Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 19, 2018 | Game Changing Moves - Discovery Sunday

Transcript

August 19, 2018 | Game Changing Moves - Discovery Sunday · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_03: Yes, we're in the ninth of ten weeks in game changing moves, and we're finally getting the clapping down.
0:09
SPEAKER_03: One more week, and I'm looking forward to Chad Park's wrestling coach, Shawnee Heights, whose brainstorm sort of uh you know came out with this book, Game Changing Moves, from which I stole uh the title of our summer series, and I'm looking forward to getting him back here next week to uh close this off.
0:30
SPEAKER_03: Great to see you this morning.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: So much fun for me to wear the same shirt I used to wear when I was roughing basketball games back in another life and making people hate me.
0:42
SPEAKER_03: And uh no.
0:45
SPEAKER_03: So anyway, it's it's really great.
0:48
SPEAKER_03: So uh uh I'm looking forward to talking to you.
0:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh our theme this morning is on Discovery Sunday is uh what is our theme?
0:56
SPEAKER_03: Can you move that ahead?
0:58
SPEAKER_03: One uh there it is.
1:00
SPEAKER_03: Game changing hands.
1:02
SPEAKER_03: This is number nine of ten.
1:05
SPEAKER_03: And uh every year, twice a year, last week in April, last week and in October, just for a few days, I drive down to northwest Arkansas to a little town called Siloam Springs.
1:19
SPEAKER_03: And there I sit with a couple of dozen, 28, 29, uh other people, most of them businessmen, most of them CEOs or doctors, lawyers, or whatever, uh, who are on the board uh with me of John Brown University.
1:35
SPEAKER_03: This is a university that was started 99 years ago by a guy named John Brown.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: And his philosophy, as he looked at Christian schools, Christian colleges, University of America, was that there wasn't enough of an emphasis on the practical.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: And so as a result, this this school, and I love this part of it, it really emphasizes business.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: It's one of the top business schools in the nation, has real connections, one of the board members, uh, Vice President Walmart, and so forth.
2:14
SPEAKER_03: It's one of the five fastest growing economic regions in the entire country, this rural northwest Arkansas area.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: And the school's really involved in that and involved in hospitals and involved in all of these other very practical things, and I really love that emphasis.
2:28
SPEAKER_03: And it struck me that there are really these game-changing moves divide into these same three categories that John Brown said was the academic motto of, or was the motto of John Brown University.
2:42
SPEAKER_03: And that motto goes head, heart, hands.
2:46
SPEAKER_03: And we still recite that all the time in board meeting.
2:50
SPEAKER_03: Uh does this represent true academic philosophy?
2:53
SPEAKER_03: Does it represent a true spiritual philosophy?
2:56
SPEAKER_03: And yet is it also extremely practical?
2:59
SPEAKER_03: And when I think about the game-changing moves that God wants us to do in our lives and in the lives of other people, I realize they fall into these same three categories.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: I think it was on week four, might have been week six, or whatever of this series, we talked about a guy named Solomon, and we asked, what was the game-changing move in his life?
3:19
SPEAKER_03: And we realized that it was a game-changing move that happened in his mind when he decided as a young new king that his goal would not be to become rich, to become wealthy, or become powerful.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: But in a prayer in 1 Kings 3, he basically said, as we just sang, riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise, thou my inheritance now and always.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: And he prayed for wisdom.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: God, give me your wisdom, I want to be a great leader.
3:50
SPEAKER_03: And this is really, really an important game changer in our lives when we begin to think brand new, life-changing thoughts.
3:59
SPEAKER_03: I read a lot of books every year.
4:02
SPEAKER_03: I've read up to 50, I'm now down, I'm sorry, I'm in the 30s or whatever, but I read books, but I realize it's not the books that change my life, it's single sentences in those books.
4:13
SPEAKER_03: Single ideas that are life-changing, radically game-changing ideas in my life.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: And when I turn to the Bible, I find out the Bible says that it all happens in your mind.
4:25
SPEAKER_03: The first rule of the spiritual life, says Paul in Romans 6, is reckon yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
4:34
SPEAKER_03: It's something you think, right?
4:37
SPEAKER_03: Goes on in your head.
4:38
SPEAKER_03: And then later Paul says that your spiritual life can be described as a renewal of the what?
4:45
SPEAKER_03: Of the mind by the Holy Spirit.
4:47
SPEAKER_03: And then he says to the Corinthians, take every thought captive.
4:51
SPEAKER_03: And he says to the Philippians, things that are good and wise and positive, think on these things.
4:59
SPEAKER_03: So listen, you ought to ask yourself, how's my mind?
