Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Taking the Mystery out of Leadership

Archive for the tag “character development”

18 Apr 2022

Jesus – Our Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. … I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me–just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:11, 14-15 NIV

Jesus is the Good Shepherd of His sheep.  He loves us, His sheep, so much so that He is willing to die for us.  He knows His sheep intimately.  He calls us by name and we recognize His voice.  He gathers His sheep together and makes us all one flock.  He watches over His sheep and protects us from evil.  He is a very good shepherd.

Sheep need the help and care of a shepherd.  A shepherd guides and defends the sheep of His flock.  Sheep are easy prey to wolves, coyotes, and other predators.  A good shepherd protects the flock from harm and leads them to green pastures where they may feed and be nurtured for their health and growth. 

  • As sheep, we must stay close to our shepherd if we are to benefit from his care and protection.  What do the following passages say about following Jesus our Good Shepherd? — Luke 9:57-62; John 15:1-17
  • Jesus cares for sheep that are lost.  He searches for them that they may be brought back to the flock.  What is stated in the following passages about Jesus’ searching for His lost sheep? — Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15:1-7

Question to ponder:  Are you following close after the Good Shepherd as He seeks to guide and protect you?

Passages for further study: Matthew 10:29-31; 1 Peter 5:7

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04 Apr 2022

Growing in Humility

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2 ESV

Humility is an essential character quality for a disciple of Christ.  True humility begins by understanding our total dependence on God for our very existence.  God supports the humble, but He resists (actively works against) and will bring low the proud.

God is committed to building humility into our lives.  We can choose the easy way or the hard way to learn humility. We can humble ourselves or have God humble us.  Growing in humility sets us free to serve others.

  • The easier way to grow in humility is to humble ourselves.  What is stated in the following passages about humbling ourselves? —  John 13:12-17; Philippians 2:5-11
  • The more painful way to grow in humility is to be humbled by God.  What is stated about God’s humbling process in the following verses? — Job 24:22-24; Proverbs 15:25; Isaiah 26:4-5

Questions to ponder:  What opportunities is God currently giving you to grow in humility? Are you embracing them?

Passages for further study: James 4:6-10; 1 Peter 5:5-6

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21 Mar 2022

Personal Peace

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3 NIV

From Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:24-27 we know that the storms of life befall the righteous and the unrighteous.  Those who hear and apply the words of Christ will be able to withstand these trials that assail our faith.  God promises peace in the midst of the raging storms if we trust in Him. 

Personal peace is an inner calm that comes from trusting that our heavenly Father is in control of our present situation.  It comes from knowing that nothing can happen to us unless God allows it.  Peace is rooted in knowing the love and goodness of God and continues to trust Him when life doesn’t feel good or make sense.

  • God promises us peace, a peace that will overcome our fears.  What is said about the peace of God the following passages? — John 14:27; Philippians 4:6-7
  • We can choose to trust God and have peace or believe what we see and give way to our fears.  What is said in the following passages about fear? — Luke 12:4-7; 1 Peter 3:1-6

Question to ponder:  What fearful situation are you facing where you can trust God and experience His peace?

Passages for further study: John 14:1; John 16:33

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14 Mar 2022

Amazing Love!

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. Hosea 11:3-4 ESV

God’s love cannot be earned; it is a gift.  God loves the unlovable and He accepts us just as we are.  He loves us so much that He died for us.  If you were the only person who ever lived, He would have died for you.

God’s love is so overwhelming – so amazing!  He loves us even when we don’t love Him back.  He shows His love for us by caring for us, guiding us, healing us, and changing us day-by-day to be more like Himself.  Don’t run from God’s love, just embrace it and rest in it!

  • What do the following passages say is God’s ultimate demonstration of His love for us? — John 3:16; Romans 5:6-8
  • How is God’s love demonstrated in the lives of believers according to the following passages? — John 13:34-35; 1 John 4:7-12

Question to ponder:  What is hindering you from accepting God’s amazing love or demonstrating it as you lead others?

Passages for further study: John 15:12-13; 1 John 4:13-21

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07 Mar 2022

A Divine Heart Transplant

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV

Hearts of stone–that describes many of us.  Our hearts are often hard and cold toward God and people.  To change these hearts from stone to flesh we need more than just a little tweak here and there, a little “medicine.”  We need a heart transplant – a brand-new heart that beats passionately for God and is compassionate towards people.

God promises to perform this divine heart transplant.  He promises to remove our old hearts and give us new hearts that desire Him and love people.  We can ask God to perform this “divine surgery” today!

  • What do the following passages say about why the condition of our heart so important? — Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 6:19-21
  • How did Jesus model a heart of compassion towards people in the following verses? — Matthew 9:35-38; John 11:1-44

Question to ponder:  How does your life and leadership demonstrate a heart for God?

