Godly Leadership: 2 Kings 9:1-13

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways.

Good morning, good morning we talk. Oh dude, good morning,

good morning to you.

I think what I love about is you just get

into it. You go for it.

You don't just go halfway. No, that's right, you are genuinelys.

Nothing with me, good morning. Yes, Well it's singing. I'm

meaning every word that I'm saying.

Good morning to you.

Yeah, it's deep.

And I think I think singing in the rains where

that comes from? And uh uh he says nothing could

be grander than being Louisiana or something like that.

And I was always mess up the line. Yeah, I

should probably look it up on it.

Yeah, working well, thank you, Thank you, Chris. You're welcome

for a weekly dose of good morning.

Did you know that Gene Kelly uh didn't like Debbie

Reynolds and uh and know what was your name?

Was it Debbie Reynolds?

Okay, probably yeah it.

Was Debbie Renalds.

Yeah, and uh and and uh he treated her poorly

and said that she wasn't good enough to be in

that movie and uh and said that she couldn't dance

and and and publicly ridiculed her and actually made her

life horrible.

Wow.

And back then it was sort.

Of a loud yeah and uh and and uh actually

like prevent her for getting jobs in the future and

things like this. And do you know that at the

end of gen Kelly's life, he said, it's the thing

that he regrets about his life the most was how

he treated her.

Wow. Good, I'm glad he came to that concludion me too.

Good for him.

Yeah, but sure didn't help poor Debbie.

Yeah, there's one way to avoid regrets, which is be

a nicer person.

That there you go.

Okay, well, uh, for our long time listeners, you know,

we only bring the finest news, yes, and the most

important news from the finest sources. We scour the internet

to find the finest sources of news. And now this

is super relevant today, this one from the Babylon B.

We think it's the finest news source on the planet.

Yes, well, it's more reliable than all the other.

Ones, that's right.

And if you don't know, Babylon B is a satire website,

very funny.

You should look it up sometime. But here's the headline.

Gen Z upset about TikTok band for four point three seconds,

which is the maximum amount of time they can focus

on something. Thanks to TikTok, very clever us. After the

US Supreme Court upheld the band on the Chinese social

media platform TikTok, gen Z managed to stay upset about

the band for a full four point three seconds, which

is the maximum amount of time they can focus on anything.

Thanks to TikTok, the nation braced for a groundswell of

outrage from millions of TikTok users, but the outrage died

out almost as soon as it began.

Quote.

I'm furious. I'm outraged about this. I'm hey, look, Nintendo

switch to is coming out, said Maverick Dixon, a former

gen Z TikTok user. I can't believe they would Yo,

look at this Instagram, battie. This violates my freedom of bro.

These cargo jeans are busting no cap.

But we were what were we talking about again?

I go, oh, well, that is so funny.

Dixon then released some nervous energy by making weird noises

and doing a dancing made up for the hot news Chinese.

App Red Book. Yeah, it seems like gen.

Z is really already moved on to the next thing,

said millennial social media expert Ryan's dark Nerve. I asked

ten kids about it this morning. They couldn't remember what

TikTok was. Frankly, I'm starting to forget myself. Oh shoot,

Elon just caught another rocket booster.

Out of the air.

Sweet, oh my goodness.

At publishing time, gen Z had found themselves outraged by

something else, but no one could remember what it was.

Wow, that is awful.

Yet and yet there's something It's only funny because it's

it's true.

That's right, that's right. You know what.

I've had more exposure to working with gen Z on

our staff that I've had in the past, and I

have to tell you, uh, you know, there's there's there's

obviously a lot of great things about gen Z.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely, but they sort of well.

They're the ones that are going to change the world.

I believe that.

Yeah, yep, when they get focused on Jesus and change

the world, they're going to do it.

Yes, Okay, thanks for putting a damper on my NEXTSS.

That's okay.

But what I was going to say is I was

going to say there's a lot of truth to that. Like,

you know, obviously we can't stereotype. We can't say that every.

Gen we can. We can, and it's funny. I love it.

You should try it sometimes, can we do?

It's so funny y.

Stereotypes are amazing.

But stereotypes do exist for a reason. And I tell

you it is just pretty crazy. Like the exposure I've

had to that generation is like that is almost hard

to believe. It's really quiet, it's really wild.

Well, you become a product of what's handed to you.

