. We know a tree by the fruit it bears, and we know who you are by the people you lead. Julius was right when he told Bertier in the movie Remember the Titans –Julius: Attitude reflects leadership, captain. This was pivotal point in the movie where all things begin to change. However, it would have never changed, if Bertier was not willing to own, what he already knew; he had to change. Was he a bad or inadequate leader? No, but he fell victim to the attitude- it worked before, or this is what, I have always done. When you are a leader, you can’t be stagnate but you must be principled with patience, integrity, and courage. When you know, you are there to serve, not just to be served; you are able to evolve as your duties, responsibilities expand.   It is about attitude, not a title or a birthright.

In the verses above, we have traditionally heard about them when it comes to salvation but it also speaks to servant leadership. Servant leadership embodies these: God so loved the world, He gave, serving; that whosoever believe in him, shall not perish, serve; and came to save, not condemn, serve. Serve means to assist, supply, attend, provide, or fulfill; all things Jesus did by coming to earth. He also knew, He was here to serve. Over and over again, we find the Anointed One serving whether it is cleaning feet, offering drink, feeding, or healing people. The definitive description in how to be a servant leader is in the life of Christ, and as a result we seek to serve him. His attitude, aptitude delivered in a cloak of unconditional love, fastened in place with unlimited mercy, knitted with another chance forgiveness, andpolished with continuous grace to keep us. And although, we are not perfect and cannot replicate it, we can come to the position of leadership with the right attitude and mindset; service. Leadership is not ever about the leader; it is and always about the people being lead. Servant leadership is choice, we should choose if we are to become a successful leader. We must practice it, to be come it. Your choice, choose well.

For the things which we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing: men become builders by building houses and harpists by playing the harp. Similarly, we become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control. - Aristotle

Why we Matter

Why we matter? We matter because God thought, and we were. It was not about because individuals decided to have a family, you are here. If that was the case, we would not have surrogates in this country, or family bemoaning the fact, they cannot conceive, or the multimillion dollar industry for reproduction purposes. Nor is it about sexuality, ethnicity, gender, wealth, where we live, or abilities. Because it is not about who you are, but whose we are; we all matter. In John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV) – everyone like to talk about, speaks to the fact the Son died for the, world- that means us all. God created us as we are, and it was not an accident, it was an intentional act; regardless of the circumstances of your conception or challenges. If you don’t believe me, asked the millions of women who have had miscarriages over the years. Also, the parents who had a baby today, but the next day their baby is gone.

So the next time you are consumed with doubt and musing of ‘I wish, I would have never been born, or I have no reason live’ remember these verses Psalm 139:13-16 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be - Know you have significance, you matter because God does not make junk, but jewels; the Father does not create trivial, He forms treasures, and the Father never made a mistake, He we are marvelously and fearfully made in His image….Justsayin’

Learning the lessons

If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11 NIV

1.       Hurt people, hurt other people

2.       What we put out to others, others return it to us

3.       Before you seek forgiveness, grant forgiveness for it opens a whole new life for us

4.       Changing our tone, changes the meaning sent out to the world

5.       Change starts in the inward parts before the outward parts will be accepted

6.       Time teaches only those who are seeking

7.       Unless your standards aligned with the Father, they will never sustain

8.       Someone seeking the best for you, and someone trying to tell you what to do, look the same but they are not. One is for your good, and the other is not.

9.       True love in any form is unconditional because it is given freely, not because of what you did but what God has done.

10.    You cannot keep all you have, and get all you want; something must be release as it in nature, it is with man

11.    Giving to others, gives to you in surprising proportions

12.    Unforgiveness hurts you, not the person you are not forgiving

13.    Prayer is about being one with God, so you are aligned with God

14.    God created only treasures, not trash; that is man made

15.    We cannot control what others say to us, but we have total control on how we respond

16.    Self-hate allows negative speech to stick like super glue

17.    Today’s struggles are preparational  blessings for our divine ordered destiny

18.    God’s logic shakes our very foundation of possibility to show us His vastness

19.    God will not do or allow others to do, what you can do for yourself

20.    We are all on a journey of self-discovery, although our paths maybe different, the end result is the same, to live our truth

21.    Just because you changed, it does not mean everyone else will change

22.    Not letting go of the negative experience as a badge of courageous endurance, make it impossible to appreciate the great things happening to us presently

