Principles of Biblical Leadership

[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], dot. 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. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Well, do you remember, do you remember your favorite teacher? All of us do we always have. My favorite teacher, believe it or not, was my kindergarten teacher, and it also was my mother. My mother was my kindergarten teacher. I couldn't get by with anything. Not a thing. Because if I'm in trouble in schools, automatically I'm in trouble at home. One of my memories back in that day was if you were in trouble, which was a frequent place I found myself. She would draw a circle with chalk on the chalkboard, and then you would have to go stick your nose in that circle. She didn't. That was before love and logic. My mother didn't read doctor Spock or any of that. Right. And so I remember as a kid, you would stand there at the chalkboard with your nose in the circle and you would stay there until she felt like, you know, you had learned your lesson and you could return to your seat. But what I would do is I would take my nose and erase the circle. I can still smell chalk. I don't know. Teachers have always been a big part of our family. My wife Cindy was an elementary ed major. My daughter Shannon teaches now in elementary school in Argyle. So teaching in teachers is a big part of our family. A big part of what I do is teach every weekend, right. You say, what's the difference between preaching and teaching? I don't know, except when you preach, you talk louder and you don't get the interaction that you do when you teach. But it's pretty much the same discipline. And when Jesus was referred to, oftentimes in the Bible, he was referred to as a teacher. And so there's no more noble profession in all the world than the profession of teaching. And we wanted on this weekend to set aside a Sunday, as the Bible says, you give honor to whom honor is due. And we feel the teachers, the educators, the school administrators are certainly worthy of honor, particularly as you go back this school year. So if you were in that very noble profession, would you let us honor you this morning by just standing wherever you are? Just remain standing for a moment. I want to pray over you. So all of our teachers, administrators, school educators. Would you stand just for a moment? Would you? Wonderful. Now, before you're seated, let me just pray over you, and would you join me in praying for these wonderful folks? Father, thank you for these teachers who are here this weekend. And, lord, we're so grateful for the influence that they have in the lives of our children and for the difference that they make, for the burdens that they carry, juggling between their household responsibilities, their own personal issues, while helping shape and mold the lives of young people. I pray this will be a wonderful year for them. I pray you will lift the burdens that they carry. I pray that you will go with them and go before them and let them know each day as they enter that classroom how appreciated they are, how loved they are, and how prayed for they are. I pray you will bless them. Thank you that as a church we can honor them on this weekend. And I pray this will be a very special day for them as the school year prepares to launch. I pray that you will be with them, watch over them, bless their leadership, and we just are so thankful to you for them. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you, folks. You may be seated. Yes, I'm absolutely convinced that God has a purpose for every life. For some of you, in this season of life, God has directed you into the profession of teaching. As I said, it's an incredibly noble profession. But God has a significant role for all of us to play. All of us make a difference in some way in the lives of other people. We talk a lot about influence and whether or not you are teaching a classroom or you're leading a group on the job, you have influence. And that word is interesting, and we've unpacked this before, but it's interesting to consider that the idea of influence comes from two ideas, two words. Inflow. Inflow. It's the idea of two small streams that flow together to create a current. And that current, that inflow catches things and catches people in its wake and in its drift. Influence is to catch someone up in the current of your life, and your life produces a current. Someone is being caught up in the current that is your life. You influence someone, you make a difference in someone's life. Never minimize your significance. Never minimize the importance that you play. I love what Paul wrote in Ephesians two, verses eight and nine. We talk about this a lot. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. That's a beautiful verse. It's wonderful. It tells me that you and I come into a relationship with Christ by faith because of his grace apart from our works. But the next verse is one that I wanted you to consider. He says, for we are his workmanship. