Ep. 324 Man to man: What is it? Why do it? Part 2 of 2 Richard Spann (re-release)

Richard Spann shares insights on helping others grow.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

And this is the verse we're looking at 2 Timothy 2.2. Things you've heard of me in the presence of many witnesses and trust to reliable men will also be qualified to teach others. So this is the purpose. The purpose of man-to-man is to multiply labors. That's the method that God has chosen, and this is the method that we see here in 2 Timothy 2.2.

David Dennis 0:27

Hi, I'm David Dennis with the Kansas Communities Ministry with the Navigators. Thank you so much for joining us today. Well, this is our last podcast in this six-part series featuring Dr. Richard Spann, who is our speaker for the 2023 Spring Men's Retreat in Heston, Kansas. During this series, Richard has been sharing with us scriptures as well as personal examples of the importance of the Word of God and prayer in our lives. You know, if you've missed any of these episodes, I really would urge you to go back and listen. Now, last time and this week, he shares the incredible importance of investing in individuals for their spiritual growth as he talks about man-to-man ministry. He starts today with the acronym P-E-T-E-R, which spells the word Peter. This helps us remember the elements of our relationship with those we're investing in.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Now you can see if you look at the first letter, it spells out Peter, which enables you to remember him. P-E-T-E-R. And I I uh love this because it's easy to remember. And I think this is a very good guide in our relationship with others. We pray for them. We are examples to them, and they learn from us. We provide teaching, we provide encouragement, and we restore. Well, let's look at these briefly. Uh prayer, and you can add any sort of things you want on here. This is an example of some of the things that uh I like to pray for: protection for the world, the flesh, and the devil, which they need. They need to develop a heart for the Lord, for the word, and for people. That is critical. He needs to know the worth of the individual and learns that from knowing your relationship with him. That's how he learns that, the time you spend from him. But unless he has some knowledge of the worth of the individual, he'll never spend his life on behalf of an individual. He needs margin in his life. You can have all the ideas, the thoughts, the knowledge in the world, but if you have no time to invest in people, your life will not be used by the Lord. So we need to pray for margin and demonstrate that margin in our life. He needs to be faithful, available, teachable, wholehearted. And then that the Lord would grant us wisdom in helping him grow in Christ. The example, it says, Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example for the believers in speech and life and love and faith and in purity. When you're with him, what is your speech like? Is it thanksgiving? Is it uh praise? Is it uh speech that would build one another up? Or is it complaining? Because he'll pick that up from you. Uh your speech is important. Uh, what is your life like? He will pick things up other than just your time in the word. He'll pick up your attitude toward your wife, your children, your job, others, the waitresses. Uh what is your uh love like? Do you love is to freely accept one another and seek their good? Do you freely accept others and seek their good in your life and you talk the way you talk about them? Or do you tend to condemn them and belittle them? He will pick that up from you. Um in faith, what do you what has God given you faith in in your life that you're struggling with, that God is helping you with? And in purity, are you pure uh in your life with others, uh in all that God has entrusted you with? So this is a very good verse, I think, in terms of a challenge to me, how I am to be before others as an example. And then teaching, and there's a whole host of things that we have that God has given us to teach. Basically, uh the scriptures, but I like to look at the wheel in terms of the center of Christ. He needs teaching on the center of Christ, we need teaching on word, prayer, fellowship, how we relate with believers, uh, witnessing how we relate with non-believers, these instructions. So periodically as I meet with people, I like to make sure to go over all those spokes. Have I focused the time on prayer? What's his prayer life like? Have I focused on his relationship with non-believers? Have I prepared him to share the gospel? Who prepared him to relate to others in a way that the Lord would use? Uh, how is his relationship with Christ himself? Is he focused on that? Uh it's very convicting to me. I was sharing it with another person last night that uh in Revelation in Ephesians 2, it says, You have forsaken your first love. When we say forsake our first love, then ultimately, unless our first love is Christ, our ministry uh will be in vain. So I think these are a very helpful guide to me to look at that uh based on the wheel. Encouragement. And I think just affirm them in their walk with Christ. You're doing well, I appreciate your way you're applying the scriptures, uh, your scriptural insights and applications, very appropriate. I appreciate them. I assure them of Christ's presence and direction. Let them know how much benefit you have received from meeting with them. And I meet with a number of people, and each one of them I am blessed with, I am encouraged by. They are a stimulus to me and encouragement to me, and I get delight out of that, and the Lord uses them in my life, and uh and they need to know that. And then the restore. And I there's two senses in which I use that word restore. In Psalm 23, 3, he restoreth my soul. We always think of that, oh, that's good. I'm all restored. But literally that word means to turn back. He turns back my soul. And I can think of numerous times in my life where I was headed the wrong way with a relationship, and he turned it back. Uh, one girl they had to kick her out of school. So the Lord would turn me back from that relationship. And uh the times in my life where I was about to make a choice of where to live or what career, that he just got in the way and blocked me going that wrong way. And so if you have individual