32 Biblical Life & Leadership Principles in Serving God

So now we're ready for the main message. It is a PowerPoint so you can follow along. Over the years, I've tried to distill the principles from the Word of God as they have applied in my life and through experience. So this is what I have distilled in the 49 years of my ministry. Around half in the international area, in places like Colombia and Chile and also here in the U.S. I've been half international, half in the U.S. And I sure would have liked to have known these principles back when I went to college and then ordained a minister in 1976. So my aim is to share these principles so you don't have to figure them out for yourself or have to go through life's experiences. Sometimes they can be costly and painful. So today we're going to cover half of these 32 Biblical life and leadership principles in serving God. We're going to cover, this is the first part, would be 16 of these Biblical life and leadership principles in serving God. Then, part two, we will aim to cover the last 16 of these principles. So let's begin. And these are based on the Bible, and they're very practical. So the first principle is keep sharpening the axe and also your mind. It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, if I had five hours to chop down a tree, I would spend four of those hours sharpening the axe. He knew it's sure difficult to cut down a tree with a blunt axe that doesn't have any sharpening to it. Notice what it tells us in Ecclesiastes 10.10. Here is that principle that Lincoln talked about, Ecclesiastes 10.10. It says, if the axe is dull and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength. But wisdom brings success. In the message version, it says, remember, the duller the axe, the harder the work. Use your head. The more brains, the less muscle. It's the same way. Have a sharp axe. You're going to cut that tree down a lot easier. And so we have a mind that we have to keep sharp and be able to constantly exert it. Don't let it just be an inactivity, a passiveness, because that's the way the mind will eventually lose its sharpness. Notice what it tells us in 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2. Paul told Timothy in verse 15. He says, be diligent to present yourself, approve to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And so you have to also sharpen your knowledge of the Bible, because then you will be able to see how people will try to deceive you. You'll be able to look and see before that happens. This is so important to keep your education going, whether formally or informally. Never cease to learn, if you can, something new every day. Have that inquisitiveness. There's so much out there for us to wonder and to appreciate, and also to improve our own lives. Somebody else is not going to do it for us. It's also a good idea to help sharpening the acts, to jot down ideas and tasks when they come, and don't let them escape over time. And then you forget, oh, I had this to do, I can't even remember what it was. So that has certainly been a principle that has helped me over time. I hope it will you as well. Let's go to the second one.

Above all things, seek godly wisdom. Notice what Proverbs 4, verses 7-9 says. Wisdom is the principle thing to obtain in life. So you can be wise, or you can be foolish. Therefore, get wisdom, and in all you're getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory she will deliver to you. In the contemporary English version of these verses, it says, the best thing about wisdom is wisdom itself. Good sense is more important than anything else. If you value wisdom and hold tightly to it, great honors will be yours. It will be like wearing a glorious crown of beautiful flowers.

So again, you only have a certain amount of time to live. And if you set as one of your priorities getting godly wisdom, these principles of life that will help you. I remember years ago, as I went through the book of Proverbs, I got a Spanish book that said it was a thousand words of wisdom, of Proverbs in Spanish. And I went through and saw how many of these thousand sayings in Spanish, of wise sayings, were in the Bible. And I wrote down on the margins all of these that were from Spanish literature, from Spanish experience. And to me, it was a marvel to see how much is in the Bible that mankind has been able to profit. So studying wisdom is always so important. What is wisdom? It essentially means doing the right thing before God in the right way, at the right time, and for the right reason. Each part is essential. You might do it in the right way, but at the wrong time. That's not going to work. Or at the right time, but not for the right reason. You need all of them to do it.

As far as I can see, there are three types of truths in our lives. There is, first of all, spiritual truth. We find that in God's Word, the Bible. That's something revealed by God. You're not going to learn that through science, through man's wisdom, philosophy, and others. That's why it's so important to have that trunk of the tree, have that basis of, first of all, no God's truths.

