Choosing Leadership Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Choosing Leadership Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 1:12-26.

When we are praying, we need to be a broken people, meaning that without Him, we can do nothing. Christ taught us this very truth. We do not come into prayer and arrogance, but we come in total brokenness, recognizing that He is the only one, and He is the only answer.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders. Thank you for joining us. We’re going to be in the book of Acts chapter 1, verse 12 through 26, continuing our study on choosing leadership. What an important part of the life of the church is choosing the leaders, the pastors, the elders, the deacons that God has given to lead the church.

And how do we effectively do that? Well, we see an example of this, and we try to pull principles out of the scriptures so that we can be effective in choosing the best leadership for God’s people. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19, verse 28, Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, that you which have followed Me, referring to His apostles, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory,

you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. What all that that might mean, and how that might manifest itself in the future is all in the sovereignty and wisdom of God.

But note it was very significant that there was twelve, which leads us to understand that it was to select this twelfth position to be filled. Which leads us to the second point that I want you to see is not only the reason for the selection, but the requirements for the selection.

In verses 21 through 22, the requirements of an apostle, the original 12 were laid out. It was really simple. They had to have traveled with Jesus and partook of His ministry. We see that in the Scriptures in verse 21, therefore of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.

The Scripture says that Christ ordained 12, that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach. These 12 individuals had a unique ministry, not from a distance of the ministry of Christ, but rather a close -up view of the ministry of Christ.

And they had a special mission to go forth and to preach this gospel, to preach the death burial and resurrection of Christ. Christ to preach this message of the cause of Christ. So they had to be somebody who was with him, somebody who traveled with Christ, but they also had to be a witness of his resurrection.

Look at verse 22, it says, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. The ministry, the public ministry of Christ began when John the Baptist baptized him.

You remember that moment when the Bible describes it as the heavens opening up, and that the father spoke and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased that in this Trinitarian moment of the baptism of Christ, the Son of God being baptized, fulfilling all that was required in the Old Testament, that the Spirit of God came upon Christ like a dove, and the heavenly father broke out from the heavens,

and his voice was heard. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Luke describes this moment in the upper room as a time when Peter declared that the second qualification must be that they witnessed not only the ministry of Christ but his resurrection.

Now, I know that if you’re a good student of the Bible that you certainly have many questions, and you might wonder, was this a legitimate selection? And what about the Apostle Paul? Even the Apostle Paul faced times in his ministry where people questioned his credentials and whether he was really an apostle.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9 .1 that the Apostle said, am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? My understand and my interpretation is simply this, that the selection of Matthias as the 12th apostle was important and it was essential in the fulfillment of all that God was going to do.

But this role, this apostle ministry was not something that was just limited to the 12th, but at the outset, there were many in the book of Acts who were referred to as apostles. We find that Barnabas was referred to an apostle.

But uniquely, Paul was referred to as an apostle. When you see the word apostle in the Bible, it means an emissary or a representative, one cent with the authority of the sender, very much like an ambassador.

Not only was it essential that the 12 be completed and fulfilled and fulfill the requirements, but it’s not like God limited this ministry of apostleship in the early stages of the church just to the 12.

But in order to be among the 12 that would be a part of those 12 that would sit on a throne and they would judge the 12 tribes of Israel, it was necessary that they meet these requirements. Revelation 12 .1 says there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.

Many scholars believe that this is referring to the apostles. The 12 apostles ministered primarily to the 12 tribes of Israel. But what was unique about Paul is that he was not among that 12, but no lesser of an apostle in the sense of what his unique calling was, is that he was called to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

In your own personal study you can work that out in Galatians chapter 2 and you can begin to see the distinction of this ministry that the apostle had. Now let’s talk about the recourse for the selection.

In verse 23 through 26 what were the results? Jesus said to his apostles, you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain and that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give you.

Now that’s an incredible promise. But within the midst of this we learn some things that will help us, not only relating into choosing leadership, but also in helping guide us to understand how is it that I can know the will of God.

There are two things you must understand at the outset as you’re trying to determine the will of God for your life. First, that there is a universal will that is applicable to all of us, it doesn’t matter.

You see, there is a universal will that is unveiled clearly in the scriptures. Like for instance, it is God’s will. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There is a universal will that if you’re sitting here this morning and you don’t know Christ, if you’re watching on the internet, if you’re listening through radio or television, listen, there is a universal will that Christ is calling you to have a relationship with Him.

It’s not an invitation to religion, it’s not an invitation to rituals, it’s an invitation of a relationship with Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes unto the Father but by me.

It is through Christ that we have a relationship with the Father. It is through Christ that our sins are forgiven. It is through Christ that we are created new. It is through Christ that we have a new life that helps us to be faithful to Him.

