Today is Day 7 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  For those that missed yesterday thanks for joining me this morning.

Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.  Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article. As we looked at these leadership characteristics closer from a Bible prospective.  Today we look at #7 Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth, the last in our series.

One of the biggest problems with many today is that they have a hard time dealing with reality. People often believe that they can live a life void of God.  Reality is every breath we take is only because God allows us to do so.  In and of ourselves we can’t do anything, especially anything of good.

Psalm 16:2 (NIV) “I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."
2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

With all the social media we can be fooled to believe that everyone has a better life than we do. We see snap shots of others highlights and compare our life to those snap shots.  If we could see the entire film of their day to day life we may see things are not as though they appeared.  Regardless of how hard life seems we must continue to press toward the higher calling.

Philippians 3:14 (KJV)”14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Action step-If you don’t like how your life is make a decision to change it and begin right now. Then pray and ask God to help you.  If you’ve ignored Him begin by asking for forgiveness and then ask Him for help and direction.  He will answer.​

Today is Day 6 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  For those that missed yesterday thanks for joining me this morning.
​
Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.
 Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the more day after today as we look at these leadership characteristics closer from a Bible prospective.  Today we look at #6 Learn to develop humor without folly.
 
The definition of folly is lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight. 

The definition of humor is the ability to be funny or to be amused by things that are funny.
​
I love to laugh and often say things that others find funny even when at times I never planned to do so.  Much like Joel Olsten or John Hagee I like to open my sermons with a joke.

Here is an excerpt from Doris Donnelly:
"Jesus, for one, was witty, unpredictable, fully alive, and a person who delighted in, celebrated with, and was open to surprise.... [I]t is safe to say that divorcing humor from religion is potentially destructive of true religion. Even when the separation is done with the best of motives, or in ignorance, the results are disastrous because we rob ourselves of the lightness and freedom necessary to notice and then to adore God."

"Life is serious all the time, but living cannot be. You may have all the solemnity you wish in your neckties, but in anything important (such as sex, death, and religion), you must have mirth or you will have madness. "* G. Κ Chesterton

“A curious custom in the Greek Orthodox tradition gathers believers on Easter Monday for the purpose of trading jokes. Since the most extravagant "joke" of all took place on Easter Sunday—the victory, against all odds, of Jesus over death—the community of the faithful enters into the spirit of the season by sharing stories with unexpected endings, surprise flourishes, and a sense of humor. A similar practice occurs among the Slavs, who recognize in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth a joy that it is Jesus who has the last laugh.
The response of the Greeks and the Slavs seems to be most appropriate, and it is disappointing that these practices strike our contemporary mindsets as a little odd. Most mainline Christian congregations, after all, do not celebrate Easter quite this way.”

My mother use to say, “A little honey helps the medicine go down.”  Another person once said, “When giving someone correction tell them something they do well, then bring the correction and then tell them something they do well again.”  The beginning and end of the correction take the sting out of the correction so that they receive it rather than become hurt over it.  I admit I intend to do this as a practice but fail miserably when it comes to those closest to me.  In reality I need to practice this with those I love and care for the most. 

Action step for today is to find the humor in life and circumstances but never to bring damage or hurt to others or to oneself.  Laugh often but love always.

1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV) “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

Today is Day 5 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  For those that missed yesterday thanks for joining me this morning.

Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.
 Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the remaining 2 days as we look at each one of these closer from a Bible prospective. It's hard to believe this is our fifth day learning together about leadership. Today we look at #5 Learn to Proud but not Arrogant. 

“In his book, “The Applause of Heaven”, Max Lucado tells the sad story of a man he came to know through a friend. The man’s name was Anibal. Anibal was a tough man. Max Lucado said that his tattooed anchor on his forearm symbolized his personality—cast-iron. His broad chest stretched his shirt. The slightest movement of his arm bulged his biceps. This was no meek man. This was a man who was tough in every sense of the word. But he was also a man in a prison cell condemned for murder.

