Your Church a Life Saving Station, Part 2, "Passions of a Powerful Leader"

Listen, we're going down the five things that everyone in your group, everyone in your your church, your flock has, if they would just use it to tell people about Jesus. They're in, they got their situation. They got the relationship with Jesus. They got a tribe. What a great thing. That's really good. That's a singles tribe right there. That's tribal rescue Here's the fourth thing. You're praying. They pray. Now we're just going to aim their prayer a little bit. Two kinds of prayer. First of all, praying with lost people. I have found one of the most powerful ways to open up a lost person's heart is when they're, I'm with them and it's a private situation, not in front of a lot of people. And they're having trouble with one of their kids or their finances or their health or their marriage or their job. To say, listen, I want to promise you I'm gonna I'm gonna do what I would do when I've got issues like this. I go to the most powerful person there is, and I'm gonna be doing that for you. By the way Would you mind if I start while we're still together? Do you mind if I pray with you right now? I'd like to I'd like to Now I have never had anyone turn me down. No one has ever said, no, I don't want you to pray for me. And we'll say to people, I want to I'm gonna pray for you. No, no, no, no. With the prepositions, everything here. Pray with them So I know people who in business do it in their office. I know you can do it messaging on Facebook. You can do it on social media. You can text a prayer. You can do it by phone, whatever. But pray with them about an open door that is open in their life. And as you pray, just pray What you know about Jesus and not preach your prayer, but say, Lord, I just know how much you you you love, Betty. And I know that because I know how much you love me because you showed it when you died for me and for her And so I want you to show your love to her. I want you to give her some peace in her heart right now and let her know you're real and you're close and you care. Often when I have opened my eyes, there are tears in theirs. Because they have never heard their name in a prayer. They've heard people say prayers. Say a prayer for me. We don't say prayers. We talk to our Heavenly Father. You have just had your relationship with God right in front of them. And occasionally you'll be able to say, you know, I wasn't always able to talk to God like this. Because there used to be a wall between him and me. And something happened that took that wall down. If you ever like to know what it is, I'd love to tell you. They'll probably want to know then. Oh, well, wouldn't that be good? Pray with them. Number two, pray for them. Now how do you pray for them? You pray the three-open prayer. You anybody hung out with me for very long? You're going to know the three I could have our on Eagles Wings team members come up here and they'll they'll tell you about the three open prayer. Colossians 4 verses 3 and 4. Pray for us. That God may open a door for our message, so we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. And pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should Based on that prayer, I want you to learn the three open prayer right now. Lord, open a door. First part of the prayer. Lord, open a door. Say it with me. Lord, open a door. What is a door? It is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Jesus. Not speaking of Jesus, which they weren't. No. This is not a gimmick. This is a You ask God to open up a natural it's like I think this is my opportunity. Yep, right here is where it would be natural to talk about the difference Jesus makes in my life. Lord open the door number two Lord open their heart Say that with me. Lord, open their heart. Yeah, Lord, if you're going to get me to talk to them, would you get them ready? Do things in their life. that would make them ready to hear about you. They won't know it, but you're that's what you're doing. Lord, open a door. Lord, open their heart. Last part. Lord, open my mouth. That's the hard one right there. Lord, open my mouth. Lord, give me the words. Give me the courage. Give me the tone. Give me the attitude. Lord, just give Lord, open my mouth. Now I want you to do three open prayer with me. Let's do this. Lord, open a door. Lord, open. Lord. You don't have to pray, Lord, if it is your will. It is. Okay. So If you pray that consistently, fasten your seatbelt. I'm serious. God will give you natural opportunities and whether you whether you uh he gives you new ones you never had or you see ones you never saw before. You pray for that and if you this is the best way to get an opening into somebody's life is to pray it open I was uh teaching at the Cove about once a year I go over at the Bill Graham Training Center and do a seminar, and I was there a couple of years ago. I talked about the three open prayer. and uh an ex-marine, there's a mountain there you can climb one of the afternoons, so he decides, he starts praying the three-open prayer right away after the thing, and he starts climbing that mountain, and suddenly his phone starts ringing And it's from an old marine friend of