God, a Man, and Men: Leading God's people, #7

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

God calls to spiritual leadership all who make spiritual progress. All believers are called to be spiritual leaders. Some will lead one person, others will lead ten people and others still will lead one thousand and so forth. You are a spiritual leader! Someone is looking up to you to lead him to Christ or to lead him along the Christian way. You must become and continue to be the leader that God meant you to be.

God has called you to lead one, two, ten, one hundred, one thousand or more people. He has called you to lead them out of the captivity of sin and self into the fullness of the obedient and sanctified life. In order to do and finish your job, you must be rightly related to Him. Spiritual leadership is conditioned on a profound and intimate knowledge of God. The spiritual leader is a man hungry for God, a seeker after God. Without a deep and intimate knowledge of God, any leadership that is exercised is merely based on natural talent and this can never satisfy the heart of God.

Leadership is conditioned on a life sacrificed, spent and sold out for others. Without this, a man may just be a seeker after God. As a result of this investment in others, a seeker after God also becomes a seeker of men; this is spiritual leadership.

God gives limitless authority to those whom He places in leadership. He backs them without any reservation but judges them with the greatest severity. Divine privileges carry with them great responsibilities. All who are called by God to leadership must walk carefully before Him lest they be disqualified.

Victory is possible for the obedient leader. Be one such.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: Feb 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223224525

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

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PREFACE

The messages in this book were preached during two leadership courses in the city of Yaounde in the years 1979 and 1980. They are produced here just as they were prepared for those meetings. There was no thought in our minds then that they would ever go into print. God has however confirmed many of the things that He led us to share with His people then and we feel led to put them into book form and share them with as many of His children as He will allow us to.

God calls to spiritual leadership all who make spiritual progress. All believers are called to be spiritual leaders. Some will lead one person, others will lead ten people and others still will lead one thousand and so forth. You are a spiritual leader! Someone is looking up to you to lead him to Christ or to lead him along the Christian way. You must become and continue to be the leader that God meant you to be.

God has called you to lead one, two, ten, one hundred, one thousand or more people. He has called you to lead them out of the captivity of sin and self into the fullness of the obedient and sanctified life. In order to do and finish your job, you must be rightly related to Him. Spiritual leadership is conditioned on a profound and intimate knowledge of God. The spiritual leader is a man hungry for God, a seeker after God. Without a deep and intimate knowledge of God, any leadership that is exercised is merely based on natural talent and this can never satisfy the heart of God.

Leadership is conditioned on a life sacrificed, spent and sold out for others. Without this, a man may just be a seeker after God. As a result of this investment in others, a seeker after God also becomes a seeker of men; this is spiritual leadership.

God gives limitless authority to those whom He places in leadership. He backs them without any reservation but judges them with the greatest severity. Divine privileges carry with them great responsibilities. All who are called by God to leadership must walk carefully before Him lest they be disqualified.

Victory is possible for the obedient leader. Be one such.

These messages are sent out with prayer that the Lord would use them to reach out to the needs of some in the Body of His Son; they are sent out with prayer that the Lord would use them to encourage those who are called to leadership in the ministry of the Bride of His Son.

11 October 1987

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

B.P. 6090 Yaounde - Cameroon.

1

THE CALLING OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER

God does not just appoint leaders at random. Leaders are appointed to God’s specifications. First of all, there must be a situation.

A SITUATION

In the case of Moses, the situation was caused by the death of the king of Egypt and the resulting suffering of the children of Israel. The Bible says,

In the course of those days the king of Egypt died. And the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God (Exodus 2:23).

Their cry did not only come up to the Lord. God heard it. The Bible says,

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew their condition (Exodus 2:24-25).

GOD BECOMES ONE WITH THE SITUATION

There can be a situation with which God does not identify. Such a situation is more or less useless. However, the situation at hand was different. God became one with it. The Bible says,

Then the LORD said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings (Exodus 3:7).

It is a wonderful thing to have God identify with a situation. God says, I have seen, I have heard and I know. These are the words that indicate involvement. Man can see, hear and know, yet remain uninvolved; but how wonderful our God is! He cares and He is involved. Glory be to His holy name.

GOD TAKES MOVES TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

The Lord said,

And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Exodus 3:8).

God is no dreamer. He acts. I have come down to deliver them are words of action. They tell of how far-reaching the move is. He is personally involved in the beginning and is at the centre of it. So, here we come face to face with a work whose originator is God. This is a holy work. All work which has God as originator is God’s work. All other work that does not so originate is, at best man’s work.

God did not only originate the work. He gave it very clearly defined traits. It was not a general work. Here we see a number of things about a work of God.

God’s work is first of all a deliverance work - to deliver out of the land of Egypt, out of the bondage of Egypt, out of the Egypt of sin and the old life, out of the bondage of sin and sinful habits. So God wants people to be brought up out of the bondage of sin. This is God’s primary purpose for all men: deliverance from sin and the products of sin.

