Let's pray. God, may we just be mindful of Your presence
in this room right now, Father, and seek to please you only, God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you. I've been praying and thinking of what to
share with you guys here today and I'm kind of thrown for a loop, honestly. You see, I got my itinerary and it said I
had to wear a suit and so I just assumed that everyone was going to be in shirts and ties
at least and I had my secretary call and negotiate me out of a jacket. I don't know, it was weird. I didn't know you guys would all be dressed
normally. I'm trying to think, why do I have to play
dress up? But you submit to authority, I thought maybe
that's what I have to be an example to you of. But I was trying to think back even as I'm
looking at you during worship, I'm trying to think back to my Bible college years. Back to my Bible college days, and I went
to a Christian school, I went to Masters out in California. Oh, you guys like them? Good, good, good. But chapel feels so simple. It's weird from five years ago that I was
in chapel there and I'm trying to put myself in your seats. Even now, I'm like, "God, help me when I look
in their eyes, to try to think back and remember." And every year it gets harder and harder to
remember what was it like. What was I thinking during that time? Because, truth is, I'm 44 years old right
now and I just absolutely love, love, love my life! It's unbelievable every year seems to get
better for me. Lately, the last few weeks, every time I pray
to God, it's harder for me not to cry because I'm going, "God I just can't believe it. I'm living this dream. This is unbelievable. Are you this good to everyone? I can't believe how close I get to be with
you, how much I get to experience you, and it's so good." And my whole life has someways been that way,
and yet the truth is that if I could, I mean if I died today, I'd go, "Man, what a crazy
ride I've had. Amazing life!" But if there were 5 years that I could relive
and redo, it would be my 2 years of Bible College and my 3 years of seminary. Hands down, those were the worst years of
my life, and I wish I could go back, and I wish I could redo it. And it's not the school's fault, it's not
the seminary's fault, it's mine. And I was trying to think back and I go, "Man,
what made that time so terrible for me?" It wasn't like I wasn't having fun; I was
having a lot of fun. But honestly, I wasn't alive. I was doing a lot of Christian things, but
I wasn't really experiencing God. It wasn't like the intimacy I felt as a kid
or as a new believer. It wasn't the intimacy like I feel today in
that relationship I have with God. And yet I blended in fine, and I wasn't even
looked at as maybe a spiritual leader, I don't know, kind of, not really. Little bit? Was I respected? Ok. But you know, it was just a weird time because
I look back and I know, absolutely, there was hypocrisy in my life. Because you can learn the lingo and you can
fit in with everyone else, and then when you're alone with God, you know who you really are
but you just keep going with the flow because it's working for you. And so I know that was the biggest issue,
obviously is the hypocrisy, but I try to think through, what else, what was it? What's the message I want to give to you guys? And all these things come to my mind, all
these thoughts, even this morning. But I want to dwindle it down to two thoughts
if I can, and maybe we'll just get through one, but the first thing I'd say is you've
got to work so hard to live biblically. Man, I'm begging you, work really hard at
living biblically because the natural thing to do is just kind of blend in to like a culture
and I'm telling you, get alone with this book, where no one else is around, just you and
this book. To work hard at going, "What does that passage
really say, and what should my life look like in light of this passage?" To really think that through. To really work at that. Because this was the thing that, you guys,
there's going to be all sorts of distractions. Man, I really believe God has some things
for me to say today, so forget about whatever that is. What is that? Now I'm distracted. Ok, what did I just say? Forget about it. It's so easy to get caught up and yet, I remember
in high school I would read this book and sometimes I'd be like, "Is anyone else reading
the same book I'm reading? Because it seems like if this is true, then
our lives should look like this, and why then are okay with how we're living right now as
a church?" This looks really, not just a little different,
like a few tweaks we've got to make, it just seems like it's two different things. But I got caught up in the culture, but everyone
else is ok with it, I'm just going to do this. But no, when I was alone, man, I would take
this book, and I would take it so literally, so literally. I remember, and this is a little embarrassing,
but I remember, no it's not embarrassing. What am I talking about? Ok, I would read the passage about faith being
able to move mountains. And I just took that literally. I remember going back to my room, I still
