Four Character Traits of a Leader

But anyway, I hope you all had a good feast wherever you went. And we did enjoy that we were with all of our family. We all stayed in one place together with our entire family, the eight of us. So that was really great, made it great that way. But of course now that those are gone, we're back to reality. But we all enjoyed the fall feasts and holy days. And those fall feasts and holy days we observe every year have a lot to do with leadership. And have a lot to do with reigning with Christ as kings and priests for a thousand years. If I just just look at that real quick, there's a revelation, just focus on that in my introduction. Revelation 8 beginning in... or student, not revelation, Revelation 5, excuse me. Revelation 5 beginning in verse 8. Revelation 5 verse 8, John, he writing the book of Revelation says, Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders stand around God's throne, they fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowl full of incense, the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. So we're going to reign on the earth with Christ when he turns and, of course, follow the false, feast, focus on that, especially the piece of tabernacles. But how long have we been reigned on the earth with Christ as kings and priests to our God? Revelation 20 verse 4, I'm going to turn there, but I just quoted Revelation 20 verse 4, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. And, of course, we've all been called, we realize, we've all been called to become a part of those future leaders to rule with Christ for a thousand years on the earth. I just want to focus on that today. What would that take? Do we picture ourselves as world leaders? We look at world leaders today and leaders in different nations, and they have a lot of challenges. Some would look at and say, wow, they're lousy doing their job. They don't do a very good job. Others are doing a little bit better, but we're going to be called to be those leaders in the world tomorrow. Do we really picture ourselves as a world leader? Do we picture ourselves as a king or a priest or as a part of a kingdom of priests? Now, it says kings and priests in Revelation there, but back in Exodus 19, it says we're going to be a part of a kingdom of priests. In Acts 19, verses 5 and 6, where God told Israel, he says, Now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Kingdom of leaders, kingdom of people who are going to teach God's way of life and help people to understand what God's way of life is and teach God's laws. So we've all been called to be those future leaders of the world reigning with Christ for a thousand years on the earth. But what kind of training is that going to take? What do we need to learn to be prepared for that?

What must you and I learn in order to become those future leaders?

Well, the answer may surprise us, but there are certain character traits that required of a leader in order to become a true leader. You've got to have certain character traits to become a leader. Now, the vast majority of us that have been in God's church for a number of years are actually, believe it or not, we're actually learning those character traits. A lot of you have already learned a lot of those traits yourself, whether you realize it or not. But today, then, I want to look at basically four essential character traits required of a leader. Four essential character traits required of a leader. And that's my title. My title is Four Character Traits of a Leader. Four character traits of a leader.

But before getting to the first character trait, I want to make what might surprise you as being kind of a surprising statement. We can't read Hebrew. Our Bibles are translated in English, but Old Testament, as we know, was originally written in Hebrew language, which is an amazing language, by the way. But it may surprise you to find out that in Hebrew, in the Hebrew language, there is no word specifically for a leader or for leadership. There is no Hebrew word that you could literally means leader or leadership.

I want to just go back here for a second. This is from Stravinsky and Cordance.

In Stravinsky and Cordance, the English word leader or leaders is listed as being translation of the Hebrew word nagid, spelled in English, the Hebrew word in English is spelled n-a-g-i-y-d, nagid in Hebrew. It's a number 5057-5057 in Stravinsky and Cordance. It's listed as being derived from the Hebrew word nagid, n-a-g-i-d, which Stravinsky is defined as a commander, such as a military commander or a captain. So the Hebrew word translated leader or leadership is referring to the person in that position, not to the actual role. It refers to someone in a leadership role rather than to the role itself. So there's no Hebrew word simply for leader or for that role. It's defined the person who's fulfilling that role. So I have to ask them, why is that? Why not? Well, when you stop and think about it, and you really analyze them, we're going to give you a couple of examples here, and you can come up with many more, but leadership is an action, not an identity. It's an action, not an identity.

