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Hello, and, uh, welcome everybody. Welcome to Prairie Lakes. We're really glad that you're here. Um, we took a break last weekend, uh, to talk about, uh, some next chapter stuff, but, uh, we're gonna pick back up this weekend on a series we started a couple of weeks ago called, uh, lessons from First and Second Timothy. Um, and so, uh, excited to do that again this week.

And first and second Timothy are, uh, two letters that a founding pastor, uh, wrote to the guy he put in charge after, uh, he left. And the founding pastor was a man named Paul. Uh, the guy that took over for him was a younger guy named Timothy. And so an older reader, uh, older leader is writing to a younger leader, uh, kind, kind of just downloaded a bunch of stuff to him in these two letters.

And there's just so much good stuff in these two letters. So we've condensed it down to three things. Uh, a couple weeks ago, pastor John talked about your doctrine matters this weekend. It's your leadership matters. Uh, next weekend, uh, pastor Chip, talking about your character mattering. Okay? So that's where we're going this week. Let's dive into, let's talk about leadership. Leadership. Here we go. Okay.

Paul starts his first letter to Timothy with a very normal kind of greeting, and he starts a lot of his letters that we have in the Testament in the same way. But then he gets right down to business in verse three. Take a look with me, first Timothy, chapter one, verse three. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer, or devote themselves to myth.

And in its genealogies. Uh, such things promote controversial speculations with an advancing God's work, which is by faith. Okay? Straight to the point. Like, kind of like we're doing this weekend. Straight to the point. Uh, hey, Timothy, God's blessings on you. Hope your family's doing good. Um, and hey, tell those people to knock it off, right? That's, that's what he goes.

And right away, okay, we're gonna be looking at just lessons, leadership lessons, um, from Paul to Timothy. But right away, here's the first two leadership lessons. Uh, leaders exist because problems exist, number one. And then, uh, number two, at some point, leadership inevitably leads to, uh, to confrontation. Okay?

And if you're wondering, is there 10 of these things, how long are we gonna be here? Just 30 minutes. These are gonna go quick, right? But the first two right away, here they are. Okay? So I, I, I'm a leader. I'm a leader. Not just because I say that I'm a leader, and not just cause I aspire to be, be one. I I'm also leader because of what others have like said and confirmed about me.

For example, uh, someone that I've worked closely with for a long time now, 10 plus years, uh, recently described me in, in this way. They said, uh, Jesse has an endless appetite for problems. That's, that's how they, they describe, which might sound unhealthy, maybe a little crazy. And, you know, you probably is, but they were right. Like, that's, that is kind of who I am. And I don't know about the endless part.

I mean, I've got my limits just like everybody else, right? But I do have a really big appetite for problems. Like, I kind of like problems. Um, I like diagnosing 'em. Uh, I like discussing them. I like whiteboarding them. I like leading teams and developing strategies and trying to fix 'em, solve 'em, move through 'em. You know, I just like, I just like problems. Now, um, if you like problems like I do, uh, it's probably true that you're, you're leaders, well, that's kind of how you're wired.

And so leaders exist because problems exist. Um, but also, uh, and, and always, I'd say at some point, leadership is gonna lead you to confronting that problem, really. Um, which is also true of me. I don't just like problems. I like, I like the process of confronting them too. I do, um, I like attacking 'em.

It's like blood in the water, a dog to a bone. Um, I just like confronting problems sometimes too much. Okay? Sometimes too much. In fact, this is one of my, you know, relatively more recent and significant areas of growth in my own self-awareness. Just, wow, to what extent do I like just attacking and, and confronting these problems? Cuz it turns out, uh, not everyone gets excited about attacking problems like I do.

Not everybody is wired, uh, like, like I am. And I just assume everybody else is just so jazzed up about diving in. Turns out, turns out not so much. Um, we do, we do some personality assessments. I've shared a little bit of those, uh, here just for, for staff and stuff like that. One of 'em, um, plots everybody on a, on a problem solving scale.

So all of us know where we are at in this problem solving scale. And just imagine this, okay? Um, on the left side of the scales, a minus 10. And when it comes to problem solving, people that plot way over that way are a lot more reflective when they try to solve problems. You know, they're a lot more reflective. They're a little bit more deliberate. They wanna think it through.