remember being in my bedroom and trying to move stuff. Just like a pencil or something. Come on God, if I can move mountains, I still
remember looking at this thing and just staring at it and trying to move it because I'm going,
"Man, I have faith," I go, "God, I believe." Ok, I want complete honesty, how many have
tried to move something based upon that? Thank you. See? Ok, so you know what I'm talking about. No one else has probably ever given this message
but I am so glad some of you raised your hand. So some of you can relate to me. You look at the Bible and you go, "Man, I
should be able to move stuff." And so you try, because you take it literally. Now later on, I realized, OK, the Spirit's
given to us for the common good. You know the Spirit is for the glory of God
and maybe still I believe there could be a time when God, for His glory, not just so
that I would go, "oh, look what I did," but for His glory, would have me move something
and I still believe that could happen. But that's really cool that some of you raised
your hand on that because I would read some of these passages and I would think, wait
a second, if we really believe in hell, man shouldn't we be a lot more vocal about what
we believe and shouldn't we be talking to a lot more people? If we really believe in Matthew 25, to study
it in class that Jesus is going to come back one day in all of His glory with all of his
angels with Him, and He's going to come down and He's going to start separating people
to the right and to the left, and it's to those on His right were the ones for the least
of these. I go, man, that's a pretty crazy passage. And if that's true, shouldn't I be devoting
a lot of my life to caring for those people. Not to the neglect of the gospel, of course
I understand that, at the same time I read some of these things and I think, "man, that's
a big deal." That's one of the scariest passages in the
bible to me, of Him just gathering everyone and dividing them, well I was hungry and you
didn't feed me, so you go over there, and these go away into eternal punishment? That's huge. Or that passage of Lazarus and the rich man
and ... that's a scary passage to me, and yet again it's about the poor, I go, my logic
tells me I want to pour myself out to them. I want to care about those things because
obviously God cares about that stuff. And that's what I'm saying. Man, we're really hard at living biblically
because you will always be challenged. I don't care where you are and I don't know
a lot about Liberty, but I hear great things about it. It doesn't matter how great of an institution
you're a part of, but here in America, you will be challenged constantly to not live
biblically and to create some sort of culture that justifies what they want anyways, and
I'm saying, man, get alone with this book and do what it says. The fondest memories I have of Bible College
were those few moments when I would read scripture or hear a message in a classroom and my heart
would get stirred so much. See, because I always knew this stuff, it
always bothered me ever since I was in high school, but every once in a while, something
would get stirred up so much that I finally said, "I don't care if no one else is going
to do anything about it, I have to do something!" And I remember there were very few moments,
sadly, but those times when I go, "No, we can't just keep studying this, I gotta go
do something!" I remember everyone going to the beach, and
me going, "No! I'm not living by faith. There's no faith. There's absolutely no faith in my life. It doesn't take any faith for me to wake up
and go to the school cafeteria and eat with my friends. It takes no faith to be sitting in this classroom
listening to more bible and hanging our with people I agree with. No faith to go play intramural volleyball
now, and then go back to my Christian dorm. And then do the cycle over and over and over
again. Where's the risk? Man, there's a complacency that's going on
in my life, and man, I just got to go, I just got to do something." And I remember the way that God would meet
me during those times. And the things that I would experience where
I go, "Wow, that was God. That was God. That was so cool, that was God." It wasn't just the normal thing. And yet, sadly I didn't have the strength
to do that often enough. But over time, it just starts building in
you and my gut is that some of you, you've got this uneasiness, this lack of peace of
certain things that are building in you, that you see in scripture. I'm not talking about just rebellion, I'm
just saying no, I see this in the bible and it's driving me nuts. I've got to do something. Not that you're judging everyone else, you
just know how God is communicating to you and you need to be obedient, even if you don't
see anyone else doing it that way. I mean, some of you, some of you right now
are struggling so hard with your purity. Crazy crazy stuff. Some of you big time are addicted to pornography,
and so you come to chapel and you just feel gross. Man, it seems like you start your prayer the