Know what it says in the Bible. Be familiar with it. Then the second is called physical truth, which is revealed in nature. It's around us. The laws of physics, of chemistry, that was mentioned before. So many of these things that are in the physical realm. You do learn truths because if you didn't have the aeronautical truths, you can fly in a plane. But if you respect the laws of physics, you are able to achieve a lot.

And then thirdly, is this inter-relational truth among people. Because you're not going to find that when you're talking with someone. It's so important to be truthful with others. That develops our relationships among ourselves. If you're not being truthful, it's going to break down that relationship sooner or later. Okay, so there are three types of truths that I have been able to at least categorize that way.

And there are three levels of knowledge. All of this is get wisdom, learn from it. Proverbs 1, verses 1-4. It says, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge, and discretion. So here are different Hebrew terms. I'm not going to go into them. What it talks about here, first of all, is knowledge. And at the first level, it's the basic level which deals with the what.

What is it? Then understanding is the how, and wisdom is the why. And I can illustrate it very well. Anybody that drives a car can appreciate and understand this analogy. And that is that, first of all, there are a lot of people that basically, the only thing they know is how to turn the car on, how to drive it. But when they look under the hood, they know very little of what's going on.

And that's why the wife usually says, honey, it's not working right! And then we've got to figure out what's happening with the car. Because you can have basic knowledge of the what. You can read that in an instruction manual for the car. But then you go to a deeper level and you learn the how, how the car is able to work. And that's the realm of the mechanic. So they know how the different parts of the car work. But they don't really know the deepest type of knowledge.

And that is the why. And that's the realm of the automotive engineer. He knows the ratio of the valves going up and down, the piston, the torque, all of these laws of physics that go into it. In the same way, we can also apply it to the Bible. We have basic knowledge of the Bible, what is in the Bible, but then we have to go deeper. How do all of these parts of the Bible fit together? How they function together? There are seven areas in the Bible. You have three in the Old Testament. The law, the prophets, and the writings.

These are three different types of knowledge. And then you have four in the New Testament. The Gospels, the Book of Acts, which is the history of the Church. Then you have the epistles of the Apostles, and then you have the Book of Revelation. See, all of these parts are integrated. They all work together. You have to learn why things were done that way.

So that takes us now to the third principle. This is simply put, know the state of the flock. In Proverbs 27-23 it says, Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds. So it means don't be negligent in what you are over. At home, at your work, at church. If you're negligent, you're going to pay a dear price. Just like a shepherd, if he's negligent, the sheep can get sick.

They can drown while they're drinking water in a creek. They can get lost and be eaten by their predators. And so if you have responsibilities, make sure you know the state of the flock. You know where they are, how healthy they are, what they're doing, what time of the year it is to be able to put them in their different areas to protect them from the winter time. So you have to know.

That applies in your home. How your children are doing. Because there's a saying, as the twig is bent, so follows the tree. And once that twig is bent and it's not straightened out in time, that tree is going to get bent and it's going to have a lot of problems in the future. Let's go to the fourth principle. I enjoy this one because I've got two daughters that took the Hippocratic Oath. And the first part of the Hippocratic Oath that physicians have to take is, above all, do no harm.

So the doctor might not improve your health, but he certainly should not make it worse. So the idea is, if you're involved, you might not be able to do a lot of good, but don't ruin it. Don't damage it. In other words, you've got a bicycle and somebody says, oh, the bicycle's not working well. Let me fix it for you. And the person comes back, now it's got five different things that aren't working.

That's not the way to do it. So this applies again in the home, at work, and at church. People have enough problems without complicating them with more. And at least don't get in the way, either in the home, at work, or at church. It says in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 24. Let's go there. Notice what Paul said, basically, essentially the same principle here. No, 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 1, that's 24. Let's see, I had that here. Yes, it was in the other. Yeah, 2 Corinthians 1, 23, and 24.

He says, Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith. See, ministers should not be sheriffs. They should be shepherds. But our fellow workers, for your joy, he doesn't even elevate himself. He just says, look, we're all working together. We're all rowing on this ship toward the kingdom of God. Christ is the captain. We take orders from Christ according to the responsibilities we have. He says, For by faith you stand.

