WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Well, we want to welcome you here today, Father's 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:07.820 Day. Thank you, men, for being here. I said last 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:10.580 week, I challenged you last week to have this 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:13.060 place full because you know what most men want 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:16.339 to do on Father's Day? Not be in church. But 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:18.739 we are glad that we have men in this house that 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:20.960 love Jesus and that love the Lord with all of 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.379 their heart, with all of their soul, mind, and 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:25.739 strength. Can we give the men in this house a 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:31.219 big hand this morning? Praise God. And if you 00:00:31.219 --> 00:00:33.979 would turn in your Bible with me to James chapter 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:37.560 1, we have five men that are going to be preaching 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:40.909 this morning. And so I'm going to ask them to 00:00:40.909 --> 00:00:44.729 come and join Pastor Ben on the platform. If 00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:48.229 you are a part of the preaching this morning, 00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:50.649 come on up. Because I want you to just be able 00:00:50.649 --> 00:00:55.469 to switch right away. And you need to time each 00:00:55.469 --> 00:00:58.350 one of these men. And when they get to five minutes, 00:00:58.429 --> 00:01:00.329 you can go ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. No, 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:03.649 I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You what? 00:01:05.469 --> 00:01:13.129 You're going to do that to me? Okay. But I believe 00:01:13.129 --> 00:01:16.829 that God has called us to be men after God's 00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:21.069 heart. And this message this morning is talking 00:01:21.069 --> 00:01:25.430 about what we believe men of faith to be. And 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:29.890 so I've assigned each one of these men a portion 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:33.810 of that. But this applies to everybody. James 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:36.989 1, verse 17 is kind of our covering scripture. 00:01:37.390 --> 00:01:44.200 And it says this, And every good gift and every 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:49.599 perfect gift is from above. And comes down from 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:54.180 the Father of lights. With whom there is no variation 00:01:54.180 --> 00:02:02.120 or shadow of turning. Hallelujah. And so I just 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:05.500 want you to join me in prayer for a moment. And 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.159 then I'm going to come back up at the end. And 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.939 we're going to pray at the end. We're going to 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:12.539 pray over the men in this house. And we're going 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:16.840 to believe God to touch every one of our men 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:18.759 here. But I just want to pray right now. Father, 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.080 every good and every perfect gift comes from 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:27.340 you. And I thank you, God, for fathers. For some 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:34.240 in this room, this day is a difficult day. Because 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.569 of the fathers. That we have had here on earth. 00:02:38.430 --> 00:02:41.889 God I pray. That today would be a healing day. 00:02:41.969 --> 00:02:45.750 Because of our heavenly father. And we thank 00:02:45.750 --> 00:02:50.530 you God. That you. Are a perfect father. And 00:02:50.530 --> 00:02:54.490 we give you praise right now. Lord. We as men 00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:57.330 in this room. We as fathers and grandfathers 00:02:57.330 --> 00:03:02.770 in this room. We recognize our own failure. But 00:03:02.770 --> 00:03:09.039 we recognize God. We want to be like you. And 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.379 so I ask God that you would take the words that 00:03:11.379 --> 00:03:16.340 these men share this morning. And I ask God that 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:19.419 you would just apply them to our hearts and make 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:23.960 us like Jesus. Hallelujah. We thank you, Father. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:29.560 And everybody said, Amen. Now, men of faith. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:32.319 And so we've taken the word faith, F -A -I -T 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:36.389 -H. And we've given each one of these men a letter, 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:38.270 and they're going to share. I'm going to ask 00:03:38.270 --> 00:03:41.189 Brian Rage to come, and he's going to begin. 00:03:42.310 --> 00:03:44.849 Men of faith, can we welcome Brian as he comes? 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:53.930 Actually, before I start, we're going to take 00:03:53.930 --> 00:04:02.509 a little detour. A detour already. So, when I 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:06.009 knew... I was going to have to be up here. The 00:04:06.009 --> 00:04:08.990 Lord began to speak to me about an open heaven. 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:13.370 An open heaven. And what does Darren's breakfast 00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:18.769 tables about an open heaven. So what I feel like 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:21.050 we need to do is just take a couple minutes. 00:04:21.230 --> 00:04:26.870 A minute. I want us to still our minds. Close 00:04:26.870 --> 00:04:33.180 our eyes. Still our minds. And turn your... Mind 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:41.160 to heaven. Turn your gaze to heaven. See. Yes, 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:49.699 Lord. See him. See him. See him standing in clouds 00:04:49.699 --> 00:04:56.120 of glory with his hands outstretched. See him. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:04.850 He's the lover of your soul. He's your ever -present 00:05:04.850 --> 00:05:16.149 help. See him. We worship you, Lord. We see you 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:21.009 standing in the clouds of glory. And we worship 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:29.449 you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank 00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:35.980 you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.660 I think what the Lord is saying, some of you 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:46.839 are going to actually see things. And you may 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.680 think that's just my imagination, but it's not. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.980 There is an open heaven that is available to 00:05:54.980 --> 00:06:01.540 believers to see their Savior. It's not your 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:06.600 imagination. It's an open heaven. There's an 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:11.240 open heaven over this house in healings and miracles 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:17.680 and deliverances. See him. See him. Thank you, 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:26.180 Father. Thank you, Father. Well, what the Lord 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:32.389 gave me for Father's Day. and F being the first 00:06:32.389 --> 00:06:36.269 word, of course, would be faith. And what the 00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:40.449 Lord spoke to me is, faith is forward -looking. 