same way every day. God, I'm so sorry. And I remember that struggle, man. I remember that struggle at your age and trying
to do everything like, even practically like, disciple myself, I go, "I'm going to discipline
myself. Ok, if I lust, then I won't eat the whole
next day." Just so the whole next day I will remember
and go, "man, that wasn't worth it. Man, that wasn't worth it." I lost 14 pounds, no. I remember just like that fight, you know? It was just that struggle and yet it wasn't
until later I'm reading through Galatians later in life and it was talking about man,
if you live by the spirit, you won't gratify the desires of the flesh. Like the answer is not just running constantly,
like, I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to do that. But really running towards something and saying,
"God, if your Holy Spirit has complete control over this body right now, what would you do
with me? Where would you have me go?" And you just start going, and you're like,
man, really? I guess I would go out there and start warning
people about the judgment that's going to come, I guess that's what I would do. And as I going, when you're doing that, and
you're fearful, and saying, "God, come through for me, come through for me." Man, you're not thinking about lust right
then. Why? Because you're living by faith. You're following the Spirit. You're doing something you actually need the
Holy Spirit to come through for you. Those are the times when you live in purity. It's when we stop that and we don't surrender
to the Holy Spirit and go, "Gosh, I don't really care what You want me to do today,
I got a plan, I know what I'm going to do." That requires no faith, it's safe, we're not
going to experience Him. You see, the times when you really experience
the Spirit of God are the times when you're really trying to make disciples. We claim, Matthew 28, The Great Commission,
"Hey, Jesus said He would be with us always. Man, I feel his presence." But what is that in the context of? As you're going out and making disciples and
you're baptizing people. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
and you're teaching them to obey everything He's commanded. He goes, "Hey, and I'll be with you." Why was the Holy Spirit given in Acts 1:8? You'll receive power, for what? To move stuff? No, to be My witnesses. Luke 12 says when you're out there and you're
doing this and these authorities, you're put before authorities and you don't know what
to say, He says, "Don't worry," He says at that very moment the Holy Spirit's going to
tell you what to say. So when are you going to experience Him? At that moment when you're put in a situation
where it's like, "I don't know what to say, Lord. You've got me in over my head." He goes, "Don't worry about it." Right at that moment, that's when you're going
to experience the Holy Spirit. See, the problem is sometimes in the Evangelical
church, we try so hard to experience the Holy Spirit when we're in a room like this. And so we'll worship more, and sing more,
I'm not saying we can't, I know we can, but that just seems to be the emphasis is these
times when we get together and sing. And someone goes, "oh, I felt Him. Yup, that was Him." And it's like, really? Is that the most biblical thing you can think
of? Or when you read this bible, do you think,
man, it seems like these people that were outspoken and went out and tried to make disciples,
tried to live for God out there, they would experience the Holy Spirit in some of the
craziest times in the context of being witnesses, in the context of making disciples, in the
context of being put in situations that were over their heads. God says, "Don't worry, my comforter will
be with you." But like I wrote in my book, its like, most
of us don't need a comforter, because we're so comfortable already, and we just keep making
our lives more and more comfortable and I just didn't see that in scripture. Some of you guys know that I stepped down
from my church a little over a year ago. I love my church and I still go back and I
preach every couple months. It's still my family. But it just got to a point where I just, I
would look at the need out there, and I'd look at how many resources we already had
in the church and in the city, and go, "Gosh, I think I need to go out and do something
more." And also, there's just this stirring in me
that I'm at most peace when I'm living by faith. And for a while there, it just again, at church
even, it just required no faith. It's like, well, I know people are going to
show up, I know I'm going to preach a passage, I already checked with other commentaries
and they're in agreement, so let's just do this thing. And it's interesting kind of the splash it
made, when I said, "Gosh, my wife and I just feel led to take our family and go somewhere
and we believe the Spirit's leading us and we're going to try Asia, and just pray in
every country as a family and say, 'God is this it? Is this it?'" And there was just so much pushback like,
