Date: January 29, 2019 ()

Bible Text: |

Series:

We are talking about leadership skills in the 21st century. This is a great series of four DVD’s. I hope that you get them and learn how to be a great leader, with your family, with your children, or maybe even with a Girl Scout or Boy Scout troop or some other group that involves young people who need to be trained to be leaders. You start early teaching people the attributes of being a good leader. As a leader, it is your responsibility to identify who is good at what. Not everyone is good at everything. As a leader, whether in a business, a corporation, a government office, you have to learn to work with all kinds of people who have all kinds of talents. I have discovered that a lot of people have no idea what they are good at. Most people are very talented in so many ways, and they do not put enough importance on something they do. If you can help them identify it, you know who to go to when you need someone. When they have an opportunity to do something, it has been identified in them and they might think they can do it. I can give you can example of how to do this in your family. When my son was about 12 or 13, he was in that stage of life where kids pick on you or mock you. There is an age from about the 5th grade up to about the 10th grade where some people are going to bully you, pick on you and ignore you. All children feel this. Your job as the leader of your home and your children is to help your children determine what they are really good at. I sat down with my son and said, “Let’s talk about all the things that I know you are good at, you know you are good at, and people around you have said you are good at.” We listed as many as we could and came up with a long list. Actually, it surprised him. Then I told him, “Let’s go ahead and talk about the negative things and see what you could work on.” We listed some, but I made sure it was not as many as the strong traits. Most people can tell you everything they are bad at. When you say, “What is the call of God on your life? What are you good at,” and they say “Well, I don’t know. Maybe I . . . “ It is your job to help them identify it.

The lesson today is on identifying personality traits, talents and gifts from God. You know you have all three of them and you need to know what yours are. I want to encourage you to get a piece of paper and take some time, maybe even over a two week period, and ask yourself, “What am I good at? Where have I seen myself succeed? What has God said to me? What have other people said to me?” (Look at this picture of many different personality types). God has made a lot of people in different ways. I remember reading a quote by Abraham Lincoln and he said, “God must have really loved the common man because he sure did make a lot of them.” That is true. All you have to do is go to the mall to see the different kinds of people. (Look at this second picture of future leaders). How do you recognize who a future leader is going to be? How do you recognize it in your children or grandchildren? How do you recognize it in the people that you have been called to be over in a ministry or in a business. In discussing personality traits, there are a lot of tests you can find on the internet to identify personality types, to identify talents and to identify spiritual gifts. You can google all of those on the internet and tests will come up that you can take. You can print them and have people in your company or your organization take these tests.

Today I want to talk about the four basic traits. I learned all of this about 40 years ago from Tim LaHaye and Florence Littauer. These types have been around and identified for centuries. The names of these four types are unusual so I am going to give you an animal name to help you think of them easier.

The first type is the Choleric. An animal name for this type of person would be a lion. They are a natural born leader. They take charge, make decisions fast, stand strong in the middle of people coming against them. They are very decisive, and they see the big picture. They have tremendous leadership skills, almost inbred in them. Is there such a thing as a born leader? Yes there is and one of these people would probably be one. You can become a great leader without being born one. You can learn and you can become one.

Another personality would be the Sanguine. The animal for this type would be an otter. What do you think of when you think of an otter? This would be a happy, playful person who is the life of the party. Everyone likes to be around them. They are always in a good mood, rarely depressed. They make life fun and enjoyable and you are attracted to people like that.

The opposite of the Sanguine would be a Phlegmatic. The animal that symbolizes a Phlegmatic would be a golden retriever. They are easygoing and calm. Things do not ruffle them very easily. They are very patient and very diplomatic. They do not make people angry. I am married to one, and I just think they are great.

The fourth personality type is a Melancholy. This sounds like it would be someone sad and depressed, but actually that is just the name that was given to them. The animal name for this type of person would be a beaver. Think about as busy as a beaver. They are busy, they are detailed. They are putting a dam up. Have you ever seen a beaver dam? They are built out of all kinds of sticks and other matter, and even big logs. They work and work and do that just right. That is an example of a Melancholy. They are deep thinkers. They are very analytical. They ask a lot of questions. They are self-sacrificing and they are introspective.

God has made you where you are one of those, and then there is another one that you are, too. Out of the ones I have just name, which two would you say you are? The lion - Choleric; the otter – Sanguine; the golden retriever – Phlegmatic; or the beaver – Melancholy. I would say that I am a Sanguine Choleric. I love to have fun, I love to laugh and cut up, but I love to lead and I love to be in charge. I love to work with people, to lead them, and to do great things for God. I am married to my opposite. Opposites need each other. I certainly do. My husband is a Melancholy, but he is primarily a Phlegmatic. We work really well together because the two of us become one and we work great. Opposites really need each other. Whatever you are doing, whether a business, a corporation, or a club, you need to have all kinds of people helping you. Each one of these personality types will find a place to fit in and do a really good job. Any one of the four makes a good leader. They have certain things they have to learn based on that personality but they can do it. You look for those people. If you know this about people and if you study this, you will have a better idea of where to put people. You might not want a Phlegmatic, a quiet, reserved person, leading a cheer. You more likely need that Sanguine getting everyone fired up. Yet all four can do it. Each is so important to a team and each one has its place. Teamwork can get so much more done than one person by themselves. Just be sure they are fit in that and do not try to change them. God made them that way.

