Eph 4:11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
When I first came into the home we would have morning chapel where the Pastors from the church would come and minister to the men and women in the home. The Pastor that overseen the Victory Homes would always say, “when we entered the home we entered into a hard hat area.”
This was a term used to people that worked on a construction site, which meant that know matter where a person finds themselves on the organizational structure everyone is required to where a hard hat, because this was an area that was under construction.
This meant that everyone in the Victory Home, from the director all the way to the newest person in the home were all in a hard hat area because everyone is under construction.
And the same way it was for the home I believe it is for the church, no matter how long one has been around we are all under construction.
Eph 4:11-16 gives us a picture of the spiritual construction site of God’s church, and gives us a clear picture of His Vision for the church.
Eph 4:11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
I. The Gift of Leadership
The first thing I would like to look at is the gift of leadership.
Eph 4:11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
When God gave birth to the church, He gave birth to the church with an overall vision that He would like to see eventually become reality.
Eph 4:16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
With the vision that God has, He has given certain people the gifts needed to bring that vision to pass and a portion of these gifts is the gifts of leadership.
Here the bible uses specific titles, “Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers.
We as Victory Outreach do not necessarily use these specific titles, but more importantly we recognize the function and the fruit of these giftings.
“The title doesn’t make the person; the person makes the title”
The point I would like to make is that regardless of the title God himself gave these gifts to the body, that those that operate with these giftings would be used by God to accomplish the vision God has for His church.
Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.
16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.
18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.
20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
When we first came to South Africa, different people would approach us and say that they were a prophet and that God gave them a word for the church, we would say join the church become part of the family so we could see past your title and into your fruit then once we see the fruit we will give you the privilege to use the gift Go has given you.
1. Gift from God to the person
When we think of the gift of leadership the first thing we must understand is that the gift of leadership is a gift that is given from God to the person.
The house of God functions different then the secular world. In the secular world a person chooses their career, in the house of God, God’s chooses us.
When Alexis first started high school, she said that she wanted to work toward becoming a lawyer. I said that’s a great career because you never lose an argument.
But when Evangelist Tim Rabara came He called out Alexis an said that God was separating her like Kathlyn Kuhlman and giving her an anointing to bring healing to hurting people.
We don’t choose leadership, God chooses us for His will and then gives us the gifting to get the job done.
I Cor 12:28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership
Rom6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.
8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.
So God gives us the gift, but we must remember it’s the fruit of our lives that will open up the opportunities to use those gifts, an those gifts are used by God to build up the body to fulfill the overall vision God has for the church.
2. Gift from God to the body
The second thing we must take into consideration when it comes to the gift of leadership, is that not only is the gift of leadership a gift from God to the person, but the gift of leadership is also a gift from God to the body.
Eph 4:11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
The way you and I see leadership will determine the way we receive leadership.
Pastor Steve Pineda, “Leadership is like signs that help people get to their destination”
During Covid the flights were so expensive to travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg, that Pastor Sam, myself, Matt Zegers and Josh decided to drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
Being that we were all from America and had never driven from cape town to Joburgh it was important for us to follow the signs, if we wanted to make it to our destination.
The way we receive leadership will determine the benefit we receive from them.
Matt 10:40 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.
41 If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs.
If we embrace leadership within our lives we will reap the benefit of our receptiveness.
When I was in the victory home, because of my lack of maturity this was the most difficult principle for me to embrace, but I would not be here today if it was not for this principle with in my life.
Heb 13:17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
We must remember in our relationship with leadership, is that the love of a leader has different faces.
Analogy of a bus coming.
Learn to embrace the gift of leadership within your life, so that you can better make it to the destination that God has called you to.
God has a vision for His church and He gave the giftings needs to bring that vision to pass.
- The Responsibility of Leadership
- The Response determines the results