00:06:41.430 --> 00:06:46.449 What do I mean by that? What do I mean by forward 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:53.149 -looking? And he took me to, of course, the great 00:06:53.149 --> 00:07:01.230 chapter of faith, Hebrews 11, and verse 7. By 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:04.810 faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things 00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:09.189 not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared 00:07:09.189 --> 00:07:14.589 an ark for the saving of his household, by which 00:07:14.589 --> 00:07:17.430 he condemned the world and became heir of the 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:21.970 righteousness which is according to faith. The 00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:28.329 vision that God gave Noah was a salvation for 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:36.560 his family. And we as fathers and mothers, we 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:42.139 make and prepare an ark. Church history, church 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:48.379 fathers would call the church kind of a type 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:52.079 of the ark of the covenant, the ark of Noah's 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.959 ark, that there's a door in the side. There's 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:00.920 one entrance. There's a window in the top. You 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:07.240 look up. It brought his family in for the saving. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:14.420 And as we press into God as men of faith, we 00:08:14.420 --> 00:08:19.160 make a way for God to do works in our families. 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:29.480 Amen. I know I didn't say come in when you want 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:36.100 to. Attend church when you want to, when it's 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:41.679 convenient. It is vitally important. When I got 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:47.360 saved, I knew that I knew that I knew I had to 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.740 be in the house of God. Now, I wasn't there every 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:53.879 time the doors opened, but when I was able, I 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:58.759 was there. It was a priority. And there's fruit 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:02.240 that comes from that priority. One of them is 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:08.600 sitting right back there today. Rachel. Now, 00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:17.159 I've received provision, miracles, direction, 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:22.879 protection, strength, and comfort. Being part 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:27.379 of the body of Christ. And I've got a couple 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:30.840 examples. I told Rachel I was going to talk about 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.059 her today, and she didn't particularly like that. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.440 But when she was in kindergarten, my mother stopped 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:47.779 across the road to pick her up, and she went 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:50.139 running right out of the school building in front 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:55.860 of a car. That was my aunt driving the car. And 00:09:55.860 --> 00:09:59.279 two invisible hands. Grabbed her from behind 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:03.879 and yanked her back. And my mom saw that. It 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:09.019 was like on a rubber band. Back. Rachel, I don't 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:11.539 know if you still can feel those hands. You still 00:10:11.539 --> 00:10:15.580 can feel those hands that pulled her back. Protection. 00:10:15.620 --> 00:10:18.620 I didn't even know I needed protection that day. 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:25.139 But God was there. And then another thing that 00:10:25.139 --> 00:10:30.090 was very important. That is part of my church 00:10:30.090 --> 00:10:35.330 history. Was my granddaughter Kennedy. Now she 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:40.850 just turned 16. And when Holly was pregnant with 00:10:40.850 --> 00:10:45.870 her. Her 20 week checkup. No amniotic fluid. 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:51.190 None. Maybe one. One out of six. I think it was 00:10:51.190 --> 00:10:55.009 one out of six. But very low. Two weeks bed rest. 00:10:55.110 --> 00:10:58.750 Drink all you can drink. Another checkup two 00:10:58.750 --> 00:11:04.990 weeks later, no improvement. That was a Tuesday 00:11:04.990 --> 00:11:08.990 night prayer meeting that I was part of. And 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:12.129 I told everybody, I have attended prayer meetings 00:11:12.129 --> 00:11:17.710 all my Christian life. I need prayer. I need 00:11:17.710 --> 00:11:21.789 prayer. And one by one, people had different 00:11:21.789 --> 00:11:25.009 pieces and parts. Different pieces and parts. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:32.440 I was the last one and put my spiritual authority 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:37.720 against the enemy. You'll not steal my first 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:44.259 grandchild. Holly had a checkup the next day. 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:49.480 Nothing wrong. I don't need to see you. Those 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:53.860 are the kinds of things that we as part of a 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:57.539 body of faith. part of a body of believers that 00:11:57.539 --> 00:12:00.059 believe in miracles, that believe in healing, 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:02.220 that believe in provision. I could go on and 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:06.399 on, but my five minutes is up, but probably passed 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:13.000 up. But anyway, so men of faith, men of faith, 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:17.059 and you will receive the reward for your faith. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.600 Question, did anybody see anything? When we're 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.820 in the presence of God. Did anybody have. Any 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:42.639 kind of. No. Okay. I did. Awesome. Praise God. 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:48.639 So I got letter A. For action. Action. Faith 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:52.539 requires action. As I was preparing this, God 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:55.539 reminded me of a time that my family and I, we 00:12:55.539 --> 00:12:59.000 were moving from Illinois to San Diego for the 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:03.460 Navy. And on that trip, we mapped it out to hit 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:06.480 as many states as we could along the way. So 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.980 we cut up north and we started heading west and 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:11.580 then went west for quite a ways, cut south. And 00:13:11.580 --> 00:13:14.179 we wanted to hit as many milestones as we could 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:15.740 because, hey, the Navy's paying for it, gas, 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:17.379 food, and lodging, everything to get us there, 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.679 right? Because they got to move me and my family. 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:23.169 And so one of the stops along the way was Mount 00:13:23.169 --> 00:13:25.649 Rushmore. Isn't that a great picture of Mount 00:13:25.649 --> 00:13:29.750 Rushmore? And so we're driving, and we're getting 00:13:29.750 --> 00:13:31.730 closer, and we're getting closer to Mount Rushmore, 00:13:31.769 --> 00:13:34.750 and it just starts looking like that. And we're 00:13:34.750 --> 00:13:37.870 like, oh, my gosh, like, come on. The one time 00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:39.809 that we're going to be in the area, and we're 00:13:39.809 --> 00:13:41.580 not going to be able to see it. So we start, 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:43.259 like, looking up weather reports, and they're 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:45.539 like, yeah, this fog isn't clearing for two days 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:47.059 or three days or something like that, a couple 00:13:47.059 --> 00:13:48.580 days. I looked at the radar, and you could just 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:50.980 see it, even on the map, like, all the way from 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:54.320 there to, like, almost to the west coast, which 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.120 is a pretty big area. And I'm like, ah. And so 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.860 we get there. We drive up, and the lady at the 00:13:59.860 --> 00:14:01.559 gate, she's like, hey, it's going to be $10 to 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.679 