The acid test of any leader is, “Can they reproduce their leadership in others?” Read Matthew 4:12-25.

After John the Baptist was arrested by King Herod, Jesus left His home town of Nazareth and moved north to Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee, and started His public ministry. One of His first recorded acts of leadership was to seek other leaders who would join Him in His cause. The Bible does not tell us how long Jesus ministered near the Sea of Galilee before He started selecting others to join His mission but it may have been some time since verse 17 says, “From that time on Jesus began to preach…” He was there long enough to get to know the community and observe the potential leaders there before He started building His team. It is interesting that Jesus did not choose leaders from the religious world to tell others about the plans of God; He chose steady, hardworking men of character with a passion for God.

Whether leaders do good or evil, God is the one who allows them to have influence and He will either sustain them in that position or remove them from that position. Read Ezekiel 30:20-26.

God had allowed Egypt superpower status for centuries. Egypt had taken in and assisted God’s chosen leader Jacob and his family back in the day but when a Pharaoh came into power that did not know the great leader Joseph, Jacob’s son, they enslaved the tribes of Jacob and kept them that way until God used Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Even when God removed His people from Egypt and settled them in the land He had promised them, He did not take the superpower status from Egypt. Now, through the prophet Ezekiel, God is sending a message that Egypt will be become helpless before His appointed enforcer the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Their days of superpower status were finished.

A leader has tremendous influence over their team. Read Proverbs 29:2-18.

In day two we looked at how leaders’ decisions can cause their team to thrive or groan under their leadership. Today we take a deeper look at the same issue based on notes in The Maxwell Leader Bible:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” Proverbs 9:10.

A text note in Zondervan’s Leadership Bible states, “Leaders are effective to the extent they can gather, interpret, understand and apply good information. The processes cannot function fully when God’s power and sovereignty are not given appropriate respect. This verse tells us that nothing has higher priority for understanding reality and acting on it than standing in awe of Almighty God.”

Every leader will serve as an example to those in their sphere of influence. Review 1 Samuel 1-8 and focus on 4:1 and 3:19-20.

Samuel’s influence just kept growing. Samuel, under God’s leadership and with His authority, had the authority to anoint two kings and remove one from power. Samuel’s example to the people was that he exhorted, he affirmed, he corrected, he prophesied, he reminded and he taught. His life-long example had such tremendous impact that when he died all Israel gathered to mourn his loss (25:1).