It's On Me

Everyone is a leader, whether in the home, your job, and local community. And how do I create a united team environment? This Sabbath, we begin a new series called "Taking Ownership", where we will focus on taking ownership and creating healthy teams.

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Thank you, Ben. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, thank you, Lord, for another day of life and an opportunity to be here today at church. And Lord, as we begin a new series, Taking ownership, leading guidance In Jesus name, Amen.
There's a story told of a young lady. There was a small neighborhood, and within that neighborhood there was a shared fence between two homes. One day, a storm came in and knocked part of the fence down. And everybody would assume what the other side would fix it. Right now, days turn into weeks and the broken fence became a symbol of neglect.
And yet one morning, a teenager, her name was Maya, who lived in one of the homes, saw her dog nearly escape through the gap. And she realized that the fence wasn't just someone else's problem. It affected her family too. So instead of waiting, Maya talked to her parents. They researched how to fix it and even asked a neighbor if they would be willing to help split the costs.
She organized the repair, helped with the work, and made sure that it was done right. And of course, her neighbor was so impressed, not just by the initiative, but by her maturity. Maya didn't cause a problem, but she took ownership of the solution. The repaired fence became a quiet reminder that leadership often starts with responsibility. Now, over this next month, we're going to be taking time and we're going to be talking specifically about leadership.
What is leadership? When you hear the term leadership, what comes to mind? Or maybe how do you feel? Yes, leadership. Or, ugh, now I want to go to a passage, I want to go to Philippians.
And if you're following along, maybe you're not here, maybe you don't have a Bible, but you're on your phone, take a screenshot, or, or you can easily, if you're here, you don't have your Bible, you don't have notes. Go back. We have this as well on the YouTube and you can go back, you can find it here. But we also, we should also have some extra handouts. But I don't know that I'm going to get all these verses, but this is what we're going to be focusing on.
So let's go to Philippians 2, chapter 2, verses 2 through 4.
And it says, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same. What Love being in one and in one. Do nothing out of selfish or vain conceit, rather in humility. Value others above yourselves. Not looking to your own interests, but.
But each of you to the interests of others. When I think about leadership, what is one of the defining characteristics of a leader? One of the greatest attributes of a leader is humility. Not the ability to know everything, but to have humility. 
A famous saying that I sometimes have to remind myself is check your ego at the door. That was what it was, placed on the gym. I remember this, the gym that I trained at, on the right side of the door. Check your ego at the door. Why? Because if you go into the gym and you don't contain your ego, what's bound to happen? You're gonna get hurt. Especially as a young man when you're trying to lift, be really strong, be really jacked. It's easy to put on too much weight and get yourself hurt. It's hard sometimes to start very small. In fact, when I first started doing Olympic weightlifting, a snatch and a clean, deadlifting. You know what I started with? I didn't start with a barbell. I started with a PVC pipe. Less than a pound. But what did I need to do? I needed to learn the technique first before I could even put an ounce of weight on. Because if you learn how to lift improperly and with more weight, you're bound to hurt yourself. But it takes a lot of humility as well. 
When you think about people that you have worked with in leadership, did they have humility? If they didn't, what did it feel like working for them? You ever worked for a micromanager? You ever worked for the Know It All? You ever worked for somebody who took credit for your hard work? Oh, I heard every day, all right, we're being honest here. It's miserable and it's frustrating, right? Not that we have to have everybody look at me, look at me. But in some ways, you do want to be appreciated. Amen. So humility and oftentimes leadership is equated with power and authority. Yes, a leader can have power and authority, but I think what's more important is how do they wield their influence among the group, among the team, among the business?
So when you are a leader, where is your. Where are you putting your influence? Where are you? Where are you moving forward as you extract and go? Power and authority can have negative connotations.
A leader can be controlling, and at first, you know, maybe working for a micromanager isn't that bad. It seems like they care, but when they're watching every single step you take looking over your shoulder, well, that's not right. Do it better instead of asking, how can I help you? A humble leader looks out for the team.
Now, a leader also takes ownership and accountability. When things don't go right, I Often ask myself, how did I contribute to this? I may not be the person who actually did something bad or wrong or missed something, but I have to ask myself, especially, how did I contribute? Did I help make sure that the parameters were clear? Was that individual trained?
