Rearrange Your Internal Furniture: Traps Every Leader Faces

Sermon outline

God is already for His leaders, so their real battle is in the mind: they must stay teachable, submitted, guarded and generous, and they will carry God's anointing wherever their feet go.

1. The battle is not getting God to work but renewing your mind

   God is on their side and heaven is already working for them; the angels are ministering spirits sent for the heirs of salvation. The challenge is to get the mind in sync with the spirit, because the devil works in the arena of the mind. Leaders are soldiers, and when pressure comes from an unsaved spouse, jealous colleagues or people who jockey for position, they must not complain but push back with faith, knowing promotion comes from the Lord.

   Illustration: A spouse who is not saved complains that the believer is at church nine times a week and giving all the money away, when that faithful giving may be what is protecting the household.

   “When he puts that kind of pressure on you, you put faith pressure back.”

   • Romans 12:1-2
   • Psalm 75:6-7
   • Hebrews 1:14
   • Ephesians 6:11

2. Rearrange your internal furniture: everything you have belongs to God

   Some leaders look good on the outside but are disordered inside: they do not know who they are or what they want, so God cannot give it to them. Every Christian has a calling and was saved to be functional, not neutral, so a leader's car, home and resources belong to the work of God. A degree is good, but it is God's word that makes you successful; seek first the kingdom and stop running after things with a restless spirit.

   Illustration: His first car was an old Toyota whose fender flew off on the road, and he once drove a mustard Volkswagen so rusted he could see the white lines through the floor. When the church began, his fridge, cars and study became everyone's, and some 300 to 400 people were baptised in his family pool, yet the more he gave, the more God gave back.

   “Spiritual people are givers.”

   • Matthew 6:33

3. Honour the spiritual father God has given you

   He prayed for the sick with results in his first year as a believer but had no one to mentor him. The church is full of rebels and a fatherless society, so many cannot recognise the man and woman of God placed over them. Listening only to exciting messages is like living on ice cream; the local church gives the whole counsel of God, a balanced diet that teaches how to behave, relate to people and walk with integrity, because the spiritual walk is a marathon, not a fifty-metre dash.

   Illustration: In his first year as a Christian, in Phoenix, he prayed 'Lord, make it right' over a short leg and saw it grow, and saw a deaf woman's ears opened.

   “Spiritual walk is not a 50 meter dash. It's a long marathon.”

   • Acts 20:27
   • Hebrews 7:7

4. Be teachable: God speaks through any medium He chooses

   The hardest part of ministry is not preaching but dealing with carnal Christians who think too highly of themselves and want to tell the pastor what to do. He asks the leaders how God speaks, then shows that God can use a newspaper, a child, a sentence on the radio or a word in a magazine. Those waiting for thunder and lightning must stay teachable and humble, because they are still growing.

   Illustration: If God could speak to a prophet through a donkey, He can use a label on a box.

   “God speaks to you through any medium he chooses.”

   • Romans 12:3
   • Numbers 22:28

5. The measure of your submission determines the measure of your call

   In the kingdom of God, the higher you are, the more submitted you should be, and the greatest is the servant. Leaders should respect and work with the pastors placed over each branch, because they carry the grace and the mandate, and the more you submit, the more you partake of that grace. A believer has authority, but apostolic and geographical authority must be grown into; when you are sent by a man of God under that anointing, what he has overcome opens doors for you.

   Illustration: When the church met in Avoca he faced a stronghold: on the way to preach his face went numb with Bell's palsy, yet within ten minutes of preaching he was healed, and after a crusade there the whole area began to prosper. A newborn has the potential to play like Tiger Woods, but it is a long road.

   “The measure of your submission will determine the measure of your call.”

   • Mark 10:43-44
   • Philippians 4:13

6. Five temptations leaders face: recognition, no fruit, loneliness, rejection and correction

   He names eight attitudes or temptations from the devil and covers five. Feeling unrecognised: you serve God, not people, and promotion comes from Him. Seeing no fruit: perseverance carries you, because you walk by faith. Feeling alone like Jonah: it is part of your training, as he swept, mopped and fixed the church roof before he was a pastor. Rejection: it often comes from the past, but you are a new creation. Correction: the more spiritual you are, the more you can receive it, and refusing it is pride.

   Illustration: Building a church hall, a rusty nail went right through his foot; he declared himself healed that night and preached the next morning walking normally. Twenty-one years as a detective showed him every side of human depravity, so he understands hard backgrounds.

   “One of the marks of a great leader is how well he receives correction.”

   • Psalm 75:6-7
   • 2 Corinthians 5:7
   • Jonah 4:1-3
   • 2 Corinthians 5:17

7. Guard your heart and your home

   Leaders must watch who they bring close: a brother full of strife and offence can leave that spirit in your home, so keep such people at a friendly distance and mark those who cause division. Do not lend money to church members; give instead, so the relationship stays free. Church is not for socialising but for receiving God's Spirit and word, so stay salty and focused and do not cast pearls before those who cannot value them. Forgive and forget quickly, because a twisted heart short-circuits God's power.

   Illustration: In old English, 'wicked' wood was twisted wood, and wood full of knots cannot be used.

   “Once my heart's twisted, God's power can't work through me.”

   • Romans 16:17
   • Matthew 5:13
   • Matthew 7:6
   • Proverbs 4:23
   • Philippians 2:7

8. Sent with words that carry the anointing

   Jesus said His words are spirit and life, and a man of God's word sends people out with authority. When a leader is sent under spiritual authority to start a cell or a business, every devil in that place has already been handcuffed. They are not chosen for their preaching ability but for their heart, and under that anointing they can never have a dry month, as long as their heart is right and they work with full faith rather than unbelief.

   Illustration: Once a policeman says 'you are under arrest', it does not matter that the man knows karate; he is handcuffed.

   “We don't choose you by your preaching capability. We choose you by your heart.”

   • John 6:63
   • Hebrews 4:2
   • Zechariah 4:6

9. A family of givers: sowing and reaping

   Leaders should not hide when the church has a need but sit down with their families and ask what they can sell or give, rather than spending lavishly on themselves and giving the house of God a token. Give and it shall be given; God gives seed to the sower and blesses those who bless His servants. He urges them to stretch from their present level of giving to the next, to teach their children to give from small, and to bring an offering every time they come before God.

   Illustration: Years earlier, financially broke, he stood up and pledged towards tarring a church driveway though he was not a businessman; God supplied the money within three days. A nineteen-year-old brought his whole first salary in an envelope and was soon promoted.

   “Any money that comes into your possession is kingdom money.”

   • Luke 6:38
   • 2 Corinthians 9:10
   • 2 Corinthians 9:7
   • Genesis 12:3
   • Ezekiel 44:30
   • Matthew 8:10
   • Psalm 105:14
   • Deuteronomy 16:16

10. Your feet carry the anointing

    As he lays hands on and blesses the leaders, he teaches that the anointing runs through him into his feet like hot liquid, and has leaders touch and carry his shoe to show it. Because believers' feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel, a leader carries peace, healing and prosperity into every home, cell and business they enter, and no demon can stay there. If their feet are anointed, so are their hands, mouths and eyes, so how can they lack?

    Illustration: That morning, when he walked into the service and lifted his hands, the whole atmosphere changed within three minutes.

    “Everywhere your feet will tread, you will get results.”

    • Ephesians 6:15
    • Nehemiah 8:10
    • 1 Peter 1:8