Student Study Guide
Lesson 28
The Attributes of a Leader - Pt. 4
Section 1 - Attribute Ten: Patient
The Heroic, Brave Endurance of a Leader
Of all the attributes Paul lists for a leader, patience may be the most counter-cultural and the most costly to develop. The Greek word is hupomonē, meaning "a remaining behind, a steadfast staying" - not passive resignation. As Marvin R. Vincent defines it: "The heroic, brave patience with which a Christian not only bears but contends." This is not a personality trait. It is a supernatural inner fortitude that God must forge in a leader through a process that cannot be rushed and cannot be faked.
1. Before a single seal is opened in Revelation, John identifies himself as a companion in the of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:9). This is the attribute that will keep a leader when everything around them is collapsing.
2. Tribulation produces Patient Endurance. Patient Endurance produces . Character produces . This chain cannot be - and no leader bypasses it.
What the Modern Church Has Failed to Teach: This power is not given before the battle. It is released in the midst of it. It is rarely one catastrophic blow that destroys a leader - it is the piling on of smaller things over time.
✍ Two Examples of Patient Endurance
Paul at Lystra: When Paul was stoned, dragged outside the city, and left for dead, he got up, walked back into the very city that had just tried to kill him, and continued his journey the next day. What drove a man back through those gates? Not willpower. The patience of Christ. That is a leader.
David: Anointed king as a teenager and waited approximately seventeen years before he sat on the throne. God was not in a hurry. He was building the only thing that can sustain a leader under the weight of genuine authority: character.
3. In Luke 21:17-19, in the middle of His most sobering description of end-time tribulation, Jesus says: "By your possess your souls." The word "possess" means to obtain, to acquire, to win something of great significance.
4. Patience is not . It is the proof that a leader's confidence is in and not in themselves. A leader who learns to wait on God, who refuses to force what only God can open, is a leader that can trust with genuine authority.
Your Reflection
Section 2 - Attributes Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen
Not a Brawler • Not Covetous • Rules His Own House Well
Attribute Eleven: Not a Brawler
Not a brawler means literally one who is peaceable, not in controversy with others. A leader seeks peaceful solutions to confrontations while not compromising the Word of God. A leader does not use physical intimidation or confrontation. As we grow up into the character of Christ, God can trust us with the release of His life-changing anointing.
5. The preacher who described taking people outside physically if they looked at him wrong thought it was . But that is . The Bible says don't be a brawler.
Attribute Twelve: Not Covetous
Covetousness means to desire that which does not rightfully belong to you: another's property, possessions, talents, fame, popularity, position, or stature. The vast majority of pastors today are absolutely discontent with their congregation because they look on television and see the 14,000-member church, the 30,000-member church - and they covet what those ministries have.
✍ The Televised Service Account
A young minister was watching a televised service where a well-known leader announced he was passing his mantle to his son. This young man started screaming at the television: "No! Give it to me! That should be mine!" When another major figure announced the same thing, he screamed again.
The Lord spoke to him clearly: "Sit down. I'm benching you for a year because of your attitude. You are coveting that which I have not given you."
6. Most people chasing another minister's mantle don't want the mantle - they want the . They want the crowds, the fame, the money. They don't want the , the decades of faithfulness, the years in obscurity that produced that anointing.
Your heart does not lead your treasure. Your heart follows your treasure. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). If you are spending your time and energy gathering fame, fortune, and recognition - that is where your heart is, regardless of what your mouth says.
7. If you allow covetousness to rule in your heart, you will eventually bring into your church, household, or life. Most is a manifestation of covetousness. Repent of coveting.
Attribute Thirteen: Rules His Own House Well
God places our responsibilities in the family second only to our personal walk with Him. A man must first prove he can lead and care for his own family before he is entrusted with the care of the church.
8. Ruling well does not mean having a perfect family or sinless children. It means leading your home with , love, consistency, and dignity. If a man cannot shepherd his smaller household well, how can he rightly shepherd God's household?
Neglecting your family in the name of ministry is not spiritual sacrifice. It is disobedience. "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Tim. 5:8).
9. Sometimes busyness from ministry flows from insecurity, , or building our own kingdom instead of God's. The answer: Love Jesus first, and shepherd your wife and children well. Then from that place of and example, serve the church with integrity.
Your Reflection
Section 3 - Attributes Fourteen and Fifteen
Not a Novice • Good Report of Them Without
Attribute Fourteen: Not a Novice
We are notorious in the church for elevating novices. In my twenties I was side by side with some of the biggest names of that era - young men and women becoming the top of the game. But hardly any of them made it to forty without falling into major sin. One after another they fell. Why? Because we are notorious for elevating novices.
✍ The Christian Rapper Account - England
In England, a promoter brought to me the number one Christian rap artist in the world at that time, wanting him to minister at our event. He was a nice young man - but so spiritually immature I would not let him lead a Bible study. I warned the famous preachers around him: "If you keep exalting him, you will destroy him." They publicly mocked me.
