What if the greatest leadership insight didn't come from your inner circle, but from someone completely outside of it? Someone unexpected. Today, we'll discover why Jesus was amazed by this leader. I'm Chris Moore. This is Leading 10 where we explore how Jesus led and how his example still speaks to business leaders today. In Luke seven, Jesus enters Capernaum, a Roman centurion. Someone completely outside of the Jewish community comes and lets Jesus know that his servant is sick and near death. But here's the twist. Instead of asking Jesus to come to his house with him, the centurion says, I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. He goes on to explain that he understands how authority works. I am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, go. And he goes, and to another come and he comes. When Jesus hears this. He marvels, he turns to the crowd and says, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel. Just like that. The Romans Centurion servant is healed. You know, it's funny because in Luke chapter seven, verse nine, it says, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. Think about just a little while ago that we talked about Lazarus, the Marys, his disciples not understanding what his power was and how he could heal, nor understanding the leadership, the control that Jesus had. Jesus was the greatest leader who ever lived. He was willing to be amazed by someone who was not in his inner circle, someone he didn't necessarily teach directly, but who had heard and understood. That's real humility. That's powerful leadership. He shared what others would've not. The centurion was a Roman. He was a military officer, a Gentile by cultural and religious standards. He shouldn't have been in the room, but Jesus honored him, honored someone outside the religious norm because the man understood authority and he understood who Jesus was. And the power that he had. This story teaches us a key leadership principle. Great leaders honor leadership wherever they see it. This event could have happened and he could have said nothing, but he honored this Romans centurion. He honored what was taking place even when it came from an unexpected place. So picture this. A CEO attending a cross industry conference. During the breakout session, a young team leader steps up from a completely different field and shares a simple system they used that was able to keep up morale and keep their productivity high. The CEO could easily dismiss it. Hey, that's not our industry. It's not our thing. That's not how it works over here. But instead, they lean in, they take notes, they adopt it. A few months later, that insight becomes the catalyst for improved employee retention and improved morale company-wide. Great leaders see value beyond titles, and this was something that Jesus was trying to teach. The disciples so that they were not threatened by people outside their circle, outside the Jewish circle, that they were not threatened by authority that, but they recognized it and they respected it in others. The centurion's understanding of authority was rooted in both power. And in submission, something he had to have learned to get to where he was as a Roman centurion. He didn't just command, but he also understood what it meant to be under command, under command of someone who was probably not even in his region, may not have been anywhere near Israel, but he understood the power that came and how to deliver that same power. That balance that's critical in leadership. You cannot lead well if you have not learned follow, and you cannot steward authority till you understand where it truly comes from. Jesus honored that, and again, he wanted to make sure that his disciples could see that so that we could see that today. He didn't just heal the servant. He publicly affirmed the centurion's faith and his insight into what Jesus was trying to share and to teach. And that's another powerful trait. Jesus affirmed people publicly. He gave credit, he marveled, he made space to recognize what others overlooked, even when it was a Roman. In Jewish society, who outside your team, your industry, or your usual circle, has shown leadership that you can learn from. It might be a peer in a different company, a younger employee with fresh eyes. A vendor who consistently exceeds expectations. Don't overlook those voices. Make a habit of listening, honoring learning. In sharing what came from them. Jesus modeled a leadership posture that said, I'm willing to be amazed. I don't have to be the smartest person in the room. That's what he was teaching his disciples throughout Jesus's ministry. His three years, his leadership made an impact on these young men, and I do say young men because they were. That ended up changing the world. That is still changing our world today, affecting not only cultures, not only countries, but the individual from three years of leadership. So this week I want you to identify one person, especially someone who is outside your normal circle, who demonstrates leadership worth honoring, and tell them. Affirm it publicly if you can. You may be surprised how their insight can help elevate your own leadership. Hopefully this devotional challenge you to look beyond your circle for leadership insight. Share it with a fellow leader. Sometimes we need to go outside of our industries to see what other people are doing and take those lessons learned and bring them as something new and fresh into ours. But always honor. Where you learned it from. You know, great leaders recognize greatness wherever it shows up. So I wanna thank you for joining me on Lead In 10. If you haven't noticed, we're well past 50 episodes now. This is the 20th episode, in this lead like Jesus, series, because of this series. We're gonna turn these last 50 episodes into a book. It's gonna be called, uh, Lead Like the Lion, Serve Like the Lamb. I'm working on that right now. I'm gonna take another different direction, over the next several weeks trying to look at maybe some common questions in business and how to answer those from a biblical perspective. And how to answer those from a biblical perspective. I'm really looking forward to getting in to this next section as well. For those of you that are listening, thank you. If you can send in a comment, uh, write a review on Apple Podcast, I would greatly appreciate it. Appreciate what you're doing, and most of all, I've. Appreciate what I have learned in attempting, , to provide a little bit of insight, a little bit of help, and a little bit of thought for us to become greater leaders, , greater men, women, parents, managers for God. I'll see you next time.