>> ED HINDSON: Thank you. It's an honor and a privilege today to introduce
to you Dr. David Jeremiah, our guest speaker. He's a New York Times best-selling author. His brand new book, "Is This the End?" is
being released next week, and the publisher sent 100 advanced copies to us here at Liberty. This is the first place it will ever be available. Is there hope in the darkness of our time? And he'll be signing those over here at the
table afterwards. I've known Dr. Jeremiah for over 40 years. He's a man of intelligence, integrity, of
passion, and commitment. He's an incredible pastor, teacher, preacher,
father, grandfather. In fact, his grandson David Todd is a freshman
here at Liberty, part of our football team, and we're honored to have him as well. Dr. Jeremiah is the senior pastor of the Shadow
Mountain mega-church in San Diego. He's the speaker on Turning Point’s national
and international radio and television ministry. He is the epitome of a pastor of head, heart,
and hands – a brilliant man with a heart for God and a love for people, and a ministry
that touches the world. He has literally, in these last years, become
America's pastor, because of the medium and the platform that God has given him over the
years. So I want you to give a warm welcome from
America's most incredible school to America's most incredible pastor, Dr. David Jeremiah. >> DAVID JEREMIAH: Thank you, Ed. I've been coming to this place for many years,
long before there was anything like what we have here today. In the early ‘70s I was starting a church
in Fort Wayne, Indiana with seven couples. I used to come here for the Super Conference,
and I remember fighting two emotions. One was greater vision and the other was intimidation. Walking away from this place and seeing what
Jerry Falwell was doing was both a challenge to me and also sometimes I thought, how could
anybody ever do that? Because as you know, Dr. Falwell was an incredible
leader. What you are experiencing right now is the
length and breadth of his shadow. He was a man of great vision. I've never quite known what people meant when
they say that a person is anointed, but whatever it is, he was. Dr. Falwell could walk into a room, and things
would happen. One time he came to my church in San Diego
during a political season. I called him, and I said, "Jerry, when you
come to my church this week will you try to behave yourself?" And he said, "What do you mean?" And I said, "You know, don't get into all
the politics. Just come and preach." He came to my church, talked about how sorry
the Democratic Party was for 45 minutes, gave an invitation, and 19 people got saved! I don't know how in the world that happens. I went home and told my wife. I said, "Honey, I'm doing something wrong
here. I don't know how this is supposed to work." My favorite story, however, has to do with
what was going on in the early days of the church. Most of you don't remember any of this, but
I sure remember it. There was this time in the church where churches
were being built because of the transportation services. It was called bus ministries, and they were
just huge everywhere. People were bringing folks from miles away
to church because of their use of busses, and Thomas Road Baptist Church had one of
the best. And this is probably an apocryphal story,
but it's legendary so I'm going to say to you what I heard. That here at Thomas Road they were bringing
people from all over, and they would bring these kids to the campus, and the kids figured
out how to game the systems. They would come and sit for Sunday school,
and then they would sneak off campus and go downtown and mess around until they knew it
was time for the busses to take them back home. Then they'd come back on campus. And the deacons at Thomas Road Baptist church
got tired of it, didn't think that was honoring to the Lord. So they decided to stop it, and what they
did was they got their biggest, meanest looking deacons, and stationed them around the perimeter
of the church. And if they saw any of these kids leaving
the campus they would grab them by the scruff of the neck, and march them down to the front
row in the Thomas Road Baptist Church adult service. And they'd have to sit there through the adult
service. So as the story goes, one day three kids were
marched down into the service, because the deacons caught them. They sat them in the front row, and Dr. Falwell
got up and gave a stem-winding, hell-fire sermon. These three kids came forward and got saved. They took them to baptize them, and after
they got done the counselor said to them, “We're going to have to get someone to take
you home, because your busses have already left.” They said, “Busses? We don't know nothing about no busses. We were walking by the church today, and some
guy grabbed us by the scruff of the neck and brought us down to the church.” So I used to say when I heard that story,
Falwell got people saved by accident more than most people get on purpose. He was an anointed man and a great friend
