Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / November 2, 2016 | Men's Fraternity - Fall 2016, Session 8

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November 2, 2016 | Men's Fraternity - Fall 2016, Session 8 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right, men, good morning.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to be back with you, fresh back from my uh Colorado vacation with my son and family.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to spend a few days out there at Lost Valley Ranch, beautiful weather, great food.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um got to spend, you know, when you're out there, if you choose, you can you can spend about uh four hours a day on a horse, two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I I rode about uh I got about 10 hours of riding in while I was out there.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: But um and we were just talking at our table.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I said, gee, Tim or Jameson, why don't you guys come up here and introduce this?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm gonna talk about exactly what you were talking about.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the the horses all had different personalities.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the uh the leader, the Wrangler, he always, you know, his horse was by definition always in the lead.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I got one during the week that was just a great, steady, sure-footed trail horse, um, you know, good good in line, but it always kind of kept an eye, and when it saw the lead horse kind of lope on, it was always ready to go when the line moved.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Jameson, he ended up with one that uh was just kind of content to go at its own pace.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: He was uh kind of near the back a lot of times, and um, you know, it wasn't too uh uh excited to go through some of the uh the obstacles, over logs or uh down some steep inclines.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: But um uh but he did all right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: He had uh he had a great week with that horse.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like all those horses that all had different personalities, you know, we've been learning about these uh apostles that have all got different personalities.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Gene Getz has, I think, has been doing a good job to record what the scripture says, what they wrote, or what was written about them, what Jesus may have said, so that we can get to know their uh their personalities.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh our it was great to be able to send a little message uh last week, Sam.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate your help in uh with the technical aspects of that.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So our second week now, we're gonna uh continue on talking about uh Andrew.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, he was one that was uh kind of like my horse, was content to just be a server, you know, with the with the group and just uh you know, kind of faithfully executing his uh uh his job behind the scenes.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna turn it over to uh Jason Derek and let you guys uh continue to take us through uh talking about Andrew.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: All right, great.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate that, Paul.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Glad you guys came back, glad you guys made it out safely.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Lost Valley, if you guys haven't been there, has some of the most amazing food in the entire world.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: The first night, let's see, we went there about a year ago.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: The first night that we were there, they had this night called meat night.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just what you can imagine.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: They just have these grills outside and they just cook meat.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Just unlimited ribs and pork and sausage and everything great that you can possibly think of.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: And you just go until like you just bust, and then and then it's over and you take a nap.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: So if you ever get a chance to go to Lost Valley, go there.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I thought you were gonna say something about mountains or horseback riding, but the food that's you sold me.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I've never been.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's one of my main kickers.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good idea.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: We all should have meet night.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Tom, meet meet morning.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we got this.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So forgive me if something doesn't show up right.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is my very first time of doing a keynote presentation.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh nothing fancy, but uh if you if you like what you hear and want to hear it again, every single one is recorded here.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you can it's archived in the TVC database.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can go and listen to it, or if you miss a week, you can definitely do that.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I would this is my attempt at the announcement part because you didn't have any announcements on there that Jim gave us.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we have turkey bowl on November 12th, and I think that's with bowling balls.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: But for turkeys, real turkeys, real turkeys, real turkeys down the bowling lane, father-son, turkey bowl.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um the 12th, it's from 10 in the morning until noon.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: So 10 to noon that day.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: With bumpers.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Bumpers.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Bumpers, yep.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, with bumpers.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and then for the for the exciting things, uh, the World Series.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone been enjoying the World Series?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, so yeah.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: We were watching last night, and uh I I was feeling a little nervous for the Cubs, and uh then they got it going pretty good last night in the home run, then a grand slam, then I went to bed.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's usually pretty helpful in a game like that.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I'm afraid though, okay, so tonight, right, game seven, and I'm afraid it kind of feels to me who in here who in here cares who wins?