SERMON OUTLINE Sunday August 30th, 2020
Lessons God’s Teaching Me About Leadership
Pastor David Cooke
• We Are Exhausted
• Life is hard and leadership is hard
• What Is Leadership?
A. Leadership is taking the responsibility to influence others to
willingly move toward a clear, shared destination.
B. Spiritual leadership is taking the responsibility to influence
people to willingly move toward a clear, shared God-centered
destination.
C. A spiritual leader takes responsibility for others.
i) The best leaders are other-focused, not self-focused.
ii) You have to own the responsibility.
D. Spiritual leadership is about influence.
E. Spiritual leadership is about creating buy-in.
i) Some leaders lead through power.
ii) True leadership is about reaching the heart and that takes
time, patience and love.
F. Spiritual leadership is about creating movement
G. Spiritual leadership is about creating movement toward the things that are important to God.
Galatians 5:22–23, NLT
• Lessons I’m Learning
1. Leadership shouldn’t be done alone
2. Leadership will leave people unhappy
i) Leaders make decisions
ii) Decisions are choices
iii) Choices create conflict
3. Take out the leader to take out the team
i) Exhausted leaders are vulnerable leaders
ii) The greater the pressure, the greater the necessity for selfcare (Proverbs 4:23)
iii) Before you judge a leader, take a moment to recognize you
don’t know their context.
• The things we thought were unchangeable really are
changeable – church, school, programs, business
i) Leaders create stability and predictability
ii) The chaos of change can bring valuable new perspectives but
we all long for there to be predictable rhythms and stable activities.
iii) We are in an environment where the forces that are upon us
are greater than our ability to minimize their impact.
• Leadership is Local
– Be humble. What God is leading you in may not be what he is
leading others in.
• Leadership is about trust. When you lose trust in the leader
you’ve begun to leave the organization
i) Everyone leaves emotionally before they leave physically
ii) A leader’s job is to build trust
a) Character counts (Psalm 78:72)
b) Consistency (Hebrews 13:7
c) Courage (2 Timothy 1:7)
d) Humility. The greatest will be the least – Jesus.
Say you’re sorry.
iii) A Follower’s job is to support your leaders
a) Encourage them (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
b) Pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1–4)
c) Resource them (1 Timothy 5:18)
d) Appropriately challenge them (Galatians 2:11–13)
– There is no influence apart from relationship
– There is no impact without contact
– Who do I listen to?
– “Lord, what would you have me learn?”
• What Are You Learning? Reflection Questions
1. What is the realm of leadership God has put you in during this
season of your life? Are you accepting God’s assignment?
2. How can you grow as a spiritual leader? What can you start
doing today to influence people toward God’s purposes?
3. How are you doing – emotionally, physically, mentally and
spiritually. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each area. What is
the most important area you need to focus on right now to be
healthier?
4. We all lead in some area. And we all are followers in some area.
How will you be an encouragement to your leaders?
• A Final Word
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right
time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
(Galatians 6:9, NLT)