Profiles in Leadership

Well, back in the 60s, the early 1960s, maybe the late 1950s, America was in a crisis situation. And those of you who were alive at that time, you will remember that there was a Cuban- country through some trying times. And back around that time, he authored or had written a book that was titled Profiles in Courage.

And if you read that book, you probably remember something about it. I never read the book, but I've read synopses of it. And what the precept of the book was was that there were eight senators in the course of history. And what he did was highlight what those senators did to change the course of American history. They had the courage to stand up and say what they thought was right in the face of opposition, in the face of what people were telling them to do.

And he called those profiles in courage. And he talked about the people, he talked about the events, he talked about what they did, and how American history was changed. And what he was wanting in that book was for America to have the same courage back in that time, to stand up and stand up for their beliefs. Some of the senators that he mentioned are household names. You've heard of people like John Quincy Adams. Other senators he mentioned you've never heard of, at least I've never heard of. People like George Norris and Edmund Ross. But they have their pages of history because they were willing to stand up and be noticed and to be taken stock of something that needed to happen in the country at that time.

And it ranged from the time very early in the country's history all right up until the 1950s that these things occurred. You know, any nation and any group of people needs someone who's going to stand up for what's right. We have to have people who are courageous. We have to be people who are leaders, people who will take a stand for something otherwise everything goes amiss.

Turn with me back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 22. At a time when Israel is just gone, you know, of course, in their history here, God records some words that should be stirring to all of us when he's talking about Israel and the House of Judah back then. Let's pick it up here in verse 26 of Ezekiel 22. You can get the flavor for what God is saying to the people back then, having Ezekiel record. Ezekiel 22, verse 26, it says, Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things.

They haven't distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they've hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths so that I'm profaned among them. They just weren't doing anything that God asked them to. Her princes and her mists are like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, Thus says the eternal God, when the eternal hadn't spoken at all.

Kind of giving fake news, fake prophecies, fake things to further therein. The people of the land of youth oppressions committed robbery and mistreated the poor and needy, and they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. In the midst of all this chaos and confusion and departure from God's way among His people, He says, So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. I looked for someone who would stand up and say, This isn't right. This isn't the way we should be going. This is the way it should be done. God found no one.

No one. And so Israel and then Judah were led into captivity because there was no one to stand up for God, stand up for what was right. God's people need someone to stand in the gap when things aren't going right. A nation needs someone to stand in the gap and to say things. John Kennedy talked about that in his book. We could look at that Profiles in Courage book, and we could look into the Bible and we could write our own book on Profiles in Courage, couldn't we?

We could look at the people in the Bible. We could look at people like Joshua and Moses and say, Here's men of courage. God exhorted them to be courageous. Here's Profiles of what they're like. Well, you look at America today and you look at the world around us. People may have courage, the wrong type of courage. I'm kind of surprised, the nerve that people have to say some of the things they say, even in the presence of others. It takes courage to say those things.

Maybe it's the wrong type of courage. There's a time where you just learn to just not say anything. But really what is missing in America today is leadership. Leadership. You really can't look at anyone in any party, in any position that's out there on the national scene and when we listen to the news day in and day out, you just think there are no leaders in America.

There's no one that we can look to and say, I can hang my hat on that guy that he's going to say or do the right thing. Because they all have faults, glaring faults in many cases. Every single one of them. And our young people, I wonder if the world was to go on another 30, 40, 50 years, if they look at our leaders and say, that's the way a leader is, boy, we are in big trouble.

Boy, we are in big trouble. There's a dearth of leadership in America today. So today I want to talk not about profiles in courage, but profiles in leadership. And not using the people of the world, but using some people in the Bible that were leaders the way God designed and described leaders. And look at some of their traits and some of their qualities that you and I should be aware of and thinking of and teaching our children so that they don't look at the leaders today and say, oh, that's the way to be a leader.

No, no, no. Teach them how to be a leader and teach ourselves how to be leaders the way God said to be leaders. Now, I'm going to talk, you know, there's a danger sometimes when you talk about leaders, and I'm going to talk about three men.

I'm not going to talk about eight like John Kennedy did, but three. The women will check out and they'll think it's not for me. It is for you. It's every single person in this room because you know what? God has all called us all to be what? He's training us all to be kings and priests. We may not have what we perceive to be leadership roles in today's world.

We may not have leadership roles. We think in our jobs. We all are being trained to be leaders. We need to be knowing what God is looking for in his leaders. Men and women alike, young and old alike, no matter what age we are. And women somewhere down the road will be doing a profile in womanhood too. Just in case you think your husband is on the line today, we'll talk about womanhood somewhere down the road too because womanhood and what it means to be a woman is certainly different in the world than what the Bible describes.

I want to talk about three people today. I'll warn you that if you're taking notes, I'm going to keep you busy. I usually try to keep it to three or four points. There are several more points today that I'm going to be making about these men. First one I want to talk about. You know all these guys. They're not obscure people in the Bible. First one I want to talk about is Joseph. Joseph is the favorite character of many people. I think we identify with Joseph and his story is fascinating. What God did with him is an amazing thing.

But Joseph, and I'm not going to read a lot of scriptures about Joseph because I know you know the story, but let me give you just a synopsis of the background here. Joseph, as you recall, was the favorite son of Jacob. In his family, with eleven other brothers and a sister, at least one sister in the service that were there, Joseph was a superstar in that family.

