The Right Look - Dr. Herman Baxter

our speaker for this evening Chapel is Dr Herman Baxter he is the DTs dean of students Dr Baxter senior also known as Bax is passionate about ministering to the minister Reardon Trenton New Jersey he is a retired major from the United States Air Force he completed 26 years of honorable military service as a Munitions and missile maintenance officer Banks received his THM in 2017 and demon in 2021 both from DTS he has served in various capacities at DTS over the last eight years most recently assuming the title of dean of students he is blessed to be married to Dr Brandy Baxter who is with us this evening Brandy if you would there we go we just want to welcome you and in a second we'll welcome the kids she is also a USAF United States Air Force veteran author and owner of living abundantly where she's a financial Fitness coach and envision 30 a Learning and Development company for future focused leaders they have two daughters joy and faith and I'll get you all to wave as well there you are and we just want to welcome you to uh the two daughters are joy and faith and they also have a miniature golden doodle and she's not here tonight he's not here okay miniature goldendoodle I just assumed yeah Monty team Baxter is passionate about serving Jesus whom the word testifies is the Christ would you join me in welcoming our speaker this evening Dr Herman Baxter [Applause] bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name I didn't know how to react uh I was approximately about 13 years into my military career stationed in the lovely state of Alaska eielson Air Force Base to be exact for those who know about the Air Force it is a prime location to be stationed especially in the winter um but while I was there I I had an opportunity to test for rank just to give you a quick uh identification in military for when they make rank especially on the enlisted side you have to take two tests um there is a performance test and then there's a Knowledge and Skills test and you do everything that you can to take these tests so that way you can make the next rank or the next grade because we all know tests equals paycheck come on somebody and so you put all your effort into in this rank that I was trying to achieve would be the rank of a master sergeant all right so you're in the Air Force you're a non-commissioned officer and you're getting to what they call the top three grades you want to put all your emphasis in there so you study hard and you work hard and they talk about the whole person concept meaning what you got to make sure you volunteer on base and off base you got to make sure you're not dancing on Commander's tables and at the same time you're paying your bills you follow this morning and so what I realized I'm putting in all this effort now there is a point system and some of you believe in point systems you walk through Dallas halls and you're looking for that GPA that's similar to the point system I had to deal with because it's all about the numbers it's all about the rating because it's all about the promotion so you will do everything you can to make it and I thought I was doing good you know you check in with your bosses every now and then how am I doing doing all right doing great you check in with with your subordinates because you're leading and they don't have a say-so in it but they do have a point of reference because how are you liked by the people people like to be like and you want them to like you so you can make the rank so they can applaud you and celebrate you and you do all this work and effort for this one day when the results come out and similar to high school nobody's acting like they worried but everybody's nervous everybody wants to say who made it you contact Personnel people who are living in Texas they say I know you can't really tell me but did you happen to see a list is my name on the list and you want to know did I really make it well for me I didn't make it um teens into my career at a base I did a short tour I got a couple medals I study hard I tested hard and I didn't make it they didn't choose me I thought my ratings were okay I consider myself to be a pretty nice guy I didn't curse nobody out that week and it did I did pretty good I was in the crowd people knew me I knew them and I was not chosen what do you do when you're not selected what are you going to do in a couple weeks my fellow brothers and sisters at the Howard Halls of Dallas Theological Seminary what are you going to do on May 12th when they read other names for academic Awards what are you going to do when they read other names for awards that you didn't even know we had a name for what are you going to do when graduation comes and you know you blood sweat it and teared in this place and you're not picked up for a Ministry position that what how deal with it seems like rejection because with your natural eye you see failure but spiritually you're starting to get cataracts what do you do when you look around and it starts to remind you back at hisu because everybody's going to be taking pictures and they're going to be hugging that commencement and they're going to be smiling because you're hearing that they're going to lovely places that you may not get called to go to in leadership because part of our mission set is that we are here to equip Godly servant leaders for the proclamation of the Gospel worldwide have you