June 8, 2011

And now, O priests this commandment is for you;
If you do not listen,
And if you do not lay it to your heart,
To give glory to my name, says the
Lord of hosts,
I will send curse upon you
And of your blessings I will make a curse,
Yes I already cursed it,
Because you do not lay it to your heart.
Lo, I will deprive you of the shoulder
And I will strew dung in your faces,
The dung of your feasts,
And you will be carried off with it.
Then you will know that I sent you this commandment.
Because I have covenant with Levi,
Says the Lord of the hosts.
My covenant with him was one of the life and peace;
Fear I put in him, and he feared me,
And stood in awe of my name.
True doctrine was in his mouth,
And no dishonesty was found upon his lips;
He walked with me in integrity and in uprightness,
And turned many away from evil.
For the lips of the priests are to keep knowledge,
And instruction is to be sought from his mouth,
Because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
But you have turned aside
From the way
And you have cursed many to falter
By your instruction;
You have made void the covenant
Of Levi,
Says the Lord of hosts.
I therefore, have made you contemptible
And base before all the people,
Sine you do not keep my ways,
But show partiality in your decisions.
(Malachi 2:1-9 )

Every believer is a priest and as such is set apart for worship and service. Each of us is called to lead others upward today.

The Five Fatal Flaws

1. They dishonored God’s holiness. If they continue to commit sin, God will punish them. As servants of the Lord, once we already accept the commitment of service, we must not stop and turn back. The
consequences of sinning are: rebuke, rejection and removal from the service.

2. Departed from the way. Once a leader stops walking with God, he must get back in step with Him or his ministry is really over.
3. Destructive to others. When we depart from the way, we usually end up taking others with us.

“Do not be led astray. Bad company corrupts morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

4. Desecrated the covenant. They were allowing religious rituals to rupture their relationship with God.
5. Despised by the people. When we don’t take our relationship with God seriously, then no one else will take us seriously ever.


Leadership Lessons

1. Respond to God in obedience. God desires for us to listen and set our hearts for obedience. It's one thing to believe something is true, it's another thing all together to obey it. Doers of the word are not hearers only.

“Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves." (James 1:22 )

2. Revere God as awesome. If we would revere God as awesome, we would be changed forever.

3. Resolve to lead yourself. While we are called to lead those over us, those next to us, and those under us, our toughest leadership challenge is one in the middle. We should be devoting 50 percent of our time and abilities to leading ourselves and the next 50 percent divided among leading up, leading down and leading laterally.

We need to make sure the spiritual is real in our lives. If we want to lead people upward, we must make sure that God’s words penetrate our personhood.

4. Repel people from sin. Do whatever it takes to turn “many from sin.” If we are serious about leading others upward, sometimes we have to get people out of the mud.

“My brothers, if anyone among you should astray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and
will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 )

5. Represent God to others. In order to proclaim His message accurately, you and I must stay in His presence. One of our notes is to represent God and reveal His will to people.

Ask yourselves: Are you making people thirsty for God? Do people come to you for answers? If we’re living our faith out loud, people will notice and they will seek instruction from us.

Our challenge: As disciple-makers, we are path-makers. Christ has shown us and given us the way to Him. It is now our aim to walk the path that He has forged and lead others along that way.