man how could you do that? Or, that's so weird, or that's so radical. My response is, "really? That's radical?" I mean really, so if you're reading through
Acts and then you read and I'm in there. It says, "Oh, you know, after Peter and John
got out of prison, and oh, there was this Chinese guy that went to Asia." Would you go, "Whoa, that guy's amazing. That guy, I want to be like him." Or would you go, "Why is her even in there? Why even mention that, that's not even worth
mentioning. And yet in our country it's like, "no way!" And I'm just going, "No, see, I want to live
a life where I can feel a peace, like wow, I feel like I walked right out of this book." Man, and honestly when you look at your life,
could you fit in this book? And I go, well, I'm an Acts 29 guys. What would an Acts 29 guys look like? What would your life look like? If they wrote about you in here, would it
fit? Or would it just be weird, like, why would
you even say anything about that guy or that girl? See that's where the restlessness comes. I want to, at some point, feel like, look
like a guy that walked out of the bible and not a guy that walked out of the bible belt. And go, "Man, that makes sense." Guys, because a lot of things we do just make
sense within the culture we're in. It's not because we were studying this book
and going, "That makes sense to me, according to this book." That's the kind of faith that was in this
book. And that why I'm saying, work hard at that. The second thing real quickly that the Lord
put on my heart is just, work hard to stay in the world. Work really hard to stay in the world. Before the service, Johnnie was telling me
about one of the goals of Liberty is to create these professionals that are excellent at
what they do, and get them out in the workplace and be a light out there. And I praise God for that. But that's why I'm saying, while you're here,
even, to work really really hard at staying in the world. Because it doesn't make sense, don't think
that well, if I keep myself in a bubble for six years, then it will be easy to go out
there and strong. No, it's hard. It's a lot harder to be out there once you
leave. Man it took a while for me to get back in
that culture and to realize, wow, they're no really interested in the things that I've
been discussing with my seminary buddies for the last few years. And I had to fight really hard to try to keep
a foot in the world. And I'm not talking about compromise. Ok? I'm not talking about, "Oh, I want to fit
in so I'm going to do what everyone else does." I'm talking about going out and fitting in
in the right way. Fitting in in the way Paul talks about in
1 Corinthians 9, where he goes, "Even though I'm free from all, I made myself a servant
that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became like a Jew. In order to win the Jews. To those outside the law, I became as one
outside the law. So I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so I might win
the weak. I became all things to all people that by
all means I might save some." Paul says, "I got out of my circle." See, what's natural is for us to all gravitate
together. I hate conflict, I'd rather just hang out
with people who believe like be, think like me, it's just comfortable and Paul says, "No,
I go beyond those barriers. Yeah, you know, I'm ok with eating meat but
when I'm with these guys, I'm going to go, I'm going to become like them. I'm not going to walk up to a bunch of Jews
chewing on a pork chop." He goes, "I'm going to think." He goes, "Man, I love these guys so how am
I going to win them?" And he goes, "And it's an uncomfortable world,
I get into the world, and then do the exact opposite when I'm with those who aren't under
law. And then when there's weak people, weak. When there's strong, I'll go work out. I'll do whatever, I've just got to win these
people. So I get into their worlds." And you guys if there was one, one, if I only
had time for one this is what I would've said. I was praying about it on the plane over here,
pray about for the last week, "Well, Lord what do I say?" And I don't hear a lot of people talk about
this. But you guys, so many Christians, or people
who call themselves Christians in our country are so incredibly weird. And I don't mean weird in a good way. Like, we stand out as a light into the world. I'm just saying weird socially. Extremely weird socially. And I believe as I'm praying, "God, for the
sake of the Kingdom of God," because I don't want to come here and give a message that
everyone's happy with or whatever else, I just think, for the sake of the Kingdom of
God, and its spread in our nation, what is that message? And the message is that you know, we cluster
together and we just start talking about our stuff and it's most comfortable and we don't
really try to get into other people's worlds out there. And then by the time we graduate, like to
get back into the world and to have a conversation where someone in the world. See, it's different. Because in the church it's so much easier
to make friends because everyone has to show grace and it's like, " Oh, look at that person,
