As We

Focus On Jesus and Follow His Plan

Note: The following was shared with the SWD Board and SWD Ministry Directors along with other presenters and workers in the 2020 Annual Leadership Meeting in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday evening March 7th, just before the COVID-19 pandemic grew into a problem that required the cessation of face to face meetings.  Now, I’m challenging you to understand the challenge given in this devotional and to find new methods to accomplish the same vision and mission transferred to us from Jesus Christ via the written Word of God and his disciples through the years.

Rev 8:1-6, NIV

1. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 

2. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 

3. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 

4. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 

5. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 

6. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. 

Have you ever had that experience, one like what is being described here?  You know what it might be like. You have seen that moment portrayed in movies.  You have experienced that moment in your Kingdom of Heaven service. You have likely experienced that moment in your personal relationships, either making new ones or old ones passing away.

It is that moment when — you know — regardless of what happens — things will never be the same after this moment.  I remember a cartoon once when it was ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS, maybe it was the meerkats in The Lion King, or the monkeys in Jungle Book, or somewhere else.  The little characters looked at each other in complete silence. They blinked their eyes twice. They tightened their jaw muscles. They looked expectantly at what was before them.  And then — then — things started happening. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it was bad. But it was never boring. It is at such times as this — we suck in the air we breathe with a new vigor and expectation of great things happening.

In leadership, the great leader understands it really isn’t about him or her.  It is about the vision, the mission, the purpose for their being a leader in this time and place.  The Christian leader realizes it is not for personal glory the sacrifices are being made. It is about glorifying God, edifying the Church, and serving the cause of Jesus Christ in the gospel.  It is all about serving others and facilitating the leadership of others to be successful. It is about knowing and believing in the values the leader uses in his or her leadership so strongly, there is an understanding that those values must carry on into the future long after they are gone.  There is only one way to assure that will happen and it is to build leaders who share those same values and are trained in building leaders that will share those same values.  

For me, I’m oft reminded of the words in the old hymn “To God Be The Glory”.  For me, I am amazed that God, the Almighty, the Prince of Peace, the Creator of all, would choose to allow me to be a leader as an ambassador from his Kingdom to the Nations and Peoples of this world.  How grand is that?

“To God Be the Glory” is a hymn with lyrics by Fanny Crosby and music by William Howard Doane, first printed in 1875.  It appears to have been created around 1872 but was published in 1875 in Robert Lowry and Doane’s hymn compilation, “Brightest and Best.”

In 1954, the song leader for Billy Graham was given a copy with the suggestion that “To God be the Glory” be included in the songbook for the London Crusade.  It was so well-loved that he included it again later that year in the Crusade in Nashville, Tennessee. The audience responded enthusiastically and from that time on, he used it frequently.  With this exposure, the hymn quickly became well-known to Christians worldwide and is printed in most modern hymnals.

To God Be The Glory

Stanza 1
To God be the glory, great things He hath done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

Stanza 2
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

Stanza 3
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our rapture, when Jesus we see.

Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

When we think of Building a Legacy of Leadership and the great things God is doing in his Kingdom through his people, I think first and foremost of Jesus Christ.

John 14:12, NIV

12. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 

What is being said here?  Jesus is saying, “I’m leaving you and you will do even greater things than I have done.”  What? How can that be? Can anyone ever do greater things than Jesus? Well, that is a challenging question.  The answer is “yes” and “no”. If one is attempting to do greater things than Jesus Christ of their own volition, then “no”, it can’t be done.  But the disciple of Jesus Christ or the disciple of a disciple of Jesus Christ is not doing it of their own volition. That has died and now it is Jesus Christ alive in them for evermore.

It is “yes” because it is still JESUS doing the works, but now it is through his disciples.  And, Jesus is not doing those works through a single person, he is doing the works through a SINGLE BODY with many parts.  Or, understood another way, Jesus is doing the work through an organism called The CHURCH with MANY MEMBERS. By returning to the FATHER, JESUS is multiplying the works his disciples can and will do.  Now, you can decide whether he is speaking of MORE things than he had done because his ministry only covered about 3 ½ years, or whether he was saying VERY LITERALLY what his disciples would do would be even greater than the things he had done while on this earth, because he was going back to his former place and would then operate through them via his Holy Spirit, giving him power to work, not just with those in front of his face, but literally in everyone who believed on his name.