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. So we're not saved by our faith and works. We're saved by a faith that works. We demonstrate our faith through our actions, through our works, through our influence. And it's a beautiful idea. We are his workmanship. In the greek language, that word workmanship is poema. We get the word poem from that. It's the idea that we are his poetry. Have you ever thought about yourself as a work of art? God is saying there in Ephesians 210, we are God's works of art. We are his poema. We are his poem. We are pieces of literature that God is using to influence the lives of other people. Paul said in one place that we are living life on a stage. We are made, he said in the King James, we are made a spectacle before men and before angels. The word spectacle is the word theatron. Again, the art idea, theatron. We had the word theater from that. Paul was saying, we are like actors on a stage that's being seen by people and by even the angels of heaven. So our lives have influence. Someone is watching how we live. They're looking at the example of our lives. In fact, what we know in leadership is people see how we live as being more important than what we say. In fact, what you do speak so loudly, oftentimes people won't hear what you say. So it's so significant for us as leaders and those of us who have influence over the lives of others, to understand the role that we play, and not only the role that we play, but the responsibility that is carried in that role that we play. And I am convinced that God wants you to have a great year. I really do believe that. I think God wants to see his people thrive and succeed and do well in life and make a difference. And I'll tell you, as we know that anytime God is at work building, the devil will be at work blasting, and he's going to do his best to try to discourage you. So I'm just saying, to be forearmed is to be forewarned, is to be forearmed. So I'm just telling, as you launch into your new year, because you are a person of influence, because you make a difference in so many lives, the devil will do everything he can to knock the props out from under you and to try to discourage you. So we want to be a place of encouragement. The word encourage means to put courage back into you. Encourage. We want to be a place where you are always given an idea that through Christ, I can achieve everything God has designed me to achieve. And you certainly can. In fact, when Paul was writing about the opportunities that he had, he said, in one corinthians 16, verse nine, he said, there is a great door. I have an incredible opportunity before me. It might be a new business for some of you, a new job opportunity for others, maybe a new relationship, new school year. There is a great and effectual door open to me. And then he said, but there are many adversaries, and we talk about this all the time. The door of opportunity will swing on the hinges of opposition. Believe me, when you are determined to do the right thing, as I said a moment ago, all hell will come against you. The devil will try to discourage you. So don't let that happen. And the reason I say that is because discouragement is probably one of the most powerful tools in his arsenal. If he can get you exhausted, if he can get you weighted down, it's easy to get you wrought up. And so oftentimes the devil tries to get the upright, to be uptight, and he tries his best to discourage God's people. And one of the most beautiful examples that I want to talk to you about this morning, as we talk about some principles for biblical leadership, is this character in the Old Testament Testament by the name of Joshua. JOshua was a remarkable man. He was a great general. JOshua was Moses man who led the armies of Israel to conquer the land of CanaaN. But what I want to help you understand this morning is Joshua was not always that very confident leader. JOshua was not always that very secure leader. In fact, when you first meet JOshua, he's a Little insecure. He's lost his confidence. He feels like in some ways, his job has enabled him to outpunt his government. He felt like, I am in over my head. And when you think about why Joshua may have felt that way, I can kind of understand it. Think about a moment who he was following. Think about the person he was taking his place. He was following moSes. Moses. I mean, you think about following in the shoes of a man like moses. In fact, in DeutEronomy 34, verse ten, the BibLe says, concerning moses, there arose not a prophet in IsrAel like unto moses, holy cow, how would you like to follow that? Someone said, there has never been anyone greater in the world than Moses. Now, Bill, you're going to take his place. Talk about intimidating. Talk about in over your head. Not only that, not only did that affect his confidence, the fact that he was succeeding Moses, but his assignment had to be intimidating. He was going to finally lead the children of Israel across the Jordan into Canaan. And what was significant about that is the Bible says you're going to have to take CaNAAn. There were seven powerful nations living within the land of Canaan. All of them had experienced armies. These armies had valiant warriors within each one. And understand this about the Israelite people. They had never fought a battle. They had never been engaged in warfare. So Joshua is taking a group of untrained, unproven, untested soldiers into Canaan to fight these very seasoned veterans that were there. And so how perplexed, how overwhelmed must he have been with his assignment to go and take the land of Canaan? And Yet, guys, don't miss this. God strategically placed him there. Someone, as well said, if God brings you to a thing, he can bring you through a thing. And I really do believe that. I think when God places you in a position of leadership and he places you in a position of authority and he gives you influence, with that, you can do this. Now, you may not be able to do it in the power of your own strength. That's where the partnership with God and the reliance on his holy spirit is what is necessary. Paul said, I can do all