5:03
SPEAKER_03: Do I have the mind of Christ?
5:05
SPEAKER_03: Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, thou my best thought by day and by night.
5:11
SPEAKER_03: So we need to think game-changing thoughts.
5:13
SPEAKER_03: Secondly, uh second category we've talked about is game-changing choices for when the heart is mentioned in the Bible.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: The heart always refers to the decision maker in us.
5:25
SPEAKER_03: It's not the mushy part of us, it's not the romantic part of us.
5:28
SPEAKER_03: The heart takes your feelings, takes your thoughts, puts them together, makes decisions.
5:34
SPEAKER_03: We've talked about this in at least four of these GCM messages.
5:39
SPEAKER_03: We've talked about the fact that the Philippian jailer asked Paul, what must I do to be saved?
5:45
SPEAKER_03: And he had a heart change.
5:47
SPEAKER_03: With his heart he believed, and God saved him, made him righteous.
5:51
SPEAKER_03: Same with Lydia, the businesswoman in Acts 16.
5:54
SPEAKER_03: Same with Moses.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: We said, When was the game-changing move in Moses' life?
6:00
SPEAKER_03: The Bible tells us it was when he made a decision of the heart to no longer be known far and wide as Egyptian royalty, the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
6:11
SPEAKER_03: He made a decision to be known as a Hebrew and a worshiper of Yahweh God.
6:18
SPEAKER_03: A game changer for him.
6:19
SPEAKER_03: It was a decision in his heart.
6:21
SPEAKER_03: What was the game changer for young Ruth?
6:23
SPEAKER_03: Ruth made this heart's decision to leave behind her people, her land, the Moabite gods, and go with her mother-in-law Naomi.
6:32
SPEAKER_03: And she said, I will never leave you.
6:34
SPEAKER_03: Your land will be my land, your people, my people, your God, my God.
6:38
SPEAKER_03: So, decision of the heart.
6:41
SPEAKER_03: And you need to ask yourself, do I have the heart that I need to have?
6:46
SPEAKER_03: Have I had a game-changing move in my heart where I have put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for example.
6:53
SPEAKER_03: But this morning I want to move to this third one.
6:55
SPEAKER_03: I want to move to what sort of sets John Brown University apart and what can change your life, and that's actually doing something.
7:04
SPEAKER_03: I call it hands doing game-changing service.
7:08
SPEAKER_03: And the story I want to tell you briefly before I call some people up, and I'm going to let you out early, is the story of one of the great guys in the Bible, lived 450 years before Christ.
7:20
SPEAKER_03: His name is Nehemiah.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: All right, one of the shortest guys in the Bible, Nehimiah.
7:26
SPEAKER_03: Just a joke.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: He wasn't short.
7:28
SPEAKER_03: In fact, we know he was a cool stud.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: But anyway, I want to tell you about the game-changing service of Nehemiah.
7:35
SPEAKER_03: Chapter 1 in Nehemiah tells us, the first verse, this is the Christian Standard Bible.
7:40
SPEAKER_03: The words of Nehemiah, son of Hakaliah, he gets this news from Jerusalem.
7:44
SPEAKER_03: He hears the need.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: During the month of Kizlev in the 20th year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa, Susa is in Iran today.
7:52
SPEAKER_03: It's a thousand miles east of Jerusalem.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: He's part of the captivity.
8:00
SPEAKER_03: And he is, he's living in Susa.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: And Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, and I questioned them about Jerusalem.
8:09
SPEAKER_03: That's his hometown.
8:10
SPEAKER_03: And the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: They said to me, the remnant are in great trouble and disgrace.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: Jerusalem's wall has been broken down, its gates have been burned.
8:21
SPEAKER_03: That wouldn't be a big deal today.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: But in that day, if a city didn't have walls, it wasn't a city.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: That was the line that was used.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: A city without walls is not a city.
8:32
SPEAKER_03: It's sort of like this naked Jerusalem considered this beautiful woman, but is now she's naked in the desert.
8:40
SPEAKER_03: She's helpless.
8:40
SPEAKER_03: The jackals, the hyenas, anybody else can come in on her.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: And so Nehemiah hears this need, and his response is that he sits down and he weeps and he mourns for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven, or the God of the heavens.
8:55
SPEAKER_03: That's his response.
8:56
SPEAKER_03: And then he prays to God.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: And he has this wonderful prayer in the first chapter of Nehemiah, and he says, among other things, Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God, who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands.
9:10
SPEAKER_03: Let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant.
9:13
SPEAKER_03: Give your servant success today and grant him compassion in the presence of this man.
9:19
SPEAKER_03: What man is he talking about?
