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Andy Stanley - Everyday Courage The Win Part 1 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: So today, we're beginning a brand new four-part series entitled
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  Speaker 1: Every Day Courage. And to get us started, I want
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  Speaker 1: us to do a little exercise or a little trip
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  Speaker 1: down memory lane. I want you to think for a
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  Speaker 1: moment about or to answer the question, what is the most,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to contextualize this for you, what is
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  Speaker 1: the most courageous thing you've ever done? And I don't
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  Speaker 1: mean bungee jumping or scuba diving or swimming with sharks
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  Speaker 1: or rock climbing, not that kind.
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  Speaker 2: Of courageous the kind of courageous.
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  Speaker 1: Or that's related to a decision you made that had
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  Speaker 1: the potential to change the direction.
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  Speaker 2: Of your life.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, maybe that decision did change the direction of
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  Speaker 1: your life, but you tried to talk yourself out of it.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe other people tried to talk you out of it.
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  Speaker 1: There was no guarantee that it was going to work out.
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  Speaker 1: There was no way to know if there would be
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  Speaker 1: a bow. You know, what is the bravest decision you
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  Speaker 1: made maybe professionally or You left something to go to
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  Speaker 1: something else and you weren't so sure and there's no guarantee.
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  Speaker 1: The bravest decision you made, maybe even academically, maybe relationally,
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  Speaker 1: getting in a relationship, leaving a relationship, choosing to stay,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it might be. One of those decisions that there
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  Speaker 1: was fear, but you did it and you're glad you
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  Speaker 1: did it. In fact, it was such a big decision.
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  Speaker 1: And when you think back, it kind of scares you
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  Speaker 1: to think about where you'd be today if you hadn't
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  Speaker 1: made that decision.
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  Speaker 2: Decision.
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  Speaker 1: We all have one or two of those in our background,
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  Speaker 1: and the longer you live, there's going to be more.
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  Speaker 1: Sandra would tell you that my wife, Sandra, would tell
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  Speaker 1: you that the bravest thing.
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  Speaker 2: I ever did was ask her to marry me.
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  Speaker 1: She says, and I quote, that I was pale, and
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  Speaker 1: she thought that I might actually pass out. Apparently, this
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  Speaker 1: is no exaggeration, apparently, I looked so scared when I
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  Speaker 1: proposed to her When I said, will you, I got
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  Speaker 1: down on one knee and I said, will you marry me?
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  Speaker 2: And she said, and I quote, you don't have to
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  Speaker 2: do this, you know. Not yes, not no. You don't
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  Speaker 2: have to do this, you know.
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  Speaker 1: That is a direct quote I'm sharing with her permission.
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  Speaker 1: It was such a romantic moment. Anyway, bravest thing I've
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  Speaker 1: ever heard. And it scares me, honestly, to think about
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  Speaker 1: where I would be or where I wouldn't be if
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  Speaker 1: I had not asked her to marry me, and especially
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  Speaker 1: if she hadn't said yes. Now, here's something we've all observed.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't a religious thing. You may have no religion,
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  Speaker 1: no faith, or a different faith tradition. This is just
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  Speaker 1: kind of human experience. We've all observed, we've certainly all
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  Speaker 1: read about or studied in school, and perhaps you may
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  Speaker 1: have even experienced personally, This truth that a single act
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  Speaker 1: of courage, a single act of courage is often the
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  Speaker 1: catalyst for extraordinary. That a single act of courage is
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  Speaker 1: often the catalyst for extraordinary. In fact, some of your
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  Speaker 1: favorite moments in history, the ones you read about or
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  Speaker 1: read about, the ones movies are made about or novels
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  Speaker 1: are written about or historical fiction is written around, those
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  Speaker 1: moments in history, somebody stepped up or stepped in and
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  Speaker 1: the world changed or the world moved in a different
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  Speaker 1: direction or a family that influenced families moved in a
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  Speaker 1: different direction. And historically, when it's some big epic thing
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  Speaker 1: like that, it rarely happens in a vacuum.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's a historical context. The table is set.