things, but don't mess this part through Christ, who gives me strength. So Paul realized, I'm not independent of God. I'm interdependent upon God. It's his strength that is made perfect in my weakness. But my point is, if God has brought you to it, he can bring you through it, and he has gotten something special. He has something special for everyone in this room to achieve. Now, with that backdrop, look in Joshua, chapter one, you'll see the heart of what I want to talk to you about, Joshua. One look at verse five. God said this to Joshua, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. Isn't that a powerful thought? As I was with Moses. Now, understand how overwhelmed he was at the thought of following Moses. And God said, you saw Moses do those incredible things. Moses went before Pharaoh. You remember the ten plagues of Egypt. And finally, Pharaoh persuaded to allow the Israel people to go and set God's people free. And then you remember the first test they had at the Red Sea. I mean, their backs are against the wall. You talk about between the devil and the deep blue sea. That's right where they were. And all of a sudden, you remember you saw the movie, he stands up and he stretches his arms out, and the water's beautifully part. And the Bible says they walked across on dry land. What an incredible miracle. I've heard people dismiss that miracle, by the way. They said, well, it wasn't the Red Sea, it was the Reed Sea. And the water of the Reed Sea was only about, you know, knee deep. And so it wasn't that great of a miracle. Well, I say, if it was the Reed Sea and not the Red Sea, I'll play along. If it were the Reed sea, then it's even a bigger miracle than that, because how does God drown PhArAoh and all of his army in knee deep water? That was the trick. So I'm just suggesting to you it was a red sea. I have no problem believing the Bible as it is written to us, as we arE. I accept it. I believe it's inerrant, infallible. I accept the BibLe as our guide for LiFe. And so when it says the red Seas were parted, I believe the Red Sea parted, and I believe dry land. I believe they walked through on dry land. And I'm just suggesting to you that was Moses that led them throughout all of the wilderness wanderings. It was moses. And now they're at the ThrEshold. FiNALLY, for 40 years, they've been waiting for this moment. Moses is off the scene. JOSHUa is there, and God's saying, joshua, don't worry, I will be with you, just as I will be with moses. Look at the next phrase. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Does that sound Familiar? Remember in Hebrews 13 where you have that promise, Jesus said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. He was just reminding us of the promise made to moses so many years ago. By the way, that's why the word of God is so powerful. When you study the word of God, you understand that the Bible was written in such a way that you and I can glean from it even today that every word of the Bible is profitable for us. We can receive instruction from it. And when you study the word, you understand that oftentimes the New Testament will quote the Old Testament because the book is all about Jesus. You can't carve out and say, well, the Old Testament's not in effect anymore. You know, only thing that I'm going to believe is what Jesus wrote. I'm just going to believe in the words in red in my Bible. Remember what Jesus said? He said, I came in the volume of the book to do thy will. He said, it is written of me from Genesis one one to revelation 22 21. The Bible is about Jesus. And if you read the Bible and you miss Jesus, you got to reread the Bible. The Old Testament says, Jesus is coming. The Gospels say, Jesus is here, acts to revelation, said, Jesus is coming. Again, it's all about Jesus. And when Jesus was quoting the promise of his father to Moses in Hebrews 13, that's applicable to you and I today. Let me chase this rabbit a little farther. When you study the Bible, understand this. Second Peter, chapter one, says in verse ten, there's no scripture given of any private interpretation, meaning that I can't take a portion out of the Bible out of its context, bend it and twist it, and make it say whatever I want it to say, because you can make the Bible say anything. The Bible says, Judas went out and hanged himself. And then the Bible also says, go thou, and do likewise. And then the Bible says, whatever you do, do quickly. Well, I've just created a theology that says you ought to do damage to yourself and supported it with scripture. By taking it out of context. I did. But you don't interpret scripture independent of itself. You interpret scripture in the context with which it was given. So there's only one interpretation of a text. However, now watch this. There can be more than one application of the text. And the way you apply a text without doing damage to the scripture is, you say, is this application violating any other principles of scripture? Let me give you an illustration. In the book of revelation, Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice, I will open the door and I will come in and fellowship with them. Now, when I was a little boy in Sunday school, one of our teachers used a method called Flannel Graph. Any of you kids in the room remember flannel graph? That's a real five, six of you. Oh, man. Five. Flannel graph. Google that, kids. That was a real thing. Flannel graph. It was little cutout pictures that was put on a cloth board that illustrated. Now we have all kinds of technology and all that kind of. My grandkids don't even know