So maybe we're not going to improve things, but certainly let's not make it worse for the people under you. That's the difference between knowing how to treat a cut in your body and gangrene. When it's gangrene, you've got to intervene quickly because that's going to spread. But a cut, all you need is a band-aid. Sometimes there are problems that people think it's gangrene when it's a cut. And they cut almost the arm off for just a cut. But on the opposite side, there are people when it's gangrene, and they put a band-aid or the opposite. When it's a cut, they deal with it as gangrene. So either way, you have to know here how to work together and don't do harm to the person. The fifth lesson is to take responsibility for decisions and actions. And again, I've mentioned this before. We have actually the son of this gentleman that taught us this lesson while he attended at the church, Dr. Van Lismann. He was part of the board of directors back in the Pasadena days, worldwide Church of God. And he mentioned in one family club that he had a speech about being in two different cruisers during World War II. And he was a sailor at that time, got aboard the first one, and some of the crewmen came up and greeted him and said, Congratulations! You're in a happy ship! And he looked around and said, Happy ship! What does that mean? Well, he was there for three months and he saw. Everything ran very well. People were smiling. They were helping each other. Very friendly. Why? Because those in charge were all with that same attitude. They brought that happiness downward to all the crew. And then he says, Unfortunately, I only stayed there for three months and then they transferred me to another one of these huge cruise ships. And when he came in, they said, This is an unhappy ship. And he wondered, Well, why is that? And sure enough, everybody was gruff. They were pretty downhearted, discouraged. And why? Because the people who were in charge had that attitude. They were scolding them, saying, You never do anything right. You'll never try to be a good sailor. And all of this. And it spread. And so the principle is that you have to create the right atmosphere at home, at work, and at church as much as possible. Just like King David did. Notice in Psalm 78 verse 72, Psalm 78 verse 72, it said about David and how he governed. What kind of atmosphere did David create under him as the king? It says, So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. The Good News Bible version says David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill. So you have to take the responsibility for the actions that you take. If you're the parent, don't blame the kids. Oh, I've got these horrible kids in all of this. Well, what have we done to create the right atmosphere? Kids are going to be shaped by their parents, but also we know there's genetics involved. They can be born stubborn. And believe me, we went through different child rearing with all of our four daughters. But you know what? We adapted each way we treated them according to their temperament and how they were. I have a daughter here. I hope she doesn't say that. That's wrong, Dad. Okay. Let's go to the sixth principle.

This is simply a shepherd's analogy. Know when to use the rod and when to use the staff. A lot of people think, oh, I want to rule the kingdom of God with a rod of iron. Well, that's the type of attitude that Christ scolded and censured his disciples when James and John said, shall we have fire come down there? That Samaritan village that rejected them. He said, you don't know what kind of spirit you are in. So that's not the right way. And that's not understanding how the rod was used and how the staff. Notice Psalm 23, verse 4. This is the sheep personifying humans under God. It says, thy rod and staff comfort me. You see, the rod didn't scare the sheep. It comforted them just like the staff. See, the staff is used to get them out of trouble and to correct them carefully. So that's why you have the hook, because sheep can get stuck in those bushes. And so instead of the shepherd having to go in where the thorns and thistles are, he's got that long shaft, that long crook, and he just wraps it around their neck and he pulls them out of trouble. Or they fall in a creek or a river where the sheep with all the wool, and they will sink like lead. And so they go and they grab the neck and they pull them out. So you see, this is to pull them out of trouble. And it has a point at the other end where you just kind of gently nod them to let them know who's in charge. But the rod was used against the enemies of the sheep, the predators, the wolf, the bear, the lion. That's where you had an iron rod or a very heavy wooden rod. And the shepherd had to go and fight against the bears and the wolves and the lions. That was one of the tools. And so the sheep know, boy, he's equipped. He's going to defend me. He's going to protect me when I'm in trouble. We have to do that in the home, at work, and also in the church. Let's go to the seventh principle. I think it's already there.