come in. However, you can't see anything. She's 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:06.220 like, you can come in. You can look at the gift 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:08.340 shop. But other than that, you're not going to 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:11.399 see anything. And so we're like, well, I guess 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:13.080 we won't worry about it. And then we turn around, 00:14:13.179 --> 00:14:15.039 and we park at the first little spot you can 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:16.519 pull off, and there's a sign that says, hey, 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.679 if you look up right here, you can see Abe Lincoln's 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:20.759 nose or something. And we look up, and we just 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:23.820 saw more of that. And so we talked to the kids, 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:25.419 and we're like, you know what? Like, we're already 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:27.240 here. We're going to pray, and we're going to 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.440 believe God, because if God can part the waters 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:31.019 of the Red Sea, God can clear a little bit of 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:33.490 fog. And so we prayed with the kids. We got in 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:35.529 the car, and we headed back to the gate again. 00:14:35.929 --> 00:14:37.789 And so the whole time, Charlie and I are, like, 00:14:37.789 --> 00:14:40.429 praying, you know, under our breath. We're driving. 00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:42.090 We're praying the rest of the way there. We get 00:14:42.090 --> 00:14:43.649 back to the gate. I got a different gate this 00:14:43.649 --> 00:14:44.950 time, and this lady's like, hey, do you happen 00:14:44.950 --> 00:14:46.289 to be military? I'm like, yes, I am. She's like, 00:14:46.350 --> 00:14:47.889 oh, you're free. Come on in. I'm like, sweet. 00:14:48.289 --> 00:14:50.649 See, I would have paid $10 if I had not turned 00:14:50.649 --> 00:14:52.950 around and come back. And so anyways, we get 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:54.769 there. We're walking all the way up. We walk 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:56.450 all the way up, and you just, like, there's this 00:14:56.450 --> 00:14:58.889 grand opening where you should see it. It looks 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:02.779 about like that. That's what we saw. And we're 00:15:02.779 --> 00:15:04.320 like, okay, well, we're going to keep going. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:06.320 We're going to start hiking the trail up to it. 00:15:06.419 --> 00:15:08.360 And there's like three or four stops along the 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:09.759 way. It's like, okay, you can look up here and 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.320 you can see it. And fog and fog and fog every 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:14.940 time. And we got to the last spot and we're standing 00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:16.580 there and we're all taking pictures of the fog 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:18.059 with another group of people taking pictures 00:15:18.059 --> 00:15:21.480 of the fog. And within about, I don't know, 20 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:23.740 seconds of us hitting that final spot right underneath, 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.600 the fog went from looking like that. I've got 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:30.740 a couple more pictures to that. And within a 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:33.179 matter of 20 or 30 seconds, it went to that. 00:15:38.299 --> 00:15:43.320 God can turn it around. And the way back, we 00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:44.960 stopped at each one of those checkpoints again 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.220 and was able to get pictures at each stop. And 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:49.500 we got back to the Grand Expanse at the beginning, 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:51.340 and we could see it. And then we went in the 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:53.360 gift shop, and when we came back out, it was 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.159 covered again. We left, so did the favor of God. 00:15:56.379 --> 00:15:59.659 But it was because we prayed. It was because 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:02.899 we did something about it, all right? So James 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.460 1, verse 17, which Pastor Darren kicked us off 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.259 with, right? Every good gift comes from above. 00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:10.519 It comes from the Father. And God has blessed 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.720 us with a lot of things. And I believe that means 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:16.100 that as followers of Christ, we are called to 00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:18.679 action because we are called to be good stewards 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:20.779 with what he has blessed us with, with those 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:23.559 good gifts. In fact, if you read a few verses 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:50.860 later, And then the next chapter, verse 14 and 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:54.840 17, says, My brothers and sisters, if someone 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.580 claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:02.220 faith save them? In verse 17, in the same way, 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:05.460 faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:11.940 action, is dead. It's dead. So yes, every good 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:14.579 gift comes from God. We are to steward those 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:17.279 gifts. We are called to be stewards, right? To 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:19.640 steward first and foremost our relationship with 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:22.619 him, to walk with him in the garden. than to 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:25.160 steward the good earth on which he placed us, 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:27.859 to tend the garden, to steward the relationships 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.539 of those he has entrusted to us, our children, 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:34.559 our families, our friends, our neighbors, to 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:38.359 be fruitful and multiply. And God's not just 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.519 talking about having physical children anymore, 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:44.319 but making disciples everywhere you go. As a 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:46.700 father, our children need to see that our faith 00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:49.900 makes us men of action. Do not just come to church 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:52.400 when the doors are open, but be the church everywhere 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:56.779 that you go. Let your faith overflow into your 00:17:56.779 --> 00:17:59.319 home, overflow into your car rides, into your 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:01.900 vacations, into your workplace. Let your faith 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:04.700 dictate the choices you make and the actions 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:07.779 you take. I'm going to close with one more story. 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:10.460 When God called me into the Navy, I was doing 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:13.180 a church plant up in the East Peoria, Peoria 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:16.009 area. And I felt God calling me out of that and 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:18.210 to join the Navy and to be a light in the dark 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:22.609 place of the Navy. I had no idea what it was 00:18:22.609 --> 00:18:24.289 going to look like. I just knew that's what God 00:18:24.289 --> 00:18:26.410 was telling me to do. And so I did it. I joined 00:18:26.410 --> 00:18:28.849 the Navy. I get to my ship about a year and a 00:18:28.849 --> 00:18:30.490 half after joining, after all my schooling and 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:32.190 everything. And the first thing my supervisor 00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:33.910 says to me, she's like, hey, we snooped you out 00:18:33.910 --> 00:18:36.170 on Facebook. I know that you're a religious guy. 00:18:36.269 --> 00:18:37.970 Would you be a lay leader on board our ship? 00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:39.809 I said, what's a lay leader? She's like, well, 00:18:39.829 --> 00:18:41.710 we don't have a chaplain on board. So a lay leader 00:18:41.710 --> 00:18:44.049 represents your faith group to the entire crew. 