what Flannel graph is, but they put a flannel graph, and the flannel graph on the board that she taught off of was Jesus. He looked like the character looked like somebody from Grateful Dead. But Jesus was knocking at the door, and the teacher taught, look, this is Jesus, kids, knocking on your heart's door. Jesus wants to come into your heart. Now, that's true. That's a good application of the verse. It's not the interpretation. You see the difference? The interpretation was written to a local church where Jesus said, I'm at the outside wanting to get into my church. Can you imagine? We got everything here but Jesus. This church has everything except the Holy Spirit. Duh. You think it can happen? Well, I know it can happen. Absolutely. You build it off of programming, you'll get what programming can do. You build a church off of a personality, you'll get what that personality can do. You build the church off of the word of God, and you'll get what God can do. And so I'm just suggesting to your heart that it is possible to do that. And Jesus was knocking wanting back in to a church that excluded him. And so that's the interpretation. But the application was right. He is knocking on the door, the heart's door. So you see the difference. And the reason I'm setting that up is I'm going to take an application from this text, and I want to apply that to the lives of you teachers and to our lives as well. So the word that was spoken to Joshua is a word that is applicable to you and I today. So I want you to be encouraged by that. So he says, let's pick it up again. Joshua five one, verse five. Look down in verse six. Be strong, Joshua. Be of good courage. I would say to you, teachers, be strong. Be of good courage. For this people shall divide as an inheritance of the land that I swore to your fathers to give them. Be strong. Be courageous. No, he says it again. Be strong and courageous that you may observe to do all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded. You don't turn from the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. So he's telling him more than once, in fact, I think if you count in that chapter, there's at least three times he says, take confidence. Be courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be overwhelmed. So that's why I'm supporting the fact that Joshua was obviously lacking confidence. He obviously felt overwhelmed. He obviously felt inadequate. So if you're feeling that way, understand you're in good company. One of the greatest leaders in all of the Old Testament, Joshua, felt that way. So the first principle I would draw to your attention from this narrative is the principle in verses six, seven and eight. Number one, let go of doubt. Let go of doubt. Believe with all your heart that if he's given you this assignment by God's grace and through the power of his spirit. You can do the thing he's called you to do. Let go of doubt. Again. Be strong. Be courageous. Be strong. Be courageous. Look again. Be strong. Enough. Good courage. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed. For the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. One of the greatest enemies of faith is fear. And fear is almost always directly connected to a lack of confidence. When you don't have confidence in your ability or confidence in yourself, and you're feeling over, I just. I can't do this. If the people knew how inadequate I felt, they would never trust. Well, believe me, those are humble qualifiers for service. Because you're admitting God, I can't. But you can. Sometimes, folks, we're too strong. Sometimes it's not that we're too weak. Sometimes it's we're too strong. And as long as I'm relying on what my flesh can do, I will rely on what my flesh can do. So sometimes God will break me down and put me in a position where I know I can't, and only he can, so that his power is made, manifested through my weakness. So it's not a bad thing to admit you struggle. It's not a bad thing to admit you're a little intimidated. That's a good thing, because you're giving God a lot of room to work in your life. Just don't ever doubt that he's going to use you. Don't doubt that his hand is on you. Don't doubt that he will not empower you. He was saying to Joshua, just like I was with Moses, I didn't fail him. I'm gonna be with you. You can do this. So the first thing you have to do, you've gotta let go of doubt. And you know what I found? Doubts are choices. I can doubt my doubts as easy as I doubt my beliefs. Oftentimes, when it comes to relationship with Jesus, people will doubt whether they know Jesus or not. I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know if Jesus really, and when I work with people who've had those, and I've had that in my life, in periods of time, I received Christ as my savior when I was six years old. And so I thought, was I old enough to really comprehend? I mean, all about, you know, salvation and all about all that? No, I didn't comprehend. Here's what I knew. Jesus went to the cross to die for me. He paid my sin debt. I knew that I was a sinner. Now, at six, I hadn't done a lot of sinning. Thought about it, but I hadn't done a lot of it, hadn't had the opportunity. My parents kept me on a short leash. But I came to understand you don't have to have a PhD in sin to come to Jesus. So as a young man, I knew Jesus died for me. I knew that he went to the cross and he rose again. I knew that I was a sinner, and my only chance of heaven was to receive him as a six year old kid. I put that together and I asked him to come into my heart and save my life. And