Passages for further study: Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 7:11-15

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28 Feb 2022

Speaking the Truth

All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal. Psalm 119:160 NIV

God is truth and His actions are always truthful.  God cannot lie.  God’s truth is absolute and found in His Word – the Bible.  It is unchanging because God is unchanging.  Because God’s Word is truth it is completely trustworthy.

As followers of Christ, we are always to deal truthfully with others.  Our words must be truthful so that others can trust what we say.  Because Jesus is ‘the Truth,’ believers are to share Christ, who is the truth, with others.

  • The Scriptures testify that God is truth.   What do the following passages say about God being truth? — John 14:6; John 18:33-37
  • God’s Word is the measuring rod for believers to gauge whether something is truthful or not.  What is said about the Word of God in the following passages? —  Psalm 119:142,151,160; John 17:17

Question to ponder:  Is there ever a time when you should not tell the truth, the whole truth?

Passages for further reflection: John 1:17; Hebrews 6:13-20

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14 Feb 2022

God’s Forgiveness

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Psalm 51:7  ESV

God’s love and forgiveness are great.  David experienced God’s forgiveness after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba.   This Psalm was written by David after the confrontation with Nathan, asking for God’s forgiveness for his sexual sin and for his murder of Bathsheba’s husband.

When we trust Christ as our Savior our sins are forgiven, all of them.  Jesus’ dying on the cross paid the death penalty for all our sins – past, present, and future.  When we sin as Christians, we must acknowledge them to God as the Holy Spirit brings them to mind (see 1 John 1:9).  We can thank God that our sins are forgiven because of the sacrifice of Christ.

  • God forgives.  What is said in the following passages about God’s forgiveness? — Psalm 130:1-6; Ephesians 1:7-10
  • As Christ’s ambassadors, we are to extend His forgiveness to others.  What is said about forgiving others in the following passages? — Luke 17:3-4; Colossians 3:12-14

Question to ponder:  How should the forgiveness extended to you impact your forgiveness of others as you lead?

Passages for further reflection:  Acts 13:38-39; Ephesians 4:32

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31 Jan 2022

Purity of Life

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. Job 31:1 NIV

The battle is for control of our minds and what enters our eyes greatly influences our thoughts.  Job made a conscience decision to limit what he saw and not look lustfully at a woman.  He committed himself to moral purity in his thought life.  Moral purity begins in our thoughts and continues to our actions.  We are called to live holy lives in thoughts as well as behavior.

God is holy and therefore His followers are to be holy.  Personal holiness is a struggle between our bodies (the flesh) and God’s Spirit within each believer.  Though we are already positionally holy before God because we have trusted Christ as our Savior, experientially we strive to overcome our flesh and yield to the controlling power of the Holy Spirit.

  • What do the following passages say about God’s holiness? — Leviticus 11:44-45; Leviticus 20:7,26
  • Because God is holy, we as his ambassadors are called to live holy lives.  What is said about our calling to holiness in the following passages? — 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 1:14-15.

Question to ponder:  What means is the enemy currently using in your life to gain entry to your thoughts?

Passages for further reflection: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; Ephesians 4:20-24

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17 Jan 2022

Pride – Corruption of the Heart

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 2 Chronicles 26:16 NIV

Uzziah started well in his walk with God, but his pride caused his downfall.  Pride does not blast its way into our life, it is insidious. It comes creeping in with small steps.  It gains a foothold little by little, feeding on itself, it grows until it consumes a life and brings ruin.

God opposes the proud person.  He will actively work to humble the proud.  Because God is committed to building humility into us, we have two choices.  We can take the easy road and humble ourselves, or we can let God take us down a hard road where He humbles us.

  • What is said in the following passages about God’s opposition to pride? — Proverbs 6:16-17; James 4:4-6
  • Pride wrecks a life.  Nothing good comes from it. What are the results of pride noted in the following passages? — Proverbs 11:2; Proverbs 13:10

Question to ponder:  How can you recognize pride in your own life?

Passages for further reflection: Isaiah 25:11; 1 Peter 5:5-6

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10 Jan 2022

Integrity – A Matter of the Heart

I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity… 1 Chronicles 29:17 NIV

When God measures a person, He puts the “tape measure” around their heart.  Who we are is more important to God than what we do.  He looks at our hearts, not our activities.  If our hearts are right, then our actions will follow.

Integrity, a basic building block in our character, is rooted in our hearts.  It begins with a commitment in our hearts to honor and obey God wholeheartedly.  Integrity is then manifested by being truthful in all that we say and do.  Believers are people of their word, who fulfill promises—even to our own detriment if necessary.

  • God has integrity.  He does not lie, and we can count on Him always doing what He says He will do.  What do the following passages say about the importance of integrity? -— Numbers 23:19; Mark 12:14
  • The Lord uses people of integrity.  What do these passages say regarding the type of person God uses? -— 2 Timothy 2:20-21; Titus 1:6-7

Question to ponder:  Kingdom leaders represent God’s leadership of His people. Are you and your leadership known for integrity?

Passages for further reflection : Joshua 21:45; Luke 16:10

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