He was the favorite. He was the one that Jacob looked to. To his fault, I guess, Jacob really did set Joseph up because what he did was make Joseph think he was preeminent among the brethren in the family. He gave him gifts that he didn't give the other sons. He sent him out as kind of a foreman. Go out and see what the shepherds, see what those other brothers are doing, report back to me what they're doing.

Not the recipe to have someone be a popular brother, but he set him up in a way that the brothers weren't going to like him. Joseph even had dreams that he didn't keep to himself about his family bowing down to him. So you can kind of see Joseph as he grew up.

Maybe we could call him a little bit arrogant. He thought pretty highly of himself. When we look at how he talked to his brothers, he even talked to his fathers. He had quite an ego on him, and it wasn't all his fault that he had it. It was given to him. Now, we can look at Jacob, if I can take him aside here for a moment, and we can say Jacob was wrong. Yes, Jacob was wrong. We shouldn't have favorites as fathers. All our children are important. But you know, Jacob did something very right with Joseph too, because Joseph had a life that not one of them could have ever prescribed, but Jacob armed Joseph with the knowledge of God that was going to stand him in good stead.

And Joseph became who he became a lot because of what Jacob did give Joseph, a very good start in life, by making sure he knew who God was. He made sure that he knew to worship God. He made sure that Joseph knew what it meant to obey God. And Joseph didn't lose those things when he grow older, even though he was in a strange land with strange people. It reminds us of Proverbs 22.6, train a child in the way they will go, and even when they're old, they won't depart from it.

Joseph is a poster, I guess, if you will, for that. You know, fathers have a key role in leadership. God watches and sees what fathers and mothers, but what fathers do. We have a unique place in a child's life. We are charged with training our children in the way they should go, arming them with knowledge, arming them with an example to follow God, making sure that all of them have the time they need with us, and making sure they know they are loved just like God the Father loves us.

It's a responsibility that we have in how we discharge that. God looks and sees what kind of leader would you be. Because you know, it says back in Timothy, where it talks about elders, he's got to rule his own house well. If you can't take care of your own house, if you're not directing them well, why would God say you would be a leader and would be able to rule his house?

So we can look at Jacob and we can say, yes, he made a mistake, but you know that he did some things right, too. Well, let's get back to Joseph. Joseph finds himself in an untenable situation. One day, he's sold into slavery by his brothers. A situation you and I can't even imagine. He's there, and all of a sudden, he's traded off, being carried off to a strange country with people he doesn't know a language he doesn't know. And he finds himself in Egypt.

And he finds himself no longer a superstar, no longer the favorite of the family. He finds himself a slave, the lowest of slaves, a Hebrew boy sitting in Egypt on the market for someone to buy. Joseph never saw that coming in his life. And given his background, he could have been a very insolent young man. He could have gone into Egypt, and he could have fought, he could have rebelled, he could have said, it's unfair, I'm not doing this, and he could have made life miserable for himself. He didn't do that. He found himself in a position he didn't bargain for, a position that he would say wasn't fair.

But you know what? He made the most of it, didn't he? He made the most of it. He talked about that a little bit the last time I was here. Whatever situation you find yourself in, do the best with it. And Joseph did. And Joseph found himself a slave in Potiphar's household. And Joseph rose from lowest of the slaves all the way up to chief among the slaves. Potiphar trusted Joseph. Potiphar enjoyed Joseph's company. Potiphar put everything under Joseph's control.

Let's go back to Genesis 39. Just look at a few verses there about that, because those verses tell us a lot about Joseph and what he did in his route and what part of his make-up was as he was to become a great leader in Egypt. An example in the Bible. Genesis 39 Verse 1. Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard in the Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.

The Eternal was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his master of the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Eternal was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. Now, how did Potiphar see that? What was it about Joseph? Yes, God blessed Potiphar. But Joseph was doing his part.

Joseph was a hard worker. When Joseph found himself in that position, he didn't whine, he didn't complain, he didn't sulk, he didn't think, I shouldn't be here, this is all my brother's fault. What have you done to me, God? 2. Shackelsvisticeye, God. He went to work, and he worked hard. And he paid attention to what Potiphar said. He listened to what he said, and he was there to be a servant, a servant to Potiphar, the best servant he could be.

Somewhere along the line, Jacob had instilled into him, be a servant. Pay attention. Work hard. Those are things in life that you must do.

2. Joseph did it. In a strange land, strange people, his father not looking over his shoulders, his brother's not looking over his shoulders, but he went to work. He paid attention to Ecclesiastes 9.10. Even though Ecclesiastes 9.10 wasn't written at that time, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. He paid attention to what it says in Colossians 3, everything you do, do it to the glory of God. Do it well. Do it as if you're doing it to him.

And Joseph did that. Joseph played by the rules. He listened to Potiphar. He became the best servant he could be. Those were choices he made. He didn't have to, but he did it. And Potiphar saw, here's a kid that's trustworthy. Here's a kid that's hardworking. Here's a kid that's paying attention to my need. He's doing things that he could read in my mind. No wonder God blessed Potiphar. No wonder with that example that God was watching over. No wonder Potiphar raised him and said, He's the chief of all the servants. There's nothing I would withhold from him.