I still remember the feeling that I had as a result of that decision. Now, salvation is not based on a feeling, but salvation will accompany a feeling. I've seen people overwhelmed with joy. I've seen people weep when they receive Jesus as their savior. I've seen people that were just flatlining, no emotion at all. Right? So it's not tied to your feeling. It's tied to the fact that you've received Jesus as savior. Now here's what happens when you doubt that. When you doubt that, and I walk you through it and I say, well, what did you do? Well, Bill liked you. I was older, but I came to that place in life where I invited Jesus into my life. Okay? You did? Yeah. Ask him to save me, forgive me of my sin. Okay. You know what you did, right? I know what I did. You're not doubting what you did, right? No. You're doubting what God did. Your doubt is, well, did he? So you're not doubting you. You're doubting him. And let me tell you something about the nature of God. He can't lie. He doesn't go back on his promises. His promises are yes and amen, and his promises are eternal. When you receive him, the Bible says in Ephesians one, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You receive the spirit of God, who seals you in the deal, if I can put it that way. And you know Jesus. So never doubt the thing that you believed. Learn to doubt your doubts. And you can do that. Just put it aside. Replace that doubt with scripture and replace that doubt with affirmation of God's word and what he said about you. Let go of doubt. Some of the things that will cause you to doubt is when you begin to compare yourself to other people. The Bible says in two corinthians 1012, when you measure yourselves among yourselves and you compare yourselves with yourselves, it's not wise. It's not wise to, oh, they're a better teacher. I'll never out. I'll never be a bus. What a great principal. I'll never be able to. What a great administrator. I'll never. What a great business person. I can never do that. What a great mom. I will never be as good a mom as she was. You start comparing. Don't do that. Because when you begin to compare yourself among other people, it under values you and it under erodes is the word I'm looking for, your confidence. Number two, one of the things that will rob you of confidence is when you're unwilling to get past your past. One of the things you have to do is accept the fact I've made mistakes. This didn't work out for me. You got to put that past behind you and move into a new future, a new opportunity. Being unwilling to forget your past will undermine your confidence. And the third thing I would tell you is just overall lack of faith. Just a lack of faith that will undermine your confidence. So number one, he said, doubt your doubts so that you have to let, you have to, you have to let go of the doubt. Number two here, quickly, look for a promise. Look for a promise. Joshua. One again, verses two and five. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. That's the promise. I will not leave you. I will not forsake you. There's three things that he promised Joshua here. Number one, he promised him strengthen, he promised him success. And he promised him support, strength, success. What is success? Success is the progressive realization of the goal of God for your life. The progressive realization, that's really biblical success. It's defined many ways in our society. But I would say when you realize I'm moving toward something that God is leading me into and I'm progressively moving in that way, that's success. The greatest success for a child of God is to be found faithful. He didn't say, well done, thou good and successful servant. He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant. But with the faithfulness God will give us good success, there'll be some wins under your belt. So he is simply saying, here's the promise. Look for the promise. I'm going to be your strength. I'm going to give you success and I will be your support. This is who I am, Joshua, and this is what I will do. So number two, look for a promise. Let me give you this quickly. I would say, find a promise, do this, do three things. When you find a promise in the Bible, write it down, mark it down. If you don't, you'll forget about it. Mark it down. Number two, pray it in. Pray it in. Lord, you've given me this promise. I'm going to receive this today. I received this promise. You said, I won't leave you. You said you'll provide my needs. God, I'm struggling a little bit. Fine. I'm hurting a little bit. You said, you said, you said, remind God of what he said. That's faith. Faith is me saying what God said. And so, number one, I'm gonna write that down. Number two, I'm gonna pray that in. And number three, I'm gonna live that out. I'm gonna live it out. I'm gonna walk in it as though it already happened. Part of the living word of God means when God speaks a word, that word echoes throughout generations and generations and generations. God doesn't recant. He doesn't change his mind. He doesn't change his will. He will, will a change, but he doesn't change his will. And that word is rhema. It is living, it is alive, it is out there. And when you stand on God's word, you're standing on a truth. That is your truth for today, and it'll be the truth for tomorrow. So I am absolutely finding this promise. I am going to mark it down. I'm going to pray it in. I'm going to live it out. .3. Lean on the Lord. Lean on the Lord. No man shall be able to stand before you. Verse five. All the days of your life with Moses, I'll be with you. I won't