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  Speaker 2: Circumstances are in place. There's fear. There's tension.
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  Speaker 1: And then someone acts. Someone goes first. And when they
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  Speaker 1: go first, it sets things in motion that on an
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  Speaker 1: epic grand scale impact nations, impact the world. One of my...
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  Speaker 1: favorites because perhaps what I do is in 1517, Martin
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  Speaker 1: Luther nailing 95 objections to church practice to the door
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  Speaker 1: of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. You know, we
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  Speaker 1: call it his 95 theses, but it's basically 95 complaints
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  Speaker 1: to the church. And so many historians would say this
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  Speaker 1: was kind of the epic moment that kicked off the protestant.
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  Speaker 2: But he had no idea.
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  Speaker 1: He was just one of many people doing what he did,
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  Speaker 1: but he was finally fed up, and he risked his life,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, spent many years of his life in hiding
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  Speaker 1: because he went to war with the church, but he
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  Speaker 1: said the church has drifted so far away from what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus originally intended, and he set in motion things that
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  Speaker 1: continue to impact us today. Or what about the signers
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  Speaker 1: of the Declaration of Independence? When they signed that document,
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  Speaker 1: they signed.
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  Speaker 2: Their lives away.
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  Speaker 1: They basically, essentially, for all they knew, they signed their
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  Speaker 1: own death warrants by putting their names on a document
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  Speaker 1: that would be distributed about the colonies breaking away from England.
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  Speaker 2: Epic courage.
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  Speaker 1: Or Rosa Parks, just another day in her life, sits
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  Speaker 1: down on the bus and she's asked to move.
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  Speaker 2: And she decided on that day, I'm not moving.
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  Speaker 1: And she had no idea what hung in the balance
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  Speaker 1: of that decision.
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  Speaker 2: She had no idea.
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  Speaker 1: She was just the average person who decided, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to do what I know I need to do. And
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  Speaker 1: whatever the consequences are, the consequences are.
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  Speaker 2: Now, here's the thing.
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  Speaker 1: While it is tempting, it's a mistake to discount these
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  Speaker 1: epic narratives as exceptions to a rule.
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  Speaker 2: They are not. These were ordinary people.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it's always an ordinary person.
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  Speaker 2: These are ordinary people who.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't know how their single act of courage would play out.
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  Speaker 1: But we know their stories. We know their stories. And
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  Speaker 1: since we know their stories, of course, they're heroes. But
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  Speaker 1: they didn't know their story because in the moment there
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  Speaker 1: wasn't a story. They wouldn't have a story to know
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  Speaker 1: apart from a single act of courage. of courage. A
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  Speaker 1: single decision in many instances that set in motion things
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  Speaker 1: that would impact and continue to impact for generations. And
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  Speaker 1: this same principle, this same principle plays out in your
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  Speaker 1: life and plays out in my life.
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  Speaker 2: That's why we're going to talk about it for the
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  Speaker 2: next few weeks.
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  Speaker 1: This simple principle plays out on an epic, the same
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  Speaker 1: principle that has played out on an epic scale in
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  Speaker 1: history will continue to play out in our less than
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  Speaker 1: epic lives with our less than epic challenges and our
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  Speaker 1: less than epic opportunities and our less than epic temptations. Now,
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing to kind of dial it down into
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  Speaker 1: the context of the real world.
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  Speaker 2: Many of you, many of us, I would put myself
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  Speaker 2: in this category.
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  Speaker 1: Many of us have actually benefited personally because someone whose
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  Speaker 1: name will never be known for the most part outside
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  Speaker 1: a very small circle of people Many of us have
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  Speaker 1: benefited because somebody stepped up and did the courageous thing,
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  Speaker 1: did the act, stepped into the gap. Perhaps for you,
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  Speaker 1: it was your parents deciding not to split up when
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  Speaker 1: you were a child, even though circumstances said split up
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  Speaker 1: and people encouraged them to split up, and the average
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  Speaker 1: couple would have split up, but because they loved you
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  Speaker 1: and because of the kids, they decided to stay together.
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  Speaker 1: And looking back, now that you're an adult, you can
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  Speaker 1: understand what a difference.
