Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / July 31, 2016 | The Congdon Family - A 40-Year Legacy

Transcript

July 31, 2016 | The Congdon Family - A 40-Year Legacy · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:02
SPEAKER_03: Well, good morning.
0:04
SPEAKER_03: We figured uh that since you miss out on the wisest, the best, or at least certainly the oldest congen this morning, that we would just overwhelm you with numbers instead.
0:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, it's like a fireworks day and where you buy one, you get three congens free.
0:17
SPEAKER_03: So uh really we're here this morning because uh we're we're truly gonna celebrate a legacy.
0:25
SPEAKER_03: Forty years is pretty incredible.
0:28
SPEAKER_03: I mean, consider what life was like 40 years ago.
0:31
SPEAKER_03: Granted, I wasn't around, but according to the all-knowing Google, these things were true in 1976.
0:38
SPEAKER_03: The average income was$16,000.
0:41
SPEAKER_03: The cost of a gallon of gas was 59 cents?
0:46
unknown: Gosh.
0:47
SPEAKER_03: Dad wouldn't know though, because he was riding a horse and buggy back then.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: Uh Steve Jobs and Steve Rozniak were just starting the Apple computer company, and at the same time, a young Pastor Jim came to TBC looking like this.
1:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, how about that?
1:04
SPEAKER_03: And incredibly, after 40 years, Pastor Jim is still here, though he looks a little bit older according to this recent photo.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: It's a great pick.
1:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you've been here for all of my dad's 40 years, you are old.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just kidding.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh you will have sat in the pew and listened to about 1,800 sermons from him, which is an incredible amount.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: You will remember five or six, you will have napped through eight or nine hundred, but you will have also seen approximately one billion PowerPoint slides and heard six hundred horrible jokes, just like super cheesy, cringe-worthy jokes that he has told.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, and he has earned obviously the right today to sit in that front row and take a week off and listen to his kids prattle on, but um he has uh he's earned it.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: He's deserved it.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Mom, so have you.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: Okay, great job.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: I know that for my mom and dad, this weekend will be one of great reflection of a time that they can sit back, and they're pretty busy people.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you know them, they kind of run around a lot.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: I sometimes I didn't I honestly don't know where in the world they are at any given time.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: My wife informs me of their trips more than I even know about where they are.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: Um and they probably don't get the time to reflect a lot.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: So hopefully this weekend, this this like today especially will be a time for them to like sit back and think about 40 years of faces, 40 years of names, of memories uh that will float before them, that they will recount.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: And uh and to be honest, when whenever you look back at that amount of time, or even if I just look back at the last five or ten years, uh what you remember is you remember the highlights and the lowlights.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: You remember the really good times, you remember the really tough times.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: And uh I know that for my mom and dad, they'll look back this weekend and they'll remember some of the awesome baptisms that they've had, or some of the awesome conversion stories that they've been a part of, or some of their trips to Israel, or maybe they'll remember you, maybe they'll remember your family and um the joy that they've had getting to know you.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: And I know that they'll also sit there and they'll also remember some of the really tough times.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: They'll remember some of the really tough funerals that they've had to do, and they'll remember some of the really tough divorces that they've had to sit there and be a part of and go through an experience with people, and and they'll remember some of the staff, and they'll remember some of the things that have been said about them.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: They'll remember the hard times too, and all of that emotion will be wrapped into this weekend experience.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and what we're gonna do today is we could sit up here and and tell stories and uh and make fun of how old they are and really relish that.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh that's more for tonight, anyway.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: That's more for for if you come tonight, you'll get to hear some of that.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: What we're gonna do today is we're gonna use this celebration as an excuse for all of us to take that moment, that break, and step back and look at our own lives and ask ourselves some of the big questions that, frankly, we just don't take the time to ask ourselves.
4:30
SPEAKER_02: If you're like me, uh, man, I don't I don't give myself generally a moment of reflection or introspection during the day.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: When I wake up and my kids wake me up in the morning, from the time that my head hits the pillow and I'm exhausted at night, there is not a moment in there where I sit and think about the bigger picture normally.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: So, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna ask some of the big questions.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Some of those questions that nag at you that everybody who's ever existed on earth has taken the time at some point in their lives to ask.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Questions like, what am I doing here?
5:01
SPEAKER_02: Is my life worth it?
5:02
SPEAKER_02: Is my work worth doing?
5:04
SPEAKER_02: Am I making a difference or am I just floating through existence?
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Did God put me on earth for a specific purpose?
5:12
SPEAKER_02: And if so, am I doing it or am I missing it?