Sometimes they don't want to. Like, I wanna be around people as I just, I wanna think through it. I wanna think through it at every single level before I try to solve it. Okay? Super reflective. Others plus 10 are like super aggressive, you know, it's like, you know what? I'm not really sure what that problem is, but let's just dive in and we'll figure it out, right? Let's just like, like, like that. Okay? Uh, where do you think I plot? Yeah, I'm like seven, uh, on the, on the aggressive side. Uh, in fact, here's some, here's some quotes from that same assessment. Okay? Here's some quotes about me.

Jesse will work long hours until a tough problem to solve. Yeah, that's right. You know, I'll wear that like a badge. Yeah. I work hard. I solve problems. After it is solved, Jesse May become bored with any routine work that follows, you know, like, don't read that part, right? But it's true. That's kind of who I am, how I'm wired. Um, here's the next one. Okay? Here's the next one.

He's got the unique ability of tackling tough problems and following them through to a satisfactory conclusion. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. That's who I am. Yeah. Uh, he finds it easy to share his opinions. He finds it easy to share his opinions on solving work related problems. Mm, yeah. That's also, that's also true. I do find it very easy to share my opinions on your problem.

Um, and oh, you didn't ask my opinion. Shoot, I blew right through that stop sign. And didn't I? My bad. You know, but this, this is why I love Paul's letters so much. I do short greet and right to the point, confront it head on. First two lessons. Leaders exist because problems exist. And inevitably, leadership's gonna lead you to confronting those. Okay? Um, so let's throw verse four back up there just for a second.

Let's take a look at this, this, this, this verse again, one, four, um, what was going on? These are the problems. People were devoting themselves to myths and envious, endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith. And there is a leadership lesson in here, but we gotta do some explaining first. You gotta know what's, what, what does this mean? What's going on here? Um, basically, I mean, Cliff's Notes, again, there were a group of people who were basically combining ancestry.com, you know, where you're just trying to figure out your family tree, and then like 23andme, um, where you're trying to figure out your dna n and kind of how you're wired.

And it was combining those two things before those were even a thing. And what they were teaching was this, that if you could trace your lineage back and, and find, you know, some hero of the Jewish faith in your lineage, maybe you, you could start to understand how, what, what kind of special stuff you were made of. I mean, that's what was going on.

Um, and, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had a merch table in the back where there's a resource that you could buy, you know? Um, and of course it was all ridiculous and speculative, right? Um, but, but it was very interesting. It captured a lot of people's attention. Um, too much, uh, so much so that, uh, they were, they were just diving into that, um, at the expense of doing what God had called them to do. Um, and they'd, because of it, they'd forgotten why, you know, the reason the church existed in the first place, you know, to advance God's work. It was, it was like a study that got super popular and everybody's into this study, and, and it, and all it really does is distract people from, from doing the mission, doing the work that God called 'em to do.

And so now we can get to our third leadership lesson. Number three, leaders exist because people drift. We just, all of us do. We have a tendency to like drift. Um, and so what leaders gotta do, we have, we have to remind, we have to redirect and repeat, remind, redirect, and repeat, remind, redirect, and repeat. Timothy, they're drifting to this weird thing. You know it, I know it.

And everyone's so excited about something that does not move the needle forward. Um, you gotta remind them of why there's a team in the first place and, and why they're on it. You know, the team, uh, that, that everybody was on, it was called the church. And the church exists to advance God's work in, in the world. So you gotta remind 'em of that. Timothy is Paul's saying, and you gotta redirect them back. Um, and the same principle is true for, for all of us. Uh, especially, let's just like, if you're a parent, and it feels like 90% of what we do as parents is reminding and redirecting, right? Um, remember what I said?