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  Speaker 2: That made in your life.
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  Speaker 1: But they decided we're going to do the unusual thing
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  Speaker 1: and you have benefited from it. Or maybe it was
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  Speaker 1: your mother's decision, your mother's choice to have you when
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  Speaker 1: circumstances were against that, when people urged her not.
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  Speaker 2: To and she decided to do it anyway.
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  Speaker 1: That was an epic act of courage as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to your life. Or maybe your grandparents stepped in and
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  Speaker 1: raised you Even after they'd raised the kids and moved on,
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  Speaker 1: they decided because of what was happening with your parents,
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  Speaker 1: they stepped in and they rescued you. That was an
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  Speaker 1: act of courage that was a catalyst for change and
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  Speaker 1: a catalyst for extraordinary in your childhood experience. Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: it was as simple as a coach or a boss
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  Speaker 1: who gave you a second chance that you didn't deserve.
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  Speaker 2: They took a chance on you.
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  Speaker 1: They took a risk on you with no guaranteed outcome.
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  Speaker 2: And yet it was epic in terms of how it
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  Speaker 2: impacted the directions of your life and the health of
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  Speaker 2: your life as time went by. But here's the thing,
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  Speaker 2: and you know this, but we've got to say it.
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  Speaker 1: If we knew in the moment how things were going
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  Speaker 1: to work out right, if we knew that a single
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  Speaker 1: decision was going to be the tipping point for something extraordinary,
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  Speaker 1: we wouldn't hesitate.
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  Speaker 2: We would act immediately.
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  Speaker 1: If we knew that the end of the story would
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  Speaker 1: be worth the struggle during the story, this is easy,
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  Speaker 1: but we don't. Because courage, the reason there's the need
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  Speaker 1: for courage is that courage always entails risk and sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: and endurance through the episode.
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  Speaker 2: With no promise of a bow, with no promise of
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  Speaker 2: a happy ending or a happy landing.
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  Speaker 1: And if that doesn't convince you that this lands and
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  Speaker 1: applies to your life, let's look at it the other way.
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  Speaker 2: A lack of courage.
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  Speaker 1: A lack of courage, a failure of nerve, a failure
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  Speaker 1: to act can set things in motion for generations as well, right?
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  Speaker 1: In fact, perhaps you can't imagine how much better your
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  Speaker 1: life would have been if your mom or dad hadn't
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  Speaker 1: lacked the courage to get help or to ask for help,
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  Speaker 1: to address an addiction.
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  Speaker 2: Or to get out of a toxic relationship.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps you can imagine if you'd had the courage to
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  Speaker 1: say no to that invitation that led you in a
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  Speaker 1: direction that you regret and will always regret. perhaps you
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  Speaker 1: can imagine how much different your life would have been
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  Speaker 1: if you had the courage to walk away from something
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  Speaker 1: or to walk away from somebody. Basically, We can all
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  Speaker 1: think about how different our lives might have been if
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  Speaker 1: we had just simply had the courage in a moment
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  Speaker 1: to do the right thing. So this is a big deal,
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  Speaker 1: even though you're not a big deal. This is a
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  Speaker 1: big deal, even though I'm not a big deal. This
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  Speaker 1: is a big deal, regardless of the fact that none
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  Speaker 1: of us are big deals. But it is a principle
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  Speaker 1: that operates in the background of our lives. In some cases,
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  Speaker 1: as we're going to see in the next few weeks,
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  Speaker 1: every single day. Because we, and the reason it's a
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  Speaker 1: big deal is we don't know. We don't know what
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  Speaker 1: or who hangs in the balance of our decision to
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  Speaker 1: do the right thing, regardless of what it's going to
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  Speaker 1: cost us when we don't know what it's going to
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  Speaker 1: cost us.
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  Speaker 2: And the thing that pushes us back.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing that holds us back, if we're honest,
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  Speaker 1: even though it's difficult to admit, that's why we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about this for a few weeks, oftentimes is fear.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big deal because we don't know what.