Sure right, and sure yeah, So then you find a

way out once you realize some of these things are

dead ends. And then you said to find your way out

of that and.

Make a new life.

There you go.

So there's a new sheriff in town, just like there's

a new app for the TikTok grievers.

Is there a new app?

Yeah?

Yeah.

They went with Red Book or something, which literally is

a communist thing modeled after the little Red Book that

Mao required all the communists to carry in they're in

the revolution.

There's no way that that.

I promise you it's true. I promise you it's true.

That was the alternate was all these kids went over

and downloaded red book.

Yeah that is that doesn't seem like a fire's moved.

That's an app Yeah yeah, And then they found out

how censored it is. It's hysterical, hysterical, But then now

it's back on. It was shut down for like what

ten minutes.

Or something, It was like fourteen hours.

Oh my gosh.

You would have thought the gen zs in my house

they were going to die, like die. They were curled

up in the corner fetal position.

That's funny.

Yeah, wilting like fading. We kept bringing food and water.

They didn't want it.

That's so good.

The life wasn't worth living anymore.

So just like there was a new app, there's a

new sheriff in town.

There's a new sheriff in town, Jay who is anointed

king of Israel. Dun dun dam, there's a new appropriate king.

Wow, I don't know. I'm trying.

Yeah, okay, So here's what it says in Second King's

chapter nine, verse one, and we're going to read through

verse twenty or through thirteen. Meanwhile, Elisha, the prophet had

summoned a member of the group of prophets get ready

to travel. He told him, and take this flask of

olive oil with you, and go to Raymoth, Gilead. Find

jay Whu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, Call him

into a private room away from his friends, and pour

the oil over his head. Say to him, this is

what the Lord says, I annoint you to be the

king over Israel. Then open the door and run for

your life. So the young prophet did as he was told,

went to Raymouth, Gilead, and when he arrived there he

found Jehu sitting around with the other army officers. I

have a message for you, commander, he said, For which

one of us Jehu asked for you, commander, he replied.

So Jehu left the others and went into the house.

Then the young Prophet poured the oil over Jehu's head

and said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says,

I anoint you king over the Lord's people Israel. You

are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In

this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets

and all the Lord's servants who were killed by Jezebel.

The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out. I

will destroy every one of his male descendants, slave and

free alike anywhere in Israel. I will destroy the family

of Ahab as I destroyed the families of Jereboam son

of Kneebak, and of Baasha, son of Ahijah. Dogs will

eat Ahab's wife Jezebel at the plot of land in Jezreel,

and no one will bury her. Then the young prophet

opened the door and ran. Jaehu went back to the

fellow officers, and one of them asked him, what did

that madman want? Is everything all right? You know how

a man like that battles on? Jay Hue replied, you're

hiding something. They said, tell us, so j Hu told them.

He said to me, this is what the Lord says.

I've annoying you to be king over Israel. Then they

quickly spread out their cloaks on the bear steps and

blew the ramsworns, shouting, jay Hugh is king. Wow.

Well there you go, there you go, jay Hugh's the king.

Wow.

So can you even imagine, I mean, just because the

prophet shows up, uh, you know, they're just taking it

right at his words. So think about the weight that

the prophet carries. Uh.

You know, if everybody who.

By the way, these are these are competent military men, these.

Are officers, right right.

And then and it's just because the off, you know,

the prophet said you're the next king.

This is what's going to happen, and all.

Of a sudden, everybody in the room, including Jahu the commander,

and including everybody else, they immediately accept it, which then

goes to show you that in those days, the prophets

spoke on behalf of God. They witnessed God's miracles to

such a degree that they had no doubt that what

God said was the truth.

That's right, isn't credible?

I mean that alone is amazing about this past.

This just exactly how God said it would happen. Yeah.

Yeah, and so so then he and by the way,

running for your life, I don't understand that part.

Well, he just started a coup, so there's that, but

he hadn't started yet.

Yeah, yeah, well he needed to hear him get home. Yeah,

I just think it's funny. Run for your life, right, yeah,

open the door and run for your life.

Well, I mean he did give him a pretty wicked assignment. Yeah,

speaking of wicked.

Yeah, So, so there's a thing that we haven't really

talked about.

Yet in both.