I hope you see, the LEADERS WHO FOLLOWS THE GREATEST LEADER TO EVER LIVE will indeed do GREATER THINGS than he had done.  Yes, I believe Jesus means both MORE THINGS and, VERY LITERALLY, GREATER THINGS. How, you ask? Miracles did not stop when Jesus ascended into heaven before his disciples.  No, miracles continue, even to this day. I can attest to that with all certainty.  

That a request is not granted in accordance with the disciple’s expectation is not evidence that God is not working.  Just because someone steps out of the rain into a shelter does not mean it has stopped raining. Just because a person is not experiencing miracles in their ministry does not mean that Jesus is no longer exercising his authority and power.

Also, everyone Jesus healed or raised back to life died the death of the flesh.  Yet, after his ascension, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people and continues to fill and refill the disciples of Jesus until this day.  And the works Jesus is now doing through his disciples are eternal in nature, “storing up your treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt,” and being “Ministers of reconciliation taking people whose garments are stained with death and cleansing them to lead them into life forever more.”  That is indeed greater.

Jesus is also saying, “Whatever is done in my name will be done by my disciples.  I don’t have a backup plan.”

Acts 4:11-13,  NIV

11. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 

12. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 

13. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 

The point here is Jesus Built a Legacy of Leadership so that leaders disciple and build leaders who also make disciples whom they build into leaders and the Kingdom of Heaven grows.

What is different today than then?  Some things are different to be sure.  But really, much remains the same. We have the same Great Commission.  We have the same faith. We hold the same office as Ambassadors for Jesus Christ.  We are to be building LEADERS who will build LEADERS that will build MORE Leaders.

If Jesus is the Greatest Leader to ever live, who is the second greatest leader to ever live?  Moses? Who was the next great leader that followed Moses? Joshua? Who was the next great leader that followed Joshua????

Here is the question for you.  Who will be the next great leader to follow you?  Will you do great things for our King, only to have those works stop when you stop?  What should we be doing?  

I speak plainly to you, because there is no “BACKUP PLAN”.  You, the ones being impacted by these writings on leadership and others, — You are my Legacy Of Leadership.  The fruit of MY Ministry is produced by Jesus Christ THROUGH YOU. If you don’t do it. There will be no fruit in my ministry to survive beyond my own work.  

Now here is the important question.  Who will bear fruit in your Ministry?  Will the fruit bearing stop when you do?  Or, will you become like Jesus Christ and develop disciples who will do greater works than you do?  

Therefore I continually advocate to you and whomever will hear –  

• choose your disciples, 

• build your Ministry Teams, 

• choose Ministry Partners to join you, and

• train your Ministry Partners to do what you are doing.

Then — Then — When you are gone, your disciples will do Greater Works than you have done.  

May the Lord forgive me for telling you this true story.  Before being a Minister of the Gospel, I was a sales manager and salesman for a soft drink company called Love Bottling Company.  One day I had one of those moments when — I grew silent, my eyelids snapped twice, my jaw muscles tightened and my whole world changed in the soft drink business forever.

I had worked for the company only a short time.  I was doing okay. I was selling truckloads of pop on a regular basis.  But things were not exciting. The Coca Cola Company I worked for had a former employee who was a diligent worker and good salesman.  He had set a sales record more than 20 years earlier and it had never been broken from World War II until 1974.

But that day, my boss said to me, “You don’t know how to sell pop.  This company cannot survive on what you are selling.” It didn’t matter that I was selling as much as everyone else.  It didn’t matter that his words were not true, the company was surviving quite well. What mattered was that my boss did not think I was a good employee and not doing what I could be doing.  The earlier record had been just over 300 cases of pop sales in one day. But we had adopted new sales methods that required a salesman and a deliveryman. I was selling for two deliverymen, so my order of 500 to 700 cases a day still fell woefully short of any record when divided between the three of us.  

