Focus And Generosity
Phil 3:10-14, Mat 20:25-28
May 19, 2003
I. I have been talking about the things that we need to develop to be the leaders that we should be in our families, in our profession, and in our service for God.
II. Something that we have to develop as leaders is Focus.
A. Tony Gwynn is probably the greatest hitter in the Major Leagues in the last fifty years, the best since Ted Williams. He’s won eight battling titles, and only Ty Cobb has won more.
B. Tony Gwynn’s career batting average is and incredible .339, but if you saw him on the street you might not think he was a Professional athlete. At 5’11" 220 pounds he does not look like a Mark McGwire, but he is a tremendous athlete, and the real key to his success is focus.
C. He loves hitting a baseball, several times each year he reads The Science of Hitting, by baseball great Ted Williams. He watches hours of videotape. At home he has a library of hitting video that comes from five VCRs connected to satellite that record games.
D. He watches tapes when he is on road trips, and takes two VCRS with him when he travels so that he can review every at bat he has had, and he talks with other players constantly about hitting.
E. He has been known to arrive at social events with batting gloves sticking out of his back pocket because he stopped on the way to hit a few baseballs.
F. Columnist George Will says, that people who are great at what they do, such as Gywnn "cultivate a concentration unknown to most people."
III. So what does it take to have the focus required to be the leader that God intends us to be.
A. The key things are priority and concentration. If we know what the priorities are but we don’t concentrate on them, then we know what to do but never get it done.
B. If we concentrate on what we do but we don’t have priorities then we work well but don’t make the progress we should.
C. To be the Leaders that God intends us to be we have to FOCUS ABOUT 70 PERCENT OF OUR TIME ON OUR STRENGTHS.
1. Effective leaders spend more time on what they do well than what they do wrong.
2. To be successful, focus on your strengths and develop them. That is where you should pour most of your time, energy and resources.
D. We have to FOCUS ABOUT 25 PERCENT OF OUR TIME ON NEW THINGS.
1. Growth means change. That means that we can’t grow if we only stay where we are.
2. If we want to get better we have to stretch ourselves, and keep looking for ways to improve.
3. In our relationship to God and our service to God, that means that we have to look for new ways to improve what we are, and how we serve God and improve our relationship with him.
4. As a leader in our family, in our profession, and in our service and relationship to God when we quit growing and putting forth the effort to learn new things and improve ourselves we stagnate and wither.
5. As a leader when we are through growing we’re through!
E. As leaders we also need to FOCUS 5 PERCENT ON AREAS OF WEAKNESS.
1. Nobody can avoid working on areas of weakness. The key to not letting our weaknesses bring us down is to set out to minimize it as much as possible.
2. As leaders we can do that by delegating as much as possible. That means that if we are weak in a certain area then we need to find people who are good at the things that we are not and enlist their help.
3. There are things that I am not good at, and there are things that other leaders are not good at, and we need to find people who are good at the things that we are not to assure that all the areas that need to be covered are covered. It has to be a team effort, we can’t be a good leader if we try to be the Lone Ranger. It will not work, we have to work as a team.
4. But for that to happen it means that everybody needs to be using their gifts to serve God here, because God puts the people here that He needs to be here, so that this body can function., But you are a part of this body and if you are not exercising the gifts that God gave you then some part of the ministry of this church is not working the way it should.
5. That means that in this church we all need to exercise our gifts because there are areas that other people are not good at that we are, and we need to fill in the gaps for all of us to be able to be effective in our service to God.
F. Have you ever wondered why animal trainers take a stool into a cage with a lion? It is because it tames the lion better than anything. When The trainer holds the stool out with the legs extended toward the lion the lion tries to focus on all four of the legs at once, and that paralyzes them. Divided focus always works against accomplishment.
(Phil 3:10-14 NIV) I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
G. Focus is vital!
IV. Another thing that we have to develop to be good leaders is Generosity.
A. Focus is something that we have to have as leaders for God, but focus without generosity will make us so concerned about the goals that we don’t put people first.
B. There is nothing that speaks louder to people or serves them better than generosity from a leader.
C. True generosity is not a an occasional thing, it comes from the heart and fills every aspect of a good leaders life, it involves their time, money, talents, and possessions.
D. Good leaders don’t just gather things for themselves, they do it in order to give to others and help others.
E. There are some things that we can do to cultivate generosity in our lives.
F. BE GRATEFUL FOR WHATEVER YOU HAVE.
1. It’s hard for a person to be generous when they’re not satisfied with what they have.
2. Generosity comes from a contentment that doesn’t come from acquiring more. Millionaire John D. Rockefeller admits, " I have made millions , but they have brought me no happiness."
3. If you are not content with little you won’t be content with a lot, and if you are not generous with a little you won’t suddenly become generous if you are wealthy.
G. As a leader in what ever area that you lead, to be generous you HAVE TO PUT PEOPLE FIRST.
1. The measure of a good leader in family, business, or service to God is not the number of people who serve them but the number of people that they serve.