of ours, and it's a privilege to be here today in this convocation. It is truly an amazing experience to come
to chapel at Liberty. Several years ago I was asked to endorse a
book by Erwin McManus. Erwin, as many of you know, is a young lead
pastor of a very innovative congregation in Los Angeles called Mosaic. The title of the book he asked me to endorse
was “Seizing Your Divine Moment.” And I remember how very motivated I was as
I read the pages of that book. Included in the manuscript was this story. That in 1887, Elisha Hoffman wrote a song
that has become a part of classic American church life. Its name is "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,"
and the chorus goes like this: “Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting
arms.” Erwin McManus wrote in his book, "While I
am certain that these words have brought comfort to countless millions over the years, it is
at the same time an example of the direction we have been leaning far too long. The imagery that this great hymn gives us
of leaning backwards, it tells us that if we lean on the everlasting arms of God we
will be safe and secure from all alarms. The implications are obvious. If you lean back into God's protective arms
He will not let anything hurt you." He said, "I absolutely want to affirm that
we should lean on the arms of God, but I want to challenge both the direction of that leaning
and its outcome, for when you lean on the arms of God you may find yourself in the most
alarming situations you've ever been in—not safe from alarm. And even more important, when you begin leaning
on God, you begin leaning forward rather than backward." Another pastor wrote, "When did we start believing
that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things, that faithfulness is holding
the fork, that playing it safe is safe, that there is any greater privilege than sacrifice,
that radical is anything but normal? Jesus did not die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous." When I started serving God years ago, everybody
in my generation was choosing verses for their lives. It was kind of funny to me. Some of them would get up and say, my life
verse for this year is—. And I always thought a life verse was supposed
to be for your life, but some people got new ones every year. By the way, if you're looking for a life verse,
I've probably seen the inside of more Bibles than anybody living, and I can tell you that
Proverbs 3:5 and 6 is taken. Everybody has that verse as their life verse. I decided to find a verse that I hoped would
be a challenge for my life, and I remember one day as a young man when I chose these
two verses, and I asked God to make them meaningful in my life. Here they are: Colossians 3:23 and 24. "And whatever you do, do it heartily as to
the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the
inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ." I claimed those verses as my very own even
when I wasn't totally sure of what they meant, and I asked God to help me live out my life
in the fulfilment of these verses. I know, as I look back over my shoulder, that
I've fallen short of this standard many times, but I never lose sight of this goal: to live
for the Lord with nothing held back—to do whatever he asks you to do with all of your
heart, never looking back with regret, all in, nothing withheld, fully engaged in His
purpose for life. Someone showed me this little verse several
years ago that goes like this: “The saddest words of tongue or pen are these four words:
‘It might have been.’” I committed to never look back and feel like
it might have been if I had just tried harder, or if I had just given everything I had to
what God had asked me to do. I remember reading the words of Jack London—not
necessarily an evangelical. He said, "I'd rather be ashes than dust. I would rather that my spark burn out in a
brilliant blaze than it be stifled by dry rot. I'd rather be a superb meteor—every atom
of me in magnificent glow than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall never waste my days in trying to prolong
them; I shall use them." I remembered as I thought about these verses
hearing pastors preach, sometimes wondering if I was missing it. I would hear them talk about resting in the
Lord, and I looked around the Kingdom, and it seemed to me that a lot of people were
doing that. I'd hear about not trying, but to let the
Spirit do His work in your life, and I understood that. And I remember praying one day, "Lord, am
I in the wrong place here? Have I missed this?" And then I began to study the book of Revelation,
and I came across a letter that was written to a church called the church of Laodicea. This letter expressed the heart of God for
this church, and I'm sure you know this letter well, but let me read the words. "I know your works, that you are neither cold
nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot, so then
because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." That's what God said to the church of Laodicea. He said it would be better for you if you