And when things go right, they should acknowledge the team did great? When things go wrong, again, how did I contribute? The leader looks at everything more than anything. What is a leader supposed to do? They're supposed to help their team succeed.
Now, something also that I've mentioned before recently is that everyone can be a leader. Everyone can be a leader. A leader is not defined by the person in charge in that, yes, they are the biggest leader, but even if you're not the top person, you can help lead. For instance, kids, I know I harp on this, but it's important because your parents are teaching you something. But how can you be effective in the home? How can you help lead in the home? How can you help mom and dad? Okay, take out the trash. Do things before they even have to ask you. When you're working, maybe you're new to the job as you're learning, write a plan out. This is what I'm going to do to be able to make sure that this is taken care of, where my boss doesn't even have to come and remind me. And if you want to succeed, you have to be intentional. You have to show that you want to help out, be responsible, dedicated. Anybody can help, can be a leader. Whether you're the top person or you're the lowest rung. Everybody has an opportunity to contribute. A healthy leader shapes that and molds that. Because what do we want? We all want buy in. If I, as a leader, came in and told you everything to do, would that be great? It wouldn't be because, number one, do I know everything? I don't. You were rather quick about that.
No, I'm messing with Lourdes, but because we've had enough conversations. She knows where I'm coming from. But if a good leader will equip and enable the team to be involved, to get their input, because maybe there's a blind spot that I have. Is it good to have people to be able to work with, to be able to point that out? Yeah. Might be humbling. But hey, a great team works together. So whether you're a parent, how do you help lead your spouse? How do you help lead your neighborhood? How do you help lead in your office? How can you help your boss succeed?
So everyone is a leader now. Leadership is based on relationships. Okay? Leadership is Based on. On relationships.
The best leaders that I have ever worked with cared, and they took time to invest in me and all the rest of the new individuals. Some of the questions that you could ask is what are they interested about? What are they passionate about? Where do they want to grow? Who are they? As individuals, you have to know and you have to care and follow up. If somebody's daughter is in the hospital, think about this. Check on them. How you doing? Are you okay? How can I help you?
There's so many opportunities that as good leaders, you have to care for the people. What are they passionate about? What are they excited? Now, earlier this year we also went through relationship series. Anybody remember what we talked about?
Let's all remember. None of you remember. Bill, we didn't do a good enough job. Okay? Relationships, we listen, we care, we respect, we build trust. And that ultimately allows us to have influence over our team. As a parent, are you listening to your kids? Kids, are you listening to your parents? Do you listen to your boss? Are you listening to the team? Are you getting input? And do you care? Because the first thing when it comes to relationships is you have to listen. And as you listen, you're able to help know and how to care, which also then builds respect, it builds trust, and ultimately builds influence.
Now, this is just the one on one. But then eventually, as you build a team, you all have to listen to one another, you all have to care for one another, you all have to respect one another, you all have to learn to trust one another so that you can have influence not only on one another, but those around you and outside of your team. Relationship principles working together. 
And the last point is this is that a leader leads with love, not just care. And you don't find out about things just because you need to know and then ask, but genuinely have to love and care for your people. Have you ever felt cared by a leader? Wow, you're awfully quiet today. Think about who has made a difference in your life. Who is that one person who has impressed you with not only how they care, but how they lead and how they're humble? What was it about them and how can you emulate that?
Now, let's also. Let's go back. Now. I want to go to Ecclesiastes, chapter 4. Ecclesiastes is in the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 4.
Two are better than what? one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help up the other. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
It's important that as we work together as a team again, if we listen, we care, we respect, we trust, build influence, we can help one another to move forward. If somebody is struggling, what do we do? We listen, we care, we empathize.
Now, Ephesians 4:16 also says, for him, the whole body joined together, held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Paul also talks in First Corinthians 12, talks about how the body of Christ works together. There's different parts of the body. You have the eyes, you have the hair, you have the ligaments, you have the bones, you have the skin, you have fingernails, you have the heart, you have the different organs. And they all work together to function as a team.