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  Speaker 1: Or who hangs in the balance of that single act
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  Speaker 1: of courage that is often the catalyst for extraordinary. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you're not a person of faith, or maybe you're
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  Speaker 1: of a different faith tradition, and again, you're not going
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  Speaker 1: to agree with everything in this message. Everything I've said
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  Speaker 1: so far is probably something you can get on board with.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I may have described your experience growing up.
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  Speaker 1: All of us have regrets. All of us have failure
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  Speaker 1: of nerve, failure to act. And so, you know, so
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  Speaker 1: far so good. I imagine you agree with most of that.
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  Speaker 1: But here's what I know about you. If you're not
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  Speaker 1: a person of faith or you're not a person of
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  Speaker 1: Christian faith, you have some sort of risk reward decision-making
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  Speaker 1: grid that works for you.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you've navigated these things before. So what comes
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  Speaker 2: next as we move forward with this message and this series,
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  Speaker 2: what comes next?
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  Speaker 1: You may not feel like it's applicable or applicable to
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  Speaker 1: your life, but If you are considering becoming a Jesus follower,
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  Speaker 1: if you are curious at all, I think what follows.
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  Speaker 2: Would be good for you to know. So here we go.
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  Speaker 1: As Jesus followers, as those of us not simply believers
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  Speaker 1: and not simply Christians, those of us who have decided
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  Speaker 1: to the best of our ability, we want to follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: There is an additional facet to all of this.
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  Speaker 1: And that is evident from the fact that catalytic expressions.
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  Speaker 2: Of courage are throughout the story of our.
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  Speaker 1: Faith, beginning all throughout Judaism and all throughout Christianity.
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  Speaker 2: That throughout the history of our faith.
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  Speaker 1: Again, beginning with the beginning of Judaism, there have been
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  Speaker 1: men and women who have responded to the promptings of
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  Speaker 1: God and their decisions, again, dot the landscape of our history,
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  Speaker 1: the history of our faith, beginning with Abraham, if you
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  Speaker 1: grew up in church or you grew up in synagogue,
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  Speaker 1: you know the story of Abraham who left the security
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  Speaker 1: of home and family to go. He did not know where.
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  Speaker 1: God just said, go and I will show you. Or
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  Speaker 1: the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, forgiving, if
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  Speaker 1: you know the story, the courage to forgive, the courage
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  Speaker 1: to rescue rather than execute his brothers who sold him
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  Speaker 1: into slavery, the courage to do the opposite of what
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  Speaker 1: anybody else in his circumstances would have done. The story
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  Speaker 1: of Moses who left Egypt as a fugitive from the
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  Speaker 1: law because he'd murdered a man, who decides because of
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  Speaker 1: God's promptings to go back into Egypt and not simply
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  Speaker 1: go back into Egypt, but to face down the most
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  Speaker 1: powerful man in the world and say, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to wreck your economy by freeing all
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  Speaker 1: the slave labor in your entire kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that is absurd. Why would somebody have the
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  Speaker 2: courage to do that? Something like that. Or the story
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  Speaker 2: of Joshua.
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  Speaker 1: Joshua, who led the nation of Israel across the Jordan
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  Speaker 1: River into hostile territory. A group of people who had
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  Speaker 1: no military experience with no guarantee, it seemed, of what
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  Speaker 1: was gonna happen on the other side of the river.
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  Speaker 1: But he said, this is what we're gonna do because
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  Speaker 1: this is what God has urged me and led me
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  Speaker 1: to do. Or the familiar story of David, that probably
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  Speaker 1: 10 or 11, maybe 12 years old, who stood out
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  Speaker 1: and listened to Goliath taunt the nation of Israel, the armies.
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  Speaker 2: Of Israel from the other side of the Valley of Elah.
