Ten Signs A Leader Is “Losing It!”

I’ve been reading through the OT lately and have been challenged by the downward leadership spiral that Saul went on…here are TEN signs from his life that point to a leader “losing it.”

#1 – The ministry he leads moves from being about the name of God to the name of the leader. (Compare 1 Samuel 14:35 with 1 Samuel 15:12!)

#2 – He gets impatient with the process that God is taking him through and thereby tries to “make something happen” rather than waiting on God’s timing. (1 Samuel 15:5-10)

#3 – He makes self centered leadership decisions that slow down the people he works with rather than empowering them. (1 Samuel 15:24–notice the references to himself in this verse.)

#4 – He refuses to completely obey God because it places him in uncomfortable situation. (1 Samuel 15:1-9)

#5 – He allows fear of man to trump his fear of God. (1 Samuel 15:24)

#6 – He refuses to take action and deal with the obvious issue in front of him…and if anyone attempts to do so he is quick to tell them they cannot! (1 Samuel 17:32-33)

#7 – He cannot celebrate the success of others. (1 Samuel 18:8-9)

#8 – He tries to discredit/destroy anyone or anything that looks like it is successful apart from him–Saul actually became more obsessed with destroying David than he did leading the kingdom! (1 Samuel 18:10:11)

#9 – He resorts to trying to see the spectacular apart from the presence of God. (1 Samuel 28)

#10 – He refuses to deal with the fact that his jealousy, insecurity, disobedience and self reliance is not only going to cost him…but cost others as well! (1 Samuel 31:1-3)

These are thoughts from Perry Noble that I am re-posting. Good thoughts about leadership from King Saul's failure.--David Lemming

I read this blog post this morning by Perry Noble and thought more people could benefit from his look at things "Jesus DIDN'T say." Some of you who are leaders may wish to follow him at his web page for yourselves. Anyway, below are his thoughts that I bring to you.

Perry Noble -- We get things messed up from time to time…especially the words of Jesus…here is what He did NOT say…

1. “They will know you are my disciples by your theology, and the arrogance that accompanies it.” (John 13:35)
2. “Dream really small dreams and make sure you never ask for anything big!” (John 14:12-14, Psalm 2:8)
3. “If someone doesn’t believe just like you believe…make sure to do all you can to attack, criticize and beat them down as much as possible.” (Mark 9:38-41)
4. “Be tolerant of everyone…I am one of the many ways to God.” (John 14:6)
5. “Make sure you make the church about you…that you are served well…please, don’t do anything that might cause you any type of inconvenience. My goal is for you to be happy!” (Matthew 20:28, Luke 9:23-24)
6. “Please, whatever you do, DO NOT tell people the good news…keep it to yourself! The reason I died on the cross is so that you could get into really small groups of people and talk about ‘deep things’ that aren’t going to help anyone when it comes to eternity.” (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Romans 10:17)
7. “Don’t EVER try anything new…don’t ever take a risk…don’t ever take a step of faith. Be AVERAGE!” (Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6)
8. “You can follow me and it will not impact your money at all!” (Matthew 6:19-24)
9. “Pray a prayer to get out of hell…and then live however you want.” (John 14:15, John 14:21)
10. “You can do it without me!” (John 15:5)
11. “I don’t expect you OR your church to be fruitful in any way.” (John 15:4)
12. “Isolate yourself from the world!” (John 17:15)
13. “Make sure there is a time when you question my word because it will one day be no longer relevant.” (Luke 21:33)
14. “Stop crying out to me in desperation…can’t you see I’m busy.” (Mark 10:46-52)

David Lemming -- Pretty good thoughts and some that many of us definitely need to consider.