One Lord

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, this series we're talking about sound seven essentials the Apostle Paul said a church needs to be in agreement on, in unity about. So each weekend we're taking one of those seven elements that the Apostle Paul talked about, and we're just kind of expanding and exploring a little bit and seeing how that not only applies to the life of our church, but to each of our lives individually. And this weekend we're talking about this idea of one Lord, as I'll read to you in just a moment. But when we think of one Lord, what we need to think about is this idea. One leader. One leader. When the Bible was translated into the English language back in 1611 in England, King James commissioned that it would be translated into the English language. It's been revised about seven or eight different times, and now we have different revisions of that original. But the idea then when the translators were trying to find this word Lord Adonai, and they were trying to find Elohim, they were trying to find this word that would translate and communicate in the English language, they use the word Lord. The word Lord. Because back in that time, they had lords and ladies. Now we don't have lords and ladies anymore. Well, we do. There's called celebrities, but actually they think they are. But the point is that we don't really have that. We don't call him by Lord something, you know, lady something. But what we have, instead of lords and ladies, we have leaders. We have leaders. And so when I talk about one Lord, I'm really talking about the supreme leader in our life, the one who has the greatest amount of leadership. One of the things I get to do every weekend is I talk to leaders. Because all of you, in some level, in some way or another, you're all leaders. Every leader has influence. That's how we lead. We lead with influence. The word influence is an interesting word. It comes from the idea of two small tributaries flowing together, creating a current that then creates a larger body of water called a river. And that river is flow, creates influence. So anything that's caught in the current of the river will go in that direction. And so your Life, your business, you. You have a trajectory, you. You have a flow, you have a movement, you're moving some direction. You're. The Bible says we're either stepping stones that help people navigate through life, or we're stumbling blocks. People have to get over us to get where they need to go. And so in our lives, we are leading primari of a sense of influence. And the greatest influence that you have is the influence you have in your home. That's where we first learn leadership. We're modeled leadership from our parents. And as a child, they give us responsibilities. You know, make your bed, clean your room. These are things we start learning as a child to take responsibility. Because with the opportunities that leadership gives you, it carries responsibility. So we start out as leaders, understanding the opportunities that are there, but also the responsibilities that those opportunities carry. And the thing about it is, when you get into your professional life and you start leading at that level, you begin to understand the principle that I can't be over something that I'm not first of all, willing to be under. If you cannot submit yourself to the leadership that's in front of you, you can't then lead anyone that's coming behind you. The best way to be over something is to learn the value of being under something which requires a great deal of humility. In fact, the Bible says this principle in Luke, chapter 12, verse 48, to whom much is given, much is required. So with great opportunities that leadership provides, there's great responsibilities that leadership also carries. Now, here's what happens when you become a leader in your job and you make more money and you get a better title. Maybe it's assistant to the regional manager, but you get a little office referral there. But you get a little. You get a little title, and you get more money that comes with the title. Here's what you're getting paid to handle. Are you ready? More trouble. You're getting paid to handle more conflict. When they give you a title, that means you got more responsibility. That means you got more problems. When they give you a title, that means you now are going to have to handle conflict. And with that opportunity, there comes greater responsibility. Now, I don't tell you that because I don't want to whine you out of a blessing here. Don't. Don't whine yourself out of a blessing, because God uses those levels of leadership to prepare you for where he's trying to take you. There's a principle in Psalm 37 that's just profound where he says, the steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord. And God delights in their way. He takes pride in his kids who are following his steps. He said, even though that child may stumble and fall, God will ultimately uphold them with his power of his right hand. But the principle that I want you to see, and it applies to leadership there is that leadership is steps, steps, steps. You take a step and then you move to the next level. At the next step, where one step you're a student, the next