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Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 18

August 8, 2024

August 7, 2024

40 Quotes for Christian Leaders from J. Oswald Sanders

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders is one of the greatest leadership books in print today. It’s depth and breadth of biblical wisdom and practical application are unmatched in any single volume I have read and it is the kind of book that other leadership books dilute and imitate. Here are 40 of the best quotes from it. 

Desiring to excel is not a sin. It is motivation that determines ambition’s character. Our Lord never taught against the urge to high achievement, but He did expose and condemn unworthy motivation.

True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you.

Spiritual leaders are not elected, appointed, or created by synods or church assemblies. God alone makes them.

But from God’s point of view it is noble work to reclaim the world’s downtrodden people. When we find some of those the world calls “the least” and seek to meet their needs, Christ tells us we can think of them as Him.

There is no such thing as a self-made spiritual leader. A true leader influences others spiritually only because the Spirit works in and through him to a greater degree than in those he leads.

A leader must be calm in crisis and resilient in disappointment.

Leaders know there is a difference between conviction and stubbornness.

Are you responsibly optimistic? Pessimism and leadership do not mix. Leaders are positively visionary.

Do you direct people or develop people?

If you would rather pick a fight than solve a problem, do not consider leading the church. The Christian leader must be genial and gentle, not a lover of controversy.

When God calls us, we cannot refuse from a sense of inadequacy. Nobody is worthy of such trust

Pride ever lurks at the heels of power, but God will not encourage proud men in His service.

Many who aspire to leadership fail because they have never learned to follow.

A leader must be able to see the end results of the policies and methods he or she advocates. Responsible leadership always looks ahead to see how policies will affect future generations.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

Vision leads to venture, and history is on the side of venturesome faith. The person of vision takes fresh steps of faith across gullies and chasms not “playing safe” but neither taking foolish risks.

Leaders take lessons from the past, but never sacrifice the future for the sake of mere continuity.

A visionary may see, but a leader must decide.

The spiritual leader will not procrastinate when faced with a decision, nor vacillate after making it. A sincere but faulty decision is better than weak-willed “trial balloons” or indecisive overtures. To postpone decisions is really to decide for the status quo. In most decisions the key element is not so much knowing what to do but in living with the results.

Leadership always faces natural human inertia and opposition. But courage follows through with a task until it is done.

The person who is impatient with weakness will be ineffective in his leadership. The evidence of our strength lies not in in the distance that separates us from the other runners but in our closure with them, our slower pace for their sakes, our helping them pick up and cross the line.

Leaders must draw the best out of people, and friendship does that far better than prolonged argument or mere logic.

When people who lack spiritual fitness are elected to leadership, He quietly withdraws and leaves them to implement their own policies according to their own standards, but without His aid. The inevitable result is an unspiritual administration.

Christians everywhere have undiscovered and unused spiritual gifts. The leader must help bring those gifts into the service of the kingdom, to develop them, to marshal their power. Spirituality alone does not make a leader; natural gifts and those given by God must be there too.

People who are skeptical of prayer’s validity and power are usually those who do not practice it seriously or fail to obey when God reveals His will. We cannot learn about praying except by praying. No philosophy has ever taught a soul to pray. The intellectual problems associated with prayer are met in the joy of answered prayer and closer fellowship to God.

As Jesus dealt with sin’s cause rather than effect, so the spiritual leader should adopt the same method in prayer.

A leader will seldom say “I don’t have time.” Such an excuse is usually the refuge of a small-minded and inefficient person.

  Spiritual leaders of every generation will have a consuming passion to know the Word of God through diligent study and the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is revealed in the books he reads.

Leaders should always cut a channel between reading and speaking and writing, so that others derive benefit, pleasure, and inspiration.

Resist the idea of “leadership from the rear.” True leadership is always out front.

Achievement is bought on the time-payment plan, with a new installment required every day.

The true leader is concerned primarily with the welfare of others, not with his own comfort or prestige.

More failures come from an excess of caution than from bold experiments with new ideas.

A true leader steps forward in order to face baffling circumstances and complex problems.

Successful leaders have learned that no failure is final, whether his own failure or someone else’s. No one is perfect, and we cannot be right all the time. Failures and even feelings of inadequacy can provoke humility and serve to remind a leader who is really in charge.

There is no virtue in doing more than our fair share of the work.

Indeed, no man, however gifted and devoted is indispensable to the work of the kingdom.