As Max spoke with Anibal, they began to talk about becoming a Christian. They talked about guilt, and forgiveness. Max wrote that, “The eyes of the murderer softened at the thought that the one who knows him best loves him most. His heart was touched as we discussed heaven, a hope that no executioner could take from him.”

But as the conversation moved toward the conversion, Anibal’s face began to harden. Anibal didn’t like the statement that the first step in coming to God is an admission of guilt. He was uneasy with words like “I’ve been wrong” and “forgive me.” Saying “I’m sorry” was out of character for him. He had never backed down before any man, and he wasn’t about to do it now—even if the man were God.
In one final effort to pierce his pride (Max writes), I asked him, “Don’t you want to go to heaven?” “Sure,” he grunted. For a moment I thought his stony heart was cracking. For a second, it appeared that burly Anibal would for the first time admit his failures. But I was wrong. The eyes that lifted to meet mine weren’t tear-filled; they were angry. They weren’t the eyes of a repentant prodigal; they were the eyes of an angry prisoner.

“All right,” he shrugged. “I’ll become one of your Christians. But don’t expect me to change the way I live.” The conditional answer left my mouth bitter. “You don’t draw up the rules,” I told him. “It’s not a contract that you negotiate before you sign. It’s a gift—an undeserved gift! But to receive it, you have to admit that you need it.”

“OK.” He ran his thick fingers through his hair and stood up. “But don’t expect to see me at church on Sundays.” As I watched Anibal pace back and forth in the tiny cell, I realized that his true prison was not made of bricks and mortar, but of pride. He was twice imprisoned. Once because of murder, and once because of stubbornness. Once by his country, and once by himself.” ~Bradford Robinson

The bible is clear. Pride goes before destruction. And although we may condemn more visible sins, Pride by far is the most deadly. Pride acts as the gateway to just about every other sin, and Pride acts as a barrier between you and God, and your will and God’s will. 

That is why the bible speaks so harshly against the sin of pride. In the book of Proverbs God gives a list of things He hates, and the first one on the list is pride. Pride is included in the seven deadly sins, and over and over in the bible, we are warned that if we exalt ourselves, God will bring us down.

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Pride becomes sinful when it begins to cause a feeling of superiority over other people. Pride is sinful when it begins to inflate who you are and what you have done. We said it’s okay to put a bumper sticker on your car about your kid being an honor student, but if you put one up there saying my kids and honor student and your kid is dumb, that would be wrong! Sinful pride inflates oneself, and everyone else is deflated in the process. Pride is sinful when it causes you to not admit wrong doing, imperfections, and the role others have played in your life. 

Today I challenge you to exalt others.  Be an encourager of people. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)” Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

oday is Day 4 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  For those that missed yesterday thanks for joining me this morning.

Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.

Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the remaining 3 days as we look at each one of these closer from a Bible prospective.  Today we look at #4 Learn to be humble but not timid.

“I know that the best and humblest person who has walked the earth was tortured to death because he was accused of blasphemous arrogance. “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because . . . he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). So I don’t expect his followers will ever be able to avoid the accusation of arrogance. If you are the humblest outspoken witness for Jesus as the only way to God, you will accused of arrogance.” ~John Piper

Somethings about humility if you are wondering if you humble is this, humility is glad that God gets all the credit.  The next thing is humility recognizes and admits that all good things come from God. In ourselves we could do no good thing. (1 Corinthians 4:6-7)

Humility (James 4:13-17) gets under God and His sovereignty and power knowing if He doesn’t do it-it doesn’t get done. Anything we get to do is by His power.  (Colossians 3:12-13) Humility recognizes that this virtue is only found through Jesus Christ and His word.  Without the gospel of Jesus Christ there would be no humility found in the world and man.

(Philippians 2:3-8) and (Mark 10:45) lets us know that humility serves others. Humility is concerned with the needs of others.  When we are always thinking of ourselves then we are not humble. Our model, Jesus came to serve not to be served.  He came because He wanted to serve us.

