Matthew 13
We are walking in today: Leaders Stand for Something--Vision, Leaders Stand on Something-- Values!!!
Witness stand throughout the Bible: H5324 natsab--to stand, take one's stand, stand upright, be set (over), establish
Exodus 17:9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand H5324 on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand H5324 upon a rock:
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 3:13 The LORD standeth up H5324 to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
The writings bear witness...........................
Psalm 45:9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand H5324 the queen in gold of Ophir.
Isaiah 3:13 The LORD standeth up H5324 to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
Your vision interprets your values in the sense that it reflects and communicates them. We need to make the reintroduction and development of character our number one priority. The purpose of this book has been to introduce you to yourself—to your intrinsic significance and your character alike.
A man without a vision is a man without a future. A man without a future will always return to his past.” (P.K. Bernard)
The level of sacrifice that an environment requires will determine the size of people that will follow” (Kris Vallotton). A progressive revelation of an ageless revival for our generation is growing in our hearts. It is for those who went before us and for those who are yet to be born. Yet, the question of how the vision is to be implemented remains.
One famous Proverb says:
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law (The Teaching and Instruction)- Proverbs 29:18
Vision is the bridge between the present and the future. Without it we perish or go “unrestrained,” as the New American Standard Bible puts it. Vision gives pain a purpose. Those without vision spend their lives taking the path of least resistance as they try to avoid discomfort.
The level of sacrifice that a vision requires will determine the size of people who follow. Sacrifice separates the small from the great. So many of us go through life not understanding the purposes of our trials. We spend our days walking a crooked path, believing that every obstacle in the road is a problem and something to be avoided.
The second part of this Proverb says, “But happy is he who keeps the Law.” The law (God’s Teaching and Instruction) isn’t just something God gave to Moses. It is also the restraint, boundaries and disciplines we develop around our life to direct us through obstacles instead of around them.
These obstacles become baptisms of fire that forge our character so we can attain and maintain a life of greatness.
WHAT IS VISION?
Vision is what we see, but it is also the way in which we see. Vision is the lens that interprets the events of our life, the way we view people and our concept of God. If we have a scratch on our glasses, it may seem like everybody around us has scratches too, but the problem actually lies with us because our vision is impaired. Jesus said that our eyes are the windows of our heart. Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened. In other words, we perceive with our eyes but we see with our hearts.
Our minds receive images from our eyes but our heart interprets these images. If our heart becomes bitter, jealous, hurt or in someway infected, the lens of our heart is distorted. What we perceive is happening and what is really going on could be two completely different things.
Yeshua said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The word truth used here is not referring to the Bible itself, (although all truth is rooted in the Bible) but here the word truth means reality. Yeshua is saying, you will understand what is real and that will free you.
So many of us live in a virtual reality. The way we view life can feel and look real, or make perfect sense, but still not be real at all. Have you ever watched a good movie and gotten totally into it? You experience all the emotions of real life. You may even leave the theater still “feeling” the movie, but it was just a movie? it was never real.
The truth is: we see what we believe to be true. Another way to put it is, if you have the wrong pretext you will misunderstand the context. Having a revelation of what is real will deliver us from a life of torment that virtual reality often causes.
Matthew 13:45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. 46 On finding one very valuable pearl he went away, sold everything he owned and bought it.
Integrating Vision and Values:
“Leaders stand for something— vision. Leaders stand on something— values.” —Dr. Myles Munroe
A woman was in the process of cleaning out several boxes in her attic that had been stored there for years— ever since she and her husband had moved into their home to accommodate their growing family of four children, who were now adults.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a box half-hidden behind the chimney. It was covered with dust and was still taped shut. I wonder what’s in there? She thought.
Suddenly, a memory flashed into her mind, taking her back three decades, and she instantly remembered what the items in the box were: several jade objects from China that a friend had given her, which she had inherited from her father.
The next week, she had the items appraised, and she was stunned to find out they were comparable in age and quality to an eighteenth-century jade collection that had been featured on the television program Antiques Roadshow several years earlier. The items in that collection had been valued at as much as one million dollars.
A Long-Forgotten Treasure:
In many ways, character in our contemporary culture has become like the long-forgotten treasure the woman in the above scenario found inside the dusty box.
Likewise, our society has increasingly relegated values and moral standards to the “attics” and “basements” of our culture. Many people don’t realize what a treasure our society has lost, because it is out of their moral range of vision.
Similar to the merchant who sold everything he owned to obtain the pearl “of great value,” we need to make the reintroduction and development of character our number one priority.
The Intersection of Vision and Values:
We could sum up the entire message of this book in the following way: Leaders stand for something—vision. Leaders stand on something— values. And, of these two elements, values are of higher importance. As we have noted throughout the preceding chapters, if a leader does not have an active commitment to his values, moral standards, principles, discipline, and ethical code, all of his endeavors will be weakened— and may even be nullified.
