Rick Rigsby - Liberty University Convocation

thank you so much what's up Liberty how y'all doing I couldn't I couldn't wait to get here I came in on a little plane I should only have to pay half price because only half my blood fit on that seat but anyway I am so excited to be here I got 36 minutes which is easy if you're a white preacher but yeah I've come from a predominantly black family and and it's just you know but in the words of King Henry the eighth as he spoke to each of his six wives I won't keep you long but I do have a message that I want to share with you I fell in love with Liberty University last year from the lacrosse team to the football team to the basketball team to the softball team to all the students I fell in love with y'all last year I really really did and it's an honor to be back this year it really is God put a message on my heart for me since y'all are here why don't you just go ahead and listen here's the ears the message God whatever it takes make me like Jesus whatever it takes make me like Jesus sub topic keeping it real mm-hmm just keeping it real what's my text my text is Romans chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 many of you know it but are you living it that's what God is speaking to me today if you have your Bibles turn to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 the Apostle Paul making a very powerful persuasive pronouncement and challenging us to this very day to keep it real to live before the Lord Paul speaking I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect I want to be honest with you the one statement in there that rocked my world for years was being transformed by the renewing of your mind I was a Christian but I wasn't allowing the Word of God to transform me I was part of the culture exactly what the Apostle Paul says not to be part of let me just tell you this when you live in a superficial society like ours where the television is on in the average American home eight hours a day according to hell Himelstein who wrote the book television myth and the American mind when you live in a narcissistic superficial culture like ours it is very easy for the culture to transform you oh you can come from a Christian home you can you're gonna been in church all your life going to the greatest Christian university in the world with some of the most inspiring faculty members ever but if you're not walking close to the Living God you will not be transformed are you all hearing what I'm saying to you I was a preacher I was a preacher in the 70s during the week I was a television reporter during the weekends I was called to preach but it wasn't about God it was about big rig it was about Big Daddy I would show up at church on Sundays strolling to the pulpit like this hoping that you were in press sounding something like this saying nothing it was all about me ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity that's a topic for another time but let me tell you it was all about me it was not about conforming to this world it was about trying to get a compliment from you it was about trying to look good to appease your sensibilities in other words I had elevated people to God people have become my deity and I did everything else to worship other people and I want to tell you something I was in violation of the scripture yelling folks I don't want it to happen to you I'm challenging you to let your light shine in such a way the minister your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven and how does that happen the Bible tells us that happens by making sure your mind is renewed every single day oh how blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of a wicked or stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers his delight is in the law of the Lord and in that law he meditates day and night he'll be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of living water whose leaf doesn't wither whose fruit is born in due season and in everything that man does he'll prosper I wish somebody would have set me down and help me understand what that meant when I was 17 when I was 18 when I was 19 when I was 20 when I was 21 when I was 22 you know why I wouldn't have wasted my college years I have a word from the Lord today if you call yourself a Christian act like it I said if you call yourself a Christian act like it act like it well I go to Liberty University and I just I just love Liberty University and I just I love this great school but if you call yourself a Christian act like it we got too many phony Christian adults we got too many phony Christians out there who think they're leading somebody but they're just going on a walk only to turn around and find there's nobody walking behind them and here's how you cannot be phony let that word of God change your life let that word of God richly dwell inside of you make sure this word of God is dominant prominent preeminent Zenith number-one top drawer central core in your life whether you're the Chancellor of the university or whether you're a janitor working at the University it's still the same God must rule and regulate every single thought let me tell you why that's so important y'all it's important because this world needs you Liberty I said this world needs you we don't need any more air traffic controllers falling asleep we don't need any more Christian ministers cheating on their wives we don't need any more Christian business women who are who are playing kissy Kissy with the next-door neighbor we don't need any more Christians stylin and profilin hoping that somebody likes them hoping to get a compliment showing up at Ross Dress for Less looking good on the outside but inside the cup is full of robbery and self-indulgence we don't need any more fraudulent atheist Christians we need some fire baptized Holy Ghost feel full of the word Christian young people who will stand for something