Man Church feat. Jonathan Evans - April 30, 2017

good evening everybody doing all right that's good that's good let me move this over a little bit so I can see you guys it's good to be here just have the opportunity to to share with you Rick invited me you all know that guy a pretty funny guy he just asked me if I believed in free speech I said yes he said good come give one so-so no I'm excited to be here and just to have the opportunity to share with you from God's Word in my experience and all of those different things I do want to make sure one thing though where's the guy that got the helmet the helmet are you a Cowboys fan tellin this that was a slowly I want to make sure he doesn't take it and destroy it here's a Redskins fan we might have done some damage with that helmet right okay so we're good there a good at least for now but that's good I want to thank you guys for having me here it's been a blessing just to be able to talk to some of you outside and just have the opportunity to share with you and just be around this atmosphere it's a great atmosphere when you can get men together around God's Word if we can get more men to stand up and become the men God has called them to be that would be great for the kingdom of God and so I'm excited I got to say big thanks to my wife for allowing me to be here we have four kids all under eight and so exactly so if I'm here with you that means she's carrying the load at home and so thanks to her my daughter's name is Kelsey she's eight I got a son named Jonathan the second we call him Jay two just to throw a little swag on it he's six and then we have Camden who's three and then Kyler who's one so we're definitely in the middle of the woods with no navigation just trying to figure out how to get all this things done he said that he mentioned that I'm the chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys and have been this will be my sixth year doing that and God has used my I know some of you are probably thinking you need to do a better job but yes what you need to do but we're working others always clapping it is but we're working we're working hard on that you know it's a hard deal and being in that atmosphere as a player you realize that these guys 20 years old with 15 million dollars in their bank account I mean it's like they're just getting handed sin you know it's basically what it is you give a 20 year old never had a dad nobody's taught them anything about money and all of those different they usually hand them 15 million dollars we start from a different place and discipleship getting him to prioritize and them whoever it is to prioritize God's word over all that that they'd just been handed from the world so it's a it's a it's a great opportunity to do that and it's amazing how God will use your experiences to take you to the place where he wants you to be where he where you can do ministry on his behalf and so I'm happy just to be able to do that but before we get started let always start with a word of Prayer and then we'll just jump right in Heavenly Father we love you thank you for our time thank you for man church where we are the church help us to be that in our communities Lord and help the men in this room to not just read about it and I just learned about it not just talk about it but to walk it out because the question that we ask in today's culture are where are the men we love you and honor you in Jesus name Amen let's ask that question where are the men because these days it seems like we're not around I mean we're around we're just not around because most men choose to be more like the abominable snowman footprints everywhere but nowhere to be found we live in a generation of boys that are being raised to be men just like their mothers because 70 percent of us in the african-american community we don't even have fathers and for percent and rising in the Anglo community don't even have fathers so I'm just saying we're around we're just not around spending all of our time right in the middle of a decaying culture that we ourselves about women they're forced to be mothers fathers leaders protectors nurturers providers they're pretty much doing it all in some sense operating all outside of their created being and then you and I we want to take them to the counselor and tell the counselor that she won't submit submit submit to what submit to a man who himself will not submit well that would automatically create friction and besides it's an inherent contradiction Jesus whole life was about submitting to the will of his father so if we're supposed to be men who are following Christ we ought to submit as he did so that our kids can watch us submit to the Father so the problems you feel you may have with your wife the next man won't experience with your daughters girls some have a twisted view of love these days I've literally seen some girls date the devil just to experience a man while boys think their manhood is wrapped into how many women they can sleep with just like their Rolling Stone daddies and handling their problems with a gun in their hand and it's all because of the absence of a man oh we're around I'm just saying we're not around just look around our culture is suffering because of the man's unwillingness to suffer but when I look at Christ I see that he suffered especially when he hung on the cross so it seems to me that suffering is the job description given to man from the boss suffer yeah that requires that you will not be a little bit tougher and I'm not talking about just staying at work later and chasing harder