(Mark 10:42-44) “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

Today is Day 3 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  

Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.
 Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the remaining 5 days as we look at each one of these closer from a Bible prospective.  Today we look at #3 learn to be bold but not a bully.
​
A bold leader will lead the way and at the same time not bully people to follow or else. A bold leader simply gets out front and takes the arrows.  When things go wrong the leader takes the hit. The buck stops with the leader and the leader doesn’t blame or bully others. 

We must understand, if God commands us to boldly say something, he will give us the power to do so if we ask. Just like love, boldness is a characteristic of God (Acts 4:31). We should always pray for its growth in us. After telling the Christians in Ephesus to put on the whole armor of God, Paul asks the saints to pray for his boldness:

(Ephesians 6:19-20).19 And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
 
Boldness is how we ought to speak – never with sugar-coated, soft, timid, watered-down speech. Boldness speaks loud and clearly as we move forward to proclaim the truth. We should never draw back from messages that will “get us into trouble” with this or that people group.

1 Tim 3:14-15 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 
​
In the church and out of the church our life should speak the same things. Being bold in our beliefs and the truth as we lead others will sometimes cause us opposition but true love will not bully but love when reviled and persecuted.  Sometimes this may mean we are leading while bleeding.  Jesus is our model.

Today is Day 2 in our 7 Day Series on Personality Traits of a Great Leader.  At the end of the article is new Blog information just in case you are in a hurry and read the article yesterday.  For those that missed yesterday thanks for joining me this morning.

Let me begin by saying I do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Michael Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and glean from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, and discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.
 Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the remaining 6 days as we look at each one of these closer from a Bible prospective.  Today learn to be kind but not weak.

Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.

"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness." -William Arthur Ward

Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

In a study conducted by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychology professor at University of California, Riverside, students were assigned to do five random acts of kindness per week for a period of six weeks. At the end of the study, the students' levels of happiness had increased by 41.66 percent. Being kind had a profoundly positive effect on happiness.

 "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough."-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Years ago Steve Sjogren started a congregation outside Cincinnati, Ohio with only a handful of people. They started something called “Servant Evangelism” in which they continually performed acts of kindness to people in their community. They never took any money for these good deeds. Today, over 4,000 people attend the church that started this conspiracy of kindness.

 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.
Why should we show kindness to others? There are at least two good reasons. First it is the command of God. You read it for yourself–“be kind and compassionate to one another.” Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. Love for others is not an emotion or a feeling, it is a choice. We choose to love others because God tells us to.

So we are kind because Jesus told us to be but another reason to show kindness is the character of God. God tells us to show kindness to others because that is part of His wonderful character. He is full of loving kindness toward us. God has forgiven us not because we deserved it–He forgives us for Jesus’ sake.
God didn’t just tell us He loves us, He proved it. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s not enough for us to say we love others; we must show it. 

 "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let me begin by saying i do not know Jim Rohn personally but he has had a huge impact on my life.  I have learned a great deal from him and Micheal Hyatt who he mentored.  I wanted to post this article he wrote and teach further on each trait he mentions in this article.  Please continue to research his materials and gleen from his rich wisdom and vast knowledge.
 
7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader by Jim Rohn
The qualities of skillful leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. Jim Rohn calls leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here’s how:
1. Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word—a sense of awe, a sense of wonder, an awareness of the human soul and spirit, an understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars.
5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's OK to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish.
7. Learn to deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is—the whole drama of life. It's fascinating.
 Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community and at home.

I pray you learned from this article and will stay with me for the next 7 days as we look at each one of these closer from a Bible prospective.

1. Learn to be strong but not impolite.  
1 Samuel 19 tells the story of the strain between Saul and David.  Then in 1 Samuel 24 we see the reactions of both men.  Saul desired to kill David and David ran for his life.  When David had a chance to kill Saul he choose to honor him and repent instead.  Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of our Lord and Saviour was not rude but operated with discretion toward his wife. Joseph the dreamer was strong and did not use his position to get even.  He dealt with his brothers with love and kindness but strength in character.  Meekness is not weakness.  