that's why I love Liberty he about being black you're gonna be as black as a Hershey bar but do you know Jesus it ain't about being white some of y'all are white as rice but it ain't about that it's about do you know him I said it's about do you know him the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of his suffering listen it is our knowledge of him determines our love for him our love for him determines our obedience to him our obedience shapes every experience we have with him can I say that one more time our knowledge of him knowing him knowing this word so that this word can change you from the inside out our knowledge of him our knowledge of him determines how deep were gonna love him ain't that a trip y'all it all starts with knowing him our knowledge of him aren't intimacy of him our time spent with him determines how deep we're gonna love him our depth of love for him determines our obedience to him determines how much we're going to obey him and our obedience shapes every experience we have what are you saying preacher I don't want you to just show up and sing the song I want you to live the song what song lord I give you my heart oh really I give you my soul is that so I live for you alone you show ain't showing it cuz every breath that I take every moment I'm awake have your way with me well I'll just be honest with y'all that song might as well say the whole Bible and my life were two separate discrete departments but preacher weren't you preaching it's entirely possible to preach the Word of God and not know him it's entirely possible to be on the worship team and not know him it's entirely possible to go to this great school in my opinion the greatest Christian school in the world and not know him so what do we do be he transformed by the renewing of your mind let the word of God get so inside of you that everywhere you go you're a representative of an invisible reality it changes the contours of your life so what should my prayer be Lord make me like Jesus give me the courage to pray dangerously every day to make me like Jesus a few years ago a man by the name of Michael Phillips wrote a book titled make me like Jesus the courage to pray dangerously Philip said in this book that we tend as Christians to pray for blessing and blessing and blessing and there's nothing wrong with praying for blessing but what we ought be praying for is the character of God to rule and reign in our lives you know what that means that means when you're praying every day make me like Jesus when you're living in the word sin is ridiculous so watching things that don't honor God are ridiculous why the Word of God is in you and so when faced with watching something that you shouldn't be watching guess what comes in your mind psalm 101:3 I hate sin I'll set no evil thing before my eye sin will not have its grip on me see how the word works I said see how the word works I said see how the word works in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God all things all stuff has its origin in the Word of God God didn't need a hammer he didn't need scaffolding he didn't need a paintbrush all he did was think it open his mouth clear his throat and speak the word and it became what he said because he's got all by himself when God wants to change something he speaks to that person when he wants to change you he speaks to you so here's your homework assignment Liberty start getting in a habit of getting on your face every day before the Lord when's the last time you've laid out on your floor in your dorm in your apartment in your house with your Bible open saying speak Lord thy servant is listening I'm preaching today because I need to see one person walk out of this convocation change forever just one I need to see one student who will say you know what whatever it takes make me like Jesus whatever it takes changed me from the inside out I'm tired of going through life being a fraud being a phony I'm not gonna contribute to the superficial diatribe of a narcissistic society I want to be a Christian through and through I want to be so real that even my presence will cause someone to say who is this that walks with that power in that holiness whatever it takes God make me like Jesus whatever it takes I don't want y'all to repeat after me whatever it takes you know that sounded like at a Lutheran level and nothing against Lutheran's y'all make great cookies but can we just get it up a little bit whatever it takes you're almost there you're almost there now I need the whole student body whatever it takes make me like Jesus how many of you admit what you just said 38 of you how many of your men when you what you just said how many of you really meant what you just said raise your hands all right all right you asked for it this is what it looks like this is what it looks like you're getting ready to go on a date let me talk to the fellas are you there fella say what's up you're getting ready to go on a date with some fine mama at Liberty University huh here's what here's what a transform believer looks like you spend the day in the Word of God you spend your day in the Word of God you have a glow that only comes from being in the tents of meetings Exodus 30 33 there there is a glow about you that she finds irresistible she finds it absolutely amazing it causes you to say words that are seasoned with grace it causes you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling the last thought on your mind is touching her or dishonouring somebody else's daughter dishonouring that child of God you are a gentleman and I want to tell you something fellas you might think a lady likes a 6-pack but you can have a keg and if you're a gentleman not what I'm talking about I know what I'm talking about that woman is looking for a guy that doesn't take himself so seriously that woman is looking for a guy that is totally sold out to God that woman is looking for a