WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:20.320 Well, good morning. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:21.519 How are y'all doing? 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.199 It is great to see you. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.160 I have a little uh, you can't see it, but it was given to me by a friend. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:36.000 She's a uh, I guess everyone seems a bit younger to me at this stage of my life. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:43.920 But uh she heard a message that I gave uh significant many years ago, and she goes, I have a present for you. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:57.280 And she she came by with her two little kids, uh one not so little anymore, and uh she gave this to me, and it commemorates an invitation that I received 50 years ago. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:03.679 And then it uh it has a little inscription, and then when I look down, it's a compass. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:22.079 And what I want to tell you is I received an invitation uh in June of 1972 uh that changed the direction of my life, it changed the trajectory of my life, it changed all the outcomes of my life. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:44.719 Uh I received a specific invitation, uh literally that changed my career, it changed who I married, it changed where I went to school, it changed how I raised my family, it changed what I did with my money, it changed how I measured success one single invitation. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.120 And that's what I want to talk about. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:51.920 We're gonna talk about the four great invitations that Jesus gives. 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.040 And the subtitle of this is a little bit different. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:02.000 It's um lessons from 50 years, my first 50 years of walking with Jesus. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.159 Um, she heard a message that I gave. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:11.439 Uh, she's a Chinese pastor, where I trusted Christ in June of 1972. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:16.159 And this says, Your 50th anniversary, may your faith always guide you. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:23.919 And I received an invitation first from a football coach who said, You know, something, there's this camp I think you might enjoy. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.000 If you want to go, I'll pay your way there. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:27.840 And I'll tell you about that camp. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:33.039 And it was at that camp, I received an invitation from someone that I'd never met. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.919 I'd heard a lot about, but I'd never met. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:44.159 And so if you want to go ahead and pull out your notes, I put some passages there and then some room for you to jot some of your own thoughts. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:57.759 But I'd like you to consider with me that what would it be like to think of life as a series of invitations that we say yes to and we say no to. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:08.159 And those invitations really shape who you are today, who you'll be tomorrow. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.520 Some of them are small, incidental invitations, some are really big. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.639 Invitations, like someone says, Do you want to go on a date? 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:19.919 And for some of you, you're sitting next to that person now. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.280 For some of you, do you want to go on a date? 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.840 And it was one of the most horrendous experiences of your life. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:32.240 But think of invitations. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:33.599 You want to join a team? 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:35.360 Do you want to learn to play an instrument? 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.759 You want to attend this school or that school? 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:39.360 Do you want to smoke a joint? 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:42.240 Do you want to steal something silly just for fun? 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.240 Hey, would you be willing to lie to a friend to help me out on? 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.240 Would you forgive your parents? 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:50.960 An invitation to forgive your ex? 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:52.800 Would you like to take a trip? 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.199 I'm gonna go on a venture, would you join me? 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.520 Would you be willing to change jobs? 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:15.439 An invitation to change your major, an invitation to go to this school instead of that school, an invitation to quit something that's really messing your life up, an invitation to quit something that's really good for you, but it's just really hard, so why don't you just forget it? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.079 All I want you to get is there's a series of invitations. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.519 You're bombarded by them every single day. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.079 And some of them are small and insignificant and don't mean much of anything. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:38.240 And some of the invitations that you receive, based on whether you say yes or based on whether you say no, literally shape your destiny. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:48.720 You are and you will become how you respond to invitations from people, and even more so, invitations from God. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:54.399 In this series, I want to talk about the four great invitations of Jesus. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:03.519 He invites us to come, he invites us to follow, he invites us to abide, and he invites us to make or literally to go. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:20.000 And uh I never dreamed, because I didn't grow up as a follower of Christ, that I could do anything for 50 years. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.319 I mean, let alone follow Jesus. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:37.439 And when I look back in the rearview mirror and I see the winding turns and I see the people that God placed in my life in critical moments and critical decisions, he said, Dad, what I'd like you to do is, you know, we get a lot of good Bible teaching. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:41.279 I want you to teach the Bible, but I want you to mentor our church. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:47.439 I want you to teach it through the lens of your journey and your life and be honest. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:53.040 Share the good, the bad, and whatever you're comfortable, share the ugly. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:58.000 Because we're all on this journey together, and the world is changing so quickly. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.839 It's so challenging to be a faithful follower of Jesus. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.680 And so that's what I'd like to do. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.399 And here's what I want to tell you about this journey. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:21.680 Each invitation, we're gonna learn about a love from a faithful creator in the midst of our worst failures and times when we've struggled the worst, that there's an invitation that he'll be with you, that he'll love you. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:32.879 You're gonna meet a Savior who's caring and compassionate and kind, who's not surprised by your mistakes or your sin, who you don't have to go and hide when you blow it. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:41.439 And you're gonna find a God who is so loving and so holy that he is compelled to not allow you to stay the way that you are. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:50.000 And that some of the things that even in the midst that this couldn't be good, this couldn't be kind, how could God let this happen? 