There is a universal will. It’s spelled out in the Bible. You don’t even have to really pray much about it. It’s just spelled out. But there’s also a unique will. There’s a unique will that is particular to you.

Not everybody is called to be the pastor of the open door church, for if they were, who would Pastor Mike preach to? I mean, who would he be able to preach to? So there’s gotta be a pastor, elders, deacons.

These are callings upon people within the church, but there is a calling upon you. Just because I have this ministry doesn’t mean you have no ministry. You have a ministry that is unique to you, that is designed by the gifts and the abilities that God has given you.

Your ministry is no less important than mine, and your ministry is no greater than mine. Now sometimes in the family of faith, we sometimes think certain ministries are more important than others, and sometimes we get honed in on our particular ministry based upon our passion and our giftedness and our abilities, and we think the entire church ought to submit to our ministry.

No, friends, we’re all part of this great cause of the kingdom of Christ, and every one of us, some of you are so passionate about certain things, God put that desire in your heart. It’s wonderful, and your ministry ought to be encouraged, and it ought to be fulfilled, and you ought to do everything that God’s called you to do.

But that in turn does not mean that everybody’s gonna be passionate about it, but we ought to be grateful. that God is raising up many types of ministries and individuals in the field of souls that we might be able to reach all kinds of people.

I’m often asked by people, why are there so many different denominations and so many different types of churches? And you know what my simple answer is this. There’s so many different types of people.

Now I know we have the great desire to reach everybody and that is our passion to make sure that everybody hears the gospel at the Open Door Church. We’re using every available means to get the gospel to every available person.

But can I be honest with you? Not everybody’s gonna be a fit at the Open Door Church. And it’s okay, I’m okay with it. If you’re okay with it. And not everything, it works together. And so that’s why God raises up different types of churches.

Every church has a personality. Every church has a style. Every church has a philosophy. Every church has a strategy. Even if they don’t even know those words. They have one. if nothing else, by default.

And so people fit. Some people want a very structured liturgical church, and that’s the kind of church they want to be in, and others, they cannot stand that there is structure in the church. They cannot stand that there’s order in the church.

They want everything to be spontaneous, and let’s just wing it from our hip as we gather together as God’s people. Now friends, we need all these people, and we need all these churches. It’s not about your church is better than my church, and my church is better than your church.

It’s about where can we fit, and what can we do to effectively serve God, and where does God want me? So I want you to grasp that, that there is a uniqueness to the will of God, and as I’m trying to determine what is God’s unique will, should I take this job?

Should I go to this church? Should I be involved in this ministry? Should I marry this person? Should I make this financial purchase? Should I change my career? How do I figure all that out? Well, let me give you some things real quickly that’ll help you as we wrap things up today.

First is prayer. It is prayer. You will note in this passage of Scripture in verse 14 that the Bible says they were all in one accord, and they were praying. The Bible adds that they were supplicating, which is simply the idea of praying for others.

They’re praying, which is an act of worship, and they’re also praying for others. No doubt that among the prayers was the issue of who is going to be that 12th apostle. Who is going to be that 12th apostle?

So we have these folks, they are praying, and it reminds us that in all decisions that we make, whether we’re choosing leadership or we’re just trying to figure out what is the best direction of our life as we understand God’s unique will, it always has to be covered in prayer.

Now I know that you are human and I am human and sometimes we get discouraged in prayer We don’t see the results in our prayer Jesus told a story about that But he started it out in Luke 18 once saying now He was telling them a parable or a story to show that all times they ought to pray and not become Discouraged I don’t have time to teach you the story this morning But I do want you to note that don’t ever give up praying for the will of God for your life Don’t ever stop you say man.

I’m not seeing the results. I’m not seeing the answer I’m not seeing the changes that I want to see you might be praying for a loved one You might be praying for something to happen. You might be praying for something not to happen Whatever it might be.

I want you to remember never be discouraged in prayer God hears the prayers of his saints God hears the prayers of his people and God answers prayer He doesn’t always answer it like I want it, but he will always answer your prayer according to his perfect will.

As we are considering prayer, let us remember that spiritual power is always tied to prayer. So many times we become anemic in our life spiritually and impacting others, it is because we’re not going back to the sword.

You’re like that cell phone that keeps dying on you. How many of you got a cell phone that can’t even make it through the day without being charged five times? Well see, you and I gotta learn that we gotta get charged and we get our energy, we get our strength, and we get our wisdom as we are plugged into Jesus Christ as we are seeking Him in prayer.

Prayer is an important part. A church will never rise above its prayer life. The significance and the impact of any church in any ministry in any community will never be above the prayers of God’s people.