The next day I left the plant early and did not come back until late.  When I came back and turned in the pop orders, my boss was furious. He literally screamed at me, “What have you done?  We can’t deliver that much pop.” When the orders were tallied, I had sold over 4,000 cases in a single day. I informed him we would be able to deliver it because I would not sell another case until these orders were delivered.  All the next day I worked along with my two deliverymen running truck load after truck load of pop to area grocery stores.

That record stood for another 10 years.  My boss died and I became the boss. No one who worked at Love Bottling Company believed my record would ever be broken.  But it was broken and broken many times. Not only was it broken, but the records were broken that broke my record. Before I retired in 1993 to go into the ministry, every salesman under me had broken my record.  I had sold over 4,000 cases in a single day. Bobby Holder sold over 8,000 cases. His son, Wayne, sold over 11,000 cases. Bobby came back and sold over 14,000 cases. Tom quit the Pepsi Company and came to work for us and sold over 18,000 cases in a single day.  I have no idea where the record is today. But because of leaders building leaders, in this case salesmen building salesmen, I am confident my record seems like a pitiful day of sales.

Now, I want you to notice this was for an earthly company that will be destroyed never to rise again, if not now, then at the judgment.  What should we expect to be done in the Eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ? Greater Works than these will you do!

What we are doing here in the Southwest District today will look like tiny little accomplishments — IF — IF — we do our jobs right in BUILDING A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP.  The fruit of your ministry will be many times more than the fruit of my ministry — IF — YOU build disciples and teach them to build disciples.

What kind of Legacy will you leave?  Will people sit around longing in sorrow because you are gone?  Will they lament that there just isn’t much happening now, because their shining knight and servant of Jesus Christ, namely YOU, have departed?  Or, will they marvel how those you have discipled excel even beyond what you have done?

This is what I want you to do.  I want you to network together as ONE BODY with many parts, edifying one another.  I want you to identify who are your disciples. Who are you choosing to walk in your stead?  

God told Elijah to choose Elisha.  Who is God telling you to choose? Identify those persons and put their names in writing to me, so I will know you are building a LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP.  I want to know, who are you discipling to do GREATER WORKS than you are doing. Can you do that? YES YOU CAN. The better question is will you do it? Or, will you get so caught up in your own work you will fail to disciple followers to go higher than you can go in your time?  Be the ladder your disciples can climb to reach heights that are way beyond your grasp. In so doing you will join those who are great in leadership.

You are my Legacy of Leadership.  There is no backup plan. God has chosen you and blessed me to work with you.  I am eagerly waiting to see the fruit you will produce through your ministry through the LEGACY OF YOUR LEADERSHIP.

Remember Peter and John?  They were ordinary men. But they did extraordinary works.  Are you ordinary? I hope so, because God is choosing to do extraordinary work through you.  Are you humble enough to allow God to do EXTRAORDINARY things through you? God is opening your eyes to what he has called you to do.  Will you do it? Or, will you make excuses?

Now it is time for us to be silent for a moment, to snap those eyelids twice, to tighten the jaw muscles, to look in the DIRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, and to realize — God is ready to do great things through YOUR Ministry.

Go with God and let people take note you have been with Jesus.  The Greatest Leader who ever lived is ready to impact you through his disciples from the Apostles to now whose backs you stand upon to reach fruit never-before reachable.  It is all done by God through you. Witness to the glory of God, the edification of the Church and the power of the gospel. I want to be named in your lineage of leadership between you and Jesus Christ.  I want you named in the family tree as branches between Jesus Christ and those you disciple and lead. What an honor! And our Lord is glorifying himself through you, if you allow it. Be strong and of a good courage in Jesus Christ our King.  Go, and as you are going, make disciples whom you build into disciple makers who influence this world for Christ. And, if for some reason you have not yet learned it, if you do not know it, I will tell you, I love you with the love of the Lord.  The success of your leadership along with the gospel of Jesus Christ is my labor of love and work of faith in Jesus Christ. Love one another and do not give place to dissension among yourselves. Instead find a few whom you pour yourself into that they may make Christlike leaders by the thousands who look remarkably like you.