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:46.529 And when we go out to sea, you hold church services 00:18:46.529 --> 00:18:48.549 and prayer meetings and whatever you do for your 00:18:48.549 --> 00:18:51.660 faith group on board. And I had no idea that 00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:53.420 was a thing in the Navy. I just assumed everybody 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.359 had a chaplain. And so here I was with a crew 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.680 of 320 people. And I was on deployment for seven 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.319 months. And every Sunday that we were out to 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:03.700 sea, we got to do a church service on board that 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:05.960 ship. And then every single evening that we were 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.059 out to sea, I got to pray over the entire crew 00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:10.779 every night. And then we even had a chaplain 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:12.200 try and stop it because he was like, no, no, 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:13.539 no, you're not a chaplain. You can't do that. 00:19:13.619 --> 00:19:16.430 But my captain was like. This is too good. This 00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:17.789 is too good. What are we going to do? I said, 00:19:17.789 --> 00:19:19.470 I'll stop saying amen at the end, and we'll call 00:19:19.470 --> 00:19:21.589 it a motivational minute. But my message didn't 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:23.910 change. My message didn't change. I was saying 00:19:23.910 --> 00:19:28.150 the same things, right? But God used me in ways 00:19:28.150 --> 00:19:30.410 I didn't even know. I got a message from a guy 00:19:30.410 --> 00:19:32.690 I served with on the ship just, I don't know, 00:19:32.750 --> 00:19:35.450 two weeks ago. I hadn't thought about this dude 00:19:35.450 --> 00:19:38.690 in a very long time. And to be honest, he wasn't 00:19:38.690 --> 00:19:40.509 somebody I really thought of a lot when I was 00:19:40.509 --> 00:19:42.349 there, but he sent me this long Facebook message, 00:19:42.390 --> 00:19:44.319 and he said, Hey, I don't know if you remember 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.880 me. You would have known me as MA1 Jones on the 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.259 ship. But thank you. God saved me through you. 00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:55.119 He said, I would come to work smelling like booze 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:56.880 and smelling like women, cheating on my wife, 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:58.680 doing all kinds of stuff. He said, I would come 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.619 to you, and I would ask you for prayer, saying 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:03.240 that, hey, somebody I know died. I need some 00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:04.740 prayer. He said, that wasn't true. I just wanted 00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:07.319 you to pray with me. He said, and you never said 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:10.609 no. You were always there. You always said yes. 00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:13.369 Just by you showing up and doing what you did 00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:17.789 every day because of the action that I took. 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:20.170 It's not about action in here. It's about action 00:20:20.170 --> 00:20:21.630 out there in your home and in your workplace. 00:20:22.089 --> 00:20:32.710 God has called you to be a man of action. I'm 00:20:32.710 --> 00:20:36.660 not nearly as animated as Ben. In fact, I was 00:20:36.660 --> 00:20:38.240 just thinking as I was sitting up here, I'm like, 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:40.599 man, these guys have a lot more microphone training 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:47.759 than I do. But so my word is, or my letter is 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.599 I, and the word is integrity. And I'm just sitting 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.400 there thinking, I'm like, it's kind of an interesting 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.380 topic to talk about integrity in front of people 00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:03.420 that know a lot of your shortcomings. So kind 00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:07.259 of reframes that a little bit. So I grew up knowing 00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:10.599 kind of the definition of integrity as doing 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.460 the right thing when nobody's watching or whatever 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:17.859 it may be. And kind of an example I want to use, 00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:21.740 pulling in my dad for a little bit, whenever 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:24.180 my brothers and I get together, we always say, 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.259 well, what would dad say? And that's kind of 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:31.839 a funny thing. So speaking on the topic of integrity, 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:35.980 whenever... My dad was somebody that if you needed 00:21:35.980 --> 00:21:40.400 something done, he knew the person. But he also 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.680 knew the people not to choose. He would say, 00:21:43.700 --> 00:21:47.019 oh, so -and -so, they're a liar. They'll cheat 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:48.859 you out or whatever, whatever. So I was like, 00:21:48.940 --> 00:21:51.640 okay. But what was he basing that off of? He 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:53.460 was basing that off of what they knew, kind of 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:55.619 how they operated their character. Now, it may 00:21:55.619 --> 00:21:58.339 not be a true intention of their heart, but based 00:21:58.339 --> 00:22:02.819 on their actions. Going back to kind of the more 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:05.819 official version of integrity, it refers to the 00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:09.359 quality of being honest, having strong moral 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.839 principles, and consistently adhering to ethical 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:17.440 standards. So it's kind of like, hmm, there's 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.539 a lot of action -based stuff in there, even like 00:22:19.539 --> 00:22:21.740 what Ben was talking about. It's one thing to 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:24.539 say it, but it's another thing to do it. And 00:22:24.539 --> 00:22:30.099 so kind of ever since Pastor Darren asked me 00:22:30.099 --> 00:22:34.299 to do this, It hasn't left my head. And the hard 00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:37.839 part about that is how do you bring it into something 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:39.799 that makes sense that you're going to share with 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:44.140 other people? So kind of where I've landed on 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:47.559 this is that the world that we live in is full 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:52.839 of half -truths, stress, anxiety, being overcommitted, 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:56.559 and being stretched thin. And all of these can 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:01.559 lead to cut corners and compromises. Sorry, I'm 00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.980 not used to this. But here's the other part of 00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:09.000 it. This world has no use for more shallow, more 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:12.759 