And one part, when a part is not working, we feel it. Amen. And sometimes our body will compensate for that, right? So maybe you've hurt your foot, maybe you've sprained or broken an ankle. Are you going to be walking normally? No. You might have to use crutches. If you're going up and down a railing, you might have to hold on to the railing to compensate, right? Until you can get that help, to be able to help find healing. And it's important that as we work together as a team again, in your home, in your work, in your neighborhood, wherever you go, it's important that we learn to lean on one another and to listen and care for one another.
That is what builds team, and that's what builds unity within the team.
But we have to care, we have to listen, we have to respect, we have to trust.
So working together, would you want to tackle climbing Mount Everest by yourself? I wouldn't. That'd be a very, very long climb. In fact, for most people to climb a mountain like that, they have to have porters, or Sherpas, as they're called, to help bring up all the food and all the necessary equipment. And then that's just to get to the mountain. And even then, the Sherpa are fixing the lines and making sure they're leading and guiding them, depending on the route. For instance, the main route, you have to go through what's called ice fall, Glaciers and crevasses that you could easily slip into. They put ladders and they fix ropes so that you don't fall in. And unfortunately, these individuals for many years were not recognized for their hard work, but they did it anyways.
Nobody achieves anything great by themselves. They've always had somebody help them. And it's important that as leaders, we recognize those who have helped move us forward.
So ultimately, what am I trying to say in leadership? Lead with love, be humble, and remember to listen, to care, to respect, to trust, to influence one another. And when it's time to take ownership, when things don't go right, it can be very uncomfortable. But the longer you wait, the harder it gets.
There are many things, for instance, that I have been thinking about and personally I've had to tackle. And sometimes it's scary, but the longer you wait, the harder it gets. And sometimes when you do deal with the hard questions, the hard conversations, you realize there's a lot of stuff that I put in my head that I thought it was going to go this way, and it ended up being. Actually, it wasn't so bad. The longer time goes, the harder conversations become.
Another thing, too is as you lead, there's another quote that I've been hearing that's been resonating with me, is this behavior is a language.
And as you lead, are you modeling what you expect out of your team, out of your family, out of your job, your neighborhood? Are you walking the talk, essentially behavior? It's a tough quote. It's a tough thought. But am I leading? Am I leading with care? Am I leading with listening? Am I leading with respect and trust? Am I following through? And I've been really thinking about that recently a lot in my life. Where can I grow? And I look back, even this yesterday, I was thinking about. I was thinking about a situation. I realized, you know, what I. What I thought about, how I thought I remembered that story. Looking back now, with more perspective and more maturity, it did not go the way that I thought I did.
And I wish I had done things differently. Now, moving forward, are you going to walk the talk? Are you going to lead with humility? Or are you going to allow your ego to get in the way? 
Sometimes taking ownership means sitting down and having that tough conversation and saying, I'm sorry, I was wrong, but here's what I'm going to do to move forward. Taking ownership means maybe you didn't cause a problem, but you're responsible how you move forward. What does this mean?
As we move forward and also with you in your own individual lives, I want you to reflect, where do I need to take ownership and accountability in my life? And where can I grow as a leader? How can we build an effective team with your spouse, with your family, in general, those that you work with? How can you make a difference? And how can you influence your team? How can you influence others around you. And as you write all that down, take ownership of those things of your life. Use the relationship principles that we've discussed to create and to lead your team. Can we do that? I hope and pray that as you take these principles, your life is going to change.
And as we move forward, may God be with us and guide us to make a difference and that you're able to make a strong difference wherever you go. Let us pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to come together. Lord, it's not easy to be a leader, but we're all called to lead in some ways, not just here at church, but in all aspects of our lives. And frankly, Lord, it can be very sobering because we have to recognize too that we're all.
We're all learning, we're all growing, we're all works in progress. But Lord, we truly want to be able to find freedom. And sometimes that means tackling the difficult things that we're thinking about or maybe perhaps even running away from or avoiding. Grant us, Lord, the courage to think about, to reflect. How can I move forward, Lord? With faith, Lord. May Downey our Downey Church here, Lord, be a church full of leaders passionately desiring to make a difference wherever they go, and especially here in this city. For you be with us, keep us safe until we meet again next time in Jesus name. Amen. 
Grace and peace, everyone.