Mark left, and Paul said: I'm not having him on my team - he's a quitter; but Barnabas said: let me work with him - he's a good boy. He was able to raise him up, strengthen him, and he was productive later on.
All of these leaders have holes in them. Every one of us has holes in us; so what are the things you have to guard ,and what have you got to handle?
1) Guard against idolatry. No one can take the place of Jesus in your life. It doesn't matter how anointed a person is, how gifted or charismatic, they can never become an idol in your life. You have to deal with idolatry; Jesus must be first.
2) Deal with offense. Sometimes people fail us, and we need to be able to handle offences, and not hold them in our heart.
Absalom, David's son, held offence in his heart; and in the end he betrayed him in a very deep, and personal, and hurtful way. We need to guard that we don't get a rebellious attitude in our heart, a reaction.
In Genesis 9, Ham uncovered his father - and as a result of that, his life became cursed. There were demonic powers unleashed, because he became dishonouring of his father.
1) Keep focus on Jesus Christ. Anyone else pales in comparison. Anyone else that God sends into our life, whether it be a father, mother, teacher, leader, Sunday school teacher, pastor, some kind of person, they're all secondary to Jesus Christ. He is number one. Jesus is the measuring post - however we can learn and draw from Godly men and Godly women.
2) When they do fail, and you see things that are wrong or lacking in their life, make a decision to forgive, and extend grace - just like Jesus extended grace to you. That will keep you in a place of relationship.
3) Look for an opportunity to be able to speak, in love, the truth - to talk into the person, and appeal to them.
I can remember a very, very difficult situation I faced with a leader, but I went to him, and appealed to him, that his reputation was struggling and suffering because of a certain thing he was doing, and just begged him to consider the affect on his ministries. My heart was for him, and his welfare; not to point out a fault - there's a big difference.
4) Sometimes we need to establish personal boundaries, to protect our heart. With one leader, I could see a major difficulty and a disagreement I had, over the pathway he was taking. I took a stand and said: I'm sorry - I love you, and respect you, but I can't walk down this path with you. This is the path God wants me to take.
I didn't go saying all the things I could see that were wrong, and why it was so; I just said: I can't agree to go down that route with you. This is the path God's called me, and I need to follow God's path for my life.
So I put a boundary. It was very, very painful, because instead of allowing me to do it, there was a huge reaction, and a shock of grief and breached relationship, which I suffered from for quite some time, until I got ministered and free of it.
So God brings people to our lives to help us, and without those people, we're going to have to learn everything from start; but with those people, we can get a head start - so welcome the people that God puts in your life, who can impart to you, and help you go to another level in fulfilling your destiny.
I've given you the six or seven keys on how you connect, relate, and what you do to draw from that person's life. Also the boundary you need to guard, and the things to watch against: idolatry's probably the worst. In the Book of Acts, it says that when the people saw the miracles that Paul and Barnabas did - they called them gods, and wanted to sacrifice to them.
We don't do that! We just think that this person is almost like Jesus Himself, and when something happens that disappoints us, we get very angry - and our whole faith stumbles.
Jesus will never tolerate idolatry. Whatever is an idol in our life, whether it's a person, a child, a ministry, a business - whatever it is, God will always confront it. He loves us, and wants us centred back on Jesus Christ, so every one of us can receive.