phony. They are looking for depth and authenticity, 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:21.359 which is integrity. So when you operate out of 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.400 that place, it's something that becomes visible, 00:23:24.460 --> 00:23:26.680 even though a lot of that happens, you know, 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:31.309 in what you do in secret. So we also have an 00:23:31.309 --> 00:23:34.970 accuser, which is Satan, that will try to trap 00:23:34.970 --> 00:23:38.690 you and then condemn you for being trapped. So 00:23:38.690 --> 00:23:42.430 going back to that word, condemnation. And so 00:23:42.430 --> 00:23:45.130 I thought of that when you said that. And so 00:23:45.130 --> 00:23:48.130 I treat it this way. God sees it all anyway, 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:52.210 and there's no fooling him. So if we operate 00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:57.349 out of a place of pleasing God, then we've set 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:00.470 the bar. Way higher than the standards of the 00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:03.509 world around us. But it's also a very high bar 00:24:03.509 --> 00:24:08.190 if you're not pursuing God's heart. By action 00:24:08.190 --> 00:24:13.450 alone, it's kind of a trap to fail. Because we 00:24:13.450 --> 00:24:17.349 do have those shortcomings. So here's the scripture 00:24:17.349 --> 00:24:21.309 that I pulled out. Proverbs 20 verses 7. The 00:24:21.309 --> 00:24:24.509 righteous man walks in his integrity and his 00:24:24.509 --> 00:24:31.829 children are blessed after him. So when I saw 00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:35.349 that, it's like, it's more than just about you. 00:24:36.230 --> 00:24:38.650 It's about those that come after you. Now, whether 00:24:38.650 --> 00:24:44.829 that means your actual children or people that 00:24:44.829 --> 00:24:47.589 you've ministered to and were a light to, spiritual 00:24:47.589 --> 00:24:52.369 children, it comes with a high accountability 00:24:52.369 --> 00:24:58.369 for that, you know? And so... From that perspective, 00:24:58.750 --> 00:25:01.470 leading your family should be the priority because 00:25:01.470 --> 00:25:07.670 God has entrusted them to you. God has entrusted, 00:25:07.789 --> 00:25:10.049 like when Ben was talking about, God has entrusted 00:25:10.049 --> 00:25:13.009 those people to him. So we've got to operate 00:25:13.009 --> 00:25:16.109 out of that place of doing that. And so the example 00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:21.509 that I had, so probably last fall, I think it 00:25:21.509 --> 00:25:25.849 was, I needed to order Carter a new headphone. 00:25:25.930 --> 00:25:27.589 for his snare drum so he could use it in school 00:25:27.589 --> 00:25:32.630 for band. And so I ordered one, and there was 00:25:32.630 --> 00:25:34.650 a problem with the order through Amazon. Okay, 00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:38.069 I canceled that one. I ordered another one, and 00:25:38.069 --> 00:25:40.690 there was something wrong with it, so I canceled 00:25:40.690 --> 00:25:43.430 both of them. One of them showed up on the porch. 00:25:44.509 --> 00:25:48.029 I'm like, okay. So then the question in your 00:25:48.029 --> 00:25:51.589 mind, well, what do you do? Well, I contacted 00:25:51.589 --> 00:25:54.230 the support and I said, hey, look, I know I canceled 00:25:54.230 --> 00:25:56.380 both of these things, but... One of them showed 00:25:56.380 --> 00:26:01.519 up, so go ahead and whatever order you want to 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:02.819 pick, just charge because they were both the 00:26:02.819 --> 00:26:05.019 same price. And the person said, no, don't worry 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:07.380 about it. It was our goof. You know, don't worry 00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:10.000 about it. And I remember telling Carter about 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.880 that. He said, well, why did you say something? 00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:15.359 I said, well, because that's just what you do. 00:26:15.819 --> 00:26:20.539 Because there's no blessing in even though it 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:22.720 was like, well, it was a technical goof, but 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.960 yet I felt like. I need to still pay for something 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:28.579 because I received something. And so there's 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:31.019 blessing in that when you operate out of integrity. 00:26:32.359 --> 00:26:38.220 And so, and I just wanted to encourage some people 00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:40.819 in here that maybe kind of feel like I have in 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:42.420 the past a little bit where you don't feel like 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:43.980 you've hit the, where you feel like you measure 00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:47.500 up to that bar. It doesn't matter how you started. 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:51.940 What matters is that you choose to be a man of 00:26:51.940 --> 00:26:55.789 integrity. from there forward. And so there's 00:26:55.789 --> 00:26:57.450 always going to be the people that remember the 00:26:57.450 --> 00:26:59.549 things that you didn't do right. But again, what 00:26:59.549 --> 00:27:02.390 are you pursuing? The heart of God. And he will 00:27:02.390 --> 00:27:06.670 back you up every time. So I just wanted to close 00:27:06.670 --> 00:27:10.630 with this. And again, going back to using my 00:27:10.630 --> 00:27:13.750 dad as an example, he wasn't here to witness 00:27:13.750 --> 00:27:15.950 this comment that I made because it was at his 00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:20.509 memorial service. But even, I remember standing 00:27:20.509 --> 00:27:22.869 up there. It's kind of like, again, what do you 00:27:22.869 --> 00:27:27.250 say? And what came to me was at the very end 00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:28.910 of that, because there was a lot of people that 00:27:28.910 --> 00:27:31.210 prayed, a lot of people that stood and believed. 00:27:31.329 --> 00:27:35.230 I mean, it's like, you know, Lord, heal them, 00:27:35.269 --> 00:27:38.890 save them, whatever you got to do. But I made 00:27:38.890 --> 00:27:45.990 this statement, is that for those on the outside, 00:27:46.269 --> 00:27:50.670 they're watching us to see, do these people, 00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:55.460 really believe what they say they believe. And 00:27:55.460 --> 00:27:57.119 in a situation like that, it's kind of like, 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.759 you know, where are you going to go with that? 00:28:00.940 --> 00:28:04.240 And so you stand on what you believe, and you 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:06.759 stand with God, and you say, all right. And that 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:09.500 oftentimes is a bigger witness to people than 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:12.140 the person getting healed or the person getting, 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:18.700 you know, whatever it may be. And so I just wanted 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:22.640 to share that encouragement. Be a man of integrity. 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.880 And, you know, it seems like a pretty high bar 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.519 even for me to share. But you know what? I'm 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.299 just leaning into God. And he's making it better 00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:49.220 every single time. There we go. Amen. Men of 00:28:49.220 --> 00:28:56.309 truth. Men of truth. That's my phrase that I 00:28:56.309 --> 00:28:59.470 was asked to share on. You know, many times I've 00:28:59.470 --> 00:29:03.430 made commitments and then later think, why did 00:29:03.430 --> 00:29:07.750 I do that? I don't have time for this. But if 00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:11.150 we're going to be men of truth, we have to swear 00:29:11.150 --> 00:29:13.789 to our own hurt sometimes. And that's not always 00:29:13.789 --> 00:29:17.509 easy to do. I know emergencies may come up or 00:29:17.509 --> 00:29:20.910 different things like that, but day in and day 00:29:20.910 --> 00:29:23.809 out. we need to swear to our own hurt. If we 00:29:23.809 --> 00:29:27.910 make a commitment, we need to stay true to it. 00:29:28.650 --> 00:29:31.230 This phrase, men of truth, is actually found 00:29:31.230 --> 00:29:35.369 in Exodus 18, verse 21, and it's Jethro's advice 00:29:35.369 --> 00:29:42.470 to Moses in choosing leaders and being