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SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

Who is a Spiritual Leader?

TEACHING AIM: To communicate that all believers are called to impact others for Christ through their gifts and influence.

WHY STUDY THIS LESSON:Spiritual leaders receive gifts to serve others and exercise those gifts through God’s strength to bring Him glory through Jesus Christ.

DESIRED OUTCOME: To use our God-given gifts and influence to honor God, build up the church, and impact the world for Jesus.

Background Passage: 1 Peter 4

Focal Passage: 1 Peter 4:7-11

  • In light of Christ’s return, pursue prayer, love, and hospitality (vv. 7-9).
  • Believers are to use their gifts to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God (v. 10).
  • Believers are to be diligent in exercising their gifts for the glory of God and the benefit of others (v. 11).

Memory Verse: Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10).

PREPARING TO TEACH

Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I? What are my next steps?This JourneyOn study of Spiritual Leadership can aid believers to discover Christ-centered answers to their questions of identity, purpose, and destination.Some adults may question why they should study spiritual leadership. As a LIFE Group leader you have the privilege and responsibility to urge them to participate in this Bible study by emphasizing: 1. Every believer is a spiritual leader; 2. The Body of Christ needs to understand the responsibilities and challenges of those God has called to lead the church so we can follow, support, and encourage them; 3. As Christ’s followers we are to consistently evaluate our spiritual influence and consider how God is calling us to the next level of leadership.

Read 1 Peter 4, journaling instructions and encouragements this passage offers you as a leader. Read the focal passage, 1 Peter 4:7-11, in at least three different translations, continuing to journal insights and questions.Prayerfully read and complete Lesson 1 in your VentureIn: Spiritual Leadership Travelogue.

Ask the Lord to give adults insight into the unique ways He has gifted them to serve and tomotivate them to use their gifts and influence to impact others for Christ.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

Overcoming Stereotypes

Invite responses to the question posed by the lesson title (Travelogue, p. 9): Who is a spiritual leader?Determine stereotypes believers might need to overcome in order to answer “I am.”

Ask how the Travelogue (p. 9) defines a leader. Discuss: Based on that definition, are you a spiritual leader? Explain.Where do you have influence on others?(Travelogue, p.10).Declare: The real questionisn’t “Am I a spiritual leader?” but “What kind of influence am I having on others?”

Encourage adults to underline the Travelogue (p.9) statement: Leadership is influence and influence is expanded through serving others.State: Another question we need to askis “Am I seeking to expand my influence through self-centered control or Christ-centered service?” Our answerreveals whether we’re leading the world’s way or God’s way.

Today’s study challenges and encourages usto lead God’s way by using our unique gifts and influence toserve and make an impact for Christ.

Teaching Option

Invite the group to describestereotypical spiritual leaders. (Stereotypes may range from three-piece suits, big hair, and a big Bible to plaid shirts, hipster glasses, and beards.) Have fun with this without being disrespectful. The goal isn’t to mock anyone but to emphasizebelievers must overcome stereotypes of spiritual leadership in order to understand we are all leaders.

You are Gifted

Request a volunteer read 1 Peter 4:7-11. Ask: The words leadership and influence aren’t anywhere in this passage–how can it be instructions for spiritual leaders?State the key is in verse 10, this lesson’s memory verse. Encourage adults to read 1 Peter 4:10 aloud in unison. Inquire: What basic truths about spiritual leadership do we gain from this verse?Record responses on a writing surface.

Declare one truth is that God has gifted every follower of Christ. Explain some understand gift in a narrow sense while others view it in a broader fashion. Identify Peter’s primary meaning of the word “gift.” Explain the gifts mentioned in 1 Peter 4:11 summarize the two major categories of spiritual gifts—speaking (verbal) and serving (non-verbal)—that are listed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. Many believe these passages are not an exhaustive list of the many varied ways God gifts Christ’s followers.

Ask: How have you experienced the truth of the Traveloguestatement (p. 11): Discovering your spiritual gift or gifts and using them is part of the adventure of being a Christian.Explore how believers can discern their spiritual gifts. (Prayer; study;spiritual gift surveys; pay attention to what energizes and engages you and causes you to feel a deeper connection with God; try a ministry to discover if you’re gifted in that area; ask other believers what gifts they see in you.)

Teacher Helps

Find a helpful discussion ofspiritual gifts and a spiritual gifts survey at

Although you may not be able to make copies for each participant due to copyright issues, you can certainly provide adults this URL and encourage them to take the survey.

State spiritual gifts are implanted in our spiritual DNA when we are born again. We also have natural talents and abilities in our human DNA that God can and wants to use for His glory and the good of others. Determine the natural talents represented in your LIFE Group.

Discuss: Regardless of whether Peter referred to “gift” in the narrow or broadsense–what’s the point of God gifting every believer?Read the final paragraph of this section beginning: You are one of God’s gifted children(Travelogue, p.11).

Urge adults if they have not completed the personal evaluation activities about spiritual gifts and natural abilities (Travelogue, pp. 11 and 12) to do so sometime this week. Encourage them to meet with another believer to discuss these evaluations.