9:21
SPEAKER_03: We find out in the next sentence.
9:24
SPEAKER_03: He says, At that time I was cupbearer to the king.
9:30
SPEAKER_03: Another translation, I was butler to the king.
9:34
SPEAKER_03: What king was this?
9:35
SPEAKER_03: During the month of Nisan in the 20th year, King Artaxerxes, and we go, whoa.
9:41
SPEAKER_03: He was the butler to the mightiest person in the world at that time.
9:48
SPEAKER_03: King's name was Artaxerxes, very famous Persian king.
9:52
SPEAKER_03: He lived longer than any other king, 40 years, partly because of Nehemiah, the butler.
9:57
SPEAKER_03: One of his main jobs was to always, when he took the wine to the king, he chose the wine, took it, pour a little bit in his left hand, drink it to prove it wasn't poison.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: Most kings in that day, especially Persian kings, died very quickly because either their food or their wine was poison.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: So one of his jobs was to make sure that didn't happen, and it didn't happen so long that Art Xerxes lived for 40 years and died a peaceful death.
10:24
SPEAKER_03: By the way, his his nickname was Longemanus, which meant long-handed.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: He was known for having the biggest hands.
10:31
SPEAKER_03: And Persia had these really long fingers.
10:34
SPEAKER_03: Just kind of funny.
10:35
SPEAKER_03: That's extra.
10:36
SPEAKER_03: There's no spiritual lesson there that I know of.
10:39
SPEAKER_03: But Nehemiah takes the wine and he gives it to the king.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: And the king notices, by the way, that he's down in the face, that he's really depressed.
10:47
SPEAKER_03: He's been crying for, as you know.
10:49
SPEAKER_03: And the king goes, What's up?
10:51
SPEAKER_03: And Nehemiah says, Well, you'd be depressed too if your hometown's walls were all busted down.
10:57
SPEAKER_03: And the king goes, Wow, what would you like to do?
11:00
SPEAKER_03: So I prayed, he shoots up this flare prayer to the God of heaven, and I answered the king this way: If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.
11:17
SPEAKER_03: And you go, okay, that's pretty noble.
11:20
SPEAKER_03: Listen, you have no idea.
11:23
SPEAKER_03: Until you understand that first line there, at that time I was cupbearer to the how many of you have seen Downton Abbey?
11:32
SPEAKER_03: Did anybody like Downton Abbey?
11:33
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember what the name of the butler was in that?
11:36
SPEAKER_03: Carson.
11:37
SPEAKER_03: Oh, come on, you haven't forgotten already.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: One of the great characters.
11:40
SPEAKER_03: Charles Carson.
11:41
SPEAKER_03: So he was a butler to uh Lord and Lady Grantham.
11:46
SPEAKER_03: And if you haven't seen this yet, you know, shame on you.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: Shame on you.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, read the Bible, but then go watch Downton Abbey.
11:53
SPEAKER_03: So um, Carson, as you know, was far more than just someone who served wine to Lord and Lady Grantham.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: And a cupbearer slash butler was far more than just someone who served wine.
12:07
SPEAKER_03: In that day, we're told by archaeologists and historians, uh, he had to be an expert in etiquette.
12:14
SPEAKER_03: Of course, Carson was.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: He was a real stickler for what you wore, you know, and how you did the silverware and how you walked and how you bowed and so forth.
12:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, Nehemiah was a stickler that way.
12:23
SPEAKER_03: Number two, he had to be what we would call today a sommelier.
12:27
SPEAKER_03: He had to be an expert in wine.
12:29
SPEAKER_03: Number three, he had to be, we know this from the Joseph story as well, he had to be handsome, good looking, because he was like a front man for the king, who was the most powerful man in the world at that time.
12:41
SPEAKER_03: Number four, uh, these people, these butlers, were always friendly, warm, and fun because they were the closest companion to the king, spent lots of time with him, so they had to be convivial, they had to be affable.
12:54
SPEAKER_03: Uh, number five, he had to be trustworthy, of course, because the king knew his life depended on his honesty.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: And so he was the king's friend, he was the king's confidant, and not least of all, in a day when most people lived in poverty, he was well uh paid.
13:13
SPEAKER_03: So he was financially set.
13:15
SPEAKER_03: So all of a sudden now, you you need to understand what a shock it is that this guy whose life is absolutely set would say, Would you let me go so that I can rebuild the wall a thousand miles away in the desert from my hometown?
13:34
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm going, would I would I do this if I had like the greatest job in the world?
13:40
SPEAKER_03: I remember 30 some years ago when I was here, I was young here, and and um we had this couple in the church, and and maybe probably the most significant businessman in the church at that day, his name was Shimer.