If you have been married very long, you know that in the early days you tried to change your mate. You married them because you loved the way they were, but when you get married you tried to change them. I had been married about five years and a book by Tim LaHaye, The Spirit Controlled Temperament, came across my path. I read that and read the personality types. I was so surprised and thought, “You mean God made him like that and God likes him like that? God made millions of people like that? Do you mean that God made me like I am? God is going to change me?” I was so happy to read that because then I learned to let him be who he is, and you be who you are, but you are different.

Another great book I want to encourage you to read is Good to Great. It is a secular book, but it talks about why some corporations and the leaders at the head of them do such a good job. You might think the flashier the leader, the better the corporation in this book. That is not right. They said that leader stands behind the scenes a lot and encourages people to take the lead. One thing that was said in that book was, “There are good corporations and there are great corporations. The main thing the great corporations have learned is to let go quickly of people who are not a fit for them.” They do it quicker than others. You need to learn as a leader who you can work with and who you cannot. Who can do the job you need done and who cannot.

You can recognize in a person, almost from birth, how they are going to be in their personality. Their talents come along slowly and they have to be developed. Do you realize there are things you have not even done yet that you could be really good at. When it came along, you might think “Oh no, I couldn’t do that. I certainly couldn’t.” Somebody encouraged you and helped you, and then you researched and searched, and dug in, and stayed with it. Suddenly you discovered you had a real talent for doing something. I can give you an example out of my own life. I used to say, “I am not very creative. Other people are real creative and I am not.” One day someone came to me and said, “Betty, that is not true about you. You are very creative.” I said, “I am?” They said, “Yes. Just look around.” They began to point out ways that I was creative that I had never even noticed. If they had not pointed them out, I probably would have gone my whole life saying “I am not creative.” Once they said that to me, I began to go for it. You need to go for it. You need to listen to what these people are telling you about what you are good at and step out. Be willing to make mistakes like the rest of us. Be willing to learn. There is a learning curve for everything you do. About the time this happened to me, someone said, “I think you would be really good at doing makeup on people.” I thought, “Oh no, I don’t even know how to do my own.” I had to learn, and then I got really good at it because I worked at it so much. It was an undiscovered talent. Probably one of the greatest things a leader can do is to be able to look at people and know what they would be good at, and then encouraging and supporting them until they take hold and believe in it. Help them list these talents. Help them identify these talents. Even write them down. Find tests for them to take. We live in such a different world today. You can google just about anything you need to know. You do not have to go the library, you do not have to buy the books. You can get it on the internet.

What is a Scripture that God talks about in the Bible that says what I am talking about? Romans 12:6-8, “In His grace (grace is God’s power do so something) God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. If God has given you the ability to prophesy or speak black and white, then speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, then serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others (this is such a needed gift in the body of Christ and the whole world) then be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. If you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” Are there other places in the New Testament that talk about God giving gifts to people? There are two others that you could do research on. One is in Hebrews and the other is in 1 Peter. The Bible talks about God generously giving these gifts. Remember, you have more talents than you think you do and you have more gifts than you think you do. It is very interesting to look up spiritual gifts tests on the internet. They are there. Until I took a spiritual gifts test, I really did not understand what spiritual gifts were all about and how to operate in them. Something that I will tell you over and over is to get your friends to tell you.

Sometimes people are modest or they just cannot recognize their gift. They need someone they trust to help them. Do you have a mentor? Do you have someone that you can go to that is a leader and that you can ask questions? I remember when God told me He was going to release me to minister in signs and wonders. I thought, “I don’t even know how to do that.” In the next few weeks I am going to teach a series on how to learn to move in signs and wonders. When I do, I will talk about the people that mentored me and helped me when I did not know what to do. Get a mentor for yourself. If you are a leader, who are you mentoring? I have always mentored people, ever since I got totally committed to Jesus in the 1970’s. There has always been someone for me to help bring along. I do not really do it in a scheduled, designated way to do. For me, I do better when we are talking. Whatever is in their life, I share what God has taught me. Remember, no matter where you are right now in your life, you can go from small to great if you are willing to pay the price. There is such a price to be paid for leadership. You can enjoy the price if you want to. You do not have to say, “Well this isn’t any fun but I guess I’ll do it.” Enjoy the challenge of it. You can call it problems or you can call it challenges. There is something about calling it a challenge that gets your blood going. It makes you think, “Maybe I can do that.” Do it with enthusiasm. It does not necessarily come easy. You are going to have to pay that price.