judge 00:29:42.470 --> 00:29:48.289 over Israel. And that advice carries about four 00:29:48.289 --> 00:29:51.940 characteristics with it. Truth and faithfulness 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:56.279 means they are going to honor the word, act with 00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:59.480 sincerity, and conduct themselves according to 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:04.279 God's standards. To fear the Lord, they recognize 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:07.579 God's sovereignty and have a reverential awe 00:30:07.579 --> 00:30:14.559 for him that guides their actions. Hating unjust 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:20.400 gain, they reject bribery, corruption, and covetousness 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:24.859 and integrity as David shared on. They take responsibilities 00:30:24.859 --> 00:30:30.799 for their duties and avoid deflecting blame when 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:34.039 mistakes are made. So those are the characteristics 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:37.720 of men of truth. And those characteristics are 00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:41.000 hard to find today in our society. All you have 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:42.980 to do is turn on the news and you'll hear the 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:45.359 false narrative. People trying to make themselves 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:49.910 look good. or they're caused to look good. And 00:30:49.910 --> 00:30:53.269 so many times, it's just contrary to the truth 00:30:53.269 --> 00:30:57.549 of God's Word. And we have to be aware of that. 00:30:57.690 --> 00:31:00.910 At the times and seasons that we're in, Paul 00:31:00.910 --> 00:31:03.869 warns us. He says, the Spirit expressively says 00:31:03.869 --> 00:31:07.170 in the last days, there will be seducing spirits 00:31:07.170 --> 00:31:10.230 and doctrines of demons. And we're in the midst 00:31:10.230 --> 00:31:13.230 of that right now. We're seeing that happen time 00:31:13.230 --> 00:31:17.160 and time again in our society. And we have to 00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:20.380 be aware of what's going on around us and stay 00:31:20.380 --> 00:31:27.240 true to God's word and his principles and standards 00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:31.660 that he sets forth in his word. And that's not 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:34.279 always easy to do because we're bombarded day 00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:39.319 in and day out. Statistics say that we're bombarded 00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:44.259 with 4 ,500 negatives every day. That's a lot. 00:31:44.779 --> 00:31:48.180 That's not a lot of positive, is it? But we need 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:51.640 to be aware of what's going on around us and 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:54.700 heed God's word. But I think I found a solution. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:02.140 And it's in John 1, verse 14. And it says, Jesus 00:32:02.140 --> 00:32:07.960 Christ came full of grace and truth. He is the 00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:11.779 way, the truth, and the life. Jesus was all grace. 00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.079 He welcomed sinners and tax collectors and ate 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:18.759 with them. He had compassion on the crowds when 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:21.880 they were hungry and far from home. He welcomed 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:25.599 little children to sit on his lap, gentle and 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:30.079 kinder than most department store Santas. He 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.220 healed the leper, the lame, the blind. He saved 00:32:33.220 --> 00:32:37.200 criminals on the cross. The one next to him confessed 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:42.210 that he was truly the Son of God. And Jesus was 00:32:42.210 --> 00:32:45.509 all truth. He condemned many religious leaders 00:32:45.509 --> 00:32:49.410 of that day, being liars and hypocrites. He talked 00:32:49.410 --> 00:32:51.529 about hell more than he talked about heaven. 00:32:52.210 --> 00:32:55.430 He called all those to be his disciples and take 00:32:55.430 --> 00:32:59.930 up their cross and follow him daily. Jesus came 00:32:59.930 --> 00:33:03.829 from the Father, full of grace and truth. All 00:33:03.829 --> 00:33:09.740 grace, all truth, all the time. But it didn't 00:33:09.740 --> 00:33:12.519 just come simply to give us an example of grace 00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:16.380 and truth. He came to save us into grace and 00:33:16.380 --> 00:33:20.400 truth. It's only after we've been saved and made 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:23.559 right with God that God says, all right now, 00:33:23.779 --> 00:33:27.160 I have saved you, but I want you to look like 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:31.180 Jesus. We desperately need grace in our lives. 00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:35.279 We need to hear from Jesus. Come to me, all you 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.269 who are weary. and heavy laden, and I will give 00:33:38.269 --> 00:33:42.809 you rest. That's Matthew 11, 28. We need to know 00:33:42.809 --> 00:33:45.950 that God doesn't just expect us to clean up our 00:33:45.950 --> 00:33:49.349 act before we come to him. He implores us to 00:33:49.349 --> 00:33:54.150 come now, today, just as we are, in pain and 00:33:54.150 --> 00:33:58.890 in humility, and in repentance and faith. That's 00:33:58.890 --> 00:34:02.710 Luke 15, 20. And we desperately need truth in 00:34:02.710 --> 00:34:06.099 our lives. We need to hear from Jesus. The truth 00:34:06.099 --> 00:34:09.480 will set you free. And we need to hear from Jesus 00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:13.460 what this saying really means. I tell you the 00:34:13.460 --> 00:34:18.119 truth. Whoever sins is a slave to sin. But if 00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:21.099 the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:25.519 We need someone as gracious as Jesus to tell 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:29.719 us the truth. We need truth. We need grace. We 00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:34.090 need Jesus. Only Jesus. lived the perfect grace 00:34:34.090 --> 00:34:38.369 and truth. Only Jesus can save the hard -headed 00:34:38.369 --> 00:34:44.210 sinners full of lies, deserving judgment. And 00:34:44.210 --> 00:34:47.929 only with union to Jesus Christ can we grow in 00:34:47.929 --> 00:34:51.190 that same truth and grace that walked among us. 00:34:51.429 --> 00:35:07.889 We need to be people of truth. I told Pastor, 00:35:08.090 --> 00:35:13.429 last time my tag team preached was here. It was 00:35:13.429 --> 00:35:20.210 me and Benjamin. We were talking to Pastor David 00:35:20.210 --> 00:35:24.510 Andreessen at the time. And Benjamin bent down 00:35:24.510 --> 00:35:27.610 in the pulpit to get something out, and I tackled 00:35:27.610 --> 00:35:30.969 him. Because that's what I think of when I think 00:35:30.969 --> 00:35:34.300 of tag teams, wrestling or something. So I tackled 00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:36.139 him on the stage, and the pastor said, oh, make 00:35:36.139 --> 00:35:38.860 it happen again. And then I'm sitting up there 00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:42.980 thinking, I'm sitting up there thinking, it's 00:35:42.980 --> 00:35:46.760 four against one now. But they all left. They 00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:48.619 all went back out there. So it's just me and 00:35:48.619 --> 00:35:51.519 you. But Benjamin's a lot older now. He might 00:35:51.519 --> 00:36:01.840 get hurt. I got my phone here. I got a timer. 00:36:02.349 --> 00:36:04.550 It keeps going back to one hour and three minutes 00:36:04.550 --> 00:36:07.349 every time I turn it on. So do I get that long? 00:36:07.510 --> 00:36:10.130 No. Jesse said, how are you going to make it 00:36:10.130 --> 00:36:14.090 in five minutes? Have you practiced? I said, 00:36:14.110 --> 00:36:18.389 no. I have pondered and thought about it all 00:36:18.389 --> 00:36:20.670 week. I listened to probably, I don't know, 30 00:36:20.670 --> 00:36:24.909 sermons. I listened to a podcast. I listened 00:36:24.909 --> 00:36:28.500 to all these things. So I had notes. I'd crumple 00:36:28.500 --> 00:36:30.840 them up and throw them away. I'd write more notes. 