13:51
SPEAKER_03: They had a Shimer Speed and Seed Stores around town.
13:53
SPEAKER_03: And and I still remember I invited this missionary statesman to come, a guy from Africa named Bud Accord, and he shared stories about Africa.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: And Jim and Shirley were deeply moved by that, went home and prayed, and then met with me a few times.
14:05
SPEAKER_03: And they said, Wow, we've heard the need, we've seen the need, we don't feel that we can stay here any longer.
14:13
SPEAKER_03: We need to sell the business and move.
14:14
SPEAKER_03: And they did that.
14:15
SPEAKER_03: And see, what was shocking to everyone, I mean, you know, if somebody who didn't have a job and so forth said, I'm gonna be a missionary, that'd be one thing.
14:22
SPEAKER_03: But to find someone who's well known in our town and who was successful financially who would give all that up, that's a Nehemiah thing, isn't it?
14:33
SPEAKER_03: And it's kind of shocking that someone would do that to go serve strangers.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: So that's why I say, this is this is a game-changing move with his hands of service to go, wow, I'm gonna change my whole life.
14:49
SPEAKER_03: So that's what Nehemiah does.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: And Nehemiah gets permission from the king and he takes this 50-day trip, a thousand miles, goes through Babylon, present-day Iraq, all the way down, you know, what, present-day Syria, through the southern part of Turkey today, Lebanon, and down into Jerusalem.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: And there, because he's got a great personality and he's a natural leader, he organizes these depressed, discouraged uh Jewish people, and he actually gets the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt.
15:20
SPEAKER_03: Not only does he get them rebuilt, he gets them rebuilt despite opposition, so they've got to be carrying around swords and shovels at the same time.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: He gets it all done in less than two months.
15:33
SPEAKER_03: Chapter 6, verses 6, 15.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: So the wall was completed in 52 days.
15:40
SPEAKER_03: Our enemies lost their self-confidence because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: Now I am so impressed with that.
15:49
SPEAKER_03: It's a game-changing move for Nehemiah, it's a game-changing move for the Israelites, and it's really not a game-changing move of the head or a game-changing move of the heart.
16:01
SPEAKER_03: It's a game-changing move of his hand.
16:05
SPEAKER_03: And that's why this is such a perfect, perfect story to tell on Discovery Day, because we have a tent out there and we have people who are changing people's lives.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: And I want you to just ask you to do this.
16:18
SPEAKER_03: I want you, I know it's rainy, but you walk through that tent, and I want you to just walk through there, and I want you to say thank you to some of the people behind those tables.
16:27
SPEAKER_03: Say thank you for changing lives by what you do.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: By what you do.
16:32
SPEAKER_03: And then I want you to allow the spirit to talk to you and say, you know, you know, maybe you ought to sign up or ask them more questions, maybe get involved in this activity, whether it's, you know, working with a school across the street or helping in some other need or whatever.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that something?
16:48
SPEAKER_03: So here that's the story of Nehemiah, and the lesson of the story of Nehemiah goes like this.
16:53
SPEAKER_03: I can change the game of my life, not only by what I think in my mind and what I believe in my heart, but what I do with my hands.
17:03
SPEAKER_03: Amen?
17:04
SPEAKER_03: Okay, if you said amen, then read that out loud with me one more time.
17:08
SPEAKER_03: I can change the game of my life.
17:12
SPEAKER_03: Not only by what I think in my mind and what I believe in my heart, but what I do with my hands.
17:21
SPEAKER_03: So oftentimes we think, you know, the Lord can use us if we're good enough or if we're sharp enough, but the fact of the matter is that generally the Lord's just looking for people who'll say yes.
17:31
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
17:32
SPEAKER_03: Although one of the reasons we hesitate to say yes is we think some of these jobs are kind of beneath us.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: Let's be honest.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: We think they're, you know, uh what's the old poem that goes, uh, I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.
17:47
SPEAKER_03: Real service is what I desire.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: I'll sing you a solo anytime, dear Lord, but don't ask me to sing in the choir.
17:55
SPEAKER_03: Or I'll do what you want me to do, dear Lord.
17:57
SPEAKER_03: I like to see things come to pass, but don't ask me to teach boys and girls, dear Lord.
18:02
SPEAKER_03: Just let me stay in my class.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: Or I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, I'll say what you want me to say, but I'm busy just now with my own stuff, dear Lord.
18:12
SPEAKER_03: Uh I'll get involved some other day.
18:16
SPEAKER_03: One of the things uh that I find in myself is as a leader, I like to fix problems.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: I like to fix people.
