From Gethsemane To Growth: Leadership Lessons From John 18

Pressure changes the volume on everything. Some voices get loud, priorities get scrambled, and comfort tempts us to drift. We walk from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane and draw out modern leadership lessons you can use this week: build an inner circle you can trust, protect solitude for mission clarity, and create white space that turns constant motion into meaningful progress.

We share a quick recap of John 17 and then sit with the moment Jesus invites the eleven, leans on Peter, James, and John, and finally steps away alone to pray. That rhythm—team, advisors, solitude—maps neatly onto how great leaders make decisions under pressure. You’ll hear practical ways to build margins into your calendar, use commutes and buffers for learning, and avoid the back‑to‑back grind that erodes judgment. We also bring it home: presence beats presents. A quiet walk, a shared laugh, a simple coffee can do more for your family and your leadership resilience than any big purchase.

From John 18 comes a core conviction: stay on mission when it hurts. Interest rates rise, timelines slip, friends bail, but values aren’t negotiable. We talk about character revealed in crisis, the danger of cutting quality to chase short‑term wins, and simple, durable habits that outlast January hype. Start now with one ten‑minute practice, two white‑space blocks, and one relationship you’ll honor with undivided attention. It’s a grounded, hopeful path to lead with clarity when the room gets loud.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s gearing up for the new year, and leave a quick review to help others find these conversations. Your feedback shapes what we explore next—what habit will you protect this week?

Chapters

• 0:00 Warm Return And Cold Weather Banter
• 1:05 Holiday Catch‑Up And Studio Plans
• 2:55 Dad Jokes And New Year’s Eve Preview
• 5:18 Series Context: Leadership In Every Bible Book
• 6:40 John 17 Recap And Scene Set For Gethsemane
• 8:05 Inner Circle And The Power Of Advisors
• 10:20 Leaders Making Time To Recharge
• 13:05 Margins, White Space, And Sharpening The Saw
• 16:05 Relationships, Presence, And The Gift Of Time
• 19:05 Start Now: Habits And Goals Before January
• 21:20 Crisis Leadership From John 18–19
• 24:05 Character Revealed Under Pressure

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Oh now.

SPEAKER_03: 0:22

Yeah. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01: 0:28

All righty. Welcome, welcome.

SPEAKER_02: 0:31

Come on, Tim.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Boy, we just sort of been on hiatus for a while. We have been out of town, traveling, been doing stuff. We've been running around town and and then it gets cold, and we like, well, we don't want to do that anymore. So we came back to the studio. That's my story. I'm sticking to it, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

So speaking of cold, okay, what do snowmen eat at a Mexican restaurant? Oh boy, oh boy. Started off right. What does snowmen eat at a Mexican restaurant?

SPEAKER_01: 1:08

I have no clue. Burritos. Burritos. Crank it up. Oh yeah. It's just crazy. I haven't been in the studio forever.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19

Yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while. So it's good to be back. Yeah. You know, finish up uh the Gospel of John uh probably next week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28

Next week. The week after. I mean, the week after, after. You know, we we're working on it. So we're working on it. We're gonna get there. We're gonna get there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:37

We got some important uh leadership principles to talk about today. Chapter 18, maybe the first couple verses. Yeah, something.

SPEAKER_01: 1:46

I mean, there's there's some stuff going down today. So but yeah, it's uh we're back in studio. We've we've been traveling, hopefully enjoyed the holidays. We were talking a little bit about that, spent a lot of time with Thanksgiving uh with family. So hopefully you guys all had a great Thanksgiving and and enjoying you're staying warm out there. We're we're talking, we're down in Texas and it's cold, which it's not really cold to people that are from the cold, right?

SPEAKER_00: 2:09

Like Minnesota, this is like, oh my gosh, this is like half the year. We love weather that's in the 40s, cloudy. It's like a spring day up here.