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:34.519 I'd crumple up and throw them away. And last 00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:39.400 night at like 8 .30, Jesse goes to bed, and I'm 00:36:39.400 --> 00:36:41.420 picking up the rest of the stuff off the table 00:36:41.420 --> 00:36:43.420 from what we'd been doing, paying bills, I think. 00:36:43.940 --> 00:36:46.940 And I thought, oh, I need to write that down. 00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:51.159 So I started writing again. And I write this, 00:36:51.179 --> 00:36:52.800 and I'm going to push this right off there. I 00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:55.860 write this down. And speaking of the five minutes, 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:59.199 my mind's going a million miles an hour. My dad 00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:04.039 used to complain. You know, we had gross preacher 00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:07.539 a lot on Sundays for lunch. And my dad would 00:37:07.539 --> 00:37:10.320 complain that the preacher preached too long. 00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.980 And he'd say, now I know he can get his point 00:37:14.980 --> 00:37:19.940 across in seven minutes. Because that's how long 00:37:19.940 --> 00:37:22.199 it is on the radio every day when he does his 00:37:22.199 --> 00:37:25.139 radio program. And he gets a point across every 00:37:25.139 --> 00:37:28.099 day in seven minutes. But yet at church, it's 00:37:28.099 --> 00:37:31.400 how many ever minutes, you know. So, now I'm 00:37:31.400 --> 00:37:33.460 down to four and a half minutes because I pushed. 00:37:34.300 --> 00:37:39.039 I had to tell you that story. So, my final draft 00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:44.159 you get today. Humility. H is for humility. The 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:50.510 second you say you're humble, you're not. It 00:37:50.510 --> 00:37:56.409 is not a sign of weakness. But today, what I 00:37:56.409 --> 00:37:59.090 come up with last night, and I know this has 00:37:59.090 --> 00:38:02.670 to be God, Daniel 1 .8 says, but Daniel purposed 00:38:02.670 --> 00:38:05.170 in his heart that he would not defile himself. 00:38:05.769 --> 00:38:07.949 To purpose in your heart means to plan ahead, 00:38:08.070 --> 00:38:11.789 decide before temptation comes. It's kind of 00:38:11.789 --> 00:38:15.449 like when we go to a buffet. I purpose in my 00:38:15.449 --> 00:38:18.110 heart that I'm only going to go up one time. 00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:26.199 I don't purpose very well, I must tell you. But 00:38:26.199 --> 00:38:28.019 when it comes to humility, we need to purpose 00:38:28.019 --> 00:38:31.340 in our heart that we want to be humble. We want 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:35.760 to be a man of humility. C .S. Lewis says, humility 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:39.000 is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:44.480 of yourself less. Talking about action, today 00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:47.960 we got to choose. What first action we're going 00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:49.400 to do is we're going to choose that we're going 00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:51.559 to choose we're going to be humble. And I know 00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:55.639 that this came from God because Jesse was watching 00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:58.519 a real spiritual show last night called Monk. 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:04.260 And I walked in the bedroom as I wrote this. 00:39:04.380 --> 00:39:08.800 I wrote... choose. Humility is a choice. I walk 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:12.139 in the bedroom and Monk, I think it was Monk, 00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:13.719 I don't know, I didn't see it. She was walking 00:39:13.719 --> 00:39:17.000 on her phone. I can't see that. But I hear these 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:23.119 words that somebody on that show said. It's a 00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:28.980 choice. You can choose to be happy. Well, just 00:39:28.980 --> 00:39:31.699 so much as you can choose to be happy, just so 00:39:31.699 --> 00:39:34.500 much as I chose what hat to wear today, this 00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:36.840 one says faith over fear. I thought that was 00:39:36.840 --> 00:39:39.360 fitting for the day. It's basically the only 00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:42.539 religious hat, Christian hat I have. And I need 00:39:42.539 --> 00:39:45.539 to get more because I took a challenge at work. 00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:48.380 One day they said, how many hats do you have? 00:39:48.440 --> 00:39:50.960 Do you wear a different hat every day? I said, 00:39:50.980 --> 00:39:55.050 challenge accepted. So for like a month and I 00:39:55.050 --> 00:39:56.630 don't know how many days, I wore a different 00:39:56.630 --> 00:39:58.889 hat every day. And there was a couple people 00:39:58.889 --> 00:40:01.469 that would walk up to me and read my hat to see 00:40:01.469 --> 00:40:05.230 what hat I had on today. So just as much as I 00:40:05.230 --> 00:40:08.309 choose what hat I'm going to wear for the day, 00:40:08.449 --> 00:40:11.889 we have to choose and make it of ourselves that 00:40:11.889 --> 00:40:16.570 we are going to be humble. Oh man, I only got 00:40:16.570 --> 00:40:20.150 a minute left. I'm going to have to reset my 00:40:20.150 --> 00:40:27.340 timer. So, walk, choose, walk. Micah 6 .8 says 00:40:27.340 --> 00:40:32.679 walk with God. James 4 .10 says humble yourself. 00:40:32.820 --> 00:40:37.239 So this is something we got to do ourself. It's 00:40:37.239 --> 00:40:39.800 not like God's going to just strike us with humility. 00:40:40.119 --> 00:40:43.559 We have to choose it. We have to do it. We have 00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:49.340 to put it on. Knowing who you are, lay aside 00:40:49.340 --> 00:40:58.980 in John. Chapter 13. Verse 3, 4, and 5, I think. 00:40:59.059 --> 00:41:04.039 It says, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given 00:41:04.039 --> 00:41:07.019 him all things into his hands, and that he had 00:41:07.019 --> 00:41:10.239 come from God and was going to God, rose from 00:41:10.239 --> 00:41:13.980 supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel 00:41:13.980 --> 00:41:18.239 and girded himself. So he took his garments and 00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:20.199 he laid them aside. There might be some things 00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:22.800 that we have to lay aside. Sometimes when I choose 00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:24.639 which hat I'm going to wear, I have to lay the 00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:26.659 other ones aside. And the good thing about wearing 00:41:26.659 --> 00:41:28.800 a hat is you don't have to comb your hair. And 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:32.380 at work we did have to wear hats, but now we 00:41:32.380 --> 00:41:38.519 don't have to, but I still do. But he took it 00:41:38.519 --> 00:41:40.539 off. He took his garments and he laid it aside. 00:41:40.920 --> 00:41:43.639 But then he picked up a towel. He picked up a 00:41:43.639 --> 00:41:46.039 towel and he became a servant. If we want to 00:41:46.039 --> 00:41:50.340 be humble, we have to choose to be a servant. 00:41:51.690 --> 00:41:55.730 And a few months ago here, we had all kinds of 00:41:55.730 --> 00:41:59.630 opportunities to choose service. And I think 00:41:59.630 --> 00:42:02.409 there's probably still availability right here 00:42:02.409 --> 00:42:05.789 in this building where we can choose to be of 00:42:05.789 --> 00:42:09.409 service. And my timer's going off. And we can 00:42:09.409 --> 00:42:13.909 choose. We have to choose to do it. After that, 00:42:14.010 --> 00:42:16.969 he poured water into the basin and began to wash 00:42:16.969 --> 00:42:25.099 his disciples' feet. I'll stop eventually. He'd 00:42:25.099 --> 00:42:30.659 wash the disciples' feet. Sometimes, if we're 00:42:30.659 --> 00:42:37.079 humble, we may have to wash some feet. Sometimes 00:42:37.079 --> 00:42:41.280 we may have to simply change the way we think. 