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The Call to Leadership

The Call to Leadership

As we go through Peter’s first letter to the church, he’s just finished speaking to elders. Now he changes his focus.

Here Peter comes to the heart of the matter. In this verse, the phrase younger people literally means new or fresh. I don’t believe this is about age as much as spiritual maturity.

In actuality, all mature Christians should be leaders. As I said in my last post, we should all have a “forward passion”.

The Bible teaches that we must all submit to one another. All lead in some way and all of us have a leader to follow.

There seems to be an epidemic in the modern church. That is the desire to simply be a follower.

“I will show up on Sunday. Tell me what I need to do. I’ll do my job, then go home.”

That’s not God’s best for His people. Many of the apostles were frustrated by this.

The problem was that these people were slow learners on purpose. We see this today in our society, but especially our churches. These people want to stay followers – but why?

The true problem is the worldliness of God’s people. We realize that a commitment to lead comes at a price. There are things I can’t do in the world, if I commit to lead something in the church. So we don’t live up to our potential.

Everyone would say, given the choice, they’d want their church to grow. However, they’d prefer others to put in the time to accomplish it.

We need to humble ourselves before God and accept His call to leadership. Then we can give our anxiety to Him. Usually, we’re anxious because we’re afraid we’re going to miss out on what the world is offering us.

Follow God’s calling and walk in His freedom!

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on October 27, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry, The Church

 

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Elders as Shepherds

Elders as Shepherds

I’m continuing through the book of 1 Peter. In my last post, I started talking about elders. It’s not just the office of an elder, but anyone who is mature in the faith.

In speaking to these mature people, Peter tells them to be shepherds of God’s flock under their care. It’s obvious, that in the church, there are leaders and followers. The flock are those who follow.

He tells the mature to serve as overseers. That’s an important concept. To oversee means to watch over a certain aspect of the ministry. But there are some key attitudes that must be a part of their mindsets.

First of all, it must be voluntary. They’re not being made to do it. There’s no coercion involved.

Also, the keyword in this Scripture is serving. You can never be thinking, “What’s in it for me? What are you willing to pay me for this?” Just like Jesus, you’re not there to be served, but to serve.

Not only is this the case, but there must be an eagerness to serve. That word means to be forward passioned. You don’t have to be told to serve; you’re looking for opportunities to serve.

Peter continues along these lines.

He tells us not to lord it over those entrusted to us. The implication is that we’re not there to carve out a little kingdom for ourselves. Church people have one Lord, and it’s not me.

I realize that this is a problem in many churches of our generation. In a lot of cases, it’s about which committee has the most power. There are constant political struggles.

Instead, we should strive to be an example to those under our care. Paul understood this as well

Those who follow the pattern of service correctly, soon become the pattern to follow. If we live out this truth, there’s a great reward waiting for us.

This is one of those crowns that we will be able to lay down at the Lord’s feet.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on October 24, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry

 

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Elders – A Walk of Maturity

Elders – A Walk of Maturity

As you know, I just took two weeks off from posting. Now I’m back in 1 Peter and we’re starting chapter 5.

Peter’s letter up until this point has been about spiritual growth. Now he’ll talk about the end result of that growth.

As I said when we first started looking at this letter, Peter is actually writing to Christian leadership. It is to leadership that the Lord wants all believers to be headed.

In context, Peter has just talked about going through suffering and trials. That’s where our growth is tested.

James tells us the same thing.

This is the goal of our faith. To be mature and complete, not lacking anything. That’s not the description of a new-born believer. It should be the life of an elder in the church.

This is who Peter is writing to. This is a special note to elders – an invitation to those who are mature in the Lord.

Peter describes himself as a co-elder and witness of the suffering of Christ. But more than that, he’s also a partner in the glory to be revealed in the future. This begs the question; what is an elder?

The Bible talks about elders who preach, teach, pray, and lead. In the modern church, it’s a title of leadership. These are people who are recognized for their maturity and experience.

The Apostle Paul showed his spiritual son, Titus, what to look for in an elder. Titus was to establish elders in all the churches under his oversight.

These are the things a mature believer cannot be accused of. But there are also some positive characteristics that should be evident.

An elder must be mature enough to encourage other believers and refute those who oppose the truth. In my next post, I’ll continue this line of teaching.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry, Spiritual Walk

 

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For God’s Glory

For God’s Glory

As we continue through the book of 1 Peter, he is exhorting us about the characteristics of Christian leaders. Actually, I believe that all Christians are called to some form of leadership. Now, Peter gets into a subject that’s important for us to hear.

We sometimes get the impression that it doesn’t matter what people think about us. After all, “I’ll live the way I want. I don’t care what you think about me.” As Christian leaders, we have to be careful about that attitude.