guy that can make her laugh that's easy in him in himself she's looking for a gentleman and you can be uglier than two sticks and three rocks but if you spent time with Almighty God oh you look like Superfly I'm trying to tell y'all ladies let me hear you say hey you want to get him to stop looking at your booty can you say booty and liberty you want to get him to stop looking at your booty why don't you give him something to really look at I said why don't you give him something to really look at what are you talking about preacher all through today getting ready to hang out with beau or Joe or Jerry give him something to really look at what are you saying preacher sister all through the day yo find self is reading the Word of God you don't you're reading you're reading stuff like you're reading stuff like Colossians oh man I love the Word of God you're reading stuff like Colossians listen to this this is how you're getting ready ladies to get ready for your date are you are you listening ladies say I'm listening are you really listening say I'm listening I'm just trying to catch my breath anyway I'm a big old Negro it takes me a while whoo Lord it's a good thing I dancing - you know what I'm saying I just ladies you know I just got to profound thought that I never coming back to Liberty again I can see these guys over here we are you know the big Negro I just don't think he'll fit into our program very well you know I just ladies ladies can I hear you this is what I call Colossians 1 getting ready to date because it's out of Colossians 1 listen it is this for this is what you're doing you're fixing your hair you're fixing your extensions you're using all them tools y'all ladies God my wife's got one that looks like a hot dog picker-upper it's for our eyelashes you're getting your feet all fixed up you got your toenail scrubbers and everything already you're putting on your dress and the outside of the cup is great but if you really want to get ready to show that brother something you've got to focus on the inside of the cup oh preach brother Rick preach boy jesus said it this way woe to you scribes and Pharisees you hypocrites you clean the outside of the cup another day but on the inside its full of robbery and self-indulgence Matthew 23 he said you're you're hypocrites you're like whitewashed tombs you appear beautiful on the outside but inside you're full of robbery and self-indulgence first clean the inside of the cup here's how you do it the Word of God transforming your mind so ladies you're getting ready for the date you read Colossians you start in chapter 1 just go ahead and read all morning long listen to verse 9 for this reason also since the day we've heard of it we have not we have not ceased to pray for you Lord I'm praying for Bo tonight I'm praying I'm praying for this young man it's taken me out fill him with all spiritual things Lord fulfill him with you caused him to walk so close to the Lord tonight him all throughout this day to show kindness to people be a blessing to him III bless him in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit let your face shine upon him and be gracious to him Lord strengthen him in every area of his life and build him up where he's weak so you spend some time praying for that young man that's that's somebody's son that's a child of God they're gonna be temptations that beau is gonna face in that day you are praying for him you're interceding for him as you get ready to go on a date can I go on I said can I go on that you may be filled with all spiritual knowledge of his will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding here's your part ladies so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects bearing fruit in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God ladies here's your goal for a date you want to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord pleasing the Lord in every single thing you do bearing fruit bearing fruit on that day you know what that says ladies that says it you know what beau if you're aggressive I'm gonna tell you you you you you you you you you can touch your popcorn you can touch him & m's but you can't touch this right here because this belongs to Almighty God so I'm just making it clear without even saying a word we're not gonna be in the back seat we're not gonna be playing how far can you touch me you know you we're not gonna be playing all them little goofy cuddly games that you might have in fact Bo I've been praying for you all day that you would rise up and walk the way God created you to rise up and walk and guess what I am your counterpart on this state and together we are gonna walk in a manner worthy of the Lord honoring God in every single thing that we do that's a transformed mind that's a transform mind you know what a transform mind is a transform mind is a person that says thank God I'm going to Liberty University when you're not walking in the Word of God you'll have the tendency to complain about school I said you'll have the tendency to complain about school I hate that teacher I can't stand her head knucklehead doesn't know anything I'm just gonna sit in the back of this accounting class and take a nap I'm gonna make out my Christmas list I'm gonna put a list out on the people that I'm gonna invite to my Easter party it's your whole attitude how you doing today oh I got finals I have to write a paper no you don't you don't have to write a paper you don't have to take finals you can be as dumb as a box of rocks do you realize that somebody is opening up the Word of God trying to teach you something you will if you have a transform mind when your mind has been transformed by the Word of God this is what it looks like you'll you'll you'll you'll you'll you'll run the school are you kidding me preacher you you'll take a pogo stick and hop your butt to school you'll catch the city bus and go to school you'll