Since character must be our number one priority in leadership, let’s review how vision and values are permanently interrelated in the life of a principled leader.
1. Vision Is an Interpretation of Values Your vision interprets your values in the sense that it reflects and communicates them. For example, suppose your vision is to help young people who are members of gangs that are undermining your community to become engaged in positive activities that will build up the community, instead.
2. Vision Is Protected by Values Your vision is only as safe as the values that undergird it. If you cherish a great vision but don’t value the principles that would enable you to realize it, you may as well not pursue that vision. There needs to be a marriage of purpose and principles. You have to know your purpose, but you must live by your principles.
Vision Without Values— a False Attempt at Reaching Destiny When a leader pursues his vision without having established values, he is attempting to reach his destiny without the necessary component of discipline.
For example, regardless of how great a leader’s vision might be— whether it is to build a family, a church, a business, or a country— the entire process must be balanced by clear, strong values that guide his conduct.
The Power of Character to Create Leaders of Principle:
In the introduction to this book, we examined principles that showed how crucial leaders are to the development and well-being of a culture.
Let’s now review what we’ve learned about the importance of character to the development of leaders equipped to help bring about a cultural course correction and to advance our societies through ethical principles.
1. Character Gives Leaders Credibility The only avenue for gaining credibility with people so that they will respect our leadership is to develop genuine character. When we demonstrate character, people will not only make deposits in our “trust account,” but they will also advance us “credit” as an investment in our future.
2. Character Gives Leaders Moral Force Character— not power— is the force of true leadership. If a person has moral force, he doesn’t need to put physical or emotional pressure on people to make them do what he wants.
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” —Mark Twain
3. Character Ensures That Leaders Maintain Trustworthiness:
Trust is a privilege given to the leader by his followers; therefore, a leader must maintain that trust over time and keep it up-to-date.
4. Character Legitimizes Leaders:
It is character that gives people a legitimate right to lead others. Leaders without character are “illegal,” because they are asking people to place their faith in an untrustworthy source.
5. Character Establishes Integrity in Leaders:
We have learned that character is built through tests over time and that having integrity involves the integration of one’s thoughts, words, and actions. Thus, a leader’s integrity can be established only over the course of time, which allows for this integration to occur.
For this reason, leadership should not be given to people who have not yet been tested and tried. Therefore, it’s important for us not only to build our own character, and not only to look for demonstrated character in other leaders, but also to help our followers develop their character so they may become trusted leaders, as well.
Vision Gives Meaning to People…
Many leaders think that their goal should be to get people to believe in them. On the contrary, the goal of leaders should be to get people to believe in themselves— to provide an avenue through which they can discover meaning for their lives and manifest their purpose through their personal vision.
Helping people to do this requires balance on the part of the leader, because, when people are inspired by a leader’s passion, they often confuse the vision with the leader in their minds. In this way, they think they are being drawn to the person.
As we have seen, a leader of principle takes the focus off of himself and puts it on the vision. It is the vision— not the leader— that gives people meaning.
Think about it: If we don’t maintain our passion for our vision, the people may also lose their energy for their vision. When we feel like giving up and start talking about quitting, the people may also begin to lose their sense of purpose.
…and Values Preserve That Vision:
It is imperative that people stay focused on the vision rather than on the leader, because of the danger that a cult of personality will develop. You must never allow people to become so attached to you that they begin to idolize you.
How many organizations today have become defunct because they were run by leaders who were “worshipped” by their followers, so that everything fell apart when the leaders had a major moral failure? Leaders need to watch their pride in this respect, because pride can destroy them and their vision.
Pride is what makes leaders think they should be idolized. They being to think the vision is all about them, that it’s built around them, that its success is all up to them.
A New Beginning for Character:
The purpose of this book has been to introduce you to yourself— to your intrinsic significance and your character alike. I want history to write a good account of your life on earth. Please don’t become one of those leaders who begins well and starts a good work, only to have a moral failure or become sidetracked before reaching his destiny.
Instead, be a great leader who stays true to his convictions and fulfills his purpose and vision according to strong values; one who never betrays the followers who have placed their trust in him.
How to “Fall Up”: Restoration after Character Failure
Leaders are normally trained in how to succeed, but they are rarely taught how to fail effectively— by learning from their mistakes and making changes to avoid repeating them in the future. They fall down, but they don’t know how to “fall up” after failing.
The following are the steps to restoration, reconciliation, and reclamation after you have experienced a moral failure or otherwise “fallen” in your leadership role:
Admit your need for help.
Confess your violation of trust.
Identify a true and reliable authority in your life to be accountable to.
Practice complete submission to that authority without condition.
Obey the advice, counsel, and instruction of that authority without condition.
Accept full responsibility for your fall.
Agree never to attempt to defend yourself or your act of indiscretion.