after shiny things and dreams you know how men do even though I do realize that we all have to provide I'm talking about suffering and Christ's sufferings because that's the only thing that's going to keep your legacy in mind like when my granddad died and he was there laying on his death cot his kids and his kids kids weren't standing around talking about the things that he bought I think not it was more like when my sister crystal ran over to him and said grandpa grandpa your great grand kids are running around going crazy as if this is a day to celebrate do you want me to quiet the boys grandpa said no no crystal you don't understand this is a day to celebrate because I wanted to doubted his noise and then it happened he fell asleep right there in the middle of his own den but I can still see the pride in his face because he was surrounded by all his kingdom men that came from him yeah we prayed with him and we also thanked him for not letting anything in his life be a deterrent because now that allows his legacy the opportunity one day to hear what he heard that day well done my good and faithful servant but I got another granddad we call him too daddy he's in Baltimore he still lives and some of you may know a little bit about his story because that's how my dad Tony Evans is who he is first generation Christian don't think the Evans family has always been saved you'd be amazed from high school dropouts to drugs and poverty that was our legacy back in the days but to dad he found that word he ran into Christ and then he got saved and he held that thing closed and never fumbled it even though his wife took him through an emotional maze and if she was still here she tell you it lasted about 365 days he suffered a lot as well but around about day 367 she even came downstairs with tears in her eyes because the spirit put her under a spell and I'm not talking a broker Debra this was a courageous investment of my two daddies time and now that one year of suffering has become a 50-year harvest that I can call mine and my wife and my daughter and my son and my son and my daughter we call sweet one and it's our job to hold that legacy tight until Jesus comes and says that is done but enough about me what about you what is your legacy become and if your legacy hasn't started yet then I dare you to be the first one but that's enough as far as this point is concerned I've said what I need to say besides my prayer is simple that the minute shave Mountain will become Kingdom and if not already and start building your legacies today because that will be your greatness today I want to talk to you about the pursuit of greatness I remember when I was with the 2006 San Diego Chargers playing in the NFL and I went into training camp and training camp this was 2006 prior to the rules so training camp was a beast we were playing a real football in 2006 now you gotta you know you can't wear pants but this many days you can only have this many practices now they're you know they're doing volleyball or something we were playing real football I get on the guys all the time about that but I remember getting up at 6:00 a.m. not getting back to your room till 9:00 p.m. two sometimes three practices if he wanted to insert a special teams practice full pads every single day he didn't care about your existence we were trying to get something done in training camp in 2006 it was rough by days for we didn't even know what day it was because every practice you think is a new day nope it's the same day if you see a light at the end of the tunnel it's not a light if it is a light it's just a light of an oncoming train you didn't feel like you were ever going to get through this thing the veterans by day five we're talking about this was the year that they were going to hang it up the rookies were calling their mom saying get everything ready I'm not going to make it we were feeling ourselves whining grumbling groaning and complaining just trying to make it through this monster that we called training camp and I remember day seven like it was yesterday because it was terrible guys were feeling themselves didn't want to come to practice guys were bandaged up just trying to make it through this monster called training camp and I remember that practice Phillip Rivers was throwing interceptions LaDainian Tomlinson had two fumbles lights out Shawne Merriman wouldn't anybody which was very rare for him and I looked at the head coach and I saw that he had taken notice but he didn't say a word he just rubbed his chin I said okay great well we got away with one we can do this every day let's just get this over with too bad on day seven we still had four more weeks to go we were just getting started I thought we kind of got away with it that is until we got to the team meeting room at 7:00 a.m. the next morning we're whining grumbling groaning and complaining I'm slouched down in my seat eyes half shut just trying to make it I'm sitting next to LT LT is sitting next to Darren Sproles Darren Sproles is sitting next to Michael Turner we're just got a great group of guys who aren't acting great at all because we're feeling ourselves based on our circumstances and you can hear the noise through the room and then finally the head coach enters the room and all goes quiet because the elephant has just entered the room he goes by the name of Marty Schottenheimer a Bill Parcells era coach a tough guy and we knew today was different because he always would do a team speech before we kind of went out to practice but we knew it was different because this day he