Todd Phillips, pastor of Front Line, a ministry at McLean Bible Church presented at the RightNow Conference 2010.  He spoke to young leaders on excelling within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives.

In order to buy into this concept, you’ve got to buy into the concept that God’s in control.

Because we’ve never built a life.  Only God has.

3 truths for all leaders to remember:

  • We are all under authority.  Even the senior pastors and elders.
  • We’re not going to agree with every decision made by those in authority over us.
  • We have been given a certain breadth of responsibility and authority and no more.
Question:
How do we excel within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives?

Because we all see boundaries as those things that are holding us back from the best God has for us.  But God places limits in our lives to limit ours (or others) movement. There is true joy in submitting to the boundaries God has placed in our lives.  And when we submit to those boundaries, God can use us to the fullest.

Joshua is the poster child for maximizing the boundaries for his chapter and station in life.  Joshua experienced the plagues.  Then he experienced the move from Egypt.  Then he went in to check out the land, and was ready to lead the people into the land.  Then he listened to the nation of Israel complaining, in Numbers 14:1-9.

Joshua had an incredible leaning on God.  He knew that He and God were always in the majority.  Which is so important to remember, because God has a history of taking us out of our comfort zones, out of our current environments, to teach us to lean on Him.  In other words, character-building is God’s plan for us.

3 things we can learn from Joshua’s life:

1. Excel where God has placed you. Remember…Joshua did what was right, and still had to wander in the desert for 40 years.  Joshua had to suffer for the poor decisions of others.  Have you ever been in a situation like that.

If results were the key, we’d have a right to be upset when things weren’t going well.  But the key is what God does with us through the trial/injustice/pain/suffering, often brought on by other people.

Question

God, how do you want to use me right now?

2. Simply refuse to let bitterness take root. Nowhere do we find in Scripture an example of Joshua growing bitter in the desert.  He assessed his reality, and began to excel within that.

It’s scary the number of people who have fallen into the habit of badmouthing the people who are over them…instead of learning from them.

Every good decision that the person in authority makes over you is a chance from you to learn what to do…or what not to do. – Max Lucado

It is highly valuable to learn what not to do.

3. Young leaders…when you’re ready to leave, stay just a little bit longer. Never be running from anything.  Try to find what God’s teaching you in it.  Todd shared the story of his son, who left a football game before the end, because they assumed his team was going to lose.  Turns out that they won.  And if they’d stayed just a little bit longer, they would’ve experienced the win.

*When you’re most certain you know what God’s calling you to do…seek counsel.

*Seek counsel from people who are older and wiser, not older and dumber.

Are you excelling within your boundaries?