LEADERSHIP UNDER FIRE- PETER J. DANIELS (Audio)

Thank you. Please be seated. I'm delighted to be with you here this morning. I hope you can understand my accent. I have some problems with yours. You know, it's very difficult to explain what takes place when you come out of a crusade after you've given your life to Christ and your life has been changed. I guess it took me some time to understand the value, the power and control of your own person. Now, the Bible says I can. I can. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. But I think somehow we forget the power of one person. And I want to talk to you this morning just for a short while on leadership, but I want to add a few other little bits. I was sitting there and I was thinking back to 1959, when most of you weren't even born. You know, I've got socks older than some of the people here. And I was thinking, what was in my wallet? And I remember at 28 years of age, not long after I came to Christ, I got the back of a cereal package and I wrote down everything I was going to have done before my 85th birthday. I still have that in my wallet. I'm on track over the next 30 years. Of course, I may not be here, but we will bring in over 200 billion for evangelism, be the biggest economic thrust in the history of the Christian church. And I want to read something to you from the book of Joshua, first chapter, starting at verse five. And when I read the Scriptures, I try to put myself in the context in which they were said. And God is speaking to Joshua, and he says these words. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but. But you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. I believe those words. I believe they're as valid today as the day they were written many years ago. And I want to talk to you for just a Short while this morning on leadership, not brinkmanship. You know, as we look around the church, we find it hard to even find someone that could lead a group in silent prayer. What's happened to us? Where is our leadership qualities? Joshua was a leader. Leaders keep their eyes on results. Losers are always looking for reasons. And we come to church every week, in a sense, to reassess the Great Commission, not in relationship to its validity, but to our productivity. Productivity is inseparably tied to purity. The scriptural call, it's never been more valid than it is today. But the productive results from that call have never been so shallow. The question must not be asked here this morning, if God is willing the biblical record and the spiritual history of Christendom confirms, reaffirms and future affirms that unshakable, immovable, immortal fact. And I don't want to sugarcoat what I'm going to share with you this morning because we are entering a time in the movement of human progress, a climax never before eclipsed in the annals of ancient modern history. We have before us a monstrosity of economic madness only surpassed by the folly of foolish, indecisive power holders. And time is running out. You see, we, the Christian church, we tend to look back to the glories of the past, overlooking unbelievable indiscretions and errors. I was listening very intently when the pastor was talking about tithing. Back in 1840, the Church of England used to collect tithes by force. They would take your tables and chairs, they collect their tithes by force. You have to willingly bring your tithe and offerings to the storehouse. As we travel, we send our tithes back to our local church. It's amazing to me how many people want God to look after their family, want them to look after their jobs, want them to look after their health, but they're not prepared to let God look after their money. But, you know, we see through it all the saints of God of old, standing majestically tall in an ancient world that had basically a farming population, poor communication, often a precedent, severe government and legal systems. But that's in the past. The world is very different now. And we must not measure ourselves or use mentors or saints or conditions of the early days that the giants of a bygone era or the mediocrity of the present. To set our course, we have to measure ourselves against the sin, the corruption, the general moral standard that is worse today than what it was even one year ago. The world is very different now. Jet travel has made the world geographically different. It shrunk to the size of a golf ball with international travel. The monetary system is different. The military components are different, the markets are different, people's expectations are different. Even our lifespan is different. Over the last 50 years, we've increased our lifespan by 15 years. But I want to tell you, out there in the real world of economics and industries, Christians do not have a very good name. They say we are lazy, we lack ambition, we are afraid, and we are ineffective. Now, why is that? Well, because we talk about faith, we sing about faith, we read about faith, we pray about faith, and then we go out and get the job with the most security in it. And we want people to believe us that we've got faith. We now have a society of behavior akin to a dementia of the soul that requires care and cushioning from the rest of the world. We have to overcome that. If America is going to rebound, it's going to rebound through the Christian church. But even in Christendoms, we can state, let there be no cowardly call for surrender or any uncertain sound from the bugler. And because even in weakness, we are strong. And just look at this church alone. If you were to remove your voluntary help here for the age, the disadvantaged, the sick, the hurting, and remove the strong ministerial support from this church, then the economists, the captains of industry, the trade union movement and the government would find the economy would collapse and be in chaos within 90 days. You see, the gospel, the Christian church has always, the great silent, unsung hero of every generation, by its very sovereign charter, needs to call afresh with a strong and an urgent voice that our protection, our prosperity, does not come from the sword or from a political system or from the state. It comes from the hand of God. And I believe we're moving towards a new era of Christian