just pasted and he looked for about five minutes no talking at all five minutes and no talking seems like an eternity and he looked at each individual player right between the eyes almost as if to see what we were thinking so I sat up in my seat because I didn't know what was about to happen and finally he begin to speak he said man I did not just cast a net in hopes that the great players that I needed to win a Super Bowl right here with the 2006 San Diego Chargers would just so happen to fall into it he said that's not the way I work you've been hand-selected cherry picked and chosen by none other than myself and I'm Marty Schottenheimer I don't make mistakes with who I choose I watched your film beforehand I know exactly what you can do and how you can contribute to the team which is the reason why you're sitting in this seat because you've been called I have a playbook that I know works has been tried and tested over the years of my career I've given you a coaching staff that I know can coach you up I've given you the facilities that you need in order to meet in order to do the things that you've been called to do based on the book and most importantly I've given you a uniform with your name on it but you got to do something for me I can give you all that a book facilities you know for all of those different things but if you don't maintain the integrity of the uniform that you've been given you will nullify the promise that I'm making I'm giving you a promise that we can be great right here with the 2006 San Diego Chargers but if you don't believe it in your feet then we won't experience it on the field so stop whining grumbling groaning and complaining stand up strap on your pads put on your helmet and meet me at the 50-yard line because the time for your greatness will start right now I'm kind of feeling that right now and that's the paraphrased version few words I can't use but I remember that crystal clear like it was yesterday and then I retired from the Washington Redskins in 2009 and I didn't know what I was doing with my life I knew what my dad was doing I knew what Priscilla was doing I knew what Anthony was doing I knew it all I knew what they were doing but what god I felt forgotten I was just lost I was in no-man's land just trying to figure this thing out and so I prayed about it and God knocked on the door of my heart and he said you remember that speech Marty gave you back in 2006 I said sure he said haven't I said the same thing to you in Romans 8:29 he says that those that he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed into the image of his son that those that he predestined he called that those that he called he justified that those that he justified he glorified so what then can you say Jonathan if I'm for you than who in the world can be against you and that's that moment that's when I realized that I have been called and you have been called and your sons have been called and your wives have been called and your daughters have been called to nothing less than greatness in the kingdom of God and the last time I checked he's God he doesn't make mistakes with who chooses that means if you're sitting in this seat he saw your game tape beforehand and put you here for a specific purpose and a specific reason you say well Jonathan why am I not experiencing that on the field then well maybe you're not maintaining the integrity of the uniform you've been given it's time for men to move from passivity on the bench to getting in the game and making plays we're looking at God and Goddess and I'm looking at you there's a man who was called to greatness that I want to touch on just three verses today Genesis chapter 12 you got your phones of your Bible you can turn there just for a second because I want you to see this just for our little study today because we all have been called for greatness and here's a formula for it Genesis chapter 12 one two and three these are three of my favorite verses in the Bible because they say a lot now the Lord said to Abraham go forth from your country and from your father's house and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation I will bless you I will make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed that's a monster blessing that's a monster promise let me just say it again so you can see how the Bible preaches itself hey Abraham my word is coming to you and I want you to leave your country your relatives your father's house and go to the land which I will show you and then when you get there I'm going to make you a great nation I'm going to make you a great name matter of fact I'm going to bless you matter of fact even beyond that I'm going to bless those who bless you and I'm going to curse those who curse you I'm going to have your back 100% you're going to be a blessing and in you Abraham all the families of the earth will experience a blessing that's some good stuff is there a man amongst me right now that wants to be blessed he'll raise your hand you're not telling truth that God was going to bring a great promise to the man Abraham but notice when God's Word came to Abraham Abraham was already settled in Haran in chapter 11 verse 31 and 32 you'll see that Abraham's family had already settled in Haran to settle means to drop anchor settle means I'm not going anywhere else settle means I'm good in my career I'm good in my family life I'm settled and how I do things this is how I roll and I don't plan on advancing or going any further that's what settle means the word there is not camped camped means I'm on a journey I stop