And so we could say, great leaders, hard workers, they know how to work hard, they know how to be a servant. We can take the example from Jesus Christ, right? He said, Whoever would be greatest among you, let him be your servant. Joseph did that. I don't know if we see leaders in the world today that would take that same mantra and put it around their neck, but great leaders are hard workers and they're great servants. And so Joseph rose to the top of Potiphar's household, and then all of a sudden something happened to him that he didn't foresee coming again.

Potiphar's wife got involved. Potiphar's wife got involved. She wanted to have an affair with him.

And here's a young man, Joseph. In a strange land, everything's under his control.

In Potiphar's household, he could have thought, why not? She's certainly not going to tell Potiphar what happened. He certainly wasn't going to tell Potiphar what happened. Sounds like a setup, right? A setup that was made if you're looking at it from a human reasoning. This is something maybe a young man would be prone to do. Not Joseph. He didn't fall prey to it. He had been well trained.

He knew exactly what was right and wrong. If we drop down to verse 7, it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, look, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house. He's committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back any from me but you, because you were his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Joseph stood in the gap, didn't he? He could have failed at that time, like so many others would have. Rolled it around in their minds and said, why not?

Here he was, years removed from being a slave. He stood in the gap. He knew what was right. He knew what was wrong. He'd been well taught, and he stood up for it, even though it was going to cost him dearly down the road. All of us, at some time in our life, we will be standing in the gap, and something will happen that we have to stand up for God and what we believe or yield to the world around us or whoever it might be or whatever it might be. Joseph stood up for God. Leaders stand up for God. They stand in the gap exactly the way that God said He's looking for people who will stand up and stand in that gap. Joseph did. Potiphar lost all trust in Joseph, not his fault. He did the right thing, and even though he did the right thing, he found himself in prison, even worse than being a slave. Now he's in prison at the bottom of the heap in prison. He doesn't want to be there. He could look at it and say, unjust. I don't deserve this. What did Joseph do in prison? He did the same thing again. He worked hard. He learned what the rules of the prison were. He followed every order. He rose to the top of that the same way. He didn't sulk. He didn't whine. He didn't rebel. He didn't scroll around screaming, this is unfair. He simply went to work in the position that God gave him to do, and he worked hard. The prison guard came to know him, and he rose to the top of that prison. Joseph continued to follow God. When dreams came to him, he didn't look to himself. He looked to God. He knew that he didn't interpret those dreams. When those opportunities came for him to witness of who God was, he did. He never took credit to himself. He never took credit to himself. He just kept doing what God said to do. Finally, after years, he came to the attention of a prisoner, a slave, and then a prisoner came to the attention of Pharaoh.

Who could have ever dreamed that? But here's Pharaoh with a dream that's bothering him, and then one day the butler or the baker, whichever it was, said, I remember there's a man in prison.

His God interprets these dreams. Joseph relied on God, pulled the dream, and all of a sudden he found himself second in command in all of Egypt.

All those things that he learned when he was a youth, all those things that he learned when he was in prison and as a slave, all those things that he did, God used them, and God promoted him. And he was there, he was there to fulfill the role that God had given to him.

Some very big qualities in Joseph. You know, he waited a long time. When he was sold into slavery, he had no idea what was going to happen to him. He had no idea when he went to Potiphar's house that he would end up chief in that house. He had no idea that he was going to be falsely accused and end up in prison. He had no idea that he was going to interpret dreams. He had no idea that one day he would be standing as second in command in Egypt with everything put in his hands except Pharaoh himself. He exhibited all of the attributes of a great leader, everything that God is looking for. He learned, he did, he practiced, it became him. And you know what? Through it all.

However many years it was, 13 years, 15 years, I don't remember the exact time, he waited on God and he never lost faith in God. He never lost faith in God. He didn't know where his life was going. He didn't know what would happen to him after he was put in prison. He didn't know what was going to happen to him when he was brought before Pharaoh. But he never lost faith in God. He knew that God had a purpose in his life and no matter what twist and turn, there were some awful twists and turns in his life, he knew that God was in control. You know, we all wait.

We don't have the twists and turns in our life that Joseph does. But you know, people have been waiting for Jesus Christ a long time. Peter talked about it in his day when he said back in verse 3, don't count the Lord's slack concerning his promise. Others say they've been talking about him coming back from the time immemorial. I mean, forever they've been talking about him. What? Is he coming back? We could find ourselves thinking that. Is he ever coming back?

No. Of course he is. We wait for God in his time, not our time. Let's go back to Lamentations 3.

Lamentations 3. We wait for God no matter what twist and turn in life, no matter how hard life is, no matter how good life is. We never take our eyes off of the promise that he's made us. And knowing that he will return and that he will give to his people what he has said he will.

Lamentations 3, verse 22. Now this, of course, Lamentations is written after Judah was taken into captivity. They've ignored Jeremiah for 40 years. What happened to them is exactly what God said would happen to them if they didn't turn back to God. They find themselves in Babylon.

And here in chapter 22, verse 22 of Lamentations 3, we pick up the sentiment here. It says, Though the Lord's mercies, or through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because his compassion fails not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Something we just sang a few minutes ago. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I hope in him. I hope and I wait in him. I don't lose hope. I don't lose heart. I don't give up. I don't cave in and go the way of the world. I keep standing in the gap. I keep believing. I keep standing for God. Back in Isaiah, Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, verse 31.