step you may be a teacher, at one level you may be following. And at the next level you may be leading. And as you continue to progressively take these steps throughout your career and throughout your life, what you began to see is the ceiling that is here soon becomes the floor that is there that it isn't long. If I continue to take steps, God is preparing me for life at the new level. And as I take these steps and I'm learning more as I go, and I'm expanding more influence and I'm expanding, expanding my knowledge of how to handle the things that I've been called to do, I also understand at new levels come new devils and at a different level there's going to be a new challenge. But God is preparing you for life at the next level. And you, you don't really. And you should never stop growing all along the journey because God has a destiny in mind. We, we never get there until we step into his presence. We're always moving toward it, we never arrive at it. And so I'm just suggesting to you that wherever you are on the level of leadership, God is preparing you for life at the next level. And the thing you need to be aware of, and we've talked about this, that at every level there's going to be challenges. I said new levels, new levels, there's going to be these. You know, sometimes it's as he said, good people stumble and fall, sometimes you may stumble and fall. And I believe that when you make a decision as a leader, if you're decisions are forward thinking, people are more inclined to forgive you of a bad decision than they are if you're just sit back doing nothing. I mean, I respect someone who at least makes a mistake while they're attempting to achieve something that might benefit the company or the family than somebody who's just laid back and afraid to try anything. I mean, the idea is, man, if you've never made a mistake in leadership, you probably never made anything. And most of us learn from our mistakes. I had a pastor friend that talked to me last week, said, man, I'D love for you to come and meet with our staff. You know, you've been doing this for 50 years. I'd love to just pick your brain. And I told him, I said, I'd be honored to come, but I can tell you, I'll share with them more things about my life that didn't work. Then I'll tell them things that did work. And I'll be honest with you. This morning, I failed at more things than I've ever succeeded at. I've just not been afraid to try. I'm not afraid to swing at a pitch. And I really think when it comes to leadership, sometimes it's just taking that opportunity, moving through the doors as God opens them, and sometimes making the mistakes and sometimes taking advantage of the opportunities as God gives them. Paul put it this way. There is a great and effectual door open to me. But then he said, there are many adversaries. And I've told you before, the door of opportunity swings on the hinges of opposition. One of the ways you know you're running with the Lord. And if you're running against the devil, Paul Harvey used to say, you know, you're on the road to success when it's uphill all the way. I'm not saying that to discourage you. I'm just trying to tell you if you're a leader and you're facing challenges, you're probably exactly where you're supposed to be, because there's always going to be a new challenge. I said on one hand, God will test you. He's seeing how you're handling life at this level. You've stepped into a new role. You stepped into a new responsibility. So how are you handling? Well, you. You don't know till he tests you. And what is a test? Every teacher and student in the room will know. A test is an evaluation to see if you're ready to be promoted. You can't get to fifth grade if you can't pass fourth grade material. And sometimes the reason we take the same test over and over, because we're not learning what we needed to learn at that level. So God will send us back to school. He will send us back into the classroom. He will send us back to the table. So we retake the same stinking test because we hadn't passed it yet. So once we pass the test, and by the way, the test isn't given so that God will know where we are. Now, a teacher will do that. We got a lot of educators in our church, and they will tell you that the Reason they test their students is they know that I can't teach new material if they hadn't taught what I've just been teaching. Because particularly in math, one thing builds on the next thing. And boy, if you miss a step, it's hard to get caught up. And so, boy, it's important those little boogers, you know, understand all those little levels of information you're trying to give them. And the only way you know if they're getting it is you test them. And then you test them and you see, oh goodness, 80% of them didn't pass that proficiency. So I need to go back and, and try to fill in these gaps where they're not learning. And so you, you retest them. So the teacher will do that for the teacher's information. That's not why God gives us a test. He gives us a test not so that he will know where we are and how we're doing. Cause he's sovereign. He can't learn anything. God can't forget anything. You can't catch him up to speed. Cause he already knows he's sovereign. So it's not for his