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Andy Stanley - Fully Alive Leadership · Andy Stanley Sermons

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I love Catalysts. I love the Catalyst event. I'm not on the board,
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I don't own any of it. I just am the hired speaker,
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and I've been so privileged to be able to kick it off every single year.
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And Tyler, who's kicked off the morning for us. Tyler Reagan and
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I are good friends. We used to work together. And I love the
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Catalyst gathering. And if you don't know, a Catalyst leader is simply a
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leader who loves the local church. Just not necessarily a church leader, but
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it's a leader in any capacity, a church leader, business leader, marketplace
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leader, nonprofit leader, any leader who just loves and is passionate about the
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local church. And so gathering every once in a while and kind of re
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upping our thinking and renewing our thinking about leadership and about the church and what
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God's doing in the world and our part in it is so funny. Before
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I jump into the content, I just you know, I just want to
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say, what you've been called to do in whatever capacity you do it as
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it relates to the local church is no small endeavor and it's no small invitation.
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And as we were singing a few minutes ago, I'm always reminded in
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a couple of the songs, and the couple of lines in a couple of
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those songs, that we are connected to men and women from two thousand years
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ago who paid an extraordinary price so that the message of the gospel could be
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passed to the next generation. And then another group of people paid an extraordinary
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price to make sure the gospel could be passed to the next generation. And
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we are and you should think of this about this every once in a while.
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You are in line, you are in sync with, you are lined
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up with that group of people. You are an extension of them. So
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what you've been called to do and what you're doing, it is no small
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thing that you have. And we have collectively been entrusted with the church for
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our generation. And I hope no matter how small your student ministry is,
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how large it is, how big your children's ministry is, you're sitting in
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front of a computer all day long thinking am I doing ministry? Or am
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I doing this? Whatever you do, please don't never forget that what you've
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been called to do and what you're doing it is no small thing. It
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is extraordinarily, extraordinarily strategic. Because we have been entrusted. We've been entrusted
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with the future of the local church for our generation and in our country,
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and really for the world. I loved I love our theme. And I'm
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gonna ask one quick question. Could we close those doors over there in the
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corner. If you over there, can you close those doors? That would
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be so great, because it's kind of like a yeah in my face,
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I appreciate that. Close those doors. Yeah, they should have gotten here
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on time with everybody else. Yeah, just yeah, the doors are closed.
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And then it started raining. It's a different story anyway, Okay,
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so I actually sorry. I love I love our theme for the next a
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couple of days, fully Alive, and I love the passage that Tyler chose
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for this theme. And I just want to read the passage and then we're
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gonna look at this and talk about some stuff and kind of get this.
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This thing kicked off, but here he he the passage that Tyler chose.
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It's it's perfect John ten ten. And you most of you can, you
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know, say it by heart, except for the last line that's actually part
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of verse eleven that should have probably been part of verse ten. Jesus said
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the thief. The thief comes only to kill, steal, and to steal,
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kill and destroy. But I, Jesus says, I have come that
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you might have life, and not just any kind of life, life to
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the full, and the have it to the full. I am, he
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says, the Good Shepherd. So here's what I want to kind of leave
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with you in this first session as we think about what we're gonna do and
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what we're gonna talk about the next couple of days. And it's simply this,
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that you, as a leader, and whatever capacity you lead, that
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you will only remain fully alive as a leader. You will remain fully alive
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as a leader, no matter how old you are, how educated you are,
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how long you've been leading. You will only remain fully alive as a
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leader if you ignore the impostor shepherds and keep pace with the Good Shepherd.
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That for the rest of your life and for the rest of your ministry,
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you will be tempted to follow. And I'm going to talk specifically about what
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the few of these are in just a minute. The impostor shepherds. And
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yet Jesus in the first century says to that group of people gathered around him,
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I know it's strange. I know you're gonna have questions. I'm not
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gonna answer them all today. But I am the Good Shepherd, and I
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have a group of people that I'm going to call out to lead this movement,
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my ecclac of my gathering, this brand new thing, and I'm launching
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in the world with a brand new covenant and a brand new command that's not
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simply for a group of people, but is for the whole world. And
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as church leaders, you are part of that group that God has called out
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to influence your local community, churches and churches all over the world. And
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you will only remain fully alive to the degree that you are correct. You
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are connected and specifically individually connected to the Good Shepherd, the impostor Shepherd's promise
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life. But in the end, as you know, they steal it.
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The impostors will eventually steal your passion. They will eventually go to the next
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line. Yeah, they'll steal your passion, They'll kill your vision, and
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ultimately they will destroy your reputation because the impostor shepherds are not in it for
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the sheep. The impostor shepherds are in it for themselves. Now, if
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you don't get this right and some of you are in the middle of trying
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to figure it out. I understand that. And sometimes the longer you're in
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leadersh if the easier it is to become a little bit cynical, a little
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bit critical. The longer you're in leadership, sometimes, especially when things aren't
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going great, it becomes very easy to assign your motives to everybody else.
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And before long, not only do you not have life, but you wonder
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if anybody has life. You wonder if everybody is just kind of mailing it
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in. You wonder if there's anything to this. And So what we're going
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to talk about in this first session as we set up these next two days
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together, is so extraordinarily important because I want you to do a little digging.
