In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you can settle this issue in your life, you will eliminate a lot of problems in leadership. You will eliminate an awful lot of personal frustration and anxiety in your life as a leader for God. And here's the principle. What would God have me to do? Period. Not what would God have me to do based on the following consequences. That's not even the issue. The bottom line is what would God have me to do?

Guest (Male): What does it take to be a good leader? Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley will be reminded that powerful and effective ministry always depends on prayer. Continue this week's emphasis on pastors and teachers with part two of the prayer life of a ministry leader. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I remember the first sermon I ever preached, I was scared to death. And my mother came in my bedroom about a half an hour before I went to preach the first message and she turned to Joshua 1:9 and she said, here's the verse of scripture I believe God wanted me to tell you. Friend, I never memorized the verse of scripture so fast in my life as I memorized verse nine. And so that it's always of course been a very precious passage to me. So I want you to turn to Joshua because Joshua had a terrible congregation.

And you'll recall that in the first chapter of Joshua, I'm going to start reading and you catch up because we don't have much time. It came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I'm going to give to them, to the sons of Israel. Verse three. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you.

Just as I spoke to Moses from the wilderness in this Lebanon, even as far as the great river the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea till the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall be given or you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Now listen these next verses. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous?

Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now I believe that prayer has to be a priority in our pastoral leadership because of their very nature of the role of being a pastor. And you and I know that that role is absolutely impossible as far as people's expectations. You will be expected to be a great preacher, a great teacher, a great administrator, a great financier, a great leader among men, a great father, a great parent, a great husband. In fact, the expectations are absolutely beyond all comprehension.

Plus the fact, you'll be expected to be available 24 hours a day, have well-prepared sermons at least three times a week, stay healthy and strong, take one day off a week and relax and never be uptight. And so there's no way in the world to do that. But God has given to us a very simple principle in the scripture. God knew a long time ago that you and I were going to have responsibility that was impossible, but he gave to Joshua a responsibility equally as impossible. And if you'll notice what he said in this passage, he made him some wonderful promises.

Now listen to what he said to him. And I think there are three things here that you and I need to understand about what God said to Joshua because when we think about our role, there's some things that are very important that you and I understand about that. And first of all is the clarity of our call. He said to Joshua, Moses is dead. You now have the responsibility of leading these people. Let me ask you a question. How absolutely certain are you that God has called you into the ministry? You'll never get that certainty any other place except on your knees before God.

And let me tell you why it's so very important that you are absolutely, unmistakably certain that God has called you to preach the gospel or teach the gospel or whatever he's called you to do. Because there's going to be some battles in your life and there's going to be conflict. And friend, the one thing you don't want to be doing when the battle gets all heated up, you don't want to be on your knees trying to figure out, God, did you call me or not call me? Am I in the place I ought to be or should I be somewhere else?

Things get a little tough and the fellow says, I don't have to stay here. If he's not committed to God, he doesn't. I don't have to stay here. I can go somewhere else. And so what does he do? He looks around to greener pastures and he finds a place over here and so he asks someone to recommend him and so he recommends them. So he goes over there. What he finds out is this. What to him was a greener pasture to the pastor who was there had already turned brown. He's looking for something green somewhere else.

And so what happens? Men just go from church to church, place to place, looking for greener pasture. Wherever God plants you, stay there until God moves you. But you see, if you're not certain that God has called you and that God has called you to that place, then when the going gets rough, you going to want to get going and you're going to get out of God's will and you're going to live your life wondering, did I make a wrong turn back there in my life somewhere and can God use me to the fullest of what he would do if I had been sure that I was in the Lord's will?

So God gave to Joshua a very clear call. Joshua, Moses is dead. You're the man. The mantle is on you. The second thing he told him in this passage is this. He said, be very strong and courageous. Three times in those verses he said to them the same thing. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. And my friend, to be a leader today in the church, you've got to be strong and courageous. To be strong and courageous, how does a man become strong and courageous? By getting on his knees before God.

Listen. And sensing his own helplessness before God. The more self-sufficient you feel, the greater your potential of disaster. Don't ever forget that. Because it is in helplessness that you and I are driven to our knees before God. And it is when we're on our knees crying out to him, God, show me what to do next. How do I lead this motley group of people whose attitudes and whose desires are not spiritual things? You say, I don't want to be pastor of a church like that. In fact, a student was overheard saying, when I get out of seminary, I don't want anybody bothering me.

I just want to go somewhere I can just study and preach the gospel. Well, friend, that might have been true 200 years ago, but this is the world in which you and I live and that's not the way it's going to be. If God has called you to be a pastor, he's called you to be strong, courageous, tough, loving, and tender. That's the way it's got to be. You say, well, how in the world can you be that? You can't unless you learn to live on your knees before God. Helplessness is our greatest source of strength.