SPEAKER_01: 2:17

It really was. Uh, you know, yesterday it was like 40 degrees, you know, 39, 40 degrees, and and my my neighbors from the East Coast just moved down and stuff. He's running around in shorts and a tank top mowing his yard. I'm like, okay, I'm I wear shorts all the time. I'm in shorts right now, but I still have a sweatshirt on. I like to be warm, but yeah, he was all good. He was like, ah, this is warm today. It's good. I'm like, all right, yeah. And I remember that when you lived up north and it was really cold, and then you uh then you got out that first warm day where it got out of the teens to like 30 degrees. You're like, oh my gosh, it's tropical paradise. So warm tropical heat wave going on, right? But uh yeah, exactly right. Yeah, so there we go.

SPEAKER_00: 3:01

It was good. It was good, it's good to be back. Had a good uh Thanksgiving, yeah, good time with our family here in the last month.

SPEAKER_01: 3:08

Dr. Posey came in here with like books and books of extra dad jokes. So not only does he have 500 usually, he brought another four or five hundred with him. So ready.

SPEAKER_00: 3:19

I am so ready. So, those of you who are new to the show, yeah, thank you for joining us. Yeah, and here in just a couple weeks on our New Year's Eve edition, uh, this will be our third New Year's Eve. It's only dedicated to dad jokes. So if you have a great dad joke, um please send it in to us, uh biblical leadership show.com. Go on there and and shoot us an email and we'll work your dad joke into the show.

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

We are. That's a fun one. Here's the thing. I mean, we we have a lot of fun recording that one, you know, because we are not in studio on on New Year's uh or whenever I don't even know when it hits this year.

SPEAKER_00: 3:56

I think it's like I don't even know, the Tuesday or you know when it hits? Uh uh it hits on uh the 31st.

SPEAKER_01: 4:05

The 30th is when our show comes out that day. Oh, okay. So yeah, we will not be live. We'll not be live. We will be live in the studio, but it'll be pre-recorded. But definitely. We have so much fun recording that one because it's it's dad jokes all the time. And and uh, you know, so if if you're not into dad jokes, probably not the best episode. Pick us up at the first of the year. But if you're into dad jokes, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 4:26

They could use them at their New Year's Eve party.

SPEAKER_01: 4:28

I know, right? Just hit repeat on the you know, loop it, you know, on the that's right. Alexa. Play it over and over.

SPEAKER_00: 4:37

So when you get to the show, your party, you you have them down. You don't have to look at your phone.

SPEAKER_01: 4:42

Yeah. My my son, I I need to get in the back seat and see where he's pulling some of his dad jokes. He's got the best dad jokes going on, so he's he's pulling it up on one of the TVs back there and loving it, right? That's so good. He's that is so good. A whole trip last week, he was dad joking the whole time. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

You know what you got one more dad joke? I've got I've got like a hundred, but I'm not gonna um all right.

SPEAKER_01: 5:09

Well, tell us uh give us a recap where we're at now on John, and then we're getting ready to.

SPEAKER_00: 5:18

No, so those of you who are uh joining us for the first time, we say thank you. But what we've been doing literally for almost a year now, we've been going through all the books of the Bible, and some took a little longer than others.

SPEAKER_01: 5:32

Yeah, we were gonna try to do one book every every episode, and then we decided that uh yeah, that ain't gonna work. There's too much, there's too much information packed in some of these books, and we had to split it up.