benefit. Listen, it's for ours. I don't know how to fix where I am if I don't know where I am. Remember in the shopping mall when they had the map and you were trying to locate the store you're going to, and the thing you look for on the map is the red dot, and the red dot says you are here. Well, you can't get there if you don't know where here is. And I'm saying so many people come to church and they don't know where they are. They're not sure on the map where they are. So they can't get where they're going because they don't honestly know where they are. Where are you with your leadership? How, how are you doing with your. Well, the only way you know that is when your leadership gets tested. And listen, your leadership's going to get tested. There'll be times. There'll be people. You're going to have circumstances that's going to test. Sometimes it's lack of resources, sometimes it's closed doors. Sometimes it's a difficult employee. Sometimes it's something that initiative you launch that that's, you know, it's the right one, but it's not developing and working yet. And so you're trying to stay with it. And in the midst of that, it, it's, it's something that you feel is going to turn in the right Direction, but it hadn't happened yet. And somebody said, how are you doing with your leadership? And you say, well, I'm doing pretty good. But in the meantime, they say, you know why they call it the meantime? Because it's a mean time when you're right in the middle of something you know is going to work, but it hadn't worked. And you're saying in the meantime. Well, it's a mean time. And I'm just saying that's test. That's a test. That's God testing your level of leadership. He's preparing you for life at the next level. Okay, so stay with me. On one side, God tests you, but on the other side, the enemy will tempt you. Remember we talked about this a few weeks ago? The devil on one shoulder, angel on the other shoulder. This is kind of a good concept. The temptation is not from God. The Bible says God can't tempt. Neither can he be tempted. He tests, but he doesn't tempt. And the difference is, a test is an evaluation to see if you're ready to be promoted. A temptation is a solicitation to get you to do something that goes against God's plan for your life. Here's how that works. The enemy whispers in your ear, it's not worth it, no matter how hard you try. It's two steps forward and three back. You're under so much pressure financially. I mean, everything seems to be going. I don't even sure all your team like you or trust you or believe in your leadership. And all of a sudden, man, these thoughts. These thoughts get in your head and the devil starts really messing with your mind. And he starts. And he starts telling you that you're not capable and you're not able and you're not worthy. And all these just, what's the use? Just give it up. Go do something else. Just check out. It is just. And that, listen, that's the temptation. And I'm just saying, as a leader, you and I are going to face those concerning every situation that we're in, at every level that we're on. But leadership is something God has divinely appointed. It is something that he has set in. In fact, when think about it. When God created everything and he created MANKIND In Genesis 1, he said, let us make man in our image. Speaking of the triune Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And then he said, let's give them. Speaking of mankind, male and female, let's give them dominion over my creation. God created us. The original design to have dominion, meaning leadership. Leadership he wanted us to have now. What changed? Dominion. When did we lose dominion? We lost dominion when sin entered the picture. And now what happens? The moment you receive Jesus is. You're in a process of God's teaching us how to lead. He's teaching us how to reach, regain the momentum, to regain the dominion, to regain the authority that we should carry on this earth. He said, concerning his kids, you're kings and priests. He said, concerning his kids, I've made you always to triumph in every situation. Well, why don't we. Billy Graham said 95% of the people who attend the average church live defeated lives because they've never understood the lordship of Jesus Christ, the leadership of Jesus. 95% live in defeat. They're not applying the principles of this that I'm talking to you about in their daily life. And so they're living these defeated lives. God created us to be able to handle authority, but we're to handle authority by recognizing, are you ready for this? We're to be under authority. Someone as well said, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The best leader is someone that understands the principles of following. When Jesus was talking to that centurion In Matthew, chapter 8, verse 9, the centurion was over a vast number of Roman soldiers. And he said to Jesus, even in my position, I am still a man under authority. He recognized that with the authority that he had, he's still a man under authority. And listen, you can't be over anything if you don't understand the power of being under something. The most effective leaders are leaders that get humility, that they understand that. And man, if you're not careful when you're in