5:16
SPEAKER_02: And frankly, it's good to be asking those questions at a happy, celebrative, you know, funny, poke fun at each other experience because most of the time those thoughts come up in really harrowing moments, don't they?
5:28
SPEAKER_02: When you're leaking out into the intersection and somebody runs the red light at 35 miles an hour and you think, man, if if I was just a little bit farther out there, I wouldn't be here anymore.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: You sp you're shaking, driving the wheel, and you're thinking the rest of the day about what would have happened.
5:43
SPEAKER_02: Or if you wake up from a very vivid dream or nightmare right before you hit the ground and you think, okay, like what if that had really happened to me?
5:50
SPEAKER_02: Or frankly, any time you're at a funeral.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: If you're like me, anytime I'm at a funeral, I stop to ask myself the big questions.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: If this was me, if this is my funeral, what would it be like?
6:04
SPEAKER_02: The convicting thing for me is not how little I think about those big questions, but how my the questions that I ask myself tend to be very selfish in nature.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: And if you're okay, so I'm gonna be honest, and when I'm honest with you, I need you, if you agree or if you've experienced the same struggles, I need you to be, okay, yes, I totally do that.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: Yes, okay, and I need some head nods, okay?
6:29
SPEAKER_02: I need to feel okay.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh but to be honest, okay, the first thought, or maybe if it's not the first, it's a thought that I've had at every funeral I've ever been at, is I've looked around the room and I've thought, okay, are there gonna be more people or less people at my funeral than this?
6:48
SPEAKER_02: All right?
6:49
SPEAKER_02: When I die, am I gonna pack the house?
6:51
SPEAKER_02: Are people gonna be taking days off work and traveling across the country to come and sit and honor me, or is it gonna be crickets?
6:57
SPEAKER_02: You know, as what's it gonna be like?
6:59
SPEAKER_02: And the second question generally I think about when I'm at a funeral or when I'm thinking about my own death legacy existence is okay, how long are people going to remember me and talk about me for after I'm gone?
7:12
SPEAKER_02: Is it gonna be 20 years?
7:14
SPEAKER_02: Is it gonna be five years?
7:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, please, can it be at least one year?
7:19
SPEAKER_02: Like outside of my immediate family, am I gonna have an impact on enough people that they'll still remember who I am?
7:26
SPEAKER_02: So let me sum up those two questions.
7:28
SPEAKER_02: One, how many people are gonna show up to honor me when I die, and how long are they gonna remember me?
7:33
SPEAKER_02: I mean, those questions of legacy are all about me.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: They're all about my name, they're all about my glory and my fame.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: And as Christians, we should understand that those are natural questions that everybody in the world will ask.
7:49
SPEAKER_02: That those are the questions that arise from our own desire of pride, you know, and self-service.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and as Christians, we need to make the next step and ask ourselves: okay, uh, if that's what the world thinks, how am I supposed to live as a Christian in light of eternity?
8:06
SPEAKER_02: Because the truth is that we all know this, we are just mere breaths on this earth.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: Everybody in that pew next to you is a breath.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: Look at them, breathe in their face, and say, that's how long you're gonna live for.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh we are all gonna pass, and I mean the next generation that you so desperately want to remember you and talk about you, they are also a breath, and they will also pass.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: And the crazy thing to think about is our desire, our burning desire to leave a mark on the world to have people remember us, and even the people that we desperately want to remember us are gonna be gone.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: So the question is not how do I leave a mark for myself and my own purposes, but in light of the fact that we are Christians that believe in eternity, how do we live in light of eternity?
9:02
SPEAKER_02: How do we leave a legacy that is a truly eternal Christian legacy?
9:07
SPEAKER_02: And that's the question that we're gonna ask ourselves today.
9:10
SPEAKER_03: And as we ask this question, how do we leave a Christian legacy?
9:13
SPEAKER_03: You'll notice that our keys, our thoughts, they just they don't really make sense in a worldly atmosphere.
9:21
SPEAKER_03: Right?
9:21
SPEAKER_03: You don't you don't look up a book on how to leave your mark on the world written by a non-Christian author and see these types of suggestions because they're sort of counterintuitive to the world.
9:33
SPEAKER_03: So the question is, and how do we leave a Christian legacy?
9:37
SPEAKER_03: And as we've reflected on scripture, as we've thought about, frankly, as we've thought about our dad's legacy that he's leaving here at TBC, we see three keys to leaving a Christian legacy.
9:48
SPEAKER_03: Three keys to leaving a Christian legacy.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: Key number one is this that the first key to leaving a Christian legacy is that you must be committed to scripture.
9:59
SPEAKER_03: The first key is that you must be committed to scripture.
