Message Notes

(I) AWARENESS OF THE WORK OF THE DEVIL

1. Pauline epistles

a) Battling powerful enemies (Ephesians 6:10-18)

b) The devil is called “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

2. Pastoral epistles

a) False doctrines inspired by demons (1 Timothy 4:1)

b) No one is spared from attacks (1 Timothy 5:15)

(II) LEADERS UNDER ATTACK!

1. Leadership in the context of the church (1 Timothy 3)

2. Leadership under attack

a) Weak leadership will undermine the strength of the church

b) Weak leadership will unsettle the Church

(III) ATTACKS LAUNCHED AGAINST LEADERS

1. The novice leader

“Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” 1 Timothy 3:6

a) Ideally a novice should not be made a leader

b) But sometimes circumstances result in a novice being made a leader

c) Secular thinking sometimes cause novices to be made leaders

d) His Achilles heel- “pride”

2. The life of the leader Outside the Church

“Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” 1 Timothy 3:7

a) Life and a good testimony inside the Church

b) Life and a good testimony outside the Church

c) “Fall into reproach”

A reference to “disgrace”

d) “The snare of the devil”

This was the trap laid by the evil one for the unsuspecting leader!

God, Give Us Men!

God, give us men! A time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honour; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand  before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking;

For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,

Their large professions and their little deeds,

Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,

Wrong rules the land and Justice sleeps!

– Josiah Gilbert Holland –