Tuesday June 14

Pastor Erik here, I pray you are doing well and are having a wonderful week so far. Today we are going to look at a portion of scripture that I will be preaching on this upcoming Sunday. It is from the book of Ezra. My sermon this week is all about the qualities of a Godly leader-whether that be in the form of a dad (since it's Father's day), a boss, pastor, or any other situation in which you may be leading other people.
Ezra Ch. 7:10
 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

This verse talks about 2 important qualities of a Godly leader: learning and living.  I love how this verse describes Ezra-that he "set his heart." To me, this means that Ezra was passionate about learning God's Word, then putting that knowledge into practice. This was not a self-serving pursuit at all-rather, Ezra was passionate about learning because he wanted to teach others; He wanted to pass on the knowledge and wisdom he obtained. A Godly leader must be a lifelong learner. We must become like Ezra, and set our heart to learning more and more about the Lord...then we must pass that on to those under our care. Of course learning is just half of the battle. What good does knowledge and wisdom do if we do not practice it in our own lives. Ezra wanted to set a good example: to "practice what he preached." This is (unfortunately) a rare quality in leaders these days.  For example, I've seen my share of pastor's that could deliver a fantastic sermon on a Sunday morning, but did not live out the sermon in his or her own life. It's easy to preach or teach righteousness to our churches, kids, grandkids, or employees, but it's another thing to live it ourselves. Ezra is a great example for us to follow!