Steeple or People: Both

Steeple or people, as Christians, we are called to be the church. Not to say a physical facility is not needed or necessary. However, it is to say we should always remind ourselves what we are about; winning souls for the Father. Let me make this disclaimer just in case someone reads this, and think I am against church growth and/ mega church; I am not.
As I look out into our society today, I see more and more focus on bigger and better. It seems no one understands, if the church is little and lingering, then you have growth and ghastly. For some reason as the church increases, God focus decreases. Not all the churches but far too many, this is the fate of the church; so goes the people, so goes the church. Material gains are the focus, and it becomes paramount over spiritual increases. The fresh, innovating approach to teaching, preaching and connecting to invigorate the members, and allowed for growth to occur in the first place, is no longer the vehicle used. For some reason instead of building on what enable growth, we are sucked in by notoriety, celebrity status, and fame, we become lost in the confusion. However, if we go back to the word and take our lead from the life of Christ, we would see quickly enough, He never let anything move Him from His mission, purpose, and focus – win souls for the Father. When we follow Christ’s example, God maintains it because what God directs, He protects, and when He places, He provides for; thus, growth occurs.
See, we should be reconciled unto God, not man but for some reason, we desire reconciliation with man over man. The irony is this, when we submit and let God reconcile us to him, the right people seem to come to us with all that we need. In Luke 10:12-14 we shall find this most prominent  - Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”  He replied, “You give them something to eat. “They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”  (About five thousand men were there.). The rest of the story is they were fed; what is my point? My point, God provides for those He draws; He blesses, what is increased in His name that is beyond what we could have imagined or requested. We, Christians, just have to believe and follow the Bright and Morning Star that never goes out.

The truth shall set you free

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”…. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:12;31-32

Although, I am not without errors, and I stand before you, figuratively, owning I am a work in progress and there are some kinks in my armor of godliness...wink...I have learned a few things on my travels...The truth shall set you free. We have heard it, and even spoke it a few times ourselves, if we are honest. Yet, we deny our truth because of fear of not being accepted by our circle, the masses, or by self..sigh.... However, we wonder why we struggle to live free. We struggle as a result of the emotional, mental, and psychological baggage binding us to now, as we replay the Ferris wheel like effect in our heads. We lie how we fit, where we fit, and who we fit with; so not to be separate or ignored. Taking risk that are really gambles, not realizing they are not the same although on the face, they look the same. Risk is something intentional and usually calculated, and we can rescue ourselves from, whereas a gamble is something, if goes wrong results in immutable consequences. That only the Father can get us through to the other side, and above it. Nevertheless, we seem to be in constant motion trying to prove, we are Christian; in an unconscious seamless routine. The funny thing is, light does not have to tell anyone they are there, it’s seen. We cannot walk in darkness and light, no more than you can walk in truth and in falsehood. But without fail, we move forward with flawless precision by putting much effort in trying to convince others we are, who we say, we are, and to ensure other don’t live a lie...really?... Forgetting darkness cannot bring out light, in anyone. We try, and wonder why we do not get the desired outcome; it is not a mystery really.

We seem to forget what is true for others is also applicable and true for us. See, truth is the thing which chills our foundations, opens us to God’s light of deliverance, and breaks our unshatterable shield. Yet, we cannot get there without willingly submitting to walking in the path of God, not judging others, willing to forgive all, give up self to the Word, and seeing with the eye of God, so we can unconditionally love. For God protects with exactness, where He directs, no matter what anyone else tells you. Yet, getting pass the madness circle is possible but difficult. We need to seek the light guiding our way to God. It is not easy, the process requires work. It means not seeking our revenge but letting vengeance be God’s; making forgiveness be part of the momentum moving us upward and onward, and not creating the work in progress called ‘destruction production starring yours truly’ because our faith is bigger, than our ego. Then the days of inner peace gained are priceless and plentiful….The truth shall set us all free….our choice, our life…God forbid, so the words planted in our soul, after harvest releases tears of joy and a bouquet of love on the world

