Brokenness can lead us to God.
Our Guest: Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips is Vice President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he leads in sharing the Lord’s vision to spread the Gospel by every effective means and to equip others to do the same. He desires to see revival in America and seeks out pockets of the light of spiritual awakening.
Scriptures and Key Points on Brokenness:
- Leadership is an aspect of humility.
- Revival is nothing but a renewed church coming back to normal christianity.
- We are inadequate. The Holy Spirit is adequate. As He flows through us, we become adequate.
Proverbs 22:4 NKJV By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.
“What’s more important: helping a man or woman have quality of life for 70 years or helping a man or woman have life eternal?”
“Let others live on the raw edge of the cutting edge. You and I shall live on the edge of eternity.” – Leonard Ravenhill
- Out of obedience comes fulfillment.
“The next great move of the Spirit of God could easily come in the marketplace.” – Billy Graham
- God uses our own pride, if sublimated to Him in obedience, to carry us into the servant leadership position.
“I didn’t call you to be any of those things. I called you to share Jesus with others”
There’s something about surrendering in brokenness to whatever God calls us to do.
- Your calling is what God puts you into, whatever that may be.
1 Timothy 3:1 TPT If any of you aspires to be an overseer in the church; you have set your heart toward a noble ambition, for the word is true!
Jeremiah 45:5 NKJV And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them…
- God moved me from myself, from my brokenness, towards Him.
- I’ve seen God work spiritual surgery.
- Ambition is God’s and we have to fling away our own and let Him flow through us.
“A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of the external situation…The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether as ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.” – A.W. Tozer
- The sovereignty of God, obedience, and humility are keywords for us as servant leaders.
Titus 1:1 NKJV Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…
- We need the substance of God’s word and His presence more than ever before.
Matthew 9:17 NKJV Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
No leader sets out to fail.
Proverbs 13:12 NKJV Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 17:22 NKJV A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.
“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.” – A. W. Tozer
- We want the light of Christ to shine in us in such a way that others see Christ, not us.
- Because of their utter commitment to the Gospel, they were able to be committed to each other regardless of their differences.
- Ambition went to the wayside because they were able to confront each other.
- My greatest brokenness was in finding myself. When God held the mirror of Jesus in front of me, I saw myself reflected against His purity and saw my black spots.
James 5:7 NKJV Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
“Never take yourself so seriously, only take God serious.” – Leonard Ravenhill
- God’s calling is a privilege.
“Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambitions: By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then, The image of his Maker, hope to profit by it?” – Henry VIII, Shakespeare
“Our word “ambition” derives from the latin word meaning “canvassing for promotion”…ambitious men and women enjoy the power that money or authority brings. Such carnal ambitions were roundly rebuked. A true leader will never canvas for promotion.” – Spiritual Leadership, J Oswald Sanders
- The secret to success is to be able to die to your own name
- There’s power in the posture of humility.
Luke 21:13 NKJV But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
It is a daily battle to die to self, to be broken before God.
- We expect the Holy Spirit to bring His movement to His kids for them to be so like Jesus that the world will say, “I want to be like that!”
“Revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat.” – Charles Finney
“There are no great men or women of God. There’s just a great God and He’s willing to be as great as He is in and through anyone who will make themselves available.” – Ian Thomas
Matthew 6:33 NKJV But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
- Meditate on the Word; Pray the Word; Speak the Word; Spread the Word.
Colossians 3:16 NKJV Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Books
Spiritual Leadership by J Oswald Sanders
Revival of Holiness by J.C. Ryle and Tom Phillips
Ignite Your Passion for Jesus by Tom Phillips
Revival Now by James Burns and Tom Phillips
Leaders on Leadership by George Barna
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