JESUS' LOVELINESS

'Lovely in his person, lovely in his birth, and Incarnation, lovely in the whole course of his life, lovely in his Death, lovely in his whole employment, lovely in the glory and majesty, lovely in all these supplies of Grace, lovely in all the tender Care, Power and Wisdom, lovely in his Ordinances, lovely and glorious in the vengeance he takes, lovely in the pardon he has purchased, altogether lovely.'

John Owen in Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.51.

WHERE OUR DESIRES LEAD US

'Life is full of experiences that exhaust us with unsatisfied desire. We are driven to fill ourselves with the good things of this world, but they simply leave us needing God all the more. As they turn out to be unsatisfying, we find ourselves longing for more, not always realizing that it is Christ we are missing, but experiencing the craziness of desire to fill that space with love. That longing is a longing for the strengthening and refreshing that only Christ can bring. Every single earthly disappointment presses us towards him.'

Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.51.

WHERE CREATION POINTS US

'Every aspect of creation points in one way or another to some truth about God as he relates to us. Solid and dense though a mountain may be, it is like a shadow of the sheer vastness of God. The whole created order and the whole human world - real though they are, of course - were created to portray spiritual realities greater than themselves.'

Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul: Fresh Pathways to Spiritual Passion, p.11.

MINISTERIAL HUMILITY

'If it's possible to look at creation and not see the glory and presence of the one who created it all and controls it to this day, then it is also possible to look at your ministry and forget that every good thing there is the work of the hands greater than your own.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.212.

LIMITS TO GRACE?

'Everybody believes in grace until a leader needs it.'
Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.180.

IDENTITY IS FOUND VERTICALLY NOT HORIZONTALLY

'Since the fall, people have looked horizontally for what they were designed to find vertically. They ask people, places and things to do for them what only identity in the Lord can.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.164.

CHRISTIANITY IS COMMUNAL

'...an isolated, independent, separated, and self-hiding Christian life is alien to the Christianity of the New Testament. Biblical Christianity is thoroughly and foundationally relational. No one can live outside the essential ministries of the body of Christ and remain spiritually healthy.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.148.

DON'T IGNORE THE WARNING SIGNS

'...whenever there is a public fall of a well-known leader, my first question is, "Why didn't the surrounding leadership community see it and address it before it got to this horrible place?" I ask because there are a couple of assumptions that seem safe to make. First, you know the leader has changed because if he had been in the early days who he now is, he would never have been called, hired, or appointed to the leadership position. Second, the changes did not occur overnight. They happened in bits and pieces over a period of years. This means that there are not only many evidences of a shift taking place in his life, but a growing body of evidence of a shift in heart sensitivities and heart allegiances.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.110.

IDOLATRY IN MINISTRY IS MINISTRY

'Here's the scary reality. In ministry, the way you pursue your idols is by doing ministry. This reality should be in the thoughts and conversations of every ministry leadership community.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.90.

LEADERSHIP - ACCOUNTABILITY = DISASTER

'...it is my experience, as I have dealt with fallen or lapsed pastors, that around them was a weak or dysfunctional community that failed, in pastoral love and care, to protect that leader from himself.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.83.

A CALL TO CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP IS A CALL TO SUFFER

'...when God gives you ministry and leadership gifts, he is calling you to be willing to suffer. Because of your gifts you will suffer a kind and severity of temptation that others don't face. Because of the public nature of your gifts, you will suffer dangerous adulation and harsh criticism. The demands of your ministry life will tempt you to neglect your own personal devotional life. That attractiveness of public ministry will tempt you to neglect the private ministry of marriage, family, and friendship. Your gifts will tempt you to be demanding, irritable, and impatient with people of lesser gifts or who happen to be in the way of what you want. You will be tempted to confuse your giftedness with your level of spiritual maturity. Yes, it is true: your gifts mean you have been called to suffer for the sake of the giver and what he intends to do through you (see 2 Cor.1:3-11).' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.76.

A DANGER OF MINISTRY SUCCESS

'Sadly achievement can turn humble servant leaders into proud, controlling, and unapproachable mini-kings.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead, p.49.

HOW THE GOSPEL SHOULD TRANSFORM LEADERSHIP

'Because of what God has done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, our leadership communities have been freed to be the most honest communities on earth. We are free to confess weakness because Jesus is our strength. We are free to confess failure because all of our failures have been covered by his blood. We are freed from taking credit for what God only can produce. We are free to respectfully disagree with one another because we get our identity and security from our Lord and not from one another. We are free to confess wrong attitudes toward and against one another because grace allows us to reconcile. We are freed from the allure of power and position because we have been freed from looking horizontally for what can only be found vertically. And we are free, because of Christ's work, to talk about these things and confess how we struggle with them.' 

Paul David Tripp, Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, p.41.