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I want you to do a little bit of self evaluation. And if
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you can be honest with yourself in this first session about what we're going to
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talk about, it's going to open you up to all the extraordinary content that
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you're going to be given and shared with for over these next two days.
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So, who are these impostor thieves, these impostor shepherds, the things that
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will creep into your life and creep into my life and tempt us to follow
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them instead of following the good Shepherd. And I want to just suggest three.
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I think they are far more than that, but here are three that
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I want you to think about, especially as we think about those of us
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who are in church leadership. The first one is the word is the first
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poster Shepherd. I'm going to give you as the word certainty or certainty.
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And the reason I want to start with this one is because this is the
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one that I should struggle with. How many aneagram fives do we have in
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the room? Anyagram fives? Fives? Yes, we don't usually make wu
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either. We just raise our hand because we're wondering why why I did it?
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Even ask that question? Right? The anagram five? We just want
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to know everything. We want to understand everything. We constantly feel stupid because
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we don't understand how everything works. Were the only show that Sandra and I
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watch together right now is This is Us and I This is Us fans,
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you know it's it's And the thing about This is Us that I don't like
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is that I can't figure out how they made it. And She's like,
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just enjoy it. I'm going I can't enjoy it. How did they write
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this script, How do they shoot this? How can they go both directions
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at the same time? It just it just makes me, she says.
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I know, it makes you feel stupid. I go, it doesn't makes
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me feel stupid. So unfortunately for me, And depending on where you are
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on the enneagram, and depending on your personality or even the way that you're
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how you're ever you're wired, you're you're answer to this question is going to
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be a little bit different than mine. But there's something that's peculiar to the
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way that you're wired that's going to show up as an imposter shepherd in your
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life. And for me, it's certainty because I want to know everything and
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I want to be certain, and I don't want to make decisions until I'm
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absolutely certain, till I have all the information that it can paralyze me as
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a leader. But certainty is not my shepherd, right and certainty is not
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your shepherd, And having to have all the answers and all the right answers
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and the fear of making a mistake can become an impostor shepherd that sidelines you
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and sidetracks you, as it certainly can for me when it comes to leadership
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in whatever capacity you lead for me, it becomes an issue of pride because
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I don't want to I don't ever want to be wrong, and nobody ever
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wants to be wrong. But my desire and my quest for certainty, and
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my quest for always getting it right can become the guiding principle of my life.
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And when that happens, I'm no longer following the good Shepherd. And
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the way you are wired, and you know this, the way you are
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wired predisposes you to veer off in directions that are not healthy because the way
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you're wired. And this is why what Jesus said at the very beginning throughout
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his ministry is simply this. I love these two words. In fact,
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this is these are the two words I set out in front of just about
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every message, and I have for years. When he just said to his
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disciples in the first century, he says, been saying it to people for
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two thousand years. Just follow me, follow me, follow me, and
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you're gonna be tempted to follow a lot of things, but follow me.
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The quest for certainty is draining. It's just draining. Not only is it
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draining, it's paralyzing. The apostle. Paul is super helpful in this capacity
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for me or for those of you that struggle with this. Here's what he
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said. And again, these are words that you've taught. These are words,
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in some cases you've memorized. He says, for now this one Corinthians
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thirteen. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror.
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Then in the future we shall see face to face. Now I know in
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part, and that's the part I don't like. I don't want to know
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in part. I want to know everything. I want to have all the
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insight. I want to have all the knowledge. I want to have all
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the cards. I don't want to know everything I can possibly know, so
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I can make the best decisions possible. And the apostle Paul, who got
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to right, you know half the New Testament, says, relax, Andy,
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on your best day, you're only gonna know in part, and you're
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gonna have to be content with that. But if you allow that to paralyze
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you in your leadership, you're no longer following the good Shepherd. You're following
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an impostor the quest for certainty. But then I shall know fully even as
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I am fully known. And then he says this, and again these words
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are so powerful for me as a leader because it brings me back to center.
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And I think, regardless of how you're wired, it brings all of
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us back to center. Because he says, look, Andy, one grientthey
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is thirteen two. If you have or if I have the gift of prophecy,
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right, if I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, if suddenly
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one day you woke up and you had the answer for every question, you
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knew everything there was to know. If you have to get to prophecy and
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can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and have a faith that can move
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mountains. But you don't have love, you're nothing. And I'm constantly reminded,
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and you should be constantly reminded as well as you as you focus in
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or I should say, as you discover that peculiar thing about you because of
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the way that you're wired that will pull you off center and pull you away
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from following the good shipherd, that at the end of the day, you
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have been called to do one thing supremely well, and that is to love.
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I wrote in my notes that my success in ministry is not contingent upon
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my certainty. My success in ministry and my success as a leader is not
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contingent upon my certainty, but on how well I love how I treat people.
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These are my notes for me, for my kind of reading, my
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quiet time journals. To just bear with me. How I treat people transcends
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my limited knowledge, insight, and experience. How I treat people has to
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be on the front burner at all times. Regardless of what I know,
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how smart I am, how dumb I am, how great I feel,
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how stupid I feel. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day.