his, who's an atheist, who never calls. First time he's ever called them. Literally as he's praying the three-open prayer. There was a nuclear engineer there. I knew he was a nuclear engineer. He glowed in the dark. And and so that same guy started praying the three-open prayer. Well, that day, he gets a call from his atheist brother-in-law, who he can't stand because of how he treated his sister. And his atheist brother-in-law said, I've been searching spiritually lately and I wondered if you could help me. Well, I wonder if this is an open door. Maybe I should call Billy Graham to talk to him. You know what? Several months later, his brother-in-law called and said, I just want you to know I'm not an atheist anymore. I asked Christ to be my savior. So Look, is it now I hate to give you those examples because you're not always going to get instantaneous results like that, but the fact is God wants you to hear us pray like that. So you already pray, now just use praying. to pray with them and pray for them the three open prayer. Is this exciting? I want to tell you, when you see your situation, your assignment And you start praying a three-open prayer, your whole life looks different. The things that are everyday things aren't everyday anymore. They start to become eternalized. They start to take on eternal significance as my eyes are open for God's stuff to happen. that day. Okay, here save the best for last. Here's the final one you have. Your story. Your story. other than prayer is the single most powerful weapon you have to lead somebody to Christ. Everybody has a story. Well you don't know a person until you know their story. 1 Peter 3. 15 says, Peter again, he said. Set apart Christ as Lord and always be ready to give a reason for The hope. What is it people are going to be attracted to? The hope that is in you with gentleness and respect. The hope. Hope is going to interest them. That's why I call it a hope story. You know what hope means? Well, Dean was telling me you get 200 and some inches of snow where he lives? Why? What? Does Al Gore know this in global warming? I mean, does he know people are getting 200 inches of snow? Where's that global warming? We could use a little right now. Well, now if you were just you had you just were beamed down to uh that place on the on the on the snow side of Lake Erie, you'd go, it's always going to be winter. There is no way this snow is ever gonna be gone. I mean as I'm driving between two mountains in the Walmart parking lot, you know. There's snow. You go, oh no, no, no, no, no. There's a thing called spring. I've seen it. Spring comes. Amen. Two days, but it's here. You know what? What is hope? Hope is something that could never change. That changes. It looks like it could never change. Hope means it doesn't always have to be this way. Give them a reason for that you can show them that it doesn't always have to be the way it's always been because you can tell from your story that's true. Because everyone in this room, if you know Jesus, you are living proof of the difference Jesus can make. There's someone in this room who is living proof that an angry person can change. Because of Jesus. There's someone in this room that can is living proof that a father can change, a mother can change, a husband can change, a wife can change. You are living proof of it. You are living proof that a stressed-out person can change, that a worry wart can change, that a control freak can change, that an addicted person can change, that a self-centered person can change. You are living proof of the difference Jesus makes on the day you get the bad news from the doctor. You are living proof of the difference Jesus makes at the cemetery. You are living proof of a living savior. That's your hope story You see, I don't think I have one because I was like prenatally nice. I didn't shoot anybody. I don't have needle tracks in my arm. Oh Try to fill in a fill in this piece of paper. If it weren't for Jesus. Okay, there's no Jesus. Tell me about your depressing times and you've got no Jesus. Tell me about your lonely times. Tell me about the day you lose the one you love the most suddenly, Ron. And there's no Jesus. Tell me. Tell me about your stressed out times when your world is caving in, when your dream has died. Tell me about your Jesus when the bad news. Tell me what life is like when you get that when he says the doctor says the word you dread. And there's no Jesus. You start to put that, well man, Jesus does make a difference in my life. I don't care how religious you are. No, you tell them you are living proof that Jesus makes a difference and changes things no one else can change and you need to know what your hope story is. I think you got did you get a little sheet of paper handed out to you that says the story only I can tell Did we get those? That's what we use to help our on Eagles Wings team learn and tell their hope story. I've used it with I used it with a group of people just this past weekend Me before Jesus was really running things, the turning point and the difference he's making. Let me give you the characteristics of a good hope story. It needs to be current, not I was four years old sitting in the sandbox A