It's an action that people take under very trying circumstances, and often it's a very courageous action that people will take. And we could come up with all kinds of examples from the Bible and from even society as well. I want to give you one situation, one person who became a leader because he took action. And I've been asking this, and the only congregation so far that really a lot of them knew who he was was up in Gaylord, but I'll see how much you are here. How many remember who Todd Beamer was?

Todd Beamer. Well, 18 years ago, you remember who he was.

Todd Beamer was actually born on November 24, 1968, and he was born in Flint, Michigan, might appear. He died on September 11, 2001. That might give you a clue. He died on September 11, 2001, in a field in Pennsylvania as a passenger aboard United Airlines, Flight 93, at the very young age of 32 years old. He was only 32 years old.

And he was just an ordinary young man who'd go on an airplane, take a flight, go from one place to another. But that airline, of course, you know, that particular airline was taken over by hijackers. And when that was taken over by hijackers, he had to back to the back of the airplane, sitting there, and he decided, I'm going to take action.

He decided to take action to try to gain control of the hijacked airplane. And he had his airplane phone on. He was contacting someone on the ground, trying to tell him what was taking place. So with his airplane phone connected to a customer service representative on the ground, he was heard saying to other passengers, let's roll. He said, remember that? Let's roll. He decided, I'm going to get, we're going to get together. And he was hoping there might be other people on the plane there just sitting there. When he got up and decided to go attack that hijacker who had a knife or whatever he had, others would help him and join him. He'd have the courage to follow him then, if he took the lead.

So he took action against the hijackers. And at that precise moment when he took that action, Todd Beamer became a leader. Before that, he was just a young man by the name of Todd Beamer. He became a leader because he took action. Because leadership is not identity, it's a courageous action that people take that makes them a leader. Many of you here took courageous action back in 1995, didn't you? You know, the things are changing in 1995. All the doctors are changing. But you decided to sit down and just not say anything. A lot of people decided to take action. You said, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to accept that. I'm not going to stay here. I'm going to go somewhere else.

He took action. That made you leaders at that particular point. You took action. And that was leadership to everybody else who was kind of confused and wondering, what should I do? Now, many companies have had extensive leadership training programs, but you can't really train someone to be a great leader. Not really. Because a great leader is one who rises to the occasion when that need comes to love out. Who rises to the occasion under times of chaos and stress and fear when people may be afraid to take action, but you've got somebody who's going to take action. They seek the opportunity and they need to take action. They will. That makes them a leader. And that can be a person of any age. It can be a young teenager, be an older person. It can be a man or it can be a woman.

You know, you look at David, he was a teenager, but he's there and all of a sudden, here's his Goliath. And he's scary in Israel. He's going to wipe out Israel. He goes out there and no, nobody's afraid, Saul and the king Saul and all the other men, they're afraid to go out against Goliath. I'm not going to go against him. Who took action? David. He's a teenager. He's not real known, anything. He's a shepherd boy. But he decided, I'm not going to let that Goliath defile God's people in Israel. These are God's people. It's God's nation. And he decided to go out and take action. He took a rock and went out there and he stood before Goliath. He said, how dare you defy the living God? He took action. That point made David a leader. He took Esther. You can read the book of Esther. Esther laid down her life, didn't she? She realized, don't want to save her people. She was going to have to go before the king and yet you couldn't go before the king once the king called you. And she knew that even as a queen, one of the queens, that she could be put to death for going there without not being called. But she said, no, I've got to try to save my people. I'm going to take action. If I die, I die. I'm going before the king. And she did. That made Esther a leader.

So a lot of others do that too, take action, become leaders. But are you and I ready to step into leadership? Are we ready to take action if and when that moment arises? With that in mind, then I want to move on to four character traits of a leader. Actually, there's a fifth character trait I just mentioned here because obviously a very important one and all leaders have to have this as well. And I'm not going to cover that in this sermon. I'm going to take a whole sermon to me to cover this particular trait. So I'm not going to focus on this one, but it would be a fifth one we could add. And that would be humility because all leaders need humility. But I want to then go on to four other character traits required of a leader. So what was the first character trait of a true leader? You might surprise you to understand this, but you have to have the best to come first. Condition to humility. Many might think that a leader is someone who appears to be very powerful, maybe invincible. I possibly Adolf Hitler.