18:23
SPEAKER_03: I haven't even married to someone who has a whole different attitude.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: She doesn't fix people, she just loves them and serves them.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: And that's what we're talking about today.
18:34
SPEAKER_03: We're talking about serving people even when it seems, well, a little beneath it.
18:40
SPEAKER_03: You know, so we're sort of some of us a little bit like the husband who's up in the morning and he's waiting for his wife to fix the coffee.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: She's not fixing the coffee, she's over there in the corner, she's reading her Bible, and he's going, coffee?
18:51
SPEAKER_03: And she says, How come you never fix it yourself?
18:54
SPEAKER_03: And he says, because it's your job.
18:58
SPEAKER_03: She goes, I don't know.
19:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm reading here in the Bible and it seems to say it's your job.
19:03
SPEAKER_03: He goes, Yeah, right.
19:05
SPEAKER_03: No, she says, turning it around, right here.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: It says Hebrews.
19:11
SPEAKER_03: So, so he goes, Oh, okay.
19:15
SPEAKER_03: Knowing the Bible as little as he did, he he was convinced.
19:18
SPEAKER_03: But, you know, there's a way that we can somehow think that some jobs are beneath us.
19:23
SPEAKER_03: But Nehemiah is evidence, the Shimers are evidence.
19:26
SPEAKER_03: Pat Tilmer, remember the NFL player who right after 9-11 he gave up his$3.5,$3.6 million all-pro career in the NFL to go over and serve in the Army.
19:36
SPEAKER_03: He said, you know, I'm needed over there.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: He saw a need, he decided to fill the need.
19:40
SPEAKER_03: It cost him his life.
19:42
SPEAKER_03: But the Lord's looking for people who realize, yeah, I want to have the mind of Christ.
19:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I need to have the heart for Christ, but I also want to have the hands of Christ.
19:52
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
19:52
SPEAKER_03: So that's where we're going this morning.
19:54
SPEAKER_03: I want to call up a couple of people just to give you an illustration.
19:57
SPEAKER_03: You're going to love these first two people I call up, and then I'll let you out early.
20:00
SPEAKER_03: Josh, come on up.
20:01
SPEAKER_03: April, come on up.
20:04
SPEAKER_03: So we've got this really, really cool opportunity coming up that'll help you with reaching out in a way that I believe every one of you secretly wants to do.
20:16
SPEAKER_03: All right?
20:17
SPEAKER_03: I think we had an announcement on this, maybe a slide earlier, which we're putting up now, discovering the real Jesus training.
20:25
SPEAKER_03: And this is not like your normal evangelistic training, learning how to buttonhole people.
20:32
SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little about it.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: April is April.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: This is Josh.
20:35
SPEAKER_03: April.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I it's just been on my heart for a long time that people are really need Jesus and they just don't know what that means.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: They don't know what they need.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're in a culture that's just permeated with the idea of who Jesus is.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, so people are aware of that and they think they know what that means, but they just don't.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's been on my heart.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really know what to do with that or what that looks like or um where to go with that.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: But um I got the opportunity to go to the Gospel Coalition conference, and I was really praying over that, um, that I would just hear what God had for me.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: And I got the opportunity to hear um specifically about this book, this little booklet.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's called Discovering the Real Jesus.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And the point of this is it's written for unbelievers to just take a look at who Jesus is.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it has seven short little um lessons or groups or whatever.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Um and so it's designed that people just look at the source material, just what does it say?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: And um, so those people in your life that you already have there just um opening a conversation with them and oh, let's look at this together.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a great tool um and a place to start if you don't know what to do or what to say, but you have that in your heart.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the woman who does this, Becky Pippert, I've I've followed her for about 30 years because she is, in fact, Billy Graham hired her as the head of his evangelism for a while because she She's the one who she has a British woman, I think, who has this, who talked about talking to people naturally, out of relationships, out of friendship, and coming up with natural questions after you understand what their passion is.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: And just natural and she's just a genius in this.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: And of course, we're so April, we've got so many books for Christians, Christian Bible studies.
22:23
SPEAKER_03: So, but this is a source material study, you know?
22:26
SPEAKER_03: That's I like that word for it.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: That that that's for people who aren't there yet.
22:32
SPEAKER_03: So uh you didn't go to that conference, right, Josh?
22:35
SPEAKER_03: No.
22:36
SPEAKER_03: But you work for Advisors XL here in town, and you have a really mind-blowing story.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: Would you but it dovetails with us?
22:45
SPEAKER_03: Would you share this with us?
