"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides." -- Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
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One of my favorite sermon series I did while planting LifePoint was one that examined the leadership of Moses. We took about six weeks and looked at the various aspects of his leadership, from his calling to how he handled challenges. Numbers 11 is a good example. The burden of leading a surly group like the Israelites was taking its toll on Moses. The chapter begins with the people complaining (no surprise there). Scholars estimate the number of people Moses was leading to be between 500,000 and a million. That's no small number. Moses is ready to walk away. The loneliness of leadership is almost too much. That's when God offers a remedy. It's found in Numbers 11:16-17 ... "The Lord said to Moses: 'Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting,…
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Numbers 14 is a great chapter in the Old Testament, not so much for how it starts. The chapter begins with the Israelites grumbling and complaining: That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt." (Numbers 14:1-4) Listening to their complaints, one might have thought they had left behind the lifestyle of the rich and famous. To hear them speak, life in Egypt was life on easy street. It's remarkable how…
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Seth Godin has a great, short post about the origins of trust. Here is a snippet: "We trust people because they showed up when it wasn't convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it."
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"Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us" (2 Timothy 1:14). As I grow older, I'm more drawn to the idea of stewardship ... being a good steward of all that God has entrusted to me. This includes finances but is so much more than that. It also includes my family, time, talents, dreams, and influence. Paul tells Timothy to "guard the good deposit that was entrusted" to him. Have you ever thought of your talents as God's deposit in your life? God invested in you. Your abilities are not your own. God gave them to you. To be a good steward of the resources entrusted to me, I must guard them. This does not mean hiding them. I do not honor God by refusing to share what he has entrusted to me. I honor…
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