The Call To Leadership Series

Moses the Prince of Leadership

The Call to Leadership

Exodus 3:1-14

Today we are going to start a sermon series on Moses, and talking about his leadership. Over the next four weeks we will be talking about His Call to Leadership, Moses the Vision Caster, The trials he had during his leadership, and his art of delegation.

The one ingredient necessary for success in any organization is leadership. When the Chrysler corporation stumbled several years ago they hired a new CEO – Lee Iacocca. In the early 90’s UK basketball was a mess. There was a huge scandal and they needed a strong leader to revive the legacy. So they hired Rick Pitino and he turned the program around. Just a few years ago when we were in Northern Kentucky, we were hearing constantly on the news up there how Procter and Gamble was getting in a mess and their stock was dropping to almost nothing. Some changes needed to take place so they brought back Mr. Pepper as the CEO to turn things around.

Charles Swindoll defines leadership with 2 words – “inspiring influence.” Effective leaders are people who inspire others to follow. There may be a difference in style, leadership technique, personalities and involvement in the job but good leaders are able to inspire others to follow.

The purpose of this sermon series is to motivate us to expand our influence for Jesus. Fred Smith, in his book "Ready to Lead," says, “When God wants something done He turns to an individual such as Moses, David, Peter, and Paul, people like Martin Luther, Dwight Moody, Mother Teresa, and Billy Graham. Rarely do things get done by consent.

Yes, we need to recruit more leaders for the church we need youth leaders, Sunday School leaders, Deacons, Elders and more godly, mature leadership in every area of our church, but we also need to stir up the gift of leadership in you so that you will have a more positive impact on your circle of influence.

I realize this morning that I am talking to some who are good leaders and you may be looking for ways to refine your leadership skills. I also realize that I am speaking to some who may be a potential leaders who need to be persuaded to take leadership positions to make a positive difference. Jesus said he looked upon the people with compassion because they were sheep without a shepherd. It is my prayer that God will develop shepherds who will lead their flocks and great things will be done in the name of the Lord.

Moses was one of the best leaders in all of history. He was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the land of Canaan, he led them from slavery to freedom. That had to be one huge job. It was so great in fact he almost buckled under the stress. But we are going to study what made Moses an effective leader in the hope that you can develop the same qualities in our lives. We begin studying today the call of Moses into leadership at the burning bush. If you have your Bibles, then turn with me to Exodus 3:1-4.

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, ’I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ’Moses! Moses!’

And Moses said, ’Here I am."

Now notice first that God had prepared Moses in advance to lead. In order to understand why God would take an 80-year-old sheep herder and call him to be this great leader we need to take a minute to review his past. Remember Moses was born to Godly Hebrew parents at a time when the Jews were severely persecuted. The Jews were slaves to the Egyptians but they were multiplying so rapidly that Pharaoh was threatened by their numbers and he ordered that every Hebrew male be executed. But Moses’ mother would not comply. She just couldn’t kill him, so she put him in a basket in the Nile River.

He was discovered by Pharaoh’s wife. What coincidence. And Moses’ mother just happened to be available so she would nurse and care for her own son. Moses had the best of both worlds. He was taught about Jehovah God, but he was also exposed to the protocol of the palace and he was comfortable around the movers and shakers of his day. Moses could speak both Hebrew and Egyptian. He understood power, but he had empathy for the slaves. Gene Getz wrote, "God gifted Moses with a three-dimensional advantage." First he had great physical assets. His mother saw he was a beautiful child. Josephus, a Jewish historian wrote that Moses was so outstanding in his looks that the Egyptians would try to get a glimpse of him. They would stare at him finding it hard to turn their eyes away from him. According to history, Moses was very handsome.