10:04
SPEAKER_03: And what a counterintuitive idea this is, because instead of it, you know, being about me, it's about something else.
10:10
SPEAKER_03: It's about God's word and his dictates on my life and how I ought to live.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: That we must be committed to scripture.
10:20
SPEAKER_03: See this in the Old Testament, one of my favorite characters, one of the few great spiritual leaders of the nation of Israel.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: It's a story of the young King Josiah.
10:32
SPEAKER_03: Now, before Josiah took over, the nation of Israel had fallen, it had turned away from the Lord, it had split into two parts, and the northern side had already been taken into captivity.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: And here you are in the southern kingdom of Judah, and young King Josiah takes the crown at age eight.
10:50
SPEAKER_03: You kind of wonder when you take the crown that early, how would you ever be remembered other than for the fact that you took the crown so early?
10:57
SPEAKER_03: But Josiah would actually leave a spiritual, a Christian legacy.
11:03
SPEAKER_03: How is it?
11:04
SPEAKER_03: How is it that he would leave this legacy of the king who led the people of Israel into a revival, into a renewed relationship with God?
11:11
SPEAKER_03: And as we look at his story, we see that Josiah was committed to Scripture.
11:17
SPEAKER_03: As he became king of Israel, it was a bad time.
11:20
SPEAKER_03: The temple, the temple in Jerusalem, the place where they were meant to have this right relationship with God, was in ruins, was in disrepair, and they didn't even have the word of God, the law of God.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: And Josiah, as he took over, noticed in some way that this temple was supposed to be important, and so he he starts these renovations of the place, and as they're renovating the temple, they they find within it a copy of God's law, and they bring it to him, and they read it before him.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: And when he heard God's word, he was deeply moved by scripture, and then it was important how he responded.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: He responded like this in 2 Kings 23.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: It says, Then the king, King Josiah, sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
12:08
SPEAKER_03: And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the peoples, both small and great.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
12:28
SPEAKER_03: And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.
12:47
SPEAKER_03: And all the people joined in the covenant.
12:52
SPEAKER_03: Josiah started a revival and he left a legacy on the people of Israel strictly because of, and primarily because of his commitment to Scripture.
13:04
SPEAKER_03: That he committed to knowing it, to obeying it, and then to telling those around him all about it.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: And I have always seen this same commitment to Scripture in my dad.
13:18
SPEAKER_03: That for many people, the first thing they'll think about when they think about my dad is his preaching, is the way that he faithfully preaches the word, his commitment to scripture.
13:30
SPEAKER_03: And some who have been here a while may wish that he was a little less committed to scripture because 160 messages over six years on the book of Romans alone became a little tedious, didn't it?
13:42
SPEAKER_03: But he has shown a clear commitment to scripture here in church.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: And frankly, this is a rare thing, even in churches today.
13:53
SPEAKER_03: Paul writing to a young pastor Timothy kind of foresaw what would happen to this world.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: In 2 Timothy 4, Paul speaking to young Pastor Timothy says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
14:18
SPEAKER_03: Be ready in season and out of season.
14:22
SPEAKER_03: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
14:28
SPEAKER_03: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.
14:33
SPEAKER_03: But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: And they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
14:47
SPEAKER_03: Here is Paul speaking to this young pastor, Timothy, and he sort of knows: look, you'll be tempted at times, and people will ask you at times just to say what they want to hear.
14:57
SPEAKER_03: But preach the word in season and out of season.
15:01
SPEAKER_03: Always be ready to preach the word.
15:05
SPEAKER_03: And is there anything that my dad will be known better for than how he preaches the word?
15:10
SPEAKER_03: In a day in a day and age where people long for and yearn just to hear what they want to hear, to be told that they're just okay, that they're all right, that everything's gonna be fine, that they're really not that bad, that sometimes it is tough to stand firm and to speak the truth of Scripture.
15:29
SPEAKER_03: And yet, those who attend TBC have consistently heard the Word of God preached for 40 years because of my dad's commitment to Scripture.
15:41
SPEAKER_03: My dad's commitment to Scripture goes past, frankly, this stage, and those of us growing up in his home got to experience this.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: And that is that his commitment to scripture wasn't simply here in preaching, but we experienced his commitment in the home as well.
15:55
SPEAKER_03: Reminds me of Deuteronomy 6, where it talks about how the law should be written on your hearts, and then you should teach them diligently to your children.
16:02
SPEAKER_03: Speak of them when you are in the home.
16:04
SPEAKER_03: And frankly, that's what we kids experienced.
16:08
SPEAKER_03: I can remember seeing my dad do his own devotions, but then I also remember well our own family devotions.