for a minute and keep going he's saying I have settled I'm done and then the word of the Lord comes to Abraham and says I want you to get unsettled from the place where you've settled and go let me tell you something about the voice of God when the voice of God comes to you it unsettles those who are settled God's voice is not a settling voice some of us ask the question well what's that voice I hear in my head that's telling me what I already want to do anyway that's your voice that's why it sounds like you it's that same voice that's not saying something nice when someone cuts you off on the freeway it's that voice but when God speaks he says in Isaiah 55 as high as the heavens are above the earth are my ways from your ways and my thoughts from your thoughts I'm not thinking what you're thinking matter of fact my plans for you and your plans for you are not located in the same location he was telling Abraham to go somewhere totally different than where Abraham had settled so he gave Abraham an unsettling word you know when God is talking when you're trying to not think about that thing anymore or that thing doesn't make sense and for years you've been trying to get away from that thought but because it's an unsettling thought but you can't find your way away from it that's because God is talking you're trying to move away for there's no way I'm doing that that doesn't make sense I already make more the job that I have why would I take this job why would I go to ministry when I'm doing so well but why can I not stop thinking about it the last three years of my life because God is talking and when God speaks he unsettles those who were settled Abraham I need you to go to a land that you've never seen before Noah I need you to build an ark even though you're not well with rain Sarah you're going to have a baby at 90 David you're a shepherd boy you're 16 but go kill Goliath and be a 40-year reigning king of over Israel it doesn't make sense that's because God is talking and there's some men in this room that are thinking about some circumstances in your life where God is calling you to something and it doesn't make sense but it's unsettling you can't figure out why you can't shake it let me help you understand now it's because God is talking and it's an unsettling voice he told Abraham I need you to go I need you to be uncomfortable for my word leave your relatives your country and your father's house what was he telling Abraham to do before he gives him this promise of greatness he's telling him to leave everything he knows behind leave your will your way your perspective your history what you thought how you were raised at conflicts with God's Word all of those different things that you thought were right that aren't right I need you to leave it if you want to experience the confetti of greatness that I'm holding in my hands in Bible study message you can't jump to the promise before you get to the go you can't use God's Word out of order and expect God to show up the promise comes after you get uncomfortable you say well I'm just waiting on God to show up and show out God is waiting on you to show up and chill out and at the point in which you move he'll move and it'll be just like that and our church we install motion to detector lighting the reason why we install motion detector lighting is because people who don't pay bills don't turn off lights so as the church was getting bigger we had to figure out how to save money on our electric bill because things just weren't weren't working out in that area so this is back in the day obviously it has been out for a long time but it works you know how it works when there's movement in the room being when there's no movement in the room boom the low voices means it turns off so it's simple the power is in the room but the experience of the power is totally dependent upon the movement on the ground if there's no movement and on the ground the power is there but the experience of the power is not there and for a lot of men God is an ethereal spirit and never-never-land who you never get to experience his power in your life and you're saying why won't he move and he's saying why won't you move because at the moment that you move I'll move that he's telling Abraham before we get to the good stuff before we get to the promise before we get to the greatness before we get to the confetti I want to see if you're going to move from the place where you're comfortable and if you're willing to get uncomfortable based on my word and when you move then we can get to the good stuff God has greatness for men in these room but he's waiting for you to get uncomfortable and what he's calling you to do we've become comfortable in church I can get around my boys I can sit down we speak the same language Christianese where you know talking the same we got things going on we kind of have the same things Gould kind of fit in Matthew chapter 5 he says that we are the salt of the earth he does not say that we are the salt of the shaker salt the purpose of salt and the Bible was to be a preservative for the meat they didn't have refrigerators so they would salt coat the meat so that the meat would be preserved by the salt so if the meat is decaying it's not the fault of the meat if the meat is decaying it's the fault of the salt and as men will sit and we'll say okay well they're the culture is terrible and man can you believe this and we're shaking our heads and God is saying excuse me sir if the fault stays in the shaker you can expect the meat to decay he's waiting for men to stand up