What is the price for leadership? The price is hearing God and stepping out. Staying with it when no one believes in you. That happens a lot. You hear something from God and then you think, “Why don’t people help me? I can’t do this by myself.” They did not hear God talk to you. You heard God speaking to you. You have to be able to influence them help them and encourage them so that they catch your vision. Do people fail? Certainly, they fail all of the time. I do; don’t you? As a leader, you have to teach people what to do when they fail, whether it is your child or someone you work with. What do you do? You teach them the principal of next time. There is nothing that drives me crazy more than seeing an adult screaming at a child. It is just a child. They can harm them in ways that they think, “I can never please my parent. I can never do it.” The sad thing is there are some people who are parents or leaders that you cannot ever please. They have their own issues going and they make you feel like you are never going to do it.

What is the difference between good to great? A great leader is like a good basketball coach that tells the player, “Don’t do that anymore, do this.” Then the player goes back out. I had a boss one time that was a tremendous leader. He had a way of speaking to me that, even when he had to point out what I was doing wrong, that I was always grateful for and I did not feel discouraged. I wanted to go out and try harder than ever. I wanted to make him happy and please him. He was such a good leader.

Sometimes in public relations and in dealing with people, there is an aspect of it that people do not want to do. They do not want to have to deal with people’s mistakes. As a leader, you are going to need a lot of people to help you, and they are going to make mistakes. You have to be willing to take the time to sit down and talk to them.

Here is God giving me another word for someone that is a real big leader. You are a very big leader of something. There is so much pressure on you. You are even having trouble sleeping right now because it is on your mind all of the time and you cannot get it off of your mind. The Lord says you are not giving the people that work with you enough help. You have gotten your vision too far out in front of you and you are going too hard. The Lord says, “Am I not the Lord God? Am I not able to bring about what I have told you I would bring about? Remember Joseph. I did it in one day with him.” So, slow down and concentrate on the people that are trying so hard to help you do this. Give them the time they need and the time they deserve. Don’t you love it when God talks like that? I can be going along teaching a lesson and the next thing I know here comes a word from God. I just think, “I guess I better stop and give this one.” Many of you write me and tell me, “That one was for me.” I have had some pretty amazing things happen when people have said that.

Let’s talk about your spiritual gifting. Does God expect you to use your spiritual gifts in your regular life or just church or in a ministry? He expects you to use it all of the time. Have you heard the term, market place ministry? A lot of people are called to the ministry, but they are never called to a church. They are never called to work in a church. I see people that sit in a church for a long, long time and they say, “God doesn’t ever use me. Why doesn’t God use me? I think I am called by God and He does not ever use me.” Maybe it is not in your church. Maybe you need to look out in the regular world and see where you can be used. Take the training, talents and spiritual gifts you have been given, and use them out in the real world. You can do a spiritual gift and not say, Thus sayeth the Lord. You can just say, “I need to tell you this.” You do not even have to use God’s name. What is the overall motivation for what you are doing? Remember it is Romans 12:6-8 where it names those.

I want to tell you a story of someone in the hospital and I want you to figure out where you fit. I want to go over the major motivational gifts, not the supernatural gifts. Mercy, being really kind, weeping with those that weep, laughing with those that laugh. Serving, just meeting really practical needs. Exhortation, encouraging people, giving them counsel, advising them. Administration or leading, watching over something. Teaching, giving people knowledge about something. Giving, usually giving money and you do it pretty quietly. Prophecy, in this case that is just speaking directly. In America, or in Texas, we call it just telling it like how the cow ate the cabbage. I do not know where that came from but that is kind of a Texas thing. It means to just speak directly.

Here is the story and I want you to think about whom you would be. There is a very sick person in the hospital and you go to see them. If you have the gift of mercy, you are all caught up in “Does it hurt? I am so sorry you have been feeling like this. I just hate it.” Exhortation will say, “You look great. You are doing so much better.” Administration would say, “Who is running your house? Who is running your business? What do I need to do to help you keep it all running?” If you have the gift of teaching, you might say, “I know a book about this. I would like to bring it to you. I think it would help you.” The gift of prophecy might say, “You know I told you so. You need to watch this.” If you have the gift of giving, you might help pay for some needed expenses. If you have serving, you would maybe help wash their clothes. No one can be good at everything. The Bible says there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and there are different ways of doing it, but it is for the benefit of all. This is found in II Corinthians 12:4-6.

When you help people discover their gifts, when you help them identify them, you might have done the greatest thing you could ever do for someone. That might be your ministry. God bless you.

QUIET TIME QUESTIONS

1. What are the four basic personality traits? Which one are you?
2. Why is learning about personality traits important in leading others?
3. What is the difference between personality traits and talents?
4. Which scripture helps you to understand what spiritual gifts are?
5. Think about the difference spiritual gifts and a personal situation-identify how each spiritual gifts would be shown in your situation.
6. How do you go from “good to great?” when being a leader?

Download Files Notes

Topics: