Those closest to a leader have great influence as a leader’s character develops. Read 1 Kings 21:25-26.

Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel, the princess of Tyre, didn’t help his character. She zealously promoted the worship of Baal and imported an army of pagan priests in defiance of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Ahab complied with his wife’s demands and came to hate the prophets of Yahweh. Thus, “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife.”

A leader’s character is always on trial. If we do not build character and keep working at maintaining that character we will become ineffective and unproductive in our leadership. Read 1 Kings 11:1-13.

1 Kings 10:23 says, “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings on earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.” There has never been another leader that had the splendor Solomon had during his reign as king of Israel. Yet, at the height of his leadership, Solomon compromised his commitments to God through his marriages to foreign women.

There are two kinds of false leaders in organizations: man-appointed and self-appointed. Yesterday, there were truths about Korah, a self-appointed leader, today truths about Balaam, a man-appointed leader. Read Numbers 22:5-24:25.