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THEME:

2013: The Church that is Developing Disciples on Purpose

(Psalm 119:11, Matt. 28:19-20, John 8: 31-32, Ephesians 4: 17-23, II Timothy 2:15, )

Tonight’s Focus:

“Developing Disciples in Leadership”

(i.e. Disciple-Leaders)

:Focus

Upon the completion of this lesson, the participant should have a greater awareness of the important role that “focus” plays in leadership. They will be encouraged to both obtain and maintain their focus in leadership for the glory of God.

John Maxwell said that “a leader who knows his priorities, but lacks concentration, knows what to do, but never gets it done.” What the writer seeks to convey is that, in addition to priorities, one must have “focus” in order to successfully accomplish any task that is set before them. With so many things pressing upon us, one can find themselves becoming easily distracted and detracted from what God ultimately would have them to do. That being said, as a leader, you must both obtain “focus” and then strive to keep your “focus” in all that you do for the glory of God!

First of all, let us consider Jesus, who was and is the supreme example of how to maintain your focus in order to move successful through negative circumstance and towards your goals.

Matt 4: 1-11, Luke 4: 18-30, 9: 51-56

In Matt 4: 1-11, Jesus shows us three areas of our lives in which the enemy wants us to lose our focus. These areas are with reference to:

I. v. 2-4 Body/Flesh

II. v. 6-8 Power/ Personhood

III. v. 9-12 The Supremacy of God

Again, in Luke 4: 18-30, Jesus shows us how to avoid losing our focus by:

V. 18-19,23-30 - Being untrue to ourselves

v.22 - by allow the focus of

others to become our own

Finally, in Luke 9: 51-56, Jesus shows us how to avoid losing our focus when it comes to our ultimate purpose and destiny.

v. 51 – Your season and purpose needs your

focus

v. 53 – Others may not accept you because of

your focus on your destiny

Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11:

I. The King’s Delusions (2:1–10): Solomon travels down many roads in his search for peace and purpose. This includes:

A. Pleasure (2:1–2)

B. Alcohol (2:3)

C. Great building projects (2:4a)

D. The planting of vineyards (2:4b)

E. The creation of beautiful parks with exotic trees (2:5–6)

F. The accumulation of possessions, including:

1. Human slaves (2:7a)

2. Herds and flocks (2:7b)

3. Silver and gold (2:8a)

4. Gifted musicians (2:8b)

5. Beautiful concubines (2:8c)

G. A universal reputation (2:9)

H. Total indulgence (2:10)

The lack of focus has the ability to render all that you do as worthless activities and endeavors.

Eccl. 2:11

If one is going to maintain their focus, then they should focus on the things that matter that most.

Phillipians 3: 5-9 – Knowledge of Jesus Christ

I Peter 1: 13-16 – Hope and Holiness

“Experienced animal trainers take a stool with them when they step into a cage with a lion. Why a stool? It tames a lion better than anything- except maybe a tranquilizer gun. When the trainer hold the stool with the legs extended towards the lions face, the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. And that paralyzes him. Divided focus always works against you.” In all that we do, we should strive to both obtain and maintain our focus for the glory of God. To do otherwise may result in having a divided focus, which renders us unable to defeat the enemy who is seeking to keep our leadership both caged and tamed.

Q & A