shaft of light hit me and I gave up sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What is he doing now? Now what did he do when you were four years old? Make it current? Make it transparent. Talk about you before Jesus was doing his thing. And make it specific. The more specific it is, the more they will dial in. To what you're saying. They're gonna you are gonna amaze them about your Jesus. Make it current, make it personal, make it transparent, make it specific, and make it all about Jesus, not about God Now the reason I say that is because the name there's only one name under heaven by which men must be saved. Yes, sir. That is the name of Jesus. God made it that way. And I've noticed that we kind of choke on the name of Jesus. We get to, and then God really helped me. It's because we know we're going to get pushback on the name of Jesus. Everybody's that when you say God, they can say, oh, that fuzzy pink cloud, whatever they think God is. Jesus is where the power is in that name. We sang it this morning. What a beautiful, wonderful, powerful name. So make it about Jesus. So the hope story, 1 Peter 3. 15, I mean, look at how our society sells products. They don't give you all the ingredients in the product. Marie Osman comes on and goes, I lost 50 pounds with Nutrisystem. You can look like me. I don't want to. Or Now they got guys going eat the food, lose the weight. Eat the food, see it worked. It worked. I can remember it. Eat the food, lose the weight What do they tell the difference their product makes? They don't tell you all the things you have to eat and diet plans and all of that. Medications, the med all the the uh Pharmacy commercials, I mean the medication commercials are hilarious. 20 seconds of you can look like these people doing everything and then the last 40 seconds are like you may die. It's hilarious, really. Time 'em, time the commercials. Here's the difference it'll make. It may kill you. But um but listen, you know what we say to, I say to God's people, you have a story. It could change someone else's story forever. You tell how his story changed your story and could change their story. Forever. You don't just tell your story. You use your story and you embed the gospel in it. What's beautiful is no one can argue with your hope story When the blind man said, once I was blind, now I can see, you can't say, no, you weren't. Yes, I was. And yes, I can. The only thing I can tell you happened was Jesus in between. You figure it out. That's a hope story. And so they can't argue with it. It's unarguable. And it's not threatening to them because you're talking about you, not them. But you tell them that when you discovered that the reason for you were struggling was you were struggling alone. You were struggling without the person Who made you that you were made for? You had a relationship you were supposed to have and he was missing. And it changed everything when you realized why he was missing. because you were away from him and you were away from him because you took your life out of his hands and put it in your hands and you realized that you had a bill to pay for that. and he came and paid it for you when he died on the cross and you found out that Jesus is not a religion, he's a man who's alive, who conquered death and nobody else ever did. And he walked into your life when you invited him, and that's why your story is a hope story when it used to be a hopeless Story. So you use your story to tell his story. Nothing breaks through like a hope story. Right guys? We see it day after day on reservations. They tell their hope stories Oh, I can't, I don't know how how I can tell you my excitement about this. You know what the history of the hope story is in the Bible? It has a long history. First hope story ever told was the shepherds. It says they left telling everything they had seen and heard. Started when Jesus was born. And it says everyone that heard them was amazed. Yeah, and then Um there was a um remember the the demon-possessed guy, the maniac of Ghidarah, you know, with the chains and everything, kept breaking the chains. After he comes to Jesus, he says, Jesus, I want to be go with you. Jesus said no. Go back to the people back home and tell them all the wonderful things the Lord has done for you. It says, and so the man went back. and told all the wonderful things the Lord had done for him, and he told all the ten cities of Decapolis, and all were amazed at what he said. Hello, a hope story. This is not a new idea. The woman of Samaria goes and tells her story. Many believe in him because of the woman's testimony. Mary, perhaps the original after the cross hope story. Four words. Five. I have seen the Lord. Hope story. He's alive. I have experienced it. So have you. Here's how I know. I have seen the Lord. Hope story. She goes back with her hope story. Paul, what does he do when he's in front of the most powerful guys in the in the in the city? The kings. Tells his hope story. You wouldn't believe what I was. Let me tell you what I am and let me tell you how I got here. You get it? The hope story. So how about getting yours together And being a model for your people. They already have their story. They just need