00:06:50.240 --> 00:07:06.319 You'll look back in a decade or two or three if you live that long and the Lord doesn't return, and you'll see, as I will share, some of the worst things that you thought were happening in your life were some of the kindest acts of God you ever received. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:09.199 Because you didn't know what you needed protected from. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.600 You didn't know what you needed to become the kind of person that you will become. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:18.240 You didn't know at all what God's ways and plans and the mystery were. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:26.000 And I'll just tell you this there were a handful of men and women in my life over the last 50 years that they blazed a trail. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:32.639 And it was just so good to stop and talk and ask them when it felt like God couldn't be in this. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:34.480 This is so hard. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:52.879 Everything from going through the time in my marriage where I didn't know if I'd make it, time with one of my kids where I thought he was gonna die, time with another one where he said, I don't believe in God and I don't want your goddad, and time where I sat and wondered whether my wife would be with me much longer when she had cancer. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:56.240 Life is hard. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:07.759 But Jesus has given us an invitation, and the invitation I've put in your notes, it's from Matthew chapter 11, verses 11 through 28. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:18.319 Jesus says, Come, come to me, all of you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.920 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:28.079 And then he gives a reason for I am gentle and humble in heart, and here's the promise. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:34.639 And you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:45.759 When he said this to the first audience in context here, if you go back and read Matthew chapter 11, just before this, Jesus has done miracle after miracle after miracle. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:51.039 I mean stupendous miracles in uh two or three different cities. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:53.360 Capernaum, the Stadia. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:58.399 And despite all the miracles, the people reject him and the people don't believe. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:07.840 Jesus says, if the miracles that I have done in these cities would have been done in Sodom and Gomorrah or Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:17.120 And then after all that rejection, he turned to a group of people who are observing how people responded and began to ask about their own lives. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.559 And here was the invitation come to me. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.360 Come to me, all of you that are weary. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:31.200 It's it was a picture of they were weary under the oppression of Pharisees and religious rules. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.720 They were weary from a Roman government that pushed them down. 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:43.360 They were weary and heavy burdened for taxes that most of the people were desperately, desperately poor. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.080 And then they were like us. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.639 People that you just, I mean, is life ever gonna make sense? 00:09:50.879 --> 00:10:12.559 You know, most of us live the the if then, if I can get into school, or if I ever get married, or if we can ever have a child, or if my health ever shapes up, or if we could ever own a home, or we play this game where happiness or contentment or satisfaction or meaning or purpose or life, it's always over in the next horizon. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:25.039 And one of the things about being a follower of Jesus for 50 years and living another 18 is I will tell you, after pastoring for almost 40, I've just had thousands of conversations. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:33.919 And I hate to, you know, be the big spoiler alert, is that once you find that person, then you'll ask God for something else. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.840 If you ever get to buy the house, or if you have the house, then you want to fix it up. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.559 And if you have one house and you start making a lot of money, you'll want another one in a little bit different location. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:49.919 And if you ever, and I'm just telling you, there's no end, there's no end, there's no end, and then there comes a day when you get honest. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:55.919 And you realize you're weary, and you realize you don't measure up. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:04.559 And you realize that the goals and the dreams, and then then we play the game when we become parents. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:34.960 Well, if if my child is smart, or if my child gets into the right school, or whether they make the traveling team, or if they're can and we play all these games and people get weary and weary and weary, and we're looking at a world where people are so discouraged and so anxious and so depressed and so confused, and it's into the chaos then and into the chaos now, where Jesus says to each one of us, You come to me. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:48.159 I'm for people whose lives recognize their need, who you recognize that this world, no matter what you get, or how much you get or who other people think you are, it never measures up. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.039 You keep grinding and grinding and grinding. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:12:00.639 He goes, I want to give you peace, meaning, satisfaction, purpose. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:03.519 I want to give you life itself. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:11.600 And here's the prerequisite: you need to come to me, and we'll talk about what that means and what it looks like. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:18.320 And then notice it's not just a moment, it's not just an event, although it is a moment and an event. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:23.279 It says, Come to me, all of you that are weary and heavy laden. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.840 Just in other words, there's a lot on your back, there's a lot of pressure, and I'll give you rest. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:33.679 And notice he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:40.399 In the day, they would talk about the yoke of the law or the yoke of the Roman government. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.960 In other words, a yoke in that day was a picture of uh two animals together, right? 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.720 You know, you had the two oxen pulling together, and to come under a yoke would be a metaphor for submission. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.919 It's a metaphor, I'm going to do life with this person. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:02.559 Jesus says, Come to me and let's join together, and I want you to do life with me, and then I want you to learn from me. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:09.360 I want you to learn what life looks like, how it actually works, how relationships work. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.720 In fact, everything is super counterintuitive with him. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:23.440 There's a set of values in the world that are going this way that if you have success and money and power and fame, then you'll be a someone, then you'll be secure, then you'll be significant. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:32.240 And Jesus says, No, actually, if you want significance and security and meaning and peace, there's a whole different set of values. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:37.600 And I'm going to teach you, and I'll be with you, and we're going to do life together. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.919 And then he gives him this great line. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:44.799 He says, For I am gentle and humble of heart. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.960 See, one of the things that we all have is a warped view of God. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:54.399 It can get better and better and better, but the more warped it is, the harder it is to come to Jesus. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:03.200 When I was uh growing up, I went to a church, and uh that it wasn't a bad church in and of itself. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.879 This particular church was not a very good church, it didn't teach the Bible. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.919 Uh, the people who were there didn't take it very seriously. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.000 They said one thing and lived another way. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.720 By the time I was about 14, 15 years old, I opted out, I don't need this. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:24.320 And when I began to meet people who said they were Christians, basically most of my experiences were people that were very hypocritical. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:29.519 And then now and then, even back then, with only three channels, can you imagine? 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:42.720 Uh, I would watch a little TV, and people who talked about God on TV, I came either that I couldn't believe either the people, most of them, not all, I suppose, but from my perspective, it seemed like all they wanted was your money. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.080 And I just thought, I don't know about this Christianity, but I don't buy it. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.600 I just don't buy it at all. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.080 And so I became a profound skeptic. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:56.000 And my view of God was from my church experience that his arms were crossed, his toe was tapping. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:57.919 If it was fun, he was against it. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.919 And I just felt like there was always guilt hanging over my head, and no matter what I did, it was never good enough. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.559 And so I just finally realized, forget it. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.519 And so I rejected Christianity. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:13.919 I believed in some vague way someone made the universe, but you know what? 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.799 Who that is and what they're like, I really didn't know. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.600 The Jesus of the Bible stories that I learned as a kid. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:25.759 Oh, I mean, I don't know if there really is a real Jesus or not, but that's where I came from. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:37.600 But I never ever imagined that when Jesus says he's gentle, in other words, he's safe, he leans in. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:48.799 He's not trying to jack around with your life, he doesn't want to create a box that he knows you'll hate and then get you to do something that would be the worst thing for you. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:56.960 He is a God who cares and is compassionate and who made you and created you and has a plan for you. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:59.120 And he invites you to come. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:09.440 And so, as I was thinking through um how to share that with you, I just like in your notes, you might jot down first there's an invitation, it's to come. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.519 The audience is for people that have ears to hear. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.960 You never come unless you see your need. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.840 Third, you'll notice there's a promise of rest. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.639 And this isn't just physical rest, this is rest in your soul. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:33.279 It's getting up and having a sense of I am who I am, I'm where I need to be. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:50.000 My life has focus and meaning and peace and direction, and I love who God made me to be, and I'm on a track that gives me absolute significance and satisfaction each and every day, waking up being just who God made me to be. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:51.440 That's the offer. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:58.559 And then he gives us a process where you take his yoke and you learn from him. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:07.359 And so uh let me share a little bit about my journey and I'll let you sort of think through. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.319 Your family of origin, I don't know about you. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.400 Anybody here get to choose your parents? 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.720 Yeah, I didn't either. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:28.960 Um, but an all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God either directed, allowed you to have the parents that you had, and if allowed, he'll take even the most difficult situations and use them for your good. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:31.920 And my parents were um the great generation. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.759 My dad, at about 16 or 17, went into World War II. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.279 Uh, he was a great athlete. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:42.160 He actually got a football scholarship at a prep school to go to a private high school. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.640 At about uh 16 and a half or 17, he signed on to be in the Marines. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:50.319 And being a big strapping guy, they made him a 50-caliber machine gunner. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:56.240 So at 17, if you can imagine going to Afghanistan, well, to him it was Guam Iwo Jima. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:00.960 If you know your World War II history, it was the bloodiest battles of anywhere. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:11.039 My dad only talked about it twice, but he talked about how they would dig a ditch and he had a big tripod 50-caliber machine gun, and it was near the end of the war. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.559 And he said they would rather die than go home in shame. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:27.759 And he says it was like cutting grass, and he said hundreds and thousands of people would run up the hill, and he said, I would mow them down like grass, and they would climb upon one another to get close enough to throw a grenade. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:37.680 And we had dug an arc in a ditch, so in the morning I would fire the gun like this, and as they got closer, then we would dig a ditch and make him to think that we had another gun. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:45.200 And then he said, you know, we went through one vivid picture was there was a place where there was water and it was a stream and it was just red. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:47.200 Just blood. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:55.359 And he said, as I was in that, I mean, think of being now he's about 19 years old. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:57.920 You talk about PTSD. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.559 And his buddy wiped the back of his hand and it was all blood. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:04.640 He said, Reb, that's what my dad was called. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.079 Rebel, you're hit, and they carried him out. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:15.440 And so I had a dad that I grew up with who um the good news was he lived, or I wouldn't be here. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:22.960 Bad news was he saw things and did things that no human being should ever have to experience. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:27.359 Despite protecting our country and all the rest, it still doesn't change what happens. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:30.240 And then all the guys he went in with didn't come back. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:34.079 So he had the guilt of being a survivor and he had the trauma. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:45.680 My dad died at about 86 years old, and even despite becoming a follower of Christ in his mid-50s, he had nightmares until the very last years of his life. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:54.400 Well, my dad, I didn't do counseling back then, and um weed was not really popular at the time. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:57.359 And so my dad found with two or three beers he felt better. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.359 With five or six beers, he felt a little bit better. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.480 With about eight or ten beers, he was a pretty nice guy to be around. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:09.599 And so from about 2:30 or 3 o'clock, as a school teacher, he would go to the bar and he would drink until uh supper time. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.000 And he came and was a very functioning alcoholic. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:19.359 By the time I got to be about 14 or 15, uh, he he missed a lot of suppers. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.920 And he was becoming less functioning. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:31.599 By the time I was 17, my dad was given an ultimatum by my mom, and she held up a bottle of beer and said, You can have this, or you can have me and the kids, but you can't have both. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:42.079 Saturday mornings were very typical at 9 a.m., a guy named John would come over and they'd have two cases of beer, and um they would sit at the table and tell stories from 9 a.m. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.519 to 9:30 or 10. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.839 And I remember he would get up to go to the bathroom, and I would go and I would pour out the beer thinking I was rescuing. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:56.640 If you know anything about the research on alcoholic families, um, it's literally produces very dysfunctional families. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:01.680 My mom was emotionally intelligent, a guidance counselor, a teacher, an amazing person. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.839 And she became an enabler. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.079 And so our whole life was my dad had a very violent temper. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.039 When he blew up, you better run for cover. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.039 Uh, never abusive in terms of hitting us and things, but scary. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:20.400 Um and so uh my mom always wanted to keep the peace. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:26.000 So, in a classic alcoholic family, the oldest child usually rebels, which my sister did. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:30.000 Uh, the middle child usually becomes invisible, which my other sister did. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:33.759 She had an eating disorder and got down to about 80 some pounds. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:36.240 And the youngest child often becomes a rescuer. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:37.839 That's where I came in. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:44.880 Now, on the outside, you would have thought, I mean, both parents were very educated, both 30 plus hours past their masters. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.559 My mom did all of her coursework, was working on her dissertation. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:54.559 Um, out in the community, we just looked like the really, really good family. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.440 And my dad taught me a number of things that were really, really positive and really helpful. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:09.200 Um In terms of my life, uh, he he taught me that if you want to be happy, here's the mantra be successful. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:10.880 Successful people are happy. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.720 And he wanted to help me be successful. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:16.400 So as a small child, I can still remember I was two or two and a half. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:23.039 He was in the summers, he would manage the swimming pool, a teacher during the other year, and he liked to show me off. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:28.880 And so he got me to go to the high board, you know, the three-meter board, and the whole pool would stop. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:35.440 And I can still remember climbing up it, climbing up it, and then I would get like this, and then he would say something, and then I would fall. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:36.160 I couldn't swim. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.359 I'd fall in and dog paddle, and everyone would cheer. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:47.839 When I was three, every day before I would leave the room, there was a little easel, and there were letters on the easel, and I was learning to read when I was three. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.720 I can still remember as a kid, he would walk in and sometimes take me to the bar and say, Okay, Chip, show him. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.599 Uh spell Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:57.119 I'm three years old. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:22:58.319 I-N-T-E-R. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:04.720 I'm not sure I even knew, but you need to understand, he literally said things by the time I was six, seven, eight years old. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.799 You know, this country needs a great president. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.480 You could be that person. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.880 Now, on the one hand, he built a lot of confidence. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:17.359 On the other, he created a performance addict. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:25.440 And I remember um becoming a workaholic by the time I was 12. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:33.440 I had eight or nine lawns, two paper outs, and lent my parents$3,000 at 6% interest. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:45.519 Um, I was the kid who uh would I and I didn't use a bag during Halloween, I used a a uh what do you a pillowcase because it was stronger. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:49.440 And I lived in housing developments, and this is a day when stuff was safe. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:24:05.359 I would sprint from house to house and I would be drenching with sweat, and I would fill a whole pillowcase with candy, I would tie it in a knot and put it up in the top of my closet for about a month, and then I would take it to school and sell five cent candies for 10 cents. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:11.839 And my my one sister who was so gullible and so sweet, I could get a quarter for her if she really wanted the chocolate. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:16.319 And so I just life was all about success, success, success. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:21.839 And so by the time I became a senior in high school, uh somewhere along the line, I caught this vision. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:26.960 Um, I saw a 5'9 guard lead the nation in scoring called John Rinka. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:31.039 And I'll never forget thinking, if he can do it, I can do it. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:37.039 And I became a Jim Rat workaholic toward basketball, and I played seven, eight hours a day. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:43.920 And what I wanted to do, I did all these drills and the stuff that Steph is doing now, a guy named Meravich sort of did earlier. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:52.799 And by the time I graduated from high school, I had a basketball scholarship, a pretty girl, and I graduated uh in the very top of my class. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.839 The end, great life, right? 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:08.799 Um I'll never forget the uh evening it was uh graduate from high school. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:11.119 I'm uh very, very futuristic. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:12.319 It's just how my brain works. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:13.200 We're all made different. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:16.640 So I had already projected what are the next set of goals. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:23.359 And so I was uh we threw our hats in the hair, and there was a big party afterwards. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:27.200 And I can't, you know, some of your memory is sort of like, how did we get here? 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:31.039 But I remember being in an apartment off of Ohio State's campus. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:40.480 I grew up in the Columbus area, and uh the apartment was empty, and there was about 25 or 30 of us sitting in a big circle passing a joint around. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:50.640 And um, I was sitting next to a girl, I still remember her name, Jackie, and I actually remember her last name, but not knowing how things get recorded, I think I'll leave that one off. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:58.240 And um, and and so as it's coming around, you know, I was, you know, as one famous president said, I didn't inhale. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:00.480 I actually didn't, I passed it on. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:07.119 I was so small and so skinny, I thought, man, I can't do anything that's gonna, you know, hurt my body. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:22.160 Because man, all I all I thought all I cared about was basketball, but I was so desperately insecure, all we really cared about was impressing people and trying to find significance and longing for someone to love me just for me. 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:29.759 Because what I had learned was the only reason anyone ever cared about me is what I could do or what I'd accomplished. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:31.680 And I was a prisoner. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:37.440 And so uh that you know, passing it around, and Jackie turned to me because we were in study hall together. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:44.000 And uh, if you're in high school and you learn rather, she was really pretty, which was uh another challenge. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:53.759 But the the benefit of becoming friends with Jackie was her boyfriend was about two years older, about 6'3, about 220, and very mean. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.839 And so she was really safe. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.400 He would kill you if you messed with his girl. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.480 And so we became friends. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:06.000 And as we were sitting there on the floor in the big circle, she looked at me and she goes, You must be really happy. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.200 I said, Why is that? 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:20.240 And she named my cute little girlfriend, and then she said, You know, you ended up real near the top of the class, and you know, your dream, you basketball stuff, you got a scholarship, and and the joint passed on around. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:26.079 And now, and this is where those of you, I don't know your backgrounds, I I'd never heard of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:31.039 Okay, I'd never, I mean, I remember once in junior high, seventh grade, we had a big Bible. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:39.200 I opened it once in my life, and it said, hitherto un thine, therefore, unto the blithe, the blood, you know. 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:42.079 And I said, you know, I don't know anything about the Bible, but no one can understand it. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:42.640 So I shut it. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.759 So I'd never opened the Bible, I'd never read it. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:54.000 And um, but something happened where I thought, oh, I never even thought about whether I was happy. 00:27:54.319 --> 00:28:09.279 See, I already had projected um, I'm gonna be a lawyer, I'm gonna have three kids, I'm gonna marry a beautiful woman, I will have a luxury car back in the day, I'm gonna have a station wagon, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have$200 suits, and by 32, I'll be a leader in my community. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.200 And now here's how arrogant I was. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:14.319 The thought that I couldn't accomplish that never entered my mind. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:22.799 Because what my dad told me, you set a goal, you develop a strategy, and want everyone else asleep in you work harder and harder and harder and harder and harder and harder. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.640 And if you do that, you'll be successful. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.200 And if you're successful, then you'll be happy. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:32.480 And and I'll never forget, I thought I was driving home, it was about 2 a.m. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:38.160 And I'm driving home, and that you must really be happy. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.680 And I already had projected to the next set of goals. 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:45.279 And then my mom had a really special relationship with my mom. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:53.599 She was an amazing, she may have been an enabler, but to this day, the most emotionally intelligent person and an amazing woman. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:55.599 And I was really close to her. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:03.359 And if you're futuristic, so I I just projected and I projected and I thought, you know, my mom's quite a bit older than me. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:05.519 She's gonna die before I die. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:11.839 And then I thought, so why am I here? 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:21.359 And and you know, granted, it was a large high school, but you know, I was aware enough to go like, okay, I'm a I'm a decent sized fish in a pretty small pond. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:27.200 Well, what if I'm 32 and I'm a leader in a community and I'm this great trial lawyer and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:28.720 Well, then I'm just gonna be, right? 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:37.039 I started projecting, and I just thought a bigger goal, I'll feel even more empty than I feel now. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:52.400 And I remember I probably as my first adult prayer, I kind of got real quiet, got in the house, and I remember literally remember sitting on my bed, and there's a window right next to my bed, and I looked out, it was a really starry night, and I thought, you know, someone must have made this. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:57.599 And I said, God, I I don't know if you exist or not. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:00.000 But here's the deal. 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:04.160 Um, if you exist, what do you want from me? 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:09.440 I mean, if I don't know if there's a God or not, but if you exist, what do you want from me? 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.599 And then here's here's my proposition. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:17.519 If you can reveal yourself to me in a way that I can really understand, I'll do whatever you want me to do. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:20.799 And if you're not big enough to do that, I'm just giving notice. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:23.359 I'm gonna live like hell and die young. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:28.960 Because I've always been pretty logical and I thought, what why this sort of gray area to be mildly moral? 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:32.079 And man, if everyone else is sleeping around, I should enjoy this. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:42.559 And if drugs are fun or getting drunk or getting high, if there is no meaning, if there are no purpose, if there isn't a life, if there is a God, then he made you, right? 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:45.920 Then you ought to do whatever he wants you to do because he cares for you. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:49.839 Second, if there's not, forget it, but there's nothing in between. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:53.279 And so that was my kind of first adult prayer. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:54.640 And I prayed it. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.160 And um, the guy that taught me so much, he was a basketball coach. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.559 I was lined up to do a paint house with him before I went away to school. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:04.720 And there was a delay for a week. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.400 And the same day I got my summer job was gonna delay for a week. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:17.680 The football coach, for reasons I don't know, as you can see, I did not play football, um, said, Hey Chip, maybe he asked a number of other people, talk about the providence of God. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:19.279 Uh, I'll pay your way to this camp. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.799 The best basketball players in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio are gonna be there. 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:23.920 I said, I'm in. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:25.839 And so I go to this camp. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.079 And um, as I go to this camp, it was like, okay, great. 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:39.039 And then I'll never forget, I got literally, it was a good news Bible, a little bit smaller and had a little cross, and on the bottom it said FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:41.680 Well, I didn't know what the Fellowship of Christian Athletes was. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.640 I don't know, it was Tom Landry, who was the you know, coach of the Cowboys, was going to be one of the speakers. 00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:48.079 I mean, how bad it could be. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.799 Bullet Bob Hayes, Roger Stauback, you all don't know who I'm talking about. 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:56.880 But uh Google it, Cowboys, they were great. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:03.519 And then I walked in, it was on a college campus, and there was about 600 athletes. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:10.240 And all I the when I used Jesus, it was it was with other words connected to it, but not in prayer. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:17.119 And I heard people saying Jesus out loud, and they had Bibles, and they give you a t-shirt with a cross on it. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:23.200 I thought, oh my lands, it's 1972, I've been dropped in the land of Jesus freaks. 00:32:23.359 --> 00:32:29.200 Uh I'm this is uh, these are the hypocrites, these are the weird people, not going here. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.160 So every morning for 20 minutes before you ate breakfast, then you did a lot of really fun sports. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:37.440 Is they they had they called it quiet time or something. 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:40.240 And so uh they gave you this good news Bible. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:49.440 And so I I did like this, and I sat like this, and I looked at 599 guys and said, if you suckers want to believe this crap, you can, but I'm not. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:51.039 And so I wouldn't open my Bible. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:53.920 Day one, day two, day three. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:32:59.519 And then each day, uh, some guy, I can't, so his first name was Max. 00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:06.000 Some guy named Max got up, opened the Bible, read a paragraph, and talked for 20 or 30 minutes. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.119 It actually made sense. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:25.440 Um where I grew up going to church, some guy would talk for about 10 or 11 minutes, and we lit a lot of candles, and we sat kneel stand, sat kneel stand, and I had everything memorized, and I could be thinking about the MBA going also with you, and you know, I had it down. 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:28.559 And and I'm not, by the way, I I don't mean that critically. 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:34.559 I just it it was just it was just words because there's no reality. 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.359 And and so um day four, the peer pressure got to me. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:49.839 In fact, I dug out a good news Bible so I would have the exact and so you know, I'm I don't suggest this is how God always leads people, but what what I did is I I did this. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:34:10.480 Everyone's looking around, I'm thinking this is like day four, and I looked down, said, so then my brothers, because of God's great mercy to us, I appeal to you, offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:13.199 This is what he really wants from you. 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:24.719 And and again, I've never heard of the Holy Spirit before, but it was like I literally I could see myself in my room, in my mind. 00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:27.760 God, if you exist, what do you really want from me? 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:35.360 And this verse said, You not your money, no, not going to church, a bunch of stuff. 00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:36.320 No, you. 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:37.840 I want you. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:51.679 And then the very next verse said, Um, do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:57.760 Then you'll be able to know God's will, what is good and pleasing to Him, what's actually perfect for you. 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:09.280 And and again, I I this was a weird, I mean, I thought this was like so so. 00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:29.519 I mean, I read that verse, and then it's like someone VHS tapes, some of you are old enough to remember what those were, but it's like someone would punch that, and literally I saw pictures in my mind, and I saw me with a girl dating and talking sweet and telling her what I wanted her to hear for ulterior motives. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:51.280 And then I had this picture come to me that you know, in in a classroom with the teachers and parents and all this stuff, and I gave them the all-American boy stuff, and then I had this picture, this video came up of me in the locker room, and I was always the shortest and the skinniest, always recruited the biggest, baddest dude on our team to be my enforcer. 00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.519 And I had the mouth and he had the brawn. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:55.679 And I saw myself go, you mother bug. 00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:05.679 I mean, I had the worst mouth, and I would the most arrogant kid you'd ever met, and talking trash to everyone, and you want to mess with me, mess with me. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:08.239 Sucker, you know. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:18.800 And and and it was like this, it was like, it was like in the if the dictionary, if it came up and said chameleon, it was like, there was my picture. 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:42.400 And I would pretend to be different people with every different group, because I was so desperately insecure and so afraid and had no rest in my soul, and so longing, I didn't know what to do other than play everybody off one another, so that somehow, somehow, because you're only as valuable as what people think of you. 00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:56.400 And then the next verse it says, And because of God's gracious gift to me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. 00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:02.480 Instead, be modest in your thinking and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:10.559 And all I can tell you was I was scared, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. 