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How I treat people is pre eminent because this is the new command that
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Jesus gave us. As I have loved you. You are to love one
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another when you know it all, when you know nothing at all. This
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is what it means to follow Jesus as our good shepherd. Love reduces the
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friction created by my limited insight, my limited knowledge, and my judgment inhibiting
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experiences. I've had to learn that it's okay not to know. I've had
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to learn that it's okay to be wrong. It's never okay not to love.
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It's okay not to know, it's okay to be wrong, It's never
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okay not to love. I'm not always sure of you what to believe,
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but I usually know what love requires of me. And as you lead through
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your peculiar personality, your temperament, all the things that make you you,
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at the end of the day, you are wired to be pulled off track
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to the left of the right because of the way you're designed and wired.
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And this is what's so powerful about Jesus' new command. He says, regardless
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of the way you're wired, and regardless of what happens between the people that
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you work with and the people that you lead at the end of the day,
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at the end of the day, you have to ask this question,
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what does love require of you? Because that's going to be the thing that
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characterizes my movement. And if you keep that front and center, and if
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you keep questions like this front and center, it will pull you away.
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It will keep you from being lured away by the things that you'll be tempted
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to follow instead of the good Shepherd. Follow the good Shepherd, and you
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will never stop learning, but you will never substitute how much you know for
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how well you love. If you follow the good Shepherd, you will ever
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ever ever stop learning. But you will never substitute all that you know for
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your call to love. See, your thing may not be certainty, but
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you got a thing. You got a thing that if I gave a list
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of twenty things, I may never hit your thing. There's something about you,
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because of the way that God has created you and designs you on purpose
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that sets you up to fall short or to move ahead of the speed in
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the direction of the good shepherd. And once you identify what that is and
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keep it front and center, you have set yourself up for success in leadership,
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but to lead blindly. And here's the thing. And you know this
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because you've worked for lots of different people. Everybody around you knows what that
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thing is. The people that work for me, they know. Andy struggles
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with certainty. Andy struggles with having all the information. Andy doesn't make decisions
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quick enough for the rest of the organization. Everybody around you already knows you
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should know. And when you discover it and announce it, no one's going
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to be surprised. No one's going to pull out a pen and say,
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really, we had no They already h And it is potentially limiting your leadership.
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And the quicker you know it, and the quicker you decide, Hey,
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that may be true of me, but you are not my shepherd.
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You need to know what that is. You need to set it out front
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and don't ever lose sight of it. The moment you lose sight of it,
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the moment it goes dark, the moment it goes outside of your peripheral
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vision is the moment it begins to impact your leadership. In secret. The
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second one, the second impost that we all struggle with, is insecurity.
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The good news is this is something we all have in common. We are
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all insecure at some level. You will never be fully alive as a leader
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following your insecurity. You will never be fully alive as a leader following your
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insecurity. You can have insecurities, and you can carry insecurities, but the
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moment they begin to direct you and lead you, you have put a lid
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on your own leadership and your insecurity. And you've worked with some leaders you've
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seen this happen. Your insecureurity will define your leadership. Your insecurity will put
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a limit not only on your leadership, it defines your leadership and you will
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force people to work around it, or in some cases, you'll just force
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people to lead insecurity. This next slide. Insecurity will eventually lead you to
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dishonesty. Insecurity if you follow it. Insecurity, if you listen to that
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whisper, and all of our insecurities whisper for some of you. Every time
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you look in the mirror, your insecurity whispers for some of you. Every
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time you put on a microphone and you're sitting on the front or second row
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and you're going to go up to speak, your insecurity begins to whisper.
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Every time some of you. You're sitting in a meeting and your leader,
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your senior pastor your lead pastor your boss, ask a question or begins a
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discussion and there's something you want to share, and your insecurity begins to whisper.
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All of us hear that whisper, none of us, and leadership can
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afford to allow our insecurities to become our shepherd, and if you do,
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it will define and limit your leaders Insecurity will eventually lead you to dishonesty,
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which erodes your credibility, which ultimately undermines your moral authority. And you know
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this is true not because you see it in the mirror. You know this
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is true because you've seen it happen with other leaders insecurity will eventually lead you
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to be dishonest, first with yourself and then with the people around you,
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which ultimately erod your credibility. Because the moment that people who report to you
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and work with you are the people who sit in your congregation, the moment
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you lose credibility, the moment you lose credibility, they begin to suspect everything
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you say, in everything you teach, in everything you preach. It's just
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human nature. And so this is why you can carry your insecurities. You
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may never totally conquer your insecurities. I don't know that you ever can.
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But you cannot allow and I cannot allow my insecurities to be my shepherd.
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It's not a good shepherd. It's an impostor. And as you already know,
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it has ruined the ministries and the leadership potential of countless leaders inside the
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church. And now the good news is this God only uses insecure leaders you're
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qualified to lead. In fact, our favorite aren't our favorite stories in the
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New and the Old Testament the insecure leaders that kind of bring their insecurities to
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God and God's like, hey, you're fine, Moses, just go back.