It is the most important ministry in the body and the community of Christianity, but also in a family. There is nothing that brings Terry and I closer together than praying together. And there’s nothing that’s gonna bring you closer together to your children than when you pray with them and for them.

And I know people say to me all the time, “‘Well, Pastor, there’s no command in the Bible “‘that I should pray with my spouse.'” Are you kidding me? Are you trying to say that in the halls of heaven that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are saying, it’s probably not a good idea if you prayed with your spouse?

It’d probably be better if you just separated in prayer. Listen, there are times that we separate for prayer. There are times that we are praying for particular things, but I’m telling you that if you wanna experience the power of God in your family, it is gonna be through prayer.

If you wanna experience the power of God in your church, it is gonna be through prayer. And let me say something to the husbands. Are you guys okay with that? You’re not gonna be mad at me? Let it rip, they said.

Husbands, step up and be the leader. leader in praying with your spouse. Don’t make your wife beg you to pray with her. Is there anything more supportive and encouraging and bearing one another’s burdens with our spouses than praying with them?

Can anything be more important than you taking time to pray with your children or even your grandchildren? When our grandchildren come over and they stay overnight, we always have time of prayer with them.

And it’s important because I want them to know that we can always pray together and that there’s no shame in praying together. Charles Spurgeon said, I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer.

There are four aspects that need to be present when you are praying. Write these down if you like to take notes. Number one is brokenness. When we are praying, we need to be a broken people, meaning that without Him, we can do nothing.

Christ taught us this very truth. We do not come into prayer and arrogance, but we come in total brokenness, recognizing that He is the only one, and He is the only answer. But the second aspect is anticipation.

I mean, I can’t, but He can, amen? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Nothing is too hard, and so we have this anticipation in our prayers. As we beckon the throne of grace, we are calling upon God for His mercy and help, and we anticipate, as Jesus taught us, that if a child asks for bread from His Father, would the Father ever give the child a snake?

Absolutely not. And in your moment of vulnerability before the heavenly Father crying out what your particular needs are, do you think that as you are crying out for your daily bread, that He somehow will give you a poisonous snake?

No, my friends, in anticipation, you have a merciful, loving Father who cares, and His loving kindness and mercy follows you all the days of your life, and He is ready, and there are many times we are not receiving because we are not asking.

I want you to know the third aspect of prayer is faith. That is that what He promises He will do, that when we come to the Lord and pray, that we claim the promises of God, we believe in our heart that what He has promised He will fulfill, we may not understand it, Abraham and Sarah just believed that God would provide.

Yes, there were times in their journey of faith that they messed up, they got off course, they took a detour, but God kept realigning their hearts and they kept coming back to that promise that God had made to them, that He would give them a son.

The fourth aspect of prayer is obedience. It is obedience. to God. How many times have you and I in dealing with our disobedient children took away privileges? We took away blessings but when our children obeyed we even bless them and we give them privileges and we continue to shower them with gifts and so it is in the Heavenly Father that in our obedience He sets us up that we might be the reception of the blessings of God and the answers to our prayer you can’t be walking one way and contrary to the will of God the universal will of God and think that somehow that He’s gonna answer your prayer as you seek Him for His first desire for you hear this before you will ever experience the unique will of God you must first experience the universal will of God and you must be living in obedience to Him Now the second thing that we have are what I call the word of God or the principles.

We see in our text that Peter kept referring to the Bible as they are discerning the will of God. Now let’s fast track a little bit here, okay? God, as you are seeking his will, will never do anything contrary to his word.

So I told you before about that couple back in Indiana. Don’t worry, it’s back in Indiana. I only tell stories back in Indiana because I don’t want you all to get upset. But here’s the thing, back in Indiana, these two people came into my office and they said, it’s the will of God that we leave our spouse and that we get married.

No, no, it’s not, it’s not, it violates the Bible. So when you study the word of God, when you are enriched in his word, when you saturate your life with his word, you are gonna be blessed with the wisdom of God and you are gonna know the will of God never contradicts the word of God.

Now let me say something about the will of God in your life. That it’s not like God just rends the heavens and then he says, this is what I want you to do. But let me tell you, when you are saturated in the word of God, he fills your heart with the wisdom of God.

Like you can actually make decisions of common sense. You know what the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians? That you and I as believers, we have the mind of Christ. Have you ever thought about that? You have the mind of Christ.

I have the mind of Christ. I have the wisdom of God. And you know, sometimes it’s not like, it has to be a long drawn out situation. We just simply have that wisdom because we’re in the word of God. We have the mindset of Christ.