Uh northern Israel, Samaria right that that area, and then

also in the south down near the Red Sea, there

are these clusters of prophets, like in Jericho. Remember there's

a cluster of prophets in Jericho. There's a cluster of

prophets in Bethel. And historically we know those were like schools.

They were like schools or groups almost like you and

I would think of a monastery, now sure where clusters

of of of monks.

Would come together.

These guys were kind of the same way that they would.

They would gather together, and they would work together, they

would learn from each other, they would study God's word together,

they'd encourage one another. And so this is probably Elisha

either was the head of one or he was, you know,

certainly influential because he was the primary prophet in Israel.

But there's he's not the only one, right, there's many

prophits in Israel. He's the leader of the prophets, and

so in this situation, he sends him in for you, Chris,

I'm trying to think of an analogy Hogwarts for instance.

Wow, right, but I get it, now, slow down, professor.

You use one syllable words. But so they had these

schools and he seems to be the leader of it.

And so at this point he's getting to be an

old man anyways. And then so he's not going to

do any of the running. Right, That's that's where I

was going. But he's not going to do any running.

He sends one of these young men to go and

send this mess which, by the way, hasn't he done

this a couple of times where Elisha sends some young

guy to go do a thing.

Well, it seems like Elijah did that.

Go lay this staff on this kid's face.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's almost like, uh, they really truly did. I mean,

think about the number of times where the prophet spoke

something and just passed it on through messengers. It's actually

quite often, which is interesting, isn't it.

Well, I think it's an indicator that God rarely ever

works just one leader.

It always takes a team.

Well that's really good, And that's that's so we think

of Paul.

He changed the world.

But every letter Paul writes just about he mentions the

ten people that are with him on this journey, right right, hey,

and uh, you know, Luke greets you and Timothy greets

you and right and all these things, and he mentions

all the other people that had served with him, and hey,

send some of these people to help me. So we

think of Paul Moses, we think of Moses, but it

was he also had Aaron and her and Joshua and

Jethro and Jethro. He had these teams of people. These

It was a group of leaders. And I think it's

really important that we we don't just think God only

uses one person. And your role on a team is

super important. Even if you're not the Moses, even if

you're not the Elisha, your role is super super important

because that's how God works.

He works in teams.

Well you know, I mean it's actually a picture of

you know, God designing the church, right and Corinthians. That says,

you know that we are all one members of one body.

And then you know the comparison to the human body,

and says the eye as a function, the hand as

a function, the here is a function, the feet of

a function. And one can't say they're more important than

the other. And they all need each other. They all

have different gifts and they all have different functions, but

it's one body. And so he compares it to the

body of Christ and and and it's and it's it's

a message that says, you know, being a part of

that team, uh is necessary. We every part is necessary.

And and some are you know, featured more than others. Right,

some are highlighted more than others. He even talks about that, right,

dishonorable parts and honorable parts and things like that.

And by the way, that's a good sermon right there.

But you know what is also a great.

Sermon is that sometimes we think only the pastor can

perform this function, right, and yet isn't it amazing how

the how the miracles can come through a servant, right,

not a servant, but an assistant.

I'm not sure if he's a servant or not.

Well, the first one he sent, the sent the one

servant with the staff, that was a servant. That wasn't

a okay in this when he's sending a young prophet.

Yeah, and so and so you know, and here these

guys are carrying the same authority as as Elisha is

telling them that they can have. Because you know, we

have to understand that it's not just the pastor or

the spiritual leader. God equips everybody right, So every Christian,

every Christian has available to them the power of the

Holy Spirit. Right, it's the same power, it's the same blessing,

it's the same uh you know, gift gift mix.

It's everything.

Now, there's different talents, of course, right, there's human talents,

and there's there's there's a measuring of of of of

those things, I'm sure, But in terms of God's power

and his promises and everything else, every Christian is equipped.

And there's the priesthood of every believer where you are

just as qualified and you are just as gifted to

uh be the man or woman of God as as

you know, your spiritual leader.

Yeah. So so this.

Young man going in having the courage, it takes a

certain amount of guts to do that. And there's a

thing recently, I had a meeting with some pretty prominent

faith leaders in our community. Right, famous guys built great churches,

and for a number of years in Southeast Michigan, there

was this very robust network of church leaders and pastors cooperating.

Together doing some really great things.