One year later, eight thousand miles away, someone who knew him well told me: this high-profile Christian rapper kept coming home bragging about all the women he was sleeping with. We had done it again. We took someone because they were talented and threw them to the forefront in direct violation of the Word.
10. The Bible says a novice, when up too quickly, will almost always be filled with and fall (1 Tim. 3:6). We are coveting some big thing, and we run these people to the top and we one after another.
Saul - The Warning
Anointed powerfully by God, but a novice - not prepared to handle the anointing or the position. The result: corruption, disobedience, and ultimate rejection.
David - The Pattern
Called as a teenager. Many years of testing, suffering, faithfulness, and development before the throne. Character built before authority granted.
11. In society and much of the Christian world we are attracted to and talent rather than . The higher the position of leadership, the greater the demand placed on them to be spiritually .
Attribute Fifteen: Good Report of Them Without
A leader must have a good reputation not just inside the church, but outside it. People's faith is released to receive only if they can accept you as a servant of God.
12. Jesus, the most anointed person to ever walk this earth, could do very few mighty works in His hometown because of how they Him. If Jesus Himself faced that limitation, how much more so do we need to guard our ?
Three Areas Where Reputation Is Built or Destroyed:
1. Your Conversation - "Build up or shut up." Only words that are good and profitable for those who hear. No corrupt speech, foolish jesting, or tearing people down. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34).
2. Your Job Performance - Christians should be the best employees in any workplace. Work as though Jesus Christ is standing over you: come in early, stay late, volunteer. You dishonor God's name when you call yourself a Christian and work like a slothful sluggard.
3. In Love and Charity - Love those who hate you and speak badly about you. Do not retaliate or get bitter. As leaders, our word has power and authority because our life has integrity.
13. It's not who you say you are - it's who do say you are. Every time a big-name minister falls, it the Word of God in the world, because their life did not live up to what even the world knows a godly leader should be.
Your Reflection
Section 4 - Attribute Sixteen: Let These Also First Be Proved
God Tests What He Trusts With Genuine Authority
Every leader must be tested and proved over time to see what is really inside of them. There are many character flaws that a good personality can hide. Only time and close observation can reveal some of these flaws. And when a person is proved, it also establishes a deep sense of respect among those they work with.
Quick exaltation almost always leads to self-destruction.
14. God will test you and prove you over time. Everyone who moves into leadership must be . Do not being proved, tested, or watched. These things take time. You do not get them overnight.
15. David was called as a teenager, but it was many years later before he ever took his throne. He went through the process of being tried, tested, and found in the small things before he was trusted with much. Begin to pray over each of these attributes: God, let these things work in me that I might be the Christ-like character and leader that is proud of.
Final Reflection
Lesson 28 - Practice Test
Auto-graded upon completion
Complete all sections, then click "Submit & Grade" to receive your score with instant feedback.
Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. What does the Greek word hupomonē (patience) actually mean, according to this lesson?
2. When is the power of patient endurance released, according to this lesson?
3. What does the lesson say most people chasing another minister's mantle actually want?
4. What does the lesson say about how the heart relates to treasure - and why does this matter for covetousness?
5. Why does the lesson say Jesus could do very few mighty works in His hometown, and what does this mean for leaders?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. According to this lesson, the chain of tribulation → patient endurance → character → hope can be shortcut by a sufficiently strong prayer life or significant spiritual experience.
2. Neglecting your family in the name of ministry is spiritual sacrifice, and God honors the leader who prioritizes the church over the household.
3. The lesson teaches that "ruling well his own house" means having a perfect family with sinless children who never cause problems.
4. According to the lesson, the church frequently elevates people to platform leadership based on gifting and talent rather than proven character.
5. The lesson teaches that patience (hupomonē) is a personality trait some people naturally have, making it easier for them to qualify for leadership than others.
6. The lesson says a leader's job performance in the secular workplace is part of their testimony and directly affects their authority to speak the Word.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. The Greek word for patience, hupomonē, means the heroic, brave patience with which a Christian not only but contends.
2. Romans 5:3-5: Tribulation produces Patient Endurance; Patient Endurance produces character; character produces .
3. Your heart does not lead your treasure. Your heart your treasure.
4. Quick exaltation almost always leads to .
5. It's not who you say you are - it's who do say you are.
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. Describe the chain from Romans 5:3-5 and explain why the lesson says no leader bypasses it. Use one of the accounts (Paul at Lystra or David) to illustrate what patient endurance looks like in practice.
2. The lesson says the church is "notorious" for elevating novices. What specific harm does quick exaltation do to a novice, and what does the pattern of David versus Saul teach about God's approach to developing leaders?
3. What three specific areas does the lesson identify as building or destroying a leader's reputation outside the church? How does each one connect to the leader's effectiveness in ministry?
Part E - Before You Leave
Name the trial, pressure, or prolonged difficulty in your life right now where God is forging patient endurance. What would it look like to actively cooperate with that forging rather than resist or escape it?
Of the sixteen attributes covered in Lessons 25-28, which one do you sense requires the most urgent attention in your life? Write a brief prayer committing that attribute to God - not as an aspiration for later, but as a surrender today.