And that's why I say to you that prayer must not only be a priority in my personal life, it must be a priority in my pastoral leadership or I'm going to fail. He said, be strong and very courageous now. Why? Because God was bringing him down to one simple thing. Notice if you will what he says in verse eight. He says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that what? You may be very careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Now I just want to give you a simple illustration that I hope you'll not forget and I want you to remember this very carefully. When I was um coming along, I was about 16 years of age and I had only seen my grandfather twice in all of those years. I was going away to school and somehow I just had this feeling I needed to go talk to my granddad. So I did and I spent five days with him. And what I did for five days was to listen to him. He'd been a Pentecostal holiness preacher and uh evangelist for many many years and uh so I just needed to listen.

So of the four things that he told me in that week, all of which I realized later were God's way of setting the direction for my life. This one stood out above all the rest. You know, I was sitting on the screen in back porch one day and we were just talking and he said, Charles, obey God. He said, if God tells you to run your head through a brick wall, you head for the wall and when you get there, God will make a hole for it. Now that was my first response. But let me tell you what God said to me when my granddad said that.

What he was saying is this. Charles, obey God and then leave all the consequences of your obedience to him. He can handle it. Now here's what it all boils down to. If you can settle this issue in your life, you will eliminate a lot of problems in leadership. You will eliminate an awful lot of personal frustration and anxiety in your life as a leader for God. And here's the principle. The bottom line in every single decision is this. What would God have me to do? Period. Not what would God have me to do based on the following consequences.

That's not even the issue. The bottom line is what would God have me to do? And if you make that the bottom line of your life and you commit yourself to be obedient to God and leave all the consequences to him and that becomes a guiding principle in your life, I'm going to tell you, you're going to head toward the thickest, highest brick walls you've ever seen. And you will never bump your head because God will assume the responsibility of taking care of your obedience. God is still demonstrating his awesome power, but he's going to do it through men and women who willing to yield to him, kneel before him, acknowledge their helplessness.

I'm simply saying this. You say, well, I can't think in terms like that. Well, my friend, don't underestimate what God is going to do in your life. You have no earthly idea what your potential is this morning. And your potential for God is magnified in proportion to the time you spend on your knees before God. You say, I feel so inferior. I feel so inadequate. Praise the Lord. That's your source of strength. Your sense of inadequacy, your sense of feeling that you are incapable of doing it, that's what drives a man to his knees and that's what brings him to the place that God can use him.

You know what I did as soon as I became the pastor? One of my first prayers was, Lord, give me 40 godly men who will trust you, praying men. Took it four years to happen, but he did it. Because I believe you have to be a strong leader and you you need godly men and women around you. And if you're going to do that, you must take the leadership. I do not mean to be domineering. To be loving, yes, but you have to take place in leadership. Well, let me move on quickly. I've got one other thing I need to say.

All I can say this morning. First of all, I said in the area of pastoral leadership, it's absolutely essential that you be a man of prayer because of the nature of the role that you have. But secondly, because of the heaviness of the task. The heaviness of the task. You do get weary in the work of the Lord. Not weary because you weary of God, but weary in the work at times. And let me just share with you one of my failures. 1977 I thought I had to do it all. I was preaching about six times a week.

I had three television programs and on and on and on and I knew that I had too much going. So I want to give you a little warning. I knew I had too much going and I knew that I was on this wheel. I couldn't get off of I wanted off. I couldn't get off. Too much responsibility, too many expectations that I had placed upon myself. And as I look back, I can realize I was doing a whole lot more working than I was praying. And I am sure that my failure was because I substituted service rather than time for God.

I knew better. And I'm not too sure how I got into that mess, but I got into it. Finally, I got so tired, I just couldn't do it anymore. I just couldn't I just couldn't go any further. And Dr. Stephen Olford came to see me and by his good grace and God's love and tenderness and care for me set me aside for three months. And for three You think, well, I'd love three months of break. Let me tell you what happened. I went to the Isle of Land for five weeks that there was no cars, no telephones, nothing and everybody said, well, I'd love to be in a place like that.

Not if you've been going 95 miles an hour and comes to a dead halt. No, you don't. My son Andy took a court out of school and went with me just to be with me. He and I walked and talked and prayed and sang and cried and God It took me one solid year to get over that. Three months out of the pulpit, but a year before I ever got over it. You know what happened? I brought it on myself. I can't blame anybody but me. I brought it on myself. And I was lying in the hospital thinking, Lord, how did I get in this mess?

I know better than this. And the Lord showed me something that I want you to write down. I want to give you seven words. And you can write them down anything you want to today, but someplace you better put them in your Bible because you're going to need them. Here's the way you Everybody's got a formula for success. I have a formula for failure. It's a guaranteed failure in the ministry. This is it. There are this seven descending steps and the first one is prayerlessness. You get too busy to pray, too busy to look to God.

