I. We have talked about Character and Commitment being important qualities in a leader, Now lets look at Communication.
A. It is important that leaders communicate with people. And in saying that I am not saying that to be a leader you have to be a preacher, and stand in front of a large group and speak.
B. The most important thing is, that leaders are able to talk to people, get involved in their lives and let them know that they care about them.
C. It is the job of a leader to make the people that follow them feel at ease. Ronald Reagan was one of the best at that, that we have seen in politics in country in a long time.
D. After he had been shot in an assassination attempt when he was being wheeled to the operating room he looked at the surgeon’s and said, "please assure me that you are all Republicans."
E. If we are going to be the leaders that God needs to make a difference in this community we have to be able to communicate to people that God loves them and that He wants a relationship with them so much that he was willing to have His Son die to make it possible.
F. But even more importantly than that the success of your marriage, job, your being a parent, and all your personal relationships depends on your ability to communicate with other people.
G. You don’t have to be a great speaker, you just have to believe in what you are doing enough to help others believe in it to, and know that you care about them and about what is going on in their lives.
H. Your spouse and your children need to hear from you that you love them and care about what is going on in their lives. They need to know that you want what is best for them, that they are important to you and that you are on their team, before they can feel at ease with following your leadership.
I. People will not follow you if they don’t know where you are going.
J. The same thing is true with the people that God wants you to impact in this community. They need to know that you care about them as a person before they will be willing to listen to what you have to say about the difference that God can make in their lives.
K. It is really hard for people to believe that a God that they can’t see cares about them, if they don’t see caring in the people that say the represent Him, and communication is the key to seeing that happen.
L. God lets us know that our communication is important.
(Prov 16:24 NIV) Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Col 4:6 NIV) Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
(1 Th 5:11 NIV) Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
(Eph 4:29 NIV) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
M. I want you to notice what that last one says, "but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs."
N. We are to build each other up, but we do that by learning to communicate, so that we can say the things that build others up, and we do that by listening as well as speaking so that we know what their needs are. Communication is getting involved in the lives of other people, and speaking to them in ways that build them up.
O. We are all leaders to someone and to be good leaders we have to build up others and we do that by learning what their needs are.
P. We learn what their needs are by listening, and getting involved in their lives, and we improve their lives, by what we say, and the direction that we lead.
II. The next thing that we need to work at to be good leaders is competence.
A. Benjamin Franklin always thought of himself as ordinary. He was one of seventeen children, and the son of a candlemaker who was a long way from rich.
B. He went to school for only two years, and at twelve years old he became an apprentice to his brother as a printer.
C. At age twenty he started his own printing business. If he had been content to just get by and work his trade and go home, we wouldn’t know who he was, but he never stooped trying to do better and he never gave less than his best.
D. He was one of the father’s of our nation’s independence.
1. He coauthored the declaration of independence.
2. He helped write the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution of the United States.
3. He was curious and always sought ways to improve himself and others.
4. He expanded his printing to publishing "Poor Richard’s Almanac".
5. He did extensive experiments with electricity, and came up with the terms that we use to describe it.
6. He invented the potbellied stove, the catheter, and bifocals.
7. When he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean he took it upon himself to chart the Gulf Stream.
E. His attitude toward life seemed to be summed up in something he wrote in "Poor Richard’s Almanac". "Hide not you talents. For use they were made. What’s a Sundial in the shade?"
F. Benjamin Franklin accomplished a lot, but there were times that the only way for him to accomplish something was to let his competence speak for himself.
1. Once when he learned that mixing plaster with grass made the grass grow better he had a hard time convincing people that it was true.
2. So in the spring he went and dug out some letters in the ground and mixed plaster in the soil, and planted grass seed on them. When the people walked by they saw the letters growing taller and greener them the rest of they grass.
3. The letters said "This has been plastered" They got the message.
G. If we want to do great things with God, and in our family, and in our jobs, we have to develop competence.
H. That means that we have to SHOW UP EVERYDAY.
1. There’s a saying that says good things come to those who wait, but more times than not the things that come to those who wait are the leftovers from the people who were competent enough to show up first.
2. Responsible people show up when they are expected to, but competent people don’t just show up, they come ready to do their best, no matter how they feel, what kind of circumstance they face, or how difficult they expect the job to be. They show up and they show up ready to do their best!
3. In working for God or anybody else, or in how you impact your family, that means that you come looking for something to do improve things, that you put everything into what it is that you need to do to improve things, and that you do what you do to the best of your ability even if it is hard, even if you don’t feel like it today, and even if you come against obstacles that you didn’t expect.