leadership, all of a sudden it seems like ego takes over. And, you know, you're kind of like the rooster that all of a sudden you forget that you're crowing because the sun comes up. And the sun didn't come up because you crowed. Little barnyard theology there for you. But it's this idea that we're to be. We're to be humble servants of the Lord. Jesus displayed that type of leadership when he washed Simon Peter's feet. He was a humble leader and he understood the value of humbling himself under his Father's authority while he was on the earth. And you and I as leaders, we humble ourselves under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Which is really the point that I'm driving at this morning, is that if we're going to be effective at leading in our life, we have to recognize the power of of the lordship of Jesus Christ. In fact, look at our text in Ephesians 4. We'll go quickly through it. In verse one, he says, as the prisoner of the Lord, I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Lowliness, gentleness, long suffering, bearing each other in love. Keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And then he covers those seven things. One body, one spirit, one hope, and number four, one Lord. You've got one leader. There's one person you need to learn from. And the first principle I'd give you before we go home is we have to constantly recognize who is that superior leader in our life, and that is Jesus. When the Bible says in order to receive him in Acts 16:31, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you can be saved. And the name of Jesus is given as the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you break that apart, those names have significance. The name Jesus means the saving one. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. The angel said to Mary, for he will save his people from their sins. So the name Jesus indicates saving one. The name Christ Christos is atoning one. It speaks of his priestly ministry, meaning that he makes atonement for sin through his sacrifice on the cross. And the word atonement is. It's just Christianese to mean to make at one with God. Atonement is at one, meaning that he just makes us one with Jesus. So when I receive Jesus as Savior, I experience him as Christ because He has now made atonement for my sin. And then I have to recognize him as Lord or the Word, remember, leader of my life. Now I understand I am under a man under authority. I am under his control. I am responsible and I have an opportunity. But it is under his authority. And it's by his direction that I am to follow if I am to be an effective leader and man. Sometimes I think we get so far away from the idea that God has saved us that we move away from that. Paul said, I never lost the wonder of what Jesus did for me when he saved me. When you think about what happened when we accepted him, when we received him and we realized that he is the God of the universe and I can have my sins forgiven when I trust Him. When I received Jesus as Savior, think about this. He saved me in that moment from the penalty of my sin. Romans 6, 23. For the wages, the penalty of sin is death, death, spiritual death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, my Lord. So what happened when I received Jesus Christ the Lord, well, he saved me from the penalty of my sin. What does that mean? That means you and I who know Jesus will never be called to account, will never have to stand in judgment for our sin. That's a misunderstood idea, that when Christians get to heaven, we're not in heaven to determine or to to stand in judgment for the sins that we committed on earth. When we're in heaven one day, as a Christian, we're there who receive rewards or lose rewards. There is a great white throne judgment for those who reject Jesus, there is the bema, or the judgment seat of Christ. For those who know Jesus, one people are rewarded, the other people are rejected. They reject Jesus, he rejects them. But when you and I stand before God, read First Corinthians 3. We're going to be there to receive the rewards for the life that we've lived. You see, works are important, but works don't lead you to heaven. Works follow you to heaven. In fact, in Revelation it said, blessed are those who die in the Lord from henceforth, says the Lord, they now cease from their labor. And here it is, their works follow them. Works don't lead you to heaven, they follow you there. So when we're in heaven one day it's not going to be to stand before God to see if we get to stay or go. That's settled. In a service like this, we make that decision on the earth. We either choose him or reject him. And that's handled on this sideline. So when I'm in heaven, it's not to see if do I stay or do I go. When I'm in heaven, am I going to rewarded for the life I lived or am I not going to be rewarded for the life that I live? Some people have. You believe that, you know, in heaven there's a big scale and on one one side all the good stuff you've done is weighed against all the bad stuff you've done. You know, I don't know where that idea comes from. It doesn't come from the Bible, that that. Or maybe it comes from a misunderstanding of the Bible. That's not going to work at all. Besides that, I