You know, he had everyone call him. What did Hitler, everybody call him? He had everybody call him Dafur. Dafur means German, means in English, means the leader. They had everybody call him the leader. But he was not a true leader. A true leader will have followers, but not because they are forced to follow him. You know, they are forced to follow him. If they didn't follow him, they were put to death. That's not a leader. In the end, he died a very cowardly death, hiding out in his bunker. That's it. Saddam Hussein, who was similar to that type of leader, who was found hiding in his bunker as a coward. But leaders are not those who appear to be powerful or invincible. So what then are they? What might the first character trait of a real leader be?

Well, this is the one I have for the first minute. A leader must first learn to follow. You can't lead unless you can learn to follow first. Of course, we have to do that, don't we? We have to follow Jesus Christ. We're being trained to be leaders, but the first thing we have to do is learn how to follow Christ. See, and think about this. Who is the greatest leader of all time? Well, Christ is the greatest leader of all time. So then, if the first character trait of a true leader is to learn how to follow, was that the first character trait Christ had to learn to be the greatest leader of all time when he came to the earth as a human being. See, what was the first character trait that made Christ the greatest leader of all time? Let's go to John chapter 5. Let's read it from scripture. John chapter 5. John chapter 5 and verse 19. John 5 verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, said to the scribes and the Pharisees and others who were questioning him, he said, most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do. For whatever he, whatever the Father does, the Son does in like manner. So what was the first character trait that made Christ a great leader? He followed his Father. Let's go down to verse 30. John 5 verse 30. He said, I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will, but I seek the will of the Father who sent me. I follow my Father's will. I don't do my own will. I follow my Father's will. And then following his Father's will, did Christ consider his Father then as being greater than himself? I'll just quote it. John 14, 28. I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. Again, John 14 verse 28.

Now, this is an interesting example here of somebody who became a great leader, but you can start out that way. You know, many would, if you ask, well, who's one of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament? Well, a lot of people think it might come to mind, but one would undoubtedly be Moses, for leading Israel out of Egypt. Did that make him a great leader? Well, Moses was never referred to in Scripture as being a leader. Actually, he was going to look at it closely. In fact, but he was even a very, you know, to be a leader, you have to learn to be a follower. Moses, interesting to look at the example here, he was a very reluctant follower. He didn't want to follow, to start with, and yet that was God trying to get him to do. God was trying to get Moses to follow his instructions, God's instructions, but Moses didn't want to follow God's instructions. But God just kept after him, because if you're going to be a leader, I want to use you to lead Israel out of Egypt, but you're going to have to learn to follow me first.

He was a very reluctant follower. Let's go back and look at that. It's interesting. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus chapter 3, and I'll begin in verse 1. Exodus 3 verse 1, Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel, and capitalize, because we'll see in a minute this is God, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. So then Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him out of the midst of the bush. And he said, Moses, Moses, and Moses, well, here I am, verse 6, moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry because they're taskmasters. I know their sorrows, I know everything they're going through, I understand all the problems they're facing, it looks like he does with each everyone about us. He knows our sorrows, he knows the things we struggle with. Verse 8, so here God is telling... you can imagine this God is actually talking to Moses. Wow, wouldn't that be something?

So he tells Moses, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Verse 10, now Moses is trying to get a little nasty now, maybe. Come now, therefore, and I will send you, Moses, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh, the most powerful person in the entire world who controls all of Egypt, controls life and death over people. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, children, and Israel out of Egypt. I want to use you as a leader to do the greatest leadership jobs of all time, and I'll use you to lead my people out of Egypt. I want you to go to Pharaoh. Now, how did Moses respond to that? Verse 10, come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. Verse 11, Moses said to God, verse 11, wait a minute, hold it!