00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:29.039 And later that afternoon, I uh was coming off the field, and we they would put you in these, they call them huddles, and you'd have about 10 or 12 guys, and you play all the you know, flag football, basketball, all kind of stuff, and then they'd throw a bag of ice in the middle, and you'd they'd talk about God and things. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:52.639 And I if you can picture this, you know, I couldn't have been 135, 140 pounds, and skinny little kid, and and the uh fullback for Illinois was here, and the wide receivers for the Atlanta Falcons was here, and they're walking off the field, and this those those wide receivers look very small on TV, they're very big in real life. 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:55.280 I still remember like his quads were like this big. 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:57.840 I was going, dude, man, that's amazing. 00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:04.159 And and I could hear about every third word, and I heard a very intimate conversation. 00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:08.719 And the the fullback was struggling with something, I couldn't make it all out. 00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:18.000 And this guy was talking about what was more important than his NFL career and his wife and his faith and and Jesus, but he wasn't cussing. 00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:22.639 And and I don't, I saw the gospel. 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:27.519 Again, I didn't know any verses about by their love, you'll know that the father sent me. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:31.840 All I knew was something happened inside as I was walking behind these guys. 00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:40.400 I thought, I've never seen a grown man love another grown man ever in my life in this powerful, non-sexual way. 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:45.039 And something just welled up and said, I want what they want. 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:46.960 I want what they have. 00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:48.960 But I didn't know how to get it. 00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:50.320 I had no understanding. 00:38:50.559 --> 00:39:05.119 All of a sudden, I get all this new information and these Jesus freaks, these whack jobs, and I'm a skeptic and I don't believe any of this stuff, and all my bad background, all I know is well, God really wants is me, and I'm the biggest hypocrite. 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:12.559 And that night, uh, that fullback got up and he sang the Lord's Prayer. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:17.519 And I can't, I can't again, I don't, I didn't have any background with God. 00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:20.800 He sings the Lord's Prayer, and my I start to water. 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:23.599 And why am I crying? 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:24.320 I don't understand. 00:39:24.400 --> 00:39:30.719 And then and then a guy got up with some chalk and he he started drawing something. 00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:33.280 And he was drawing the story I would learn later. 00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:35.760 It's called the gospel or the good news. 00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:38.639 It wasn't a transaction, it was a declaration. 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:52.159 It's that God did something good, and he who has ears to hear, whoever would like to come to me, this is how you can actually come to me and have rest for your soul and purpose and all the things that I look for. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:55.039 And and he he drew this picture. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.280 In fact, I'm gonna put it up. 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:01.679 This is uh this is my my little version of this picture. 00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:07.760 Uh, you want to put up that slide with the this is uh my recreation. 00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:09.840 Oh, it's up. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:11.679 Oh, I was looking down here. 00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:13.519 It's up. 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:38.000 So uh he gave this verse in John 5.24 that says, Truly, truly, or verily, verily I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me, and this is what kill, just it's killer, not will, has eternal life. 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:39.840 Jesus, what's it mean? 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:40.719 How do you come? 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:56.320 He that hears my word, what you're hearing right now, and believes, puts your trust in, not intellectually agrees with, believes on me, has eternal life, and will not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. 00:40:56.559 --> 00:41:01.280 And so that that picture is over here, that was that was me. 00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:03.760 How you like my stick figure? 00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:08.400 And he explained that all of us blow it, all of us have sinned. 00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:14.320 And he explained that the wages of the consequences of our sin before a holy God is we fall short. 00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:21.679 I mean, Mother Teresa may have been a you know 97 out of 100, and Billy Graham a 96.5, but they still fell short. 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:27.199 And with a holy God, there's just there is no hope because he's absolutely pure and holy. 00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:32.880 But what we couldn't do for ourselves, he did Jesus as the bridge. 00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:37.920 John 1 12 says, As many as receive him, to them he gives the right. 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:44.559 The word is the power or authority to become children of God, even to those who believe on his name. 00:41:45.440 --> 00:42:03.119 And afterward, I saw that, and for the first time in my life, I recognized coming to Jesus is not being religious, it's not intellectually even agreeing that Jesus was a person, or even that it was God, or even that it was the savior of the world. 00:42:03.280 --> 00:42:12.480 Those are important, but it's actually a transfer of trust that you believe that what he did on the cross paid or covered for your sin. 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:16.000 And then his invitation, I'll still remember this. 00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:22.400 Literally, that man, he said, Jesus is saying this to each one of you athletes in this room. 00:42:23.679 --> 00:42:29.119 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:42.159 If any man, if any woman, if any student hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come into him and live with him, and he with me. 00:42:43.519 --> 00:42:51.840 And I all I can tell you was I I I was so aware that I was at a crossroads in my life. 00:42:52.639 --> 00:43:06.239 And I thought I could if I allow you to come into my life, if I if I get this right, you want you to forgive me, but you want to give me a new life, and you want us to do this life in the future together. 00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:12.639 And it wasn't like I thought I had to stop this, this, this, or that, but I realized I can't play God. 00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:15.119 I can't, I can't mess with him. 00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:22.880 There were some things that I knew I was doing that if I was gonna get on this path, those things were gonna have to go. 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:26.239 And I didn't know if I wanted to let him go. 00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:31.119 And then I kind of replayed in my mind. 00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:35.920 I am so tired. 00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:43.199 I am so weary of trying to project that I'm something, but I'm not. 