and move as disciples of Jesus Christ this is what he's called us to and he's put us out of our comfort zone it's comfortable in here but the question is after the huddle is broken can we now score 70,000 people don't come to well now it's a hundred thousand now that we built that new stadium we've got a hundred thousand people don't show up to a Dallas Cowboy football game to watch eleven men bend over and huddle they're not paying Jerry Jones prices for that they don't come to watch eleven men have a private conversation they pay their money because they want to know what difference the huddle makes they want to know having now huddle can you now score they want to know what are you going to do about eleven men on the other side of the ball that are daring you to go public with that private conversation that's what it's about it's not about the comfort of the huddle it's about the uncomfortable place of the line of scrimmage and that's what God has called us to before you can experience the touchdown before you can experience the throw before you can experience the big catch everything that God wants to do in your life the route design that he has for you for the perfect positioning for you where he's called you to be before you can experience all that you got to be willing to get uncomfortable and he tells Abraham I need you to go I go was the transitional we're looking in verse one you see go there he went from staying settled to going somewhere else so that means my transitional term is go that's the word I had to look at so being a Seminary graduate in 2015 you know we make sure we study all the laws of words to try to make sure we preach him right and don't preach him wrong and all of those different things so I spent some time on go me and my father both we spent some time on the word go we studied it in Hebrew Greek Assyria AK Latin Spanish we wanted to make sure we had this thing right and after studying for days and hours we figured out that it means go it mean it literally renders don't stay where you are that tells me something simple it's not a hard word to interpret and if that's the case then why do we as men act like it's a hard word to interpret you didn't just hear me say go matter of fact you've been hearing me say go for like five years go where Jonathan what are you saying well maybe it's back in correct relationship with your wife that you've been satisfied living separately in the same house you've been satisfied raising your kids separately you've been satisfied and distant relationship with your children in your son because of how they're doing and how they're operating and because people don't seem like they're on your side and people don't seem like they're supporting your vision and there's all of these different reasons and justifications that you've given yourself to be satisfied in the comfortable place even if it's not God's best but you've also been hearing in the quiet of your heart you know you need to get there right don't you and you've also been going to these Bible studies here at Shea's mountain and it keeps coming up and the reiterations of God's Word which is called a Rhema word when you keep hearing the same thing from different people who don't know each other it's a Rhema word that means God is talking that's out also how the Bible was written 40 different authors sixteen hundred years three different continents all telling one story God's Word God is talking that's why you can't shake it and he's saying go it's not a hard word to interpret from my young guys in here we know we shouldn't be doing that we know we shouldn't be with her like that we would know that we kind of got that and you know it you keep hearing the reiterations from different people but for some reason we're acting like it's a hard word to interpret well we know we're not married yet but it's just real comfortable for us to live in the same house and do the same thing all of our stuff is already connected so I don't want to kind of break that mold because I've already gotten comfortable there and even though it's a easy environment for sin to fester and take place I'm comfortable where I am and I don't want to do too much I might frustrate her ah go because the longer you stay you're pushing back from the table on your own greatness see it's like my son sometimes didn't realize when I'm trying to get him to do something I already know where I'm taking him but all he sees is mariokart hold on dad I can't no son we're going to go somewhere we got somewhere to go as a family no I want to do that I'm playing Mario Kart I'm playing I'm playing Mario Kart okay you play Mario Kart 10 o'clock at night four hours later so what were you talking about earlier taking me where are we gonna go I was just gonna take you to Chuck E Cheese there's a whole bunch of Mario at Chuck E Cheese I knew something you didn't know but you were comfortable where you were so you didn't get to experience what I had in my head and we're grown men and we've settled from Mario Cart when God has got a spiritual chuck-e-cheese waiting my son will be dying right now because the promise hadn't come yet the hard part came first so let me let you think about this for a second because I had to think about it in my own life what is the thing for years months decades where you know the Spirit has been prodding you to go and you just haven't and everybody has their own individual thought rolling through their mind because it's a feeling that you get from the spirit when he's saying go ah come on now and at the point in which you move I