THE LOSS OF THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT

Genesis chapter 1


Today we are walking in: The Loss Of the Leadership Spirit






Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.



The Torah Testifies.............................

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The prophets proclaim...............



Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.








The writings bear witness.............



2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword






CHAPTER FIVE
The Loss of the Leadership Spirit


The source is the authority and sustainer of the product.


In our story from teaching one, something happened to cause the young lion to be separated from his fellow lions so that he was no longer in touch with his true self and believed that he was a sheep. Perhaps he was abandoned or left behind and then found by the farmer. In one way or another, he lost connection with the forest and found himself in an unnatural environment. Eventually, he came to accept his new surroundings as normal.


Likewise, we are living in an unnatural state. We have lost connection with our true selves and no longer have the mind-set that goes with our inherent leadership nature. How did this disconnect occur?


THE VITAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SOURCE AND PRODUCT


In teaching three, I talked about one of the most important principles established by the creative process
of the Creator: the principle of source and resource. This principle states,


A thing consists of the same material from which it came and must remain attached to its source in order to live and maximize its potential.


A brief review of creation and nature will reveal the truth of this principle for all living things. Everything the Creator made needs to remain connected to where it came from in order to fulfill its original purpose. For example, in the first book by Moses, we read, “And out of the ground made the Most High Yah to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.” The Creator made the trees from the soil, and they have to be connected to the soil or else they will die. Through the ground, their roots have access to the minerals and water that they need to stay alive. Similarly, a seed that isn’t planted can never fulfill its inherent potential. It needs to become attached to its source in order to produce life. When a plant dies, it doesn’t exist any longer in a form in which it can fulfill its purpose. It decays and turns back into soil—its original source.


Let’s look at a related example: The Creator said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.” Fish and other sea creatures were created out of the waters, and that is why they need to stay in water in order to live.


The principle of source and resource also holds true for man-made processes such as manufacturing, which provides many of the products we enjoy. For example, if
you want genuine parts for your car, you have to go back to the source that created the car. You don’t go to another company; you have to get them from the authorized dealer. If you want to maintain a Rolex watch, you go to the Rolex company, not Timex. Likewise, if you want to repair a straw basket, you use the original material—straw—rather than stones.


THE SOURCE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT


The most important application of this principle, however, is in relation to the creation of mankind. Let’s consider again the origin of human beings to discover the nature of our connection with our Source. If you take a close look at the creation narrative, you will note that the Creator spoke to the material from which he desired the product to be made or created, and then out of the source material came the product.


A THING CONSISTS OF THE SAME MATERIAL FROM WHICH IT CAME.


As I noted earlier, when the Creator wanted vegetation, he spoke to the soil, and thus all vegetation originated from the soil, consists of elements in the soil, and must remain attached to the soil in order to live and be fruitful. The same principle is true of all living creatures. They all originated from the soil, consist of elements in the soil, and must be maintained by the soil. They, also, return to their source when they die.


However, when the Creator made the human species, remember that he did something unique and special: He did not speak to the soil, the water, or the atmosphere, but he spoke to himself. This fact is most critical for understanding the nature, composition, value, and worth of the human spirit. In fact, to produce the human being, the Creator actually used two processes. First, he said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” When he made man, he essentially drew man out of himself, so that the essence of man would be just like him. Just as Yah is Spirit, he made humans to be spirits. Spirits, by nature, have no gender.


It is important to note that, in the Scriptures, there is no reference to a male or female spirit. This is because man, as an entity, does not have a spirit but rather is a spirit. The being that the Creator made in his image is much more than a physical being.


Next, we read, “Yah created man in his own image, in the image of Yah he created him; male and female he created them.” The Bible also says, “The Most High Yah formed the man” and “made [the] woman.” The Creator essentially took this spirit-man and placed him in two physical forms: male and female. The essence of both male and female is the resident spirit within them, called “man.”


We can think of the distinction in this way: Yah created man, but he made male and female. The word for “created” is bara, and it means to form out of nothing. The words “formed” and “made” are the Hebrew words asah and banah, and they mean to mold and build26—in this context, to mold and build out of something that is already there. In reference to how humanity came into
existence, these verses say that Yah created man in his own image but that he also made man.


MAN, AS AN ENTITY, DOES NOT HAVE A SPIRIT BUT IS A SPIRIT.


Man was not created from matter; man came out of the Spirit of the Creator. The part of man that was made from “nothing” came out of Yah. The Creator just spoke him into existence, similar to the way in which He spoke, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Yet when Yah made male and female, He used material from the physical world that He had already created. Humanity was given physical bodies in order to live and function in a physical world and to rule over it.