16:14
SPEAKER_03: I won't blow any stories that we're gonna tell tonight if you want to hear more about those and about us acting out as animals and stuff.
16:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, you gotta come tonight to hear that.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: But I remember family devotions.
16:25
SPEAKER_03: I remember sitting around the dinner table and you had to go around and everybody had to say a verse before you got to eat.
16:30
SPEAKER_03: Which looking back on that seems pretty harsh.
16:33
SPEAKER_03: But like a concentration camp or something.
16:37
SPEAKER_03: But it wasn't, really.
16:38
SPEAKER_03: We were reciting memory verses around the kitchen table or Bible quizzing and trivia.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: And frankly, even now, as I work on my own sermons every week, that the times when I get stuck or frustrated or deal with a difficult passage, like James 2 three weeks ago, the first thing I do when I'm stuck is I call my dad.
16:59
SPEAKER_03: Because I don't know anybody who knows Scripture is more committed to Scripture than my dad.
17:06
SPEAKER_03: And I know that that will be part of his legacy, is his commitment to scripture, which makes sense because the first key in any of us leaving a Christian legacy behind is that we must be committed to Scripture.
17:20
SPEAKER_03: Doesn't matter if you're not on stage preaching sermons every week, you too must be committed to Scripture if you're going to leave behind a Christian legacy.
17:29
SPEAKER_03: And so I ask you, what about you?
17:33
SPEAKER_03: Are you committed to Scripture?
17:35
SPEAKER_03: Is the Word a regular part of your everyday life?
17:39
SPEAKER_03: Do you make your decisions based on wisdom gleaned from the Word?
17:44
SPEAKER_03: When people come to you and ask for advice, right, do you immediately go to your own stores of wisdom or does the word leap to your mind because you spend so much time in Scripture?
17:56
SPEAKER_03: Are you sharing the Word with those around you?
17:59
SPEAKER_03: Encouraging others with God's words and not your own?
18:03
SPEAKER_03: Are you leading your family in the Word?
18:06
SPEAKER_03: Is it a part of your home?
18:08
SPEAKER_03: Because if you desire to leave behind a Christian legacy, then the first key to doing so is this: that you must be committed to Scripture.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: One of the passages that we probably recited the most around our concentration as dinner table was uh was Psalm 1.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh Psalm 1 is a really short Psalm, one of my dad's favorites.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh it talks about how we are to love Scripture.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: It says, Blessed is the man whose love is in the law, who loves the law of the Lord, and who meditates on it day and night.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: So who loves Scripture and who meditates on Scripture day and night.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: And it goes on to compare that man to a tree who is planted by rivers of water.
18:52
SPEAKER_02: And that tree, because it's planted there, because it has its source in life from Scripture, from the Word of God, that tree bears fruit consistently every season.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: Its leaf doesn't wither, I mean, it doesn't die, it doesn't falter because its source is God Himself.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: And uh that is what I picture when I picture my dad is that because he's connected, because he's committed to Scripture, that he always is steady, he's consistent, he brings forth fruit when it's time to bring forth fruit.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: He has something for you on Sunday morning, every Sunday morning.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it's not that good, but he tries.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: No, he ha he is consistent, he's ready, he's steady, and it's because he's connected to this.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: And so we were thinking of the word that best embodies that, and we think it's integrity.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: If you're going to be a person who leaves a Christian legacy, you have to be a man or woman of integrity.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: And integrity is is kind of a loose word sometimes.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: We don't know how to define it exactly.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: So for the purposes of this morning, let's talk about the fact that integrity means you are the same person no matter where you are or who you are around.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh the word integrity comes from Latin for integer, meaning whole or intact, and the picture of a person who has integrity is that they're not divided, they don't change based on where they are.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: So um I think this is one of the most important things for my dad because of the position that he's in, because he is a pastor.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: And some of you know that um pastors' kids have a stereotype.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: All right.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: We got we kind of get a bad rap most of the time, because um, I don't know if it would be a majority, but there are some crazy pastors' kids out there, all right?
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so, and so most of the time, like at Wheaton, when we would introduce ourselves and say we were pastor's kid, or if you're a missionary kid, by the way, same things apply, but more think more homeschool uh stereotypes.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: And you say, Hey, I'm a pastor's kid, and they'd be like, Oh, okay.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, you're surprisingly normal for a pastor's kid.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: In this la in the last job interview at the job that I currently have, the boss that I currently have asked me when I told him, Hey, my little brother, yeah, my little brother's in the ministry, and my brother plays worship here and works at a Christian school.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: My sister's married to a professor of theology, and he was like, huh.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: So he sat back, because he's a pastor and he has three boys, and they're on he might be watching this.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: Never mind.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh and he said, Wow, that's really impressive.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: How do you think you guys turned out to be so normal?
21:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, you're all in the faith, you're all in ministry.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: How'd you turn out to be so normal?
21:35
SPEAKER_02: And I and uh that was not the first time I'd ask I'd been asked that question, so I had an answer ready.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: Um definitely mom.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's probably a big part of it.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: The more I thought about that answer, the more I thought it was his, it's his integrity.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: It's the fact that um, man, maybe for most pastors' kids, they have to sit in the front row every morning and they listen to their dad prattle on and teach people about how to uh live their lives and what righteousness looks like and what God wants from you, and then they have to get in the car with them afterwards and go home.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: And they have to listen to that dad yell at them or disrepat about their mother, or, you know, basically be duplicitous, be a different person at home that they are at the pulpit.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: And we never had that issue.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: We never, I never thought that church was a hypocritical place or full of hypocrites because I was able to live with my father, who was the same at church as he was at home, as he was on the golf course, as he was when I visited him at work, as he is when he's alone.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: That is the same person everywhere he goes, he has integrity.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's because he's connected to the Word of God.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: I struggle with integrity because, man, when I'm in different places, I want to be a different person to meet the needs of the people that I'm around in that moment.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: When I'm hanging out with the cool kids, I want to appear cool, I want to have cool conversations, I want to know about stocks, and I want to know about golf, and I want to know about the latest sports stories, and if I don't know, then I'll pretend because I so desperately want them to like me.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: I think that's a motivating factor for all of us to be people that do not have integrity, is that we so desperately want other people to like us that we will change based on what circumstance we're in.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: And the truth that fights that lie is that our identity is not in how much people like us or don't like us or what they say about us, but our identity is what Christ says about us, what the Word of God says about us.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: And so if we're connected to the truth that's in the scripture, the truth that we get from God, then we are freed up to be ourselves.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: As goofy or weird as we are, we are freed up to be ourselves.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: And dad is that way.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: The same goofy person that you see on stage every week.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: He is the same goofiness everywhere.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: And that's a good thing and it's a bad thing, all right?
24:13
SPEAKER_02: You you you take what you can get.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: But this the thing is that he is such an identity and security in his relationship with God, who God says he is, that he's a beloved child, and frankly, that he knows his purpose and his calling.
24:27
SPEAKER_02: He feels so sure of his purpose and calling that he doesn't have to change based on who he's around.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: And if people don't like him, eh, that's alright.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: They're not worth it anyway.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: And I that's what I struggle with.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: And I'm guessing if you're anything like me, you struggle with the same thing.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: Being secure enough in yourself and in what God says about you to be the same person no matter where you are.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: Now, we especially live in a day and age where if you don't have integrity, you're found out really quick.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh we live in an age of social media and of instant revelations and of, I mean, if you just think about the news cycle, like how many times is a news cycle dominated by a politician or a pastor or a coach who has found out to be living a double life?
25:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you cannot stay at one place for 40 years and be a duplicitous person, I mean you can't stay at a place for like 10 years and not practice what you preach.
25:24
SPEAKER_02: And that's the same is true for you.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: If you want to leave a legacy, if you want to leave a Christian legacy, you cannot preach one thing and practice another because you will be found out.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: And the thing that happens when we find out about these pastors who preach one thing and then live a different way is that everything that they've spoken, everything that they've said gets discounted, right?
25:44
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing faster than the world absolutely loving to jump on the mistakes of Christian leaders when they mess up.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: They love pouncing on that.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: They say, the church is full of hypocrites, there is no truth here.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: And the danger is that if you live a life that has no integrity, you will be found out.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: And when you're found out, will that discount everything that you've been working for?
26:06
SPEAKER_02: So the challenge is to be a person of integrity.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: And just a couple questions right now for you to ask yourself about whether or not you are a person of integrity.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay, ready?
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Here's some just like heart check questions.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: First of all, when life gets tough, when things get hard, do you stick around or do you leave and try to find something better?
26:26
SPEAKER_02: Is this the like eighth church in Topeka that you've tried out?
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully not.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: It should be the first.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Come on now.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: But when things get tough, do you leave or do you stick it out?
26:36
SPEAKER_02: Second question, does your self-esteem rise or fall based on the the latest thing that somebody has said about you?
26:42
SPEAKER_02: Is your feelings of yourself completely dependent upon what other people say about you?
26:46
SPEAKER_02: Third thing, are there things in your life that you're hiding from other people, even from the people that you love?