 When we look at the characteristics of love as described in 1 Corinthians 13, we learn that “love…is not rude” (vs. 5, NIV 1984).
1. The new NIV renders it “love…does not dishonor others.”
2. The NASB renders it “love…does not act unbecomingly.”
3. The KJV renders it “love..doth not behave itself unseemingly.”
4. The Holman Christian Standard Bible renders it “love…does not act improperly.”
5. The Message renders it “love…doesn’t force itself on others.”

From these renderings of the Greek word, we can begin to get a picture of what Paul was trying to say.
1. Love doesn’t act improperly, or dishonorably, or indecently.
2. Love doesn’t behave in an ugly or unbecoming manner.
3. Love doesn’t needlessly offend, or act bluntly or crudely. 
4. Love does not behave gracelessly.
5. And so if you state it positively, love always behaves itself – it always acts properly and honorably, and decently and gracefully.
6. Rather than being rude, love acts with common courtesy. 

To love is to be strong. Love never fails. Love is strength and it is not rude.  David loved Saul. Joseph loved his brothers. Joseph loved Mary.  Love never fails.  Great leaders are great lovers.

Challenge for today:  Love those that persecute you.

Matthew 5:44 (NIV) "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"
 
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Galatians 5:19-21King James Version (KJV)19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
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Today ends our study on The Works of the Flesh. I pray you have learned with me as we have traveled this quest to understand better each manifestation and how not to engage in these works.  I also pray you grow in Christ and bring forth the Fruit of the Spirit; in stead.

Revellings and such which would keep us from inheriting the Kingdom of God is defined  as(“noisy partying” or “carousing”) it is found in two places in the King James Version of the Bible. 

1 Peter 4:3 mentions revellings as part of the lifestyle of “pagans,” meaning those who do not know God and who live as though He does not exist.  This serves to say that as a Christian this type of behavior should not be evident in our lives.

More modern versions of the Bible translate the Greek word for “revellings” as “revelries” (NKJV), “orgies” (NIV, ESV), “wild celebrations or partying” (ISV), and “carousing” (NASB).

The original Greek word, komos, carries the connotation of “letting loose.” When people “go wild,” they are engaging in “revellings.”  The just do it if it feels good attitude is contrary to a Christian’s lifestyle.  We do not base our actions on our feelings.

In Galatians 5, Paul warns the churches of Galatia to put away all “works of the flesh,” including sexual sins, sins of hateful attitudes toward others, and the sins of “drunkenness” and “revellings.” Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In contrast, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who have come to Christ in faith for forgiveness of sins have the Holy Spirit within them, and He is the planter and cultivator of divine fruit. Those without Christ and the Spirit exhibit the works of the flesh, including drunken revellings.

Does this mean that all parties are off limits? Not at all. But parties characterized by gluttony, immoderate drinking, lewdness, or out-of-control behavior of any kind are antithetical to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Christian avoids “revellings.” He sees the works of the flesh as less and less appealing and the fruit of the Spirit more and more desirable. The heart, once touched by the Spirit, no longer enjoys the works of the flesh as it did before, and the longing for such works diminishes. Paul’s sober warning that those who indulge in the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God should not be taken lightly.

The apostle Peter takes up the same theme in his first letter. He makes it clear that revellings and other fleshly sins are characteristic of past behavior. Those who now follow Christ have a different lifestyle. “You have spent enough time in the past” doing that, he says (1 Peter 4:3). Now your former party-mates “are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living” (verse 4). And that’s what “revellings” are—reckless and wild.

The line is drawn between the behavior of a Christian and that of a non-Christian. Christ calls us to “to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”.

Titus 2:12 (KJV) “12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”

Galatians 5:19-21King James Version (KJV)19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Tomorrow is the last day of our series.  I had no idea how much I would learn. Thanks for traveling with me on this journey to better understand the Works of the Flesh.  I hope to hear from you and what you learned from this series.  Today we touch on the subject of drunkenness.

Every year in America over 200,000 die from alcohol related deaths
· auto accidents (55,000)
· homicides and suicides (15,000)
· accidental deaths (20,000)
· Not to mention the vast number who die each year from medical conditions brought on because of constant drinking.

