Chapter 1 From Relevance to Prayer

Jesus’ first temptation was to be relevant: to turn stones into bread. --pg 30 Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

But He answered, “It is written:

Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” --Matthew 4:3-4

Q: What is your temptation to be relevant?

When you are in your real neighborhood, all that you have accomplished means very little. If you cannot offer hope, hope in Jesus Christ, then you are impotent … effectively useless. Your relevance and my relevance just aren’t as useful as we once thought.

The question is not: How many people take you seriously?

The question is: Are you in love with Jesus?

--pg 35

What does it mean to lead?

Consider

The Christian leader of the future is the one who truly knows the heart of God as it has become flesh, “a heart of flesh” in Jesus.

What does such a leader say?

“Every time fear, isolation or despair invade the human soul, this is not something that comes from God.”

To know God’s heart means “consistency, a radical nature, concrete and practical guidelines steeped in love and mercy.” --pg 38

Q: Who do you know that qualifies? How do you know?

Leadership goes to being trusted, loved and believed because time itself has been a witness to that individual’s consistent walk and tenacious love of Jesus.

Leadership may well be called and not made or cultivated. What if true leaders are called in the Spirit before time itself, and their calling has nothing to do with church size or individual charisma …

What if ?

Leaders are made by God Himself, anointed; not cultivated in, or by, seminars and weekend retreats. Leaders are led, in the final analysis, by Jesus Himself … rabbi to disciple.

Q: Does this resonate with you? why or why not?

Q2: What does Jesus say to those who would make disciples, i.e. lead?

Jesus says, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

--John 7:37-38

For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.

-- pg 47

Q: What does that mean? (Hint … legalism and grace) when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life (this is mysterious), it will be possible to …

-remain flexible without being relativistic

-convinced without being rigid

-willing to confront without being offensive

-gentle and forgiving without being soft

-true witnesses without being manipulative

--pgs 46-47