leave you. I won't forsake you again. What's implied in that is just to lean on the Lord. What do I mean by that? I mean depend on him. Depend on him, look to him, listen for him. When you're leaning on the Lord, you're saying, God, my focus is on you. All that I am and all that I have and all that I ever will be is tied to you. And I'm leaning on you. I love that verse. Proverbs three, five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on what? On your own understanding. He didn't say you don't have understanding. He says, be careful, leaning too heavily on your own understanding. What am I to do instead? In all your ways, acknowledge him. Lean on him, not on your own understanding, and he'll make your past straight. And the reason again, that we're not to lean too heavily on our own understanding is we don't have all the facts. We don't know everything there is to know. So when I'm leaning only on that which I understand. I'm leaning on things that have incomplete information. When I'm leaning on God, he knows everything. The alpha, the omega. He has stepped from nowhere to create everything. He's ex Nelio. He's a God who can take nothing and make something out of it. And so when I'm leaning on him, I'm leaning on the one that can make anything happen for me. And so I'm saying, learn to lean. To lean on the Lord. Number four. Launch out in faith. Just say, by the grace of God, I'm going to do this. I'm going to take that step. I'm going to launch out. I'm going to go boldly into this assignment. I'm going to trust God. I'm going to look to him. I'm going to believe him. I am going to launch out by faith. Look down in verse ten, Joshua one. Then Joshua. Then Joshua. Commanded the officers of the people, saying through the camp, command the people, saying, prepare provisions for within three days, we're going to cross over Jordan to go into the possessed land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You know what's interesting about that? When you read that narrative in Joshua one different than the Red Sea. The Red Sea. Remember, Moses stretched his arms out, and the waters parted and the people went through. But you know what happened at the crossing of the Jordan? The Bible says the waters didn't part until the people stepped toward the water. The people had to demonstrate an act of faith. It's different. It was a miracle nonetheless, because the Jordan parted and the people walked through the Jordan on dry ground. The difference was the people. In Moses day, he just stretched his arms out, and the people saw the power of God, and they walked through the water on dry ground. In this instant, before they could go into Canaan, they had to take a step toward the water. Read that. They had to move toward the water. And as the people moved, the waters parted. And there's a beautiful principle in that. When I say launch out by faith, you take that step of faith. God, you said it. That. Settle it. God, you called me to this. I know you can do it. Here we go. I'm going to take the step. I'm going to launch. I'm going to believe you. I'm going to trust you. Even though I haven't seen it yet, I'm still going to trust you. There's a beautiful story in Luke, chapter one of two types of doubts. You have kind of an arrogant doubt, and you have a humble doubt. In Luke, chapter one, you remember the story of Zechariah, who was a prophet, and his wife Elizabeth were not able to have children. And they had prayed all of their marriage and all of their lives that God would give them the opportunity to have children. And for some reason they were not able to have children until they were later in life past what you would think would be childbearing age. The angel Gabriel, remember in Luke, one appears to Zechariah and said, the Lord has heard and your wife Elizabeth is going to bear a child. You're going to name him John, and he's going to be the forerunner to prepare the way of Jesus. And when he heard that, he laughed, kind of like Sarah in Old Testament. Remember when Abram and they were going to have a child, get a woman 90 years old, have a child. I've never met a 90 year old woman that wanted to have a child. But I'm just suggesting you that it was similar situation that God spoke up, spoke through the angel Gabriel and said, you're going to have a child. Is that cry? Laughs and basically not meaning to be disrespectful, but he just said, I don't, sorry, but I don't believe you. I've been praying for all these years that you would answer this prayer, and you never have answered the prayer, and now you're telling me you're about to. Sorry, I'm a little skeptical here. You know what the angel did? He said, you're not going to be able to speak until the baby is born. Now, I'm sure Elizabeth loved that, but that is a occupational hazard for a preacher to lose his voice and not be able to speak. I had jaw surgery, this TMJ stuff, back when I first started in ministry, and my jaw broke in two different places. And back then, the custom was they wired you shut. They put me in braces and they put this spacers in there and literally wired my mouth shut. And for ten. Sorry, for six weeks, I couldn't eat, other than I had a syringe that went down the side of, and I could only eat through a syringe. I was down to about 180 pounds. And you talk about losing a few Backstreet boys. Ben I did back then, and I was just eating through this syringe for six weeks. It was probably one of the joyous times of Cindy's whole life. And the way I communicated. I had, you remember the little pads that you would write and you'd clear