listen, I would not just me, I would not Trust the best 5 minutes I've ever lived to be good enough to get me into heaven. I wouldn't take that chance. Isaiah said all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. In fact, the Bible says even the thought, the thought of foolishness is sin. Well, who among us has not had a foolish Thought since we've been in here, I thought stupid stuff. A minute ago, I couldn't say. I just. My brain just said, uh. And my mouth said, okay, stay behind those bars of ivory in there and just don't say anything. And I'm just suggesting you that we like that great theologian, you know, Clint Eastwood said in Unforgiven, we all got it coming. I mean, there's none righteous. No, not one. I'm just saying to your heart that if we're waiting till we get to heaven to see if we stay and we go, we've waited too long. All of the penalty was paid at the cross when Jesus paid it all. When he said, it is done, he meant all the work necessary to come to heaven is done. And when I receive Jesus Christ the Lord, that means my past sins, my present sins, and by the way, all of my future sins were forgiven. Otherwise he'd have to come back and die again. He'd have to say, okay, Bill, I covered you up until that point, but you've sinned a lot since then, so I got to get out here ahead of this again. And die all over. No, no, no, no. He covered all. It's back to understanding relationship and fellowship. When you receive Jesus Christ the Lord, he's your father, you're his child, you're sealed. According to Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 4 until the day of redemption, you're sealed, meaning your relationship is secure. What happens then when a Christian sins? It doesn't affect your relationship, it affects your fellowship. It's the same thing in a relationship. You can be married to someone and not like them. Don't look now, I'm watching. You can love your children and not like them at moments. You had that experience. What am I saying? I'm saying you can be in a relationship with someone and not like that person. And that happens with Christians. Something hits your world that doesn't make sense, it isn't fair. And all of a sudden your heart is broken and your soul is crushed. And you know the God of heaven could have prevented it. Instead he allowed it. And you're thinking, what just happened to me? And for a little while, your relationship's not affected, but your fellowship sure got out of shape. And I can tell you there are thousands of people who call this church, their church home, who aren't here this morning because they encountered some life altering thing that didn't make sense. They're having trouble navigating through it. And what has happened now is not the relationship affected, but some fellowship Got affected. A lot of people gave up on church. It didn't give up on God. A lot of people have gone through something. Can I help you with it? Just using my story, I've had to come to a point where I make a conscious decision that I choose to trust God. I choose to trust him. I just choose to trust him. It's my choice. I choose to go that way because I've seen what happens when you lose your trust or you lose your faith in God. And you walk away from that. You. You kind of go into a spiral. It takes you to a darker place. And so I choose to live on that sunny side of life with faith, believing that there is a God who does have a purpose and a plan, though I don't understand and often don't even agree with. But I land there. I land there and it helps me navigate through some of the difficulty. And here's the hope that I have. I could be wrong, but here's the hope I'll have that is one day in the presence of God, one day, then, then I'll understand. And I'll just tell you this morning that man. There's going to be a lot of mysteries of life that'll make no sense. And if you're demanding an explanation from God. Can I help you with something? It's probably not going to come. I mean, read the. Read the people in the Bible that struggled with the whys. You're going to get the why. He's not going to tell you. You know how he answered Isaiah? He said Isaiah. And he's not being condescending. It's hard for God to speak, by the way, without being condescending on some level. But anyway, the point is, he just said to Isaiah, as high as the heavens are above your head, so high are my thoughts, and so higher my ways above yours. But basically, here's how I received that word. Here's what I think he was saying to Isaiah. Isaiah, if I took the time to explain it, you wouldn't understand it. And you might not still. You might not agree with it. Trust me. Trust me. Remember, I've told you that morning when I step into heaven one day. Now, I don't know when that's going to be, but I really do. The Bible says, when we see him, third John, we shall be like him, for we will see him as he is. Meaning, one day when we step into the presence of God, we're going to have a glorified body. We don't have glorified bodies yet. We have Kind of the wrecked image of the original design. God created us to have dominion, but we don't have dominion. We're working to retain it. We're a wrecked version of the original. That's why he says he's conforming us into the image of his son. Romans 