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But but but but but just go back. But but just go But
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but I know that's the point. You're no good at this. That's why
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I'm gonna get all the glory that just go. You know, it's amazing
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that Peter became the leader of the first century church in Jerusalem. Peter,
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I mean, we know more negative things about Peter than any of the other
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disciples. Why because you just kept talking and talking and talking and talking.
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You talk long enough, people are going to know your insecurities and how and
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then what does he do? He denies Jesus, and Jesus says, you
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know what, what I'm gonna do? You're in charge. And one of
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the things that's so powerful about the New Testament and the New Testament documents in
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the Gospels, the reason they're so credible is that you know, all the
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worts and all the weird stuff is out there right. Nobody said don't let
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the Peter's like, hey, could we not include that? Now we're putting
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it in Why because it happened. That's why we're putting it in here.
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I mean, you know what, none of these guys are heroes, are
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they all? In fact, the more insecure they are and the more we
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know about their insecurities. It's like the more God used them to shape the
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world. So you're qualified. You've got insecurities. You just can't afford to
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allow those to become the shepherds of your life. You can't afford. You
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cannot afford to spend so much time and energy masking them and covering them and
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denying them that the energy you're supposed to use to move something forward is given
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to hiding something. Come on that everybody who knows you knows about anyway,
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face them, but do not follow them. I think you should name them.
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I know what mine are, but I'm too insecure tell you what they
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are anyway, And I know for me, and you know, I'm a
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little bit further down the road than some of you in terms of leadership,
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but I know this, I've identified their whisper. Oh yeah, yeah,
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because mine don't ever go away. And you think and you have insecurities you
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only knew. You may not have come to the first session. But anyway,
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I so here's what I would suggest you do. You need to name
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them, and then you need to call them out. And sometimes I'm doing
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something and I will say under my breath out loud, not so other people
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that can hear. No, that's fill in the blank talking no that you're
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not my shepherd. You are. You are not the boss of me.
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You are not my shepherd. That's true. I admit that I am that
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way. I do feel that way. I do see the world that way.
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I do see my stuff that way. Yes, yes, yes,
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yes, yes, But you are not the boss of me. I have
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a good shepherd, and my good shepherd can actually leverage my permanent insecurities to
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do great things in my community, in the world if I choose to follow
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the good shepherd. So I'm gonna give you a little, a little ask
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you to make a commitment. Here's the commitment I want you to make as
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a leader. I will not lie to myself even when the truth makes me
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feel bad about myself. I will not lie to myself even when the truth.
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See, in our culture, you know this because you're a lot of
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your do a student ministry like the worst thing in the world for somebody to
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feel bad about themselves. So what do we do? We teach them to
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lie to themselves. Oh, no, no, you're pretty somewhere. I
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guess she's pretty. I don't know, you know, I mean, is
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that what we're supposed to do. Just lie to here. She knows she's
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not pretty. I mean pretty is? You know, it's kind of all
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over the map, depending on when you were born, what culture you live
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in, where you live, which magazines you get right? Oh no,
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no, no, you're smart? Oh she he's not that smart, I
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know. But telling me smart? Why so he'll just feel dumb the rest
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of his life. I mean that's what they did to me. Oh no,
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no, Andy, you're smart. I'm like, no, I'm not
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smart. Just to prove i'm you know, So I will not lie.
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So I want us to actually say this together. I would like you just
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to commit to this, because here's the thing. Your insecurities will cause you
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to lie. Here's the thing, first to yourself and then to other people.
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It's just the nature of insecurity. And so where do you stop this?
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You stop it right here. So let's just say this together. I
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will not do. You know what's worse than feeling bad about yourself living with
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a lie. It's not so bad to feel bad about yourself. Hey,
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I mean, you're a sinner. At some level you should feel bad about
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yourself. It is okay. It's okay to feel bad about myself. I
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don't have to not and feel bad about myself. I just have to decide
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who am I gonna follow. And here's the thing. And then when people
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point out the fact that you don't have so much to brag, go out
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and people point out the things that aren't so great about you. You know
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what you say at that point. And I have gotten pretty good at this.
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You go, I know, I already know that I already yeah,
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this is not new information. I know that I've just decided to put it
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out there appropriately because I'm not gonna lie to myself even when I feel bad
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about myself. Because I'll tell you, what's worse than feeling bad about myself
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missing an opportunity to live my life in the center of God's will and to
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do what God has called me to do. That's what we should fear,
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and that's the thing we don't want to miss. And if you don't get
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a handle on this, at the end of the day, your insecurities become
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your shepherd. Here's a question that you can ask that'll help. Again,
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these are just out of my life. Why am I doing this? Why
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am I doing this? I'm not finishing your right knows. Why am I
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doing this? Why am I doing this? Really? Why am I speaking
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on that topic? Really? Ready for this one? Why am I avoiding
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him? Really? Well, I'm busy, but no, no, no,
22:55
you're why are you avoiding him? Well? No, no, no
22:56
no. Why did you decide to let somebody else follow up instead of you
23:00
following? Come on, come on, come on, just be honest.
23:03
Why are you wearing that? Really? Why are you going there? Really?