it, then you'd write, that's how I would have had to write. I got to tell you this. This is funny. I got to shut up. We're going long. I was at home keeping Billy. He was little. This won't surprise you if, you know, my two kids. I was keeping Billy. Cindy and Shannon were gone somewhere, and he's just a little kid, and he picks up the phone and dials 911. Now, remember, I can't talk. When I say I can't talk, it's mm, mm, mm. Nothing. Not a skippo. And I see him, and I. And I pick up the phone to see who he's, you know, talking. I went, you know, tried to make a noise, and this is 911. What's your. And I'm going, oh, no. I sounded like a hostage, you know, and just hung it up. And I said, they'll be here in a minute. I mean, in a little while, we had everything but a helicopter over the house. I mean, God bless our law enforcement, man. They responded in a hurry. And I went to the door, and, man, here these guys are in the front yard, and I'm riding on a pad going, I can't talk. My jaw is wired shut. Take this, kidde. We're going to try to have another one. We're going to do better next time. Well, that was my experience. So I can tell you I know a little about what it's like not to be able to speak. And he went for all the period of her pregnancy unable to speak. What was the problem? It was arrogant doubt. Now, in the same chapter, you have the angel appearing to Maryland, and Mary finds out she's going to have the Christ child. And she said, how can these things be? It's doubt. But it was a different type of doubt. Her doubt was rooted in belief. I know you can God, I'm just overwhelmed with the prospects of you. You see the difference in the doubt. In one doubt, God blessed, and in the other doubt, he chastened. And so it's a beautiful picture of how doubt can work sometimes for our favor in humbling us and making us aware that God is able to do what he promises he can do. Let me give you this, and I'll close, because this is such a powerful word. Whenever Joshua was preparing to die, the last part of his life, as he's preparing to leave this earth, when he reminds the people, Joshua 23, look at verse 14, if you take notes. It's a great verse. He says, now I'm about to go the way of all the earth. Now Joshua is about to die. He's led them through Canaanite. They, mission accomplished. They achieved everything they set out to do. And he says, I'm about to go the way of all the earth. Meaning. It's a term meaning I'm about to die. He was in touch with the fact that my life here is about over. Listen to what he said. You know, with all your heart and soul, not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Did you hear that? He said, not one promise the Lord has given you has failed. Listen, every promise has been fulfilled. Not one has failed. Isn't that incredible? That'd been one thing coming from a young man facing his future. You would have said, oh, that's great that you're that optimistic. And you have such a faith in God. Good for you, Joshua. It's good to have that. But this now is an older man facing the end of his life, looking, looking back, and he said, man, when I look back over my life now, God never failed me. Not one promise that he ever made did he fail to keep. And can I tell you that God said, I will never leave you or forsake you. He means it when God says, my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. He means that whether it's to you or to your family, whether that's a promise he's made to our church or our CRC, God has promised to supply that. He has never failed. He will not fail. It doesn't matter how big the storm is. Remember when David faced Goliath and David had the courage to go and conquer Goliath. You know, the difference in David's faith and his ability to launch out by faith and take on Goliath is because he didn't see how much bigger Goliath was than he was. David saw how much bigger God was than Goliath was. You see the difference? It's not about us. It's not about our church, not about our CRC. It's about God, how big he is, and his desire to use us to make the difference in the lives of other people and folks. I can tell you I'm not as old as Joshua was at that part of his life, but I'll be 66 this year. I have now had 48 years of full time ministry. And every time I say that, I know you think you should be better at that by now, and I understand that. I'm working on it. I'm saying I've been doing a long time. But as I look back at the ups and downs and the advancements and the retreats and the good times and the bad, the fat times and the skinny times, the lean years and the fat years. And I've been there. A part of all of it. Brought a lot of it on us myself. Just stupid stuff from time to time, you know, decisions. Yeah, maybe I should have thought through that one more thought. I did, but I didn't. You know, some of them work better than others, right? Failures forward. We've all made them. My point is looking back on the. On the whole of ministry and on the whole of what God has done in my church, this church, our church, and the church I pastored, which we launched this one out of the old First Baptist church. I can tell you, God has never failed. Never. Cindy and I started this church. We dumped our entire life savings into it. We believed so strongly in what God was going to do. At the Carroll high school, I remember walking out and peeking about behind the curtains just to see if anybody was going to show up. And believe me, there was weekends when it was skimpy. I talk about a bb in a shoebox. That's what it was. I mean, there were times when I thought