Prayerlessness. Second step down, burden bearing. You begin to feel the weight of the ministry. The third step is weariness. It begins to take its toll in you emotionally and physically. The fourth step is discouragement because no matter how hard you try, things just don't seem to work out too good. The next step is disillusionment. God, maybe you didn't call me. Maybe I'm not where I ought to be. Maybe the ministry is not all it's cracked up to be. Maybe the Bible's not really everything you say it is. Disillusionment. The next step is dropout. The next step is dropout or if not dropout, disobedience to God.

And from disobedience to or dropout to disaster in your ministry. Prayerlessness, burden bearing. Burden bearing to weariness. Weariness to discouragement. Discouragement to disillusionment. Disillusionment to dropout to disaster in your ministry. Now friend, you can stop that at any place, but I guarantee you you can fail if you put prayer on the shelf somewhere and try to do it in your own strength. And so I want to encourage you this morning to build around your group of people who will pray for you. I have one lady in our church whose ministry is praying for me. That's it.

She's in the prayer room in my study every Sunday morning, praying for me while I'm preaching. The other people downstairs praying while I'm preaching. And you should find a group of people, teach them how to pray. What they become is they become the group of people that keep the load lifted off of you. Listen. The load gets very heavy and you think, well, I want to be the pastor of a big church. So you think you do. All you want is more problems, more heartaches, and more burdens until you're able to raise up enough people to pray for you.

Hudson Taylor said it so beautifully. I have it in big letters in front of my desk that I look at it every day. Bear not a single care thyself. One is too much for thee. The work is mine and mine alone. Thy work to rest in me. Brother, I have to keep reading that over and over and over again lest I find myself taking upon myself burdens and heartaches and the load of the ministry that will wear you down. If you're going to be a strong leader, you're far better off leading off your knees than leading off your feet because if you lead off your feet not off your knees, somewhere out there you're going to find yourself on that ladder.

Prayerlessness, burden bearing, weariness, discouragement, and maybe ultimately disaster. And I believe that many men who have made a disaster of their ministries, that is exactly what's happened to them. Well, can you do less this morning than to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, to say to him, Lord, from this moment on, my commitment is to obey you at any cost and I choose to leave all the consequences of my obedience to you for the rest of my life.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Are you attempting to lead from your feet? Then you're trusting your wisdom and ability for success. Make prayer a priority and trust God and his inexhaustible wisdom and strength. You can hear this message again by clicking Today on Radio at intouch.org. And look around our website to find many resources to guide you to a meaningful prayer life. And for a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, Prayer and Leadership, open the store page to place your order. Today's message is also available as part of his teaching set, The Prayer Life of a Ministry Leader.

Again, log on to intouch.org or call or text us. The number is 1-800 In Touch. And to write to us, you can address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900 Atlanta, Georgia 30357 or toll-free 1-800 In Touch. What's the first thing a pastor should do at a new church? There's important advice just ahead in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: What are you living for? What is your goal and objective in life?

Guest (Male): For 60 years, Dr. Charles Stanley's sermons have blessed us and today his teachings continue to enrich our walk with Christ through the new Charles Stanley Institute. It's all built so you can live a more abundant Christian life and it's completely free. Visit us at Charles Stanley Institute.org. The Charles Stanley Institute, empowering disciples worldwide.

Guest (Male): In our spiritual journey, we often have questions. How do I know God's will for my life? Does God hear my prayers? Why do bad things happen? The answers are found in the word of God. But how do we know where to start? The free In Touch devotional can help point you in the right direction with biblically based content from Dr. Charles Stanley. You'll gain insight and wisdom through daily devotions, Bible studies, and more. The In Touch devotional delivered monthly to your mailbox. Subscribe for free at intouch.org/daily.

Guest (Male): What would you say is a pastor's greatest asset at his church? Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: God has called you to be a disciple maker, to win people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's your responsibility. And you must take authority in the church, leading those people and teaching those people and loving those people and motivating them. And to do that, you going to have to stay on your knees. They going to have to see you as a man of prayer before they follow your direction, your leadership. One of the wisest things you can do as soon as you get to the first church is find you a handful of men that you can put around you and teach them how to pray.

That will be the wisest and first most important decision you make. Find you a group of men that you can get around you and teach them how to pray. And how do you do that? You just get them in the evening or one morning, Saturday morning, or whatever it might be, and you just start praying in front of them. Friend, before long they catch on. Before long you weep together. Before long you share your most intimate heartaches together and before long you bound yourself together in a wonderful prayer relationship. Those men will stand by you, behind you, walk before you, protect you, defend you.

You won't have to defend yourself. Build a group of godly men who know how to lift you up every day as the pastor of that church. Your greatest asset is praying people.

Guest (Male): You can learn more about following Jesus Christ at intouch.org. Have you been encouraged by what you heard today? Take some time to let us know. Ahead on In Touch, do you have a message you want to share with others? Bathing that message in prayer is the first place to start. And that's the emphasis of our next program. So I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, The Teaching Ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.