1. “Divided Kingdom”

2. Crossroads of leadership
1 Kings 12:6-11 – Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

3. But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

4. The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell them, ‘My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

5. Servant leadership
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.” –John Maxwell

6. Servant leaders focus on the nurturing and betterment of others.

7. Obstacles to servant leadership
Prejudice
“An unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.”

8. Obstacles to servant leadership
Prejudice
Rejection of wise counsel
Proverbs 1:7 – “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

9. Obstacles to servant leadership
Prejudice
Rejection of wise counsel
Attachment to unwise friendships
Proverbs 27:6 – “Faithful are the wounds of a friend…”

10. Obstacles to servant leadership
Prejudice
Rejection of wise counsel
Attachment to unwise friendships
Yielding to carnal pursuits

11. Servant leaders
“When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“If any wish to come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross, and follow me.” –Jesus the Christ