we had more on the platform than we're going to have. Out and out. And that's if. I don't know if you've ever been in that auditorium. Seats 1100. That's how big my faith was. Let's start one with 1100 seat auditorium. My people. Winnow down. Winnow down. You know, and so. But I can tell you all the way back, Cindy and I would talk, and the thing I love about her is she affirmed us in that every step of the way. She never said, honey, you just got to give up on this. This is too hard. You need to get into something that is more secure. Had opportunities to go to the churches during that time and good opportunities that would help us financially. And just felt instead we just. God's called us to this. And it's almost like, can I tell you, I didn't hear the audible voice of God. But what I heard, God speaking into my heart was, how bad do you want this? How bad do you want to see me work and do something through your life? And to be honest with you, part of our starting the church, we wanted our kids to see God do something through our lives. And sometimes you got to put yourself out there. Those of you that started a business, you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you leave the safety and security of what you have to launch into something that you don't even know if it's going to work. But you just know God is leading me in this way. I just believe strongly in it. You have to see it before you see it. And that's where we were. And I can tell you there were nights when I literally got out of bed and I just got on the floor before God. I did. I couldn't sleep. And I just said, what have I done? Have I just put our family in jeopardy? Was it heartburn and not the Holy Spirit? I mean, was it young ambition? And not the least. I mean, I had those thoughts. I thought, what if I have just moved us into a position where I have just, what about my kids? Are they going to grow up and be bitter at ministry and say, well, dad and mom launched out by faith and the thing went under. Pull them under with it? Honestly, I had those thoughts and I felt like God was saying, bill, how bad do you want this? How bad do you and Cindy want to see me do something through your lives? Do you want it that bad? Do you really want it that bad? And, man, I can't tell you how, but I can tell you we got through the next week. We got through the next week. We got through the next month. God was providing. The church started growing. We just blown away. We left that auditorium and we moved to the grocery store. We had like 400 people coming to the high school. We moved to the grocery store. First weekend, we had like 1100 people show up. Like, what are these people? You know? Somebody said, well, the church is getting too big. I just know how to stop it. What do you do? Y'all gotta go. We're full. I didn't know wasn't a strategy. I wasn't tying my effectiveness to the growth of the church. It's just something God did. I couldn't explain it. It just happened, man. Before you know it, we have hundreds of. When we, before we left the grocery store, we were in five services on the weekends. We had two Saturday nights, three Sundays. We were bringing people over from the high school because we couldn't park them. We were over 6000 in our church just on that weekend before we bought this property and moved out here. What I'm saying, I'm saying I know what it's like to have thousands and thousands. I know what it's like to have 50 people. And I can tell you, I've been content the whole way. You know why? Because my faith in God has never wavered and God has never failed. And I hope that encourages you because I want you to know I'm nothing special. God. Listen, God doesn't have favorites. He has intimates. He has people who desire more of him and are willing to put themselves out there for him and those people that are willing to pay the price. If you want something from God you've never had before, right? You got to be willing to go somewhere with God you've never been before. And, man, if you're willing to do that, God will meet you there. He'll meet you there. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this weekend. Thank you for the opportunity we have to worship. Thank you for the opportunity we have to honor teachers. And Lord, I pray that the message will find lodging in our minds and hearts. I pray for our teachers in the room that you will encourage them. God, we just thank you for them. I pray for our business owners in the room and those who have responsibilities of their work that you'll encourage them. Lord, I pray that your hand would be on the church and I pray that your hand would continue to be on the CRC as we're ministering to over 1200 families every week, making sure they have what they need to get through their week. Father, I pray for supply. You know the financial burdens and you know the load with increased cost of food and everything else we're facing. You've never failed. You won't fail now. And, Father, your promises are yes and amen. And I stand today firm on your word. Thank you for your good hand of favor over our lives. Thank you, Father, for the people that you've sent. I pray now as I close, that if there's one in this room or one watching online or one later that'll hear the message on one of the social platforms or through a podcast that have never trusted you as savior, that this would be the moment where they humble their heart and say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, and I ask this in Jesus blessed name. Amen. [00:44:36] 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.