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

We did. And so uh what we're doing is we're going through each book of the Bible and talking about the leadership principles in each book that you can apply to your life like right now. And and so uh we've started Genesis, um, and now we're in the New Testament book of John. We'll be finishing the book of John uh probably next week. Um and so we finished uh the last time we recorded, we were at uh John 17, which is the end of the Last Supper uh in the book of John. And so his disciples um have the Last Supper. This was on Thursday before Jesus was crucified on Friday. Um has what's called the the great priestly prayer there in John 17, where he is praying for his disciples and those who believe in him through the disciples. And um, so it's just a fantastic, very deep uh prayer. And so the the dinner finishes up uh in the chapter 18. Uh they leave the upper room, they go to the Garden of Gethsemane. And so um Jesus goes in with his disciples. By this time there's only eleven, because Judas Iscariot has uh gone to betray him. So he takes the eleven. Um we see in the Gospels that uh the eleven go with him, and then he takes uh Peter, Jam, James, and John and says, Okay, y'all come with me just a little farther longer. So there's eight of them that stay in one place, three of them go a little further. He said, Okay, y'all stay right here and watch and pray. And then he goes off uh a little bit further and says a stone's throw away, and um he goes and kneels down and and prays. Um and he knows what's coming. Um, he knows how it's gonna happen, what's gonna happen, when it's gonna happen. But he's just praying for strength um uh from God to go through that and be faithful. And and let's just talk about that leadership principle right there. You know, it's always good to have a small group of advisors with your in your business. Um and it could be if you're just a a mom and pop business, um, you know, having someone to just bounce ideas off of or you know, things like that, that's always good. Um, and so uh Jesus, we see this several times in the Gospels uh that Jesus uh had uh Peter, James, and John. Um and uh James and John were brothers, and then Peter um and Andrew, but uh Andrew was not included in the three. So those three were the probably the closest to Jesus. And um so it's good, those were like his his inner circle and uh like his you know lieutenants or you know, his generals or whatever. And but here's the thing Jesus went off by himself. And and so the question is um when do you as a leader go off by yourself? Uh when do you take time just for you? Um whether that's to pray, uh, to rekindle, to go to a continuing education class, to do something just to get uh be a better leader. Um when do you uh prioritize you getting better? Um now Jesus wasn't doing that to get better. Um He was, you know, uh praying, he was praying, you know, uh he's asked he asked God, you know, can you take this cup away from me? And he says, No, not my will, but yours be done. And and but uh I think the main thing was he was there getting strength for the task uh forward. And so as a leadership principal, it's so easy to um just give your whole self to work, um, and just just you know, whatever you work, it could be seven to five, it could be six to five, whatever, you know, just give, give, give, give, give, and then um by the end of the week you're exhausted and you take you know the weekends to recover, and then you do it all again. And so the question is, when do you take time for yourself? You know, is that do you go to the gym? Do you do you have a a time, uh maybe lunch when you just read, uh, maybe uh do a continuing education? Well when is that uh time for you to get better at you, at what you do? And it could be maybe not a business thing, it could be a personal thing, it could be uh, you know, parenting class, it could be strengthening your marriage, um, it could be better business, it could be something else, but uh so important um to um to take time to get better at you. And and I'm just thinking of Stephen Covey's seven habits, you know, number seven was sharpening the saw. And um he was very, very clear. There's got to be a time on a regular basis when we take care of ourselves. And so I'm just gonna, you know, pause there, let Tim jump in and just say, you know, where, you know, your experience with that yourself or with your, you know, with your teams and with your construction company or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01: 11:08

Well, one of the things that sort of came to my mind is when I teach time management, one of the biggest things that uh I tell people is to have the white space on your calendar, right? You know, if you're crumbling, you're going across town and and you're you you leave room for traffic and whatever and you get there 15 minutes early, don't don't pull out your phone, check your email unless it's just crucial. Figure out what you can do to make yourself better, right? Read a book like you talked about, uh watch a YouTube video, watch go on to master class. Because you got to be doing something every day if you want to keep moving forward and, you know, and not get stagnant and all that. And to be build yourself as a leader could be just a simple 10-minute meditation, right? Don't fall asleep, you know, because you might be needing some sleep at that point. But uh there's all kinds of stuff you can do. But I I always tell people leave that white space on your calendar. Don't go back to back to back to back on all your meetings. Because if that does come up and you have white space, use it for something to build your to sharpen your saw, as you'd said.

