Ephesians 6:10, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” It’s not in your own strength that you’re strong; it’s in the strength of the Lord. So, it’s a passive, “Keep on being empowered.” In other words, allow God’s power to flow through you; put yourself in the position to be empowered.
It’s just like Jude 20, where Jude writes and says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” What he means by that is stay in the sphere where you can receive the blessings of the love of God, and that’s the sphere of obedience. When you and I apply the means of grace in our life – the study of the Word, prayer, sometimes fasting, meditation – when we apply the means of grace in our life, we put ourselves in the sphere of obedience. We receive the love of God, and we know the power of God.
Now, grace operates in two ways: one, the grace of forgiveness; two, the grace of power. It is God’s undeserved, unmerited grace that grants you the power to serve Him, just as it’s God’s grace that grants you forgiveness. Paul says in Romans 5:2, “- this grace in which we stand.” This time he means we’re fixed in it; we exist in it; we exist in an atmosphere of grace, and it is God’s unmerited, undeserved assistance and help because we’re united with Christ that enables us to serve.
The picture is a picture of teachers in process Paul’s saying, “I taught you; you teach faithful men and able men who will teach others also.” Four generations: Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others also. See yourself as the teacher. The teacher is a living link in a chain that goes all the way back to Jesus Christ.
The primary responsibility of spiritual leadership is to guard the truth, is to protect the truth? But now we’re going to come to a second dimension, not only to guard it and to protect it, but almost paradoxically to give it away. It’s twofold:
If the Church is weak, it’s because its leaders are weak. If it’s going to be strong, it has to have strong leaders. Where are we going to get strong leaders? We have to build them. We can’t leave the job to somebody else. I can’t leave it to somebody else; I have to do everything I can do.
Now you have to be selective. Do you get the selectivity in this? He doesn’t say give it to anybody and everybody.
I look at my own life and for nearly 20 years I’ve answered the question, “What is the priority of your ministry” – I’ve always said the same two things, “One, to preach the Word of God to the people; two, to build godly leaders.” That’s what I’ve spent my last 20 years doing, and I’ll keep doing it till I die.
Well, find somebody who knows less than you do and teach them what you know. Find somebody who knows more than you do and learn what they know. Get in the process.
Great in the process. Be a teacher. I’ll tell you right now what you teach you retain, and what you don’t teach you forget. I can read a book, close it up. I’ll forget it very soon. I read a book, pull out of it truth, teach that truth, I’ll never forget it. What I give away I keep. What I don’t give away I lose. So, learn to teach.
Message by Pastor Chris Adams