8:29. He's having to reshape us to get us back looking like we did in the imago day, where we're not there. And we won't be there until we're in his presence. When we see him, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And I've told you, man, when I step in the presence of God, guess what? This is going to be a ripped body. Look out. I'll be handsome. And beyond that, beyond that, I'm going to have the mind of Jesus. I don't have that mind yet. I'm working on it. I'm getting ignorant igniter all the time, but I'm working on it. I don't have that yet. I'm a work in progress. I'm under construction. I don't have that yet. And it won't be perfected until I'm in His presence. That's why I told you before, when we talked about this after Cindy went to heaven. I remember the song they would sing at my dad's church. The song was, we'll talk it over in the by and by we'll talk it over, my Lord and I. I'll ask the reasons he'll tell me why when we talk it over in the by and by. Well, that was the hymn writer's idea of what heaven was going to be like. And as a kid, I'd sing it along with everybody else. But as I got to be an adult and you start thinking about things, I thought, is that really what heaven's going to be? A Q and A with God for eternity? And I thought, I'm gonna take up a lot of his time. I mean, I'm gonna say, you know, God, back in 1963, when my mom and dad split up and all this kind of thing. Let me start there. I mean, I was five. But I'm putting it together and I didn't understand, you know, so you start. But is that what it's gonna be like? Can you imagine sitting down with Jesus and him going, okay, here we go. I'll explain it to you. 1956, that's where we are. Okay, High school. All right. No, what is it going to be like? Well, here's what it's going to be like. I think the moment I step into the presence of God, not only a glorified body, but a perfected mind. And I think my first expression in heaven will be, oh, okay, I get it. We're good. We weren't good down there. We're good up here. I understand all that you were doing. It makes sense to me now because I've got a. A perfect mind. So I'm saying, folks, when you acquiesce your leader and you understand he knows what's best so you know he can be trusted, it helps you navigate through those difficult experiences that you're gonna hit in life. Cause the devil doesn't care what takes you out of the game just so you go out of the game. He doesn't care if it's a legitimate thing or if it's just something that in your mind, you imagine it to be worse than it actually was. The devil doesn't. Here's his strategy. Number one. To keep you away from God. And if he can't keep you away from God, to keep you doing anything for God. And one of the best tactics he uses is the battle of your brain, the battle of your mind. And it happens through the experiences of life that seem unfair and make no sense. And I'm saying, as a leader, you gotta learn how to navigate through those experiences. And sometimes, guys, you're learning how to see in the dark. You're learning how to navigate through things that you yourself don't understand. And you simply have to trust what's the next step to take, and believe God is guiding you in it and hope that when you step on the next step, there's something there to support your footfall. Sometimes leadership is scary, and sometimes leadership is uncertain. But when you're following the right leader and you see him as your superior, there's a sense of peace you have that God will not make a mistake. And he will not lead you into anything he cannot lead you out of. And can I touch the last two things and we'll go home? This is for my note takers so you don't go. All right, Bill, you burned all your clock on the first point, and I got notes here. The second thing would be to reconfirm my submission versus recognize my superior. Reconfirm. What do I mean by that? It means that when I received Jesus as Savior, I submitted to his authority as my Savior. I knew I couldn't save myself, so there was a humility involved in receiving him. But once I've received him, there's a tendency that I have now to take control of my life. I again. So that's where it's easier to accept him as Jesus Christ than to acknowledge him as Lord. That's what Billy Graham was talking about. So what do I do to do that? Every day I have to submit to his leadership in my life. That's why in Romans 12, we talk about this. When Paul said, present your bodies, he's talking to Christians. Present your bodies. Listen to this description. A living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice, a living sacrifice. And I've told you this before, the problem with a living sacrifice is this. It keeps crawling off the altar. It doesn't stay there. It's living. What's the point? The point is I have to offer myself every day. I have to say, not my will, but thine be done. And that's the hardest thing. We're all control. We love to control. If it's the remote control or if you're the commissioner of fantasy football, you want to control the thing. I mean, we all love that. And God's kind of wired us to be people who like to be in control. We got a lot of entrepreneurs in our church, and that's a wonderful thing. But I'm saying sometimes