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, most of us don't.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so is anyone rooting for the Indians other than my dad?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Is he?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's the only one in all Tatika.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: My dad is a is a he's not an Indians fan.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's just, I guess, an anti-Cubs fan.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's not here today.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: He he's been coming, but he was I couldn't believe it.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, don't you want to see history?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I don't like the Cubs.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I think you're the only one in America that doesn't like the Cubs.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, I have a feeling, you know, in 2014 when the Royals won, I think, 10-2 or whatever in game six, and then they went on to lose game seven.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I hope not for the Cubs, but I had that kind of feeling they've got some momentum, but Clubber's coming up.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's Clubber's the bum gardener for the Cubs.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: I hope, you know, hopefully they'll they'll pull it out this week uh or tonight.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: For Hank's sake.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: That would be good.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: For Hank's sanity, we need the Cubs to win.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: We decided to go with uh with uh good news first.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: K-State won this last week, right?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: At least that's what it said on the internet.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh okay, defeated Iowa State.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there we go.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's Willie getting them all pumped up there before the game.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the the Chiefs beat the Colts, even though the Chiefs had some.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh what?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: They outshine.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I tried to figure out the defeats and then became outshine.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I use the thesaurus.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: The keynote has a thesaurus, so you know.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so the Chiefs had some injuries to overcome, but uh they were able to win.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, quarterback controversy.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: People think that Alex Smith shouldn't ever be to play again because Foles did okay.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just always the yeah.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um I put Oklahoma Ekes out a win against uh KU.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I couldn't, I'm a KU fan, so I couldn't put the score down there.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was like 56 to 6.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they eat the Oklahoma was fans were worried for a little bit, actually.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I went to a funeral on Friday and actually played the Oklahoma fight song.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's how serious they take that uh football in Oklahoma fans.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: So um it was my brother-in-law's dad's funeral, and he was a huge Oklahoma fan, and they actually played the Oklahoma fight song at the funeral.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: First time I ever heard that.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought, man, there has to be some silver lining for KU because I mean it's just not good for football.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: They won their games.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: There is silver lining.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the silver lining is that the preseason basketball polls came out this year uh this last week, and they're picked to win the the big 12 by five games.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's good news for KU, hopefully.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So uh as a KU fan, that's what I look forward to, basketball.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So Les Stein Loggy wanted to send um his words, his encouragement on this morning.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: He couldn't be here today.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um he did get the opportunity to go to the KU Washburn game, and so he took full advantage of that opportunity, but he's very sad that he couldn't make it here this morning.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: But you're right, KU basketball starting is the silver lining for the football team.
• 7:50
  unknown: Absolutely.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: It kind of takes the focus off of them for a little bit.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right, it takes the focus off of it for sure.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, back to our study of the apostles.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um we talked about that they were a diverse group.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've talked about three different this is our fourth apostle we've talked about, and this is uh the part two, Andrew the Connector.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I thought it was interesting as I read through uh the couple different um ideas about uh Andrew, but I asked the question here, you know, which one are you a connector?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh are you do you relate more with Peter, uh James the warrior, John the lover, or Andrew the connector?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And who in here thinks that they would consider themselves a connector more than a leader, warrior, or lover?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a couple of us?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty interesting.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you have a lot of time to read, Jim said that we should read the tipping point last week.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I wrote it down, I was gonna check it out, I haven't checked it out yet.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: It actually is a really good book.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of great um case studies in there, it's about 150 pages, so not too long, but it's really interesting.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, very good.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Derek's read it, so if you have questions, ask him.