didn't even care at all, but to say that you care, and give a half-hearted attempt at what
it means to follow Christ. It seems today there are so many of us in
our churches that are so afraid of being on fire for Jesus Christ. We do not want to be labeled as emotionalists
or extremists, yet in every other are of life we laude whole-heartedness. We are enthusiastic about entertainment and
sports, but much of Christian experience seems kind of dead and cold, without much zeal and
without much enthusiasm. Every August I go on break. I keep trying to extend it every year as I
get older, but while I was on break this summer, I read a book that my brother gave me. My brother is in education, and he said, “David,
you should read this book.” The book's written by Angela Duckworth, and
the book is simply called “Grit.” It attempts to sort out what part grit—which
the author defines as the combination of passion and perseverance—what part grit plays in
learning and achieving in life. As you can well-imagine, there are some powerful
stories in this book — stories that illustrate what people are willing to sacrifice in order
to achieve their dreams. I'd love to tell you a bunch of them, but
I just chose one really short one. Olympic swimmer Rowdy Gains tabulated how
much practice it took to develop the stamina, technique, confidence, and judgement to win
an Olympic gold medal. In the eight-year period leading up to the
1984 games, he swam in increments of 50-yard laps at least 20,000 miles. If you add in the years before and after,
the odometer goes even higher. Here's what he said: He said, “I swam around
the world for a race that lasted 49 seconds.” That's what the author defines as grit. Isn't it interesting that we are willing to
work hard for something like that, that lasts but for a moment? But what God has called us to is eternity. Could there be anything too hard for us to
do to affect the lives of men and women who are going to spend eternity either in heaven
or in hell, and we could be the catalyst that makes that decision? So let’s go back to my verse again, and
let me unpack it for just a few moments. "Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the
Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance,
for you serve Christ." While we're at it, let me throw in the Old
Testament version of that. This is really motivating if you listen to
it carefully. Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatever your hand finds
to do, do it with your might, for there is no work, or device, or wisdom in the grave
where you're going." What does it mean to be fully engaged with
God, to live your life wide open, not to leave anything on the table, or not to look back
and say, it might have been? Well Colossians 3:22 lays it all out for us. The scope of that message is simply “whatever
you do.” “Whatever you do” covers a vast territory
of activity. It means that nothing falls outside of this
instruction to the believer. This is not just about spiritual stuff, this
is not just about what we do on Sunday, or when we're in ministry. The Bible says, “whatever you do.” Please note that in the Colossians passage
this little instruction is set in the context of the family. It's at the end of a section that deals with
husbands, and wives, and children, and fathers, and bondservants. Paul makes no distinction between the pleasant
and the unpleasant. We are to dive into all of our tasks—fully
engaged with each one. This includes such challenges as fixing a
leaky faucet, cleaning up our dorm room, doing our homework, whatever you got, you name it. The word is “whatever,” and it covers
all that we do — no matter who we are – as followers of Christ. The Christ way is the all-encompassing way. There are not sections of life—our Christian
life, our student life, our athletic life. If you know Christ, and He's on the throne
of your heart, He runs everything from the center. Martin Luther King Jr. once said these words:
He said, "If it falls your lot to sweep streets in your life, sweep streets like Michelangelo
painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweet streets so well that all the hosts of
Heaven and Earth will have to pause and say, ‘here lived a great street sweeper who swept
his job well.’" Fully engaged—the scope of it is everything. You know that if we start to catch the vision
of this, it will touch everything we do—our relationships, our work ethic, our sports
life, everything, “whatever you do.” Now notice, Paul writes about the scope of
it, and then he gives us the strength of it. He says “whatsoever you do,” watch, “do
it heartily.” The phrase “heartily” literally means
from your soul or from the innermost fabric of your being, living life all the way through
to the center. To do something heartily is to do it with
everything you have. Here's the best illustration of that, that
I've ever seen in the Bible. For all of you who are worship majors, it's