God’s work goes beyond deliverance. It includes granting new position, a new status. He brings up out of the Egypt of sin and He brings to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The new life in Christ into which the young convert is brought is nothing less than a good life, a life flowing with milk and honey. Jesus said, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Any believer who is experiencing anything less than an abundant life is sub-normal.

God’s work must be done. God says, I have come to do it. He wants it done. He will do it. He cannot fail. The thought of God failing must be rejected forever. What God has willed will come to pass. He is not like man who may have good will but lack the power to bring that good will to pass. The whole satanic kingdom cannot in the final analysis frustrate God’s purpose. God will succeed. The Lord of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed so shall it stand (Isaiah 14:24). My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. … I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it (Isaiah 46:10b,11b).

GOD’S FULLNESS OF TIME

When God decides to do something, He may not move at once. He has His timing. The Lord Jesus said,

… My time has not yet come but your time is always here (John 7:6).

The Bible says,

But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law (Galatians 4:4,5).

So, God acts in the fullness of His time. Many ruin their walk with God and destroy their service for Him by acting ahead of, or lagging behind Him. About the deliverance of the children of Israel, God said,

And now… (Exodus 3:9).

May we be tuned to God and in step with Him, being sensitive to His moves and His timing.

GOD APPOINTS A PERSON

God in His sovereignty has decided to limit Himself to the availability of the right human vessels. God has decided not to act until He finds someone through whom to act. God, having decided that Israel must be delivered had to find a human instrument through whom to work. He had to find a leader.

The choice of a leader is God’s prerogative. He seeks the advice of no one. He determines standards in His choices that sometimes baffle us. We must leave the choice with Him. We dare not question Him. God said to Moses,

Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10).

Of Saul it was said,

When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall rule over my people (1 Samuel 9:17).

Of David He said,

I have provided for myself a king among his sons (1 Samuel 16:1).

God’s choice is something that has been done even from eternity.

Of Jeremiah, He said,

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).

Paul said,

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me... (Galatians 1: 15-16a);

and the Lord talking about him says,

…For he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel (Acts 9:15).

God’s choice of leadership, being something determined from eternity, always has an eternal purpose. God’s work is irrevocably tied to His eternal purpose. That eternal purpose is that there would be a body (bride) for His eternal Son—a body spotless, without wrinkle and without blemish. All work that is originated by God and has the establishment of the Church as the goal is God’s work. All other activities, work, are not God’s work.

GOD REVEALS HIS HOLINESS TO THE APPOINTED PERSON

The leader must be appointed by God, but that appointment is not all that is necessary. There must be a revelation of His holiness to that person. In the case of Moses, God appeared to him in the burning bush and said to him,

Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground (Exodus 3:5).

God is holy. All who are to walk with Him must know Him as the holy One. This knowledge will awaken in the person a deep hunger for holiness. No one who is called into leadership can remain the same. His old life, old desires, old ambitions, and so on must go. God is committed to working this out in the would-be leader. To escape from this is also to escape from leadership.

When God reveals His holiness to someone, it will create in the person such a hatred for sin that the slightest sin would cause him deep pain and anguish of heart. The knowledge of God’s holiness will create in him a desire to be so sin-free that he will have nothing to hide. The would-be leader has no choice but to be transparent! May all who are called to lead the Church of the Holy One labour with God and take no rest until that is accomplished in their lives.

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE APPOINTED PERSON

It is not enough to know the holiness of God. God Himself must be known. No-one can go far in the school of leadership without a personal knowledge of God. Yet, no-one can know God on his own. God must reveal Himself to someone. The Lord Jesus said,

…I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:25-27).

When God reveals Himself, He can then be known. To Moses God said,

I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6).

Moses was not satisfied with this, so he asked for more knowledge and God said to him, I AM. When God revealed Himself as I AM, He included in Himself everything and thus gave to those who had Him and who have Him everything.

This revelation at the beginning of the life of fellowship between the would-be leader and God is fundamental. However, we must know clearly that it was just the beginning. As the leader goes on with God, there will be further revelation. We shall see this as we go on in this study.

GENERAL SERVICE BEFORE PERSONAL REVELATION

From the moment that anyone receives the Lord as his Saviour, he is called upon to serve the Lord. He is expected to do the general services of the kingdom—prayer, evangelism, giving to the Lord, and others. No one needs a special revelation to do this. All must be involved. No believer must ever say, God must give me a special revelation in order that I should join the local church in giving to the Lord or in evangelism. However, those services, though good, are general. A day will come when by revelation, one receives something specific and unique from the Lord. From that day, that task that is received will become the one goal of his life. This difference between general service and the ministry received by divine revelation is well illustrated in the life of Samuel. It was said of him,

And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD (1 Samuel 2:21).

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature in favour with the LORD and with men (1 Samuel 2:26).

And the boy ministered to the LORD (1 Samuel 2:11).

Samuel carried out all these ministries. It was general ministry. It was not the product of revelation to him, as an individual. The Bible says,

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him (1 Samuel 3:7).