contact, you can sense the person is about to make a decision or a choice that would lead him away from God in ministry or in personal relationship. So you can be sensitive to that. There are times when that uh decision has already been made. And a brother, if someone is caught in a sin, you're a spiritual should restore him gently. Bring him back, have compassion and love on him. There's a book that I've been reading called Lead by Paul David Tripp that really speaks to this. Uh, and I really appreciated that book greatly because it talks about the power of restoration individually and in the church. And then the purpose declared. You said it was what was the name of the book? Paul David Tripp. It's called Lead, L-E-A-D. Paul David Tripp. And then we see the purpose of purpose declared, which is to multiply labors. And this is the verse we're looking at, 2 Timothy 2.2. Things you've heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, and trust to reliable men, will also be qualified to teach others. So this is the purpose. The purpose of man-to-man is to multiply labors. That's the method that God has chosen. And this is the method that we see here in 2 Timothy 2.2. So, part of what we mentioned last night, the Word of God, one of the effects of that is to provide an inheritance. The other effect is to be built up. The first verse that we memorize, 2 Timothy 2.1, to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, is like being built up. We can be strong in the flesh or weak in the flesh, we can be weak in the grace or strong in the grace. To be strong in the grace is difficult because grace is what comes from someone else. To be strong in dependence, I mean, we we feel like we can be strong if we're independent, but here we're supposed to be strong in dependence, be strong in our ability to receive and to contain and to have everything that comes from Christ. So that's an attitude of faith, of looking to Him continually for His words, thoughts, and deeds for the supply that we need. Be strong in that grace. And that's being built up in this is having the inheritance that He plans for us. This purpose was demonstrated in Barnabas to Paul in Acts 9.27, and then Paul to Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18, 1 through 3. Aquila and Priscilla to Apollos. So we see the demonstration of this purpose. And we see that further. Now, when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord hadn't opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. So the Lord had provided an opportunity for Paul at Troas. And uh most of us would have said, Boy, that's great. I'm gonna sit here and help these people come to the Lord, evangelize, disciple him. But what Paul had in mind was Titus. He knew that if he could find Titus, he could redouble, redouble the ministry. So we see this demonstrated quite clearly. And if you would look and see at the last book of the last chapter, rather, the book of Romans, see that he had uh entitled about 25, 26 people individually that were partners of his in ministry that he had impacted. And at the end of the uh third century, the start of the third century, after 300 years, nearly one-third of the world was was Christian. Nearly one-third. And this was from man-to-man ministry. That's the purpose demonstrated. Uh in the purpose demonstrated also uh in our Kansas Navigator Ministry. Back in the 1950s, Lauren Sandy went to Seattle, was sent there by Dawson Trotman to make a difference there in the military. And one man showed up, was all. His name was Charlie Riggs, Lieutenant, and kind of a lantern-jawed, beetle-browed individual, as Lauren describes him. And after a couple of weeks, two or three weeks, that's the only individual that ever showed up for the Navigator New Navigator Ministry. And Lauren was really discouraged. And he called, or wrote, not sure what they did in those days, Dawson said, I'm ready to come back. This is the only guy that's shown up. And so Dawson said, just pour your life into him. Just pour your life into him. And so he did. And so over the period of the next year or two, he poured his life into him, shared with him the ideas, the thoughts that he had learned from Dawson about a multiplication of ministry. And Charlie Riggs later became the director of follow-up for Navigator for the Billy Graham Ministries. But before he did that, he moved to Omaha. And in Omaha, he found that he had a job down in Arkansas, I believe, somewhere, but he heard of an individual named Gene War in Oklahoma. And this individual had just come to the Lord, was interested in starting a ministry. He said, Well, I'll go there and I'll build him up, just like uh uh Lauren Sandy did for me. So he began to make a difference in Gene Ware's life. Gene War is the guy that eventually started the Baptist Student Union. The others made a terrific difference there. Gene War found that there was an individual, a cowboy in Kansas, an oil man that was interested in kind of getting a ministry going, needed some help by the name of Jim Morris. So he came up here and made him also in Colorado Springs and kind of helped him start a ministry, which he started later on in the 60s, 67, 68. Jim Morris and I met for about nine months back in 72, 73. The next year, a year or two later, I had an opportunity to start a Bible study of about five or six physicians at Wesley that were interested in looking at the Bible, most of them just new believers. One of them was a man by the name of Dennis Finley, an orthopedic surgeon. I spent about four or five years with him, uh equipping him, and he met a fellow by the name of Jim Harstein, who uh met a fellow that uh he discipled, Art Sauter, uh, back in the 70s or early, I think the probably 70s at that point, or maybe 60s. Art has had a fantastic ministry throughout Great Bend. Uh in at one point in time when we uh were looking at Everman a Warrior, we thought that maybe 500 men out there had really been involved with that. And here in the conference ground about 15 years ago, I met a man down there in the where we have lunch, and he came up to me and he said, You know, you've never met me before, but I want you to know that if I get this right, I'm your great, great, great, great grandson spiritually, uh, through Art Souter and his ministry down there in uh in Southwest in Kansas there in Great Bend. See, this is a