Run to the Roar - Mark Batterson

well I'm fired up hey welcome to national community church all eight campuses and our extended family that tune into our podcast you watch it you listen to it thanks for being a part of NCC if you were here last weekend you got a gift a free copy of chase the line if you weren't bet you wish you had been but we have a copy for our guests we want to make sure we get a copy in here and we do have a couple of goodies for you on I don't know I just thought it would be fun if our entire church got tatted up for two or three days kind of one of these little guys I don't have the courage to actually do it and so we've got some tattoos temporary and then we've got some bracelets that all explain just a little bit later on let me mention this if you want to do a seven-day reading plan you can go to you version and and then chase the line.com there's a manifesto that I think you're going to want to download and I think it it would look great on a refrigerator on a screensaver and so encourage you to do that hey if you have a Bible you can turn to second Samuel 23 as we kick off our chase the line series that's where we're going to hang out for the next three weeks and we'll get there in a few minutes on September 11 2001 four airplanes were hijacked by terrorists bent on evil two of those planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City one of them crashed into a field in Stony Creek Township Pennsylvania one of them crashed not far from here into the west side of the Pentagon the natural instinct for those in the building was to get out but on that day there were heroes who didn't run out they ran into those buildings to help those who needed it one of them was Lieutenant Colonel Ted Anderson who attends our Capitol Hill campus one account captures his story this way Anderson acted like a man possessed as others ran for their lives he sprinted from his office toward the point of impact spreading his jacket over shards of glass on a window sill Anderson had a noncommissioned officer named Chris Braman boost him into the collapsing building together they carried out two women one of them unconscious and the other badly burned over the next hour as the rest of the world looked on in shock Ted Anderson returned to the blaze over and over again at one point he and Braman were low crawling through the inferno screaming to be heard above the roar Arlington County firefighters finally restrained Lieutenant Colonel Ted Anderson would not let him go back into the building probably saved his life because just a few minutes later it collapsed Ted Anderson stated the Pentagon all day in part because his keys were at his desk in the Pentagon that night the building superintendent let him get his keys he drove home he listened to 52 messages on his answering machine I took a shower he cried for 30 minutes and he tried to go to sleep but at 1:00 a.m. his boss called and said I can't sleep let's go to work put on your battle uniform and so in the middle of the night they headed back to the Pentagon because they knew that we were at war that's what soldiers that's whose soldiers are and it might be appropriate for all of us to express our appreciation right now can we do that I know that there were other first responders here at NCC we thank you we honor you and if you want to understand David's mighty men in second Samuel 23 then you need to understand what drives a man like Lieutenant Colonel Ted Anderson back into the Pentagon to run toward danger to run to the roar these weren't the kind of men who ran away from what they were afraid of they were bootcamp trained they were battle tested and their stories are some of the most epic stories some of the most heroic stories in all of scripture Joe cheb faced 800 to 1 but he would not back down Eliezer fight that fought until his hand froze to the sword one of my favorite verses in the Bible and Shama when the rest of the army retreated took his stand in a field of lentils and then there was benaiah and that's where we pick up the story in 2nd Samuel 23 20 at all of our campuses would you stand as we read God's Word 2nd samuel 23 verse 20 there was also benaiah son of judah a valiant warrior from calves zeal he did many heroic deeds which included killing two champions of Moab another time on a snowy day he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it once armed with only a club he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with the spear benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptians hand and killed him with it deeds like these made B'nai as famous as the three mightiest warriors he was more honored than the other members of the thirty though he was not one of the three and David made him captain of his bodyguard which it turn to your neighbor and say chase the lion and you can be seated one of the great challenges that we face in reading a story like this is that we know how it ends and because we know the ending we assume that it was inevitable psychologists call it hindsight bias and it's one of the reasons why it's so difficult for us to really fully appreciate Scripture we're Monday morning quarterbacks we know how every story ends before the crucifixion even happens we know that there's a resurrection and because we're reading these stories thousands of years after the fact and because we know how every story ends we lose the element of surprise we lose the element of danger we lose the element of risk and that's certainly true of this story in 2nd Samuel 23 20 we know that benaiah walks out of the pit and if we aren't careful we assume it but come on is this not one of the craziest acts of courage you've ever heard of here's what I know for sure when the image of a man-eating beast travels through the optic nerve into the visual cortex the brain sends one message to the