say thank God that a professor is praying for me before class thank God somebody is opening up the Word of God thank God somebody is teaching me history and philosophy and physics and chemistry and science and math and English and government from a godly perspective I'm gonna sit in the front row I'm gonna beg God to have that man squeeze everything you can so he can pour it into me so that I can be an awesome powerful mighty great woman man of God who makes an impact in a superficial society that's what I'm talking about y'all reason why we live in a society that it's so superficial is because we've given our society over to the world and now we Christians are being led by the world but how many of you know it doesn't have to be that way I said how many of you know back here it doesn't have to be that way that God is calling on you right now to let your light shine God is begging you right now they have time with him right now he's begging you I didn't and I paid the price how many of y'all heard me last year raise your hands y'all remember the price I paid here I am married to the finest woman I had ever met in my life stone cold brick house fine gorgeous fine woman to children television career preaching during the week and actin like hell actin like hell God constantly speaking to me saying boy I want more of you I wonder who he's talking to this morning I want more of you in fact I want all of you and I would reject his voice resist his voice I would reduce his voice to manageable proportions and one day that voice stopped and you'll remember from last year that voice stopped about the same time that Trina found a lump in her left breast a lump that was cancerous and you all remember the story six years after that diagnosis of breast cancer me and my boys walked up to mommy's casket and said goodbye and the question I left you with last year was this right before Trina died no hair because of chemo I tell me that pooched out because of a liver no longer working in weighed about 70 pounds she looked at me and she said it doesn't matter to me any longer how long I live what matters to me most is how I live and the question I left y'all last year was this question how you livin well here's the question I have for you in 2011 do you have the faith in the courage to pray this prayer whatever it takes make me like Jesus part-2 Trina's gone I got two little babies we don't know what we're gonna do I'm a superficial shallow preacher at best I don't even know the word of god but God surrounds me with his arms and says I'll be a wife to you and I'll be a mother to them babies and I began to grow like I had never grown before I began to read things that I'd never read I'd seen them but I'd never read them they weren't in my heart things like I'll never leave you or forsake you things like the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want things like Sun I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to give good fruit to do great work to be pleasing and acceptable to me to make your life a living and Holy Sacrifice what does that mean God that means your life isn't offering to me every single day every single minute every single hour your life belongs to me your life son that's my gift to you the way you live your life that's your gift back to me I'm giving you all authority I'm giving you all spiritual power I'm leaving you with the Holy Spirit that elevates you above the level of sin just live it out and I began to pray long before Michael Phillips book whatever it takes Lord make me like Jesus whatever it takes father help me to raise these babies whatever it takes father helped me to walk in an authentic kind of Christianity whatever it takes let me shine for you whatever it takes I'm no longer gonna be a fraud I'm no longer gonna be as Craig Groeschel says a Christian atheist and if you haven't read that book I highly recommend it Craig Groeschel says we we believe in God but we live as though he doesn't exist whatever it takes Lord make me like Jesus a couple of years later I get married the first thing my wife Janet does is she adopts my little babies fulfilling Trina's dying requests that her baby's not grew up without a mommy we had more children but this is what I want you to listen to my son Andrew the time his mom died he was just a little fella and the truth is he'd been running for God for years I would remarry he would still run from God he got it into high school he got into drugs he got an out the preacher's kid Christian school I hope I'm talking to somebody in here that's been putting on a fraud that's been putting on a face I hope the Lord is speaking to you had everything had every advantage but he's running from God because of the hurt in his heart his lodging God took my mommy what kind of God you I'm gonna run and he ran and he did everything he was big enough and bad enough to do all Janet and I knew how to do was this Lord whatever it takes make that boy like Jesus we didn't even realize what we were praying whatever it takes Lord make him like Jesus whatever it takes fast forward second year in college I get a call daddy my girlfriend is pregnant what do you do now I'm ready to quit the ministry if I can't control my own family what an embarrassment what an embarrassment this is God had to really get a hold of me and say son this isn't about you get your ego out of this this is about that boy who's been running for me now this is what I want you to do son I want you to go put your arm around him and I want you to tell him son you made a mistake but you're still mine I told him man we prayed with him and Lauren his girlfriend we told him that all of the wonderful adoption agencies all the Christian adoption agencies we would help we would help we would help he said daddy I need to pray first time he had ever said that to me and for three months he and his girlfriend prayed now they had every odd