Teacher Tip

PLACE is Brentwood Baptist’s primary means of helping believers discover their gifts and connect with God’s ministry assignments in ways that best utilize those gifts. Urge adults who have not participated in PLACE to do so soon, and urge adults who have participated to recommit to join God in His work using their unique gifts and influence. For more information see brentwoodbaptist.com/ministries/placeor check with your pastor about assistance your church offers believers in discovering their spiritual gifts.

Leadership is Stewardship

Point out from 1 Peter 4:10 that believers are to use their gifts to serve others and be goodmanagers of all God has given us. Guide the group to define the term steward. Discuss: What do you usually think of when you hear the term stewardship? How is spiritual stewardship about far more than money?

Explore how believers can be faithful stewards of gifts God has given us. (Use them, develop them, take new directions with gifts when God leads.) Declare: God does not give us gifts for self-advancement but for selfless serving. When we use our gifts to serve others, we are faithful leaders passing on the benefits of God’s grace to others. Discuss the Travelogue (p.13) question: Since your leadership role is a gift from God, how does that change how you approach it?

A Recipe for Servant-BASED Success

Assert: Faithful disciples of Jesus want to be positive influential leaders who impact the world for Jesus. But we don’t always know how. 1 Peter 4:7-9 offers a three-fold recipe for servant success.

Encourage adults to state the first ingredient in this recipe identified in 7b. Discuss: Why must we be disciplined for prayer? How do we demonstrate we take prayer seriously? Can we really lead people if we don’t seriously pray for them? Explain your reasoning. Emphasize prayer is hard work. Believers must take prayer seriously, being intentional and focused as we pray for others. Guide the group to examine why prayer is a powerful way to influence others.

Request adults identify the second servant-success strategy (v. 8). Explore how adults maintain their homes and vehicles and why. (Stay attentive. Have regular checkups. Fix what’s broken. Replace what’s worn out. Get rid of some things. Keep it clean.) Acknowledge it costs money, time, and energy to maintain homes and vehicles, but the result is safety and usefulness. Ask: How can we apply those principles to maintaining sacrificial, selfless,intense lovefor each other?

Evaluate what Peter meant and did not mean with his quotation of Proverbs 10:12. Love covers a multitude of sins does not meanbelievers ignore, justify, or condone sin or that our love atones for another’s sins. It does mean we give people a break for being fallible humans, and we forgive repeatedly when people hurt us. The way believers respond to hurts will have a huge impact on our families, churches, and communities.

Teaching Option

Give each adult a rubber band.Ask them to stretch it as far as possible andprivatelyconsider:How far does your love stretch? Read from the Holman New Testament Commentary: This word [intense] means “to be stretched.” True agape love is constantly being stretched to the limit by the demands made on it. This is precisely where agape love shines, because it is not exhausted when it becomes difficult or inconvenient.1Urge adults to keep that rubber band as a reminder to prayerfully develop and maintain a love for others that doesn’t snap under pressure.

Invite adults to identify the third ingredient in Peter’s recipe for servant-success (v. 9). Discuss: Is Christian hospitality opening up our homes, opening up our lives, or both? Explain your reasoning.Brainstorm specific ways adults can open their homes and lives to others to have a positive spiritual influence. Examine why Peter added the comment without complaining.

Point out some recipes need to be followed exactly so ingredients interact in the proper way; other recipes provide basic ingredients and allow room for individuality. Ask: Which do you think this recipe for servant-based success is? Why?

Leadership is about God’s Glory

Discuss: We’ve all heard sad accounts of prominent spiritual leaders who have fallen–what leads to those moral and spiritual failings? What principles can we gain from verse 11 that can help us lead God’s way and avoid serious pitfalls of leadership?Why is it absolutely essential that we rely on God’s strength as we use our gifts? What is the only right objective for influencing others by serving them? Discuss the Travelogue (p.17) suggestions for bringing glory to God amidleadership successes.

Getting Motivated

Acknowledge it’s against our nature to serve sacrificially and give God glory and others credit for our successes. The only way we can do something so countercultural is if we have the proper motive. Ask: According to 1 Peter 4:7, what is our motivation for leading God’s way?Invite volunteers to state in their own words what comes after therefore.

Conclusion

Emphasize again: We are all spiritual leaders. We all have gifts and influence. It’s up to us to use those positively to serve others and honor Christ.

Invite adults to share what they have gained from this study about how to lead God’s way and have great kingdom influence and impact in this world.

State the first course of action may need to be repentance for seeking to influence through self-centered control rather than Christ-centered service. Allow time for private prayer, then close with prayer.

Follow Through

Email group participants.

*Include a link to the LifeWay Spiritual Gifts Survey:

*Affirm the spiritual gifts you observe in them, and/or offer your prayerful guidance in helping them discover and put to use their unique gifts and influence.

*Encourage them to memorize 1 Peter 4:10 and make it their goal to use their God-given gifts and influence to honor God, build up the church, and impact the world for Jesus.

1. David Walls and Max Anders, Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, Vol. 11 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 72.

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