I have to be your friend." So you go to a church, it's easier. They have to love you. they have to like you. But to go out in the world, and to actually
befriend people, and to be loved by them, and to be connected with them in order to
win them. And again, not talking about compromise. Because that's the problem. We're weird when we're not supposed to be
weird, and then we fit in when we're supposed to stand out. I'm talking about getting into where people
actually like your personality and they find you interesting and you get into their world. And I hear the excuse all the time from people
in the church, going, "Well, the people in my work reject me because I'm a Christian." I go, "No they don't! They reject you because you're weird!" Seriously. Because I'm a Christian and I don't like hanging
out with you. You're not interesting. You don't even care about my life. You just have this lingo and this self-righteousness
about you. And yet it's not manifesting itself in the
right ways. Man, I've been a pastor for all these years
and I still remember one of the early years I listened to this pastor talk about his Christmas
program and it was great, praise God. A lot of people came to the Lord and he talked
about how many people from his church would work there at the church 10, 15 hours a week. And the hundreds of thousands of dollars they
spent on this, and I go, man, just respectfully I want to ask, you had all these people show
up the church building for 10 or 15 hours a week. I go, wouldn't it have been more effective,
wouldn't they have accomplished a lot more if they spent those 10 or 15 hours a week
for 3 months just hanging out with their neighbors and inviting them over for dinner and just
telling them about Jesus? And I still remember his response, "Well,
of course that would be more effective. But no one's willing to do that." And I still remember my answer, "Yeah, you're
right. That's true." That was my answer back then, my answer now
would be, yes, but that's stupid, that's lame. So we'll create a whole different program
for people so that they don't have to make disciples? "Oh, you don't want to talk to your neighbors,
you don't have enough social graces to build a relationship and look another human being
in the eye and tell them about the thing that's most important in your life? That's too much for you? Ok, just come to the church, show up, I'll
dress you up as a reindeer, let's practice." Right? We make like this whole other system and we're
spending all this money. Why? Because we won't look at someone in the eye
and just be a normal person and go, "Man, I like hanging out with you and I'm worried
about you because I knew what God's done in my life and I know this God is real and I'm
just begging you. Man, you've known me, you've seen my life
and I've got to tell you, it's all because of this Jesus." And because we're not willing to do that,
we've got to spend all this money, create all these programs so that we don't really
have to make disciples. And yet I look at scripture, I go, "No, we're
all supposed to be making these disciples and we've got to stop being so socially awkward
and just start looking at people. I was at, ok, I'm in San Francisco now, and
a couple you are happy about that, and I was at the subway, the Bart station, everyone's
coming out of this Powell street exit. Just tons of people. And my buddy, who's a Godly man, I love him,
he goes, "I want to stand here with a sign that says, you've got any questions, not to
you know, preach hell fire brimstone, just any questions?" And he goes, "What do you think of that? If I just kind of stood there with that?" I go, "Man, that's cool man. I'm glad that the Lord's putting that on your
heart, and if so, go for it." I never want to stop someone from being led
by the Spirit, so I go, "go for it, go for it, go for it." I go, "But what bothers me, what drives me
crazy about that scenario is everyone coming off that subway works with a believer." And yet that supposed Christian has no influence
in that person. That Christian would have the greatest opportunity
to show the light of Christ but either he or she's not living a life that's supernatural
that where everyone's like drawn to that person, or he's so scared that he or she never speaks
up and yet they have the greatest opportunity. But because we won't do this, because we won't
look at another person in the eye and just go for it, well then you know what, we need
someone to preach on a street corner, we need someone to create a big Christmas musical
and hope that the flyer will get them to the church and save them. And it's like, no. When I look at scripture, it was the everyday
ordinary person working the ordinary job that was out making disciples and this was their
life. And yet, my concern is, man, this time you
have at this school could be awesome. It could be a great equipping station for
you to help you get in the world and know the world a little better. At the same time, for some of you this could
be a complete waste of time, money, energy and when you leave this school, you'll be