to see it could bring somebody to heaven These are all things everybody already has. We've overcomplicated this and made it much harder than it is. And listen to Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11. And they overcame the devil. But the blood of the Lamb and the Word? Yeah, you know, of their testimony. What overcomes the devil? What Jesus did on the cross and what Jesus did for me. You tell him those two things? And you've unleashed hell-beating power. Love it. Can I hear an amen? Yeah. Because you all know you got a hope story. Well, now Back to a passion for rescuing lost people. How do we get that fire started? Needs a match. And you're it. Because if the sheep are to have a passion for the lost people around them, it must start in the heart of the shepherd. Our warriors on the Arn Eagles Wings team have told me that when they go out, and it is intimidating on those reservations, even for them. They pray, some of them told me this is what they pray. Jesus, break my heart for what breaks yours I think you we all in this room probably need to pray that because here's what I know. I know that was what what was once a passion when you started becomes a profession. And nobody knows the difference because you're still doing it. You're still checking all the boxes. You're still a good folk. But the fire's not there. A friend of mine is vocation by vocational pastor, some of you are, no doubt. I don't know how they do it. And uh so he's he's crunched to prepare his sermon. He works it a lot on Saturday, and he was working it on Saturday. His little daughter came in now. Mike has a has the big prophecy chart on the wall that kind of has everything figured out who's going up and down and when and who's kind of antichrist and all the stuff. And um and he uh and and it and it ends with the two resurrections and the one to life and the one to death. And and he her his little six-year-old daughter came in and said, Daddy, can I be in here? Sure, honey, you just know daddy needs quiet And so she's looking at this thing and finally she just blurted out. She said, Daddy, can't you see it? And he, honey, what? Can't you see them, Daddy? All those people going to hell? He said it had been a long time since I'd seen them. Maybe it's been a long time since you've seen them. If a passion is an intense driving feeling, I'll tell you the intense driving feeling that drove your savior to seek and save those who are dying. Is it yours? Well you can't drum it up. You have to ask him to break your heart again. Or maybe for the first time. Go ahead, Gotten, and break my heart. I want to make rescuing lost people. a governing passion of the rest of my life, as never before, and hope that that fire will catch. John Harper was a pastor. John Harper was a pastor in Glasgow, Scotland. He was known to be out of the church and on the streets a lot. Good. Encouraging people, putting an arm around them, praying with them, often asking them if they were saved yet. That's back in the day when people understood some of the church vocabulary His wife died after their little girl was born. She was now six years old. Moody Church had caught wind of him and asked him to come and speak in Moody Memorial Church. Of course the only way to get there is by ship, so we booked passage on the next thing available. Happened to be a new ship called the Titanic. John Harper took a six-year-old daughter. Sister-in-law went along to take care of the little girl while he was busy in ministry. And um they were a few days out and people said they'd see him on the deck and he'd be going out, praying with people, seeing how they're doing, maybe sharing Jesus with them. About 5 o'clock on the night before the Titanic hit the iceberg, he said, he wrote, it's a beautiful sunset. It'll be a beautiful day tomorrow. 2 a. m. , the Titanic. It's the iceberg. Everybody's scrambling, of course. He manages somehow to get his daughter and his sister-in-law to a lifeboat. Gets him in there and says, I will see you out later. He had a life jacket. When the ship reared up and split in half and sank in a matter of minutes, John Harper was in the water in his life jacket with many other people. And people said that John Harper would swim up to people. And he would say to them, have you believed in Jesus, the Lord Jesus, so you can be saved Have you believed in the Lord Jesus so you could be saved? One young man was a Scotsman as well. And he swam up to him and said, have you believed in the Lord Jesus so you could be saved? And the young man said, no. And then the current took John Harper away from him. Strangely, in that moment, John came upon another person and he said, have you believed in Jesus? And he said, no, and he took off his life jacket and said, I'm ready to go here. You wear this. He was brought back to this young man, this young Scotsman. Again he asked him, have you believed in the Lord Jesus so you could be saved? And the young man, even before he could say no, watched John Harper. sink beneath the water. Six months later. There was a survivors meeting in London, Ontario. Young Scotsman stood up. And he said, folks, and he told the story I've just told you. And he said, there, with two miles