Who am I? You want me to go to Pharaoh? The most powerful man in the world who has life and death over people, has them enslaved? Who am I? I should go to Pharaoh that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. I'm not a leader.

I can't do that. Here's a fascinating thing. God basically ignores him.

You know, verse 12, he says, well, he says, I'm going to be with you, Moses. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it. I'll be with you. He basically ignores what he says. But then, verse 13, then Moses said to God, well, indeed, there's going to be some problems here.

When I come to the children of Israel and I say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is his name? What do you mean, the God of your fathers has sent me to you? Who's that? Who is he? What's his name? What am I going to say to them, or I tell them? He's going to ask me questions. I won't know the answers.

God basically ignores him again.

God basically ignores him and just continues giving you more instructions.

You can see it all the way down to chapter 4, verse 1. Then Moses answered, but, but, but, well, Siska, wait a minute now. I know you're giving me all the instructions, but you're talking to the wrong man. But suppose they will not believe me. I don't think he's going to believe me, God. What am I going to do then? What if he doesn't believe me or listen to my voice? Suppose they say, the Lord has not appeared to you. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're hallucinating, Moses. God hasn't appeared to you.

And also then, what's he going to do? But you go on, really, God basically ignores him again and gives him, he just keeps giving him further instructions. Just kind of ignores what Moses says. Going down to verse 10, chapter 4.

Notice what Moses says in verse 13. He's still not convinced.

Oh my Lord, please use somebody else.

Please stand by the hand of whomever else you want. Find somebody. I'm not the man.

Believe me, you're wasting your time. I'm not the man. So what did God do? God didn't have enough, so he spoke through Moses' brother Aaron. He's dead. Use Aaron.

So I'm just showing you that Moses was very, he needed to learn to follow to be a leader, but he was a very reluctant follower at first. But as we know, Moses did follow all of God's instructions later. And by following God's instructions, Moses became a great leader, although very reluctantly at first. But he did finally learn to follow God, do what God said, but it wasn't easy. But the first character trait of a leader is to learn how to follow.

So we have to learn how to follow if we want to learn how to lead. What's the second character trait of a true leader?

Leader has to maintain a clearer vision of the overall goal.

I'm going to illustrate that in kind of a strange way by asking this question.

When you read Genesis 1, why are the days of the week not given names? Why are they only given numbers and not names?

All it says is, the evening and the morning were the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, and the sixth day. Of course, Genesis 1 is describing God's process of creation.

And what is the ultimate culmination of God's creation week? Well, we go back and read it for ourselves. Genesis 2, the culmination of that creation week is the Sabbath.

Genesis 2, beginning in verse 1.

Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hopes of them were finished after day six. And then on the seventh day, Genesis 2, 2, God entered his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, set it apart, because in it he had rested from all his work which God had created and made.

So the clear vision and overall goal God had in mind was the Sabbath. It's all led to the Sabbath and what the Sabbath depicts.

The days of the week, think about it, the days of the week have been given names by God. If he'd given them names, as man has now given them, then each day would stand on its own. It wouldn't really point to the future, just stand on its own.

As our name, days of the week, do now. If you just want to look at them that way, what's the first day of the week today? Sunday, the day of the sun. That doesn't look to anything in the future, does it? What's Monday? The day of the moon.

Tuesday is the day of Turor, the day of Mars, the call of war. Wednesday is the day of Woden.

Thursday is the day of Thor. Friday is the day of Freya. Saturday is the day of Saturn. They don't point to the future. Days stand on their own in a perverse way.

In a pagan way, actually. But instead, God numbered them so that each day would then lead to the next. If you have day one, well, then wow, there's got to be another day to follow that. You're always looking forward. You're looking to the future. And when you get to day seven, you start over with day one again. You're always looking ahead. Always looking to the future.

Always keeps us focused on what's going to come next. The seven-day week can also be like it to seven thousand years as stated by Peter in 2 Peter 3a where he said, with the Lord, one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The victim, as we know, 56,000 years for mankind to go his own way, apart from God, to show what that's going to result in. It doesn't work for man to go his own way. God's given him 6,000 years, 6 million days to go his own way, to show that man's way does not work the only way that works is God's way. When you look back at history, you see that.