23:07
Why did you say yes to that? Really? Why did you say
23:10
no to that? Really? One of my deep insecurities I've talked about this
23:14
before is and I was a failure as an athlete, and there was a
23:18
couple of weird incidences. I'm not going to tell you the time to take
23:21
that. We're just weird. And I am so intimidated by athletes, especially
23:25
professional athletes, and so for years I would get these calls like Andy,
23:30
so and so and so it's coming to town and they're playing the Hawks,
23:32
and they want you to come to their chapel. I'm like, you know,
23:36
I've got some friends. I'd like to give them that opportunity, because
23:40
the thought of walking into the locker room with guys that are six and a
23:44
half and seven feet. Have you ever stood in the presence of an NBA
23:47
team, They're like from a different planet men. When they're all together,
23:49
they look normal, but when you're in their locker room, it's like,
23:52
Wow, y'all are way closer to God than I'll ever be. That's just
23:56
amazing. Okay, So for years I would just lie and tell myself,
24:02
Oh, I'm just giving these people these opportunities. Oh, come on,
24:03
Andy, you're not giving people opportunities. You're intimidated and you're too insecure to
24:08
walk into a locker room with professional athletes and talk. So I'm glad I
24:12
got that out. So what's yours. I will not lie to myself,
24:18
even when lie to myself makes me feel bad in my god self. And
24:21
come on, why am I doing this? And why am I doing this?
24:25
Really, our insecurity should remind us, but they can't define us,
24:27
and they can't guide us. It's an imposter. If you follow it,
24:30
it will ultimately steal, kill, and destroy your potential. And again,
24:37
you've seen this with other people and they're not necessarily gonna go away. But
24:41
just own it. Just own it and say you're my insecurity, You're not
24:47
my shepherd the third one, and we're gonna give you some positive stuff.
24:49
The third one is envy, and boy in church world, this is this
24:55
is just is just terrible, isn't it. Envy will lead you to do
25:00
what everybody else is already doing. Is that what you want to do?
25:03
That's all MV does. It just leads you to wear what everybody's well er
25:07
and say what everybody's just saying, speak the way they speak, sing the
25:08
way they sing. I mean, NV's just gonna lead you to do what
25:11
everybody else is doing. The problem is you'll be late, they won't even
25:18
notice, and you probably won't even be good at it. There there,
25:25
It leads you to live in what I call the land of er. You
25:29
know, the land of her is, the land of her is. Oh,
25:30
it has to be bigger, it has to be better. It has
25:33
to be I have to be knowner, I have to be more retweeted er,
25:37
I have to be followed er, I have to be famous er er
25:41
er, and on and on and on you go, and it just leads
25:44
to nowhere. In fact, I just like for you to repeat this after
25:45
me as well. There's no win in comparison. Let's just say this there's
25:48
no there's no win in comparison. There's no win in comparison. There's no
25:53
win in comparison. Other people's stories and other people's accomplishments can inspire you,
25:59
but the moment you begin to compare, you have made them their story your
26:04
shepherd. And here's the great news. God hasn't called you to do anything
26:08
just like everybody else. That's the good news. God has called you to
26:11
do something extraordinary in your community, and he needs your specific skills and insight
26:15
into your community to do what needs to be done in your community. So
26:18
take inspiration and take motivation from the stories of other extraordinary leaders in all fields.
26:25
But don't compare yourself. Comparison is a bad, bad, bad shepherd,
26:30
and all of us tend or in decline sometimes to lean that direction.
26:33
I wrote in my notes, you'll end up arrogant, critical, or depressed.
26:37
Those are your only three options. You'll end up arrogant because you're better
26:40
than everybody. You'll end up critical because the only way for me to feel
26:44
good about myself is to tear you down. Or you'll just be depressed.
26:47
I'll never be that good. I mean, what kind of life is that?
26:51
But you know what, speaking from me never goes away, It never
26:56
goes away. And again I hear that voice, and I just have to
26:59
say no, no, no, no, no no, there's no win,
27:00
there's no win. There's no win in comparison, Envy, you are
27:04
not my shepherd. Envy will only steal, kill and destroy. It'll leave
27:12
you running in a lane you were never intended to run in, chasing somebody
27:17
else's dream, and it's exhausting, So certainty insecurity, envy. There are
27:22
dozens of other false shepherds, but all of us have one or two that
27:26
we tend to listen to that whisper. So here's the flip side of that.
27:32
Those are the impostors. And what I want to leave you with in
27:33
our final few minutes is I want to leave you with some postures. Those
27:38
are the impostors. And there are other impostor shepherds that sneak into the pen
27:42
and will tend to want you to follow. But here are the postures.
27:45
And I really do think if you can embrace these three postures, and there
27:48
may be more, but these are just the three that mean a lot to
27:51
me. If you'll embrace these three postures, I think it sets us up
27:56
to fend off the not so good shepherds, the posture shepherds, and to
28:00
keep Jesus front and center as it relates to what you have been called to
28:04
do where you've been called to do it. And the first one is to
28:10
maintain an open mind, embrace the uncertainty, don't try to eliminate it,
28:18
and don't try to pretend it's not there. In fact, just a little
28:22
bit tip you realize that uncertainty is why there's a need for leadership. The
28:27
moment the uncertainty all goes away, there's no need for leadership if there's no
28:32
uncertainty. We just need, you know, people to kind of pull levers
28:34
and push buttons and we'll just, you know, let just everything just kind
28:37
of runs itself. Uncertainty is, you know, is job security for people
28:42
in leadership. And so because the world is uncertain and because things are changing,
28:48
you have to be the most open minded, curious people on the planet,
28:53
especially if you're leading any kind of local church ministry. And one of
28:56
the things that's gotten us in so much trouble, and you know this,
28:59
in fact, that the reason some of you left your last church to start
29:02
a new church or go somewhere else. A lack of curiosity underminds ministry every
29:07
single time, and a lack of curiosity has undermined the church in many generations.