of ocean beneath me, I did believe in the Lord Jesus. And I am saved. And I was John Harper's last convert To his dying breath. He was all about rescue. Like his Savior. How about you and me? I want to pray for a minute. Would you pray with me? Let's take a minute and Perhaps you would pray where you are. Go ahead, God, and break my heart. I don't uh that passion has died or waned or passion has kind of become profession. Lord, I pray that you would help me see our community, the lost people all around us, through your eyes. So I can't leave them lost without a chance. Let's take a moment. And ask Jesus for what he, what you need from him right now, to be his shepherd, to take his sheep, where he's going to the lost. Lord, you know how many pushes and pulls we have on us. Sometimes just keeping the machine going is all we got But Lord, we can't be your leader without your passion. That intense driving fire that will not only move us to the lost, but perhaps be a fire that we catch. So your people will go to their tribe. So Lord, I pray for my brother or sister here as your trusted shepherd. That you will give them a heart like yours. And that for the rest of their life, they will be in mission with you. to seek, to save the dying. In Jesus' name. Amen. Take a deep breath for a minute. I want to share a couple of things with you. We have a little time left. I said that there were four passions. We spent most of our time on one. Because it's missional and there's a lot of a lot to be said about that because there's a lot. A lot we need to do differently. But I do want to talk to you about you personally. Let me give you another passion that is a driving. passion I know that Jesus wants to embed in your ministry to keep you going when it gets even on the hardest days. Second passion of a great leader for God is listening to Jesus. Listening to Jesus. Now it sounds so simple. There used to be a ride at Riverview Park in Chicago when I was a kid. Though it's long gone that amusement park. Most everything is long gone. I'm living proof that dinosaurs still walk the earth. They had this thing called the rotor. I don't know if you have a rotor like this. It's like a big washing machine. And it just goes around and around and around. Rotor deal. You know what it is? Big cylinder deal. And so I got up about nine years old. I get on and you get on the edge of the circle, and you're like, oh, this is stupid. And then it starts spinning. You go, this is dumb. And then the floor starts to disappear. And there's no floor anymore. You say, I'm nine, I'm going to die. I was scared to death. But I did not die because of something I learned later called centrifugal force. Centrifugal force, very simple scientific principle. The faster something is spinning, the more things get thrown to the edge Which may be what's happening to Jesus in your life. So busy with ministry. The faster your life gets spinning, The more Jesus Himself tends to get thrown to the edge. I know. And we get what I call Martha. I made it a verb. To get Martha's. I'm so convicted by Luke chapter 10 where it tells us about What happened with Mary and Martha and Martha was so busy serving and she forgot all about Jesus and she's resentful toward her sister. There starts to be disunity. Sounds familiar? When we start to forget that it's all about Jesus. And so I know that we have to make sure that our time to listen to Jesus takes the highest priority in our personal schedule. What did we say passion was? It is an enthusiastic devotion to a cause that has tireless diligence in its pursuit. The epicenter, you can take this to the bank, the epicenter of life with Jesus is a non-negotiable time with Jesus. That's it. Non-negotiable. Nobody can have it. It is the epicenter of my life. If if I can only do one thing today, I will have my time with Jesus. I don't call it devotions. I don't call it Bible reading time. I don't call it quiet time. Nothing wrong with saying those things. But for me, it is not time with a book. It is time with a person. This book doesn't care if I show up. Jesus does. This is his love letter. I've gotten love letters. Maybe you have, or you are willing to And you know what? As my wife would write this to me when we were separated before she was my wife, I got a whole big suitcase of letters back and forth. I read the thing five times, not because it said anything different, but because that's how I was with her till I could be with with her I read what she wrote to me. I was with her. Well, this is a way to be with Jesus. You know when Jesus called the disciples in Mark chapter 3? It says, and he appointed 12. They're like, okay, guys, you ready for your job description? Here we go. He appointed 12 that they might be with him. Number one job of a disciple, not preaching, not going out and doing no. Before you do anything, he said, the main reason I got you is to be with me. How are you doing on your biggest job? We skipped it with him and go out and do all stuff for him. With me. They finally got it, because you know when Peter and John were told by the Sanhedrin to shut up about Jesus? In Acts 4. 