forgotten that you should be a Godly servant leader and not just a worldly servant leader if you have your Bibles you can use that device that some people call Apple or you could be better including the Android and bring up your favorite Bible app and you can go join me in first Samuel chapter 16. we won't be able to read all 13 verses of first Samuel 16 and where many of you already familiar with I will not be speaking in Hebrew you can go see the otepsen professors and they will Orient you that way but I would like to read just a couple verses in first Samuel 16 and I'm going to read verses 6 and 7. and then verses 12. and 13. first Samuel chapter 16. verse 6. when they arrived Samuel Saul elab and said certainly the Lord's anointed one is here before him but the Lord said to Samuel do not look at his appearance or his statue because I have rejected him humans do not see what the Lord sees for humans see what is visible but the Lord sees the heart verse 12. so Jesse said for him he had beautiful eyes and a healthy handsome appearance the Lord said anoint him for he is the one verse 13. so Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers and the spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward then Samuel set out and went to Rama for me the text for many of us here the anointing of King David if I was to just assume just a little bit we all love a King David's story we all want to be part of King David we can see ourselves there standing in front of Goliath I will knock you out that's modern translation for how dare you come against the Lord we all want to be David but I just want to spend just a few moments and say this is not a David's story what if you're one of the other brothers in this text we very quickly passed the other brothers to get to David because we want a double for our trouble we want to be the highlight we want to be the center and maybe that's part of the issue about being Godly servant leaders and not be able to receive rejection uh if I had just put a little tag on here what about the right look what if your blessing is not being selected what if that was the blessing that they did not call your name to come up on the stage what if you are the one that don't get any type of War you just graduated what if you're not the one that's called to the Metropolis or to the far away land with the thousands of followers and you're leading tens and tens and tens of thousands because you wanted to be like David what if you are the one on the side corner of Conrad Montana with a nice small congregation do you still feel like you're a Godly servant leader are you still in a number will you still Rejoice with your brothers and sisters at commencement day or where you could quietly slip away into a corner taking off your robe and your hat and saying hmm I guess I wasn't good enough that what I see is what the brothers were probably feeling because here we're in chapter 16 which is very pivotable because if you are following the narrative in any way when we get to this part of the Texas especially we get to David we see that God is now saying you know what I'm allowing you to think you know what you're really doing because you don't want to follow me you want a king yeah you you like it your way you watch too many Burger King commercials and you said make sure to put on the extra pickles and no mustard and so here we see God is showing us that I'm going to show you what happens when you choose a king outside of my will because I know you already wrote in your Bible is about Deuteronomy chapter 24 When God says if you should have a king but it should be of mine choosing and as we follow the text here we see that there was a king and his name was Saul and Saul was he a good king or a bad King I'm gonna draw y'all in to talk to me this evening uh he didn't quite cut the mustard uh Saul was one that looked good on the outside but if we checked his heart he was not one to be following Saul was the one that the people said I want to follow him but Saul was not the man labeled a man after God's Own heart um if I had to lean in point number one I would say that sometimes we need to correct our refracted errors uh we need to correct our refracted areas and what do I mean by that because someone in here is an obstetrician or ophthalmologist or one of those optis and you know about that reflector areas and the top ways we have trouble seeing is not just automatic blindness but we could either be too nearsighted or too far-sided and God says in our leadership opportunity sometimes we used to stop racial profiling start doing some leadership profiling because some of us are myopic and that we are nearsighted we look like the goodness of a person we look how well they speak well look how tall they are we look how handsome they dress they got Cole Hans and red bottom shoes and we say that's my leader that's that's the one right there the Charisma and the charm just fills a room and we miss the point because sometimes we're nearsighted and we see what the person is doing here but no character inside the the refractor area that we also have sometimes is being that we're far-sighted we we get blurred because we're so focused on what's down the road that we don't see what needs to be happening right here and there how hard is it sometimes for Ministry leaders to ask people to go out into the local neighborhood to witness to the local people to minister to