have something for you go to the land which I will show remember Bible study message you have to keep words in their order go comes before the word show so if you want God to show first you must go don't expect God to show you if you're not going to go it's simple Bible study methods we want God to show but we don't want to go we want to know is the other side the grass on the other side of the fence as green is what I'm currently standing on you show me that and I'm ready to do your will no go this is a tough deal i sat with my dad when I was in twelfth grade and I did a little point about my story and y'all heard some of it but in the 12th grade I wanted to know how he got from his point eight at his point B I had to figure that out because as you heard my dad is from the inner city of Baltimore Maryland where the worst statistic derives its meaning we would go visit my grandparents we could Engel outside my granddad would put his arm around me we call him to Daddy and he said you see those rope a dopes across the street he called him Rhodopes the drug dealers that were across the street and he said you see what they're doing he would teach me what they were doing and then you see where they're going to cops will pick him up take him to jail so he was trying to teach me based on the environment that we were in that you didn't want to end up like that because he was trying to get that the the statistic frame of reference out of our minds at a young age and I said dad you raised by high school dropouts you ate herring every night for dinner if you don't know what hearing is it's the fish that has a million bones in it that you have to pick through to eat his dad was a longshoreman so he just brought home hearing every night because they didn't have any money so if you ever see my dad and you take him out to dinner don't give him no fish they're gonna look at you funny you don't want no fish keep it off the table so being the first to graduate in our family's history from high school to go to college and get his degree to get his master's degree and then become the first african-american ever graduate with the PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary kept hearing this go starting a church with ten people in the house that has 12,000 members started a radio broadcast so the gospel can get as far as they can go now it's in 130 countries and over a thousand stations was the chaplain of the maverick since their conception as the order as an organization the chaplain of the Cowboys in the Tom Landry days and I'm sitting there in the 12th grade thinking how in the world did you get from over there to over there he said do you really want to know I said yeah I'm sitting here talking to you aren't I yeah I really want to know he said well go read Hebrews chapter 11 and tell me what you see I was like what is this an Easter egg hunt you're sitting right here can you just tell me no son you know how I work over at Hebrews chapter 11 and tell me what you see Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen verse 4 by faith Enoch by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain verse 5 by faith Enoch was caught up verse 7 by faith Noah built an ark verse 8 Abraham obeyed even though he had no idea where he was going verse 11 by faith Sara conceived even though she was barren verse 22 Isaac blessed Jacob verse 24 Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter verse 31 Rahab hid the spies I closed the book I said dad I know how you did it he said how'd I do it I said you did it by faith bingo boy I said okay I got that I found the egg but tell me what does that mean I'm going to give you the famous Tony Evans ISM on faith is acting like it is so even when it's not so so that it might be so simply because God said so faith is acting like it is so even when it's not so so that it might be so simply because God said so I said so Dan what are you telling me this whole does Abraham I did that we're talking about but he didn't get to see where he was going but had to be obedient I said dad what do you tell him you telling me to follow your heart he said are you kidding me son Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is the most deceitful part of you and is desperately sick who can understand it I said well what are you telling me he said I'm not telling you to follow your heart I'm telling you to make your heart follow the truth and at the point in which you do that is at the point you'll be walking in the direction for your own greatness faith are we willing to have faith to leave the comfortable place because we know god's word has been prodding us for years and until we as men move no matter what age you are there's something there's some go then he holds a tight grip of what he wants to give us God holds on to his promises even if you're not the one that gets to experience it the people of Israel will tell you as they were going to the promised land they didn't get it but the generation after them did God is faithful but if you're not faithful then you won't get to experience it while he still maintains his righteous faithfulness to somebody else I don't know about you but in this one life I live I want to know what God has for me this one shot that we get as men I want to know why he selected us and put us in the seat he said Abraham I need you to leave your will your way your perspective your father's house your relatives the place where you dropped anchor pull it back up go to the land which I will show you watch this here comes the good stuff now that we slap the door