Agree to allow the authority to represent and speak on your behalf to your constituency and the greater community.
Practice total submission to the discretion of the authority with regard to your readiness to return to public service.
Establish a permanent relationship with the authority for the purpose of ongoing accountability.
Shema Selah let us consider fully how we are to stand on both vision and values!!! https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/1597159770362133/?l=3204752824802554056
A man without a vision is a man without a future. A man without a future will always return to his past.” (P.K. Bernard)
The level of sacrifice that an environment requires will determine the size of people that will follow” (Kris Vallotton). A progressive revelation of an ageless revival for our generation is growing in our hearts. It is for those who went before us and for those who are yet to be born. Yet, the question of how the vision is to be implemented remains.
One famous Proverb says:
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law (The Teaching and Instruction)- Proverbs 29:18
Vision is the bridge between the present and the future. Without it we perish or go “unrestrained,” as the New American Standard Bible puts it. Vision gives pain a purpose. Those without vision spend their lives taking the path of least resistance as they try to avoid discomfort.
The level of sacrifice that a vision requires will determine the size of people who follow. Sacrifice separates the small from the great. So many of us go through life not understanding the purposes of our trials. We spend our days walking a crooked path, believing that every obstacle in the road is a problem and something to be avoided.
The second part of this Proverb says, “But happy is he who keeps the Law.” The law (God’s Teaching and Instruction) isn’t just something God gave to Moses. It is also the restraint, boundaries and disciplines we develop around our life to direct us through obstacles instead of around them.
These obstacles become baptisms of fire that forge our character so we can attain and maintain a life of greatness.
WHAT IS VISION?
Vision is what we see, but it is also the way in which we see. Vision is the lens that interprets the events of our life, the way we view people and our concept of God. If we have a scratch on our glasses, it may seem like everybody around us has scratches too, but the problem actually lies with us because our vision is impaired. Jesus said that our eyes are the windows of our heart. Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened. In other words, we perceive with our eyes but we see with our hearts.
Our minds receive images from our eyes but our heart interprets these images. If our heart becomes bitter, jealous, hurt or in someway infected, the lens of our heart is distorted. What we perceive is happening and what is really going on could be two completely different things.
Yeshua said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The word truth used here is not referring to the Bible itself, (although all truth is rooted in the Bible) but here the word truth means reality. Yeshua is saying, you will understand what is real and that will free you.
So many of us live in a virtual reality. The way we view life can feel and look real, or make perfect sense, but still not be real at all. Have you ever watched a good movie and gotten totally into it? You experience all the emotions of real life. You may even leave the theater still “feeling” the movie, but it was just a movie? it was never real.
The truth is: we see what we believe to be true. Another way to put it is, if you have the wrong pretext you will misunderstand the context. Having a revelation of what is real will deliver us from a life of torment that virtual reality often causes.
Matthew 13:45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. 46 On finding one very valuable pearl he went away, sold everything he owned and bought it.
Integrating Vision and Values:
“Leaders stand for something— vision. Leaders stand on something— values.” —Dr. Myles Munroe
A woman was in the process of cleaning out several boxes in her attic that had been stored there for years— ever since she and her husband had moved into their home to accommodate their growing family of four children, who were now adults.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a box half-hidden behind the chimney. It was covered with dust and was still taped shut. I wonder what’s in there? She thought.
Suddenly, a memory flashed into her mind, taking her back three decades, and she instantly remembered what the items in the box were: several jade objects from China that a friend had given her, which she had inherited from her father.
The next week, she had the items appraised, and she was stunned to find out they were comparable in age and quality to an eighteenth-century jade collection that had been featured on the television program Antiques Roadshow several years earlier. The items in that collection had been valued at as much as one million dollars.
A Long-Forgotten Treasure:
In many ways, character in our contemporary culture has become like the long-forgotten treasure the woman in the above scenario found inside the dusty box.
Likewise, our society has increasingly relegated values and moral standards to the “attics” and “basements” of our culture. Many people don’t realize what a treasure our society has lost, because it is out of their moral range of vision.
Similar to the merchant who sold everything he owned to obtain the pearl “of great value,” we need to make the reintroduction and development of character our number one priority.
The Intersection of Vision and Values:
We could sum up the entire message of this book in the following way: Leaders stand for something—vision. Leaders stand on something— values. And, of these two elements, values are of higher importance. As we have noted throughout the preceding chapters, if a leader does not have an active commitment to his values, moral standards, principles, discipline, and ethical code, all of his endeavors will be weakened— and may even be nullified.
Since character must be our number one priority in leadership, let’s review how vision and values are permanently interrelated in the life of a principled leader.
1. Vision Is an Interpretation of Values Your vision interprets your values in the sense that it reflects and communicates them. For example, suppose your vision is to help young people who are members of gangs that are undermining your community to become engaged in positive activities that will build up the community, instead.
