By: Pastor Ty Houghtaling

Jesus knew who He was, where He came from, where He was going, and to whom He belonged. He knew His mission and purpose. He never deviated from His mission, using every opportunity in His life to point people to His Father. He led with humility and strength. He led with love and compassion. He led with the authority He had been given, never using His position for His own advantage. I encourage you to read John 10 for a really good chapter on Jesus knowing exactly who He was.

We are doing some men’s leadership training at our church. We are reminding ourselves that we are called to lead out in our families, churches, vocations, and our community. Most of us feel unworthy to lead. Most of us know that we have done some things in our past that limits our influence on others. Yet, we still are asked to lead. A major part of leading well starts with a clear sense of our identity in Jesus (a few verses on our identity in Christ are 1 Corinthians 5:17-21, 1 Peter 2:9, & Ephesians 5:8). It has been good to remind ourselves what is true about who we are in Christ. We have emphasized what we believe; the beliefs that we have been forgiven, empowered, equipped, and called. We are studying Jesus as our leadership role model. He was undoubtably a servant leader. He focused on the mission and He knew exactly how to ignore the distractions. He was completely obedient to His Father’s will and He trained up some men to be the same. Those men passed on that training to a new generation of leaders, and that new generation did the same, generation after generation until our time. It is our time, men! Leading like Jesus isn’t easy in our culture, but it is possible. Do you know anyone who leads like Jesus? Jesus was tough on the ones who should have known better and more patient with the downtrodden and kicked around in society. Jesus ignored the distractions of wealth, comfort, and pleasure. He was content with what He had, content with His calling, and endured the hardships that came with responsibility. Men, we can learn to be the same. He has called us to it; and He has given us every resource we need to pursue His mission for this world.   

Ty Houghtaling is the Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Artesia.