Before Samuel could enter into his specific ministry, he needed a personal revelation of the Lord to him and personal impartation of the word of God to him so that he might see. This double work of the Lord is seen in the two-fold call he received. The Lord called out,

Samuel, Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4).

In the double call, the Lord seemed to be saying (1) I call you to know me in a general way. (2) I call you to know me in a special way. (1) I call you to receive general revelation. (2) I call you to receive specific revelation. (1) I call you to know Me. (2) I call you to bring others to know Me."

Moses also received a two-fold call, for the Lord called out,

…Moses, Moses (Exodus 3:4).

Saul who later became Paul, also received a similar two-fold call, Saul, Saul. All who are called to specific service will receive a two-fold call from the Lord. Every believer is to be busy with the general affairs of the kingdom until he receives a specific call.

RECEIVING REVELATION FROM THE LORD

Every person who is already serving the Lord in the general ministry can miss God’s voice when He speaks to him. Samuel was serving the Lord but he did not know Him in that intimate way. When God called out, he thought that it was Eli who had called for he was accustomed to Eli’s voice. Samuel mistook God’s voice three times until Eli taught him what to do.

Many in the Church will miss God’s voice. Many will not be able to discern God’s voice from man’s voice. Many will be confused and perplexed. Many will need to be told how to receive revelation from the Lord, how to discern when God speaks. The big question is: are there enough people in the Church who are accustomed to hearing God’s voice who will be able to help the young believer to receive revelation from the Lord? Are there enough people in the Church who have heard God’s voice often and again who can guide the younger believer into an intimate knowledge of God’s will? May God raise up in the Church many who, out of many revelations and encounters with God, will be able to say,

Go lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for thy servant hears’ (1 Samuel 3:9).

God is wonderfully patient with beginners. May all who are in the beginning of a spiritual career in leadership take heart. The Lord was prepared to patiently call for Samuel four times. He will not do less for you if your heart is bent on satisfying Him. Do not be discouraged if you make one mistake. Go on with Him. He will lead you along the path of continuous revelation. He will go on with you until He has established your leadership. He did that for Samuel. He did it for Moses. He has done it for thousands of others whom He has graciously called into spiritual leadership. He will not make you an exception.

GOD REVEALS THE NEED AND THE SITUATION TO THE WOULD-BE LEADER

God had found a man for the job. Now God must reveal the needs of the situation to Moses. He said,

Behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them (Exodus 3:9).

Their cry went up to God. He saw the oppression. He felt their pain and experienced their agony. He was deeply involved. He wanted the situation to change because it was hurting Him. It is as if God felt the wounds that the children of Israel were receiving in Egypt. In that sense, to minister to them would automatically mean to minister to the Lord.

God feels the pain of this broken and lost humanity. He feels the pains of a hurting, bleeding world. He gave Jesus because He felt how acute the pain was. Since the Lord was thus involved in the agony of the Israelites in Egypt, it was imperative that the one who would go out as their human deliverer be introduced to the same agony and in that way become totally one with the people in their pain. So, God revealed the situation to Moses. The purpose of this revelation was that Moses might experience in the spirit the same agony, pain and suffering without which he would not truly be their leader.

Leadership is conditioned upon a life sacrificed for others. Those who bleed and suffer receive the authority of leadership. Those who establish a big gap between themselves and the agony of the people will never be spiritual leaders. Ranks, titles and offices may be given, but when the Lord finds an obedient heart and the revelation (and its accompanying suffering, loss, disgrace, …) is received in totality, a ministry is born for the receiver of the revelation.

God looks into the hearts of men before He imparts revelation. It is said of the Lord Jesus about His first miracles,

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man (John 2:23-25).

God only imparts revelation to those in whose hearts He sees the willingness to follow Him at any cost. All others are allowed to go away unblessed. God knows our hearts. He knows my heart, He knows yours. With that knowledge in mind, can God commit Himself to you? Can He reveal His need to you?

When God reveals his need, He also specifies and clarifies the mission. No one dares to lead the church of the Lord without having received from the Lord by specific and special revelation the direction to lead the church in.

THE LIMITATIONS FOR PERSONAL MINISTRY

God’s fullest purpose was,

…To deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land... (Exodus 3:8).

However, because God knew that Moses would fail ultimately and therefore not carry out His fullest purpose, to him God said,

Come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10).

God’s goal included deliverance from Egypt and occupation of the Promised Land. Moses’ commission was only limited to Israel’s deliverance. He could not carry out God’s total purpose, so God limited him only to part of it.

God’s purpose will be fulfilled. He will do it. He will call up people to work with Him. When He finds people who co-operate with Him and are fully obedient, He will go far with them. When they fail, He will push them aside and continue to accomplish His purpose by using other men. God’s work will always continue. Men’s work may end but His will never be stopped. Glory be to His name!

So we see that Moses received a commission that was a part of the whole. He finished what he had received. Paul finished his course even though the whole purpose of God for the church is far from complete. Earlier in his life, Jesus had said to him,

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen of me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your own people and from the Gentiles—to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:15-18).

Later on in life, as he was pressing on to the finish he said,

But I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

Towards