Dale Goddard

Staying On Track, one of the most difficult things in ministry

Discipline
If we are sure where we stand then everything else is not going to matter.

Coach: I taught them discipline so I rarely had to discipline them.

If we are to succeed in ministry we must raise the bar like Paul did.

1Cor 9:24-27
Paul addresses the individual, not the church. The church was in a bad condition, but his message is to individuals.

Am I where I need to be right now? If not, why not?

Ministry isn’t a ladder of success. It is a struggle, a difficulty.

In a race with a prize, much is requires to win. Run to win.
In ministry much is required, much preparation personally.

The enemy isn’t a respecter of persons. All he wants to do is get you out of the race.

Temperate – even, steady. Not up and down, every day different. Steadfast, content, faithful.

Spike and drop – not effective leader.

People lose in life because of their attitude toward the race.

If there is no preparation, there will be no victory.

Be disciplined because of what is going to take place. Prepare!

After Paul wrote this, he went thru a series of great difficulties.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

“more and more things are trying to stop me.”

In between 1Cor 9 and 2Tim 4, Paul had been faithful to run the race. He disciplined his body, prepared himself and finished well.

How far will Satan go to pull you away from reaching your goal?

Paul looked three ways…
1. I am
Things do not change in this world to please you. Things are what they are, your responsibility is to accept them.

What inspires his discipline?
He considered himself an offering.
The first rule in discipline is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, in spite of all difficulties.

He experienced pain and all that…none of these things move me.

2. I have
What disciplines must we focus on.
-to know God better. Satan will attack your inner disciplines before the outer. He’ll attack your heart before putting a pretty girl in front of you. Your time in the Word, prayer, etc.
The goal is not to be the best, but to be with the Father.

He was a willing participant in a good fight. He didn’t run away, but asked God, “show me how to fight.”

The only faith that matters is the faith that is expresses with the actions of your body. Faith without works is dead.
Doing what I do based on my relationship with Jesus.

3. There is laid up for me
Know your destiny. Unbelievers are freaked out by accidents and death, because for them that is it. For the Christian it is not death, but departure.

You were not designed for this earth. What you go thru now is designing you for Heaven.

We are being prepared down here for up there. Prepare yourself!

Dale Goddard

Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders – read it every year as long as you serve.

How important is leadership. Too often today it is taken lightly.

When a person is put into a position, or given a role, it is taken lightly.

Did you think about it when you chose them?
What type of leaders are we?

People are choosing leaders just out of the need…biggest problem in churches.
Availability does not replace the call.

We need to know about them, how do they handle problems in their house? Are they taking care of them?

If we have a weak link, it is not what God has told us to do.

Leadership position – any time someone is in charge of ANYTHING it is a leadership position. They need to have the same urgency and passion for changing toilet paper as teaching.
Leaders cannot be chosen on popularity.

You cannot be a good leader if you are not a good follower.

7 Essentials to Leadership

1. Discipline
Many people have gifts and talents, but what raises them to a position of leadership is the degree that they are willing to bring their best. Not mediocre. Don’t ever settle in mediocrity.
Desire to develop the gifts. Be disciplined.
Not how many books you read, take it and change your life!!
When you don’t care what anybody says…bad. Discipline means that you follow those who are leaders over you. Blindly sometimes.
Moses heard from God, it didn’t make much sense when he got to the Red Sea.
Discipline means dying to self. Before we can conquer the world, we must die to ourselves.
We cannot be led by our eyes or emotions or what I think is right.
First-discipline your life.
Not submitted to authority, not disciplined in their life.
Signs of discipline
-1-undertake unpleasant task without reluctance
-2-will do what others avoid because there is no public applause (never a problem finding someone to teach)
-3-does not shrink from difficult situations or hard edged people. Cannot avoid people as a matter of convenience. If you are not willing to work together with one other person, you should not be in ministry.
-4-does not procrastinate. You have to jump in to what God has before you. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes.
-5-able to administer rebuke evenly when necessary. Under control, not unmoved, not overly rough.

If all of us take this seriously we will have better leaders.

2. Vision
Someone with vision can see more deeply and further than others.
Why do you do what is right every day when sin is much more fun? Looking forward to eternity.
Have you even bothered to set a goal?

3. Wisdom
Are you praying for wisdom? Wisdom is knowing God. Intelligence is knowing things.
Wisdom discerns the need.
Wise people can apply the Word to broken hearts, not just interpret the Word

4. Able to make a decision
You are not judged by success and failure, but your ability to decide. Not waivering back and forth.
Do not blame others when the decision is proven wrong. A good leader assumes responsibility.