Remember who we are. Remember what Jesus taught. Um, okay, come on, let's get back at it. Remind and redirect. If everyone always stayed on course there, there wouldn't be a need for leaders if everyone always just kind of did exactly what they were supposed to do. There wouldn't have to be anybody that was trying to remind and redirect. Um, but people don't. So, so it's his thing. And, uh, leaders remind, and then redirect and just do it all over again. Um, Patrick Lindsay, some of us are familiar with him. If you're not, he's a fantastic leadership author, Patrick Lencioni, and he coined this term c r o, uh, we know it.

C f o or c e o c, but c r o. And here's what he meant. It was like a chief reminding officer, chief reminding officer, and he followed that up with another quote. Here's what he says. He says, people need to be reminded far more often than they need to be instructed. People need to be reminded far more often. They need to be instructed. And I, I, I think that's, that's true. Um, so, uh, some good lessons there in the first few verses, but, but there's some, some even deeper wisdom kind of coming up here. Uh, look at what Paul drops on Timothy in the next verse in verse five. He says, so the goal of this, you know, he's to, he's commanded them.

You gotta confront him, you gotta redirect. But the goal of that is, is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Yeah, you gotta redirect them, Timothy. Yeah, you gotta lead them. But the goal isn't to just redirect. The goal isn't to just correct. The goal isn't to just be right. And, and those are good, but they're all byproducts of a much bigger and better goal.

And it's just gotta come from a place and a goal of being loving of love. The goal of leading people, at least from Paul to Timothy, the goal of it was love. Now, um, before I translate that into what number four is or whatever, um, lemme just hit pause, okay? And, and, and I wanna just recognize this, uh, here's what I'm concerned about.

I'm concerned about it as we kinda launch into this thing that I'm, I'm about to lose you. I, I, and genuinely, I I'm worried I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose you. Um, or, or maybe that I, I may have already. Um, because you know, the goal of leadership is love. Okay? Yeah. Um, is that always true? Um, is that true for all of us? All the time? You know, because verses like that, when First Timothy five versus like that, when, when applied to the context of our leadership, whatever that is, uh, versus like, that can feel like almost irrelevant.

Um, and and why is that? Well, because it does not seem to be very practical or even possible, you know, I mean, just in our, in our context, um, it doesn't seem to work all the time. Uh, it seems more idealistic than realistic. The goal of leadership is love. Sure, okay. Yeah. Maybe in the church, I guess, you know, but for me too, where I'm at, uh, for who I'm leading, you know, and I think for most of us, you know, in, in, in, in whatever context that we are leading, we, we ju we don't get to define the goal. Uh, the goal is defined for us.

Um, the goal is to be profitable. The goal is to be productive. The goal is to be effective, or it's to cut cost or get ahead or advance, you know, or, or maybe even those sound too idealistic, right? Because the goal for some of us just survive a toxic culture or a bad boss until they retire. You know, you move on, whatever, um, whatever the goal is for you or whatever the goal is for the team that you're on, most of us don't get to define that.

We don't have input into deciding that. And, uh, and, and, and whatever it is, it, it very likely has little, if anything, to do with love. So verses like this, that talk about the goal of leading people, being loving, you know, it, it feels like a good sentiment, I guess, but, but, but not for me. Maybe may, maybe a non-profit or the church, but not, not me. A nine, my nine five. And I, and I get that. So let me be, just be very careful as I articulate these next two leadership lessons, because I think regardless of your context, I I do think it's still relevant.

Um, so number four. Number four is this. Okay? Leaders don't settle for less than loving people. The leaders don't settle for less. May not be the state of goal, but they, but it's never, it's never less than that for leaders, for good leaders. Number four, number five, because of that, leaders take time to get below the surface number four first, okay? Um, yep. This can still feel a little bit more aspirational than it is just normal.

Um, it can be feel like something we're striving for, but then not always maybe falling shorter because far more often, what, what we see is leaders settle for far less than love. Far less. I mean, my company doesn't pay me to love people. Well, they pay me to lead well, uh, perform well, get good results, hit my targets. That's what they pay me to do. And if my team isn't doing that, I gotta fix it or else I'm out too. And, and, and I get that. But, um, same, same, same vein, same breath. Lemme just ask you this.

When you think about like, the best boss you ever had, When you think about the, the greatest leader that you've ever been personally led by, okay? When you think about who that is, what do you, uh, what do you remember the most about 'em?

