Text: 2 Timothy 2:3-7
Exegesis
- Theme: Timothy’s Success as a Leader
- Topic: How Timothy can become a successful leader
- Truth: The key to success in Christian leadership is focus, discipline, and steadfastness.
- Thrust: Timothy must focus and remain disciplined and steadfast as a leader in order to be successful.
Exposition
- Theme: Success in leadership
- Topic: How to be successful as a leader
- Truth: The key to success in Christian leadership is focus, discipline, and steadfastness.
- Thrust: Christian leaders must remain focused, disciplined and steadfast in order to be successful.
Exhortation
- Type: Truth-oriented
- Take Home Message: Attitude determines your altitude.
- Trailing question: What kinds of attitudes do you need to be a successful leader?
- Talk (sermon):
A. Take-off (intro)
Leadership is a thinking role, not a manual role. Leaders must be engaged in a lot of thinking in order to be effective and successful. But thinking begins with yourself. In other words, the leader’s attitudes determines his or her altitude. You must become self-aware of what you’re thinking and how you’re thinking regarding your life and ministry as a leader. This is the key to your success. How should you think?
B. Teaching outline (body):
- You must be focused on your life calling (vv.3-4).
- You must be disciplined in your lifestyle and activities (v.5).
- You must be steadfast until you reach your goals (v.6).
C. Touchdown (conclusion)
Leaders do not become successful by accident. By the grace of God, they become successful as they rely on the Lord who has called them. They focus on Him, not on themselves. They focus on pleasing Him rather than people. They are disciplined in their lifestyle as well as in their activities. They don’t wait for things to happen; they make things happen according to God’s will and purpose for their lives. They choose; rather than waiting for others to choose for them, or to put themselves in situations where they don’t have any other choice. Last but not the least, they remain steadfast, working hard to fulfill what God wants them to do, all the while trusting in His power to enable them to do it. They wait until they see the fruit. They do not focus on the difficulties of the moment. They gaze steadfastly on the harvest, which may be in the future but will surely come. If these are your attitudes, you will be successful by the grace of God. Remember, attitude determines your altitude.