Then we followed by a seventh millennial day of rest from Satan and Satan's influence with the kingdom of God on the earth to contrast God's way and Satan's way from God's way. Man's way, I should say, and Satan's way from God's way. So from the very beginning, God has created a seven-day week. By doing that, God maintained a clear vision of his overall goal for the future of mankind as depicted by the seven days of creation in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. As leaders, we have to do the same. We have to maintain a clear vision of our overall goal and part people in that direction to make it clear. Number three, third character trait. A leader will, no matter all leaders, as we can see this in the world today, all leaders will face confrontation. It's not going to be easy to be a leader. You're going to face confrontation. You know, you have to have the courage as a leader to persuasively present your vision for the future. And of course, our vision for the future is God's vision. But there are always going to be some who have a different vision, whatever a leadership position might be in. A leader will face confrontation because if you just opt in the world as a leader, you have a vision, you want to go this way, but there's always going to be somebody who's going to disagree with that and want to take it another direction.

And this is a complicated story, but I think it's worth looking at. It's an incident in the life of Judah, when Judah relinquished his leadership position by not properly facing confrontation.

But he later learned his lesson. But the initial incident was found in Genesis 37, Genesis 37, where Joseph's 10 brothers conspired to kill him because of his dreams. You know, Joseph's having his dreams. Of course, God gave a dream, so he's going to have free eminence over all of his brothers, and the brothers didn't think too highly of that. Jesus 37, beginning verse 19, So then the brothers said to one another, Look! Here comes Joseph! Here comes his dreamer! Come therefore, let us now, can you imagine? This is a better sight, let's kill him. I'll stop his dreams.

Let's kill him and cast him into some pit, and we shall say, some wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see where we'll become his dreams then. That's going to end his dreams. He's going to be greater than us. But Reuben, the oldest, Reuben was the oldest of all the brothers.

When Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands.

Let's not kill him. That's why they listened to Reuben, because Reuben was the oldest. So they kind of looked at him as being the leader of all the boys. And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit, which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him, that he might deliver him out of his hands, and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, of any colors. And they took him, and they cast him into the pit. The pit was empty, and there was no water in it. Can you imagine your brothers doing that to you? You just cast him in, and they left him there to die. He's so deep he couldn't get out. So he just left there to, maybe somebody might come by and rescue him, but if not, well then he'll die.

So he was left there to either die, or somehow be rescued by someone passing by. Verse 25. And they sit down, then eat him. What? Can you imagine that? Your brother's doing that? Throwing you in a pit to die? Then, oh, let's go and have something to eat.

So they sit down and eat a meal. Then they looked up their eyes and looked, and here's a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and her on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah then, now you can find out in a minute why now they're looking at Judah as the leader instead of Reuben, because Reuben was not there. You should read in a minute and read on. You'll find Reuben had gone somewhere else, but you know where he went. So Judah went to his brothers then, and now they're looking to Judah as the leader. He said, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites that are coming by, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, and he is our flesh. So then the brothers, they listen to him. Then many midnight traders pass by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Verse 29 tells us that Reuben wasn't there, because then after that Reuben then returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit, and he found out that his brothers were dead, and he tore his claws. So they listened to Judah, and looked to his leadership, especially since their older brother Reuben had left Temperele. In fact, if you look a little more closely, I can't actually read the whole story here. They were camping on the outskirts of the Dotham, a city called Dotham, and they were coming outside that city, where this all took place, built this pit for Joseph. And you can read that in Genesis 37 verse 17. And so apparently Reuben, he went into town for the night, and you can figure out your own imagination why he did. But going on to verse 28, chapter 37 verse 28, the many high traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up from the pit, and they sold him, and Reuben then returned to the pit. We already covered that. So that's not the way they should have handled it, shouldn't they? How should they have handled it? They should have said, no way are we going to sell our... Judah should have stood up and said, no way are we going to sell our brothers into slavery. That's totally wrong. God would not approve that. God would kill our father if he found out we sold Joseph into slavery. That's the way they should have done, but he didn't. He pulled him up, and he sold him into slavery. But that's not what they should have done, obviously. But later Judah does redeem himself. Although it comes with what it says of Judah, beginning of chapter 38. It's very interesting. And you don't read this in... I'm reading the New King James. You won't get this at all from the New King James. You have to be reading it in Hebrew to really understand it, although other translations will give you this as well.

Genesis 38 verse 1, 2. Or as the Old King James has, if you have an Old King James, it's a little bit more correct than you, because the word departed is not a good word, not a good translation. The Old King James has, Judah went down. He went down from or descended from his brothers. The Old King James said he went down. He went down. Does that mean that they were on a hill kind of? And he went down the hill? What does that mean? He went down. Because that's what the word... if you look at the word there, it's translated departed in the New King James, or went down in the Old King James, it really means he descended. But if you look at it in Hebrew, the Hebrew word implies something far different than what we read here in English. It implies more than departing or just going downhill. Went down and descended and applied by selling his brother into slavery. Judah descended from his position of leadership and he descended morally speaking. He went through immorality, was immoral to do that. And he was relinquished his leadership position by doing something that was really immoral. In fact, you read the rest of chapter 38. I won't read to go through, but you can see Judah went really in the wrong direction morally. He went down morally from that point. But later he redeemed his position. Let's go to Genesis 43 verse 1.

Genesis 41 verse 1, because there was a famine in the land. Now the famine was severe in the land, and it came to pass when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, because you know the famine was in the land, but plenty in Egypt. There were six years of plenty and six years of famine, as you know. And of course Joseph was there, so he had him save up. He knew ahead of time it was going to be six years of planning, six years of famine, so he had him save up. So they had food during the famine years. Of course, when the famine didn't hit everybody else, the only place they could go for food was Egypt. So it came to pass when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father, Father Jacob, said to them, go back and buy us a little more food. But Judah spoke to him saying, the man, the man here being Joseph, because Joseph was now second in command in Egypt, and if they're going to go eat food for me, they have to go to Joseph. But he didn't recognize him. He didn't know that was their brother. He thought Joseph was dead.

But Judah spoke to him saying, the man, Psalm E. Warren does, saying, you shall not see my face unless you come back with your brother. They were talking about Benjamin, and when they went down there, all the brothers went down there, they didn't, they left Benjamin with their father. They didn't take Benjamin.

And Judah spoke to him saying, the man, Psalm E. Warren does, saying, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. And then, so the man being Joseph, going on in verse 4, if you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. And then he'd bring to Benjamin. And if you will not send him, you will not send Benjamin, we will not go down. For the man, man Joseph, said to us, you shall not see my face unless your brother, your brother Benjamin, is with you. And Israel said, why did you deal so wrongfully with me? Israel or Jacob said to him, when he came back and reported this, to tell them whether or not you still had another brother. Why did you tell them when you went down there and they said, bring your brother, why did you even let them know we had another brother back here that wasn't with you? He referred to, of course, Benjamin. But they said, the man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, is your father still alive? Have you another brother? Of course, they didn't realize that Joseph here was part of their family and was not trying to find out whether his father was still alive and all that. They just thought he was an Egyptian, the second man in Egypt. And we told them, according to these words, could we possibly have known that he would say, bring your brother down with you? Then Joseph said, excuse me, then Judah, verse 9, and Judah said to Israel, his father, send the lad with me and we will arise and go. Now Judah's taking responsibility now, finally. He's stepping back into a leadership role. He's taking action. We will rise and go that we may live and not die. Both we and you are also our little ones. I myself will be a surly for him, for Benjamin, for you take him back.

I will be a surly for him. From my hand you shall require him. And if I do not bring him, I will bring Benjamin back to you and send him before you, he tells his father. Then let me bear the blame forever. So now Judah is recovering his leadership role, telling his father he's going to take the blame forever if he doesn't bring Benjamin back. So then Jacob or Israel said this, chapter 43, verse 13, take your brother also and arise and go back to the man. And may God Almighty give you mercy before this man, that he may release your other brother also, because I think they held Simeon, he's holding there for sure. And then Jacob tells him, he says, if I'm bereaved, I am bereaved.

So then Judah took the lead after they returned to Egypt with Benjamin, chapter 44, verse 14.

Chapter 44, then Judah said to us, excuse me, then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there, of course not knowing it was Joseph. And they fell before him on the ground, verse 16. Then Judah said, what shall we say, my Lord? What shall we speak? How shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants, and here we are, my Lord slays, both we and he also with whom the cup was found. Judah then explains to Joseph, meeting with his father, what the concept was going to be if he doesn't come back with Benjamin, chapter 44, verse 30.

Now therefore, when I come to your servant, my father, he says, and the lad is not with me, but I don't have Benjamin with me. My father's life is bound up in Benjamin's life, and it's going to happen when he sees that the lad, Benjamin, is not with us, that he will, my father's going to die. So your servants will bring down the great hair of your servant, our father, the sorrow to the grave, for your servant has become surly.

You know, Joseph's talking, Judah now talking about himself, as I become surly for the lad to my father, saying, if I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever. Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad. I'll tell you what, if you let Benjamin go back with my other brothers to my father, I'll stay here. I'll take it, Judah says. He says, I'll be a slave to you instead of the lad. I'll be a slave to the Lord if you just let him go back with the brothers to my father.

So now Judah is courageously redeeming himself. He's taking personal responsibility and laying his life on the line. If you will let my brother Benjamin return to my father, then I'll become your slave for other. He's telling Joseph. Verse 34, for how shall I go to my father if Benjamin is not with me? Thus, perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father.

He would kill my father. He would die if Benjamin isn't with me. So a leader is going to have to face confrontation as Judah did. We'll at times have to exert strong and courageous leadership by basically facing that competition head on and maybe laying his life on the line as Judah did here. So Judah redeemed himself and did become a leader at this point. He took action and he became courageous.

Finally, number four, the fourth point, which is a very interesting one that applies to all of us, leadership requires knowing facts and exercising faith. Now it should be obvious that a leader should have a good command of the facts of any situation, but the other necessary characteristic of a leader is faith. This is illustrated in a very interesting way. As we know, Abraham emerged as becoming a leader among the patriots of the Old Testament.

You read that in Hebrews 11 verses 8 to 10. I faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went not knowing where he was going. Verse 8, he was 11 verse 9. By faith he drove the land of promise drawing in tents with Isaac and so on for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder to make was God. Verse 10. And what is faith? Verse 1, faith is something that things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And by it the elders obtained a good testimony. And Abraham obtained a good testimony by considering the whole four land of Canaan. Very interesting example here. He considered that whole four land of Canaan. They got a promise to him. He considered it as being his land before it became his land. That's how much faith Abraham had. In other words, Abraham saw what he hadn't seen as if it were also a present reality. Why is that so important to be able to see what hasn't happened yet as being a present reality? How important is it for us to understand and realize that the promise of God, that God has been promised to us, that's so real to us that we consider it a present reality, not just a future promise?

That's where it has to be for all of us as far as the kingdom of God is concerned. We have to see the kingdom of God as a reality before it actually becomes a reality. And this is what this story illustrates here, which is so interesting. Because the story of Abraham's faith involves a certain servant by the name of Eliezer who sends out a...

Abraham sends out this serving Eliezer to find a bride for his son Isaac. Let's go back to Genesis 24. Genesis 24 verse 1, Abraham was old and was advanced in age and the journal had blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to his oldest servant of his house, who was Eliezer, he said, please put your hand under my thigh. I want you to make a promise to me.

That's Eliezer. We go back and read Genesis 15 verse 2. It identifies this servant as being Eliezer.