around and made it ready we can put pepperoni and sausage on top and I'm going to make you a great nation I'm going to bless you I'm going to make you a great name I'm going to have your back no matter what I got you and in you Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed if you're willing to go but let's understand greatness he said I'll give you a great nation prior to saying I'll give you a great name God is not in the business of just making the name on the back of your Jersey as big as possible for no reason he told Abraham in Genesis 18:19 if you lead your children and your household in righteousness and justice then I will bring about the promise that I made to you in Genesis chapter 12 this isn't just about you Abraham it's about the whole nation of Israel through you Abraham the question is what impact do we have as men under those that are under the sphere of our influence and if there's no impact there's no greatness we're chasing greatness the wrong way the American definition of greatness is how much I can do how big my house is what I Drive leave me me me we're thinking about the human Trinity and not the spiritual Trinity me myself and I and that's our definition of greatness real quick let me tell you a little bit about a false definition of greatness I was talking to Dez Bryan after one of our chapel services and I said who used to wear the number you're wearing he said Michael Irvin I said where is he he's a hall-of-famer I said he is he he said Jay come on now you know he is I said okay I know he is so he was that great huh see yeah he's he was good that's nice I said who wears 88 now he said I do what's your point I said well who's name is on the back of his jersey he said is my name I said you mean Michael Irvin's name is not on the back of that Jersey anymore he said Seimei all know if I like where this is going I said you mean to tell me no matter how great Michael Irvin was even enshrined in the Hall of Fame they just unstitched his name and just put your name on the back of it it seems to me that no matter how great you are once people are finished with you they just say next thanks for your service goodbye I said so what are you chasing des are you chasing the very people that will get rid of you right after you're done or are you chasing God who's got an everlasting greatness held in his hands one of my most terrifying moments as the chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys was when we had a death on the team about three seasons ago one of the players died at 3 a.m. in a car accident the next day well it's the same day because it was 3 a.m. we're going to play the Cincinnati Bengals NFL was not going to not play a game because somebody dies I'm going up the stairs to get on the plane coach Garrett is coming down the stairs coach Garrett grabs my arm and pulls me right back down the stairs I was like are you gonna cut the chaplain what's happening here I mean I've been through this before I know what this feels like and he looked me right in the eyes and when he looked you in the eyes he doesn't even blink and he says we had a death on the team him and Brian wons Lea we had a player died last night are you kidding me no let a player died last night very unfortunate he's crying brides I mean it is just a mess he said well this is you know just kind of not we don't really know how to handle this kind of stuff you're the chaplain get on the plane and do something this was like my second season I was like all right I'll be there in just a second Tony Evans um I'm gonna need some help in this situation I'm not really sure I got on the plane and started hugging guys and praying with guys and I said all right it's up to me good everybody take a knee from Jerry Jones all the way to the back of the plane were on their knees head down because when mortality sets in God is the only place you can go so I prayed over the entire plane we got to the hotel guys came to chapel who never come to Chapel chapel rain packed I didn't know what I was going to say I had prepared a message message didn't have anything to do with what just happened so I'm just going in there very nervous and the spirit said what else can you say it's time for the gospel they're ripe and ready so I gave a blanket elementary gospel message which is all it has to be when the Spirit is working I didn't have to do any acrobats with the Bible and do all mm-hmm Jesus Christ guys got saved who had never even talked to me before then we got on the field to play the game and this is the part that bothered me the most I'm standing next to Moe Claiborne and DeMarcus Ware let's give a moment of silence to Jerry Brown jr. all right sing the national anthem fly the planes over kick the ball off because everybody came here to see a football game I looked at D where and I said so that's what we live in for a moment of silence I looked at Moe Claiborne as he's shaking his head I said no matter how hard you play no matter how many interceptions you get you know what we don't give you a moment of silence good luck out there I'm always finding a word for him I care less about football but it bought it brought it all in perspective men no matter what you do next moment of silence thanks let me show you what God was offering Abraham father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham and I am one of them and so were you so let's just praise the look I don't let your hands up I'm good I'll have to go that far you mean to tell me after 4,000 years we're still singing about Abraham you mean to tell me I'm preachers