LEADERS GET DISTRACTED

They start off on the right track but they lose their vision, they lose their mission, they get involved and instead of saying as Paul said, "This one thing I do..." they say "These forty things I dabble in."  When you get distracted from your purpose in life, you're going to be tempted.  It's going to happen.  

Example of David: "Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was a successful leader.  In every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers.  As a result David became very famous."  Warning!  Red light!  Notice what happened in 2 Samuel 11:1 "In the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the army, but David remained in Jerusalem."  He's not being where the kings should be, out on the front lines.  He's getting distracted.  "David remained in Jerusalem" and he lost touch with people on the front lines.  And that was his downfall.  Because in 2 Samuel 11:2 it mentions a lady named Bathsheba.  Instead of being out there on the front line, serving, ministering, working, he's at home saying, I'm just going to relax.  He got distracted.  And he encountered Bathsheba.

David's son had the same problem.  "As Solomon grew old his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord."  He got bored and he allowed other things to distract him from what God called him to do.

There are a lot of things that can distract you in ministry.  They're good but they're not the best.  Personal problems can distract you.  Health can distract you.  Other interests can distract you.  Finances can distract you.  Recreation can distract you.  Things that you think are fun and good and wonderful can distract you.  Satan doesn't care if you go off and sin, as long as you don't do what God wants you to do.  He'll distract you.

One day Jesus was walking down the street and looked at three would be followers and said, "You guys come follow Me."  One guy says, "I can't follow You, Lord.  I've just bought a piece of land."  What's the logic of that?  The land is going to stay there.  There's nothing going to happen to it.  Next guy says, "I just got married."  He had a better reason.  Third guy says, "I have to go bury my father."  The issue, when you read the Greek there, wasn't that his father had died because his father had been dead for a while.  He just said I've got to go home and spend some time.

The point is business, marriage, family are all distractions and part of life.  But you need to be aware when they're keeping you from what God wants you to do.  I am a firm believer in family.  I believe in the family and I believe in marriage.  But the Bible did not say, "Upon this rock I will build my family."  He did not say, "Go into all the world and build a family."  I believe in the family so I have a right to talk this way about it.  But you need to keep it all in perspective.

Don't be saying, "PastorAlbert said put the church before the family."  I'm not saying that.  But I am saying it's not the sum total of your life.  Jesus said "Seek first the kingdom of God."  The kingdom of God is what we're to seek first in our lives.  I didn't say that.  Jesus said it.  

So the leader gets distracted.  The antidote is to stay focused.  Never forget your mission.  Proverbs 22 "Do you know a hard working man?  He shall be successful and stand before kings."  Ecclesiastes 11 talks about being focused "Sow your seed in the morning and in the evening let not your hands be idol for you don't know which will succeed.  Whether this or that or whether both will do equally well."  The Bible says "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is good for the kingdom of God."  Stay focused.  Don't get distracted.  

BE CAREFUL NOT TO BECOME INSENSITIVE TO PEOPLE

 THE LEADER BECOMES INSENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE.

The guy who is a model for this is a guy named Rehoboam.  Rehoboam had such a poor understanding of people.  He was a real klutz.  He was Solomon's son.  He was so unsympathetic. He only thought of himself.  When he became king, he brought some advisers in and said, "What do you think I ought to do?" and the old men said, "Love the people, serve the people, honor the people.  Put the people's interests ahead of your own and they will honor you."  Then some other punks came along and said, "No.  Be hard on them.  Say you thought my father was hard?  I'm going to be twice as hard.  You watch what I'm going to do.  We're going to raise the taxes, make it tougher.  You're going to serve me."  (How to win friends and influence people ?!?)  In 1 Kings 12:4-11 is the whole story.  Rehoboam said, “They said to Rehoboam, `If you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.'  But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him.  v. 17 They all deserted him except for the tribe of Judah."  That's where the kingdom, which had been united under David and under Solomon, split.  It split because the leader was insensitive to the people.  And the tribes split.  Deserted him.

Proverbs 28:13 "A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful but if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance."  If you've hurt people in your ministry, if you've bruised people by being insensitive to them, you need to go to them and confess it.

What's the antidote to becoming insensitive to people in your ministry?  The antidote is never stop listening to others.  Learn to listen to people.  Encourage the people in your ministry and the people you're serving to talk to you.  Let them tell you about your problems and their troubles and their fears and their aspirations and their dreams and their hurts and the things that are personal to them.  Stay open and look for other perspectives in your ministry.  Don't just try to see it your way.  Be sensitive to people.

"Get all the advice you can and you will succeed.  Without it you will fail."  If you want to succeed, you're going to need advice.  "Pay attention to what you're taught and you'll be successful."  "Get good advice and you will succeed.  Don't go charging into battle without a plan."

When you contrast Rehoboam with David (2 Samuel 9:1) after all of David's victories he didn't just say, "I'm just going to seat back and let everybody serve me."  He said, "Is there anybody still left in the house of Saul that I could show kindness to for Jonathan's sake?" and he found a young man by the name of Mephibosheth, a relative, and said, let me show kindness to this guy – the exact opposite of his grandson – showing sensitivity to people. This verse might be a good way to start. James 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,