Expansive Leadership: The Key to Fruitfulness

You are called to lead disciples of Christ into a spacious place of expansive living. Fruitfulness can only be experienced as people partner with the Living God, who is the God of greatness not smallness. You are called to do this by releasing others and helping them to reach their potential for greatness.

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READING (Message Bible)? 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:1
Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. 2?God reminds us,
I heard your call in the nick of time;
The day you needed me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. 3?Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. 4?Our work as God’s servants gets validated ? or not ? in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; 5?when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; 6?with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; 7?when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; 8?when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; 9?ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; 10?immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
11?Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. 12?We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. 13?I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
14?Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? 15?Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? 16?Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way:
“I’ll live in them, move into them;
I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people.
17?So leave the corruption and compromise;
leave it for good,” says God.
“Don’t link up with those who will pollute you.
I want you all for myself.
18?I’ll be a Father to you;
you’ll be sons and daughters to me.”
The Word of the Master, God.
7 With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language ? 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Breaking the barriers of self-limitation
God does not limit you ? any limitations are self-imposed
Boundaries are God-given: how we live according to our purpose and destiny in Christ. Boundaries are good ? they speak of divine purpose.
Barriers are obstacles to our purpose and the fulfilment of our potential. They are of our own creation.
 
Demolish the walls of limitation
Limitations:

• It can?t be done
• You could never do that
• It?s never been done before!

World?s system ? ?dictates what is possible and not possible for you.
?Never let anybody tell you it cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.? – G. M. Trevelyan
Ultimately, without hope ? only God can set you free, and enable you to break out of these limitations.
Kingdom of God ? brings you into life without limits: the rich, eternal, abundant life of the kingdom.

Nick Vujicic

Overcoming your Limitation ? Attitude is everything.
Born without arms and legs. No medical reason found. Australian 27yrs, son of Pastor. Imagine the devastation to the family ? the questions, the pain, the suffering.
Nick became a Christian at the age of 15 is full on for Jesus Christ. Called ?a miracle of God?s grace?. Made a decision to cease to be identified as a man without limbs, and become a man without limits.
He chose to believe that God is in control and that he had a plan and a purpose for his life.
He holds a double degree in accountancy and financial planning. He deals in property and is an investment broker.
He is an evangelist and a motivational speaker. He has preached the gospel to 3m+ people and seen hundreds of thousands of people come to Christ through his testimony in Asia, Africa, India, Australia and the US.
He used to have no hope in life because of his physical condition, but now he says ?I can see the glory of God in it.? He chose to stop being angry for what he did not have, but to be grateful for what he does have.

• He is living proof that God has a plan and a hope and a future for everybody.
• ?If I can trust in God with my circumstances, you can trust in God with your circumstances.?
• ?If you can?t get a miracle, become a miracle.?
• ?God knows no obstacles ? never give up.?

What limitations have you imposed upon yourself? Which ones have you overcome? How did you overcome them?
KEY QUESTIONS
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• Are you living in that expansive, spacious life of fruitfulness?

• Are you realizing your capacity for greatness ? growth and multiplication?

• How are you going to develop and release your disciples (those you lead) into the divine possibilities God has for them?

PARTNERSHIP IN THE MINISTRY
2 Corinthians 6:1
Companions as we are in this work with you?
1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
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Partnering involves working with people ? individuals and teams

• Individuals:

?There are countless ways of attaining greatness, but any road to reaching one’s maximum potential must be built on a bedrock of respect for the individual, a commitment to excellence, and a rejection of mediocrity.?? Buck Rodgers quotes (Former American Baseball Player. b.1938)

• Teams:

?The greater the loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater is the motivation among the members to achieve the goals of the group, and the greater the probability that the group will achieve its goals.?? Rensis Likert

1. 1.?? Partnering With God

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1. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit
2. Greatness not smallness
3. Beyond the realm of human capacities

?If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise.? Robert Fritz

1. 2.?? Partnering With Others

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1. Each one according to his own God-appointed role
2. Leaders and other fellow workers, ie the whole church
3. Planting, watering
4. Working the field

i.??? Praying
ii.??? Prophesying
iii.??? Words of Knowledge, wisdom
iv.??? Cultivating relationships
v.??? Encouraging
vi.??? Home visiting

1. This is about helping others reach their potential, and not just so that you can become great in your own eyes!

?He who comes up to his own idea of greatness must always have had a very low standard of it in mind.? William Hazlitt (British Writer 1778-1830)
LEADING PEOPLE INTO EXPANSIVE LIVING
2 Corinthians 6:11-13
11?Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. 12?We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. 13?I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”? Mark Twain

1. 1.?? What Life?

The wonderful, expansive, spacious life God has given us (John 10:10):

1. a.??? Don?t squander it (v1):

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i. Devaluing it
ii. Keeping it for yourself
iii. Taking it for granted
iv. Not rising to your full potential.
 

1. b.?? Don?t frustrate it by (v 3):

 
i. ?By showing up late? ? missing the timing of God
 
ii. ?By questioning everything we are doing? ? unhealthy suspicion of the motivation of your leaders
 
iii. ?By neglecting the details? ? the day to day outworking of the call of God?.
?I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble?? Helen Keller (American Author and Educator who was blind and deaf. 1880-1968)
 
?A great man is always willing to be little.? Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882)
 

1. c.??? Don?t partner with the wrong people (v 14)

 
?Mediocrity is climbing molehills without sweating? Icelandic Proverb
The greatest danger comes not from those who are evil, but those who are stuck in mediocrity. They are content to ?tickle the intelligence with easy difficulties, and satisfy it with a sense of achievement beyond which there is nothing left for dreams to feed on? (Gustave Flaubert French Novelist).