2. Vision Is Protected by Values Your vision is only as safe as the values that undergird it. If you cherish a great vision but don’t value the principles that would enable you to realize it, you may as well not pursue that vision. There needs to be a marriage of purpose and principles. You have to know your purpose, but you must live by your principles.
Vision Without Values— a False Attempt at Reaching Destiny When a leader pursues his vision without having established values, he is attempting to reach his destiny without the necessary component of discipline.
For example, regardless of how great a leader’s vision might be— whether it is to build a family, a church, a business, or a country— the entire process must be balanced by clear, strong values that guide his conduct.
The Power of Character to Create Leaders of Principle:
In the introduction to this book, we examined principles that showed how crucial leaders are to the development and well-being of a culture.
Let’s now review what we’ve learned about the importance of character to the development of leaders equipped to help bring about a cultural course correction and to advance our societies through ethical principles.
1. Character Gives Leaders Credibility The only avenue for gaining credibility with people so that they will respect our leadership is to develop genuine character. When we demonstrate character, people will not only make deposits in our “trust account,” but they will also advance us “credit” as an investment in our future.
2. Character Gives Leaders Moral Force Character— not power— is the force of true leadership. If a person has moral force, he doesn’t need to put physical or emotional pressure on people to make them do what he wants.
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” —Mark Twain
3. Character Ensures That Leaders Maintain Trustworthiness:
Trust is a privilege given to the leader by his followers; therefore, a leader must maintain that trust over time and keep it up-to-date.
4. Character Legitimizes Leaders:
It is character that gives people a legitimate right to lead others. Leaders without character are “illegal,” because they are asking people to place their faith in an untrustworthy source.
5. Character Establishes Integrity in Leaders:
We have learned that character is built through tests over time and that having integrity involves the integration of one’s thoughts, words, and actions. Thus, a leader’s integrity can be established only over the course of time, which allows for this integration to occur.
For this reason, leadership should not be given to people who have not yet been tested and tried. Therefore, it’s important for us not only to build our own character, and not only to look for demonstrated character in other leaders, but also to help our followers develop their character so they may become trusted leaders, as well.
Vision Gives Meaning to People…
Many leaders think that their goal should be to get people to believe in them. On the contrary, the goal of leaders should be to get people to believe in themselves— to provide an avenue through which they can discover meaning for their lives and manifest their purpose through their personal vision.
Helping people to do this requires balance on the part of the leader, because, when people are inspired by a leader’s passion, they often confuse the vision with the leader in their minds. In this way, they think they are being drawn to the person.
As we have seen, a leader of principle takes the focus off of himself and puts it on the vision. It is the vision— not the leader— that gives people meaning.
Think about it: If we don’t maintain our passion for our vision, the people may also lose their energy for their vision. When we feel like giving up and start talking about quitting, the people may also begin to lose their sense of purpose.
…and Values Preserve That Vision:
It is imperative that people stay focused on the vision rather than on the leader, because of the danger that a cult of personality will develop. You must never allow people to become so attached to you that they begin to idolize you.
How many organizations today have become defunct because they were run by leaders who were “worshipped” by their followers, so that everything fell apart when the leaders had a major moral failure? Leaders need to watch their pride in this respect, because pride can destroy them and their vision.
Pride is what makes leaders think they should be idolized. They being to think the vision is all about them, that it’s built around them, that its success is all up to them.
A New Beginning for Character:
The purpose of this book has been to introduce you to yourself— to your intrinsic significance and your character alike. I want history to write a good account of your life on earth. Please don’t become one of those leaders who begins well and starts a good work, only to have a moral failure or become sidetracked before reaching his destiny.
Instead, be a great leader who stays true to his convictions and fulfills his purpose and vision according to strong values; one who never betrays the followers who have placed their trust in him.
How to “Fall Up”: Restoration after Character Failure
Leaders are normally trained in how to succeed, but they are rarely taught how to fail effectively— by learning from their mistakes and making changes to avoid repeating them in the future. They fall down, but they don’t know how to “fall up” after failing.
The following are the steps to restoration, reconciliation, and reclamation after you have experienced a moral failure or otherwise “fallen” in your leadership role:
Admit your need for help.
Confess your violation of trust.
Identify a true and reliable authority in your life to be accountable to.
Practice complete submission to that authority without condition.
Obey the advice, counsel, and instruction of that authority without condition.
Accept full responsibility for your fall.
Agree never to attempt to defend yourself or your act of indiscretion.
Agree to allow the authority to represent and speak on your behalf to your constituency and the greater community.
Practice total submission to the discretion of the authority with regard to your readiness to return to public service.
Establish a permanent relationship with the authority for the purpose of ongoing accountability.
Shema Selah let us consider fully how we are to stand on both vision and values!!! https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/1597159770362133/?l=3204752824802554056
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