00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:44.219 In Philippians 4, 8, it says, think on these 00:42:44.219 --> 00:42:46.199 things and all those things it says to think 00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:53.170 on. And humility, I'm reminded of humility every 00:42:53.170 --> 00:42:57.170 time I'm driving and somebody in front of me 00:42:57.170 --> 00:42:59.949 does something like they don't turn their turn 00:42:59.949 --> 00:43:02.469 signal on. There was actually a police officer 00:43:02.469 --> 00:43:04.349 in Lincoln the other day on the square, didn't 00:43:04.349 --> 00:43:08.849 use a turn signal. But how many times have I 00:43:08.849 --> 00:43:11.690 been looking at the person in front of me without 00:43:11.690 --> 00:43:15.090 their turn signal on and realize, I don't have 00:43:15.090 --> 00:43:20.139 mine on. So I've changed my wording. to where 00:43:20.139 --> 00:43:23.880 you're a dumb driver, because I'm number one, 00:43:23.980 --> 00:43:27.139 but I've changed it to where instead of saying, 00:43:27.380 --> 00:43:29.739 why don't you have your turn signal on? I could 00:43:29.739 --> 00:43:33.380 have went if I'd known you was turning. Instead 00:43:33.380 --> 00:43:36.300 of that, I say, quit driving like me. There's 00:43:36.300 --> 00:43:40.300 only room for one of us on the road. Choose today 00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:57.260 to be humble. Wow. Wow, was that good? I want 00:43:57.260 --> 00:44:01.760 to close this morning by reading from one of 00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:07.119 the spiritual fathers in the Bible who in the 00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:10.599 New Testament after Jesus' ascension probably 00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:15.500 became more of a father, though he had no children 00:44:15.500 --> 00:44:20.719 of his own, to the church than any other man. 00:44:22.699 --> 00:44:30.159 And his name was John. And John knew that there 00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:38.199 was warfare over men. Do you know there's spiritual 00:44:38.199 --> 00:44:43.440 warfare over the men in our culture? The enemy 00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:50.960 wants to turn the men away from God. Do you know 00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:53.719 most sitcoms who the butt of the joke always 00:44:53.719 --> 00:45:00.619 is? It is the men. The men are always the goofy 00:45:00.619 --> 00:45:05.719 ones that have the strange ideas. And there is 00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:11.099 war right now against men rising up to be who 00:45:11.099 --> 00:45:17.239 God's called them to be. Men of faith. And he 00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:23.659 wrote in... chapter 2 of 1 John, in verse 12. 00:45:24.320 --> 00:45:28.039 I'm going to ask the worship team to come because 00:45:28.039 --> 00:45:34.900 we're going to pray over men this morning. 1 00:45:34.900 --> 00:45:39.199 John, chapter 2, verse 12. He says, I write to 00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:42.980 you, little children, because your sins are forgiven 00:45:42.980 --> 00:45:48.500 you for His name's sake. Good news. I write to 00:45:48.500 --> 00:45:54.179 you, fathers, because you have known him who 00:45:54.179 --> 00:45:58.440 is from the beginning. We need fathers that know 00:45:58.440 --> 00:46:02.519 the Lord. Amen? And then he says, I write to 00:46:02.519 --> 00:46:08.639 you, young men, because you have overcome the 00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:13.579 wicked one. The wicked one. The wicked one is 00:46:13.579 --> 00:46:20.400 after our young men. He goes on, says to the 00:46:20.400 --> 00:46:23.380 little children again, I write to you, little 00:46:23.380 --> 00:46:27.199 children, because you have known the Father. 00:46:28.079 --> 00:46:32.460 Good. I write to you, fathers, because you have 00:46:32.460 --> 00:46:35.940 known Him who is from the beginning. There he 00:46:35.940 --> 00:46:40.500 says that again. I have written to you, young 00:46:40.500 --> 00:46:46.519 men, because you are strong. And the word of 00:46:46.519 --> 00:46:55.480 God abides in you. And you have overcome the 00:46:55.480 --> 00:47:00.119 wicked one. You see, in this house, God wants 00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:04.039 the men to be overcomers. God wants the young 00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:07.920 men to be overcomers. But there is a spiritual 00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:14.960 battle. There is a spiritual battle at war. against 00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:21.500 the men in our culture. And I just want us to 00:47:21.500 --> 00:47:24.920 pray right now. There's a battle for your soul. 00:47:25.980 --> 00:47:29.639 There's a battle for who you are. There's a battle 00:47:29.639 --> 00:47:34.019 to keep you suppressed from ever fulfilling God's 00:47:34.019 --> 00:47:38.179 intention in your life. But God's got a calling 00:47:38.179 --> 00:47:44.500 on your life. God's got his hand upon you. brand 00:47:44.500 --> 00:47:47.480 new at this, you might be saying, you know, all 00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:53.199 this feels like a tall task to me. I don't know 00:47:53.199 --> 00:47:57.199 if I can live up to that or not. But God's wanting 00:47:57.199 --> 00:48:03.380 you today to just take a step toward Him. You 00:48:03.380 --> 00:48:07.679 know, the one that talking about humility, Pastor 00:48:07.679 --> 00:48:12.820 Tim, Jesus said that two men went to church. 00:48:14.920 --> 00:48:17.679 And one of them looked up in heaven and said, 00:48:17.820 --> 00:48:20.840 God, I thank you that I am not like all the other 00:48:20.840 --> 00:48:29.719 people. I tithe. I give what I have to the poor. 00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:33.559 I thank you that I'm not like everybody else. 00:48:35.340 --> 00:48:38.219 But there was another man that went to church. 00:48:39.659 --> 00:48:43.920 And Jesus said, he just hit himself in the chest. 00:48:45.739 --> 00:48:52.119 And he said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 00:48:53.699 --> 00:48:58.119 And Jesus said, I tell you the truth. That man 00:48:58.119 --> 00:49:02.760 went home justified before the Lord. How many 00:49:02.760 --> 00:49:06.780 of you men would just freely admit, I'm not perfect. 00:49:07.920 --> 00:49:14.139 I've got a long way to go. But I want, I want. 00:49:15.690 --> 00:49:20.050 To walk in the footsteps that God has for me. 00:49:20.829 --> 00:49:23.489 How many of you men would say that's me? I want 00:49:23.489 --> 00:49:26.090 to walk in the footsteps that God has for me. 00:49:27.269 --> 00:49:31.949 And the call today isn't to perfection. It isn't 00:49:31.949 --> 00:49:40.010 to live up to every dotted I and cross T. But 00:49:40.010 --> 00:49:44.039 the call today is for us as men to simply Say, 00:49:44.139 --> 00:49:48.059 God, here I am. I'm yours. And I want to walk 00:49:48.059 --> 00:49:51.980 after the heart of Jesus. I need your mercy. 00:49:52.059 --> 00:49:57.219 I need your grace. I need your help. But here 00:49:57.219 --> 00:50:02.500 I am. And if that's you, men of God, I just want 00:50:02.500 --> 00:50:05.440 to ask you to stand around this room right now. 00:50:06.340 --> 00:50:10.500 And we're going to pray over you. And we're going 00:50:10.500 --> 00:50:14.420 to believe right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank 00:50:14.420 --> 00:50:20.139 you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. 00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:23.480 I like it. Some of the young men are standing 00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:26.519 up. They're not married or they don't have families 00:50:26.519 --> 00:50:28.940 or children, but they're standing up before the 00:50:28.940 --> 00:50:32.719 Lord right now. They're saying, God, that's how 00:50:32.719 --> 00:50:35.260 I want to live. I want to overcome the evil one. 00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:44.590 I want the word of God to live in me. Father, 00:50:44.670 --> 00:50:48.010 I want to lift up these men right now because 00:50:48.010 --> 00:50:51.150 it's only at the cross that we can overcome. 00:50:53.030 --> 00:50:55.550 We just bring all of our failure, which we know 00:50:55.550 --> 00:51:02.590 we have. We bring all of our stuff and we just 00:51:02.590 --> 00:51:08.329 give it to you, Jesus. And we say, Lord, have 00:51:08.329 --> 00:51:14.190 mercy on me. Help me. I want to. Have a heart 00:51:14.190 --> 00:51:19.349 that is after the Lord. God, I pray grace over 00:51:19.349 --> 00:51:23.489 these men. I pray your touch over these men. 00:51:23.590 --> 00:51:25.989 Just stretch your hands towards the men right 00:51:25.989 --> 00:51:28.510 now, those of you that are seated, and just stretch 00:51:28.510 --> 00:51:31.489 your hands towards them. Father, just impart 00:51:31.489 --> 00:51:36.909 grace to the men of this house. God, raise them 00:51:36.909 --> 00:51:41.170 up strong. Raise them up, God, overcomers in 00:51:41.170 --> 00:51:45.769 Jesus' name. Raise them up to be like Christ 00:51:45.769 --> 00:51:51.550 day by day by day by day. God, to be men of faith, 00:51:51.710 --> 00:51:53.929 to be men of action, to be men of integrity, 00:51:54.329 --> 00:51:59.889 to be men of truth, to be men of humility. God, 00:51:59.969 --> 00:52:02.789 I pray that these characteristics would belong 00:52:02.789 --> 00:52:10.409 to us in Jesus' name. And we just want to declare. 00:52:13.019 --> 00:52:16.219 want to declare, God, the victory that is in 00:52:16.219 --> 00:52:18.079 Christ. Hallelujah.