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: We'll Google it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um Andrew, you know, he starts off, and this is something that I didn't really think about all that much, and uh at least the way that uh Getz had wrote it until I read uh about Andrew here in this book, but it's it seems like he kind of started out on the front line, you know.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, he came and and God, his brother said, Hey, we found the Messiah, we found, you know, when he with Jesus.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he Jesus was actually living in his house, staying in his house.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kind of a thing that was like kind of hit me.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know why, but it was like, man, I think of Jesus and think of miracles and think of his great teaching, but I think about like his everyday, like, oh yeah, he had to have a place to sleep every single night and that kind of thing.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why, but that's just one of those things that kind of hit me.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, man, he stayed in Andrew's house, you know, and that's man, think of the stories that Andrew could have told that no one else could have that would have told about Jesus because you know, and you have a house guest, you learn things about people that you don't know otherwise.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's really true.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have any good stories about that?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Put me on the spot.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'll think about it and come back to it.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: We'll come back to it.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll come back to the all right, very good.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, Andrew is Simon Peter's brother, and um, you know, he's a Jesus follower.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: He says, Follow me.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: He told them I will make you uh Jesus told I will make you fish or fish for people, and they follow Jesus.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and then so this is what is kind of an interesting thing that I hadn't really thought through like this is that it seems like Andrew is uh second in line if you're really keeping score.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's in in Getz's writing, it seems like he thinks they were quite a bit.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you would have a list of people uh genial, you know, in a list of people, they would list the important people first, and he was always in Matthew and Luke, he was listed as second.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was Peter and his brother Andrew.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh getz makes the point that he seems like he was kind of on that cusp of like maybe second in the in command, and then all of a sudden when it comes time for Jesus to kind of start hanging out with the inner three, Peter, James, and John, it seems like Andrew kind of gets demoted or is kind of left out a different way.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, um that this is an interesting thought for me, you know, that I didn't really uh think that through all that much, but this is from the book.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it says it took time for Jesus' inner circle to emerge, and when uh you've been uh second in line as Andrew was, it's difficult to suddenly find that you've been moved into fourth in line, especially when now you're on the outside of the inner circle, and make no mistake about it, Andrew knew James and John well.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: They were business partners, they knew firsthand how uh how self-serving and opportunistic they were.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so here's the question that gets asked how well do you think you would handle a demotion, especially if you were replaced by men who are ego egotistical, opportunistic, and anything but spiritual?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's a very, very to me that was a tough question.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um a couple times in in my life, I uh I think it's kind of interesting.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking this through, uh it's kind of being demoted, you know, in a job or that kind of thing is really, really looked um down upon.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I don't know very many businesses, if I was thinking this through, maybe you guys maybe all you guys have uh stories and kind of uh prove me wrong, but uh I think that I could tell you stories about in my life when I have been passed over for a promotion, maybe, or you know, thought that I should have a little bit different angle and and another person got a different part of a job.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: But has it I mean, but to be actually demoted, to be like, okay, you're gonna be, you know, you're gonna be next in line, and then all of a sudden, no, okay, you're not now, and you're gonna be taken out of a higher position, put lower.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that that's not really even done very much in our in our culture, because I think that most people, if they were a manager somewhere and they said, Hey, you're not gonna be managed anymore, you were just gonna put you back down where you were at before, I think maybe I'm wrong, but I think most people would just quit.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, is that does that make sense to anybody?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh, you know, when I when I was reading through this and thinking about Andrew, hey man, his brother Peter is the leader, right?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And Peter, James, and John were always hanging out there, always fishing together.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's like, wow, I'm fourth in line here, but uh it seems like to me that he handles it well.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, um his faith continues to grow and uh is pointed out that when Jesus fed the the 5,000 plus women and children, you know, it's Philip.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus asked Philip, where are we gonna get this food?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like, you know, and Philip's kind of looking at Jesus like, uh, where are we gonna get this food?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, you know, tell me where we're gonna get this food.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: It could take more than eight months of income, you know, just to feed these people.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And Andrew said, Well, here's here's a boy who has some loaves and fishes, maybe you can do something with that.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't seem like he says, Hey, Jesus, here's some loaves of fishes, multiply it and feed everyone, but he has that little bit of faith that says, Yeah, you're the Messiah, you know, help us out, help us understand.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, it seems like that he definitely is uh a connector, like Getz says.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's kind of decides that okay, if I'm fourth in line, I'm gonna make the most of it and becomes a servant leader.