body run run away as fast and as far as you possibly can but lion chasers aren't wired that way they don't run away from what they're afraid of they run to the roar let me zoom out and look at this from a wide-angle lens we don't know where benaiah was going we don't know exactly what benaiah was doing when he crosses paths with the line all we know is his gut reaction and it's gutsy listen lions weigh 500 pounds run 35 miles an hour have these things called claws if you find yourself in a pit with a line on a snowy day you have a problem probably the last problem you'll ever have this is how the game ends for you but you've got to admit I killed a line in a pit on a snowy day looks really good on your resume if you're applying for a bodyguard position with the king of Israel and so benaiah lands the job and eventually 40 years later becomes commander-in-chief of Israel's army under King Solomon second most powerful person in the entire Kingdom of Israel but it all traces back to this fight-or-flight moment are you going to take flight or are you going to fight for your dream are you going to run away from what you're afraid of or are you going to run to the roar are you going to let fear dictate your decisions or are you going to live by faith and chase the line not much has changed in 3,000 years and so as we begin this series let me ask a question what's a scariest dream you could go after what's the craziest dream you could go after what's the riskiest drink what's the biggest dream that you could go after a few months ago we kicked off a series called mountains move with the question and the question was this what's the bravest prayer you can pray and I said that for me it would be praying that the Lord would heal my asthma reason being I've had asthma my entire life it's my earliest memory I can't remember anything else and I prayed hundreds of times that God would heal my asthma but I felt like I needed to pray one more time and guess what God answered and I'm now 70 days inhaler free by the way when I shared that that was one of the harder sermons I preached because to put that out there to the world and can I just share this when I went to sleep that that night I dreamt that I had an asthma attack but it was a dream ha I've never had that dream before because it was my reality I'm thinking to myself like that was crazy and listen I don't deny it probably some subconscious fear there but I'm not running away from it I'm chasing the lion so let me ask the question outside what's the craziest dream you could go after now I want to be careful right here when I wrote I indepent with a line on a snowy day ten years ago I discovered something scary discovery that people actually believe what you write and I started hearing stories of crazy lines that people were chasing I'm going to tell you the very first thought that I had oh I hope you prayed about that I don't want hundreds of people going and quit your job tomorrow okay um I think that there are things you need to talk through think through pray through before you chase that line and and I think you need to hear from God and so let me kind of frame it this way because the hardest thing here is discerning is this a line that God has called me to chase and I can't answer that question for you but but I like this as a microcosm for decision making if you're in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night you better make sure that Jesus said come if you're going to get out of the boat but if Jesus says come you better not stay in the boat because if you stay in the boat you'll never walk on water some point you got to take the step of face so ten weeks ago put the bravest prayer out there work pretty well and so let's try it again can I share with you one of my crazy dreams uh it doesn't even make sense but I believe it's something that God's put in my heart one of my life goals life goal number 39 it's to make a movie honestly it feels a little foolish even verbalizing that because watching movies is not a qualification for making one but when I was five years old my parents took us to see a movie a Billy Graham film called the hiding place it was a story of Corrie ten Boom in the way that by faith she survived the Nazi concentration camps and for summary at the end of that movie out of that movie I asked my mom if I could ask Jesus into my heart and it was a defining moment for me all be at five years old but it changed the trajectory in my life you know what I love to do that for someone else God used the medium of a movie to impact my heart and I guess I like to do the same thing now I I don't think it's going to be acting in it I don't think I'm gonna stunt double for anybody I don't think it's directing it I don't think I have any kind of skill set that would lend itself towards either but you know what somehow someway someday I will make a movie now I don't know if it's writing it or producing it the reason why I say this because I think it's something God's putting my heart but here's what you need to understand I don't see a path forward I have no idea how so I feel a little foolish right now but you know what if you aren't willing to look foolish your foolish faith is the willingness to look foolish and we'll talk about that in just a couple of moments let me tell you something about five under pound lions by definition a god-sized dream will always be beyond your ability beyond your logic and beyond your resources why so that when God doesn't you can't take credit for it if God doesn't do it it cannot be done that's how God gets the glory and I think that's what I want to challenge us with at the beginning of this series what's the craziest dream you could go after now it'll take longer than you think it'll probably be harder than what you imagined but if your dream doesn't scare you it's too small if you