22:47
SPEAKER_02: So I didn't go to the conference.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I have also had this on my heart for a long time, and I I think uh it all stemmed from I came to faith when I was 23.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: I spent, I've told some of you before, I spent the next decade or so just playing Christian.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh only in the last eight or ten years have I really truly tried to see what it looks like to follow Christ.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: And in that process, I'm reading back through a verse that I had read early in my faith in Matthew 25, where it says that the Son of Man will return, and he will return in all his glory, and he will have all the nations before him, and he will separate them, and he will separate them as the sheep from the goats.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: He will put us into two lines.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: Some of you know the verse that I'm talking about, and that has become the most haunting verse in all of scripture to me because I'm a very visual thinker, and I can't help but picture that, and I would encourage you to sit there and picture that for a second.
23:53
SPEAKER_02: With all the nations, millions of people gathered in front of our Savior, what is that gonna look like on that day?
24:02
SPEAKER_02: If you give credibility to Scripture as the God-breathed word, then that's going to happen.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: And when that happens, what's that gonna look like?
24:13
SPEAKER_02: Because I have had that singed into my mind and I can't get rid of it.
24:18
SPEAKER_02: Um what is it gonna look like on that day for somebody that I have lived next door to for 25 years?
24:26
SPEAKER_02: And I every Tuesday morning I've wheeled out the trash can next to them and said, Hey, how's it going?
24:31
SPEAKER_02: And we have discussed nothing of consequence.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: Or what's it gonna look like for the coworker that I shared 17 years next to, and all we did was talk about the sports highlights from the night before, or the project that we were working on, or the friend from college that I've kept in touch with, but all we talk about is stuff of no consequence.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: What's it gonna look like in that moment when they're on the other side and they're looking at me from this other line, and the part that just tears my soul up is what's it gonna look like in that millisecond where we make eye contact, and in the flicker of their eyes, they say to me, Are you kidding?
25:12
SPEAKER_02: They won't even have to say it, their eyes will say it.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna say, Are you kidding?
25:18
SPEAKER_02: We spent that much time together and you knew this was coming for me, and you didn't say a word.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: You knew this was it, and and that has just eaten at me.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm sitting one day uh chewing on that and talking with God a little bit about it, and I say to him, All right, you show me somebody at work today that you feel needs encouraged or led to you, and I will do what I've not done.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: I will refuse to wuss out, and I will walk into it.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: And then I went to work, drove that morning scared to death.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: And so I show up at work a little bit early, I turn the corner, I walk right into somebody that I'd worked with for about two years, and I knew this guy's first name, that was about it.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: So we do what guys do, and I'm like, hey, what's up, dude?
26:07
SPEAKER_02: He's like, hey dude, what's up?
26:09
SPEAKER_02: And then we started to walk right past each other, and I'm like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: And I turned back around, I'm like, hey, what are you doing for lunch?
26:16
SPEAKER_02: And he turned back around and he looked over my shoulder to see who I must have been talking to.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Me?
26:23
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yeah, what are you doing for lunch?
26:24
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I don't know.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: What are you talking about?
26:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, well, I've known you for two years, but I really only know your email address.
26:32
SPEAKER_02: So I don't know anything about your story.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: Like, what are you doing for lunch today that you can't get out of?
26:36
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Nothing.
26:38
SPEAKER_02: I said, All right, then I'm buying you lunch, let's go to lunch.
26:40
SPEAKER_02: So we go to lunch, and guys, it's kind of like you would expect.
26:43
SPEAKER_02: We sit down, it's awkward for a second.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: He's like, What are we doing?
26:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm like, so you know, you see the game, and he's like, Yeah, man, wasn't it a great game?
26:54
SPEAKER_02: And we do the guy thing and we talk about the game for a minute, and then we grunt a little bit or something.
27:01
SPEAKER_02: And then it's like, so what is your deal?
27:04
SPEAKER_02: You know, like are you married?
27:05
SPEAKER_02: What's the deal?
27:06
SPEAKER_02: And he tells me he's married, and they they've they've had their their first kid, and oh, cool, so what are you guys into?
27:12
SPEAKER_02: And eventually it's do you do you have a church home or anything that you guys go to?
27:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, yeah, I'm not really big into it, but and we get talking, and pretty soon we're into his faith story.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: And then you fast forward, and 17 guys later, and about 50 lunches later, I am very clear that we have a men's group for our company, like brewing right here.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: And so I throw together the clunkiest email.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: It's just very raw, just very like you and I are talking.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: And it basically just said, Hey, I've had lunches with all of you that are on this email, and I know where you're all at.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are walking with God, some of you don't know who God is, some of you have walked with him and you're mad at him, and you walked away from him.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: Like I get it.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: And here's what I'm here's what I'm wondering.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm wondering if the 17 of you and me could get together every couple weeks, not in some Bible study, but just 18 dudes walking toward God together.