kind of interesting, because it's a worship text. I was so shocked when I saw this, and I remember
reading this verse. And then sitting on the platform and watching
the people worship where I was, and asking myself, are we doing this? How many of you know if this verse works it
means we're to worship the Lord with all our hearts? So here's the verse. It's Psalm 103, verse 1, and this is what
it says: "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name." To be heartily doing what God has called you
to do means you do it with all that is within you. I wrote down a bunch of stuff. Play football with all that is within you. Study my assignments with all that is within
me. Serve my God with all that is within me. And once you begin sensitizing your mind to
this, you start realizing it shows up everywhere. For instance, in the Old Testament, the most
important passage to the Jewish people was called the Shema. It's found several times, but the primary
reference to it is Deuteronomy 6:4. "Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord
is one. You shall love the Lord your God—." Now watch this, "with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your strength." When you come to the New Testament, Jesus
adds one other: “with all your mind.” When we invest ourselves in life with all
that we have, and we don't leave anything on the table, we don't look back and wish
we would have—when we invest ourselves in our relationships, and our work, and our service
for Christ, our heads will hit the pillow every night with that pleasing, soulful kind
of fatigue. We will rest in the satisfaction that we gave
everything in the power and resources that God supplied, that we have poured out our
hearts, and souls, and strength in the pursuit of God's revealed purpose for our life. This is the life that I believe God blesses. Let me warn you; it's not easy. It's not for wimps. A lot of people say, “Look, it's too hard. I'm just going to hang in the middle.” You kind of float, coast on through. One writer said, "I've got news for you. True Christianity, courageous Christianity—the
kind the apostles Paul, and Peter, and thousands of other early Christians practiced—is not
for wimps. It's not for the faint-hearted, the lukewarm,
the moderately committed, or the occasional church goer. It's for the passionate—the ones with the
courage to say, ‘I believe in God. I will dedicate my every waking hour to His
purpose, no matter what it costs me.’” The Bible tells us the secret of such a life
is to realize it's not a life lived out for others to watch, but it's “as to the Lord
and not to men.” One of the most freeing things you can ever
decide in your life is whether you're going to live your life to please others or to live
your life to please God. It's especially important to those of us who
are pastors. You have several thousand people who watch
you every week. They don't always like what you do or what
you say, and our major responsibility is to find out if we're doing what God wants us
to do and pleasing Him. And then we live our lives passionately, all
out, 100% because we're serving before an audience of one, and we do it for His glory
and not for our own. Mark Batterson tells the story in one of his
books of Johann Sebastian Bach, who was to classical music what William Shakespeare was
to English literature. “Listening to Bach's music is a rapturous
experience,” he wrote, “but it's not just because of the melodies and the harmonies. It's more than the mere combination of notes. It’s the motivation behind the music. The reason Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and
Mass in B minor touch the soul is that they come from the soul. You see, Bach’s cantatas didn't originate
as music. They were prayers before they were songs. Literally, before Bach started a sheet music
he would scrawl at the top ‘JJ’ Jesu Juva, at the very top. It was the simplest prayer: ‘Jesus help
me.’ Then at the completion of every composition
Bach inscribed three letters in the margin of His music: SDG. Those three letters stood for the Latin phrase:
Soli Deo Gloria - to the glory of God alone. This was one of the rallying cries of the
Protestant—the Protestant reformation, but Bach personalized it. His life was a unique translation of that
motive. And so is yours and so is mine. We're to live our lives fully, totally, heartily
for the glory of God. SDG is living for an audience of one. It's doing the right thing for the right reason. It's living for the applause of the nail-scarred
hands.” As Mark Batterson wrote, “You go all in
and all out, because Jesus Christ is your all in all.” So all those years ago I decided not to leave
anything on the table. I've made so many mistakes and gone down some
wrong roads, but I always do it at full speed. And I don't want to slow down, and I have
no intentions of doing that. I haven't found any place in the Bible where
I've been given permission to do that. Some years ago I went through a couple of
rounds of cancer. People asked me, “Why do you still work