are big enough for your dream your dream is not big enough for God so where do we start where do we start well I know that not everybody at all eight of our campuses not everybody listening to this podcast thinks that their dreamer when you look in the mirror you don't necessarily see a lion chaser but I want to push back on that a little bit I think that you have dreams that you don't even realize our dreams um parents let me pick on you you have a dream in fact you gave that dream a name when he or she was born you have a dream I just think sometimes we don't frame it in a way that we understand that that's something God put in our hearts let me share two ways to discover your dream there are lots of ways but here too at first I would say inventory your history if you just kind of come and listen to a few messages and in fact if you just read the book like that's not going to get it done you have to inventory your history I think your destiny has buried someone somewhere in your history you know it's interesting I spent a couple of days with the life coach a few you a few years ago and and I shared a little bit about this but what was intriguing to me is it kind of those 48 hours we really didn't talk about the future much at all and so it almost felt like when are we gonna get to the plan you know we spent most of our time doing identifying what he called life gates kind of defining moments in my life and it took a while to identify those 39 defining moments anybody when I guess what one of them was watching a movie if like and we began to connect the got dots and I began to see how some of the dreams and desires that God has put my heart were buried in my very distant past you have to inventory your history by the way lieutenant colonel Ted Anderson first time you visited DC he was 13 years old his dad was graduating from the FBI Academy down in clinica and they come up to DC and they visit the tomb of the unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and Ted said that's when I knew I wanted to be a soldier you know my prayer for you is that during this series or as you read this book that you would inventory your hit that you would begin to discover some of those things that God has put in your life for a purpose what makes you mad or sad or glad begin to tap into that and see what God might have for you second I think one of the best ways to discover your dream is to serve someone else's dream get around a dreamer if you feel like I'm just not sure I'm not sure what I'm called to do I would say that there are just going to be seasons in our lives where our focus needs to be on someone else's dream and if we have the selflessness to serve someone sometimes that's how our dream becomes reality and that's exactly what happens for benaiah he's serving David's dream David's a fugitive his dream is becoming King and he rallies these 37 men who say you know what your dream is my dream and so David becomes king of Israel but what happens 40 years later benaiah becomes commander-in-chief of Israel's army so by serving David's dream benaiah dream becomes reality so inventory your history serve someone else's dream all right we give you two definitions of faith and I'm going to share a story share study and then we're done first of all faith is the willingness to look foolish I can't imagine anything more foolish than chasing a line but that's faith can I just tell you that who I felt foolish walking into the counselor's office at the University of Chicago where they were gracious enough to give me a full ride scholarship and tell him I'm not going to need the scholarship anymore because I'm going to transfer schools to Central Bible College and the look on her face was one of like no one's ever done that before I felt a little foolish how do you give up a free education at a wonderful institution but when God calls you to step out and fail you better be willing to look foolish that move set the table for the rest of my life um I felt a little foolish Lauren I felt a little foolish you know telling our family we're moving to DC but we don't have a place to live and we don't have a guaranteed salary good luck with that I didn't feel like much of a provider at that point it feel like much of a leader but you know what we stepped out in faith and God provided for us why because we were willing to look foolish you know what felt a little foolish opening a coffee house we had no business going into the coffee business but I'd say that God's blessed at a million customers and a million dollars in net profit later every penny of which we have given to missions Noah look foolish building an ark Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at 90 David looked foolish going into battle with a slingshot benaiah look foolish chasing a line wise men look foolish following a star Peter look foolish getting out of a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on a cross but faith is willingness to look foolish and the results speak for themselves Noah was saved from the flood Sarah gave birth to Abraham to Isaac that would have been a crazy plot twist not that God couldn't have done it David defeated Goliath benaiah killed a line in a pin on a snowy day the wise men found the Messiah Peter walked on water and Jesus was raised from the dead faith is willingness to look foolish and if you aren't willing to look foolish you're foolish and I can tell you right now I know it it's the fear of foolishness that is keeping you from that 500 pound dream that God wants you to chase I can't change majors I might look foolish I can't quit my job I can't seek out counseling can't ask her out might look foolish I can't share my faith I can't pray for a miracle I can't fill out that application I can't make that move I can't make that go on might look foolish if you are not willing to look foolish