Those who wait on the Eternal shall renew their strength. It doesn't matter if you wait on God. He'll keep giving you that strength.

Joseph could have said, I'm too tired after Potiphar of the experience. I can't do it again.

Kept waiting for God and kept doing what he knew he should do.

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

God's leaders wait on him. They realize they're not in the control, but God is.

And no matter what twist or turn in life it takes that they may not have predicted, they still have faith in God. And they still wait on him, knowing that Jesus Christ will return, knowing that God's will will be done. So we could list some of the leadership traits of Joseph.

We could talk about him waiting and having faith on God. We could talk about his hard work, his diligence, his attention to detail, and his service as a servant and being willing to do whatever position and whatever thing God put in front of him. We could look at his commitment to God and that he was willing to stand up even when it cost him dearly. One more thing we could look about, Joseph. And these are certainly not an exhaustive list I'm giving you today. You can add to it later if you would like. One more thing about Joseph. One of the notable experiences in his life or one of the notable stories in his life. Here he is, second in command in Egypt. He's been done wrong by his brothers years before. They sold him into slavery because they were jealous of him. They were sick of dealing with him and they didn't want him out of their lives. Joseph could have become a very bitter person to those brothers. He could have laid awake at night and thought, if I ever see those guys again, if I ever see him again, this is what's going to happen to them.

We've kind of done that sometimes, right? You go through scenarios. You might think, yeah, if I just had my chance to do that, this is what would happen.

That wasn't part of Joseph's makeup. The brothers thought it would be part of his makeup. When all of a sudden they find themselves years later talking to Joseph and he happens to be the leader that holds their lives in his hands. And when he reveals himself to the brothers, they're rightfully a little bit nervous because they know exactly what went on. Let's go back to Genesis 45. Genesis 45.

Pick it up in verse 3. This is the second time when the brothers are back.

Joseph, as we can see in verse 2, has overcome with emotion. He's not feeling hate toward his brothers. He's not feeling vengeance. He's not seeking revenge on them. Verse 3, it says, Joseph said to his brothers, I'm Joseph. Does my father still live? But his brothers couldn't answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. This is Joseph. We sold him away all those years ago, and now he is the second in command in Egypt. And Joseph said to his brothers, please come near. So they came near and he said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

But now, don't therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.

God sent me here before you to preserve life. It wasn't your will. This is what God had determined in my life, brothers. Verse 7, God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God.

And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. No vengeance, no revenge, no getting even. Joseph was merciful to his brothers.

They deserved a lot worse in human terms, but he showed them mercy because he realized that through it all, his life hadn't taken the course he would have predicted it would take. But everything that happened happened for a reason, and God brought him through that, and he was a better man as a result.

A mark of a great leader is that he isn't the revenge seeker. He isn't seeking vengeance on those who may have done him wrong along the way. He's merciful, and he sees and recognizes God's will in his life. Let's talk about another man that you're well-attrained with.

Moses. Moses was a great leader.

Moses had a little bit different background than Joseph did. He wasn't raised in the church, if you will. He wasn't raised by God's standards. He wasn't even raised to know who God was.

He was raised in the Egyptian Pharaoh's household, trained in the ways of Egypt, trained in the ways to honor their gods, live by their standards. No mention of God, the true God, but trained in that way. Now, he was a superstar in his own right as well. He was there. He was of Hebrew roots, but he found himself in the court of the highest office in the land, or in the world at that time. He became a star in Egypt. If Moses walked into the room when he was part of Egyptian society, people stood up and noticed. He had a presence, and he was known. But he had a totally different background and childhood than Joseph did, who also had kind of charmed childhood as well. But Moses didn't. Or Moses did, I should say. But let's go back to Acts 7.

Moses did, but he didn't learn of God while he was growing up. Back in Acts 7, let's look at Stephen's account of Moses' life. Acts 7, of course, is where Stephen is standing up to the Council. He's talking about the history of Israel. He's coming to the conclusion that they are the ones who murdered Jesus Christ. He ends up being stoned himself. But through his discourse here, he talks a little bit about Moses. Beginning in verse 20 of Acts 7, he says this. He says, at that time, or at this time, Moses was born. And it was well pleasing to God, and he was brought up in his father's house for three months. But when he was set out there, his daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds. He knew the Egyptian culture. He knew the Egyptian gods. He knew exactly what they did to honor their gods. That was his life, and he was good at it.

And he was mighty in words and deeds. He wasn't one of those fortunate sons who just sat at home and did nothing. Moses also had the work ethic instilled into him. He wasn't just sitting back and resting on his laurels and saying, hey, my uncle is the Pharaoh. I don't have to do anything else. He worked. He was mighty in words. When he spoke, people listened. He f'ed Hutton, as opposed to Merrill Lynch, like I said a few weeks ago. When he spoke, people listened. He was mighty in words. Now, sometimes we think of Moses when he's challenging or when he's making an excuse to God, right? I can't speak. But here in Moses' early days, Stephen says he was mighty in words and mighty in deeds. He had great works. He was a figure in the Egyptian society.

