Leadership
Spurgeon on Psalm 73:24
Sermon link Haste too, is the author of a great deal of mischief in human life. Men are in such a hurry that they make all manner of mistakes, but the habit of praying about everything is in itself a great guide. You have to stop a while, and the very stopping lets you see more than you would have seen in your hurry. The habit of praying before you leap leads to the habit of looking before you leap, and then, when you perceive that you cannot leap, prayer gives you enough of prudence to resolve that you will go round some other way. Thus you are wisely guided in life.
Above all, the grace of God guides us very much by the dethroning of self as the traitorous lord of our being, and makes us loyal to Christ. When a man acts out of loyalty to Christ, he is pretty sure to act very wisely and rightly. On this point alone I should have liked to have had an hour’s talk with you, but I must draw my remarks to a close.
I believe that, over and above this infusion of right principles, and balancing of the faculties, there is a special illumination of mind which comes from dwelling near God. Everybody knows how near akin sin is to insanity. Well now, remember that holiness is as near akin to perfect wisdom as sin is to insanity, and when you yield yourself to the holy influences of God’s presence, you shall have given to you what men call “shrewd commonsense,” but what is really an illumination produced in your mind by getting near to God and being made like Him.
Barker on Ezekiel 7:26
The last response for some was to seek help. People would run to the prophet in hope of a visionary revelation of deliverance, to the priest for messages from the law that might help, or to the elders for counsel in this time of distress. None could offer help. They had no answers at all! The leadership failed in its responsibility to lead the people in God’s ways. It was too late! The anguish of judgement had come! If the people had sought peace earlier, it would have been available; but now there was no peace. Kings and princes would be horrified and mourn. God had judged Israel by her own judgements - by the Mosaic covenant they should have known and followed. The only redeeming factor was that they would learn that the Lord truly was God and that his covenants were to be obeyed!
Barker on Ezekiel 8:12
These leaders rationalized their activities by declaring that God did not see them nor was he present anymore. He had forsaken the land, as demonstrated by the deportations of 605 B.C. and 597 B.C. They denied the existence of God in direct opposition to his name: “the one who always is.” They negated his omnipresence and omniscience, choosing to exchange “the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like … birds and animals and reptiles” (Ro 1:23). In saying that God had forsaken the land, the elders repudiated his faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, his love for his chosen people, and his immutability. With this kind of rationalization, they permitted themselves to do anything they desired. If God did not exist, then no one need care about him.
E.M. Bounds on Leaders
He freely confesses that he and Charles are the first cause in this decline of holiness. The chief ones occupy positions of responsibility. As they go, so goes the church. They give color to the church. They largely determine its character and its work.
The pastors come next in his catalogue. When the chief shepherds and those who are under them – the immediate pastors – maintain their advance in holiness, the panic will reach to the end of the line. As are the pastors, so the people will be, as a rule. If the pastors are prayerless, then the people will follow in their footsteps. If the preacher is silent about the work of holiness, then there will be no hungering and thirsting after holiness in the laymen.
It may be repeated that small results – a low experience, a low religious life, and pointless, powerless preaching – always flow from a lack of grace. And a lack of grace flows from a lack of praying. Great grace comes from great praying.
Prayer leaders are scarce. Prayer conduct is not counted as the highest qualification for offices in the church.