29:11
It's just almost derailed the church, almost completely, put it in the
29:14
periphery of culture because the Church wasn't curious. And the reason is this,
29:18
or part of the reason is this, that we confuse the unchanging God with
29:22
the changing world and the changing culture. We get them all mixed up.
29:26
God doesn't change everything else does so because become you think about it, we
29:33
should be the most curious, open minded people on the planet. And the
29:38
moment, and you've seen this, We've all seen the moment, the moment
29:42
that our fear of uh oh and what if? And I don't know?
29:47
And what about? The moment fear begins to cloud your thinking and shut down
29:51
your imagination. You just fear is not your master. Fear is not your
29:56
match. Jesus is your master. And it's okay not to know, but
30:00
it's not okay to decide. I already know everything I need to know,
30:04
So be curious. Follow the other team. You need to know what everybody
30:12
out there is doing. Just about follow the other team. Don't well and
30:15
every once in a while, it's so funny. I'll get you know,
30:18
on Twitter, I mentioned like, how do you why do you follow them?
30:21
I mean, this happens about every other week. Somebody get mad at
30:22
me because who I follow on Twitter? Because I'm supposed to only follow the
30:26
people I already agree with, apparently, and now please don't look at all
30:30
the people I follow. You'll be very concerned. Okay, but how do
30:34
we learn? Right? I'm not afraid why. But look, the deeper
30:38
your anchor is set in the foundation of your faith, the longer your line
30:42
can go because you're securely anchored. So be curious follow the other team.
30:48
Avoid confirmation bias. You know what that is. You only listen to stuff
30:52
that confirms what you already believe, what you already know. You need to
30:55
be So we need to be so dialed into this because the moment you start
30:59
to emotionally respond to new information or negatively emotionally react to new information, that's
31:04
just your confirmation bias kicking. And you just need to say, confirmation bias,
31:07
you are not my shepherd. I'm gonna be curious for the rest of
31:11
my life. I'm gonna be open minded, listen to outsiders, people outside
31:14
your industry, outside the church industry. Be a student first, and a
31:17
critic second student first, critic second student first. Never ever, ever,
31:22
ever, ever, ever criticize something you don't understand. Never ever, ever
31:29
ever criticize something you don't understand or haven't at least attempted to understand. The
31:33
moment you do that, you shut things down and fear not. Now,
31:41
for those of you who are forty and over, I just want to challenge
31:45
you with this. The next generation church is going to be birthed by the
31:51
next generation. This is just brilliant. I mean, how where do I
31:56
come up with this stuff? Right? I mean, what could be more
32:00
obvious? But let me listen. Listen, listen, listen. The next
32:02
generation church will be birthed by the next generation. But the next generation doesn't
32:07
have the resources that we have. So current generation leaders, do you want
32:13
to miss this? Do you want to be the generation? It's like no,
32:19
and no, we built and this is how it works and that and
32:22
you don't mean that. The reason you're doing what you're doing, the reason
32:23
we're in a building like this on a campus like this, is because some
32:27
extraordinary leaders said we're gonna do what it takes. We're not just gonna do
32:30
what's always been done. So look, the next generation church is going to
32:35
be created by and figured out by the next generation. I don't want to
32:38
miss that. I'm not gonna come up with it. But the moment those
32:43
people start messing breaking the rules and messing with the rules around the edges and
32:46
trying new things, I want to be part of the generation that says I
32:51
didn't come up with it, but I'm gonna resource it, I'm gonna fund
32:53
it, I'm gonna cheer it on. And even if I don't fully get
32:57
it, who cares? Nobody? I'd left our generation in charge, right.
33:01
So the only way not to miss this is to live like this is
33:09
to live open minded. Close minded leaders They always close minds. Closed minded
33:20
leaders always close minds. If you want to close the minds of the next
33:23
generation that's working for you, you just be a closed minded leader. And
33:27
here's what will happen. The innovators that work for you will take their next
33:30
generation ideas somewhere else. And the really bad news is this the status quo
33:37
people will stay and bury you. Let's not be that generation of church leaders.
33:49
Let's be ridiculously scary open minded people. Secondly, kind of tip my
33:54
hand to this is the second one is we need to be open handed,
33:57
live with open hands. I love this passage. There's this narrative, bit
34:05
of narrative you've taught it and read before, where you know John the Baptist
34:08
is the guy. You know, the movies don't do John the Baptist justice
34:13
if you read the gospels. Here's what the Gospels tell us. All Judea
34:16
and Jerusalem went to hear John the Baptist. That means there weren't like this.