And then over the years here as these guys have

retired or changed their roles in their primary areas or whatever,

some of that the network and cooperation has slowed down

a little bit, So we kind of convene this group

to say, hey, how do we rebuild this? This is important.

It was really useful to me. Well, you know, when

I showed up in the area as a pastor, I

was thirty four at the time, and I didn't have

a tribe, and all of a sudden, these guys.

Brought me in.

But beyond that, we were doing something special across denominational lines, right,

it was, it was regional, it was a big thing.

It was really amazing. So we're talking about how do

we rebuild that? And the guys got super excited. They

full of vision, just imagining. But you're talking guys late sixties,

early seventies sitting at the table. So there was me,

I'm fifty three, and Chad Asmond he's not fifty three, he's,

you know, in his forties. We're the two youngest guys

at the table. And as we got excited about how

do we recombine all of our networks and how do

we you know, help develop and train, start and strengthen

churches together all this kind of stuff, one of the guys,

very wisely at the end, said this is great, and

I think we should do it unless But I don't

think we should do it unless we come up with

a plan to hand it to the next generation. This

is where we failed ten years ago, is we didn't

have a plan to hand it off. We all just

carried it. So even Jeff can't be the guy who's

running this thing six or seven years from now. We

have to have a plan. So we started talking about it.

And you know, I think you've heard this before. Most

people have the how to train or develop a future leader.

Is there's kind of it's a quadrant, right, leadership quadrant?

So I do you watch? And then I do you help?

And then you do I help, and then finally you

do I watch?

Right?

Was Elishah capable of making this announcement?

Yes, even in his advanced age. This is a guy

who rolled up his coat, smacked the river, and the

river dried so he could walk across.

Right.

I'm sure he could have gone and delivered this, But

in this moment, this is that I'm going to send

you out. I'm going to trust you to be able

to do this thing. So I don't think this is

the So he was a prophet, he wasn't a student.

He's a young prophet. So here's a guy who's gone

through the development, the training. He certainly has a calling

on his life. I doubt this is his very first

time to ever do anything spiritual. But this is the

time where Alishis says, I'm going to send you. You go

by yourself. I don't need to do this one. And

there's something powerful about a leader having raised up others

to be able to send them. The sign of success,

I think is not the older I get now, the

more I think this is true, it's not what I achieve,

it's what I set up to go beyond me.

Right.

And so, hey, Israel's going to need profits after Alisha's gone,

And here's a capable young man. You can go and

speak very dangerous words to very powerful people, right, And.

That's what he's doing. I love what he's doing here.

It's really really wise.

I think it's important for us to learn how to

do that with our own kids, the other young people

in our life. Yes, so full circle back to our

gen Z's jokes to me.

Yeah, that's right, that's right. It did come full circle.

By the way, I want to say one more thing,

just because you brought up the leadership square.

That's what that is. And uh and and this was

this it's a wonderful thing.

If you could picture a square the top of the square,

right and then the first side, second side, third side,

fourth side, and and uh and that's and that's really

a really really really great formula. Right, I do you watch? Okay,

next time I'm gonna do the same thing. You're gonna

help me. Next time you're gonna take the lead, but

I'm gonna be there with you, and you do, I help,

and then the next time you're gonna.

Do I'm gonna watch, but I'm still there right right.

Uh, there there's a there's a uh there's like D one,

D two, D three, D four that's what they call that.

And then there's L one, L two, L three, L four.

And the part that I like.

Is is that as a as a as you develop

as a leader, the first square they call it unconscious

unconscious incompetence, oh right, right, and so it's it's in

other words, like you're incompetent, but you don't.

Know it yet, right, and then tons of confidence. Right,

I'm gonna do this. Yeah, you just don't know what

you don't know.

So The first side is called unconscious incompetence, and then

the second side of the square is conscious incompetence.

Right now you know, now you know.

What you don't know, and now you're like, oh, I'm

mad at this.

And sometimes that can freeze people where they don't want

to go forward to it, yes, because they discovery not

good at the thing.

Yes.

And then there's a third side where you actually hopefully

make it, where you have conscious competence, where you're like,

now you're like, oh my goodness, now I understand that

I've grown in this area.

Right, and then and.

Then but you have to still think about it. You

still got to do the math in your head. You

still got to yes, right, you still got to do

the work of it. It's still you're not quick at

it yet, You're you're you're you're getting where you can

do it.