4. As parents we tell our children to do their best in school, and sports, and band, but I wonder if they see us doing our best at our jobs? Do they see us doing what we can get by with, or what is expected, or do they see us giving our all.
5. And do they see us giving the best we have for God and encouraging them to give their best for God. And, if anybody deserves our best it is God who has given us so much. But strangely enough we seem to believe that we can give less than our best and our devotion to God more than anywhere else.
I. Another thing that we have to do is KEEP IMPROVING.
1. Competent people look for ways to keep learning, growing, and improving, and they do that by asking why.
2. The person where you work, that knows how, will always have a job, but the person that knows why will be the boss.
3. In our leadership of our family we have to always learn, grow, and improve, and in our relationship to God and service to God we always have to be looking for ways to learn, grow, and improve.
4. If we want out of our relationship with God and our service to God what it can be, and if we want to make a difference in this community, then we can’t become so satisfied that we don’t try to get better.
J. Another thing that we have to do is FOLLOW THROUGH WITH EXCELLENCE.
1. Willa A. Foster said, Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
2. When we tell our children to do something, or the people that work for us, or with us, as the one leading them we expect them to follow through, why should we feel that God would expect less of us.
3. Why would we feel that our relationship with and service for God, which is the most important part of our lives, deserves less than the very best that we can give it, and our total devotion and dedication.
K. Another thing that we need to do is ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN IS EXPECTED.
1. Competent people go the extra mile. Good is never good enough for competent people, only their best is good enough.
2. Jim Conway writes in "Men In Mid-life Crisis" that some people feel, a weakening of the need to be a great man and an increasing feeling of " let’s just get through this the best way that we can." Never mind hitting home runs. Let’s just get through the ball game with out getting beaned by the ball."
3. As leaders of people and leaders of our families and children, and servants of God we can’t afford to have that attitude, because too much rests on what we do. Too much is at stake and the time that we have to do it is too short.
4. We have to do the job and then some day in and day out because the time is too short, and the outcome is too important to do any less.
L. We also have to INSPIRE OTHERS.
1. Competent people and competent leaders do more and perform at a higher level, they inspire the people they lead to perform at a higher level.
2. If we perform at our highest level we can accomplish more than we could if we just get by, but if we can step up and be leaders, and inspire other people to perform at their highest level with us, then we can accomplish what we could multiplied by the number of people that we inspire.
3. As leaders in our families and leaders of our friends, and leaders for God what we can do to, accomplish the things that God put us here to accomplish can’t be done unless we set the example that will inspire other people to perform at a higher level, and influence the lives of the people that they come into contact with and lead also.
4. We and the people that we lead, will only be as good as our private standards.
5. Our friends, our family, our children, all the people that God has put us here to influence will only aim as high as lead them to aim.
6. When was the last time that you gave your absolute best even though nobody but you would know about it?
(Col 3:23 NIV) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
(Eph 6:7 NIV) Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
III. To be all that God created us to be, and to accomplish all that God created us to accomplish we have to communicate.
A. It is important that leaders are able to talk to people, get involved in their lives and let them know that they care about them.
B. It is the job of a leader to make the people that follow them feel at ease.
C. We have to have to believe in what we’re doing enough to help others believe in it to, and we have to let people know that we care about them and about what is going on in their lives.
1. We have to let people know where we are going and that we know where we are going if we expect them to want to follow us, and we have to remember that we may be the only person that they have to follow.
2. It is really hard for people to believe that a God that they can’t see cares about them, if they don’t see caring in the people that say they represent Him, and communication is the key to seeing that happen.
D. We also have to be competent.
1. We have to show up everyday ready to give our best no matter how we feel, what kind of circumstance we face, or how difficult we expect the job to be.
2. And we need keep improving . If we want out of our relationship with God and our service to God to be what it can be, and if we want to make a difference in this community, then we can’t become so satisfied that we don’t try to get better.
3. We have Follow Through with Excellence. Why would we feel that our relationship with and service for God, which is the most important part of our lives, deserves less than the very best that we can give it, and our total devotion and dedication.
4. We have to ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN IS EXPECTED. As leaders of people and leaders of our families and children, and servants of God we can’t afford to have an attitude of getting by, because much is at stake and the time that we have to do it is too short. We have to do the job and then some, day in a day out because the time is too short, and the outcome is too important to do any less.
5. We also have to INSPIRE OTHERS. Our friends, our family, our children, all the people that God has put us here to influence will only aim as high as we lead them to aim.
(Prov 16:24 NIV) Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Col 3:23 NIV) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
E. I hope that you will devote yourselves to developing the qualities of a leader for the benefit of your family, your friends, the people that you work with and for, the people that God is depending on your service to lead to Him, but mostly because you service is to God who has giving you so much.