His father also instilled in him that same work ethic. But you know, Moses, like Joseph, was probably a little arrogant. He had a background that, you know, he would say, look at my background. Look what I've done. God doesn't use people like that.

Our background before God calls us, we pick up some elements. We pick up some good things, like Joseph did, like Moses did. Good work habits, accomplishment, learn how to serve people, learn how to work with people, whatever it is. But Moses, like Joseph, had to learn something, another key trait among leaders. It's common among all these men and common among all leaders in God's eyes, and that is he was going to have to be humbled. Just like Joseph had to be humbled, he had to leave, or he had to be taken out of Joseph or Jacob's house. And he was humbled when he was a servant. Moses had to be taken out of the Egyptian culture where he was mighty in works and mighty in words and mighty in deeds. He had to be taken out, and he had to live the life of a murderer on the run from Egyptian society, losing everything that he had before that.

Moses, a prince in Egypt, but he found something or he learned something about himself. He learned that he was a Hebrew child. He wasn't a natural-born Egyptian. He wasn't a natural-born son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was a Hebrew. And if I can fill in the blanks a little bit here, maybe Moses was a little stunned. Maybe it took him a little back to realize what his culture and what his heritage was. It took him a little bit of time to realize these slaves.

Were it not for God, I'd be a slave. Well, actually, in Moses' case, if we were not for God, he would be dead. Because it was God who saved him. But that's the time he was born. All the Hebrew baby boys were being killed. Sometimes when we get called by God, and we think that maybe we were mighty in works and deeds. Maybe we were high up in a church we were before. Maybe we were high up in a position. But we've done doing everything wrong. Maybe we've lived our lives the wrong way. Maybe we've got false ideas. Maybe our character was out of whack of what God said. Maybe we did business the way the world does business as opposed to the way God would have us do business.

And when God called us and we understood there's a truth in the Bible that's different than what our other church teaches, there's a truth in the Bible that God expects his people to follow that isn't taught in mainstream Christianity today. It can take us back a little bit. And we might have to stop and think about it and get used to that idea. Moses had to get used to the idea that he was a Hebrew, but you know what? He embraced it. He embraced it and he followed through on it. He didn't count it better to stay an Egyptian. He counted it better to follow the truth. You can keep your finger there in Acts 7. Let's go over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter.

And in verse 24, By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer a reflection with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

For he looked to the reward. He embraced the truth. He embraced God. He made a decision to leave the past life and all of its riches and all of the comforts that he would have enjoyed as a prince in Egypt. Leave it all behind to follow the truth of God and who he was called to see.

None of it was important. Everything that he was before, he was willing to cast out the same thing that God tells us. No one is worthy to follow me. He says in Matthew 10, 35, 36, 37, 38, those verses, no one who isn't willing to give up their former life, no one who isn't willing to give up, mother, father, sister, brother, to follow me isn't worthy of me, he says.

Moses made a choice, a tough choice. I will leave the life of privilege behind, and I follow these slaves because they have the truth, and that's who I am. Great leaders choose truth over personal gain. Great leaders choose right over what benefits them more. Right leadership quality is seeking the truth and following it no matter what personal cost it may have to you. And Moses did that. And Moses found himself in a humbling situation when he confronted that Egyptian slave master. And in a fit of rage when he saw that slave master beating that Hebrew slave, he killed him. He killed him. Now, I've been mad sometimes in my life, but I've never been mad enough that I would think I would kill someone. I don't think, at least I hope, I would never do that. But it tells us something about Moses. Moses had a little bit of an anger problem. If he was so mad that he would kill that slave master. And all of us, all of us have a sin that does so easily beset. Hebrews 12.1 tells us that we all have something that we struggle with the rest of our lives. That we seem, sometimes we think we have it overcome, and then boom in an instance is right back again. And this little, that's a little when you murder someone, but this little problem that Moses had, it would appear in his life later, perhaps. And he would learn a lesson about it that leaders learn about themselves. But we'll get to that in a little bit.

But Moses murders the Egyptian slave master. He has to run off and hide and live in secret. And he finds himself in Midian, now humbled, now a murderer, now can't go back into Egypt. And for 40 years, God gives him what he didn't have when he was growing up. He learns to live the life of God. He learns from Jethro what the way of God is. He learns to practice it. He learns how to worship God, and he embraces it. For 40 years, Joseph grew up that way. Moses didn't. He had to learn before he could ever become a leader. You have to learn, you have to embrace, you have to practice, you have to do God's law. It has to become part of you, part of who you are, to find you, that it just happens. And that's what Moses had to learn. And then one day, after 40 years, he's called out of the burning bush. And God says, Moses, come here, take your shoes off your unholy ground. Moses, who's been comfortable, I guess, in the life for 40 years, he's been there, he's got a wife, he's got kids, two sons, he's got Jethro who's directing him. God's got something else in mind. Moses, you're ready. Moses, I've called you. You will deliver this people from Egypt. And Moses, if you recall, has excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse why he can't do it.

I can't do it because of this. I can't do it because of that. Exodus 3 and 4 are full of those things. I can't do it because. I can't do it because. And one after another, God shoots him down. And he keeps telling him, I'll be what you need me to be, Moses. It's not going to be by your power. It's not going to be by your might. It's not going to be by what you did that delivers these Egyptians. It's going to be by what I do through you. Back in Exodus 4.