Learn to pick your battles. Here in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 23, we already read it from another perspective, but now Paul is saying in verse 23, Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. He was having a lot of trouble in the Corinthian church. He wrote some epistles, letters to them. But he knew if he showed up, and there were so many different issues that were churning, and what he did was he sent the epistles, and then he waited. And they did respond positively. Maybe his presence would have affected them, but he gave them the instruction they needed, and they were able to apply it. So Paul knew how to pick his battles. He could have just said, okay, well, I'm in charge. I'm going to Corinth, whether they like it or not. No, he isn't. He's a shepherd. He cares for that sheep. Sometimes you have to give him the sheep time. You have to let them work things out. Give them instruction, but don't live their lives for them. Let's go to the eighth. Learn the proper way to correct people. Use the sandwich technique that Christ used with the churches in Revelation. I'd just like to read you from the first Ephesian church. Here's Christ's evaluation. And of course, it's perfect. But how did he do it? Did he start scolding them? No. The sandwich technique is you start positively. Then you point out areas to work on, and then you end up with encouragement afterwards. Notice in Revelation 2, 2 through 7 in the Good News Bible, Christ says first, I know what you have done. So that's positive. I've seen your work. Number two, I know how hard you have worked. So he emphasizes you really went the extra mile. Number three, how patient you have been. So they've been enduring. They haven't given up. Number four, I know that you cannot tolerate evil people. So that's a compliment, too. And five, you have tested those who say they're apostles but are not and have found out that they are liars. So again, five commendations, five positive things. And then he goes on, verse 6, the sixth point, he reiterates, you are patient. Number seven, you have suffered for my sake. And number eight, you have not given up. And then he says, but this is what I have against you. So here's the other part, the middle part of the sandwich. He doesn't whitewash them. They're things that they need to work on. So number nine, you do not love me now as you did at first. Think how far you have fallen. Tenth, also corrective, turn from your sins and do what you did at first. Verse 11, also corrective, if you don't turn from your sins, I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place. I talk about the church and where it was.

But this is what you have in your favor. Then he ends, commending them, encouraging them. You hate the Nicolations do what you hate what the Nicolations do as much as I do. If you have ears, then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. And then he ends with a great encouraging and reward if they persevere. Thirteen, to those who win the victory, I will give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the Garden of God. So ratio is basically a positive, three negative, and then end up with two positives. That's ten encouragements, and only three are corrective. So that can also be applied in the home, at work, and in the church. Let's go to the ninth principle. This is the one that has to deal with a woman caught in adultery. They went to Christ. They wanted to stone her. John 8, 3, 3, 11. You can read that. And what did Christ do? He didn't condone what she had done wrong, but he saw that she was repentant. He gave her a second chance, and then he gave her a warning. Don't repeat it. Don't repeat what you've done wrong, or you're going to feel the consequences from God. So we should be more tolerant of others, but less of self. And human nature has it the opposite way. We're all very tolerant with us and our faults, but then we're very picky and we're very judgmental toward others. That's human nature. God's nature is reversing it. We're much more demanding for ourselves. We have the bar high of our expectancy. But then, toward others, you lower the bar. Don't judge them by your own standing. And then the tenth principle. Before you judge others, put yourself in their shoes. As Galatians 6.2 tells us, bear one another's burdens. See, not just ours, but think about the other person, what they're going through. And so fulfill the law of Christ. Carry the burden of others. It has to do with the golden rule. As you would like to be treated, so treat others the same way. I remember a case years ago, Cady and I were in Puerto Rico, where a minister mentioned that a person came running out of the house. And he had a bunch of nails in one hand and he had a hammer in the other. And there was a car parked there in front. And he went and he proceeded to put nails on each one of those tires. And then a person came and said, what are you doing? You're ruining this car. I'm going to call the police. And the person said, before you do, please understand. There's a person inside the house that is so mad that he grabbed a pistol and he was going to shoot somebody. And the only way that I thought I could prevent it was that he couldn't use the car. And it worked. So you see, before judging too quickly, check things out. In Proverbs 18 verse 13, it says, it is a shame for somebody to act before getting the facts.