26:53
SPEAKER_02: Would you be comfortable turning over your phone, your computer, giving every password away that you have, exposing your entire life and saying, this is me, you know about me already though?
27:03
SPEAKER_02: Or do you feel like you're hiding something?
27:07
SPEAKER_02: And when's the last time you compromised to get ahead?
27:10
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time you compromise what you believe or what you think is right in a situation to get ahead or to make people like you or to make your life easier?
27:19
SPEAKER_02: Those are some just like heart-check questions on whether or not you have integrity this morning.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: And if one of those stuck out to you, maybe red flag that.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: But think about whether or not you are a man or woman of integrity, because that is the second key to leaving a Christian legacy.
27:38
SPEAKER_03: Yet it can't simply be about being committed to scripture and being a man or woman of integrity to leave a Christian legacy.
27:47
SPEAKER_03: Because to leave a legacy, you you gotta be active, you gotta actually do something.
27:54
SPEAKER_03: This leads to the third and final key that to leave a Christian legacy, you must be faithful to God's call on your life to make disciples.
28:05
SPEAKER_03: You must be faithful on God's call to your life to make disciples.
28:12
SPEAKER_03: What does it mean?
28:13
SPEAKER_03: I think about when Paul says in Ephesians 4, 1, he urges believers, look, live and walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: They say, What is that calling?
28:26
SPEAKER_03: And how can he speak of a calling to all believers?
28:29
SPEAKER_03: What is that calling on every one of our lives?
28:32
SPEAKER_03: And that takes me straight to the Great Commission.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: In Matthew 28, as Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
28:52
SPEAKER_03: That every one of us as believers has the same call, and that we are all called to be faithful to this command to make disciples.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: And as I look at my dad, I can see that he has been faithful to this call.
29:11
SPEAKER_03: He's been faithful to his call to make disciples in several different aspects of his life.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: First, he's been faithful in this call personally, that in his personal relationships and friendships, that he has been faithful on this call to make disciples.
29:26
SPEAKER_03: The first week I was at Grace, I had uh I had one of my members come up to me and say, hey, just wanted you to know it was actually your dad who led me to salvation 30 years ago in that Burger King just down the road from TBC.
29:42
SPEAKER_03: It's just amazing to hear stories like that.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: And I know that he is committed to preaching the word and to evangelism.
29:52
SPEAKER_03: That personally he has led so many to Christ in the city.
29:56
SPEAKER_03: In addition, he's mentored so many that he has these friendships, relationships with these young men that he's been mentoring for years and years.
30:05
SPEAKER_03: As Doug asked him earlier this week, hey, what's what are some of the things that you're most proud of after your 40 years?
30:11
SPEAKER_03: That one of the things he mentioned was, you know, proud of the guys who I've mentored and the influence that they're having in their lives.
30:20
SPEAKER_03: That he's been faithful to that call to make disciples personally, he's also made disciples internationally.
30:25
SPEAKER_03: If you know my dad, you know his love for missions.
30:29
SPEAKER_03: That whether that's been him going and teaching at pastors' conferences around the world, or if it's if it's just going and lending a helping hand in countries where he doesn't even speak the language, on mission trips in the Dominican Republic or in Haiti, that he loves to go and serve on the mission field, or if it's part of the boards that he's a part of, Jews for Jesus and Bibles for the World that have this worldwide impact, because he is he's so concerned about making disciples throughout the world internationally.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: Or think about this program that as TBC came to him and said, We want to do something for you, what should we do?
31:08
SPEAKER_03: And he said, Hey, let's let's create a fund to bring young people over, to train them up in the word, and to send them back out.
31:19
SPEAKER_03: Because he is passionate about making disciples around the world.
31:26
SPEAKER_03: But of course, his faithfulness to his call to make disciples has been most apparent right here in this city, in this building, on this stage, in his commitment for 40 years to lead this church in making disciples.
31:44
SPEAKER_03: That through the good times and hard times, he has faithfully led this body of believers to pursue their mission of leading people to life in Christ.
31:54
SPEAKER_03: In a day and age where churches are lucky just to have pastor stay for a couple years, right?
32:00
SPEAKER_03: My dad's faithfulness to this body stands apart.
32:05
SPEAKER_03: And this is the legacy that we celebrate today.
32:10
SPEAKER_03: But this call for us to make disciples isn't just for pastors and churches, it is a call to every single person who has put their faith and trust in Christ.
32:21
SPEAKER_03: That you too are called to make disciples.
32:26
SPEAKER_03: So what are you doing to answer God's great call on your life?
32:31
SPEAKER_03: That if you're going to leave a Christian legacy, it can't just be commitment to scripture or being a person of integrity, right?