Yes, But yeah, well, this is the journeys every This

is the journey of every leader. And then and then

you finally arrive and this is supposed to be you

finally get to the place to where you're so good

at it that you don't even realize how good you are.

And so that is called in unconscious competence. Right.

And and so when you're so good at something, you

don't even realize like you need to pass that knowledge

on because because you've gotten so good a you don't

even think about it anymore. Right, And that's when you

need to take on a new.

For listeners, maybe the best one that they can think

of is when they every little kid thinks they can drive.

Look, I could do it. I watch my mom do it.

I can do it. Right.

Then you go to driver's training, you oh, this is oh,

I'm not a very good driver. Right now, you're driving

fifteen miles an hour down the road. You're fading to

the right, fading the left, right, all that kind of stuff.

But then you learn keep your hands at ten and

two you learn to, you know, gradually press the accelerator,

gradually press the brake, anticipating two cars, lanks, all that

kind of stuff. Right you start and so you're consciously

driving with the rules of the road. And during that time,

those are you that are parents. You've got your sixteen

year olds or fifteen year olds sit in the back

seat telling you how you're making all the mistakes driving.

Now, right, you.

Shouldn't enter that an intersection so so late that it

was almost red right, and they start telling all the

rules of the road because they're consciously thinking about they

have a certain amount of competence. They're consciously thinking about

it all the time time, and all the rules all

the time. And then now you just drive, right, you're

not consciously thinking about every single detail of driving.

You just drive.

Yeah, because you're good at it.

Yeah, you got good at it, and that that's kind

of the same thing. That is the order. But you know,

I think a lot of times of getting good at anything,

I think a lot of times people quit when they

find out they're not very good at the thing, or

they quit when it just seems like a lot.

Of work, you know, and it's too soon.

If you just keep going, eventually you just be able

to do it because you can do it.

Yeah, well, you know, it's it's a great it's those

are great things to pull from this very obscure passage, right,

this announcement that happens. You know, there's probably more sermons

in there somewhere, oh.

The right time. Yeah, Like, for instance, I've just moved

by the fact that he sends a young prophet, he

doesn't do it himself.

Yes, And it's and those are great, Those are great

sermons that are found in there. But also what about

the fact that sometimes God gives you a plan for

your life that's very different than the plan that you

planned out right, So I'm sure that that Commander Jehu

had his whole life a pageant, right, and all of

a sudden the Word of God comes along and says,

or you know, God comes along basically and says, guess

what my plans for your life are going to determine

the rest of your life.

And it looks radically.

Different than how you thought your life was going to go, right,

And sometimes that's what happens.

God calls us to do certain things.

And we get invited into certain things, like you know,

like your life change when you got introduced to the

organization that you're so connected with now tti, yeah right now,

did it drastically one hundred percent change? No? But I

would say it altered significantly, yeah, yeah, right, And so

I would say that.

Like there are things in our lives that come our way.

I didn't.

There were so many things that was preparing me for

this role. Yeah yeah, yeah, and different opportunities that I

kept saying yes to that I could have but I

while those opportunities and those preparations were happening, I had

no concept what was coming. But man, I'm glad I

went through all that other development before, you know, so

I was ready for this.

Yeah.

Yeah, but it's true, right, It's it's it's almost like

meeting your your spouse, uh, you know, in the supermarket,

not knowing it's your spouse. Right.

There are just moments in our lives where God has

a plan and we don't realize it in the moment,

but it's like, oh, our entire future is going to

be affected. And and I picked the spouse thing. But

the reality is, sometimes God has a plan. When we

were talking about kingdom things, right, kingdom things, God has

a plan for our lives. Uh. And and and we

didn't we were not even necessarily ever imagine it. We

don't know it's coming. But then all of a sudden,

that's just the way it plans out. And and we

think to ourselves looking back, we're like, wow, who would

have ever thought that this is where I was going

to be? But you know what, God knew it all along,

and he brought it my way, and I just I

prayed about it. I was ambushed by the spirit of

God who said this is where your life is going

to go, and uh, and it's and it's.

Always better, isn't it. It's always better.

We may not prefer at times, but we look back

and say, okay, this is better for me because hey, God,

God's way is is always the better way. So all right, well, hey,

that's our time, so we will see you next time

on the Bible guys.

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