Paradigm Shift

Paradigm shift is the buzz word for change amongst the secular and religious sector. I have heard, and I am sure many of you have heard it as well. So, I thought, I would really take a look at it what is a paradigm shift by looking up paradigm and shift. I did not want to overwhelm anyone with the several definitions. I subscribe to the keep it simple philosophy…wink.  Starting with Paradigm, it describes general accepted model how idea relates to another. As for shift, it described as something changed or exchanged for position, circumstance, or model. So, we hear the ‘paradigm shift’ in our religious or faith-based environment, what is being said, is the accepted model of doing, being, and engaging is changing. However, I would like to caution everyone that a true examination of this changes of theological engagement maybe more, than what we think it is. For the accepted model of concepts, fundamental beliefs have really been truths laced with our dogmas, traditions, and superstitions which governed us far too long. And what is really happening is, in the words of Maya Angelou, - when you know better, do better; when you learn, teach, when you get, give.  The paradigm shift is really just us as Christian letting go of what made a way but was never meant to stay with us, or sustain us forever. But in order to continue this journey, we must reevaluate what is real, true and what is ‘just us or ethnic mores.’…smiling… So we can offer a theological foundation for engagement that doesn’t negate the existence of the political and societal but teaches us how to live there without adjusting who we are in our Christian faith. See no one can get to us, when we are living what we say, we are living. The problem comes because we have chosen to be imposters, shrink when we are challenged, and seamlessly unconsciously let others cultivate our fears of inadequacy in us. All because we lack, the faith to believe the Father has not forgotten us, and He has a plan for our lives, even when we cannot see it.

But a paradigm shift also requires us ‘seeing,’ it is not the landscape, or in our case, the tenets of the bible, that needs to change but us.  The truth is victory has already been secured through the triumph of Christ on the cross; the question is why it is so necessary for us to see things, our way. Remember this is the reason, Christ was up there in the first place; people did not want to believe what they couldn’t conceive or didn’t fit in their perceptions of what should be. God forbid we continue what we supposed to get past. ”Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10. This verse is not for some of us, but for all of us to embrace into our spiritual trust of God’s pearls of wisdom.

Lastly, the paradigm shift is the awareness of the power of perception is both powerful and emotionally base; for too many times. It usually comes from a happening in our life, good or bad, where we never got the lesson, just the less than. In a paradigm shift it is time to reconcile our emotional truth with fiction, and release the ties that bind you to the place of trivial or marginal falsehood living to a place of true awesome abundance living. Which is more than material, tangible but a peace of mind; something you cannot buy or sell to the highest bidder.  Paradigm Shift is a choice, and we choose. Choose well, it’s important. Phi1. 1:15-19 -  It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.  The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. NIV

Living on Purpose

 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:13-14 NIV

Living our purpose is more than just one pill fits all. However, there is one first step for all to take, ‘calling a thing, a thing.’. Being honest with ourselves about what we did or didn’t do.  Not letting our circumstance limit us, or letting what someone else called us, define who we are. We must believe, we are here to serve a purpose, and live what we believe, inspite of what the cost is. See, people will usually challenge you on your belief when you have lack of conviction to what you say, because you don’t really believe it. We cannot convince another person, when we are not convinced ourselves about what we are saying, or doing. We cannot live our purpose when one is deficient in a deep-seated, vital connection to the truth about us.

Living our purpose is not a quick solution where you drive-in, and drive-out. It is a commitment to oneself to truth about who we are. It is a daily vitamin for life. It is trusting God to guide us to our purpose that He designed us to inhabit. This requires us to stop living in rewind mode of our past mistakes and victories because if we do, we metaphorically run in place. Tired we shall be, but going nowhere. Instead, we should use the momentum to propel us forward into our purpose. We must not let thoughts imprison us in past moments of joys or defeats. We will never go further than our thoughts, if we do not get the lesson provided by moments, then release them; we go nowhere. Let go, and let God with the same energy used to support your team, when they are losing. It is important.

The verses above has been repeated, stressed in lessons taught, or sermons preached. But what is amazing to me is this – they speak about letting go of the drama, the madness, and the other confusion in our lives; putting it behind us, and straining to get the higher prize heavenward. Yet, we continue to hold on to the past. We continue to seek revenge, teach someone a lesson, or laud over others our victories. The only thing we are teaching anyone is how to treat us, how to get under our skin, and to control us. This is not what the verses are talking about, and it is opposite of what we desire. It is so essential for us to get this; otherwise living our purpose shall be impossible for us all. God forbid we stay stuck on stupid and self, trying to be stellar and serving. Your choice, so choose wisely.