development which has its deep roots in our early biblical records that may call again for believers who will pay any price, who will bear any burden, who will endure any hardship, who make any sacrifice to risk the insecurity and insecurity to reach the subliminal goal of that gospel call. In modern terms, it may mean a total commitment to personal development. You see, so often we expect God to do for us what we're just too bone lazy to do for ourselves. We're waiting for a spark from heaven to give us a bright idea. You know, you are one idea away from $1 billion. Just one idea. And we look at the children of Israel who went from slaves to conquerors, from wanderings to permanence, from poverty to riches, from aliens to Nationhood. From fear to courage. From history observers to history makers. Joshua was a leader. Are you? Are you a leader? If you think you're a leader, have a look behind and see if anyone's following. If you think you're a leader, you ought to be the first to arrive, the last to leave, the first to volunteer, the first to tithe. See, Joshua was the confidence anchor for the timid children of Israel to cling to. He was under God, the directional compass set on a predetermined course to the promised land. He was chosen by God to motivate, to inspire, and to provoke others to desirable action. Joshua exhibited leadership, not brigmanship. And if we as Christians do not have leaders inside and outside the church, then we have not recognized that we are at war and the adversary is the devil. But Joshua, he was God's man for the moment. He was Moses, man for the continuance. He was Israel's man of destiny. And he lived, loved and followed the commandments and the principles of God. Did you know to encourage leadership in a church sometimes is a very threatening experience? Why? Because leaders do not conform. They're not easy pacified by platitudes or empty rhetoric. They can be aggressive, visionary, arrogant, optimistic, rarely subjective. But boy, they produce, they commit, they persevere. Today, leadership and success in some churches appears to be a dirty word. We tend to say all too glibly, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. And we need to understand that we give a lie to that assertion. When we behave like failures, think like failures, talk like failures, plan like failures, give like failures, Then we wonder why surprise that we're failures. You can only be a failure by your own consent. God has never robotized a mind of man. In the book of Hebrews it says, remember your leaders. Obey your leaders. Greet your leaders. If there was a little green man from outer space and he said, take me to your leader, we'll have a hard job trying to work out who we're going to take him to. We live in a perilous time, devoid of any real commitment to leadership. And men get off your blessed assurance and start to lead in your family. The church is in desperate need of leaders. I want to hear a voice. But no voice comes in a world of flame. The voice of the church has sunk to a pathetic whisper. In Genesis we've been told we've already been given dominion over everything. In Isaiah we're told to lead the way. In Romans, we're told to create order. In Galatians we're told to keep out error. In First Corinthians, we're told to fight to win. In Second Corinthians, we're given power. Matthew. We're called Salt and Light. One of my great favorites is some of the old time preachers. And I think of an old preacher many years ago in the 1920s called Billy Sunday. And when he spoke about sin, he said, I'll fight it as long as I got a fist. I'll kick it as long as I got a foot. I'll bite it as long as I got teeth. I'll butt it as long as I got a head. I mean, I'm all fiddlest footless and toothless. I'll gum it till I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition. Amen. If we have to understand that leadership is total life, not running a crowd with a flag or grandstanding on a platform. Leadership is total life. It must be the servant of all. Many years ago, a great business leader had built an empire. Fifty years, he was about to hand it over to his son. His son thought, well, I'll get a yacht. I'll go and live in the Cayman Islands. The father had a nightside chat with him by the fireplace the night before. He said, son, when I pass this corporation over to you tomorrow, I want you to understand some things, that there are people there that were there in the beginning with me. We worked together, we wept together. Their children have come on stream and their children's children. And tomorrow morning when I introduce you as a new president of this corpor, I'm going to take you down there. I'm going to introduce you to each person by name. I want you to shake their hand. I want you to look in their eyes and say, I'm responsible for you. I'm responsible for you. I'm responsible for you. Leadership is accepting the full responsibility. Leadership is lifelong. It's not a mantle to be discharged, not a burden to be accepted lightly. Leadership is climbing when others are faltering. And remember that God works through optimists and. And God is committed to your development. The second thing I see about Joshua, leadership must stay above the commonplace. Total commitment leaves no room or accommodation for fear. I think of Paul preaching Christ, Daniel standing before the lions. Gideon's on the battlefield. We are an uncommon people in an uncommon cause, in a very common world. The Bible says we're a peculiar people, some of us are nuts. But he says we're a royal priesthood. It's about bickering and petty gossip. On the plane over, I Saw the film of Lincoln and reminded of the great Civil war you had many years ago. The only one that was winning battle was General Grant. The generals that weren't on the battlefield were in the presidential house having clean beds, eating three meals a day away from the smoke and noise of battle. They got jealous of General Grant and they tried to pull him down in the eyes of the president. They said, Mr. President, don't you realize General Grant drinks whiskey? He said, really? They said, yes, lots of it. Or he said, find out what brand it is and send a crate to my other generals. He wins battles, you see. We must always be occupied by