that strength that you have can work against you to where you're not willing to relinquish and you're not willing to yield and you're not willing to allow God to lead you to be a man or a woman under authority. So that submission has to happen every day. Every day you wake up and say, God, not my will, but thine be done. You've given me today as a gift. Help me to go through my day to try to make somebody's load lighter, to try to make a difference in the life of some other person. Help me to do something even menial and unseen, but something that might be significant to someone else. It might be a text to someone or an email to someone just to say, I had you on my heart. Mine Just wanted you to know, man, anything I could ever do, please let me know. You never know how significant those moments are. It's those little things, submitting to his authority. And the last thing I would give you is to receive his supply. You can't have what he offers if you can't accept who he is. And God has promised everything you need he's willing to supply, meaning that if he's called you to do something in the level of leadership, he's already equipped you to do it. I know as a leader, sometimes you feel like you've out punted your coverage. Man, I felt that way when my dad finally retired and the church called me over there to follow him. I'm pastoring a church that started in 1867 that's running a couple thousand people. I'm 27 years old. My voice is still changing. I sounded like Mr. Haney on green Acres. Hello, everybody. You know that deal? It's a real thing, kids. You'll have to Google that. I mean, and I'm leading now. And honestly, I wasn't sure because I never saw myself in that. I didn't see myself as a senior pastor. I saw myself as a support pastor, which are so important in the life of a growing church. But I just kind of like everything else, I moonwalked my way in it. I just backed into leadership and I found myself leading something that I didn't seek. But I'm saying I had to come to the point where I realized I wouldn't be where I am if God didn't have a design. And I must be able to do this. There must be a level of leadership that I possess that I don't even know I possess it yet. If you thought about this, when Moses was named Moses, name means called out. Called out. That's his name by definition, in the Hebrew. Called out. Called out of what? He was called out of water. That's how Pharaoh's daughter saved his life. He's called out of water. And then he was going to call the people of God out of Egypt. So God saw something in Pharaoh that he didn't even see in himself. Abraham was called the father of many nations before he and Sarah had children. In fact, they didn't think they could have kids. That's why when God told her she's going to get pregnant, she laughed. She said, are you kidding me? You know how long we tried? And the point is, God has a way of seeing something in us that we don't see in ourselves. And I'm saying God has potential. He sees something in you that you may not see in yourself. So if you find yourself all of a sudden occupying a space that you didn't seek, God wouldn't put you there if he didn't think you could handle it. He equips you. So if ever you need to yield to his leadership, now's be a good time. Not only does he equip you, but he enables you. He'll give you the personality you need. Some of you are very outgoing. You're just. I mean, you're just naturally. You don't Meet a stranger, and that's the kind of people you are. And boy, God will put you in a place to where that gift can be shined. Some of you, you're not that outgoing. You're great at details. Your gifts are administration. You may not like people all that much, you love them, but you don't like them. And so maybe you're in a job where you. They always keep you away from people. And you're going to excel. There's a great book out, it's been out for a long time called Please Understand Me. It's helping you come to terms with how you're made and finding a career that really fits that path. I'm saying, though, once you're in sync with your creator, the God who designed you, and you're following his leadership, all of a sudden he's supplying what you need. And you start realizing, he's equipped me, he's enabled me. And here's the third thing he's doing. He's empowering me to do what I need to do. I'm finding his power, I'm finding his energy. There's nothing worse than being in a career that you hate, where all the life is just getting sucked out of you every day, which you just hate to get out of bed just cause you hate to do what you're doing. And sometimes it's good, man. Especially if you're in your mid-30s to early 40s. Cindy and I, we were 36 when God led us to start this church. And I was in a good place at my former church. I just got to that point where I just empty. And I thought, it's either them or it's me. And I was like, that breakup, it's not you, it's me. And it definitely wasn't them. It was me. And God just changed my heart toward them because he had birthed within our hearts this church called the Met Church. And we would have never done that if we stayed in that very safe and convenient place. I saw a little cartoon. You've seen this before. It says if