the local people but we're quick to get on the airplane train or automobile out of there Godly servant leaders for the proclamation of the Gospel and there's nothing with going far places but I want to remind you has God called you there or is your site trying to lead you there there's refractor errors here because the people did not realize they were not following God they were allowing apostasies come in they were allowing idolatry to come in why because they followed a man that wasn't following God but following himself be careful when you follow the Glimpse in the glam and you have no rock of salvation you have no Fortress as my mighty God you have no faith it's too easy to allow refractive errors to lead us down a road and where Samuel now gets to a point of like okay this time when I pick somebody I'm gonna pick a right but even Samuel starts out to be a little nearsighted do you see that in the text because as soon as God says don't worry I'm gonna take care of Saul on you I'm gonna have you do a consecration I'm gonna have you do within your means a ceremony so he won't kick up when that you find in his replacement and the first thing Samuel says it must be that one why is it that one because it's refracted error I mean Iliad he's the firstborn right check he's handsome and Tall check he's from the house of Jesse the tribe of Bethlehem so he's got to be good because he's in that number and God says no I reject him here I saying that's kind of harsh guy why do you reject him I mean he he's closer he should be the one no because in verse 7 God says I don't look at outward appearances I do a heart check um for those who have been around any type of aircraft you know that before Apollo gets into aircraft they check the exterior of the plane and we say hallelujah and they go around they look at the exterior they make sure that there's no no skin of the aircraft buckling they make sure there's no weird smells no sounds and we say that's great but if you don't know that every now and then you have to bring the aircraft in for an ndi inspection a non-destructive inspection we have to bring that aircraft in to see not if the exterior is good but if the interior of the metal is sound and there's these troops who I got to hang out with in that wonderful place of eielson Air Force Base Alaska they work the midshift nobody knows who they are they're in this weird building they call a hangar and they got these weird devices they look like x-ray machines like they went inside a doctor who adventure and they brought back this weird box thing and they take take it and they look at them at the metals and guess what it's just not x-raying through the metal is looking at the twines and intertwining of the metal because if it starts to fade on the inside it will destroy the outside and we will have a disaster when was the last time you said rightly as the psalmist search Me O Lord and try me see if you find anything that's not in me or do you rather like the ones I just go to The Garden Alone where the Dew is steer on the roses and I catch a quick five-minute nap do you allow God to search you or do you hold on to your refracted error well as we continue to follow the text here we see that there is something wrong with the brothers because God says I rejected him and we figured out oh here's the key humans do not see what the Lord sees for humans see what is visible but the Lord sees the heart if I slide into Point number two that not only do we have refracted errors we have an issue we have too many emotional experiences because see here in the text y'all remember when they got Saul saw man Saul's all right so I was a man we cheer we love Saul Saul starts making up we get nervous that's when we go to church things ain't going right for me we get emotional why do I say we get emotional because we thought we had the person saw we didn't look at his heart he just looked the part we follow after him and things don't start going right and we don't think about could it not be going right because we are caught up in the emotions versus being caught up in God we have this thought this ideology this practice this philosophy this living this culture we follow what the world follows if something's wrong in my life it it it's not me it must be God we have something wrong we get caught up in emotions and saying that when I'm a Christian I know I'm blessed because I got two Teslas in the driveway oh you didn't get your Tesla yet go by Tarjay they sell a little max box card Tesla's there we get caught up in emotions because we say how long Lord do I have to suffer I only got an iPhone a tablet and a watch I need something else we get caught up in the emotions As Leaders because we look at the numbers versus we look at the conversions can you see the brothers here in motion okay Samuel's here he killed the heifer we having the consecration oh I gotta be in there oh I'm getting excited man I oh something's happening I don't know what's happened he didn't really tell me I'm the next king but obviously I mean he's in my house and you know they picked me I'm the oldest and can you see after Elliot can't see Shanghai the third one saying shh you ain't gonna get it because God is Holy he picks the number three so one two it's got to be me and they go there I can see them sitting around there they're getting emotional but as the text says that every son that passes by God says not that one not