Whatever we say or do should be praiseworthy. Of course, that in itself can bring on another set of problems.

We all like to be praised. When we accomplish something worthwhile, we expect people to notice and appreciate us. It makes us feel good about ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with accepting praise for a job well done.

The problem we get into, is wanting to keep it ALL for ourselves. If we live independent of God, then we don’t have to give Him any praise. The fact is that my wisdom isn’t good enough. My strength will never overcome all the obstacles before me. I need to rely upon God.

So, there are the two ditches on the side of our path. Not caring at all about how we affect people or living for praise. Either way, we miss out on God’s best. I need to learn to live with the knowledge that my life and my words represent someone other than myself.

I belong to Christ. I’m a citizen of the Kingdom of God. I’m an ambassador for a realm that’s beyond this world. As such, I can’t allow myself to pick up the attitudes of this world.

When I spend time in the presence of the Lord, I begin to live on a higher level. Then, when someone is touched by my words, I can’t take the credit for it. God gets the glory.

When I do something sacrificial that my flesh would have never agreed to apart from God’s prompting, He gets the praise for it.

We should seek to live our lives in such a way that God receives continual praise. This requires us to spend time with Him, meditating on His Word, and listening to His Spirit.

Yes, there will still be things that we’re praised for, but our goal should be for the Lord to receive most of the glory for how we live. In that way our lives will be a continual testimony to the greatness of our God.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on September 22, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

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1 Peter Begins

1 Peter Begins

Those who follow my blog know that I’ve been systematically going through the New Testament in the order that the Holy Spirit revealed it to the church.

I started a few years ago, with the four foundational books – James, First Thessalonians, Galatians and Mark.

The next thing on the Holy Spirit’s agenda was to inspire books that dealt with our personal walk with the Lord. These books include Second Thessalonians, First and Second Corinthians, Romans, and Luke.

After that, the Lord gave us books dealing with our corporate walk. We need to understand life as a church. These epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

In my last post, we finished Philemon. We’ll now transition to the next series of letters given to us by the Holy Spirit. They center around raising up mature Christian leadership.

These books are (in the the order they were revealed to the church): 1 Peter, Jude, 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, Acts, 2 Peter, 2 Timothy, and Matthew.

So, today we’ll begin with Peter’s first letter to the church.

This is Peter’s opening statement. He’s not writing to one particular church or person. This is an open letter to the church at large.

However, there are some important things to see in this sentence that usually get overlooked. As a matter of fact, you may not like some of the things I’m about to say. So please keep an open mind and allow the Word of God to speak to you.

As one of the original 12 apostles, Peter was tasked with making sure the foundation of Christianity was solid. That was a very important role in the early church.

As I said in the beginning of this post, this is where the Holy Spirit makes a transition to the training of church leadership. That’s abundantly evident from Peter’s opening statement.

He clearly says that He’s writing to God’s elect. One of the problems with modern preaching and teaching is the idea that every book in the Bible is written to and about every believer. That’s just not the case.

This word, elect, is important for us to understand. It literally means that Peter is writing to those who are chosen.

Of course, if you listen to many modern preachers, they’ll tell you that we’re all chosen. That’s not what Jesus taught.

We are all called to serve in a ministry and to lead others. However, there’s a training and maturing process that we have to go through to be chosen for that place of service.

Unfortunately, in much of the church these days this truth is glossed over. We equate calling with choosing.

Actually, there’s a great difference between calling and choosing. As we continue through these books of leadership, this will become more and more clear to you.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2025 in Leadership

 

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Do Good from the Heart

Do Good from the Heart

We’re continuing our look at the epistle to Philemon. Paul is writing on behalf of his spiritual son, Onesimus.

Onesimus was an escaped slave from his former master, Philemon. Now that both have become Christians, it makes for a new dynamic.

In my last post, Paul tells Philemon that he looked at Onesimus as his replacement working along side of the apostle. He wants Philemon to see this young man in a new light.

Paul’s goal is for Philemon to accept him no longer as a slave, but as a brother in Christ.

This is an important Scripture, not only for those it was written to, but for all believers as well. It concerns the issue of why we do what we do for the Lord.

It’s unfortunate, but there are many church ministries that have leadership who rule with an ”iron hand”. That’s not what the Lord taught His disciples. He exemplified what servant leadership was all about.

No one should feel compelled to do anything for God because of threats or guilt. That’s not God’s desire for His people.

The word spontaneous, above, means not forced or constrained. It’s used elsewhere in Scripture. Paul uses it in regard to making an offering.

Sad to say, I’ve been in church services where they were taking up an offering for a special project. When the amount needed didn’t come in, they prolonged the service with more appeals and more offerings until the goal was reached. I can tell you that by the end of the service, many of the givers were not cheerful!