Why were they the best? Why, Why, why do you remember them so fondly? Because here's, here's my bet. Here's my bet. My bet is that you remember them more for something that was in their character, who they were as a person, and then how they treated you or their team before you esteemed them for anything else. That's what I bet, and that's what Paul's talking to, um, and talking about when he is talking to Timothy about love.

It's what he's talking about. He's saying that even as you confront these people, Timothy, even as you gotta lead 'em, they should know that you love 'em. They should, uh, with people, the goal can never be something less than love you. You can't treat them unloving. In other words, uh, you can't treat them severely or disrespectfully even when they're screwing it up. And they will, uh, even when the consequences of them screwing 'em up are, are screwing up, are, are pretty bad. And sometimes it is. Um, and, and they may not like it and they may not like you when you do it, even when you do it lovingly. And they may not agree, but they, they shouldn't feel like you don't care About 'em.

Which leads us to number five leaders. Because of that, they, they take the time to get below the surface. Um, You know, you just recalled the best boss you ever had. Now, I want you to think of the opposite. Who is the worst, Worst Person you've ever worked for? And why?

You know, why were they the worst? Uh, probably a lot of reasons, but I, I'm, I'm wondering if it has something to do with how little you felt they were aware of, Um, Or how little effort they put into taking the time to understand you, to understand your world and what you were dealing with.

They probably didn't care why you were struggling. They just wanted you to do better. They didn't care if you have what you need. Uh, they just want results. They didn't wanna take the time to invest in you or know you. They just kind of wanted to use you. That's a really common approach to leadership, but it's also a really shallow way of leading people. Really shallow, really surface level and, and isn't real leadership at all.

Cuz good leaders don't do that. We, they, they just don't. Good leaders take the time to get below the surface with people. And this is why Paul's instructing Timothy to keep going deeper, keep going deeper. The goal of it is love. The goal of it is love. But you gotta get down to that heart, that conscience, and then that, that faith, that belief level on the surface, what's happening is there's these guys that are just teaching this weird stuff.

That's what's happening on this surface. It's distracting people surface level. So go a little bit deeper, um, confront them by reminding them of why they're on the team in the first place. And then you gotta go even a little bit deeper than that because you can't just confront 'em. You gotta confront them, them lovingly. And you, they gotta know that you don't want them to simply act different. They gotta, they gotta believe that you believe they can be different.

Uh, play, play this out with me for a second. Cause that's a lot of words to talk about, but, you know, let's just imagine Timothy, we're gonna walk into these conversations and he was gonna stay on a surface level. What would that conversation look like on a surface level? Go somewhere a little bit like this. Okay? Probably sound like him saying, um, Hey jerks, uh, quit talking about genealogies and blood lines. That's dumb.

Uh, and it's meaningless, okay? They don't have the power, that doesn't have power to change anybody. Uh, they'll make you popular while making everybody else dumber. So, uh, it's not what we're about. You know, we're about the gospel. Um, and if you're not aligned, find somewhere else to worship, right? I mean, uh, right? Just surface level treating you like a problem.

If Timothy were to go a little bit deeper in the way that Paul, I think is describing probably sounds quite a bit different, maybe something like this, probably, maybe we'll start with a question. Like, Hey, why can I help me understand why, why are you teaching on this stuff? Especially when we have the gospel, you know, like, what, what is it about bloodlines that are more interesting to you than, than Jesus? Um, what, what's going on in your heart?

It's kind of pulling you in that direction right now. Uh, I'm genuinely curious because what I want for you more than, than anything else is for you to be so captivated by Jesus that he's kind of all you can talk about. And, uh, but I'm, I'm concerned cuz you're pretty attached to this other thing. I I don't, I don't understand why That's, That's deeper, right? Like what's going on in your heart about this? Um, you start digging below the surface, you wanna get down to that level.

You don't want someone to just act differently. You want them to be a different person. Let's keep talking about some more leadership lessons here. Okay? Those are the first five we're gonna shift to Paul's second letter. So first Timothy second, Timothy's, obviously right after it, same song, second verse, more the same. Cuz in first Timothy, Paul's confronting, uh, people who are teaching about genealogies and bloodlines and weird stuff, you know, um, but in a second letter people are kind of also teaching weird stuff. And this, now it's just kind of playing bad theology. That's what's happening.