as hard as you do when you're past the time of retirement?” Well, when God gave me my life back after
cancer he didn't do so, so I could go sit on the beach. So I want to live for Him with all my heart,
and all my soul, every single day. I don't want to do stuff halfway. I want to do stuff with confidence and with
excellence. And I want to challenge you to think about
that. You're at a place where if you do now, it'll
set the stage for the rest of your whole life. Some of you wonder, “What do I do to ignite
this passion in my life?” So these final moments I want to give you
two things. Number one, I want to give you a new determination
and a new decision. Here's the determination. To explain it I have to tell you a little
story that many have probably heard about a man who was walking by a construction project
one. And there were three people working on that
construction project, and he walked up to the first one, and he said to him, "What are
you doing?" He said, "I'm laying bricks." He said to the second one, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm building a building." And to the third he said, "What are you doing?" He said, "I am building a cathedral for God." Now most of us would like to say we're answering
the third question the way he answered it, but in obvious observation that's not true. You see if you're a brick layer you've got
a job. If you're a church builder you have a career,
but if you're a cathedral builder you have a calling. And I'd like to suggest to you today that
if you're a Christian you have a calling. Primarily you've got three of them. You were called to salvation; you are called
to service, and one day you will be called to Heaven. But I want to ask you, do you know what you’re
calling it? Because I want to tell you if you're doing
a job or a career you can't live life with passion. It just doesn't work. But if you know in your heart that God has
called you to do something, a wonderful thing happens to you. You become proactive. You start taking initiative. Ask God today, as you're roaming around this
huge campus, “God what are you calling me to do? What is it you want for my life?” And I have a feeling that most of you have
a pretty good idea already of how God is moving you towards not a job or a career. And the second thing is a decision. This is all kind of pie in the sky, by and
by stuff, but what do I do? And here's what I'll tell you: do the thing
that in your mind you hear God talking to you about and you've been kind of shoving
it to the edge. Maybe it's to take a class you weren't going
to take or get involved in a ministry you weren't going to get involved in that you're
kind of hesitant to, because here's what I remember. When you move forward on what you know, things
will become clearer. But when you refuse to act on what you know,
all that you do not know will paralyze you and you will just float on through and be
not at the top at the bottom—just middle. Do what you know to do. Do what God tells you to do. It may be a little thing-maybe some little
thing He wants you to do. In the back of your mind you've been pushing
it away. If you do what you know to do, God will help
you to know what to do next. I'm not talking about knowing where you're
going to be 10 years from now or 5 years from now. I'm talking about living for God every day,
one day at a time. Listening to the Spirit of God and doing what
He tells you to do. Here's what I tell our people all the time. The time between when God tells you to do
something and when you obey it—that time in between those two things—that time belongs
to the devil. That's not God time. God's time is today. Here's what I want you to do. You do it. When you let time pass between His calling
and your response you give the devil opportunity to talk you out of what God wants you do to. So determine that you're called. We're all called if we're Christians. When we hire people at Shadow Mountain I don't
want people who want a job. I'm not looking for anybody that wants to
advance their career. I want people on my team who understand that
they are called by God to make a difference in this world, and I pray that you will become
people like that. I'm not sure that I know what Jerry Falwell's
life verse was. He signed my Bible once, many years ago, and
wrote in there Philippians 1:6. Basically what that verse says is the God
who has called you is going to help you all the way to the end, and I covet that for my
life and for yours. We can make a difference, all of us together,
but only if we live life to the fullest, without excuse, without reservation, and without regret. Let's pray together. Father God, may that be our take away from
this day—to be men and women who love you with all of our hearts, and all of our souls,
and all of our strength, and all of our mind, and who whatever we do, we do heartily as
unto the Lord. It's in His name I pray, amen. >> NASSER: Let's thank Dr. Jeremiah. Thank you sir—such an honor. Wow, powerful.