34:22
You know, fifteen or twenty or thirty people out there on the river
34:24
bank, going who is this guy? All let's say it's hyperbole. Half
34:29
let's say it's real hyperbole. A third of Judea and Jerusalem. This means
34:34
thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people went to hear John the Baptist.
34:38
He was the guy, and then along came Jesus. I just love
34:44
this picture. Can you imagine he's set everybody up, He's faced down the
34:47
Pharisees, you brew, the vipers who warned you to flee from the coming
34:50
rath. It's just amazing. I mean, he's the guy all eyes on
34:52
John, and one day he stops and he says, look, look,
35:00
behold the lamb of God that comes to take um. This is this is
35:05
the one I was telling you about. You thought I was the guy.
35:07
I wouldn't the guy. This is the guy. So here's what happens.
35:10
But but but hey, you know, John the Baptist had some people around
35:14
him like you do. Rabbi, Rabbi, that man this is they're talking
35:24
about Jesus. That man, that man who was with you on the other
35:29
side of the Jordan, the one you testified about. Look, he's got
35:31
more mentions, he's got more followers, he's got more fans, he's got
35:37
more he's baptizing. Look, look he is baptizing and everyone is going to
35:42
him. They're not doing it right to this, John responded, what baptism
35:51
technique has he employed that so many would leave us for him? I love
36:04
this. Next line, leaders, you should all memorize this. That's what
36:10
John the Baptist says. He looks at the people who love him and support
36:15
him, and if he's not careful, they will bury him and lead him
36:17
away from what he's been called to do. A person can receive only what
36:22
has given them from heaven. A person can only receive what is given them
36:29
from heaven. You can only receive what has given you from heaven. So
36:38
lead with your hands wide open. Do not close your hands around my ministry
36:45
and my people, and my volunteers, and my big donor and my building
36:51
and my my A man can only receive what has given him from heaven.
36:58
We're stewards, we're not owners. You don't have any people, you don't
37:04
have a church, you don't have a ministry, you got nothing. You
37:08
lead this way, you'll be a better leader. The moment you start doing
37:13
this, the moment you start doing this, you begin to limit what God
37:20
can place in your hands. You begin to limit what you can steward.
37:27
About ten years ago, actually actually more than ten years ago, Louis Giglio,
37:30
my friend from the sixth grade, came to me I had known each
37:35
other forever. Came to me and said, I'm going to start a church
37:37
in Atlanta, and I want you to be one of the first to know.
37:39
I said, that is great, but here's what I actually said.
37:43
He was fifty at the time, or we had just both turned fifty,
37:45
and I said, now you realize people our age are trying to get out
37:49
of this, not into it. This is for young people starting churches,
37:53
you know. I kind of kidd it in So he announced and sort of
37:57
the word got out Louis Gigi's starting church in sa Atlanta. And all of
38:00
a sudden there was this I mean, church pastors from all around the country
38:05
started contacting me, like, I know you're upset about this. How could
38:07
dare he do this? And I'm like, and I realized there's this assumed
38:12
tension. So I got up in front of our staff. We had a
38:14
staff meeting that actually about six about seven days after Louis and I had this
38:17
little lunch and I said, okay, look you've heard, you know,
38:22
Louis starting at church. And they ended up about about one point nine not
38:24
that I've measured one point nine and a half miles from one of our campuses.
38:29
Anyway, I just happened to know that, I said, so you've
38:36
heard of this. I said, look, look in our organization, we
38:39
do not whisper about this. We celebrate this. If you want to work
38:45
there, you can apply there and you don't whisper about that here. If
38:49
you want to attend there and work here, that's fine, if you,
38:53
if you. In other words, this is not something we whisper about.
38:57
This is something we celebrate out loud, because I learned this from my dad.
39:01
The moment you start doing this, you essentially fend off the leadership of
39:07
your heavenly father. Life is too short for that, I said, So
39:13
go there, celebrate there. We're gonna give them money to help them get
39:16
going. There is you do not have to whisper about this. There is
39:20
no tension between me and Louie. And don't you start creating tension between you
39:24
and people. And I know lots of people are gonna leave our church and
39:28
go there. That is okay, because listen, I don't have any people.
39:32
A man can only receive what is given to him from heaven. This
39:39
is how we lead. This is how we and when you decide to follow
39:45
the good Shepherd, that's what it looks like in the moment you start doing
39:47
this, that's insecurity. Whispering, that's limited, that's just it's everything is
39:52
wrong about this and so interesting. I gotta finish this up and be done
39:55
here second. Actually I'm done, time says I'm done anyway, So not
40:00
too long after that, Louie's mom who I grew up with, Louis in
40:05
his house and friends, and so his mom was in the hospital. She's
40:07
very sick, she was dying. So I went to the hospital one Sunday
40:09
after I'd preached three times, and Louie's there and talk about kind of cool.
40:14
I mean, it's not cool to die, but if you have to
40:15
die, and you do, having Chris Tomlin in the hospital room with you,
40:21
singing with you, I mean, it was amazing. There's Chris Tomlin
40:23
and Shelley and Louie and me and other people and we're singing with Martha Jeane
40:28
and I just love Martha Jane. She was like a second mom to me.