less effective for the Kingdom than when you came in because you lost touch with the world
and so many never get back to engaging into the world and they get safer, and safer and
safer and become less and less interesting and significant to the world. And I guess my final thought is - Gosh! There's like ten more things I want to say,
it's driving me crazy. I wish I could. So many stories of just crazy things God's
doing, and I've got a flight in a few minutes. I guess the main thing is, you know, part
of my problem, I think, when I go back to my Bible college days is this, let me wind
it down with this. I think I had an expectation of the school
that was unfair. In other words, sometimes we just think, well
once I sign up for Bible College or seminary, OK I made it and they're going to lead me
in this journey and my walk with the Lord. That's not really their responsibility. That's you and God. And that's what I'm realizing now is you really
need to take ownership for your own walk with the Lord and many people in this book, read
about it, stood on their own. It was them and God. And they didn't count on an institution doing
everything for them and I'm telling you sometimes - I'm not bashing Bible study. I love bible study! I study it all the time, OK? - But sometimes even Bible studies can be
damaging because the Lord is stirring something in your heart when you're alone with Him in
this book and comfortable church goers coming alongside of you and talk you out of it. And that's why I'm saying, man, fight hard
for that time alone with the Lord, with the Holy Spirit. Study this book. He gave you His Spirit so you could understand
this. Study it and then do something. Even if no one else is. The rest of the people, they'll follow. All right, just real quick. Well, I'll just summarize it. 1 Samuel, I think it's around 14 to 16, just
read that whole section. I love it because it's the story of all the
Israelites and Saul, they're freaked out by the, I don't know, Philistines, Malachites,
someone of the "Chite." They're just afraid of these "Chites" and
everyone's terrified. And I don't know if you remember the story,
but Jonathan looks at his armor bearer and there's just thousands and thousands and everyone's
afraid, they're hiding in caves or whatever, and Jonathan looks at his armor bearer and
goes, "Let's go take them. I think in the Lord puts them in our hands,
I know there's 36,000 of them" or however many there were, "and there's two of us but
the Lord can do that. I moved a pencil last week. C'mon, trust me." And he just goes, and he just scales this
mountain you know. You've got to read the story, I don't have
time, but it's such a great story, because he gets to the top and they're mocking him
like, "Yeah, come on." And he just kills like 20 of them, he and
his armor bearer. But he creates this stir and everything starts
shaking. And the people, all the people knew God was
on his side. So they freak out, they start fighting each
other. Then Saul looks on and goes, "what's going
on there, who's missing?" "It's Jonathan. It's Jonathan and his armor bearer, it's just
the two of them up there." He goes, "Let's go!" So suddenly there was this courage of men. Let's go, something's happening, the Lord's
stirring. And then it goes further and it says when
they started chasing the whoever they were away, it says, then the rest of the Israelites
hiding in the caves, they started running along with them. And I thought, that's so lame. That last group, right? That just goes, "Yeah, I'm not going with
Jonathan. Oh, I still don't know. Oh, they're running now? Ok! Yeah, we got you!" And I just thought, man, I don't want to be
that last group that waits until there's a stir of God and goes, "Ok, now it's obvious
we're going to win. Ok, He's coming out of the clouds. Yeah, I told you guys!" I don't want to. I want to be that Jonathan that goes, "Look,
I'm looking at this thing and I really believe God could do this through me and so if it's
me and my armor bearer, we're going to go for it and you know what? Other people will jump on, but they're going
to wait until they see a movement of God in you. And then there's another group that'll jump
on, but they have to make sure that it's a no-loss situation and everyone's going with
us, ok, I'll come along." And I'm just saying, what kind of person you
want to be? See, it starts here, it starts right now. Right now you can start some habits that will
absolutely ruin you and one of those is by clustering together and not being out in the
world. It's only going to get more difficult. The longer you stay in that bubble, the harder
it is to leave and what a great opportunity, what a great mission this school has. But it really has to start with you fighting
to get out in the world, and actually build relationships with people that don't have
to show you grace. They don't have to like you. They don't have to be your friend. But you do all things so that by any means
you might save some of them. I'm going have someone come up and pray for
us.
