Leading yourself...

if you were given a title of a talk like "characteristics of a christian leader" to prepare on, what would you choose to say? Which passage to choose? Always find topical talks tough, as you need to fully understand the text within its context for all the passages you choose to include. Alot of work as compared to expounding 1 passage.

First things which came to my mind when I looked at the title of the talk was the fruit of the spirit, following Christ's example, etc. Little did I expect to be told the seriousness of sin (disobedience/rebellion against God) in us. Such an awareness of how sin has tainted our very being! Yes! Even leaders are not excluded as though they were made holy/pure/without sin because they chose to lead bible study groups or other types of groups.

Was totally humbled by Rico Tice's talk on Joshua 7. Through the passage, genuine fear of the Lord was understood. You'll come to understand that God's judgement will be carried out and sin needs to be dealt with. They were asked to stop praying and deal with the problem (Joshua 7:10-13). Quite funny when Rico said they were asked to stop praying, I took a second look at the passage again.

Interesting also from Joshua 7:14 onwards as God's judgement is carried out, question "Why God didn't just point out the guy/culprit?" and Rico explained that it's to give Achan (the guy/culprit) time to confess. Can imagine Achan standing there with his family and starts to wonder if he'll be found out for what he did.

It's a scary thought that God will depart from me because of my sin. I never want him to leave me. Always asked him not to leave me. In Joshua 7:12b God said "I will not be with you anymore...". Sin had to be dealt with - Numbers 32:23 "...be sure that your sin will find you out."

Why was Achan's sin so serious? It's due to the corporate nature of sin. Joshua 7:1 "Israel broke faith"/committed adultery, Joshua 7:11 "Israel has sinned", Joshua 7:24 it was whole of Achan's sin being judged.

Really puts the fear of the Lord in us! God withdrawing until judgement happens. Church discipline is important. Accountability is important. Judgement will come, see Revelation 6. My sin affects others and vice versa (Genesis 3), how could we forget! A statement to ponder about "christian maturity is lived in the presence of God all the time".

What's my besetting sin? Sin has contagious power. Who can ask about my sin? How much fear do you have about sin?

Don't kill sin, sin comes and kills them (1 Samuel 15). Matthew 18:9 "And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell". Have to be ruthless to deal with sin!

Achan's sin - covetousness Joshua 7:20-21. Oh, how we need to examine our fear of sin! Doing gospel work is a soldier's life, not heaven.

"I don't trust anyone here and I don't trust myself!" said Rico in continuation about our sin. This blew me away! Which leader would say that? Except one who solely relies on God, meditating on his word to renew his mind.

AND Rico mentions about our struggle with $/greed which we need to watch out for. Something he understood from Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."? Hmm....

True christian fellowship = accountability/being challenged, not being nice & feel nice amongst the group. Wow! Something which I've been thinking about and it was put into such succinct words!

Let's all confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.". We're a community of grace (ie, receiving salvation when we don't deserve it).

This was provided in the talk outline...

Ephesus - "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." Revelation 2:5

Pergamum - "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. " Revelation 2:14-16

Thyatira - "Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways." Revelation 2:20-22

If the above is unclear, do let me know. I'm more tuned to "numbers" than words. =P Just documented some of the notes I took down to remind myself of what I've learnt. Best if you could read through Joshua 7 by yourself.