32:39
SPEAKER_03: You have to actually do something.
32:40
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing to obey this call to make disciples?
32:44
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing personally in your relationships with people?
32:49
SPEAKER_03: Either at work or in your family or simply friends, right?
32:53
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing to help them become disciples of Jesus?
32:59
SPEAKER_03: Will you leave a legacy of impacting your friends and family members, always drawing those around you closer to Christ?
33:07
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing?
33:08
SPEAKER_03: How are you involved in making disciples around the world internationally?
33:13
SPEAKER_03: I know that if you give money to this church, then you are helping, right, the missionaries who go out from here and impact the world.
33:22
SPEAKER_03: But what more can you do to make disciples around the world?
33:25
SPEAKER_03: We live in such an incredible day and age where there are organizations all over the place that you can donate to to help orphans and widows, right, who live in foreign countries.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: It's easy to simply sign up for someone else to do all the work to lead you in a trip to go out and serve and spread the gospel around the world.
33:46
SPEAKER_03: What can you do to be more involved in making disciples internationally?
33:51
SPEAKER_03: And then finally, what are you doing as a part of TBC to help make disciples here and now?
33:57
SPEAKER_03: Sure, you're not a pastor and you're not going to lead this congregation as my dad has.
34:02
SPEAKER_03: You're not going to be up here speaking from the stage very often.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: But will you be faithful to help make disciples here in this church?
34:11
SPEAKER_03: Can you volunteer and give your time to help teach kids and make disciples of young ones?
34:16
SPEAKER_03: Right?
34:17
SPEAKER_03: Or to lead a small group, or simply just to invite people to come here and hear the word that is preached from this stage each week?
34:27
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing in your life to make disciples?
34:32
SPEAKER_03: In 10 or 20 or 30 years, will people look at you and say, you are creating a lasting Christian legacy because of your commitment to Scripture?
34:42
SPEAKER_03: Because you are a person of integrity and because of your obedience on God's call to make disciples.
34:51
SPEAKER_03: And it won't be easy, right?
34:52
SPEAKER_03: These aren't things that just happen to you.
34:55
SPEAKER_03: These are things that you have to pursue and continue to pursue day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
35:06
SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's what makes it so rare.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: But you have the chance, a unique chance, to leave a Christian legacy.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: If you will be committed to scripture, if you will cultivate an integrity that people can look at and say, wow, you are the same person here as you are every other time I see you.
35:26
SPEAKER_03: And if you will obey God's call on your life to make disciples.
35:34
SPEAKER_03: But it's rare and so rare that when we see this kind of legacy, we ought to recognize that it's a great accomplishment, and we're not the only ones to recognize it.
35:43
SPEAKER_03: So at this time, I'd like to invite a friend, a man with many TBC connections, a fellow Jayhawker, a fellow golfer, and a representative from Dallas Elogical Seminary to the stage.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: Please welcome with me Paul Pettit.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Craig.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Doug.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: These guys are really good preachers, right?
36:11
SPEAKER_00: They both they both were trained at Dallas Theological Seminary.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: But I think they also got pretty good genes, too, right?
36:26
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege, what an honor to just share with you just for a minute.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: I know all of you are ready to go to your Sunday school class, or you're ready to go serve.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: So as Elizabeth Taylor said to her seventh husband, I won't be keeping you long.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: I would like to invite Jim and Melody to come up here and join us on stage, right up here.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Jim and Melody, come on up.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: What respect do you guys show to your pastor and the first lady?
37:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible says, give honor to whom honor is due.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's right and it's good that we're here today.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: I almost want to take this opportunity to announce Jim's run for mayor.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, now it's like uh we have some also we have some photos of Jim when he was even younger than when he first started here.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: We have some secret photos of Jim when he was at Dallas Theological Seminary.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: Do we have that?
37:58
SPEAKER_00: There's uh Jim as an entering student at Dallas Seminary, young, naive, a skull full of mush.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: But later on, he met a cute blonde girl on stage at a Presbyterian church playing the flute.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: And his heart went all aflutter.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: And she really cleaned him up, she really helped him.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Let's see, do we have another picture of Jim?
38:24
SPEAKER_00: I think Melody helped pick out the plaid jacket.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: That really upped his game.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, I had to go to Dallas Seminary also because uh unlike you guys, you guys get the Route 66.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: I've heard about that.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: I was here for eight years, and all I ever got the whole eight years was the book of Romans.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: So now for the serious part.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: Dallas Seminary seeks to honor graduates who have distinguished themselves through consistent Christian character, commitment to Scripture, and faithful service to the body of Christ.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: This recognition is given in order to first glorify God for his faithfulness, second, to honor specially qualified alumni, and third to provide a witness to other Dallas Theological Seminary students, alumni, and the body of Christ of God's blessing in your life.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, we also have a longtime TBCer here, Greta Bertel.
