It is critical that a leader constantly restate the organizational goals. Read Mark 4:1-20.

Jesus told a lot of parables (short simple stories intended to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson) during His communication with both His team and the general public. We discover these parables had a specific purpose when Jesus explained them to His closest teammates, but there are alternate truths that come out of these parables without destroying the original reason the story was told. In the parable of the sower Jesus talked about a sower of seed (the Word of God) and also the result when that seed landed on a certain type of soil (the hearts of the people). His point was that all may hear but not all will act upon the Word and only a few will have fruitful results from the truths they heard.

The fruits of the Spirit of God are love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and patience. It is interesting that leaders great or unknown, empowered or restricted, experienced or at the beginning of their journey, wealthy or without financial resources can all experience the fruits of the Spirit without limit or restriction. Every leader should look introspectively on a regular basis and determine if these gifts from God are present, increasing or decreasing. One of the fruits that tends to be a gatekeeper to enjoying all the others is self-control. As we move through the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles it is good to stop and look at one leader that lost it all because of lack of self-control. Read 1 Chronicles 3:1.

In the genealogy of King David, Amnon was his first born. One might suppose the firstborn son of a great king was foreordained to do great things for his people. Yet Amnon will end up little more than a footnote in Israel’s history and forfeited any claim to leadership because of his lack of self-control (2 Samuel 13:1-19). Amnon’s lack of self-control led to the disgrace of his family, destroyed his half-sister’s life and eventually resulted in his own death at the hands of a vengeful half-brother.