And let's go to the next one, the eleventh principle. The need to be sober-minded on the job, the analogy of a spiritual surgeon, making spiritual decisions are very difficult and delicate because you can really damage a person by what you say or how you act. It's just like spiritual surgery, brain surgery. You have that scalpel and if you come in and you cut the wrong one, that person might lose the movement of their arm because you just severed a nerve going there.

Well, how much worse is it when you sever a spiritual nerve where the person just doesn't want to come back because they've been offended, they acted the wrong way? Notice what it says in Matthew 18 verses 6 through 7. It says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me, these new people, causes one of these to sin. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he would drown in the depths of the sea.

In James 3, it says, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. We will have to give an account before God. So again, dealing with people's spiritual lives and emotional lives, just like your physical lives, is a delicate thing to do.

Be careful not to be a stumbling block and cause offenses to others. Their salvation may be at stake. So let's go to number 12. Don't lament about the hand of cards you've been dealt with by life. Don't whine about why you don't have certain things. Do the best with the cards that you do have. 1 Timothy 6, 6, the basic Bible in English, it says, but true faith with peace of mind is of great profit, for we came into the world with nothing and we're not able to take anything out.

But if we have food and a roof over us, let that be enough. But those who have a desire for wealth, in the wrong way, is talking about falling into danger and are taken as a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires. People that just, oh, I've got to go to the world to make money. I don't care anymore about God. Boy, that's going to bring a lot of problems. Let's go to the 13th. Remember the Good Samaritan.

He left what he was doing for a greater good. Yes, we're always going to have a lot of tasks and paperwork and things to do, but people should come first. In the home, at work, at church, people should always talk and feel that the minister is there for you and he's going to answer your phone call, if not immediately.

I don't deal with the recording so much. I want to hear people. Now, there are times, of course, you're out of the country or doing something, but the point is that people come first. Then everything else is secondary. And, of course, people also include my family. So that's part of my responsibilities. So remember the Good Samaritan, what he did.

He left what he was doing for a greater good. Number 14, stay close to the trunk of the tree. The basic Bible teachings, the Ten Commandments, the 20 fundamental beliefs based on those Ten Commandments and other parts of Scripture. And don't do pirouettes on the doctrinal twigs because you can easily fall off. Isaiah 8, 19-20 says, to the law and to the testimony. In other words, the Bible.

If they do not teach or speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. The New Living Translation says, look to God's instructions and teachings. People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. Anchor yourself so on God's law, for it is the trunk of the tree. Number 15, we've got just two left. Don't exaggerate what is insignificant or minimize what is important. Avoid straining the technical gnat and swallowing the spiritual camel. As Christ mentioned in Matthew 23 and 24, it says, you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith.

These you ought to have done. In other words, tithing is a law in the Scriptures. You never see any place where it says tithing has been abolished. Or in the New Testament, and now we're just going to have voluntary offering. No, that is a law. There was never a controversy in the New Testament that we read where that law from God has changed. And so he said, this you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. And the last one, number 16, be loyal, but keep your eyes open. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, one, follow me as I follow Christ.

He didn't say follow me and everything I do. No, you make sure I'm following Christ. That's the condition. There is a limit to which you should follow the leader. It's not unconditional. It says in Acts 5, 29, the apostles had to go before their priests and the Sanhedrin, which governed all the Jews. And they said, we ought to obey God rather than men.

Example of Lucifer and the angels. They were not loyal to God. And you'd think out of all those probably millions of angels that followed Lucifer and his rebellion, that there wasn't there one that would have been a whistleblower before God, the Father, and Jesus, the pre-existent Jesus at that time. The Word of God. You needed just one of those who said, look, this is what's going on here. Nobody, we don't read about that. They all swallowed the Kool-Aid, as they say.

They took the bait. And so, yes, be loyal, but keep your eyes open. So these are the first 16 principles. I hope they will be as helpful to you as they have been to me.