that one not that one we get excited because as we near in the end of our Seminary training we're maybe not looking at the GPA but we're sure feeling good that when I graduate oh yeah I'm gonna have a great job I'm gonna have a great employment I suffered at Seminary but when I commence I'm going to get my praise on because somehow we allow the world's thought of emotions and that surely God owes me surely I have to be paid and not monetary I'm not saying that God holds us back from giving us a great way to live but if your plan for being in Ministry is so that you get emotionally recognized so people clap their hands people call your name your name is on lights you're on the billboard and on the Fly you got a tweeter you got an IG you got a Facebook and you went past meta and just went on ahead and got ain't gonna say the other place and that's that's got to be it and you get emotionally involved but then all of a sudden God says uh no I'm going to keep you at 30 members no you're going you're going to stay right there I I know you got a great board I mean you got three CEOs on your board but guess what you guys aren't going you're not going to grow you're gonna stay right there uh I'm not going to give you any extra preaching opportunities you just got to stay right there with that flocking and and preach to them I'm going to have you go through a hardship on Monday paying on Wednesdays and terrible Tuesdays it's gonna be followed by Thursday Thursdays and Friday failures and you got to preach on Sunday because Sunday's coming God says don't get caught up in the outside don't allow your emotions to be twisted don't don't don't look at the stature of what it means to be in Ministry you need to be settled on this one thing humans see what is visible but the Lord sees the heart when's the last time you did a good heart check I know we love to quote quote the verse before we preach search Me O Lord let the words in my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer we put the Redeemer on there just to make sure it gets sealed on there it says that's great but unfortunately you didn't spend no time with me throughout the rest of the week and you preached my word which does not come back void but then you're wondering why does it seem nobody's connecting and it's not First Corinthians where Paul says Satan blinds them it's we're blinded because we're emotionally attached to the ministry and our heart is not in it oh my brothers and sisters I'm gonna let you know this one thing God says I see the heart and even though emotions should not drive us it is okay to be emotional with the right sight if you're leaning on God with all your unchanging hand you're crying out in prayer he will answer prayer but your heart has to be right towards him your motives have to be right towards them if your modem is motive is just to be promoted it's just a minister so I look good and that we are good and our name is there I caution you you might find a way of Saul and be more of an outcast versus the influencer but there's one more point I gotta look because I've been good DTS trained and that we have this refracted areas that we need corrected we have this emotional experiences that we have to make sure is tempered but I want you to keep your focus on the Eternal perspective we're here at Dallas Seminary to be equipped to be trained to proclaim the gospel message and that that does not just stop here but to do this worldwide we have an eternal perspective from this school yes it's rigorous yes it's hard but if you don't get your bumps and bruises in seminary but you get it out there trust me it's going to feel worse yes the professors are on us day in and day out why not for their namesake but for God's namesake they're not just trying to do it so they hear well done they want to hear about your stories when you're out there in ministering and you're telling people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they're not only getting saved but they're bringing in their families and their families and Families Our professors want to hear that from you not because you executed the passage correctly but that you gave your whole heart for Eternal perspective Proclamation and if we look at this text as I drop down to verses 12 and 13 we see that when all the other brothers all the other men had passed by all the other Sons had passed back that finally there's this one son and we love our David story it's David he's chosen but I want you to stop that he's just chosen I was excited to be reminded that God had already established a covenant and he had already said that guess what there will be someone on my Throne forever and here it is I wonder if the brothers saw it wow we missed it this is the Eternal perspective God is coming to our home and he's choosing the one to be the type for the Messiah from our own house can you see that can you see where he's in our house come on y'all know you waiting for the next sport athlete to win the Super Bowl that's from your hometown because you want to say yes they're from my town I don't know nothing about them but they're from my hometown we love that and we celebrate that and I think that's what the family did is like oh my David I I don't get it here's an eternal perspective I'm going to leave with you as I looked here yes it's David and yes he's he's ready you know he's handsome in his appearance I said that's interesting God