Better a Rough Stone Than No Stone: Leaders Who Guard Their Spirit

Sermon outline

An uncommon leader guards his heart and spirit, stays consistent and doctrinally sound, does not interfere with God's dealings in other people's lives, gives people room to grow, and ministers by faith and God's leading rather than sympathy.

1. Plan to change: be successful in church first

   Most people make shipwreck of their calling because they do not take time to study the Word and its principles, so they repeat the same mistakes year after year. People travel far once a year to hear a famous speaker and miss the great one in their own town, but that will inspire them without changing them: change takes discipline and a plan. Be excellent, neat and well spoken in church first, and it will carry into your work, because a leader does not have two languages. A leader also knows how to keep himself encouraged 24 hours a day.

   Illustration: Jesus never said in any of the Gospels that He was depressed or discouraged.

   “Without a plan, you plan to fail.”

   • Mark 6:4

2. Beware of bitter people: the transference of spirits

   Paul's warning in Philippians 3:2 means keep away at all costs. Bitter, negative people speak with a spirit, and after a conversation or a hug you wonder why you cannot pray and have lost your joy: they have transferred a spirit to you. Make no room for the devil. Under the old covenant bitterness was like boils that disqualified a priest from ministering. Avoiding such people is not hatred or sectarianism but guarding your heart, even when the bitter person is a pastor or a leader.

   Illustration: When people tell him they are discouraged, he listens and smiles while silently asking, 'Who have you been with? Who has spoken to you?'

   “Transference of spirit is a very, very real thing.”

   • Philippians 3:2
   • John 6:63
   • Ephesians 4:27
   • Leviticus 21:20

3. Guard your heart: an open spirit receives both ways

   Believers are taught to keep their spirits open to receive God's anointing, which makes them equally open to the negative, so watch what seed comes in. Strength, joy, prosperity, prophecy and revelation all flow out of the heart, so set a guard over it. Pray every morning to meet only the people God plans for you. When you witness to an unbeliever you are in charge and his spirit is subject to yours, but when you greet a fellow Christian as an equal, whatever is on him can leap onto you. If you are discouraged, ask whom you met and spoke with.

   Illustration: His morning prayer guide includes: 'I want to meet only the people you plan for me to meet today and hear the things you plan for me to hear and say the things you plan for me to say.'

   “A Christian has a very open spirit.”

   • Proverbs 4:23

4. Don't interfere with God's dealings in others

   Joseph's pit, his prison and his promotion were all designed by God, and Moses spent forty years on the backside of the desert being prepared to lead a nation of complainers. Some people are in a pit God designed to teach them humility or the cost of rebellion, and rushing to 'help' them frustrates God's plan and makes you a partaker of their sin. He never makes a decision without first seeking the mind of the Lord, not his wife, his children or a board, because the Holy Spirit is the pastor of the church. Pray for such people quietly instead.

   Illustration: At college or university copying in an exam gets you barred or suspended, yet believers keep 'helping' others through the examinations God is setting them.

   “God cannot exalt and God cannot promote a fool.”

   • Genesis 37-41
   • Exodus 3:1
   • Jeremiah 18:6
   • Jeremiah 29:11

5. God deals differently with each person

   God may be teaching one person humility, another boldness, one to give and another restraint in giving, so never compare yourself with another Christian. He says that if he told what he went through to get where he is, people would cry, and he is grateful nobody interfered. God prepares a leader before displaying him, because a fallen leader damages the work. Moses' preparation showed when Miriam spoke against him and was struck with leprosy, and he went on his knees to pray for her.

   Illustration: While one person is being polished and put on the shelf for display, another is being dipped in acid to take the rust away.

   “The working and the dealings of God is just different with everybody.”

   • 2 Corinthians 10:12
   • Numbers 12

6. Be consistent and doctrinally sound

   Do not run to every great speaker who comes to town without knowing his life and doctrine, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump and even the elect can be deceived in the last days. Find sound middle ground and stay there, not chasing excitement or running north one week and south the next: God does not change. Run to strive lawfully and not be disqualified. Those planted in the house of the Lord flourish, and the gifts and fruit of the Spirit show a stable Christian.

   Illustration: A tree transplanted again and again will cave in and die. As a boy he climbed a mango tree at a relative's house that still stood, bearing sweet fruit, fifteen or twenty years later.

   “The name of the game is to be consistent.”

   • Galatians 5:9
   • Matthew 24:24
   • Hebrews 13:8
   • 2 Timothy 2:5
   • Psalm 92:13
   • John 15:5
   • Galatians 5:22-23
   • 1 Corinthians 12:7-10

7. Guard your spirit before you minister

   He explains why he does not hug or greet people before a service, or sometimes even give a lift: he has been waiting on the Lord, and if he took on someone's bad spirit he could pass it to the whole church. Ministry flows from your spirit, not your mind, and the Word should make the dream inside people leap. Cell leaders must prepare to minister to five as seriously as to five hundred, because principles work the same at every level.

   Illustration: A man who has just argued with his wife comes to hug him before the service; if a spirit transfers to him, he transfers it to everyone.

   “If you are praying before a meeting when you have five people, then you'll pray when you have 100.”

   • Luke 1:41

8. Allow others room to turn around

   People make mistakes, especially under pressure, so forgive quickly and do not write them off: Jesus would not break a bruised reed or quench a smoking wick. Perfectionism, harsh on oneself and others, is not the same as a spirit of excellence and must be dealt with. Correct people privately from the Word, and in five years you may be amazed at who they have become. Teach them too that the lesser is blessed by the greater, so a congregation should pray for its pastor privately rather than lay hands on him.

   Illustration: When a critical pastor kept bringing him complaints about people, he told him, 'Better a rough stone than no stone at all.' A cell member who takes an hour for a testimony should be taken aside and taught to give a 60-second 'popcorn testimony'.

   “Better a rough stone than no stone at all.”

   • Isaiah 42:3
   • Matthew 18:21-22
   • Hebrews 7:7

9. The cell group's objective is to win the lost

   People get filled with the Spirit in the big services so that they can go out and win the lost. Cell leaders should not try to copy the laughter, falling and prophesying of the Sunday meetings in their cell groups.

   Illustration: If you have just filled up at the BP garage, why drive a kilometre to the Shell garage to fill up again? The petrol will just spill over.

   “Your objective in the cell group is to win the lost.”

10. Lay hands suddenly on no man

    Compassion is right, but do not be moved by sympathy, because God is moved by faith. Before praying he wants to know two things: whether the person has faith and is making a demand, and whether God has given him the green light, since someone walking in unforgiveness or disobedience is not in a position to receive. For someone in hospital, a family member should come in faith; prayer cloths are for those standing as a proxy, not to be thrown on the stage. There is no quick fix: believers must be doers of the Word.

    Illustration: A husband comes to the service and says, 'My wife is terribly ill in hospital, and I've come here to make a demand. Pray over this cloth.' Now he is part of the equation rather than an outsider.

    “Don't be moved by sympathy because God is not moved by sympathy.”

    • 1 Timothy 5:22
    • Acts 19:12
    • James 1:22