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  Speaker 1: And somehow in that moment, little David saw it and
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  Speaker 1: heard it different than anybody else. He saw this as
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  Speaker 1: an offense to Yahweh, offense to God. And he decided
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  Speaker 1: even as a kid that their God was more powerful
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  Speaker 1: than the other people's God and felt the urge to
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  Speaker 1: walk down into the Valley of Elah and face a
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  Speaker 1: giant God. Or the story of New Testament Joseph, the
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  Speaker 1: one we all know about as we celebrate Christmas, risking
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  Speaker 1: so much to take Mary as his wife. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: do need to make one comment about this one. If
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  Speaker 1: an angel appears to you and gives you specific instructions,
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  Speaker 1: that certainly helps.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, anyway, moving on. Or this story.
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  Speaker 1: Just the story of Jesus, the grand epic narrative of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus that I was never taught as a child. I
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  Speaker 1: was never even taught this in church, and yet it's
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  Speaker 1: the most catalytic.
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  Speaker 2: Moment that Jesus is safe way up north in Galilee,
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  Speaker 2: and he decides.
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  Speaker 1: To go to Jerusalem when he knows what's going to
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  Speaker 1: happen to him. Because this is God's will for him.
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  Speaker 1: His date with fate. And he knew he would be
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  Speaker 1: beaten and crucified. And he goes anyway. Walking through the
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  Speaker 1: gates of Jerusalem. Knowing what was about to happen. Or
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  Speaker 1: some years later, the apostle Paul doing basically the same
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  Speaker 1: thing after planting churches all around the Mediterranean rim and
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  Speaker 1: risking his life over and over and over and over
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  Speaker 1: because God called him to do it with no guarantee
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  Speaker 1: of success. And then he decides to leave and to
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  Speaker 1: go back to Jerusalem. And all along the way, if
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  Speaker 1: you read his story, the book of Acts, all along
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  Speaker 1: the way, he's warned, when you get to Jerusalem, things
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  Speaker 1: are not gonna go well for you. And he's like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but this is what God has for me to do. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing I want you to get. the dynamic
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  Speaker 1: that sets these expressions of courage apart, the dynamic that
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  Speaker 1: connects all of their stories, that connects all of their dots,
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  Speaker 1: the dynamic that connects their stories.
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  Speaker 2: To our stories as Jesus followers, the dynamic that connects
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  Speaker 2: all of that is the differentiator. This is important.
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  Speaker 1: The differentiator is a different understanding of what it means
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  Speaker 1: to win.
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  Speaker 2: The reason they did what they did and the reason.
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  Speaker 1: You will be called to do what you will be
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  Speaker 1: called to do as a Jesus follower isn't what happens
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  Speaker 1: on the other side of the decision. It's a different
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  Speaker 1: definition of the win. For Jesus followers, for Jesus followers,
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  Speaker 1: the win is not the outcome. The win is the
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  Speaker 1: decision to act. The win is the decision to obey.
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  Speaker 1: The win is the decision to say, Yes to God's
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  Speaker 1: will for you. A yes that often defies common sense.
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  Speaker 1: A yes that often defies common wisdom or conventional wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: And a yes that causes bystanders to look at you
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  Speaker 1: and wonder what's wrong with you because there's nothing in
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  Speaker 1: it for you.
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  Speaker 2: The win for Jesus followers is the follow.
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  Speaker 1: Follow. regardless of the outcome, regardless of the potential outcome,
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  Speaker 1: because Jesus' followers, because Jesus' followers don't assume responsibility for outcomes.
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  Speaker 1: Our responsibility, this is the difference between followers and simply
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  Speaker 1: believers and Christians.
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  Speaker 2: Our responsibility, the only thing we can control.
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  Speaker 1: Is our decision to say yes, our response to our king.
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  Speaker 1: And then, Once we've said yes, and once we've done
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  Speaker 1: the thing, we go to bed with a clear conscience,
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  Speaker 1: and we willingly accept the outcomes as coming from the
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  Speaker 1: hands of our heavenly Father. We win when we follow.
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  Speaker 1: We win the moment we obey. That is the win.
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  Speaker 2: Outcomes. are in God's hands.
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  Speaker 1: This is why Jesus said, and I'm gonna read you
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  Speaker 1: a statement Jesus made, and if you grew up in
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: church or around church, you may have loved this when
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you were young, and as you got older and became
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: an adult and experienced life the way life is, you
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: may look at this statement from Jesus.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: And go, I don't know about that one.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: In fact, I don't even know how you said such
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: a thing not knowing my circumstances.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Jesus, God, is this really relevant to me?