28:16
SPEAKER_02: And none of us having all the answers, none of us seminary grads, none of us some pastor at this thing, but just all of us just walking toward God together, seeing what we find.
28:26
SPEAKER_02: And I'm wondering if you would be interested in doing that.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: And within 30 minutes, we had 17 guys that said, not only yes, but when does this start?
28:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm in.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: And then what really blew my mind uh was within about 30 days, one of my good friends at work, a female, a sister in Christ, was like, How do I do that for women?
28:48
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Well, I got this email, it's pretty clunky.
28:52
SPEAKER_02: Um so we started talking through it, and within another 30 or 45 days, she had three women's groups going on in our office with another 40, 45 women.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: And to watch God show off like that, uh just because of, hey dude, what are you doing for lunch?
29:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's pretty awesome.
29:11
SPEAKER_03: So natural.
29:13
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
29:14
SPEAKER_03: So what so exactly what I mean, tell me what's gonna go on.
29:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, we had this thing that says Monday or Tuesday, so I didn't have this book, and what are you doing?
29:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so isn't that cool?
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Like people are so hungry, um, and we do have that the answer for them.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: But um so I had that little inner knowing that I was supposed to be involved somehow, and I had no idea Josh was doing that um or anything.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Um so it just really God just snowballed it, and we've kind of through the church leadership and stuff, we've kind of combined the forces.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: So we are hoping to um if you're feeling that nudge, if you're feeling like there are people that I can talk to, um, but I'm just not sure how or where to start.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna offer the same thing.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: It's just an hour long to start with.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: We're kind of in the babies stages of this, but um, we're offering the same thing next Monday and Tuesday, so you don't have to come to both or anything.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Um but we're just gonna kind of talk about what that looks like, maybe how to start conversation, um, how you can take this and impact, you know, two or three people, ten people, you know, whatever God does with it, but just trusting, just taking those first steps and just trusting that He will He will do it and that He will bring that harvest that He says is ready.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
30:25
SPEAKER_03: So it seems like a small commitment with a really big upside.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: I love that.
30:31
SPEAKER_03: So uh and you're gonna be there next Monday or Tuesday or something?
30:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:36
SPEAKER_03: Thank God for that.
30:37
SPEAKER_03: Any other comments before I kick you off here?
30:40
SPEAKER_02: Um check this out.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: We we ran this by the youth about a year ago.
30:44
SPEAKER_02: We get to spend some time with them.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: If this microphone were a magic microphone and it held the cure for cancer, but it only held the cure for cancer for the next seven days, and I handed it to you, what would you do for the next seven days?
31:04
SPEAKER_02: And we ran that exercise by the youth, and they came back with the most brilliant ideas.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: And common to all of them was the idea that they would be feverish, they would not sleep, they would not eat, they would give everything to do everything they could with this microphone for the next seven days.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: They would want to touch every single person that they could.
31:27
SPEAKER_02: And we have something as followers of Christ that is infinitely more powerful, and yet we don't always use it.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: And I'm convinced that it is strictly fear that keeps us from doing that.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, how would somebody react to me?
31:42
SPEAKER_02: What would they say if I said that?
31:43
SPEAKER_02: What would what would happen if I got that nosy in their life?
31:46
SPEAKER_02: What if they backed away from me?
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Every single one of those questions that we ask ourselves, if you hold it up to the light, is selfish.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about somebody else's eternity, and you're you're wondering about what if they quit talking to me at the coffee pot.
32:01
SPEAKER_02: Um so I would just challenge you.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: When you step on the other side of fear, which was never given to us by God in the first place, that is the lie of an enemy that's being handed to you.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: And when you step on the other side of that and you say, God, I'm not responsible for the outcome of this, it is completely yours.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: And all I'm gonna do is take a little baby step of obedience and just see what happens.
32:24
SPEAKER_02: When you do that and you get to watch him show off, you will do it again and again and again and again.
32:31
SPEAKER_03: And you guys, yeah, you're at a table out there in tent?
32:34
SPEAKER_00: Yep, we we have a table, so if you're interested, come by.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're gonna be able to do it.
32:37
SPEAKER_03: Look to me like the sheets you have.
32:39
SPEAKER_03: I saw so many names, people are signing up like crazy.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's awesome.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: And I was praying, I mean, I was honestly hoping for like five people.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's just we've been blown away.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just been awesome.
32:49
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, guys.
32:55
SPEAKER_03: One more, let me uh bring up one more guy.
32:57
SPEAKER_03: Jason get up here.
32:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, this is a tradition.
32:59
SPEAKER_03: This is, I think, three straight years.