The original source of the spirit-man is the Creator, while the original source of our physical bodies is the dust of the earth. This is why our bodies eventually turn to dust when they die, while our spirits return to the Father of our spirits.


THE AUTHORITY OF SOURCE


As noted before, source is vital to the ongoing wellbeing of the offspring or product because it is the authority and sustainer of what it produces. The source from which something comes provides and determines its identity, ability, capacity, potential, and durability. The product is always linked to the source. For instance, suppose you have a wooden table, and I ask you what it is. You would probably respond, “It is a table.” We label it table, yet, in it’s essence, it’s really a tree.


Calling something a name other than one that connects it to its source doesn’t negate what it intrinsically is—but it may limit its potential and usefulness in some way. That’s why labeling people can be such a harmful thing. Our labeling dictates and controls our attitudes toward and our treatment of others. What is even more potentially damaging is that the people to whom we speak may internalize our labels, and this will limit their belief in their intrinsic potential and value. In the case of the table, its identity comes from its source, the tree. No matter what you say about it, its essential nature is derived from where it came from, not what you call it. The same is true for human beings. No matter what we might say is the nature of humanity, its true nature is derived from the Creator.


The only way for a person to know his true nature, then, is to go back and reconnect to his Source and see what he is made of. The essence of a human being is the spirit, not the body, so he has to go back to the Spirit out of whom he was drawn. Returning to the table illustration, there is much that we don’t know about the table if we don’t know the particular tree that it came from, the age of the tree, or what forest it grew in. We can sit at it, but we can’t really tell its strength or durability because it has been cut off from its source. It’s only as strong as the original tree.


The same principle applies to humanity. The human spirit can never know its leadership nature—its purpose, ability, potential, power, or anything else—without knowing its true origin and maintaining a connection with its Source. According to the principle of source and resource, knowing Yah isn’t an option. We need to know him for our maintenance and survival. Again, any time you detach something from its source, things go wrong—it either malfunctions or it dies—because source provides all the following things:


Identity Purpose Concept Worth Value Protection Maintenance Preservation Productivity Meaning Life


THE GREAT SEPARATION


Just as a plant dies when it is detached from its source—the soil—or a fish dies when it is detached from it source—the water—if and when a person separates himself from his source—the Spirit of Yah—then he, too, will naturally malfunction and die. If you’re severed from your Source, you’re disconnected from all the items listed above. This is what happened to the human race.


The so-called fall of mankind was the disconnection of man from his source of creation—Yah—and the results were devastating. Human beings lost their sense of identity, self-worth, and self-concept, as well as their sense of personal value and significance to themselves, their world, and the universe. Basically, man lost the knowledge of who he is, where he came from, what he is capable of, where he is going, and why he exists.


WE FUNCTION BELOW OUR POTENTIAL BECAUSE WE WERE CUT OFF FROM OUR ORIGINAL PURPOSE.


We were cut off from our original purpose; therefore, we function far below our true abilities and potential, we lack the knowledge and wisdom necessary for making good decisions, and we suffer as the victims of our limited human knowledge and perspectives:


• We don’t know who we are because we don’t know from whom we come.


• We don’t know the meaning of life because we’re cut off from our original purpose.


• We can’t be fully productive because we don’t know where our ability and strength come from.


• We lack knowledge and wisdom for making good choices because we believe whatever seems right to our limited perspectives.


• We become fearful, apathetic, or overly competitive because we’re trying to survive in an increasingly unnatural environment.


• We latch onto substitutes for the true Source in an effort to find significance and peace.


How did this separation happen? For the protection of humanity, the Creator established natural laws that corresponded with humanity’s nature and well-being. Instead of trusting that these parameters were established for its own good, humanity declared independence from its Source. Essentially, human beings thought that they could live apart from their Source and therefore cut themselves off from him. All the problems of humanity that we see today and have seen throughout our history stem from this act. When you declare independence, (1) you have to create your own identity, and (2) you become responsible for your own destiny. The problem is this: If you don’t have the resources for living independently— that is, if you don’t intrinsically have life in yourself— then your failure is inevitable.


As the first man, Adam represented all of humanity. When he declared independence from his Source, he detached not only himself, but also all his future offspring, from true identity, purpose, protection, maintenance, preservation, productivity, meaning, and life. This is why the Creator warned Adam ahead of time, saying, in effect, “The day that you rebel against me by disobeying my command, you will surely die.”