SPEAKER_00: 12:06

Yeah, and so just think of a book. Okay. If you actually, you know, you might read a Kindle, but even on a Kindle now or a tablet, or but if you have an old school book, all of us know what that looks like. You have margins. There are margins around the top and the bottom and the sides of the of the page, and that's done for a reason. Um and so the question is what are the margins in your life and what do you use those margins for? Um and Dr.

SPEAKER_01: 12:36

Posey has a new book out, by the way, just to let you know. What is that book? It's called A Shameless Plug, right there. The Candlemaker. The Candlemaker. I love it. Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 12:45

And so for those of you who haven't read it yet, um, it's a historical romantic fiction based in the 1930s about a young couple uh who are are, I'll just say that, who enter into a let's just say a mysterious future. Mysterious and uh fall in love, but uh don't have any dun dun dun musique. Anyway, so um yeah, and uh uh excited about it, and uh it's it's going well, selling well. So I'm excited about it. I you know, I wrote it for just for my wife to give it to her as a present. Right. And and then I put it, it's on Amazon, and bam, you know, it just started selling, and it's like, okay, good. I I tell people, hey, if you have insomnia, pick it up, read the chapter, it will solve it every night.

SPEAKER_01: 13:35

Right there, a step above the deed to your house. Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 13:40

Yeah, exactly right.

SPEAKER_01: 13:43

So it's gotta be done.

SPEAKER_00: 13:44

It's gotta be done. So anyway, that's uh um, but going back to the book of John, uh, I think that right there. And then here's the other thing. Um, if you are uh married or maybe have a significant other, okay, um, what what is it that you do to um get that relationship stronger? What do you do to get stronger if you have children? What do you do to uh you know for your children? I know it's coming holiday season. I'm not talking about buying gifts, I'm talking about spending time. Um many years ago when I was in um college, I lived at the Methodist children's home uh in Waco as a home parent and as an assistant home parent, and I lived in the Fondron unit with uh 18 senior high boys, and that was my job is to spend time as a big brother. I had a big brother and a little brother, so I knew what that meant. And so I lived there for a year um and was a big brother to those 18 senior high boys. Um But uh during that time I learned a lesson um that has always stuck with me and and that and and I think it's uh just very appropriate for this time of year. Um and that is our children would rather have us than all the stuff we give them. And so, you know, yes, okay, you're gonna give presents to your kids or your spouse or that you know, okay, that's great. But what if you give them the gift of time, you know? Um and and just because you want to say, hey, you are that valuable to me. And um I would just want to spend time with you. Uh I just I just because I love you and and I appreciate you, and I just want to spend time with you. Now, I that could be shooting hoops, uh, that could be walking in the mall, that could be going to get ice cream, that could be going to a movie, that could be, you know, going to the park, it could be riding by. I mean, the the sky's the limit as far as creativity.

SPEAKER_01: 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:48

Um but just think about what you're doing to your spouse, your significant other, or your child by giving them the gift of yourself with time. Um, and then the that the same thing is true with you. You're giving yourself time to to process, you're giving yourself to meditate, you're giving yourself time to exercise. Um and um, you know, I think this is a a great time of year to reevaluate what am I gonna do different next year and start thinking about that and slowly building that out into a habit. And uh I I just think you you will it'll be it'll reap multiple rewards uh by doing that for yourself and for those that you love.

SPEAKER_01: 16:36

Yeah, and then and then that is the time of year, and I was trying to figure out when we'll blend that in the next couple shows about how to you know set goals and and do this. So, you know, here's the thing, I always tell people you don't have to wait to the first of the year. You know, I I taught a class back in October, I'm like, the this is the first of the year, it's tomorrow, right? It can be wherever you put the first of the year. You don't have to wait. But now that we're pushing December, yeah, 100%. We need to blend that in. And we've got you know, New Year's Eve coming up, and that's you know, that's people redo and and set goals, and you know, that's uh you know, the the old meme I always go back to working out, you know, they show January, everybody in the gym signing up, and then February it's vacant because people already dropped off. I mean, February first is the number one day people cancel their membership, gym membership. There's more gym memberships canceled by February 1st than there has, and people sign up between December and January, and then they cancel on February 1st. It's the most amazing thing in the world. They don't even give them a month to uh find your routine. You know, you can't even set a habit in that that amount of time.