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Are you paying attention to what's going on in my life?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: And the reason this statement, actually, it's a command by Jesus.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: The reason it is very difficult for some of us
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to digest this is that Jesus was making this comment
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to a, made this command to a very specific group
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: of people. Here, this is why, everything I've said so far,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: this is why Jesus had the audacity to say, and
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: it's so offensive to some extent. He said,' Therefore, do
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: not worry about tomorrow.' Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to which you're going to go, okay, time out. Do
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: you know what's on my schedule tomorrow? Do you know
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: who I have to talk to tomorrow? Do you know
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: what's coming up tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Do
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: you know what's coming up next week? Do you know
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: what's coming up? Do you know what is hanging? in
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the balance that I have no control over? How dare
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you just say to me, do not worry about tomorrow.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: But this imperative was directed to a very specific audience.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: The word therefore is what tips us off to that.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: This imperative, this imperative was based on what came before.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Do not worry is an application of what he had
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: just said. Namely, but seek first his kingdom, my father's kingdom.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and his, his father's righteousness. Seek first, prioritize, wrap your
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: life around, organize your life around the agenda of the king,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the agenda of the kingdom of God. Seek first the
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: kingdom of God and his understanding of the right way
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to live, his understanding of justice for you and the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: people in this world. Seek first his kingdom, seek first
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the justice associated with his that do not worry, do
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: not worry, was directed to men and women who had pre-decided,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: who had pre-decided to embrace the priorities and the kingdom
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: agenda of Jesus.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Those who had already.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Decided to say yes to his invitation to follow me.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: And then he says, and trust me.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: With the outcomes of You do not need to worry
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: about tomorrow.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow is none of your business.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Those people, those who choose to follow Jesus, do not.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: This is hard, but this is the invitation.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Those of us who are choosing and doing our best
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: to choose to follow Jesus, we don't evaluate our decisions
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: by what transpires.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Yes is the wind. Your single act of courage is
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the win.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Now, this is a big deal to me for a
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: couple of reasons.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: And this is why I wanted to spread this out
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: over four weeks so this can settle in on us.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: One reason this is a big deal to me is
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I have seen this principle play out for decades. decades,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: literally decades, as I get to sit and listen to
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the stories of men and women who've decided to follow
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Jesus and said yes to God's promptings and did things
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that were just, you know, unexpected, things that were unusual,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: things that people kind of said, there really is nothing
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: in that for you. Why would you leave this to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: go to that?
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Why would you move in that direction? And to see
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: this play out over and over and over through the years.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: These are men and women who felt an internal nudge
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to leave something to go to something to where there
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: was no guarantee that it was gonna be better. Men
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and women and students who felt the nudge to commit
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: to something did just say, I'm gonna commit to it
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: without any guaranteed outcome. Men and women who felt the
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: nudge to go start something, men and women who had
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the courage to say yes when they felt the nudge to,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: to confess something, even though they knew their confession would
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: create chaos, but they decided tomorrow is not my responsibility.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: My responsibility is yes and to follow. Who had the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: courage to seek help for something, even though it embarrassed them,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: put them at odds with people they worked with, with
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: people they lived with. People had the courage to stand
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: up and say something because nobody was saying what needed
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: to be said. Men and women and students who had
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the courage to interrupt something because that's what they felt
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: prompted to do, to confront something that needed to be confronted,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to refuse something because it was the thing they needed
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to refuse. These are just average people, average people who
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: were nudged out of their comfort zone, who always paid
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: a price, but their story, when they tell their story,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: their story is a story of peace. Because they go
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to bed that night with a clear conscience, confident that tomorrow,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the next week, the next month, the next year is
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: in the capable hands of their heavenly father.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: And they pre-decided, I will accept.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: What comes as coming from my heavenly father because I
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: chose to follow.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I won.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: They won because they obeyed, because they chose to follow,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: because they sought first. the kingdom agenda of their savior
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and left the outcome to the one who controls outcome.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: But there's another reason this is a big deal to me.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: This is also a big deal.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And maybe this is the primary reason this is so