Only one leader holds office forever, no successor is needed for Him.

Willingness to concede error and to defer to the judgment of one’s peers increases one’s influence rather than diminishes it.

 

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Published on August 07, 2024 04:08

August 6, 2024

Kindle Deals for August 6

Some Kindle deals worth your mind and money today:

Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Tim Keller – $4.99

Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission by Jackson Wu – $2.99

Toxic Charity: How the Church Hurts Those They Help and How to Reverse It by Robert Lupton – $1.99

Calvin on Sovereignty, Providence, and Predestination by Joel Beebe – $3.99

C.S. Lewis: A Life Inspired by Christopher Gordon – $3.99

Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik Backman – $1.99

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene – $3.99

Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison – $3.99

MY BOOKS:

The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99

These links are Amazon affiliate links.

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Published on August 06, 2024 04:17

August 5, 2024

God is With Us

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)”

When my children were little and afraid of lightning and thunder, it was no comfort to them if I said something like, “Oh, that’s just a normal electrical reaction accompanied by a loud noise. Happens all the time.” Or even worse, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

What did comfort them? Being with them. Holding them. Showing them that they were not surviving the storm alone.

We don’t change all that much as we get older. We just get overwhelmed by different kinds of storms, storms of soul and circumstance rather than thunder and lightning. And we still aren’t comforted by explanations or platitudes. This is why Isaiah 41:10 is so beautiful.

God says those most comforting words: “I am with you.” Who, exactly, is with us? Well, he reminds us that he is our God–he is the creator, sustainer, ruler, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, holy, and the essence of love. That is who is with us. So when he says he will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us he isn’t promising to give us a hand or just be by our side. He is the source of strength and help. He isthe power that upholds.

God is the one explanation, the one logical conclusion that actually brings comfort. Why should we not be afraid? Because of God. Because of God’s presence and power, and love. And because God has promised that he is with us.

I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe! 

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Published on August 05, 2024 04:23

August 2, 2024

3 Things I Like this Week – August 2

Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

Leif Enger is one of two or three living novelists who stand head and shoulders above the rest, alongside Fredrik Backman and Amor Towles. Do not make the mistake “what are his novels about,” though, because like all the best novels they are about humanity. There is a plot in each of them–this one involves a musician/handyman seeking solace after tragedy while trying to escape sinister pursuers by sailing a rickety, hand0me-down boat on the waters of Lake Superior in a post apocalyptic world. If all that seems too weird or too much, it’s not. It’s just the palette, the ingredients Enger uses to tell a deeply human, deeply hopeful, beautifully written story of loss and grief and friendship and life. It is a delightfully disorienting book with characters who capture you. And, like his previous wonderful novels, it is riddled with sentences that demand to be read and re-read for their sheer artfulness, beauty, and truth.

 

2. Costco

My wife and I bought our house in early 2022. Shortly thereafter we learned that a Costco would be going in less than a mile away. At the time we had a Sam’s Club membership out of necessity. It was a lesser of two evils situation–either have no membership anywhere or have a Sam’s club membership. But as we all know from recent presidential elections, choosing the lesser of two evils still feels evil. So when the Costo finally opened up this past November we repented, spurned evil, and turned to the righteous way of Kirkland. And it has been spectacular. The employees are nicer. The selection is better. The Kirkland brand is quality. And I am dressing better too. On top of all that, if you spring for the executive membership you get 2% on your purchases which, if you shop there as much as we do, more than pays for itself and leaves you with store credit left over. I’m not going to say a Costco membership will change your life. But I’m not going to deny it either . . .

 

3. “Beautiful Stranger” by Marcus King

Marcus King is a brilliant guitar player with the kind of rich, soulful voice that makes you go, “wait, he sings like that??” when you see him. If you like blues or soul music, check him out. This song is especially wonderful.

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Published on August 02, 2024 05:46

August 1, 2024

July 31, 2024

Kindle Deals for July 31

Some Kindle deals worth your mind and money today:

God, Technology, and the Christian Life by Tony Reinke – $2.99

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Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis – $2.99

Trafalgar by Nicholas Best – $3.99

George Marshall: A Biography by Debi & Irwin Unger – $1.99

Mark Twain: The Complete Novels – $1.99

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle – $.99

Father Brown Complete Murder Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton – $.99

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe – $.99

MY BOOKS:

The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99

These links are Amazon affiliate links.

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Published on July 31, 2024 04:40