5. Courageous
The strongest people I’ve known in ministry are tenacious. Nothing can stop them. Not worried about the difficulty. Pressing forward.

6. Humility
If not humility, we have a serious problem. To think nothing of yourself, not comparing to others, they are not the standard.
Even at the end of his life, Paul could not believe the mercies of God in his life.
Humility grows as you walk with God. Are you more humble now than before?

7. Integrity & sincerity
As opposed to phoniness.
Paul spoke openly and boldly.
Let us be transparent.
If we can’t do what’s right away from church, we are just pretending at church.

Speaker: Joe Salias
Passage: 1 Samuel 27 – “Overcoming Discouragement”

After a great victory David does something really dumb.

David let discouragement defeat him.
1. Wrong outlook
He focused on the negatives.
If you always look at the negatives you are going to get bummed out.
God balances out our lives…blessing for every burden.
“it seems we write our discouragements in marble and our blessings in sand.”

2. Prayer was lacking
David was talking to David
If we don’t pray when we are in trouble, we just add to our troubles.

3. Ran out of patience
The trial went on so long he felt things were never going to change.
Romans 15:4
James 1:3-4
In God’s time we are going to reap if we do not lose heart.

Result of davids discouragement:
1. Made things worse

2. David thought there was no way out
When were discourage it blows all of our problems out of proportion.
Discouraged people still run away today.

3. Disobeyed the will of God
God had told him to go back to Judah.
Make sure it is God who is directing you, not your emotions.
Maybe my place is here where things aren’t so good.

We affect the people around us, in obedience or disobedience.
Lead people to the Lord.

Disobedience encourages fellowship with the ungodly.
Friendship with achish shows that David was in spiritual decline.

Appealing reasons:
1. Temporary Protection and peace

2. Popularity
He was popular with the leaders in Gath.
Popularity comes with a price

3. Provisions
Now they have some comfort and a place to stay.

4. Power
Military victories

Sin clouds your judgment and muddies your vision.
Good is based on what God says, not success or failure.

It may have looked like a blessing, but it was a curse.

It takes faith and patience to receive what God promised.
Never judge the goodness of God on your outward circumstances.

David wavered in faith and patience.
1. God is too loving to be unkind
2. God is too wise to let man thwart His plans
3. God is too powerful to be defeated

Speaker: Dale Goddard

Recognize the move of the spirit and jump in.
The Spirit is at work…try to keep up!

These are not normal times/days.

“I want to kick some people thru the fieldgoals of life.”

1. Stay awake! Watch and pray!
Why do you think churches fail?
The Word is not being lifted up.
Not what I will do for God, but what will I allow God to do with me.
Stop being offended, be a hearer. Stop being simple, slothful, presumptuous.

Reasons we do not stay awake
-exhausted
-comfortable
-disinterested

New people are coming, if we don’t take care of then they will go somewhere else…no guarantee they go somewhere teaching the Bible.

2. Be alert
Come in with the eyes “something needs to be fixed today”

3. Be active
We can sleep walk.
Be ready to do things. Don’t wait for someone else to do it.
Ministries grow as we work together for the good of the congregation.

4. Be accountable.
Accountable to God.
Why are we here?
If you serve God, you are accountable to Him.
Accountability means we are a team. We all need to know what each other is doing.
You have been given a cherished position. It is not up to you to determine how important it is.

5. Be accomplished.
So tired of mediocracy.
It is for and because of god that we do this job.
Do the best job you are physically and emotionally capable of doing.

I heard something sad recently. Something that happened within our body. There was a person, a precious daughter of God, who had a tough event happen in her life. As she was sharing with another believer about this event, she was told that she must have done something wrong. The idea was that she must have sinned somehow to cause this hardship in her life. Already overwhelmed by the hardship, now she was dealing with guilt and condemnation.

This kind of thing makes my blood boil!

Hey Christians, can we please learn this lesson once and for all? Some of the difficulties we face in life may be the consequences of personal sin, but we cannot assume that all difficulties in life are a direct result of personal sin.

I would like to offer three quick examples for this…

#1 – Jesus

Jesus was sinless, yet He faced opposition, hunger, thirst, beatings and crucifixion. His hardships and difficulties were not caused by His own personal sin, because He had none.

#2 – Man Blind From Birth

Jesus had to correct the thinking of the disciples in this area too…

This man’s blindness was not caused by his own sin, nor his parent’s sin. God had a reason and purpose in it, and He used it for His glory.

#3 – Job

Job is the classic example of this. His friends beat him down with accusation of sin for almost 30 chapters! Yet God declared Job to be righteous. The tragedies in his life were not consequences of personal sin! In fact, God rebukes Job’s friends for the way they treated him and spoke to him.