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- -- Tuesday, 5/4/10 -- PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP -- Deuteronomy
3:21-29 NIV [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/t/72e7ed40392bd43f
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Topic: -- Tuesday, 5/4/10 -- PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP -- Deuteronomy 3:21-29 NIV
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/t/72e7ed40392bd43f
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From: "J.R. & Bonnie Ricks" <j-r-and-bonnie@dogwoodministries.org>
Date: May 03 06:34PM -0500
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/msg/74f941150b0a68f
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PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP -- Deuteronomy 3:21-29 NIV
At that time I commanded Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes all
that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the
same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of
them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you."
At that time I pleaded with the LORD: "O Sovereign LORD, you have begun
to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is
there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?
Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan-that fine hill
country and Lebanon."
But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to
me. "That is enough," the LORD said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this
matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and
east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross
this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for
he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that
you will see." So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
Moses was not going to be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Caleb and
Joshua were the only two adults who had been alive 40 years earlier who were
given that privilege. God told Moses to commission Joshua to take over.
Moses was very close to death when he was finally allowed to look at the
Promised Land. God allowed him to go up on a mountain (Pisgah) and look
around at the land, but He wouldn't allow Moses to cross the Jordan.
Joshua, by this point, was ready for leadership. He'd been in training for
forty years! He had been Moses' assistant, had been right there with him
day in and day out, learning how to lead this massive group of people. God
had been preparing Joshua for leadership from the day he had been sent to
spy out the land the first time. By the time it came time for Joshua to
take over the reigns, he was prepared. And the people were prepared to
accept his leadership.
We can learn a valuable lesson from this in our own efforts in our churches.
Let's look at this in the small scope of a Sunday school class. Every
person in your Sunday school class is in preparation for something. Some
are in leadership roles which are preparing them for other, larger roles.
Some are in service roles which are possibly preparing them for leadership.
And some are just there to learn... a way of preparing for service at a
later date.
Back in the late 1960's, a book called The Peter Principle became popular.
In case you're not familiar with it, the book was NOT about Peter in the
Bible. Instead, it talked about people being continually promoted and
promoted within companies until they reach their level of incompetence. In
other words, they do such a good job in a lower position, the assumption is
that they can serve in a higher position. When they get into that higher
position, they are not able to perform because they've gone beyond their
level of competence.
This same thing can and does happen in churches all the time. People are
pushed (albeit gently, of course) into doing jobs within the church that are
beyond their ability - or outside of their ability. For instance, a person
who is known to be a good teacher in the children's ministry is asked
(pleaded with) to teach an adult Bible study. Those asking the person to
take that teaching role don't consider the fact that it takes very different
skills and talents to teach children than it does to teach adults. As such,
that person might shine as a teacher of children, but be totally lost when
trying to teach adults. When that happens, the Peter Principle has been
applied - the person has been "promoted" to his level of incompetence.
We should be very careful that we don't let our enthusiasm for the Lord rush
us into positions for which we're not prepared . Or to shove others into
situations for which they're not ready. Remember, the Lord spent forty
years training Joshua. We need to allow the Lord time to train us, too.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people
for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we
all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV
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