Exodus 4, we find the fourth of the excuses that God gives Moses or Moses gives God.

In Exodus 4 and verse 10, God is telling him what he's going to do. Go to Egypt. You're going to do this with Pharaoh and tell him this and everything. Moses is excused. The last one. Moses said to the eternal, Oh, my Lord, I'm not eloquent. Neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. I can't do that. I can't go before Pharaoh. Come on. I know Pharaoh. I was in that court. I don't even speak right.

I have this speech impediment that maybe which he had back in the years when he was Egypt. Who knew? But back then he was mighty in words, but now he's not mighty in words. He's humbled. He's not sure of himself. God can use him in his humility. Maybe many of us or some of us think the same thing. There's no way God, I can never do that. There's no way you can ever use me in that field. I just can't do that ever. That's what Moses was saying. Moses had to learn. In verse 11, God, you can kind of feel a little bit of the agitation in God's voice because he's been through this with Moses before you. It says, the Eternal said to him, Who's made man's mouth, or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Haven't I done it? Now therefore go, and I'll be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say. Just go and do it, Moses.

I'll be the one who speaks through you. I'll give you the words. I'll give you the strength. My spirit will give you what you need to get the job done. You don't have to think about yourself. It's not going to be about you. It's going to be about me. What your will for me is.

Moses couldn't sleep back anymore. God gave him errand, but when we see Moses progress through life, he's a strong war-eater. He is directing Israel. He is losing God's word. He is letting God work through him. He goes before Pharaoh. He does all the things that God wants him to do, because he yielded to God, and because he came to understand what great leaders understand. God will give you what you need to do, no matter what the chore is. Whether it's in the church, sometimes even in your jobs, in the jobs that you get, where you might think this is above my head, I don't know that I can do this. God will give you what you need to have happen if you rely on him. He'll give you the strength. He'll give you the wisdom. He'll give you the favor. He'll give you what you need when you trust in him and stop trusting himself. And Moses had to come to learn that. Great leaders have to come to learn you rely on God. And Moses did. And Moses learned to have faith in God as a result. He was able when the people complained about water, give us water. And he struck the rock and believed God. The water came. Give us meat, and the meat came. He learned to rely on God. None of those things could Moses have done. He couldn't have sustained those people for 40 years in the desert. God could. God did. Whatever God calls you to do, whatever God calls me to do, He'll provide what we need when we're humble, when we look to Him, when we're ready to stand in the gap, when His way is more important to us than our way or our comforts or our positions.

Moses led those people for 40 years. And at the end of his career, if we want to call it that, they come again to a point in Maribah where the people are complaining for water, I want water, I want water. You remember the story, right? God says, Moses, kind of in an angry voice, says to God, you know, give Him water, and then He says to the people, must we give you water?

And when God says, speak to the rock, Moses strikes the rock. He can kind of feel the agitation in His voice as He speaks. Let's look at Psalm 106. Psalm 106, verse 32. Psalm 106, verse 32. Psalm 106 talks about Israel and their shortcomings and what they did to God. And verse 32 talks about this, this is what we're talking about. They angered Him, God. They angered God also with the waters of strife, the waters of Maribah, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them. Ah, went ill with Moses. He did something wrong because He was reacting to the people, because they rebelled against His Spirit, so that Moses spoke rashly with his lips. Rashly. He was angry when He spoke of that. He let His anger get with Him over Israel. Must we? What about Him? Moses never had the power to draw water from a rock in the sky. Only God. Must we bring water from you? Strike the rock. He spoke rashly with his lips.

It's reading one of the commentaries on this verse. And they suggested something that I thought was very, very interesting. They said, here we have Moses at the end of his life. And because of this, God said, you're not going to cross over into the Promised Land. But they said, here we have Moses who was angry. The same Moses who, years before, was angry with that Egyptian slave master, and killed him in a bit of anger. And now He allows his anger to come up, and at this time in his life, let it get ahold of him again, so that just something He sends against God. He doesn't pay attention to the detail like He had been doing. He let his anger cloud it out a little bit. He spoke rashly with it. He struck the rock because he was angry. It was what their conjecture is.

And their point was, we all have sins that don't so easily beset us. And no matter how long we've walked with God, that if we let our guard down for just a moment, that sin can rise up and bite us again, and cost us the same, but it cost Moses that he wouldn't do that. Great leaders, remember their weaknesses. Remember their weaknesses, and great leaders always stay yielded to God. Now, remember who they are, and don't forget. The next man we talk about was very good at that, after he made a huge mistake in his life. So, we can look at Moses, and we can see humility, just like with Joseph. Humility for all leaders has to be in place. Have to learn to rely on God and have faith in God. Have to trust Him to provide what we need and not think it's about us, that we don't have all the answers, we don't have everything. It's God who has all those things, that we are just blessed to be able to be used by Him. We remember maybe some of our weaknesses, so that we don't allow them to come up and bite us and damage our credibility. One more thing about Moses, among the many other things that you could say as well, there's an incident where he had to go to bat for the people of Israel. Remember where they were testing God again, and God said, you know, Moses, I'm ready to just let these people be destroyed. I don't even want them anymore. Let's just destroy Israel, and we can rise the new nation up in the name of Moses.