Our acts of kindness should come from the overflow of our hearts. They should be a show of our gratefulness to God.

That’s even the case for why we serve in leadership positions. Many times, I’ve seen leaders who were recruited by making them feel guilty.

“You must do this. We have no one else capable. God needs you.”

That’s definitely not how Paul views the ministry. As a matter of fact, Peter agrees with him as he uses the same two words in this verse when he talks to the elders.

So, as Paul continues this letter, he’s instructing Philemon on the need to free this former slave. Not because of Paul’s authority, but because it’s the right thing to do before God.

That speaks to us. Do we regularly examine our motives in our service to God? We should endeavor to keep our hearts right before Him.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry

 

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Pray Before Speaking

Pray Before Speaking

As we go through the book of Colossians, we’ve come to chapter 4. This is the final chapter of this short letter. You may want to read this chapter before continuing with this post.

In Colossians, chapter 4, Paul is giving some final exhortations and then he greets a number of people who will be receiving this. His first statement is about prayer.

Paul first gives us a general call to prayer. He gives us three important aspects of prayer. Devotion, watchfulness, and thankfulness. This is what our prayer times should look like.

The word, devote, means to be diligent. Prayer is not something to be neglected. It’s the most important part of your day, as a believer.

The Creator of the universe has given us total access to His throne. How can we neglect that great gift.

But, more than that, we need to be watchful, awake and alert. Our Lord is not simply a God who listens. He wants to speak to us as well. We need to be attentive for His voice in our spirit.

Finally, the apostle talks about thankfulness. That must be our overall attitude towards God. So often we stress over the little stuff. We get upset because we didn’t get a good parking space at the mall.

Don’t let that carryover into your times with the Lord. Come with a grateful attitude for the grace He has bestowed on you.

Then Paul exhorts them to pray for him. Specifically, so that he can proclaim Christ effectively. That’s important.

Instead of criticizing what church leadership says and does, we need to be praying for them. Pray for open doors of ministry. Pray for the effectiveness of what they say and do. Pray that they have clear direction and wisdom from God.

In this final part, Paul doesn’t specifically mention prayer, but I think it’s implied. How else can we walk in wisdom? James tells us that it comes through prayer (James 1:5).

If we start in the place of prayer, then we have the wisdom and grace that Paul talks about. Too often we answer out of our own thoughts or emotions. That usually causes more problems than it solves.

This is the best advice Paul could give us. Prayer first. When we prepare our hearts with prayer, the day goes a lot smoother.

In the final part of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he greets a number of people. In part of his encouragement, he mentions their pastor again.

Prayer changes things. We need to be diligent to see all of God’s will accomplished in us. So, the book of Colossians closes with a clear call to prayer.

© 2024 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2024 in Leadership, Ministry, Prayer, Prayer in the Spirit

 

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Spiritual Maturity

Spiritual Maturity

I have been posting a series about the letter to the Colossian church. The Apostle Paul has been talking about his ministry to the body of Christ. His goal is the maturity of all believers.

Paul understood this aspect of his work as an apostle of Christ.

That’s the goal of the ministry. All who are in leadership are here to present everyone – not just a select few – perfect and mature in Christ. This requires supernatural strength and wisdom.

We cannot hope to perform this on a merely human level. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I need to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this great task.

The belief that this is impossible to achieve in our lifetime only serves to undermine the Lord’s goal for us. We need to recognize where He’s leading us to and cooperate with the Lord’s program for our development. After all, He’s bringing us on an incredible spiritual journey.

That’s exactly what the Lord taught His disciples.

This word, perfect, also means to be mature and complete. This is God’s desire for His people. That we attain to the same level of maturity as Christ.

The unfortunate thing is that many teach that this is impossible. Over and over, we are told that to walk like Jesus is beyond our reach. I don’t buy into this type of reasoning.

When I see the lives of the Apostles in the book of Acts, I don’t get the idea that they’re immature. I see the same signs and wonders that were performed by the Lord. I see thousands of people drawn to, and changed by, the Word of God. If it was possible for them, then the same is true for us – if we’re willing to walk the same road they walked to get there.

One of the key ingredients to us reaching this level is the ministry gifts God has given to the body of Christ. In talking about apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, Paul said that they were given as gifts to the church. They have a very clear purpose.

The goal of the five-fold ministry is the maturing of the saints. The level of that maturity is beyond question. It is that we would live and minister as the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Why would the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to write these words if it were not possible? We need to stop making excuses and start working towards the walk of maturity.