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:52.320 I'm so weary and laid down with grinding it out, trying to be this and that, and get these people to like me. 00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:58.960 And God, I'm not sure exactly what it means for you to come into my life. 00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:01.679 In fact, my prayer was like a letter. 00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:03.280 Dear Jesus, this is chip. 00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:04.960 I didn't know how to pray. 00:44:05.519 --> 00:44:13.519 Whatever it means for you to forgive me right now and for me to trust you to come into my life, I want to do that right now. 00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:24.159 And Jesus says, Come to me, and the promise is I'll give you rest. 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:32.000 And very imperfectly I said, I want to do life with you, but I don't know how to do it. 00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:41.199 But I prayed and I asked Christ to forgive me and to come into my life in June of 1972. 00:44:42.079 --> 00:44:45.679 And then I, you know, I wish they would have done maybe a little bit more. 00:44:45.760 --> 00:44:51.599 So I had this little Good News Bible, and I uh when I got home, I put it underneath my pillow. 00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:55.519 I didn't want my parents to think, you know, I went to a camp and now I'm a Jesus freak. 00:44:56.320 --> 00:45:03.599 And and when people weren't looking, like in the morning, I started reading through the New Testament. 00:45:04.719 --> 00:45:08.559 And I remember thinking, how could does someone have a recorder underneath my bed? 00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:10.800 How could anyone know this about you? 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:16.239 And then at night I would read it before I go to bed, and then I would hide it under my pillow. 00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:24.000 And then I still remember about two weeks later because I had such a such a I mean a mouth that was unbelievable, uh foul. 00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:26.079 I just quit cussing. 00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:31.679 And then I remember it was a month later, and a big law had come in from instead of 21 to 18, you could drink. 00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:34.480 And so my buddy said, Hey, man, you gotta come with us. 00:45:34.559 --> 00:45:39.920 So I go with them and we go to this bar, and it's in fact, it's not just a bar, I mean it's super sleazy place. 00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:50.559 And this lady of ill repute comes and sits with us, and my friend is telling us the great time we can have, not only drinking, but this I won't go on. 00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:58.719 And I remember sitting in this booth in this really dark place and feeling dirty. 00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:04.639 I mean, a year earlier it would have been, man, if I can come here, I'd love to get here, it's just illegal. 00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:12.000 And I remember turning to my friend, and this was so weird, it was like, Man, I I'm just I'm just not into this. 00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:12.480 What? 00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:14.079 Man, champ, we've been waiting for this. 00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:14.559 Come on, man. 00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:19.599 I said, I just it just didn't for me. 00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:22.000 And I remember I got up and I left. 00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:29.440 God changed my desires, started changing my mouth. 00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:35.440 The next big invitation is he invited me to follow him. 00:46:36.559 --> 00:46:44.639 And boy, I'll tell you, I I I hope most of you do a better job at that than I did, especially early on. 00:46:44.800 --> 00:46:48.800 But maybe some of my mistakes next week will help you in your journey. 00:46:51.679 --> 00:46:54.719 But there's four great invitations in life. 00:46:56.079 --> 00:46:58.480 How you respond to them. 00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:05.679 Your next five, your next 10, your next 50. 00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:10.400 My wife Teresa, who couldn't be with us, she's sick this morning. 00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:20.000 Uh, my subtitle that I put for this was The Four Great Invitations, um, lessons from my first fifty years with Jesus. 00:47:20.320 --> 00:47:23.360 And she said, Well, do you think you're gonna get 50 more? 00:47:27.039 --> 00:47:28.320 I said, No. 00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:32.800 I think I'm gonna get forever. 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:36.159 These are my first 50 years. 00:47:36.719 --> 00:48:07.199 I'll have 500 years, I'll have 5,000 years, I'll have five million years, I will have five billion years, I will have a Google years in the presence of a faithful, kind, loving, holy savior, because in 1972 Jesus said, Come, I will give it's a gift, and I came. 00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:24.320 And God brought some of you in this room so that you'll look back if the Lord doesn't return in five or ten or twenty years and say it was July 3rd, and I came to Jesus. 00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:39.440 For some of you, you actually have already come to him, but the yoke has gotten kind of loose, and we'll talk next week about how you can get to come back over and over and over. 00:48:40.159 --> 00:48:46.159 And instead of a God whose arms are crossed or down on you, he misses you. 00:48:49.199 --> 00:48:58.559 Lord, as we all pause right now, bow our head and quiet our heart. 00:49:02.480 --> 00:49:06.320 You know every person in this room, you know every person in the world. 00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:13.599 Every heart, every motive is wide open to you. 00:49:16.159 --> 00:49:23.840 Lord, I I I was so warped at thinking you were down on me, or that I couldn't ever measure up, that I didn't come. 00:49:25.920 --> 00:49:41.760 But Lord Jesus, thank you that in this room on this day, whoever in this room and whoever would ever watch or listen to these words at this moment and say, Lord Jesus, I come. 00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:45.199 I confessed I'm weary. 00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:51.360 I've certainly messed up mistakes, I've done things that are wrong, I fall short. 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:56.400 And I'm asking you right now, will you forgive me? 00:49:57.599 --> 00:50:06.239 I take you at your word that if I receive you, you will give me the power to become your son, your daughter. 00:50:08.480 --> 00:50:23.039 So just in a quiet moment or two, if you have never received Jesus, if you've never come to him, put on his yoke, started the journey to learn his way. 00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:25.519 It's a way of life. 00:50:26.800 --> 00:50:28.880 Can I encourage you to do that right now? 00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:35.360 Believe me, from my prayer, it doesn't have to be fancy. 00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:38.159 It's got to be sincere. 00:50:40.480 --> 00:50:42.960 Cry out in your own words to God. 00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:47.920 Ask him to forgive you. 00:50:50.320 --> 00:50:52.159 Tell him you're coming right now. 00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:55.039 You want life. 00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:00.639 You believe he died for you. 00:51:01.920 --> 00:51:03.360 He rose from the grave. 00:51:04.880 --> 00:51:07.679 And he wants you for himself forever and ever. 00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:35.280 Lord, I had no idea 50 years ago that I'd ever get to have a family like I have, or to see you change my life like you have, or to get to invite other people to experience the life that you've given me. 00:51:36.719 --> 00:51:40.480 I pray that you would bind all the lies and all the fears. 00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:45.360 Would you help us to trust you this morning? 00:51:46.400 --> 00:51:48.800 And we ask this in Jesus' name. 00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:53.679 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:51:53.840 --> 00:51:58.239 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:51:58.400 --> 00:52:00.480 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:52:00.719 --> 00:52:06.639 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.