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever had a time where it was tough to, you know, you felt like you should be promoted and you were demoted, or you know, that kind of thing?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think just the main one that sticks out to me is what I shared with you guys last week with football.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that was an actual demotion.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: That was an actual demo.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, here's what you're going to be doing, and this is basically running zero plays where before you would have been, you know, starting some games and the rotation and doing that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said, I think one of the one of the first thoughts that went through my mind was alright, I'm gonna quit and figure out somewhere else where I'm not gonna be in this position anymore.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's really, really difficult not to quit in a situation like that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, every every situation is different.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: It completely depends on your personality, the situation.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe leaving a situation like that, maybe for some other reasons, is not necessarily a wrong thing to do.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I also think there's a lot of value and I think a lot of lessons that can be learned when you do stick it out in a situation like that, and you kind of swallow up a little bit of that pride and and keep pushing forward.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of joked with Derek because most of my working life has been working in churches in different ministries, and so when it says, you know, if you've ever been, you know, worked with somebody that's egotistical or opportunistic or anything but spiritual, I kind of jokingly said, Well, I I've always worked in churches, so I've never met anyone that's egotistical, opportunistic, or not spiritual.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um But I, you know, for me that was the kind of this was reading this was kind of a gut check to me because uh it's easy, you know, as as working in ministry to say, oh, you know, we really, really need to be uh working really, really hard, we really, really need to be uh advancing the kingdom of God, we need to be bringing forth the gospel of Christ, which is all true, and is and that's the reason that uh people that I'm in in ministry and most people you know, people get into ministry, but there's still that, I mean, to me, there's still that temptation of are we really striving to work towards you know the right reasons for doing the job instead of you know, and it I've I've seen it and I've I've had the temptation to think this way too is at times um not to be opportunistic or not to be egos uh egotistical, to be a servant leader, as Get says in this uh, you know, just because if you're working in a secular job or in a ministry job, I think that's still the temptations are, you know, possibly there to uh be opportunistic or be upset if someone that you feel like i isn't doing things for the right reason is promoted or that kind of thing.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I I've seen it in in secular jobs as well as as ministry jobs.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's really I think that's a really good set segue um into the final section of our book, which starts on 77.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um Getz is talking about serving faithfully, and the question that he poses is how does a demotion and responsibility affect your motivation to be a diligent employee?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we've been talking about how Andrew, you know, he kind of he was he was one of the top guys at the beginning.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: He was one of the first guys.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um he introduced Peter to Jesus, who ended up being the top guy.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: And think about it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you guys have ever had a situation like that where you you recruit somebody to be on your team, you bring them alongside you, and then quickly, in the eyes of the boss man, in this case would have been Jesus, this guy moves ahead of you in rank.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a guy that you brought on the team, a guy that that you were um inviting.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so for Andrew, I imagine, wow, that's probably a tough situation.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: You did the work, you went out, you said, Hey Peter, you should come with us, come come follow this guy.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then Peter gets to be part of the inner circle, whereas Andrew doesn't.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Andrew doesn't even get into to get to be in the top three and to um to be there at the transfiguration and to be there as one of the guys who are supposed to be staying awake, um, which would have been a pretty prize position in a way, just because Jesus asked them to have that special role.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: And he was kind of on the outside after bringing Peter along with him.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: And he he was even the first guy to say, hey, Jesus is the Messiah.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the one.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: He's the one who one of the first people to recognize Jesus' identity.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so kind of he has this advanced knowledge, he has this ability to connect, he has this ability to bring people on the team, which actually turns out to be his gift.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's something that that Andrew is really good at.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: And you a lot of times in scripture, when we see Andrew, we see him bringing somebody to Jesus.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: And he he wasn't the upfront guy, and from everything that we can read in scripture, him being the behind the scenes, the connector was actually something that he it seems like he didn't throw a fit about.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: At least from what we can read in scripture, he didn't get angry about it, he didn't um get resentful about it, but he embraced it.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: He really embraced his role.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um one of the things that's interesting is on page 78, and I hadn't noticed this before in this very second paragraph, it says, Later, while Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives with the splendid temple still visible, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when these things will happen, and what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's in Mark 13.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: The interesting part is there is that we see Peter, James, John, and Andrew.