SPEAKER_00: 17:38

So Yeah. And so let's get back to um we just have a few more minutes and then we've got a bunch of dad jokes, but let's get back to um the uh leadership principles there in John 18 and 19. And so Jesus leaves the upper room with his disciples, goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. Uh he knows what's gonna happen, he knows what's gonna happen with his disciples. They're gonna leave him. And and so you know, here he is in a very challenging situation. Now he was he's been in challenges and situations, he was in the wilderness 40 days fasting, you know. Um he was tempted by the devil. Uh that didn't work. Uh a devil doesn't learn, but you know, it didn't work. Um But here's the thing even in the midst of difficult circumstances, he stuck with his mission. And and what a great example for us. You know, we're all gonna face difficult times in our life. Um difficult times in our business. Uh, you know, you're a home builder, you know, sometimes when the interest rates are challengingly high, business might be a little slower. But does this mean you're going to uh decrease the quality of your product just to get to business, you know? And so, so the you know, as far as uh leadership, it's like during difficult times, it's very easy to cave to make things easier to get through. And Jesus was saying, No, I'm gonna f it's difficult. I'm gonna keep focusing on the mission. Uh people have uh everybody abandoned him that were his closest friends and allies and disciples. And yet he goes, No, I'm gonna stay focused because that's my that's my purpose.

SPEAKER_01: 19:21

Yeah, that's one of my favorite things. Leaders aren't made in comfort, they're revealed in crisis.

SPEAKER_00: 19:26

Yeah, oh, that's really good.

SPEAKER_01: 19:28

So because I mean you see all the people, you know, it doesn't matter if they have the title, but you have uh something happen and they're the ones running the other way, and then second or third in charge is running towards the crisis, right? You know, and that's that's what you want to, you know. So say that again.

SPEAKER_00: 19:41

That's just really good.

SPEAKER_01: 19:42

Leaders aren't made in comfort, they're revealed in crisis.

SPEAKER_00: 19:45

And I would think uh you could you substitute leaders for character, right? Yeah. Character's not made in comfort, but it's revealed in crisis. Yeah. That that wow, that's really good.

SPEAKER_01: 19:56

Uh mic drop, I'm done.

SPEAKER_00: 19:57

You go ahead and finish out this show. Okay, he's gonna go take a break, have a coke, maybe eat some pizza. Whatever. He's done for the day. Okay, thank you. Let's just uh let's just go on to some dad jokes uh and just finish out the show. No, I mean what a great principle right there. Yeah. Um and so what you're saying, let me make sure I hear in it's in crisis. Everybody's gonna face crisis, it's where your real true character comes out and your real priorities come out is in a crisis.

SPEAKER_01: 20:32

Yeah, it's sort of like Jesus. He didn't he didn't uh he didn't hide, he didn't flinch in the face of adversity, he he uh he stepped forward with clarity, you know. He knew exactly what he was there to do. He he had all the information, made an assessment, and moved forward. Sounds good. Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_00: 20:50

I like it. So uh let's do some dad jokes. Okay. Okay, you ready? I don't have any dad jokes. Okay, I have I have like 150. Okay. So what do you call a cow with no legs?

SPEAKER_01: 21:02

Cow with no legs. Uh I've made one up on this one, but I'll I'll uh go ahead and ground beef. Nice. Um let's see. I had one. Um I asked my dog what uh um two minus two was.