We understand how he would deal with certain things, how he would handle things and we have that mindset and we desire that and it just flows in us and it flows through us. And as we are making decisions, following the will of God, we have it.

to have this covering of his wisdom and his mind within us. Thirdly, I want you to see that we have the Holy Spirit. Now we have the Holy Spirit. Now I read to you all the way to the end, but I want you to jump down to verse 26.

The Bible tells us that they cast their lots and the lot fell on Matthias as they were trying to decide who is this person that we must choose to be the 12th apostle. They cast lots. The Bible says on Proverbs 1633, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

In the Old Testament, they cast lots. That is that they would take the names of individuals trying to determine who would be a leader and they would write them on flat stones and they would then place it in a container and they would shake it up.

How many of you remember playing Yahtzee? How many of you still play Yahtzee? How many of you still have a game night? I mean, you need to have a game night, and so you play Yahtzee, and so we’ve been teaching our grandkids about Yahtzee, and they just love the loud noise of Yahtzee.

And I’m like, this game is over. Let’s try another quiet game, right? But here’s the thing, they shook it up, and then they dispensed the stones. They discerned the will of God based upon the first stone to fall out with the person’s name on it.

Now that sounds bizarre to us, doesn’t it? I mean, could you imagine if you’re trying to decide who am I gonna marry, and you write all their names down, and you shake it up, and whoever falls to the first is who you’re gonna marry?

Oh, buddy. But here’s the thing. In the New Testament, we have the Spirit of God. We don’t have to play Yahtzee. I mean, you can if you want, but we don’t have to use it to discern the will of God. We have the Spirit of God who lives in each of our hearts.

And one of the things that the Spirit does is he creates peace in our heart. As I’m trying to discern the will of God, I want to know and experience the peace of God about this decision. When Terry and I are deciding maybe to purchase a home or maybe to purchase a vehicle or to make a decision, we’re just praying together that God would give us peace.

Why do we know that this is important in the will of God? Because the Bible teaches us that God is not a God of confusion. He is not a God of chaos. This is all taught in 1 Corinthians 14. God is a God of order.

He is a God of structure. I know it’s hard for you spontaneous people, but he is. And I want you to know that God is not the author of confusion, and so confusion either comes from the devil, the world, or my own flesh.

But it doesn’t come from God, for the apostle tells us that he’s not a God of confusion, but a God of… of peace in all the churches, in all the churches. Don’t ever make a decision until you have the 100% peace from the Spirit of God in your heart.

Don’t ever make a change in your life. You might have a restless spirit right now and you might be thinking about a different direction and you might be thinking about doing this or that or maybe not doing this or that, but listen, do not make a move until you have peace peace, that you have the peace of God.

So when I’m trying to determine the will of God, I am looking at certainly prayer. I’m looking at the principles of God in His word. I am seeking the peace of God. The last component, not in our text, but it certainly is in the scripture and that is the people of God.

The Bible tells us that there is wisdom and safety in a multitude of counsel. And you see, if you would be the type of Christian who would be teachable, you would be teachable. That you would come to the people of God and ask them to pray with you about this matter or to listen to their wisdom, to listen to their insight.

I know that some of the young people, they’re kind of frustrated with the older people, but I’m going to tell you something about the older people. They got a lot of wisdom and they’ve been down some of these roads you’re trying to figure out.

They’ve had to deal with children who threw temper tantrums. They’ve had to try to figure out how to balance the budget. They’ve had to think about, should I take this job or that job? They’ve had to make some big choices in their life and God has given them wisdom.

And I want to encourage you to surround yourself with good and godly people in your life. And I want to encourage you to get some mentors in your life. And I want to encourage you to seek the people of God to help you to know the will of God.

So many times we’re stubborn. We’re prideful. Nobody can tell us what to do. We’ve already figured it out. We went to college. We went to a university. How does anybody know more than us? I’m here to tell you, my friends, that there’s a lot of wisdom sitting in this congregation.

There’s a lot of people who can be a blessing to your life. One of the great attributes you could have is to be a teachable Christian. Be teachable. Say, Lord, you put people in my life to help influence my life.

And I’m going to share some of the things I’m thinking about with them. And I pray that they’ll give me your wisdom and they’ll give me your insight so I can live a life that is honoring too. Jesus is the head of the church, but he has left the driving to designated leaders.

An effective scriptural church needs to have effective scriptural leaders. In our passage today, we have been learning how to choose leaders in the church. So I hope that you have taken advantage of this opportunity and that God is showing you different things.

Feel free to share this with the different leaders in your own church so that you can grow and be effective as a church family. I want to remind you that our ministry Hope Worth Having is on Facebook.

Yes, you can go to Facebook, in the search button, just type in Hope Worth Having. Make sure you like our page and keep up with what God is doing as we are regularly posting and putting new things about the work of Christ that is being accomplished through the ministry of Hope Worth Having.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.