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: important to me is I saw this play out in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: a dramatic way when I was growing up. And I've
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: told you some of this story before and it's too
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: long of a story to tell.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I've written about it and talked about it in other places.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: But when I was in the eighth grade, I watched
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: my dad who was a pastor say yes to the
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: inner promptings of God, to say yes to his king,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and in doing so, risk his career, his reputation, and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: certainly risk his job. Again, without all the details, it
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: was a big, big deal. There was a great deal
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: of fear. There was a great deal of uncertainty. In
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the midst of all the chaos of those circumstances, he
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: was actually physically assaulted by a deacon standing in the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: pulpit on a Wednesday night at church. So this deacon
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: was giving an announcement. My dad was sitting back here
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: in the chair. You know, in the Baptist church, other
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: churches too, they have like the little thrones that were
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: back here behind the preacher. I don't know anything else
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: to call them. There was two big ones and two
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: small ones. Anyway, they still have those somewhere. I don't
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: understand why anybody would want to sit up here and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: watch the back of the preacher preach.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: But anyway, so my dad was back here.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: This guy was giving an announcement, and he used a
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: little bit of profanity in the Baptist church in the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: late 70s. And my dad walked up beside him, and
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: he said his name. I still remember his name.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I'm the eighth grade.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I'm on the third pew on the aisle right there.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: And he said, so and so, we're not going to
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: have that kind of language. And he said, you better
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: sit down or you might get punched. And he turned
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: around and hit my dad in the jaw in church.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Nobody missed church in those days. It was so exciting.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: I was in the eighth grade. I was crying. But
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I came away from that.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: You realize there are some things that we're suffering for.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And the church is one of those things. And there
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: are moments in time and there are moments in life
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: where you just have to do what you know God
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: wants you to do and you can't control outcomes, but
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: you have to be willing to accept the outcomes as
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: coming from the hands of your heavenly father. During that
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: season is when he crafted the statement that marked my
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: life and I've quoted it to you so many times.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: It was in that same season he began to say, Andy,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: you have to obey God and you leave all the
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: consequences to him.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: You obey God. That is the win.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Once you have obeyed, once you've followed, once you've said yes,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: once you've stepped into the gap, once you've stepped up,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: once you've stepped in, once you spoke up.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Then you've won.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: And the consequences are not up to you. Obey God
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: and leave all the consequences to him. Many years later,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I sat in an interview where he was sitting across
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the table from someone who really didn't like him. This, again,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: had to do with the Southern Baptist Convention, and my
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: dad had been nominated to.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Be the president.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: The person across the table was adamantly against my dad
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: being elected. And there were reporters everywhere. And I'm standing
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: against the wall. I was in graduate school at the time.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: And the reporter, I still remember her name, Peggy Wehmeyer
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: from Channel 8 in Dallas, Texas. There was all this
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: commotion and back and forth. And she shoved a microphone
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: across the table. There were all those little stanchions on
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: this big table.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: And she said, Dr.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Stanley.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Dr. Stanley. She said, do you think you'll win tomorrow?
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: The next day was the election for president of Southern
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Baptist Convention.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Do you think you'll win tomorrow? The room got quiet.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Here's what he said.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: He looked like he was just at all the peace
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: of the world.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: He said, well, Peggy, if I win, I win. And
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: if I lose, I win.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Because my responsibility is to obey God. It's that simple.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not responsible for consequences. I'm responsible to say no.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Yes. Now, somebody in the room or in the other room.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Somebody watching or listening, you feel like I'm talking directly
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to you because one of these has your name on it.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: This is where you are right now. You know what
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: or who you need to leave. You know what you
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: need to just cut ties and commit to. You know
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: there's something you need to start. You know there's something
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: you need to confess.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: And when you.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Confess it, it is going to create chaos perhaps in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: your family or with the people you work with. But
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: you know that's what you need to do. You know
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you need help. But your pride has not allowed you
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to ask for help. Do you know what else has
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: not allowed you to ask for help?