About 350 die daily from alcohol-related problems while about 15 to 30 die daily from health effects of illegal drug use.

Alcohol is involved in 50% of spousal abuse - 50% of rapes - 32% of child abuse cases

In addition; alcohol is responsible for a vast number of diseases and ailments. According to Dr. Antonio Novello, Former U. S. Surgeon General:
“Alcohol affects immune, endocrine, and reproductive functions. Various cancers associated with drinking include cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, tongue, lung, pancreas, and liver.
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Other diseases include chronic gastritis, hepatitis, hypertension, and coronary heart disease . . . More of our current college students will die of cirrhosis of the liver than will get doctorates in Business Management, and Communications combined.” 

According to Dr. Jean Killbourne, an international lecturer on alcohol advertising: 
“Ads from the alcohol industry link drinking with happiness, wealth, prestige, sophistication, success, maturity, athletic ability, virility, creativity and sexual satisfaction. 
The irony is that these are the very things that chronic alcohol abuse destroys.”  So why does the Bible say the following?

Isaiah 5:22 (NIV)  “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks.”

Proverbs 23:29-35 (KJV) ““Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. ‘They hit me,’ you will say, ‘but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?’”

Ephesians 5:18 (KJV) “18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
 
The sin of drunkenness doesn’t usually move in alone.  This Spirit usually brings sexual sins, sins of foul language, lewdness, apathy, sometimes anger or rage, sometimes spirits of other addictions or drugs in with it.  It can corrupt the temple of the living God (our bodies) by allowing demonic spirits access to the temple especially if consciousness is lost (passing out).  Satan truly goes around seeking whom he may destroy.

1 Peter 5:9 (NIV) “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Be of a sober mind.  Know yourself.  Be honest with yourself.  As I can see it this is a very personal issue.  Champagne toast at wedding may be okay for one person and not for another person. Wine with a spaghetti dinner may be okay for you but not for your uncle Harry.  Let’s not judge others but judge ourselves and leave others to God.  He is the just judge.

Galatians 5:19-21King James Version (KJV)19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

I hope you have been enjoying this series on the Works of the Flesh with me.  I have learned a great deal and pray you are learning along with me and teaching others.  In researching this subject I happened upon this material and it was so good I couldn’t do any better so I am passing it along to you.  I have given the site credit for their materials at the bottom.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Exodus 20:13 THERE’S MORE TO MURDER THAN TAKING A LIFE
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Intro: One American is shot, stabbed, beaten, or strangled to death every minute. It seems that no matter where you turn in our society, or even our world, there are murders. It’s on the television and movies as fiction. It’s on the streets and next door as a brutal reality. With a murder rate of 10 in every 100,000, your chances of being murdered are far greater than your chances of dying in an airplane or automobile crash. Murder is a horrible crime against God and against one’s fellow man. It may be the greatest offence of all given the enormity of death and what follows thereafter. Imagine taking a person’s life and that person going immediately into Hell.

Now, the 6th Commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." It literally means, "Thou shalt not murder." You see, while all murder is killing, not all killing in murder. Murder is more than just taking a life! Murder can be defined as the premeditated and intentional taking of another human life.

Accidental killing would not be classified as murder. Take an example from the Bible. In Numbers 35:11-28, God gave Israel regulations for "Cities of Refuge." These were cities to which someone who had unintentionally killed another human could flee to avoid the "avenger of blood." If you were involved in an automobile accident and accidentally killed another human, then you would not be a murderer.

Capital punishment would not be considered murder. God, in his Word lays down the principle that for certain offences, man has the right to terminate another human life, Gen. 9:6; Num. 35:16-18, Lev. 24:17. Whether or not you personally agree with capital punishment or not, it is plain to see that the Bible authorizes it in cases of murder.

Killings that take place in the exercise of "just war" would not be classified as murder. Throughout the history of the world, nations have had to defend their borders or other weaker nations against aggressive enemies. Even God, at various times, has ordered His people onto the field of battle. Those who kill in "just war" are not murders. However, those who engage in brutality and atrocities are murderers!