39:24
SPEAKER_00: She's also traveled up here from Dallas, Texas to help present these awards.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: She's got some gifts and some honors to pass out.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Greta, for traveling up here.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: She's the office manager of the Alumni and Placement Office.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: You can say that this award is the Pro Bowl of Pastors.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: This is the commendation of personal references, an evaluation by the Alumni Committee for Distinguished Service Awards, and so in honor of your dedication to the ministry here at Topeka Bible Church for 40 years, for your unquestionable loyalty to the Word of God, for Jim's precision in understanding and applying the Scriptures, for Melody's faithful service alongside Jim.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: It is our privilege on behalf of Dallas Seminary and the Alumni Office to present the 2016 Alumni Distinguished Service Award to Jim Congden, we also have a letter here from our president, Dr.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Mark Bailey, a letter of commendation that's suitable for hanging on your wall in your office.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: I won't read that right now.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And we also heard that Jim is a struggling golfer.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: So we have for Jim the Dallas Seminary Golf Bag.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: So he can this seminary golf.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: This golf bag has been blessed.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: It's been prayed over.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: Guaranteed to improve his game.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: We also asked around and found out that Melody loves wildflowers and gardening and planting.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: So we have a$100 gift certificate from Blackburn Nursery for Melody.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: And we have for all the Dallas Seminary staff here, we have some coffee mugs, some pens, we have some other gifts for these folks.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: So make sure you come tonight at 6 30 p.m.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: You'll see more fun like this.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And we also have one more picture, I believe.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: Do we have that picture of another Dallas Seminary staff person?
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if we can find that, Don.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: There he is.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: Who's that?
42:12
SPEAKER_00: Is that Hank Nelson?
42:16
SPEAKER_00: I think that's Hank Nelson.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: So on behalf of Dallas Seminary, thank you, Jim and Melody, for 40 years here at Speak a Bible Church.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: I know.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: I thought I'm all doing the same thing.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: I thought I'm not just like an atomic.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: It's a nice skull effect.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: Should have should have bought him lessons, though.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Should have bought him lessons.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: I know that your your applause means a lot to him.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: Your uh congratulations, your hugs, your love means a lot to mom and dad because of who you are and the relationship that you have with them.
42:53
SPEAKER_02: But I also know that what uh what makes it special is that my dad cares far more about the applause uh that awaits him in heaven one day because of his work, and he so much looks forward to hearing uh well done, thou good and faithful servant, one day.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: Um the key to that, to living this legacy is uh is that focus on eternity and what will matter for the long run.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna end with the C.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: S.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: Lewis quote because if you're not quoting C.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: S.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: Lewis, you're just not doing it right.
43:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh Lewis says this he says, if you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for this present world were just those who thought most of the next.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.
43:41
SPEAKER_02: Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: Aim at earth and you will get neither.
43:49
SPEAKER_02: I encourage you today to take some time to think about the kind of legacy that you are leaving, and to take the first step to leaving a different kind of legacy, a Christian legacy.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: That might be might mean you might need to sit down and read the Bible some today.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: Might mean you need to make that a habit.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: It might mean you need to stop faking it, start being the same person everywhere you are.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: And maybe it means that you need to start mentoring somebody or joining discipleship or doing missions.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: Whatever it means, there's no better time to start than today writing a different kind of legacy.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: Will you pray with me?
44:29
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray that this truth, this time of reflection, would be one, God, that would change us.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: That uh your spirit would be moving inside of us and speaking truth to us where we can, in our own lives, start to make a difference for eternity.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: Start to leave a legacy that we can be proud of.
44:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, not one that is centered on ourselves and our own name and fame, but one that glorifies you and brings glory to your name and your kingdom.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray that Topeko Bible Church would continue to be known for its commitment to Scripture.
45:00
SPEAKER_02: God, for its commitment to being a light in this city.
45:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh, Father, I thank you for the example that my dad has set before me and my siblings, and also this church and its congregants, God.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: I thank you for the blessing that it has been to watch him, to watch him work, to watch him follow you, and to uh watch him make disciples, God.
45:23
SPEAKER_02: We are so grateful that we have this time together.
45:26
SPEAKER_02: We're so grateful for your word that teaches us every week.
45:30
SPEAKER_02: And we thank you for everything you've given us, God.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: You are just truly too good to us.
45:35
SPEAKER_02: We pray this in Jesus' name.
45:37
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, God.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: See tonight.