So he's gotta write another letter. Um, so second Timothy, now let's pick it up in chapter two, verse 22. Verse 22, okay, here's what he says. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with all those who call them the Lord out of a pure heart. Okay? So here's, here's the next leadership lesson here.

Be careful what you chase as a leader. Be careful what you chase and be careful who is chasing along with you. Be careful of what you chase and who you're kind of surrounding yourself with. Who's chasing after some of those stuff too, especially when you're a younger leader. Okay? This is true for all of us, but especially when you're younger. Cuz when you're younger, leadership feels like an almost intoxicating path to pursue.

And it's intoxicating because of what it kind of promises to you or what the potential of being a leader is. Higher levels of leadership sometimes be more influence or more power, or more money or more prestige or more flexibility here or whatever. Okay? Um, and, and, and that chase for more of whatever that is only gets reinforced when you're surrounding yourself with people who are chasing after some of those same things. It gets expon and magnified.

And this is why Paul's saying, Hey, you gotta be careful. Don't you gotta flee some of those desires? You gotta remember why. You gotta check yourself as to why, um, don't chase after those things. Chase after better things. Chase after qualities rather than quantity. And one of the best ways to do that is really surround yourself with people who are chasing after those kinds of things.

Be careful what you're chase and be careful. Be mindful of who's chasing along with you. Number one. Next one, next verse. Uh, verse 23. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because, you know, they produce squirrel, uh, squirrels. They produce a lot of squirrels. Squirrel, how about that? Because, you know, they produce squirrels, quarrels, there it is. Okay, okay, here's the lesson.

It'll settle down. Here's the lesson. Um, good leaders, good leaders are good at picking the right battles. Okay? Good leaders are good at picking the right battles. One of the things that I kind of monitor and my context, leadership context is obviously the church. And so whether it's in our church or in the church at large, one of the things I just kind of, I just kind of check in on is this sentiment.

Okay? And it's the sentiment that pastors or Christian leaders are kind of afraid. They're all afraid and they're all afraid to take a stand or they're afraid to jump into controversial topics, or they're afraid to preach on difficult passages. And, and like we, we, we've, we've just all gone soft. Um, and what this world really needs are strong Christian leaders who, you know, okay, kind of like, kinda like, um, unless we're fighting about something, we're not really leading.

That seems to be the sentiment. And I don't think that sentiment is just limited to the church, by the way. I think a lot of places sometimes have that approach or that philosophy when it comes to leadership to lead is to fight in a lot of places. The problem with that though, is while there is an endless amount of things that we could be fighting over, there's, there's really only a few things worth fighting for.

And so let me encourage you, okay? Whether it's in the church or your workplace, if you wanna fight for something, okay? If you wanna fight for something, make sure you're picking the right battles, which is easy to say, but it's harder to do. So if I could just lemme offer you a suggestion, Um, And you're trying to pick your battle, start with yourself, um, start fighting with yourself.

Uh, Here's what I mean. Start fighting against the urge you have, uh, to write people off. Um, start fighting against the urge. You have to make people into problems. Uh, start fighting against the urge. Uh, you have to, to to be defensive. Fight against yourself first. You and I, all of us. We got a lot of battles.

We should be fighting in ourselves first. Um, um, and then once you've won all of those, if you're looking for some other fight, you'll make a second suggestion. Uh, fight for loving people. Go fight for that. Do unto unto others as you would have them do unto, unto you. Fight that battle. And then when you've won that one, right?

I mean, my guess is those for me anyways. Those are those, those, I'm still waging those, both of those. Um, it's hard for me to fight a lot of others. Okay? Bigger battles. Uh, next one, verse 24. Um, and the Lord servant must not be quarrelsome, but, but he must be kind to everyone. Able to teach and not resentful. Here's the lesson. You cannot lead if you are not kind.