said he didn't like the handsome in the parents over here but David I even shaved that day I don't know the thing that got me and the semblance that this stood out for me Dave is a man after God's Own Heart he was a shepherd can you see David with the Sheep he's out there taking care of the flock it's not popular I mean Shepherds were on the same level as leopards and sometimes even worse but David tends to them these sheep they keep running away they keep getting in trouble they keep messing up but David the shepherd will make sure he goes out there and takes care of them can you see yourself in Ministry when it's the same person on the same Sunday for the fifth month in a row with the same issue asking you for help okay can you see yourself when God has you go through a certain part of town and that certain part of town you're going to see the same person to give them the same message that they're still going to reject but they're there next week to meet you can you see that okay can you see yourself being a Shepherd versus being a spotlight guess what I believe the Eternal perspective is that God he's a man after mine all heart don't rush to always the story of Bathsheba But realize that he even said my bones wax ah old Within Me Lord cause against you and you alone than I sin we don't like that part but he's a shepherd in the Eternal perspective even when it feels like you're rejected is that God may not choose you for that role but he never rejects you for being a person you may not be selected to reign but he still calls you to serve you may not be the one that has your name in lights but the Father of Lights one day we'll say thank you so much for taking the time to minister someone that seemed like they were in obscurity but you took time to talk to them in the hallway thank you so much for ministering to the person I know you were down to your last five dollars you want to get one taco from Taco joint so you have two dollars left to get a Dr Pepper but you took that five dollars and you and I blessed it and you found an extra five dollars in your pocket and you treated somebody to a taco joint Eternal perspective I don't know about you but I don't like feeling rejection it hurts but then I realized instead of just trying to self-analyze let me look at my reflected areas and make sure I'm looking at the text correctly and let me not be so nearsight I'm focus on mine but so far so I had to get hyper into the future let me look at this emotion and it's okay for me to cry to shed a little tear a little bit but that's okay because we've been indoors for a night but joy comes in the morning because emotionally I could say if I'm in Christ he's got me but I will keep my eternal perspective because God has not only a plan he's fulfilling his Covenant and we are part of that and you are a part of that well I didn't make Master Sergeant as I told you so I got a little nervous what do I do now I didn't make rank and without making rank within so many years for the Air Force they politely say thank you for your service you got to go but here's what I didn't know the Eternal perspective that God had a man come into my life and say hey have you ever thought about being an instructor at Shepherd Air Force Base Wichita Falls Texas an instructor you mean teach people yeah you get to teach people your job hmm all right I think I'll do that and so I corrected my refractor errors and just trying to have a pity party and I dove in because to be an instructor you have to take a college course I never took a college course in 13 years in the military but I took a college course and I stayed there and I got my emotions settled in within Christ and somebody says hey have you ever thought about putting in a package to become an officer what I can't become an officer I'm not smart enough I'm not fast enough I'm not strong enough yeah just put it in your package and I didn't know when I put in my package at the kernel of my base was also attended of our Chapel it says Hey Baxter I was down at San Antonio down at Randolph Air Force Base okay the Eternal perspective was that they had my commander of my base who knew me in church on the board and I'm not saying he voted for me to become an officer but somehow 90 days later I got a letter that says you've been selected to be an officer United States Air Force that's not everybody's story and I'm not trying to paint a happy picture but I'm thankful to God that for that one moment he allowed me to do that because the true story is although I became an officer I was glad when I was able to leave that and come to Dallas Theological Seminary and I'm honored to stand before you to say rejection happens it will come but don't look at Earthly Rewards look for the Eternal perspective where our emotions in checked and he corrects our refracted errors father we thank you for this day we thank you for blessing us Lord God may we take your words and not just be hearers but doers of them may we apply this message as you have called All of Us for your Divine Purpose we pray continue blessings upon those that are gathered here and I ask this in the name of Jesus and by the power of the holy spirit amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 1,197

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, Jesus, Bible, Grace, Community

Id: v_Vw5ObAQlU

Length: 30min 2sec (1802 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 24 2023