Killings that are the product of self-defense cannot be classified as murder. Often, police officers must kill in the line of duty. Homeowners may have to kill an intruder to protect home and family. These people are not murderers. Sometimes, people are attacked and must defend themselves. When they kill the attacker in the process, they are not classed as murderers.
However, there are times when killing is murder. That is what this commandment speaks to and that is what we want to look into this evening. Tonight, I want to preach for a while on this thought, There’s More To murder Than Taking A Life!

I. MURDER INTRUDES INTO GOD’S TERRITORY
A. God Controls Man’s Entrance Into Life – When man first appeared on this planet, it was at the command of Almighty God – Gen. 1:27. The evolutionists tell us that man evolved from some lower life form. That, in fact, life began on some primordial beach where somehow, some lifeless blob of protoplasm somehow began to live. This little living blob somehow began to change and eventually all the life on the earth came from these humble beginnings.
God’s Word, however, has a different version of these events! Notice what God did in Genesis 2:7, (Note that man was made in the image of God.). Look at what David thought of the origins of human life, Psa. 139:13-16. Look also at Job’s friend Elihu’s version of his own beginnings – Job 33:4.
It is plain from these verses that mankind is the product of the creative genius of Almighty God. Since God controls the entrance of man into life, it stands to reason that…

B. God Controls The Exit Of Man From Life – We must concede that God Himself is in control of life. He is the One who establishes the boundaries across which no man can cross, Job 14:5; Psa. 104:29. It seems clear that men can do certain things that will shorten their days, Pro. 10:27; Job 15:32-33; Job 22:15-16; Psa. 55:23; Eccl. 7:17. By the same token, obedience to the Lord will lengthen a man’s days upon the earth, Ex. 20:12; Pro. 10:27; Psa. 91:16. However, these things are also subject to the sovereignty of God. No man has the right to deliberately and intentionally end the life of another, except it be for those things already mentioned. God is the giver of human life and He alone must be the taker of human life. When we take it upon ourselves to take the life of another, we have placed ourselves in the place of God. We have tried to assume His position and power. We have tried to step into an area in which we have absolutely no business.
Not only does murder Intrude into God’s Business,
We see that…
 
II. MURDER INTERRUPTS A HUMAN LIFE
(Murder can be carried out in many ways. Allow me to take just a few minutes to catalogue some of them for you.)

A. A Definition Of Murder – "The unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another." Webster’s New World College Dictionary. That is what murder is. Now, what are the various ways it can be committed?

B. A Description of Murder
1. Physical Murder – This is the killing of another human being. Murder has a history as long as that of the world itself. In Genesis 4:8, the first murder is recorded. In this verse, Cain deliberately and with malice, took the life of his brother Abel. It was not a killing of self-defense, it was pure murder.
Since that day, the history of the world is marked by a constant string of murders. Thank God, we live in an area where many have never been touched by the icy hand of murder. However, some have been.
(Ill. My adopted sister Sheila was murder in Chicago, Illinois in 1972. Her boyfriend was a drug dealer who owed some men a lot of money. When they came to collect, he was out of the apartment, but they shot Sheila 5 times and ended her life at 18.)

2. Personal Murder – We call this act suicide. I know that some lives in this room have been impacted deeply by the suicide of a loved one. It leaves emotional scars that never fully heal. Therefore, I want to handle this portion of the message with extreme tenderness. When a person is driven to suicide, it is often the result of circumstances just getting out of hand. They feel overwhelmed and unable to cope any longer with their lives and they decide to end it. When they do this, they leave in their wake other destroyed lives. It is a selfish way to leave the world. Not only is it selfish, it is also sinful. Just as no man has the right to murder another, no man has the right to murder self. These things are the sole right of God Himself. We live in a time when every 90 minutes a teenager tries to take his/her life. Every 30 minutes one succeeds! When a person resorts to suicide, they are failing to avail themselves of the grace of God. They are refusing to allow the Lord to give them the support and the comfort they are in need of.
There is another side to Personal Murder, a side of which far more are guilty. How often has a doctor told someone, "If you don’t stop this or that, then you will die?" And, how often has that person chosen to go right on with their bad habits and died? Whether it is over in a moment, or whether it takes years, the results are the same. Even suicide can be a slow process.