against them he's a sophomore she's a junior in college he's black she's white they don't have no money they have nothing one time my son said to me daddy were rich I said no your mother and I are rich son you ain't got a thing he had no money three months later that boy had been running from Jesus for years that boy that had rebelled for years that boy who knew the Word of God in his heart who knew the Word of God three months later that boy he came up to me and he said these words daddy I've been talking to Lauren and Lauren's been talking to me and we've been praying together just like you taught us and daddy we don't know how but we are committed to the Lord and whatever his words whatever it takes we're gonna have a godly home we're going to get married if you'll marry us daddy and we're gonna raise that baby in a godly home whatever it takes daddy whatever it takes it's a little embarrassing to air your dirty laundry in such a public arena but somebody needs some help this morning I said somebody needs some help this morning somebody in this auditorium needs to start praying Lord whatever it takes publicly the outside of my cup looks good but privately I need to be transformed by the renewing of my mind in the Word of God what happened to Andrew did he grow a new brain no did things change all of a sudden no did he struggle yes but what happened to Andrew was he gotten the Word of God and he got transformed by the renewing of his mind finished up college in record time lauren had the baby she had little Jayden Jeremiah rigsby this boy is the gorgeous most cutest most unbelievable boy you've ever seen olive skin blue eyes curly blond hair I absolutely adore this boy when he was nine months old he stood next to his other brothers as groomsman as I married Andrew and lauren lauren has now finished college finished her master's degree andrew is working for American Airlines and working on his MBA their future looks so incredible in fact Lauren is pregnant with our second grandchild here's the whole point Andrews life turned on one decision the courage to pray whatever it takes make me like Jesus now I want to ask you a question is it possible to go to the greatest Christian University in the world and be struggling is it possible to go to the greatest Christian University in the world and have issues is it possible to come from a great Christian family but you're still sinning and here's the answer yes and here's the great news there is no condemnation in Christ can you say a man but you want to hear some great news if you begin pray make me like Jesus I won't guarantee that your problems will go away and I won't guarantee that your life will be perfect but something will begin to change on you from the inside out there will be a call that is so clear on your life your eyes will be set not on pleasing people but on focusing on the cross of Calvary all of a sudden you'll notice your words will begin to change your actions will begin to change people will wonder what is it about you people will ask themselves what has happened to her what has happened to him and I'll tell you what's happening to you the Word of God is in you in heavy doses you're communing with the holy spirit you're meditating on the word day and night you've moved from being a hearer to a doer of the word and the process is there is an anointing that is falling on you just like it fell on Jesus's feet Luke chapter 7 a kind of anointing that breaks every single yoke a kind of anointing that breaks the yoke to try to prove stuff to people that breaks the yoke to one a cheek that breaks the yoke of lust that breaks the yoke of jealousy that breaks the yoke of rudeness that breaks the yoke of mediocrity all of a sudden there's a greatness rising inside of you that says I am a child of God I will do what he's called me to do and I'll do it with unbridled joy and with increasing excellence make me like Jesus somebody say Amen that's your hearts cry if God has spoken to you in the last 30 minutes and you are willing to admit to yourself no more faking it no more going through the motions no more playing kissy Kissy mmm-hmm no more cheating on exams no more in ving and coveting what's not yours no more sideline Christianity no more I got one foot in the world and one foot in the church kind of lifestyle either you in or you out if God has spoken to you over the last thirty minutes I want you to stand to your feet I didn't say if man has spoken to you I said if God has spoken to you I want you to stand of your feet as a matter of fact I want all of you to stand of your feet and I'll tell you why you may not believe it but God has spoken to every single one of you a man I want you to close your eyes and I want you to repeat after me dear Jesus I can't hear you and I know he can't dear Jesus help me help me to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please you in all respects to bear fruit in every good work to increase in the knowledge of you strengthened with all power whatever it takes whatever it takes whatever it takes whatever it takes whatever it takes make me like Jesus this is my heart's cry I'd commit to you with every fiber of my being make me like Jesus and Father bless these precious young people as a matter of fact this God spoke to Moses and instructed Aaron liberty may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace under that mighty name Jesus father whatever it takes from this day forward make these precious precious precious young people like you in Jesus name Amen I love you Liberty god bless y'all

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 61,396

Rating: 4.8975902 out of 5

Keywords: College, University, Student, Campus, Education, liberty University, Christian, college, Rick Rigsby, motivational, speaker, community, convocation

Id: hod5N3-Mqlg

Length: 37min 10sec (2230 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 10 2012