all over the world are still preaching about this dude that's greatness that's worth fighting for that's worth living for that's what that's worth going to work for that's worth staying with your wife for that's worth raising your kids for that's worth making disciples for that's worth it he told Abraham as I get ready to close in you Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed let me tell you I like this passage as I close in you Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed where all the families of the earth blessed through Isaac nope where all the families of the earth blessed through Isaac son Jacob know where all the families of the earth blessed through Jacob's twelve sons the 12 tribes of Israel nope they were a mess but through Abraham through Isaac through Jacob through the 12 sons the nation of Israel would come a little Israelite king born in Bethlehem Jesus Christ who would be a blessing outside of the people of Israel to the Gentiles also to all the families of the earth Genesis 12 1 2 & 3 is a promise of greatness to a man because that man through his obedience would be genealogically connected to Jesus Christ that without Jesus Christ there is no greatness if Jesus Christ is not the connecting point you're not great you never can be great because Abraham's greatness wasn't about the fact that he's Abraham Abraham's greatness wouldn't about the fact that he was an Old Testament dude Abraham's greatness was connected to the fact that he was connected to Jesus you want to be great you're only gonna get that one way and that's connected to Jesus you want to be great make sure your kids are connected to Jesus you want to be great since Abraham was a rich man it wasn't just his kids it was his servants and everybody had bet he had under the sphere of his influence God told him to circumcise the men which means put them under the covering in the Covenant you want to be great and make sure everybody around you is circumcised saved you want to be great connected Jesus every head bowed and every eye closed just for a moment I just want to pray with you men tonight about how we're living our lives and the go that we've heard but that we may not have activated and I want to start with those who don't know that they know that they know that they know that if today was your last day you would stand before God and he would see his son and therefore let you in to his kingdom if you're not sure that you've ever accepted Jesus Christ if you're not sure that you've ever been connected to greatness and I want to give you an opportunity right now with every head bowed and every eye is closed if you are saved and you know for a fact that you are you ought to be praying for those that may not be if you're not sure I want to say a prayer it's not the prayer or the words that save you it's your belief that does repeat after me Lord Jesus I'm a sinner and I'm in need of a savior I want to be great for the first time today and be connected to you I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and I believe that you rose from the dead for me and I'm placing my trust all of my faith in your finished work today make today my day and remember me because today I trust you if everybody just keeps their head bound if the leaders can pick their heads up if you prayed that prayer for the first time and you meant it for yourself and you're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ that today was a great day for you I just want you to slip your hand up in the air just slip your hand up in the air I see I see you [Music] we'll give a few more moments if this is your first time and today you know that greatness is upon you [Music] now I want to do one other thing if there's a man in here who knows that they've been hearing the goat but they just haven't went that they want to recommit themselves to the Word of God no matter how uncomfortable it is I want to pray with you I just want you to stand if you need to recommit to data to ago in your life I want you to stand up and I don't want you to be ashamed because we've all got something if we can get a couple leaders to surround those guys and pray with those guys this time is for you men and for the men that are still sitting down I would be very prayerful for these men you never know what we're going through in this room you never know what men are facing in this room [Music] let's just take this moment to pray [Music] [Music] you [Music] Heavenly Father we honor you today and we thank you for the gentlemen that have accepted Jesus Christ tonight we know that the heavens are rejoicing we know that in Luke chapter 15 Jesus is talking about how he has come for the lost in the sinners not the righteous [Music] but that just one creates a great celebration and so we your people were celebrating for a new brother in Christ for those that have recommitted themselves Lord we pray that you continue as we know you will continue to press that go button in their heart and their soul but more so that they would listen and that we would listen that I would listen that the men here at shades mountain would listen and go make disciples no longer being satisfied with being salt that stays in the shaker but that actually preserves the culture we love you and honor you today thank you lord in jesus name amen thank you min for having me it's been a blessing to be with you guys [Applause]

Channel: Rick & Bubba

Views: 17,549

Rating: 4.7751002 out of 5

Keywords: burgess, bussey

Id: nQ9IodDn2Cc

Length: 52min 58sec (3178 seconds)

Published: Mon May 01 2017