3. Physician Assisted Murder – Here I am referring to what is called Euthanasia or "mercy killing." This form of death has been brought to the public’s attention by the activities of a Dr. Jack Kavorian, also known as "Dr. Death." It seems that Dr. Death will help terminally ill persons, or those who are in extreme pain, end their lives. He does this with the aid of a "suicide machine." The "patient" presses a button, and a lethal dose of chemicals is injected into their bloodstream, which causes death. Most of us hear this and think it is horrible and outrageous. I find it amazing that they can’t seem to convict this madman.
While we think this is barbaric, some countries around the world have legalized physician-assisted suicide. It is possible to go to the doctor and be put to death in the office. The day is coming when it will happen here too. The burden of health care for the aged, for the infirm, for the dying will be the catalyst that pushes "mercy killings" into acceptability and into law!

4. Pre-natal Murder – I am referring to abortion! According to the Bible, life begins at the very moment of conception, Psa. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5; Luke 1:41. Yet, our society seem to view the unborn human as just so much waste material to be thrown away at the mother’s convenience. Since abortion on demand was legalized in the US, there have been over 37 million abortions performed in this country. Somewhere around 4,300 per day, or 1 every 20 seconds! (Ill. The Awful procedure called "partial birth abortion.")Pro-death advocates claim that the mother deserves the right to choose. In my opinion, she made her choice when she decided to have sexual intercourse! Abortion is murder! It ends a human life, and that is the domain of Almighty God.  When a country refuses to respect and protect the lives of its most helpless citizens, no one is truly safe.

I. Murder Intrudes Into God’s Territory

II. Murder Interrupts A Human Life

III. MURDER INVOLVES MORE THAN KILLING
A. Murder Involves The Element Of Justice – Murder carries with it a penalty. Ill. Matt. 5:21-22. Jesus states that murders will be punished. Some, it seems, have gotten away with murder. They will, however, face God one day and He will render perfect justice – Rev. 20:11-15.
Others have been caught, tried and convicted. Some of these are in prison and other have and will pay with their lives. This is part of murder. Many murderers have received Jesus as their Savior, yet they will still die for their crime. Is this fair? Yes it is! (Ill. Carla Faye Tucker in Texas – She murdered 2 people while high on drugs and was sentenced to die. She was saved and became a model Christian and prisoner. Many thought she should have her sentence commuted. Yet she was executed just a couple of months ago.) There is a price on murder! Ill. Rom. 13:4.
B. Murder Involves The Element Of Judgment – It is possible to murder another human being and not shed an ounce of blood, or even take their life. Murder can happen in the heart and mind and never find manifestation in reality. However, in the Lord’s eyes, the murderer is just as guilty. Notice, Matt. 5:22; 1 John 3:15. These verses teach this truth. Many people have had their reputations ruined and pure old malice and hatred have murdered their testimonies.
(Ill. Someone has said, "There are three degrees of murderous guilt, all of which can be manifested without a blow being struck: secret anger, the spiteful jeer; the open, unrestrained outbursts of violent, abusive speech.")
Murder is more than an act of the flesh; it is an attitude of the heart.

Conc: How do we insulate ourselves against breaking this commandment? The solution is simple. All we need do is practice God’s plan for unconditional love, Matt. 33:37-39, and absolute forgiveness of others, Eph. 4:32. If there has been a murderous spirit in your heart that needs to be repented of right now. Whoever you are angry at needs to be forgiven and that anger released. It is far better to suffer some injury than to be guilty of murder, even if it is only hurting you.

(This information was taken from http://www.sermonnotebook.org/old%20testament/exodus_20-13.htm)  It is not to be reused for profit without their written consent. 

This is what this site says about their materials: No claims of absolute originality are made for this material. As one man said, "I milk a lot of cows, but I churn my own butter." Please use these sermons as the Lord leads, but nothing on this site may be used for profit without my expressed, written permission!  
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