2. Generosity requires putting others first. As a leader it is crucial that we remember that the most important thing is not what we are responsible for but who we are responsible for.
3. If we can grab on to that, generosity becomes easier.
H. We also need, NOT TO ALLOW THE DESIRE FOR POSSESSIONS TO CONTROL US.
1. Earle Wilson says that people can be divided into three groups, "Haves, Have nots, and have not paid for what they haves’."
2. There are more and more people who are becoming enslaved to the desire to have things.
3. Richard Foster writes : "Owning things is an obsession in our culture. If we own it we feel that we can control it; and if we can control it, we feel that it will give us more pleasure.That idea is an illusion."
4. If you want to be in charge of your heart, and be the leader in your family and in your service to God don’t let possessions be in charge of you."
I. We have to LOOK AT MONEY ONLY AS A RESOURCE.
1. Someone once said that you can’t win with money. If you focus on making it, your materialistic. If you try to but don’t make it you are a loser. If you make a lot and keep it then you are a miser. If you make a lot and spend it then you are a spendthrift. If you don’t care about making any you are unambitious. And if you make a lot and still have it when you die you are a fool for trying to take it with you.
2. The only way to really win with money is to hold it loosely, and be generous with it to accomplish things of value.
3. E. Stanley Jones said "Money is a wonderful servant and a terrible master. If it gets on top and you get under it, you will become its slave."
J. Another thing that we have to do is DEVELOP A HABIT OF GIVING.
1. In 1889 millionaire Andrew Carnegie wrote and essay called the "Gospel of Wealth" in it he said that the life of a wealthy person should have two periods: A time of acquiring wealth and a time of redistributing it.
2. The only way to develop an attitude of generosity is to make it your habit to give-your time, attention, money and resources .
3. The only way that we can be the leaders that God intends us to be is to develop a habit of generosity.
4. Richard Foster rightly says, "Just the act of letting go of money or some other treasure does something within us. It destroys the demon of Greed."
5. If we are enslaved by greed we cannot be the leader that God intended us to be.
(Mat 20:25-28 NIV) Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
6. Are you generous? Do you continually look for ways to add value to others? Are you giving money to something greater than yourself. Who are you giving your time to, are you pouring your life into the lives of others?
7. Do you look at who you are responsible for more than what you are responsible for?
8. Are you helping those who cannot help you or give anything in return?
9. John Bunyon said " You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."
K. If we are to be the leaders that God intends us to be we have to have focus and generosity, and for us as a body, a church to be able to do that it means that we all have to put to use the abilities that God has given us, so everyone can be free to focus on what it is that God has given them, because we know that there is someone to be responsible for those things that we are not naturally good at.
L. I hope that you will make focus on God and your service as a leader for Him a priority in your life, and generosity that makes you more like him a principle that governs your life, because it takes all of us to accomplish what he wants to accomplish through this church.
M. Invitiation.
V. As leaders in our families, our jobs, and especially in our service for God, we have to be focused on what it is that we are to do. But we can’t be so focused that we don’t see the people as more important than the goal.
To be the leaders that God intends us to be, we have to FOCUS ABOUT 70 PERCENT OF OUR TIME ON OUR STRENGTHS.
To be successful, focus on your strengths and develop them. That is where you should pour most of your time, energy and resources.
We have to FOCUS 25 PERCENT OF OUR TIME ON NEW THINGS.
We can’t grow if we only stay were we are.
As a leader in our family, in our profession, and in our service and relationship to God, when we stop growing and putting forth the effort to learn new things and improve ourselves, we stagnate and wither.
As a leader, when we are through growing we’re through!
As leaders we also need to FOCUS 5 PERCENT ON AREAS OF WEAKNESS.
Nobody can avoid working on areas of weakness.
We all need to exercise our gifts because there are areas that other people are not good at that we are, and we need to fill in the gaps for all of us to be able to be effective in our service to God.
BE GRATEFUL FOR WHATEVER YOU HAVE.
It is hard for a person to be generous when they are not satisfied with what they have.
If you are not content with little, you will not be content with a lot; and if you are not generous with a little, you will not suddenly become generous if you are wealthy.
PUT PEOPLE FIRST.
The measure of a good leader in family, business, or service to God is not the number of people who serve them but the number of people that they serve.
Generosity requires putting others first. As a leader, it is crucial that we remember that the most important thing is not we are responsible for but who we are responsible for..
We also need to NOT ALLOW THE DESIRE FOR POSSESSIONS TO CONTROL US.
If you want to be in charge of your heart, and be the leader in your family and in your service to God, don’t let possessions be in charge of you.
We have to LOOK AT MONEY ONLY AS A RESOURCE.
The only way to really win with money is to hold it loosely and be generous with it to accomplish things of value.
DEVELOP A HABIT OF GIVING.
The only way to develop an attitude of generosity is to make it your habit to give -- your time, attention, money and resources .
The only way that we can be the leaders that God intends us to be, is to develop a habit of generosity.
If we are enslaved by greed, we cannot be the leaders that God intended us to be.