the final goal, not preoccupied with judgments on other groups. There's no evidence to suggest that leaders in any field indulge in verbal frivolity. You must exercise your imagination. The Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So we begin to get the picture that from God's point of view, we become what we think about. And we must not be intimidated or put down, irrespective of who or what we're up against. I remember back in 1970 when I was fighting pornographers and I had to have police protection. Fellows, start protecting your wives. A man that has a wife has a good thing. And I would walk down the street, people would spit on me. They'd hustle me a bit, and the gangsters were all after me to stop me from doing what I was doing. But we've got to exercise boldness with faith. And don't be alarmed at hurtful accusations or when you start to exercise your leadership abilities. Some dear person is going to tell you you're on an ego trip. The ego does not need to be crushed. It needs to be redeemed. The third thing I see about leadership with Joshua, it has a different kind of morality. We're not something different tomorrow than what we were today. In over 50 years of business, we have never had one court case. We've never had anyone hold their fist up before us and said, you did a bad deal. We're no different tomorrow than what we are today. Everything we do is biblical. People say to me, how do you separate your family and your business and your faith? You can't separate it. It's all one thing. Now, I'm not gonna look at my wife. Cause she might wag her finger at me. Because I'm a student of history. I have 7,000 years of history on my office wall. And I'm reminded of a great battle that took place many years ago in the Crimean War. The soldiers there were 600 of them on horseback. They were British troops. They left the fort to go out on military exercise. While they were away, the enemy came in, burnt the fort, killed the women and children and ran off. The men came back in rage. They wanted to go after the enemy. But There were only 600 horsemen. The enemy was a minimum of 20,000. And they were told that they had to rebuild the fort, maintain the fort, and if they ever saw the enemy, they must send a runner to get more troops before they attacked. And one day, they were out on exercise again. They came to the top of the hill. They looked down, and there was the enemy. 20,000 of them. Cannons, all the artillery. The horses started to dance on their feet. They knew that something was going to happen. And against all orders, they blew the charge of the Light Brigade. The men snapped together, the horses started to run, and they went down the hill with their lances, charging at 20,000. The troops turned around and laughed at them. They fired cannons off. They took a row of riders here and a row of riders there. But they went on and on and on. Lord Tennyson wrote a great poem about him. He said, cannons to the right of them, cannons to the left of them, cannons in front of them volleyed and thundered, stormed that with shout and shell. Boldly they rode well into the doors of Death rode the 600. You can't lead from behind in that particular charge. Normally they would blow the bugle and say, all officers to the rear. All officers to the rear. In the charge of the Light Brigade, it was all officers of the four. You must take the full frontal attack. You cannot lead from behind. Remember that our enemy is not principled. The devil doesn't follow the Geneva Convention. The fourth thing we need to look at, and I hesitate to say it, but leadership is loneliness. Leadership is loneliness. Oh, no one will help me. Oh, grow up. Help yourself. The best helping hand you can get is the one at the end of your arm. You know, at the pinnacle of leadership, there is loneliness. Leadership has an inherent inbuilt loneliness, not as a matter of choice, but as a startling, realistic, fat loneliness because others refuse to recognize the full commitment and the singleness of purpose and pay that price. Loneliness because leadership vision is very personal. Loneliness because of misunderstanding. Loneliness because leadership has very few counselors at that wavelength. Is that biblical? I was speaking on leadership to a group of men in Australia not very long ago, and a man put up his hand. He said, well, Dr. Daniels, he said, I want to be a leader, but I want people to be happy to see me. I want to have people around me. I want to enjoy my company and so on. I said, buy a dog. But are you going to be lonely as a leader? You better read your Bible. Jonah alone in the belly of the whale in his plan to reach Nineveh. Jacob alone wrestling with the angel. John the Baptist alone in the wilderness. Moses alone on Mount Sinai. Daniel alone in the lion's den. Nehemiah alone before the King. David alone before Goliath. Paul alone in prison. Jesus alone in the garden of Gethsemane. Yes, leadership is total life. Leadership must stay above the commonplace. And leadership for a Christian is different. We have a different morality. And leadership is loneliness. Some years ago, I was approached by the president of a foreign country to be special Ambassador of State on economic affairs. I shared with His Excellency that I was already an ambassador for Christ. I told him about Second Corinthians, 5:20, where we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. He said, well, can I take second place? And he provided me with 14 armed bodyguards with submachine guns. He'd take Mrs. Daniels and I into Parliament. Behind one and a half inch bulletproof glass. I would examine the troops, the jet planes would fly past. And I was called Mr. Ambassador. But you see, you are an ambassador. And the first thing about an ambassador, you're a chosen person. You have a new title. It's called Christian. The second thing about being an ambassador, it's always given by an authority. And you have the highest authority in the heavens and the earth. The third thing about being an ambassador, you never represent yourself. You're to represent the one that sent you. Are you a good representation of the Savior? Do you walk like an ambassador? Do you talk like an ambassador? Do you open your home like an embassy? Fourthly, an ambassador.