That might have appealed to Moses. Let's go back to Exodus 32.

And then just look at a few verses on that account. Exodus 32 and verse 11. Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, Why did your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember, Aaron, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they will inherit forever. God listened. God listened to Moses' plea. Moses' plea was selfless. Moses could have said, That's a really good idea. Who needs the nation of Israel? I'd rather have the nation of Moses.

That could have been a thing he could think, right? Maybe you or I would think the same thing.

Moses loved Israel. Despite all the headaches that they gave him, despite all the agitation that he had with them, he loved those people. Great leaders love their people. Jesus Christ loves all mankind. Despite what we've done, despite what the world has done to him, he died for all of mankind. He loves his people. And Moses was willing to go to bed for those people. He was willing to petition God on their behalf. Even though their actions would say they don't deserve it, he was willing to do that. Leaders of God love the people under their care.

Moses did. Let's talk about David. David. A man that God said was a man after his own heart.

David's background is totally different than Joseph's and Moses.

David wasn't a superstar when he was young. He wasn't even a superstar in his own family.

David didn't grow up with arrogance. David didn't grow up and think, you know, I can run around and boast about what I did. He wasn't even really that much thought of in his family, apparently. Now, one thing that Jesse, David's father, did give David was a knowledge of God. One thing that all fathers are entrusted to do that God says in the New Testament, give your children, train them up in the way they should go, arm them with the best blessings and the best knowledge they'll have, trust in God and rely on him. And Jesse did do that. David did know who God was. David did, through his youth, honor God, follow God, and learn to have faith in him.

But David wasn't even really high on his father's list in his own household.

You remember when Samuel called, and God said, Go to Jesse's house. I've chosen one of the sons of Jesse to be the next king of Israel. And Jesse paraded son after son after son out before Samuel. Wasn't it seven? Seven, I think. Seven sons were paraded before Samuel, and Samuel said, None of these. God hasn't chosen any of these sons. Are these all the sons you have? And there's Jesse thought, Oh yeah! Oh yeah, you have one more son. He's out in the field. I mean, I don't think that made David feel. He may not have known the whole story. Oh yeah, David's out there. Well, it certainly can't be David. Bring David in. That's the one who God chose. So we couldn't look at David and say, you know, he certainly had an advantage in that he was raised in the church, but he was raised in humility, too. He was out in the fields. His brothers were the stars. His brothers were doing these great feats. Certainly, his brothers would be the one that God, one of them who God would choose to be king, he just thought.

But he was there, a humble young man in the background, tending the field. Kind of an afterthought, if you will. God didn't forget who David was. But while David was out in the field, while David was out in the field, he learned some very valuable things.

He knew God. He had hours alone out there in the field, and he developed a relationship with God.

He wasn't daydreaming about how he would win this video game or that video game. His hours were spent learning the universe, praying to God, observing the sky, looking and seeing how great God was.

And in his job as shepherd, he encountered a lot. A lot of problems, if you will.

In those days, lions stalked the earth, I guess. In those days, I guess there were wolves out there.

And there were things that David would confront. And yet, he didn't have a rifle.

He didn't call 911 and say, I've got a problem out here in the field. It was totally up to him.

Maybe the first time David came across a lion, he looked at it and thought, there is no way. There's no way I can defeat this lion. There's no way. And so he did the only thing he could do.

I'll rely on God. The first time the wolf came around, I can't do this. He learned to rely on God. And he developed a strong faith in God during all those years because he relied on him because he knew it wasn't his strength. It wasn't him. It was going to be God who saved him and saved what was entrusted to his care. And so when he was marched before Samuel, and God let Samuel know, this is the young man that's going to lead Israel. He's already humble.

He's not one that's going around boasting about what he's doing. He's kind of in the background. He's kind of behind the scenes. He's just doing things. But you know what? I know him.

I know what he's doing. I know his heart. I know where his heart is. This is who I want to lead Israel. And then David is plucked out of the field and he's anointed king of Israel. How does that happen? King of Israel. Well, David developed what all great leaders have, a great faith and humility that results in faith or as a precursor to faith in God and reliance in God.

David finds himself with something that no other young man had at that time.

I've just been anointed king of Israel. You know, a young man might go out at that point and start telling all his friends, you know what just happened to me? I was anointed king of Israel.

Well, they would laugh, right, and think, yeah, David, come on. You know, even his father didn't really think that that could happen. But you don't see David doing any of that. You don't see David boasting about what happened to him. He listened, he took it in, and he went about his work. And when he was brought before Saul, well, you know what, before we go there, it's something that we can learn from. Great leaders aren't always about boasting about what they did. They just do it, sometimes behind the scenes. You know, God says the same thing about us. Let's go back to Matthew 6.

Matthew 6, Christ's Sermon on the Mount, his message to his future leaders. Matthew 6, verse 1, he says, Take heed that you don't do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them, otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, don't sound the trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly. 7. Do it for God. Don't do it for a claim. Don't go beating the drum ahead of you so people know what you did. David didn't do that. David kept it to himself. For how many years was he anointed king before God gave him the crown? He learned how to wait, didn't he? Just like Joseph did.