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so it seems like for maybe special groupings or special projects or different tasks, that Andrew actually did get to be um a part of that core circle, but not all the time.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: Not for every single thing.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if that would have made it more difficult or less difficult for him, knowing that Peter, James, John, they got to be in the inner circle, and then Andrew's kind of just brought in to the circle.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: It seems like maybe occasionally, but definitely not all the time.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is something that I kind of picked up that I guess it doesn't necessarily say, but I think with him, with Andrew being a connector, um one way that we can apply this is that there's actually a great reward in helping to build a great team.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you're not The upfront guy, even if you don't have the highest position, you don't have the greatest title.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Andrew does a lot of work in bringing people to the team.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: He brought Peter to the team, who ended up being the rock.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, You know, I'm gonna build my church on you.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: And Andrew was the one who brought him into the fold.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's as Jason and I were having a conversation about, you know, which which one of these guys are we more like?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Which how how does our leadership style match up or not match up with some of these guys?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, it's I don't know that I'm any one of these guys exclusively.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's definitely a combination of a couple because for me, I have I like to be the top guy.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: I like to be the person um who has you know a prominent position, and I think a lot of that is just from growing up doing sports, and that's the thing that you shoot for.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: You shoot for that starting position.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: But one thing that's where I'm more like Andrew is that I like having that top position, but I don't necessarily like being the person who's up front um the the face of the organization or being the face of the program or whatever it is.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: I really enjoy being behind the scenes.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: I enjoy bringing other leaders in, I enjoy um helping them achieve something that they really want to accomplish.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so in that way, I think I'm more of a connector person because I love helping other people see their gifts, use their gifts in a way that one, they're developing, but they're also developing others, and I think that's what Andrew is doing.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, and I think that that I mean we all kind of realize this.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Not, I mean, most people don't want to follow a leader that thinks they know everything or it comes across that way.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we talk about Jesus being the ultimate servant leader, even washing his disciples' feet, you know, Andrew is a servant of the ones who serve.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I was listening to a podcast just the other day about servant leadership, and even in the business world, people realize this that when you serve, it gives you a tactical advantage.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: And this lady who is the CEO of Popeyes, not the workout gym, but the the chicken, the fried, you know, the chicken place, the uh she there they were in a mess.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: I guess they'd gone through several CEOs over several different years, and they'd asked her to be the CEO, and she came in there and she did an assessment and she realized that there's different ways they could go.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, who are we going to focus on?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna focus on the stockholders?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna focus on the customers?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, are we gonna focus on the franchisees, the people that own the franchise restaurants?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: And she said that she'd found that most people said, hey, we need to focus either on one of two of those groups, either the stockholders, so we get people happy and we're making money, or we need to focus on the customers because the customer is always right.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, Well, what about the franchise franchisees, the people that put their money out, the people that actually have things most to lose, you know?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so she said they started serving them, and what she found out was that uh common theme was that people would say, Well, you say you want to hear what we want, but you keep coming in and just doing PowerPoint presentations and tell us things.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you listen?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and she realized that man, we really have missed the boat.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: If we're not serving the ones that are serving others, then we're really, really missing uh the point.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of just what I see with Andrew there.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: He served others who were serving others and made a huge impact uh on the world, you know, through that.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: So we have there's there's three principles that gets um throws in at the end.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um the first principle is that Jesus Christ needs multiplied millions of men like Andrew, true servant leaders who will build his church.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually want to amend that a little bit.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I would say Jesus Christ desires these millions of men or wants these millions of men.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because he doesn't need anybody, he doesn't need any millions of anything.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: He is completely self-sustaining, he can do absolutely whatever he wants.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't need us, but he desires to use each of us in his plan to further the kingdom.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I always think that's something that's really cool about God, really interesting about God is that he doesn't need us to do anything.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm not here, his plan's still going on.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: If we're not here, his plan is still going on.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: But he desires to use us and wants to use us and calls us into this grand plan that he has of this salvation, that's only through him, which is really neat.