13. It says, and they noticed, even though they were unschooled than ordinary men, that these men had been, read it, what what? Read it with the two words. They noticed they had been with Jesus. That's it. You must not face the day until you have faced God, nor look into the face of others until you've looked into His. How are you doing on that? Great devotional writer Horatio Bonau wrote that. John Owen, the iconic Puritan preacher, the greatest of the Puritan preachers perhaps said, a minister may fill his pews, his communion role, the mouths of the public. But what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is, and no more. So um this is not just about reading a book. It's about hearing his voice. I read John 10. Four times in John 10 about the sheep and the shepherd, Jesus says, the sheep listen to his voice. Listen to his voice. Listen to his voice. Listen to his voice. Do you listen for his voice? You can be reading the Bible and never hear his voice. Because it's just your head doing this. It's all a left brain relationship with Jesus. You need to get your right brain going and feel Jesus. Because when the Emmaus wrote disciples We're with Jesus and it says he opened the scriptures to them. He said our hearts burned in us. That's what's supposed to happen. Not just something happened in your head. Today I read some verses. Thank you. What are you going to do differently because you read them? You don't just read for information. You read for transformation. James 1 says the Bible's like a mirror. How many of you looked in the mirror this morning? How many of you looked in the mirror this morning? We can tell who didn't. Because you look in the mirror and you change something You're supposed to look in the Bible and change something. So how are you doing on your time with him? And is it non-negotiable? Nobody can have it. That's the heart and soul of your relationship. You need to ask him for a passion for that. I miss you, Jesus. Not I didn't have my Bible reading time today. No, I miss you today, Jesus. My son Doug was about 12 years old, and we had just heard a sermon together at a conference about all the signs of the times and Jesus coming back, and he said, Daddy, I don't want Jesus to come back yet. I said, oh, really? How come? It wasn't what I thought he'd say. He said, because I want to have more devotions before he comes, because I want to know him better before I see him. Don't you? Yes. Listening to Jesus, a passion. Here's the third passion. I have to touch on this. Cherishing your family. 1 Timothy chapter 3 makes the condition of your family a qualification for being a leader for God If you're a hero at church and you're a zero at home, you are not a hero at all. Because if it ain't working with the people who know you best, if they say about you, man, I see my dad, my mom at church And then I see them at home. This is two different people. It's going to be very hard for them to really be excited about your Jesus. You remember the Exxon Valdez, that tanker, that oil tanker that created such an environmental uh havoc in Alaska? Actually the channel it was going through was huge. It wasn't that tough. It shouldn't have gone aground Unfortunately, that night, it was delegated down to a third-class sailor. You know who was supposed to be on deck? The captain was supposed to be at the helm then. And there was terrible a terrible tragedy. Because the captain was not at the helm. A lot of families. Captain's not at the helm. I've had so many guy pastors' wives tell my wife. I only wish that my husband would be the spiritual leader at home that he is for everybody at the church. It's supposed to start at home. And if you're not being, as Ephesians 5 describes, the Christ figure for your wife. How can you be the Christ figure for the people outside? My father-in-law farmed in a a very just a little piece of land. Karen's dad, they were in the Ozarks. No running water, no electricity like Laura Ingalls Wilder a hundred years late. And uh and it was really really hard uh to to do everything. He had two daughters. Actually he had two sons named Karen and Valerie. That's what it amounted to. It's a farm. And Karen overheard as she was doing dishes when the county farm agent came out, evaluated everything, and was telling him some things he needed to do better on. And she overheard her dad say, well sir, thank you. But I just want to tell you something. I have two daughters, and they are my most important crop. I hope your family is your most important crop. Because and that that is a passion of yours. to take care of them first. I just jotted sound some things they need. They need to be heard. They need you to not talk and to listen without condemnation, without shock. Without judgment. And guys, I have to tell you, our problem is we want to fix everything. We're fixers. Shut up and listen. Don't try to fix her. Don't try to fix him. Listen. One of the most disobeyed verses in the Bible, usually disobeyed at home, James 1. 19. Be oh you're gonna read this one out loud with me. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. How are we doing on that one? We are, all we do, we use, we have all the same words, we just move them around. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry. You know what's a good thing to try for? I realized I had to do this with my family. Didn't always get it done, but I tried. Every person in your family needs all of you once a day. If you have 19 kids, don't blame me. You may have to rotate. But if you make it a goal, some days they might only get two minutes of you. Other days it might take two hours. But you offer yourself to them with total attention. And if you absolutely, guys, if you absolutely want to have your wife freak out in a good way, just learn these words. Oh, tell me more. She'll probably need a cardiologist after that, so Try to give them all of you once a day and listen to them. Let them be heard. Some guys are like, man, I don't know what happened. I married a thoroughbred and she became a nag. I don't know what's happening Gentlemen, let me just say something to you. If you want to know why your wife is, quote, a nag, look in the mirror. Because most often or not, she's just trying to get into the life that was promised to her at your wedding. And when women are not heard, they will talk louder, longer, and more often to try to get into your life. They need to be heard. Secondly, your family needs to be affirmed. They get enough negative. They know what's wrong with them. The whole world tells them what's wrong with them. Ephesians 4. 29, our family memorized. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. How often are you encouraging your family with positives, your wife, your kids, things that you love about them, things you uh uh uh uh admire, water which you want to grow? If you see something, you want it to do it more. Water what you want to grow. My wife taught me that. Affirm them. They're torn down enough. I wonder, think about your communication. How much of it is criticism? You need to improve this. Negative? Man. Be their hero. Be their affirmer. To be first. They need to be know they're first. That's another thing they need. And you know how you communicate that? To a spouse? Or to a child? is to show that you love them more than their biggest competition for you. Everyone in your family knows what their biggest competition is for you. ESPN Internet Churchwork Hobby. Job. But they need to see that you put them ahead of that. That's when you know, that's how you feel loved. And say, I know how much dad loves this, I know how much mom loves this, but put me ahead of that. That's one way to let them know they're first. And the other need they have is to see Jesus. They simply need to see Jesus in you The people who know you best, is there only one you or are there different you's? Integrity means one you. There's one you. And they see you seeking him. They see you trusting him for things that you don't know how they're going to happen. They see you obeying him. They see you confessing things you've done wrong. They see you sharing Jesus. They see you living him. Here's a question you might ask, especially about your spouse If suddenly they were gone. A personal question for me. If they were gone suddenly, what regrets would you have? I know about that. Well, they're still here. Why don't you get on it? A passion to cherish your family Don't run to ministry to escape the hard work of a happy family. A mess at home is going to discredit your message and your ministry ultimately to other people. And a healthy family is the most powerful affirmation there is of your message and your ministry. By the way, ministry families don't usually unravel of because of what you're doing. It's probably because of what you're not doing. So first of all, be the shepherd of the first church at your house. That's your primary congregation. Got one last passion. Wish we had more time for it, but it's my fault we don't. Insisting on purity. Insisting on purity. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Large house, articles of gold and silver, some wood, clay, some are for special purposes. Golden goblets, some are for common use, garbage cans. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter, the unholy uses, will be instruments for special purposes. Made holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work. You know this. God doesn't look for charisma. He doesn't look for credentials He doesn't look for connections. He doesn't look for capabilities. He looks for clean. He said, I'm looking for clean. Having a hard time finding it. I'll take clean. For you may not have anything else to offer, but you're clean. 1 Chronicles 16, 9, the eyes of the Lord reign throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. He said, I'm looking. I'm looking for somebody to trust. Don't you want his eye to stop when he comes to you? Well, he looks for clean You remember when the Columbia, that terrible disaster with the with the shuttle Columbia? That thing blew up right after it lifted off. Horrible. They found out after all that study it was one little O-ring. that wasn't made right, that the cold temperatures had weakened, that caused the leak, that caused the disaster. One fatal flaw brought down the whole mission. I will tell you, Satan knows where your weak spot in the wall is. Oh, he knows. He knows what button to push. He's pushed it many times and had his way. The surveys are right, a large