In verse 3, I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife from my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites. And now, it's the last part of verse 3. He says, among whom I dwell. Abraham's instructions to Eliezer to find a bride for Isaac.

He said, why don't you go and tell him, don't take a daughter from the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. He said, among whom I dwell, among the Canaanites. Because he was living in the land of Canaan at this time. Abraham was. Now, Abraham was an isolated individual, living among the Canaanites. And this was the land of Canaan, not yet the land of Abraham, the land of Israel. But God promised it to him, Genesis 12, verse 2 verses, and also Genesis 12, verses 6 and 7, where it says, God made this promise to Abraham and says, to your descendants, I will give this land. Well, Abraham took that as a brief reality. So I'm going to give this land to your descendants. Abraham has so much faith, he considers that a present reality, not just a future promise.

But Eliezer then went to Abraham's hometown of Nahor to find a bride for Isaac. Of course, he and Rebecca.

Eliezer then comes to the house of Laban, who's Rebecca's brother. She's living in her brother's house. He comes there. But that's no skiffly what he says. He's not going to be prequered to Laban what Abraham told him to say. Only he doesn't repeat it exactly. Notice the difference. Genesis 24, verse 34.

So he said, when he came to Laban's house, I'm Abraham's servant, Eliezer tells him. And the Lord has blessed my master, my master Abraham greatly, and he's become great. And he has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and male and female servants and camels and donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when he was old. And to him, he has given all that he has. Now my master made me swear, saying, you shall not take... He's repeating what we just read here, not just a moment ago, but notice how he changes something. He says, you shall not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the canites, in whose land I dwell.

So notice those last four verses, words there, not five verses, which is in whose land I dwell. See Abraham had told Eliezer to swear, not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the canites, among whom I dwell. But Eliezer misquotes Abraham when he tells Lavin, Abraham told him, he shall not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the canites, in whose land I dwell.

I don't know. Wait a minute, what's the difference?

Abraham said, among whom I dwell, but Eliezer changes that to in whose land I dwell. Guys, think about that. It's very subtle.

It may seem on the surface to be saying essentially the same thing, but in reality there's a huge difference.

Eliezer subconsciously changed the words from among whom I dwell to in whose land I dwell.

Why? Because it's inconceivable to Eliezer that this entire land of Canaan was already Abraham's land, as the canites had not yet been conquered. They hadn't been conquered yet. Still their land. They hadn't been driven out. And yet Abraham already considered it to be his land, since God had promised it to him, as implied by everything among whom I dwell. I've been dwelling among the Canaanites. In essence, he was saying and implying that he was dwelling among the Canaanites in his land. This is the land of Israel. This is the land of Abraham, because God has promised it to me. It's a reality. It's going to be my land. So he was dwelling among the Canaanites. He wasn't dwelling in the Canaanites land. He was dwelling among them in his land. The Canaanites were basically dwelling Abraham's land. That's how much reality promises reality to Abraham. So Abraham was a leader exercising absolute faith in God's promises by considering God's future promise as a present reality. Think about it. That's what we have to do, too. To face all the trials we have to face in this life, all the problems, all the setbacks, all the things, losses we suffer, suffering loss of children, as Lee was saying, loss of a wife, loss of a child. We have to believe. We know God's promise is going to restore those lies. And that has to be like a present reality to us, not just a future promise. It's almost all of us considering with Christ on this earth, not just a future promise, but as a present reality. Because this earth and everything in it belongs to God, and God has promised to give it to us, the people he's calling now. So this is... we're not now. We're not... right now we're living in God's land. In whose land we now dwell. Because it's God's land, and we're growing in God's land. In conclusion, a member of leadership is an action, not an identity. In the four main characteristics of a leader, in addition to humility, are one, a leader must first learn to follow. Number two, a leader must maintain a clear vision of the overall goal. Three, a leader will face confrontation. Four, leadership requires knowing the facts and exercising and living by faith. So those are the four major characteristics of a true leader.

And we've all become... then call, I should say, to become those future leaders. So we all have to think about and try to develop those same characteristics in our lives.