And he wrote Psalm 37, which is a tremendous treatise to waiting on God, and trusting in God what he promises he will give, he will give. Just like he's made promises to you and me if we continue to follow him. And David threw up and down in his life things that he never thought of and never occurred to him when he was anointed king. That 15 or 13 years later, whatever it was, I'm going to be waiting that long. It never occurred to him. Saul was going to be looking to take his life. It never occurred to him he was going to have to flee Israel and go to the Philistines and feign insanity just to save his life. He never knew any of that. But he waited on God, and he trusted that God would do that, but he didn't go around beating the drum to everyone.

I was just anointed king. I was anointed king. You just wait and see. It wasn't part of David's character, not part of the character of one of God's people. David, like Moses, had a problem with Bathsheba. You know the story well.

David, when he was confronted with his mistake, and it was a horrid mistake, David readily admitted it. He didn't cover it up. Not only tried to cover it up, didn't he? He tried to have Uriah sleep with his wife, so the baby would be Uriah. So that didn't work. Then he had Uriah killed. He tried to cover it up, and he learned you don't cover up things with God. You just make matters worse. You just admit it and get on with life, repent, and start working hard again and moving in the direction that God wants you to. He learned that the hard way. David also learned that it's not good to have idle time when you can just let your mind run away with itself. I won't take the time to go back to 2 Samuel 11, but you can look in verses 1 and 2 here in 2 Samuel 11 and see, at the time when David sinned with Bathsheba, everyone else was off that war, but he decided he was going to take that time off. He was just going to sit at home and let the other people do the fighting. And in an idle time of his life, that occurred.

David sets us a lot of examples of what God would look at leaders, including admitting when you're wrong and turning back to God, relying on God, having faith in God, developing a relationship with God, having the humility that we need to have. One more thing about David, he learned something that we all need to learn as well. There were a couple times in David's life that God said something that none of us want to hear, and our kids don't want to hear us say to them. There were a couple times in David's life where God told him, no. No. You know who those times were? One time was with the baby with Bathsheba. Remember the story there? The baby was born. The baby was sick. God said the baby was going to die. David fasted for seven days for that baby. He implored God, let the baby live. Don't punish the baby for what I've done. The service were worried about David. He's not eating. He's not doing anything. He's focusing on this. He's just worrying about the baby and praying to God for the baby. God said, no. The baby will die.

Despite all the fasting, despite all the prayers, the baby died.

When God said, no, what did David do? Did he shake his fist to say, God, and said, this isn't fair?

Did he say, I've lost faith in God? He didn't say, yes. He didn't do what I wanted him to do.

No, David didn't lose faith in God. The sermons were amazed. When the baby died and they told him, he was dead. They would then know what how he was going to react. But he got up, he washed himself, he ate, and he went back to work. He didn't let no deter him. He didn't let no deter his faith in God. He knew God was in charge, and whatever God said, he was willing to do his will, because leaders do what God's will is, not what their will is. And they're willing to yield their own self to God's will, trusting in him implicitly. That was one time that he was told, no. There was another time that he was told, no. And something that he wanted so desperately. Remember what that time was? He wanted to build God the temple. He wanted to build God the temple. Let's go back to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 17.

17, verse 1.

It came to pass, when David was dwelling in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, See, I dwell in a house whose theater, but the ark of the covenant of God is under ten curtains. And Nathan said to David, You know what he said? Makes sense. Do all that's in your heart, for God is with you. What David was asking seemed reasonable. But it happened that night that the word of God came to Nathan, the prophet, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Eternal, You shall not build me a house to dwell in. No. Despite what you said, Nathan, the answer is no. David will not be the one to build me a house. His son will.

Now, David could have said, That's not right. I'm going to do it anyway. You must have misunderstood what God said. It's in my heart to build him. I've got the means to do it. I'm going to do it anyway.

He didn't even go down that route. He accepted what Nathan said. He accepted what God said.

As you read down through chapter 17, you see David praying to God and saying, Basically, whatever your will is, I will do. Then he went to work. He couldn't build the house of God, but he could gather the materials for it, and he could make offerings to it and make things ready so that Solomon could build it. Great leaders know how to take no for an answer. And it's one thing we have to learn sometimes to take no when God says no, even when yes is the only thing that might make sense to us. But we don't let it deter us from following God because he has something in mind for all of us and a purpose that he's working out.

There's more. There's more about David that we could talk about, but we're out of time. But let me just recount here a few of the principles of leadership, the profiles in leadership, if you will, of some of the things that we must have that we've seen from these examples today.

First and foremost, we have to be humble. Either God will humble us or we come from humble beginnings.

But anyone who's not humble, God will not work with. We have to have faith. We have to learn to rely on God for all the things in our life, the things that we do for God, the things that we may do. He can provide whatever he wants. We learn to stand in the gap. Stand in the gap and stand up for God even when it's going to cost us personally. We don't fault him for our own personal gain. We stand in the gap. We follow what Ezekiel 22 and be the people that God is looking for.

We're merciful, not vengeful. Leaders are merciful and not bent on revenge. We wait on God.

We become good servants, hard workers, diligent workers. We love the people that God puts us in the midst of. We develop a relationship with God. We admit when we're wrong and we accept his will even when his will is no and it hurts so deeply. These are all just a few of the profiles and leaders that we can look at in the Bible. I hope that you, I hope that I will look at those and let God develop those traits of leaders in us.