40:30
And the day's getting later and later, and it's Sunday and they're having
40:34
their service at four point thirty and I can just Louie doesn't want to leave
40:37
his mom. So he turns to me in the hospital room. He said,
40:39
Hey, I can't leave her. I said, I know, you
40:42
can't leave her. He said, would you go to Passion City and preach
40:45
for me tonight? So that's what this looks like. He said, Oh,
40:52
by the way, you'll know most of the people there. And I
41:01
did, and they were shocked to see me. Listen to. Life is
41:15
too short and what you're doing is too important to live any other way.
41:29
We're gonna close in a few minutes with this song. But not quite yet,
41:31
but we're listen to these lyrics. You've sung these before. Make me
41:36
your vessel, make me an offering. Don't sing this later if you don't
41:42
mean it. Make me whatever you want me to be. Ready for this
41:47
line. I came here with nothing. You came here with nothing. I
41:59
came here with nothing. Anything other than nothing is a graced gift of God
42:06
to you. But all you have given me. Jesus, bring new wine
42:15
out of me. You close your hands, you will squeeze the life out
42:19
of you and the people around you. You'll have less to offer, and
42:23
you'll have you'll have, You'll have less, and you'll have less to offer.
42:30
Third one, real quick fully alive leadership. You got to be open
42:32
mind, You got to stay open handed, and you got to be an
42:35
open heart. I keep an open heart. And the way you do this
42:37
is what the apostle Paul said. It's so clear Ephesians four. You've taught
42:42
this before. He said, all right, you want to get this right?
42:44
Yeah, we want to get this right. You want to have a
42:45
clean heart. Yeah. You want to lead with a clean heart. You
42:47
want to prepare messages with the clean heart. You want to lead worship with
42:50
a clean heart. You want to write children's curriculum with a clean heart.
42:52
You want to interact with volunteers with a clean heart. Yeah, I do,
42:54
he says, all right, here, it's very simple. Get rid
42:57
of as inn and I love the imagery here in the text. It's pick
43:01
it up and carry it to the street and leave it. This is about
43:05
taking your garbage out. This is about pulling it up out of the kitchen
43:08
or wherever you do it and closing that plastic bag, walking it out to
43:12
the street and leaving it there. Get rid of all, not part of
43:15
it, not the convenient part. Don't hang on to some of it because
43:17
you get a little sympathy every time you tell your sad story. Everybody's tired
43:22
of your sad story. We know you didn't have a happy childhood. We
43:24
know, we know nobody did. Okay, So if you're not even that
43:30
unique, okay, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, slender,
43:43
along with every form of malice. Get rid of all of it.
43:51
You're still mad at your pastor you used to work for. You're still mad
43:53
at the church because they let you go. You're still mad at a previous
43:55
employe. You're still mad at an ex wife. You're still mad at an
43:58
ex boyfriend or girlfriend. You can't. That becomes your shepherd. You're anger.
44:06
Your story becomes your shepherd, and the good shepherd says, come on,
44:08
leave that behind. You think you were mistreated? Have you read the
44:13
Gospels? Oh? Yeah, sorry, I brought that up. Oh people
44:16
hated you. Have you read I never mind, you had a tough childhood.
44:23
Our family went to Egypt, not for vacation. This stuff always leaks.
44:34
It will taint your leadership. It will undermine your credibility. And I
44:37
don't have to give you illustrations because we all have them. You protect that
44:39
stuff too long, it will eat you up inside, said Don Henley,
44:45
And it will. So here's the fully alive leader. It's just three postures.
44:51
It's every single morning. I have a little routine I go through every
44:52
single morning. I hope you have a morning routine as well. And part
44:55
of it is this God. I do not want want to close my mind
45:00
to the frontiers of my ignorance. I want to pay attention to the frontiers
45:02
of my ignorance. I want to be the most curious Christian on planet Earth.
45:07
I want to know what you'll allow me to know. But when I
45:08
get to the edge of my knowledge, I want to love well and God.
45:13
I want to live like this. And I'm telling you. I know
45:15
you're not going to believe me, but I promise every week, every week
45:19
of my life and ministry, I've been tempted to do this because something comes
45:22
along to go, Uh, that's my way. We did that way?
45:24
Who owns that? That intelactual property and an open heart? Just God,
45:34
cleanse me and for all of us here. We have some work to do
45:38
somewhere, don't we? Where do you have work to do? Are you
45:42
following an impostor are you following certainty? Or something else is peculiar to the
45:45
way you're wired insecurity and the anger? Are you willing to open up your
45:52
mind? Are you willing to open up your heart? Are you willing to
45:57
live with open hands? The text ends like this, Jesus calls his sheep
46:01
by name, and I love this, and he leads them out. And
46:07
when he has brought out his own he goes on ahead of them, and
46:10
his sheep here it is follow him because they know his voice. Lets not
46:20
be leaders who listen to the voice of envy insecurity, the quests for certainty
46:27
are anything else. Let's be fully alive and in sync with the will of
46:31
our savior. This is what my dad has always said. And I'll close
46:35
with this, Andy, I've heard it a thousand times, Andy, Andy,
46:38
Andy, the most important thing in the world is your personal relationship with
46:43
Jesus Christ. You know why, because he and only he is the good Shepherd.