you're foolish come on let me get in your business a little bit you need to take that step of faith here's the second definition faith is unlearning our fears yeah you can run away from what you're afraid of but you're going to be running the rest of your life at some point you can't let fear dictate your decisions that's interesting there are thousands of fears and phobias and the dsm-5 and but psychologists tell us we're only born with two fears if you're falling the fear of loud noises which means every other fear is learned which means every other fear can be unlearned faith is a process of unlearning our fears first John 4:18 it's kind of this time lapse that pictures it this way it says perfect love casts out all fear as we grow in our revelation of God's love for us it begins to set us free love is not just some sentimental feeling love is fearlessness because you know that God loves you and it frees you up from all those other fears now I've got a tell you I've always wrestled with the fear of failure and when I was 22 and we're trying to plant this church in seminary and it fails I'm not gonna lie it was embarrassing but it's one of the best things that ever happened to us because what I discovered well first of all is that unless the Lord builds the house they who labor labor in vain but secondly I learned that the cure for the fear of failure is not success its failure and small enough doses that you build up an immunity to it I needed a fall on my face and discover that God still loved me God was still there God still had a plan for my life he's gonna pick me up dust me off now let's try this again in Washington DC I think for some of us a little failure would be the best thing it could happen to us now I remember someone once asked me ask me the question if you knew you couldn't fail what dream would you go after I appreciate that question but I think there's a better question if you knew that you would fail what dream would you still go after because you couldn't live with yourself if you didn't it's not about winning and losing it's not about success and failure it's about obedience it's about when when God puts that line your pet you have the courage to step out in faith and go after this weekend NFL season kicks off yeah okay excited listen you know I was going to say everybody has a winning record right now but Panthers don't all right Kirk Cousins quarterback for the Redskins kind enough to endorse chase the line let me share some of his story read in a pit when he was a senior in college you know what I love about Kirk and listen I hope they win I hope they went you know what I love about Kirk he knows it's not about winning and losing this is someone who's determined to glorify God with his light one way or the other whether he's on the bench or he's the starting quarterback that's what it's about I what sacrifice do you need to make what risk do you need to take all right let me tell you a story share study and then we're done I shared this story so many times part of me hesitates to share it again but let me do it in the second person more than a decade ago as a part of mission team from this church to Ethiopia unforgettable week but an unforgettable day last day we went on a little trip out of Addis the capital city and before I tell you about that let me let me set the scene several weeks before going on the trip news came out that there was some kind of heightened political unrest in Ethiopia I remember at the meeting we were talking about it as a team you know you need to take that seriously we're not playing games like this is real real stuff and but we felt like that base on some of the people that worked here that gave us information that it was okay to go but there was one member on the team that was particularly afraid part of it she had never been out of the country and so I remember we kinda had to talk her off the ledge and kind of help pray her through which I felt awesome responsibility doing that and just want to make sure Lord all right but I just felt like she shouldn't not go on the trip because of fear and then we shared that on the last day we were going to go into the outback of Ethiopia and do a camping trip and a game drive and she had never even been camping and when we told her that we would have armed guards it's okay we have armed guards that somehow didn't eliminate her fear perhaps exacerbated her fear oh and then because we're going out of the city we've got to get more inoculations right and so it all added up to like I think she was ready to throw in the towel but you know what I got to give Sarah credit we pray through that meeting turned into a prayer meeting I just had a sense that she needed to go on this trip and so she went that last day were head out of the city and and maybe our first stop I wondered if if she should have talked all of us into not going because we were held up at gunpoint by armed Shepherds carrying ak-47s which is terrifying when it happens but right afterwards is awesome and then we go swimming in a natural spring heated by a volcano I'm giving you the short version and then we hop on land rovers and we're doing a game drive I'm seeing animals I don't even know their names I've never seen this one in a zoo and the African Sun is setting it's just just the most unbelievable day you can imagine when we're around that bonfire that night worshipping guards tell us to be quiet sure enough a lion roaring we hope in the distance and I'm thinking to myself what if Sarah had run away from what she was afraid of she would have forfeited all of those stories forfeited all of those memories and by the way one of the best memories was when we got there and got to our campsite there were about 80 baboons do not tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor you look at the backside of a baboon awesome