SPEAKER_00: 21:27

You asked your dog what two minus two, and what do you say? Wolf? No, you said nothing. Nothing. Okay. Okay, so where do pirates get their hooks?

SPEAKER_01: 21:38

Oh. A pirate joke. I should know this one.

SPEAKER_00: 21:42

You should.

SPEAKER_01: 21:43

I don't.

SPEAKER_00: 21:44

Uh they get it at a secondhand shop. That's pretty good. I like that one. You like that one? Okay, well good. Um and so let's think. Um what would be another one?

SPEAKER_01: 21:58

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 21:59

Okay, I've got I've got a homeboy.

SPEAKER_01: 22:01

I ordered a chicken and egg from Amazon for Christmas.

SPEAKER_00: 22:04

You did. See which ones comes first.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

I'll let you know.

SPEAKER_00: 22:07

Okay. Okay. Um, you know, I laugh at pretty much all jokes except the ones about circles. Because I just don't see any point in it.

SPEAKER_01: 22:20

Nice. Okay. What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?

SPEAKER_00: 22:24

Ah, I've no, I've heard this one. Um supplies. Supplies, yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 22:36

All right, a couple more. Take us out.

SPEAKER_00: 22:38

Why do fish live in salt water?

SPEAKER_01: 22:45

I swear I've heard this one before, but I do not know. Because pepper makes them sneeze. All right, I'll give you. Oh, yeah. Hit the wrong button. Hit the wrong button.

SPEAKER_00: 22:58

Why does water never laugh at jokes? Uh I don't know. Because it's not a fan of dry humor.

SPEAKER_01: 23:12

All right. You got any more?

SPEAKER_00: 23:15

Um yeah, so you know, I I I've got to go to the dentist here. And because last time that I was there, the dentist said, Hey, you need to get a crown. And I said, Oh my gosh, I've always wanted to be a prince.

SPEAKER_02: 23:31

Oh.

SPEAKER_01: 23:37

I gave all my dead bad ears away today.

SPEAKER_00: 23:40

You did?

SPEAKER_01: 23:40

Yeah. They're free of charge.

SPEAKER_00: 23:42

They're free of charge.

SPEAKER_01: 23:45

All right. We we we're almost doing a pre pre-show for uh the the You got any more? Oh, I always have more. But no, you actually don't, but I do actually have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00: 23:56

You know, um uh when I was in college, one of the jokes that one of the jobs, jokes, one of the jobs I had was working at an orange juice factory.

SPEAKER_01: 24:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 24:05

Yeah. They kept squeezing me until I couldn't concentrate.

SPEAKER_01: 24:14

You got a lot of things. It was mixed on that one. I liked it.

SPEAKER_00: 24:17

Okay, that's the last one. Last one. That's the last one. What kind of cars do sheep drive?

SPEAKER_01: 24:25

I've know that. I've heard this one. I'm sure you have.

SPEAKER_00: 24:27

Yeah. Lamborghinis.

SPEAKER_01: 24:33

I like it. You like it. Okay. All right. Well, come back and hang out with us next week when when we actually finish the book of John. The book of John. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00: 24:44

And then we'll get to the book of Acts. Yeah. It'll take us a year to get to the book of Acts. 28 chapters. It might.

SPEAKER_01: 24:51

That's a pretty long one as far as that. So hey guys, uh, check us out, biblical leadership show.com. Uh, send us those dad jokes. We're sort of compiling some dad jokes for the New Year's Eve show.

SPEAKER_00: 25:03

And you can tell from what you heard today that we desperately need them.

SPEAKER_01: 25:08

Right. Um, I have to bring my kids in to uh get us some some new dad jokes. So anyway, uh, we'd love to hear from you. Uh other than that, uh, let us know what we can do from you. Tell us if you're a new listener and and share this podcast with somebody uh that wants to hang out with us over the holidays in the upcoming year. Other than that, Dr. P take us out. Hey, make it a great day. Thank you guys.