You Cannot lead if you are not kind. I should have said this at the top of the message cuz I'm thinking it right now. Part of this list are like lists. I wish I could go back and tell my 25 year old self, okay? Um, cuz this is a me too kind of list. Just, just so we're clear. Um, and some of these are, I've had to learn the hard way and that this is one of 'em.

You can't lead if you aren't kind. Uh, as a leader, you might be right. Okay? Um, as a leader, you might be clear as a leader, you might be direct as a leader, you might be smart, you might have experience, you might be the most qualified. Um, but if you are all of those things but not kind, it will not matter because they will not listen.

Why? Well, Because in leadership, people know, people need to know that you care about them, but they, before they'll care about where you're leading them. Uh, in leadership, people need to know that you care about them before they care about where you're trying to lead 'em.

If the first word that people think about when they think about you is quarrelsome or resentful Or Whatever, like, be careful around her. You know, she'll get, you don't get on his bad side. You know, you'll never get off that list. If that's their first thought of you, they're, they're not gonna follow You. You know, People follow, people they trust.

And a necessary ingredient to trust is kindness. Kindness, Um, Can't lead if you aren't kind. Number three, final two lessons. Four and five. Oh, I gotta lead with gentleness. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 2 25. Let's get to that First. Opponents must be gently instructed and the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth. That's the final verse.

Okay, final two lessons then. Four and five. Four and five, nine and 10. It's been a long, it's been a long few weeks. Okay, nine and 10. I think I've done 1, 2, 3, 4, and five for all of these. I'm catching up to that right now in real time. If that was a tension that you were feeling, let's just release that tension. Okay. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Number nine, lead with gentleness. Lead with gentleness. And number 10. Oh, unless journalists is your first step, you're gonna misstep. Number 10, know your leadership limits. There's, there's things that only, only God can do. Okay? Lead with journalists. Unless journalists is your first step, you're gonna misstep to lead is to change. It is, it's a lot of leadership anticipating what change changes need to be made, helping people see and embrace those changes. But it's a really, really hard thing to do. Our relay, we could plot people same, same, same principle of problem solving.

We plot people on change can have their relationship to change. It's a hard thing to do, okay? For a lot of reasons. Um, Just A lot of people who, who, who have, have difficulty changing. Why, you know, why? Just cuz it's changed, just cuz it's changed. You know? Uh, super, super hard thing to do as a leader is managing change, helping your people embrace the right changes. And so, but that is the case.

And it is, if your first step in that is not gentleness, good luck. You know, gentleness isn't usually the only thing that you need, but it's usually the first thing that you need. Um, cuz without it, people go from feeling threatened by the change you're proposing to just feeling threatened by you. Okay? Now, with gentleness, people are, they're gonna feel safer. They, they may still feel a little scared about the change, um, but, uh, they'll feel a little bit safer going on a journey with you in it.

Okay? Which leads to our last one. Number 10, all nine of these are good, I think, but number 10 still is true. You gotta know your leadership limits. There's things that only God can really do. And, uh, which leads me to kind of my invitation here. Okay? Um, I don't know what you're facing in your leadership, uh, whether it's at work or at home or wherever, whatever your context is, I don't know what you're facing. Uh, I know a lot of leadership, uh, takes us to places where we feel like we're, we're kind of stuck and we really don't know what to do next.

And unless God kind of does something, we're just not, we're not really sure. Um, and so, uh, this August, um, few months from now, Prairie Lakes, um, in Cedar Falls at our Cedar Falls campus is gonna host a two day event called the Global Leadership Summit. Two days of fantastic leadership talks and, uh, discussions, uh, from nationally known leaders, different kinds. And, uh, so if you're stuck and if you just feel like I need to put myself in a place where, uh, where maybe I can not just meet God, but I can meet God in the context of my own leadership, let me just invite you to consider that our, our, we can host gonna tell you a little bit more about that. I'm here in a second, but before they do, let me pray for us. Father in heaven, uh, thank you for, um, man, just the, these letters where they're just packed full of, um, wonderful and uh, and helpful lessons. Um, God don't know what we're facing right now, but me is right where we're at. Um, remind us that our leadership really does matter.

Jesus should pray all this in your name. Amen.