33:01
SPEAKER_03: I've gotten Jason up here because he's our, as you know, our children's pastor.
33:05
SPEAKER_03: We're really big on children, and and we have a really big children's pastor, and those two things go together, and we have a big children's ministry.
33:15
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I loved helping, have a sea, helping in uh catapult this summer, where we had like 500 kids or something.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had over 500 children in Camp Catapult this year, Camp Catapult and Camp Catapult in the Wild combined, so that was awesome.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:29
SPEAKER_03: And then you got, you know, like 250 kids in children's Sunday school and Sunday morning, right?
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, anywhere 250, 280 children in Sunday school, and then our I Wana program.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, when it's Wednesday night.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Wednesday night, it usually has over 300 in that.
33:45
SPEAKER_03: And you started this other program, uh, this thing with Lowman Hill met Lowman Hill School across the street.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: We have we the last two years we've done, and we're doing it for the third year, uh, lunch buddies uh with Lowman Hill, which basically is you get a buddy, a uh kindergarten through fifth grader, uh, that you go once a week and have lunch with them.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: It's as easy as it sounds as that.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's not any um steady or any kind of uh you some of them read with the with their lunch buddies, but most of the lunch buddy children don't like to read with the lunch buddies.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: They like to play board games or that kind of thing.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh and it's just a great way to uh get to know a child and have that child that uh is identified.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: The way that we get them is that they're identified by uh either social workers or counselors or teachers as someone that just needs somebody to talk to.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: They don't maybe don't have that at home, or maybe they don't have that at all.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: So uh it's been really cool to see God work through that and uh and help out Loman Hill and see those kids be real excited to have a buddy as well.
34:46
SPEAKER_03: So uh I have you up here, and every year it seems like it's something different.
34:51
SPEAKER_03: It's that that you know, there's uh maybe Sunday school's taken care of, but but maybe catapult need are you so if you picked one of those and you said uh I've got table in the tent, and but here's where I'd like you to sort of take a look.
35:05
SPEAKER_03: I'm feeling a little nervous when I go to bed at night.
35:08
SPEAKER_03: I'm a little nervous about this area.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: What's an area of need for you right now?
35:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you come out to the tents in the children's ministry area, there is needs any in any ministry.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: But right now, the biggest need we have is in our Wednesday night program I wana.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh we have places for anyone to work, whether you want to sit and just listen to memory verses and encourage children to learn God's word, or to run a small group, or just to be a volunteer, do bathroom duty.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's lots of different things, and it really helps out a lot the more that we can get there.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh so the few people that have volunteered already are overwhelmed with 300 children, you know, than the program.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: And it's a lot more effective, of course, when you have more and more people that are are caring for, praying for, and uh helping lead these children.
35:52
SPEAKER_03: You're the best, man.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: Love you.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: What time we got?
35:55
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, I'm gonna kick you out.
35:57
SPEAKER_03: It's uh we're ending about 12 minutes, 13 minutes early.
36:00
SPEAKER_03: Would you stand with me and pray?
36:01
SPEAKER_03: I want to pray for you guys and then listen.
36:03
SPEAKER_03: Would you would you do this for me?
36:04
SPEAKER_03: Would you go ahead and stand up just to get your legs, you know, the blood flowing.
36:10
SPEAKER_03: And uh I want you to find that tent, even if it's raining cats and dogs, and walk through there and say thank you to some of the game changers behind the tables and ask the Lord if there's someplace that, you know, something he'd like you to follow up on.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: All right, will you do that?
36:26
SPEAKER_03: And let me pray for you.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: Lord, thanks for Jason.
36:29
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
36:30
SPEAKER_03: Uh thank you for bringing him to us and for the incredible uh ministry that he has here.
36:35
SPEAKER_03: We love these children.
36:36
SPEAKER_03: We thank you for children coming to Christ.
36:38
SPEAKER_03: We thank you for children getting their lives together.
36:41
SPEAKER_03: We're just so excited about this.
36:44
SPEAKER_03: I pray for these dear folks, uh, for all of us.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: We, Lord, we want to have your mind.
36:48
SPEAKER_03: We want to have the mind of Christ.
36:49
SPEAKER_03: We also want to have your heart, we want to have the hearts of Christ, we want to believe exactly as you want us to believe so that we have eternal life.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: But more than that, we want to move out and have the hands of your son Jesus Christ so that we can we can change the world and and change ourselves at the same time.
37:07
SPEAKER_03: Pray for these dear folks.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: In Jesus' name we pray.
37:10
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
37:11
SPEAKER_03: Okay, thanks for coming.
37:12
SPEAKER_03: You're dismissed.