The concept of death here is not referring to the physical termination of the body, for according to the biblical account of the great separation, Adam lived for hundreds of years after his act of rebellion. Rather, death refers to the severing of the relationship man had with his Creator-Source. It refers to the demise of man’s identity, sense of self-image, and self-worth. Yah was speaking of the spiritual death that comes from being cut off from our Source. The ultimate evidence of this death is manifested in the decay of the physical houses in which we live, the culmination of which we call death.


THE NATURAL RESULT OF SEPARATION


Any time a human rebels against the laws established by the Creator, death is the natural result. To the Creator, death is not ultimately the absence of life (spirit) from the body. True death—spiritual death—is the spirit being detached from its Source of life. Ultimately, what connected humanity to the Creator was his Spirit in us. When man disobeyed the laws of Yah, that Spirit departed, making the detachment complete. The result was that we had no direct way of relating to, communicating with, or receiving from the Creator. We lost both the power of the Creator and the consciousness of the spirit of leadership he had given us.


WHAT CONNECTED HUMANITY TO THE CREATOR WAS HIS SPIRIT IN US.


Therefore, when Adam cut himself off from the Creator, he was in rebellion against his natural state. A religious term for rebellion is sin. There is no word in Hebrew called “sin.” The word most often translated as sin in English versions of the Old Testament is chatta’ah, which means “an offense, and its penalty.”27 The offense is basically a rebellion against one’s Source, and the natural and inevitable penalty of the offense is death, or separation.


If you cut yourself off from your Source, it is you who will suffer, malfunction, and die, not the Source. Moreover, just as the soil never kills a plant or the water never kills a fish when they are separated from their source, it is not the Creator who does the killing. He doesn’t have to. Death is a result, not an imposition. Yah’s statement, “You will surely die,” is just the announcement of a result, not a threat. He didn’t say, “The day you do this, I will kill you.” He said, “You will surely die.”


If you pull a plant out of the soil, you don’t need to kill it. It will wither on its own. If you take a fish out of water, you don’t need to kill it. It will suffocate and die. Likewise, if a man takes himself out of connection with Yah, you don’t need to impose destruction on him. He dies spiritually, and it’s only a matter of time before he dies physically.


The Creator brought life, not death, into the world. He doesn’t impose death on anything in his creation. Death is a result of rebellion against the natural laws established by the Source. These laws are in alignment with the nature and character of the Source and are for the optimum well-being of his offspring. Life is in the Source. Whoever stays attached to the Source will have life, just as a plant or a fish stays alive in its source.


The spirit of leadership is a natural derivative of the leadership spirit; it is the state of mind or attitude that emanates from it. Yet if we are cut off from the Source of that leadership spirit—when his Spirit has departed from our lives—we are also cut off from the attitude and power that should flow from our leadership nature. We end up distorting our leadership instead of reflecting it in the light of our Source.


The leadership spirit is the inherent nature of the created spirit of man, which was released from the Spirit of Yah with all its qualities, characteristics, and potential. The spirit of leadership is the attitude and mentality that position reflects. We must realize that when man separated himself from his Source, he did not lose the leadership spirit, but he lost the spirit of leadership. In the next teaching, we’ll talk more about the impact of our disconnect with the spirit of leadership.


PRINCIPLES


1. The “principle of source and resource” is that a product must be connected to its source for proper functioning.


2. When the Creator made various aspects of creation, he used just one process. Yet, when he made humanity, he used two processes: he created man, but he made male and female.


3. The original Source of the spirit-man is the Spirit of the Creator, while the original source of our physical bodies is the ground.


4. The essence of both male and female is the resident spirit within them, called “man.”


5. Source is vital to the ongoing well-being of the offspring or product because it is the authority and sustainer of what it produces.


6. The only way for a person to know his true nature is to go back and reconnect to his Source and see what he is made of.


7. For the protection of humanity, the Creator established natural laws that corresponded with humanity’s nature and well-being. Yet instead of trusting that these parameters were established for its own good, humanity declared independence from its Source.


8. Any time you detach something from its source, things go wrong because source provides all the following things: identity, purpose, concept, worth, value, protection, maintenance, preservation, productivity, meaning, life.


9. When a human rebels against the laws established by the Creator, then death—the severing of the relationship man has with his Source—is the natural result.


10. When mankind was disconnected from his source of creation, the results were devastating. Human beings lost their sense of identity, self-worth, and self-concept, as well as their sense of personal value and significance to themselves, their world, and the universe. Basically, man lost the knowledge of who he is, where he came from, what he is capable of, where he is going, and why he exists.


11. If we are cut off from the Source of our leadership spirit— when his Spirit has departed from our lives—we are also cut off from the attitude and power that should flow from our leadership nature.


12. The human spirit can never know its leadership nature— its purpose, ability, potential, and power—without reconnecting with its Source.