percentage of pastors struggle with pornography. Can't talk about it. With lust, a wandering eye. With pride. A pattern of lying. Doing what saying what you have to say, whether it's true or not. Control. Being a control freak. Problems with money. We've seen a lot of pastors fall, haven't we, all of us? We all know somebody. I would guess there's not one of us here who can't think of one who was a shepherd. and isn't anymore, some very high profile in recent months. You know what my belief is about that? That Satan has a chain. And something that perhaps when you were really young was your weakness. And so he gets you on that chain and nothing happens because he lets out that chain and he keeps letting it out and you never deal with it because you're doing so much good. You're compensating in so many ways for that weakness. And he keeps letting out the chain until you're at the point of the maximum influence in your life. He's going to wait till there's a spouse. He's going to wait till there's kids. He's going to wait till you've got influence. And you've got people looking to you, and he will yank that chain. You are never getting away with it. He just says, I will use it to bring you down when it will do the most damage to your family, the most damage to people you look to you, and the most damage to the name of Christ. Yep. Yank the chain. You probably know what that chain is attached to. If there is that fatal flaw that could bring down the whole mission, if there is that long chain that he's got tied to you, Don't leave here with that. I always liked Superman when I was a kid. And Superman was Superman unless there was kryptonite. And every one of us here has spiritual kryptonite. And for all the good we've done, it could all be lost because we haven't dealt with our kryptonite. Everything depends on you bringing into the light what is now in the dark. 1 John 1 says, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, Goes on to say that we that the blood of Jesus, his son, will purify us from all sin and we will have fellowship with one another. Everything that's wrong between us and Jesus, and everything that's wrong between us and other people may very well go back to whatever we got in the dark. A bitterness, a long resentment for the wounds inflicted, whatever it is. Get it out of the closet. Sin is a vampire. It thrives in the dark. It can't stand the light. Get that monster out of the closet. Bring it into the light. And be clean, be forgiven, and be free. Insisting on purity. There was one day a year that my son's room was clean. Thus giving me faith there are still miracles in modern times It was the day before Christmas. It was Christmas Eve Day. Yep. We opened our presents on Christmas Eve. So December 25th could be Jesus' birthday. And um and I I I'd say, guys, simple rule. No nothing new, no nips gifts coming in your room. So the rooms clean. I mean really clean. Man, it was like thunder upstairs. I'll go up there, get out of the way, man. I got vacuum cleaners, they're finding, looking under their beds, finding intermediate life forms Pepperoni morphing into something else and and uh they're I mean hosing it out like a monkey cage, whatever you have to do to clean a boy's room. And And I mean it was really clean. You could it was organized and everything because I knew that the gifts I wanted to give them that I bought for 'em, they weren't gonna get them till the room was clean. And you might be wondering why much some things you've prayed for haven't been happening. There could be a number of reasons, but one of them might be. He's saying, I can't bring new gifts into you. I cannot give you what I bought you, what I want to provide for you. I cannot bless you as I want to until you clean that room. This might be your day to do that kind of business with him. Four tremendous passions. Holy fire. Rescuing lost lives. Making sure you listen to Jesus. Cherishing your family insisting on purity. I wondered as I read the resurrection story again why Jesus had this message go to the disciples Tell them to meet me in Galilee. Well that was 90 miles away walking. Why can't we meet in Jerusalem? There's got to be someplace. We can meet in Jerusalem Why must we go to Galilee? I think here's my theory. Here's my reason I think he had him go there. Because that's where it all began That's where they first heard his voice. That's where they they first heard his call. That's where they first changed all the values, priorities of their life. It's where they fell in love with Jesus. He said, guys, I want you to go back to where you started. Because it's there I'm going to show you things you've never seen before And the lid came off their life. I think Jesus may want you to go back to Galilee Go back to when you first fell in love with him. Go back to when you first heard his voice. Go back to when you first heard his call And maybe there you'll figure out where he wants your heart to be now again. For if you go back to where it all started, and the passions of that time. It may be there that he can show you things you've never seen before and take you into a cause and a ministry and a life you've never had and never dreamed of. Back in Galilee