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: In principle too, some of the strongest, most effective leaders in Christian ministry are men who are not up front and operating behind the scenes.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I I when Derek was saying that when he played sports, he always desired to be the person up front and the quarterback or that kind of thing.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I have a lot of well, I grew up in a time where everyone gets trophies.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, but I have a lot of trophies in my parents' attic.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: But one trophy that I actually was proud to get was in our basketball league.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have, and I should I should bring it down because this is really the only trophy that I remember being proud to get was that I had the most assists in the league.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: And most people probably thought that was a funny trophy to get, but I was really excited about it, and all my coaches were mad at me because I've never I would try not to scribe all was passed to the ball, but um you know there's something valuable of assisting others and helping people figure it out and helping behind the scenes.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I think one really good example of that um was actually this past week.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: So as you guys know, Tom is always one of the guys.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we don't most of the time we don't see him cooking the food.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: If we do, it's just kind of the tail end of what he's finishing up because he gets hurt early, and um Keith helps out a lot, and Ed helps out and and some other guys.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: But he's always back there doing that for us, and I I love that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: And Tom is obviously not out in front of everybody necessarily, but he's a guy who's in the back.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think another guy who worked behind the scenes this week, you you guys all know that Sam's now back from vacation, which is something that's really cool.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: And something that I learned is that Sam loves bacon.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: Sam really loves bacon, it's like one of his favorite things.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so this whole semester, Sam has been bringing it to Tom's attention that we need bacon.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so, if you guys remember, the week that Sam was actually gone on vacation was the first week that we had bacon.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: And somehow word got out to Sam.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: So Sam did some behind the scenes work this week, which is why we have bacon again this week.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know if he was trying to be spiritual or looking forward to the chapter, or if it was just selfish.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: But either way, his work during the week provided all of us with bacon this morning.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we appreciate that.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the third principle, when we introduce others to Christ, we become strong, successful leaders.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: We will share in their rewards.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's something that I guess as a as a parent and also being a ministry uh over the years I've I've kind of come to appreciate and see.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I've I've had the privilege of being a children's and youth pastor for you know almost 15 years now.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: And there are there's there are people from my ministries that have been in our youth group, and some of them, honestly, I wouldn't have even guessed that this would have been happening in their lives at at the time when they were in junior high, high school, and elementary school.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one one couple, one one l young lady that was in our youth group and all the way through, you know, her and her husband started a church in Japan.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really cool to see on Facebook this thriving church in a culture that uh doesn't, you know, um that that wasn't is not Christian based at all and and churches are not growing and thriving there.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh several different things.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing is with with children, you know, as I've had had children, uh I understand this a little bit better too, because I would much rather them be successful than I would, you know, whether it be playing instrument and being sports, that kind of thing.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: But well, when we introduce others to Christ, when they become successful, strong leaders, when they partake in other ministries, I mean you have the the chance to cheer them on and share in that.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a really awesome thing to do.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that you've had people that invest in your life too that are cheering you on as well.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, for sure.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, our memory verse, let's say this together.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: Philippians 2, 3 through 4.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: We read that verse.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a really hard verse to do.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: When we think about that in our everyday lives and our marriages and our jobs and other things like that.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's tough to do, but it's really important to do.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: We've got some good discussion questions on uh page 83 and 84.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And take some time to pray for each other, see what's going on in each other's lives.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's a powerful thing when you know someone's praying for you and got your back.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: So um, should we pray?
• 31:42
  unknown: Sure.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for being a God that cares about us and and loves us and gives us all these great examples in scripture of of men that you that were following you, Father, and uh have different personalities and how you've you used all of them and allowed all of them to contribute effectively to your kingdom.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Father, I pray that we would uh strive to be servants, uh doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, Father.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that in our marriages and our our jobs and everything that we do that we would uh desire and ask you what you want us to do and be bold bold enough to walk in the way that you want us to be.