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: You're afraid. You're afraid.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: And that's absolutely understandable because once you ask for help,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: you're confessing something nobody else knows about.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Of course you're afraid, but you know you need to
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Or perhaps there's something you need to say that needs saying,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and you've been afraid of the relational consequences if you
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: say it, or maybe there's something you need to interrupt
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: or confront or begin refusing, and your friends won't understand.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Because it's part of the rhythm of their life. It's
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: been part of the rhythm of your life. But it's
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: time for something to change in the rhythm of your life.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: And when you think.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: About the potential consequences, when you think about the outcome,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: the only word I can put on that is it's time.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Terrifying. But it's tomorrow.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: When you think about it's terrifying because of the hurt
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: and the confusion you know you're gonna cause with people
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you love. But the hurt and the confusion, that's tomorrow.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You think if I do this, Andy, you don't understand.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: And I would say to you, of course I don't understand.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: In fact, if I heard your story, I might say,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you know what?
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: You get a pass.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: You go sit over there in the pass section because
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: there ain't no.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Way Jesus even was talking to you, right?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: But I can't do that. Because you say, you don't
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: understand the influence I'm gonna lose. You don't understand the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: income I'm gonna lose. You don't understand the opportunity I'm
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: gonna lose. You don't understand the reputation I'm gonna lose.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: So of course you hesitate. Because you are appropriately afraid.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: And I get it.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: In fact, the truth of it is the outcome may
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: be worse than you're imagining. But if that's you, I
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: just want to encourage you between now and next time
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: we're together to spend some time with this question.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: What is the when? What's the when?
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Is safety and security and status quo, is that the win?
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Or let me ask it another way. Don't push back.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Let me finish.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Is safety and security, is that the boss of you?
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Is that your Lord to get all religious on you?
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Is that what you worship?
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Because whatever you prioritize above everything else, that is what
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: you worship.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Is that what you have submitted your life to?
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: The preservation of reputation? The preservation of what you have?
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: That if you're a Jesus follower, you know everything comes
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: from God ultimately. Everything in the heavens and the earth
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: is yours, oh Lord. Anything that comes into my hands,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I'm a steward, I'm not an owner. Is the Lord
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: of your life to preserve and to hang on and
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: to somehow think you can control outcomes?
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Ask it a different way.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: When you're looking back on this season of your life,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: when you're looking back on this season of your life,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: what do you want.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: To look back on?
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Or the question I ask people all the time, I
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: ask my kids growing up, what.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Story do you want to tell?
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Do you realize that what you're wrestling with right now,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: what you're wrestling with right now, what I've just put
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: my finger on without even knowing your story, one day
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: it's nothing more than a story you tell. That's it.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: So what story do you want to tell? What story
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: do you want to tell your children or your future children?
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: What story do you want told about you? You are
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: determining that, and your heavenly father is asking you to
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: step out into the unknown and to understand that the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: moment you do, if you're obeying God and responding to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the prompting of God through your conscience or something.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Else, in that moment, you have already won.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Because you're trusting God with tomorrow Seek first the kingdom
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: agenda of God and don't worry about tomorrow. That's the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: invitation and that's the promise. So what's the win?
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Is it preservation? Or is the win, look up here.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Is the win knowing that you are in the center
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: of God's will for you, which by the way is
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: the safest, most secure place you can be. Because another
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: one of my dad's statements, God takes full responsibility. God
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: takes full responsibility for the life that is wholly devoted
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: to him. What's the win? If you will change your
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: definition of the win, you will find the courage to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: do what you know you need to do. A single
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: act of courage. is often the catalyst for extraordinary. Everyday courage,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: just average person, ordinary person, everyday courage is what makes ordinary.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Extraordinary.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: So if you know it's time to go, then it's
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: time for you to press go. If you know, if
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: today you're sitting here, you're like, oh my goodness, you know,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: then what are you waiting for? Redefine the when and
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: do the thing with the assurance that you don't go alone,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: that God is with you.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: What is the when? And don't miss part two of
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: everyday courage.