Foundations of Church Leadership
Character: The Foundation for Success
As a Christian Leader
Your long-term success as a leader
will be determined by the depth of your character.
1 Samuel, Chapter 9
We see that in the beginning God called Saul to rise as a leader in Israel.
Saul was a humble young man. We see that he loved the Lord and received
God’s anointing to do His work. God calls us and anoints us to do His work.
When God anoints us we receive His power and ability to do His work. Saul
was a normal man, but God chose him to rise up as King over Israel. God
had created a good future for Saul. God had a wonderful plan for Saul.
In the beginning Saul had much success. The people loved him; he defeated
the enemies of Israel. He prospered and had a good life. But as we continue
to read about the life of Saul, we see in the end his leadership was rejected
and his ministry ended in disgrace (1 Samuel 15:26; 31:1-6). We see that
even though he had an anointing from God and much ability, his anointing
and ability didn’t allow him to be successful in ministry. We see that he didn’t
obey the Lord 100% (1 Samuel 15:1-4, 7-10); he made foolish decisions
because of his pride (1 Samuel 14); he persecuted young David, who was a
servant of the Lord (1 Samuel 18-19, 21-24, 26); he left the way of the Lord
and consulted a fortune teller (1 Samuel 28) and his ministry ended in
disgrace.
Even though Saul had much ability his ability wasn’t enough to give success.
Many people saw him and said, “Oh, he’s a handsome man! He’s tall! He’s
strong! He has a lot of ability to lead us! God’s anointing is upon him!” Even
though we have anointing from God and much ability, there is something
more important than ability and anointing: Character. We will have success
or fail according to our character.
What is Character?
Character is the qualities that describe and represent you. Character is the
qualities that distinguish you from another person. Character is not about the
clothes you wear, the motorcycle you ride, your house or anything you own.
Character is about your actions that come from your soul and spirit.
Character is not about your ability, but about what is inside you that will reveal
itself by your actions and words.
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Foundations of Church Leadership
Like King Saul, even if you have much ability and many possessions, in the
end your character will cause you to succeed or fail. Your character will lift
you up or bring you down.
Matthew 7:21-23
The people in this verse prophesied, they cast out evil spirits and did many
wonderful things. They had much power, but in the end, the Lord rejected
them. Just because we have much power, this doesn’t mean we are doing
what God wants us to do and He will accept us.
Matthew 7:15-20
Our life is like a scale. On one side we have ability and on the other side we
have character. Our character must equal our ability. If we have much ability
or power but only a little character, our ability and power mean nothing. We
must have as much good character as ability and power. Our character is the
foundation for our ability. As we examine the spiritual fruit in our life we can
see if our character is strong or weak.
Spiritual gifts and natural ability are given to us as a free gift from God to use
to serve and honor Him, but character grows step-by-step. Our character
grows and becomes strong when we face a difficult situation and we choose
to do the right thing – the thing God wants us to do.
The Rise and Fall of King Saul
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Foundations of Church Leadership
The Rise of King Saul The Fall of King Saul
1. He came from a good family, 9:1 1. He became impatient, 10:8, 11:14-
2. He was handsome, 9:2 15
3. His father trusted him, 9:3 2. He tried to fulfill a position which
4. He received God’s Word, 9:3 God didn’t call him to fulfill
5. He was generous, 9:7-8 3. He was afraid of the enemy
6. He was a religious man, 9:11-13 4. He disobeyed God
7. He was humble, 9:21 5. He didn’t control his words, 14:24-
8. He obeyed the prophet, 9:26-27 35
9. He became a captain, 10:1 6. His hard heart caused other people
10. He prophesied, 10:10-13 to sin, 14:31-32
11. He kept a secret, 10:14-16 7. He became disinterested in God’s
12. He didn’t seek a position, 10:17-21 Word, 14:36
13. He had good friends, 10:26 8. He didn’t control his anger toward
14. He had self-control, 10:27 his son, 14:37-46
15. He led Israel to victory, 11:11 9. He deceived the people and was
16. He showed mercy to his enemies, dishonest, 15:13
11:13 10. He blamed his sin on other people,
17. He gave praise to God, 11:13 15:15
18. He sacrificed to the Lord, 11:14-15 11. He was more concerned with the
people rather than God, 15:21-22,
24
12. He lost the Presence of God,
16:14-15
13. He didn’t give honor to a young
leader, 17
14. He allowed hate and jealously to
enter his heart, 18-31
15. He killed the priests of the Lord, 22
16. He enquired from Satan’s servant,
28
17. He killed himself, 31
What Can We Learn From the Life of Saul?
1. Even though we have much ability and good success, if we are not
careful, our character will cause us to fall.
2. Character is more important than ability or possessions.
3. We must be careful about our character. We must choose to do the
right thing, even if it’s difficult.
Character Qualities We Should Seek to Obtain in Our Life and Ministry
Character Quality Description
1 Humility Know your own weaknesses
2 Servant Heart Trust God to promote you
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Foundations of Church Leadership
3 Sacrificial Love Sacrifice your desires for that of others
4 Joy in difficulties Understand difficulties help us grow in character
5 Peace in uncertainty Learn to trust God
6 Kindness to everyone Love your friends and enemies
7 Gentleness Not quick to anger
8 Faithfulness Keep your promises and fulfill responsibilities
9 Self-Control Overcome your flesh
10 Diligence Work hard and don’t be lazy
11 Excellence Try to do everything the best
12 Discretion Know the right time and right way to do something
13 Patience Wait for the right time; don’t hurry
14 Faith Trust God in every situation
15 Trustworthiness Work and live to people will trust in you