you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always got. And God took a burnout experience in my life. He took a midlife moment in my life to move me into this ministry and to do something very unique. That's next year. We'll be celebrating our 30th year. I've been doing this now for 50 years. I'm shocked. And I'm just saying that something happens from 35 to 45 where you really start looking at your life, and you really start thinking. That's why they call that a midlife crisis. I had a friend of mine, we turned 50 at the same time. Our birthdays are like a week apart. He said, man, think about it. We're 50 years old, man. 50 yard line, we're halfway done. I went 50, dude, no, we're not going to live to be 100. Are you kidding me? We're way into the fourth quarter. We're not halftime. Are you crazy? We're not living to be a hundred. 35, 40. That's about mid right. You get where I am. I'm deep into the fourth quarter. I'll be 67 in a few weeks. So I'm just saying I am in the fourth, and I'm okay with that. I don't be here long enough to wear all you people out. Y' all be going, dear God, the old man's preaching again this weekend. Oh, wow. And I can tell you I have freedoms that I don't have at 67. Cause now I'm old, and I can say things. And people go, he's old. He's old. These younger guys don't say they can't get by. I can get by with it because I'm old. I'm old. But my point I'm making is, when you're in that zone, you want to look at your life and, man, if your life's too short to be miserable, I'm done. Hang with me. I'm going somewhere with this point. I was talking about this one time at the grocery store, and I was challenging guys, hey, man, life's too short to be miserable. You girls out there, if you're in a career and you hate it, man, think it's just, you're young, go for it. You pray, Let God lead you and go for. Do something different. Take a chance, take risks. Had a guy come up in this in the lobby a couple of weeks after I'd done that message, and he came up to me, he goes, hey, man, boy, I was really inspired by what you said. I want you to know, because of you, I'm quitting my job. I went, dear God, you didn't just say that. You took me way too seriously. You're not quitting. You don't want to rely on the word of the Holy Bill because he ain't that holy. You need to lead the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Let that person lead you. And so I had to. Boy, talk about, check yourself before you wreck yourself, man. Be sure God is leading. And I would say that to you guys. Be sure God is leading you before you just quit your job over something I've said. But I am telling you that when you get miserable, that may be one of the ways God is saying you're not exactly, you're the right person, you're just not in the right place. So trust his timing. Paul, put it this way. There's a great and effectual door. Remember, open me, there's many adversaries. God will open that door. You stay humble, you stay submissive, you keep following his leadership. And step by step, step by step, God will lead you where you need to be. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for the joy it is to speak to these incredible people and on this holiday weekend, thank you for bringing us together for this past hour to where we could experience worship and fellowship and to open your word and be challenged in our thinking. And Lord, each time we study the Bible, we're reminded that it is a very practical book. There's a lot of things in it that just go, common sense that we can look at it and read and even take some of the principles we've talked and go, okay, I see where that would make me a better husband or father or leader. We take principles because your word is practical. And not only father, is your word practical, your word is also possible. You put the cookies on the lower shelf so we can all reach them and we look at it and we think, I can do that, that's a great principle. And I can wake up tomorrow morning and yield to the leadership of the God's spirit and follow him each day and be sensitive to how he's leading me and where he's leading me and be a better leader. I can learn more about this area that I'm leading in. And so this word is, it's, it's possible, it's practical. And yet Father, I see your word is so powerful. You said it's rhema, it's living, it's sharper than any two edged sword. It has the ability to cut to our heart and help us discern the thoughts and intents of our heart. So Father, thank you for your word and help us now as James exhorted us, help us not to just have heard your word, but help us now to be a doer of your word. Just few moments we're going to break out of this holy huddle and go back out into a world. And I pray, Father, we'll execute the play you put in our heart. Follow your will. As Jesus said, not my will, but Thine be done. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their Savior. Father, I pray this might be the moment where they just humble their heart. Just say at this moment, God, with everything I know about you, I trust all that I know about me. I give you my heart, I give you my life, and I ask you to forgive me of my sin. And I pray this prayer in Jesus name. Amen. [00:41:50] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.