For Jesus' Love 2 Leadership Traits

FOR JESUS’ LOVE 2

Leadership Traits

By

Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (June 22, 2017)

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” (St. John 21:15-17, King James Version [Christ’s charge to Peter]}

Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,

My brothers and sisters, some of you, if not all of you, to say the most instead of the least about the body of Christ Jesus versus the world population find themselves ensconced in the faith of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, in the refuge of Jesus---trying to make a difference in our world condition---formidably, the status quo. I say ensconced because prior to Jesus we held firm that we were in Abraham, before Abraham in Noah, before Noah in Adam and Eve, after the fall, before the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in God. Constantly, in a need of a refuge, not loving and loyal to our God, of a sinful nature---howbeit we step out from under our covering, come from behind the hedge of protection, out from under the eagles’ wings to make poor choices in decision making. In the first part of our series for Jesus’ Love we talked about two well-known figures in biblical knowledge, Peter the rock of the church also David carried the same weight of leadership the stone of the church [“But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel;)”, Genesis 49:24, KJV], how Peter exemplified the leadership trait, love---love for Jesus because in order to show love for humanity, love for the brothers and sisters Peter obviously needed to prove himself capable of loving Jesus. Yes, indeed. Additionally, we talked about King Saul, incapable of following God’s instructions delivered to him through the Prophet Samuel---loyalty in question---not to his subjects for he had no problems there but loyalty to the Almighty God.

Now, we must discuss Job---a well-thought of pious believer of his time who even though he earmarked the integrity leadership trait he still was tested by Satan whether he would remain loyal to God in the midst of misfortune for it is so easy to love and show loyalty with integrity when you are in the abundant living days but what happens to a man’s spirit to his soul when he must greatly suffer and what happens to influence a man in suffering when his friends and all the people he calls his supporters

2

can no longer stand to watch or be in his company while he suffers, for Job was told, “…curse God and die.” Let us look at the integrity of Job and understand it better in his suffering. For many have heard those people, maybe some were friends until they broke shattering in pieces over the stench of disease, sickness and/or poverty, who watched the suffering of another man, woman or child say, ‘I can’t take it anymore.’ Now Job was known to be perfect and upright…one that feared God and eschewed evil [The Book of Job1:1, KJV [Job smitten with boils] ---“and still he holdeth fast his integrity.”[2:3]. Thereby, Job exemplified soundness; adherence to a code of values; utter sincerity, honesty, and candor; completeness, so much so he judged his own children for Job said, ‘…It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.’ [1:5]. For sure, God let Satan use the same weight Job used against his children, whether he would curse God but now Job’s children were in abundant living so why did he think they still would curse God, if they did they would not be alone in disbelief for Abraham had to leave his family to follow God but why did Job think so, of his own children.

In order to find out the truth Job’s integrity was tested---how far he would go in suffering, waiting on the LORD before he cursed God. Since Satan went forth out of the presence of God and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown [2:7], Job’s wife asked him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.”[2:9]. Job held up and he did not sin, for he told his wife she spoke as one of the foolish women, for he also said, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? [2:10]. Now when Job’s friends heard of the evil that fell upon their friend, they came to visit him and when they arrived from afar off they could not recognize him, so they sat with him for seven days and seven nights, not uttering a word, for they saw his grief was very great [2:11-13]. Now, how did Job open up to his friends’ silence but to complain about life, cursing the day he was born, still not cursing God [3:1-26]? We discover how a man feels about his friends, for Job’s friends, each one of them and Job engaged in long talks about his condition and his relationship with God.