animals and they're in our campsite they're running around and making noises they're in the trees they're like what are you humans doing here and so we're setting up camp and I catch something out of the corner of my eye one of those baboons pooped and landed right on Sarah now she has since forgiven me for laughing out loud you tell me you ever play that game where like to tell me something about yourself that no one would know well I've been pooped on by a baboon that's awesome that's awesome you would have forfeited that here's the question are you living your life in a way that is worth telling stories about you know when you write two books on one chapter in the Bible your biblical imagination gets a little carried away so forgive me for this but I think if you read between the lines on I don't know this is what I think when Solomon was a young boy like any father David would tell him bedtime stories I'm guessing that most of those bedtime stories were about as mighty men and their exploits and I bet more than once Solomon said dad would you tell me the chased the lion story one more time fast forward 40 years Solomon becomes king of Israel and who does he choose as his commander-in-chief his father's bodyguard a man named benaiah why why does he choose Benaiah I think he chose benaiah because of those bedtime stories I think he chose benaiah because benaiah lived his life in a way that was worth telling stories about God wants to write his story history with the - through your life your life is a subplot in his redemptive story you know what for that story to be any good come on you got to chase the line when we lack the guts to go after the 500 pound lines and God is putting our like we robbed god of the glory that he deserves when the bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god i don't think it's just a sin issue i think it's our small dreams I think it's our small dreams that fall short of a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine so let me share the study I don't want this to sound too morbid but you're going to die sooner or later somehow somewhat you're going to die and when you're on your deathbed I think your greatest regrets are going to be the lines you didn't chase a fascinating study done two decades ago by social psychologist Tom Gilovich Vicky med Beck and they studied regret made a distinction between two kinds of regret and you can kind of track with me if you're taking notes action regrets are those things that you did that you wish you hadn't in action regrets are those things that you didn't do but you wish you had and where the study gets fascinating is that in the short-term we tend to regret actions more than in actions 53:2 for some person it's a toss-up but over the long term the study found that we tend to regret in actions more than actions to the tune of 84 to 16% in other words when we get to the end of our life and we look back it's going to be the opportunities that we left on the table that we're going to regret the most Neil Reese says it this way when we look back on our lives as a whole we are most haunted by the things left undone romantic opportunities untried career changes unexplored friendships left on tending I'm going to close with this one of my prized possessions is called a lion spike a line spike is made of cow bone it's been sharpened on both ends and it has a little handhold in the middle it's what members of the Masai tribe use when charging a line there comes a moment where a brave must prove himself and when the lion roars that warrior thrust this line spike into its mouth and when the line closes its jaws the spikes puncture the upper and lower jaws making it impossible for the lion to bite down I don't know what dream you're chasing I don't know what fear you're facing but I always think there is a moment of truth where you can't run away from what you're afraid of you've got to run to the roar I love to give everybody a lion spike this weekend but they're hard to find so how about it bracelet let me tell you why I want to give you a bracelet we all have too many bracelets we don't need another one I but you know what I need a reminder in my life to run to the war I need to be reminded to play offense with my life I need to be reminded to go after the dreams that God has put in my heart and I need a challenge to chase the lion to fight for the 500 pound dream that God has put in my heart so let me close with this little challenge I want to thank all the NC seers who helped make this thing a reality it's a manifesto but really it's more than a manifesto I think it's my prayer for you watch this quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death run to the roar set God's eyes goals pursue god-given passions go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution stop repeating the past start creating the future face your fears fight for your dreams grab opportunity by the mane and don't let go live like today is the first day and the last day of your life burn sinful bridges live for the applause of nail-scarred hands don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what is right with God dare to fail dare to be different quit holding out quit holding back quit running away chase the lion chase the lion chase the line chase the lion chase the lion

Channel: National Community Church

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Rating: 4.7563024 out of 5

Keywords: run to the roar mark batterson, mark batterson sermon, pastor mark batterson, chase the lion, in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, chase the lion mark batterson, sermon series, ncc, theater church, national community church, mark batterson 2016, mark batterson sermons, mark batterson ncc

Id: R0Duf8aGR6Q

Length: 37min 46sec (2266 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2016