1. 2.?? What Limitations? (v12)

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.” Helen Keller

1. a.??? Not those put on you by us ? we did not fence you in, put limitations on you.

We are called to lift people up to become their best for God, never to hold them back and never to hold them down.

1. b.?? But those you put on yourself ? the smallness you feel comes from within (you).

?Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds?: Franklin D. Roosevelt
i. Limits exist only in the mind
ii. Know your limits, but never accept them

1. c.??? You are not small, but you are living small.

?If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.? (Quote by – Anita Roddick)

1. d.?? Break out by living openly and expansively

i. Taking the limits off God (Psalm 78:41)
ii. Dealing with the limitations of self ? petty mindedness, defilements, distractions ? everything that restricts you.
“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.? For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” Unknown

1. 3.?? What Possibilities? (v11)

11?Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.

1. a.??? The possibilities of God are wide open

1. b.?? See them, dream them, aim for them

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?In imagination, there’s no limitation?. Mark Victor Hansen
?A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.? Denis Waitley (American motivational Speaker)

1. c.??? Take possession of them

???????????????????????????????????????? i. From Potential to Actual ? requires action and risk
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide
“No amount of security is worth the suffering of a life chained to a routine that has killed your dreams.” Unknown
?????????????????????????????????????? ii. Preparation ? ridding your spirit of all negatives
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1. 1.?? Past failure – “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely.” Unknown

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1. 2.??? Past hurt – “If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.” Julia Sorel

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1. 3.??? Too late – “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot

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1. Insignificance – “To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

???????????????????????????????????? iii. Releasing ? regulating is easy, releasing is not so easy
?He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.? Henry Ward Beecher (US Congregational minister, 1813-1887)
????????????????????????????????????? iv. Perseverance
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” Walter Elliott
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”? Vincent Van Gogh
?Greatness is the dream of youth realized in old age.?? Alfred Victor Vigny quotes (French poet, dramatist, and novelist, 1797-1863)
??????????????????????????????????????? v. Success is a process which requires:
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1. Planning
2. Goal setting
3. Flexibility
4. Determination
5. Day to Day consistency

?Top achievers are not discouraged by the fact that no one has ever done something similar like the vision they have.? Planet of Success
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
?~ Lord Kelvin ~
Born – 26 June 1824 in Belfast, Ireland. Died – 17 December 1907 (aged 83) in? Largs, Scotland
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE, (26 June 1824 ? 17 December 1907) was a mathematical physicist and engineer. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second Laws of Thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form. He worked closely with Mathematics professor, Hugh Blackburn, at the University in his work. He also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor, which propelled him into the public eye and ensured his wealth, fame and honour.
A pastor once said from a pulpit, that man would never fly, because had it been God?s will for them to fly, He would have given them wings. This pastor was the Wright brothers? father, the same ones that went on to invent the plane. They broke through a limitation, and now we all enjoy the legacy that these two young men left behind for mankind. Why? Because they set their minds to do something and didn?t stop until they achieved it.
The Wright Brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 ? January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 ? May 30, 1912), were two Americans creditedwith inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903.
“Le monde progresse gr?ce aux choses impossibles qui ont ?t? r?alis?es.”
Andr? Maurois
Elim only makes progress when we do the impossible
The Jeffery brothers blazed a trail for Christ across the British Isles during the Great Depression.
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1. 1.?? Renew your vision

More than a century ago, no one believed it was possible for humans to fly except Orville and Wilbur that are commonly known as the Wright brothers. It was their ambition, aspiration, desire and vision to be able to fly one day. And despite the fact that no one else had ever invented something similar they believed in their vision, which finally resulted in a huge success in 1903 when they were able to make the first controlled and sustained human flight. Top achievers are not discouraged by the fact that no one has ever done something similar to the vision they have.

1. 2.?? Believe that you can achieve it

To achieve what God has called you to do you must believe that it is possible through Christ?s power at work in you. You must know your potential and be completely sure that you can accomplish any goal he sets for you, no matter how impossible it appears. Only unconditional faith can enable you to accomplish your dream or vision, because it breeds a ?all things are possible? mentality. Every person has such a great potential, but the majority is not aware of it and can?t apply it effectively. It is essential to start believing in your calling. You need to believe that you can reach every vision that you have before you start to achieve your goals.

1. 3.??? Set appropriate goals

Behind every successful professional lies a history of goal setting. A top athlete was asked about his personal secret that had enabled him to achieve the world record in the competition. The answer given by the athlete was, ?My secret is hard work, a lot of training, effort and most important: I apply my goal setting methods continuously?. Not only was his answer very insightful, but he also showed that setting and reaching goals is the ?open secret? to success that is applied by successful people such as top athletes, businessman and other wealthy individuals. How much more should we be goal-directed people for the kingdom of God?
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1. 4.??? Take action

Something that differentiates top-achievers from normal people is that they truly become active to reach their purposes. Instead of just dreaming of the achievement of ambitious goals they really pursue their aims and aspirations to accomplish these. In order to become successful it is absolutely necessary to be an active person.
SOURCE: www.planetofsuccess.com