© 2023 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on December 6, 2023 in Leadership, Ministry, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

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Serving the Word

Serving the Word

We’re continuing through Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. The apostle is now talking about his ministry to those under his care.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

Ephesians 3:2-3 NIV

Paul uses a very interesting phrase here that I don’t think we fully understand. He calls it the administration of God’s grace. This is an important concept.

The word, administration, specifically speaks of the management of a household. In a wealthy household, there was a manager who had oversight, making sure that everyone had what they needed. They distributed the food, clothing, wages, etc.

As an apostle, Paul was given the responsibility of distributing God’s grace to those under his care. As church leaders, we have that same responsibility. Jesus referred to this in Luke 12:42.

Power and authority always flow downward from God. That’s why I always need to make sure I’m submitted according to God’s plan. Then, I can receive all that the Lord has for me.

Paul says that there’s a mystery involved in this. He goes on to explain it.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

Ephesians 3:6-7 NIV

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has far-reaching effects. Paul tells us about the power of this Good News.  As it started to do its work in establishing him, the grace of God began to have an effect. It called out to him – and he listened. In the same way, it’s clear that the Good News calls us to that same place of servanthood.

This means that we’re to become servants of the Good News and not servants of the law. This is the servanthood that we’re called to. Sons of God are servants of the Good News. We must live to serve the Good News.

What do I mean by this? We must serve the Good News just like a waiter serves your food. Think about it. In a rat-infested dive of a restaurant, they throw your food at you.

In a restaurant where they have “cuisine,” however, they’re not really serving you, but the food. Why do they have white tablecloths on the tables? Why the silver utensils, crystal goblets, and fine China? Do you think that the waiters wear tuxedos for you? Absolutely not!! All that finery is because they believe that THE FOOD is worthy.

Now think about church. It’s not a place of reverence anymore. Most congregations don’t even dress up these days. Spiritually speaking, people are coming out to eat less and less at these “restaurants of the Word.” This causes me to think that maybe the food isn’t as good as it once was. It just might be that we’re not serving the Gospel like we used to.

As a local pastor, I’m the executive chef of my spiritual restaurant. That makes me as much to blame as anyone for the quality of the spiritual food at my church. Then there’s the leadership team – they are the souse-chefs and maître de. Our church members are the waiters and waitresses.

Then there’s the fact that at a “high class” restaurant there are no prices on the menus. If you go there, you expect to pay whatever the meal costs. As the saying goes, “If you need to ask what the price is, then eat somewhere else.” Could it be that many American churches today are “spiritual dives?”

The truth is that we need a deeper understanding of the God’s grace. I need to understand my role as a servant. We need to learn to administer God’s grace and serve the Gospel as they did in the early church.

Question: What can we do to better serve the Good News of Jesus Christ?

© 2023 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Leading by Serving

Leading by Serving

What do you think is the best path to leadership in the kingdom of God? There was a principle of leadership that Jesus had to get across to His disciples. After all, they were going to be leading the church after His ascension.

We’re continuing our study through the Gospel of Luke. At this point we’re viewing the Last Supper before Jesus goes to the cross.

Christ wants to prepare the Apostles for the challenges ahead. Part of this was to instruct them about the cross. He was going to suffer, die, and then rise from the dead three days later.

The Lord had given them the bread and the cup of the New Covenant. He then told them about how He was going to be betrayed. That’s an interesting place for this conversation to begin.

As they were sitting around the table, the disciples started to debate something among themselves. I’m sure that it got pretty heated.

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

Luke 22:24 NIV

This argument probably started with, “It’s obviously not me. I would never betray Him. After all, I’m closer to the Lord than any of you!” I’m sure that Peter, James, and John all thought that they were at the top of the list. That is, until Jesus shared His views with them.

Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

Luke 22:25-27 NIV

The Lord explains that the true path to leadership is through servanthood. That’s something that we have a hard time grasping in the church these days.

Jesus is our prime example. The disciples were arguing over who was greatest, right after Jesus told them about His body and blood being given up for them.

He is the Lord of all creation. But the path He took involved laying down His life – serving – all of humanity.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

I think that it’s funny the way we get into leadership in our generation. If someone wants to be a pastor or teacher, they go to a Bible college and seminary for years. Then they graduate and send their resumes to churches. A lot of them will get voted in and installed as pastors having never served in ministry.

I think that’s why there’s such a high burn-out rate in the ministry. We haven’t learned that the path to knowing your calling is service in the kingdom. Without being a true servant, there’s no way of understanding the needs of those you’re leading.

That was the path that Christ took. It hasn’t changed. The Father is looking for qualified servants to lead His people. Don’t ever look down on that season of your life. Enjoy your call to servanthood.

Question: How are you called to serve in God’s kingdom?

© 2022 Nick Zaccardi

 

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