ripple, a ripple that started way back in the 50s, that's still going today. This is just one part of a ripple, just one branch of the ripple. I have a friend from California that came a few years ago into Wichita. It started a ministry there, they had a really uh keynote speaker, they had entertainment, they had uh food, and uh it was written up uh in a um religious magazine in California, it was being of great importance, received a lot of notoriety. I asked him when he got here, I says, What happened to that ministry? He says, Oh, it's disappeared, it's gone. People are all gone, they're they're not anything happening anymore. That was what you call a big splash, but with no ripple. And so what God wants is he's interested in the ripple. And our last speaker that we had last year was a fellow named Mike Trinier, and he asked a good question. Uh, two questions. One was how many how many seeds are in an apple? Well, no one knew exactly. I was going to cut apart an apple and find out, but I would imagine about eight or ten. But the more important question is how many apples are in a seed? How many apples are in a seed? And this seed that uh uh Lauren Sanding started is still growing, still producing thousands, ten thousands of apples. And that's what God has in mind for our ministry for each one of our lives. About eight, ten years ago, I was down at a navigator conference. It was a, every five years they have kind of a worldwide conference. So Bev and I were down there. And uh I remember seeing Jared Bridges and uh Jim Downing was there. He was in a wheelchair, he was a hundred years old. Jim Downing was, he's been here as a speaker several times. But as I looked around that crowd, I could see all of these people that fantastic ministries around the world. And I thought, you know, what am I doing here? Just a little Kansan representing this Kansas ministry. We're just we're just kind of no account. And then the Lord seemed to impress upon me that verse, Isaiah 60, 22. Says, the least of you, and I think he was referring to our Kansas ministry, the least of you will become a thousand, the smallest mighty nation. So this is what God, he says, I called, I will do that in my time. So that's his promise to us. That was his promise to me at that time about the Kansas ministry, and I think he is able to do that. And in closing, I want to share with you a story that I heard some months ago. Um, I heard it from, I think it was David Jeremiah, really. But he talked about a man uh that was by the name of Desmond Das. Desmond Das was a conscientious objector. Uh, this is before World War II, and he wanted uh to go into the military to serve as a medic. Uh, and they let him do that. He joined a rifle company, but they insisted that he get rifle training, just that he hold a rifle and learn to shoot it, help defend his comrades. He says, I'm not willing to do that. But they ridiculed him, they punished him, some of his uh platoon members beat him, they denied him uh an opportunity to get married, uh, canceled his leave. They at one point were going to uh even court-martial him, put him in prison. Somehow they let him through, and he was with a platoon of uh Marines, riflemen that were in Okinawa. And in Okinawa, one of the most difficult areas of the battle was a place called Hacksaw Ridge. And this was a ridge which went up about like a hacksaw, and it was about 20 feet, and then up on this plateau, they had to advance across several thousand yards to get to the Japanese embankment. It was a terrific battle, went on for days. At one point, they were ordered to retreat, and they were ordered to retreat about nightfall, and Desmond, the medic, could hear uh cries of the wounded up there. So even though he was ordered to retreat, he got back up on that ridge and this crawled to uh soldier after soldier, and one by one, he dragged them or carried them in the midst of gunfire at times down to the safety where they could be looked at at the at the little makeshift hospital. Did that all night. Did that all night, one after another. And in the morning they they found out that he had rescued 75, 75 of these men. He later received the Congressional Medal of Honor for that. And he was wounded uh later on uh during one of these forays, and his Bible was left out there, but the whole company uh went out there and found his Bible for him, brought it back to him. And they brought it to him. He says, What kept you going during that night? And his comment was each time I would lower one in a little makeshift hammock, he would say, Lord, just let me save one more, just one more. And as I uh as I think about that, you know, as I think about the fact that what he was involved in was a physical battle, and these men were being saved for a few more months, a few more years, some some many years. But we're involved in a spiritual battle, and the men that God gives us to save, we save for an eternity with Christ. So as I as I think about that word of Desmond Das, Lord just used me in one more. I think of those that the Lord has uh enabled me to invest in who've had four generations. One particularly stands out in mind, a young man that I visited on a call from our church. We were involved in evangelism explosion for a number of years. And this man we visited had no clue who the Lord was, and the usual presentation wasn't going to work. Having realized that, initially I thought, well, let's just get to know this man and find out what he's interested in and spend time with him. So I was interested in playing tennis. So played tennis with him and had lunch with him a time or two. He developed a little bit of interest, but didn't seem to really understand it and grasp it. He was a kind of an intellectual sort of guy, so I thought maybe he might like Merit Christianity. So he did. He was he uh really was uh impressed with that. I gave it to him and uh he started reading it, and he called me about a week later. He says, It really works. He said, It really works. He said, uh I asked Christ to come in and he really did. And uh I said, Well, tell me about it. And he said, Well, I looked at the evidence for that and I decided that Christ is who he said he was, and I wanted him in my life. And I asked him to do that. And he said, I've got it, I've got a terrible, filthy mouth. And I got to work, and something horrible went wrong, and I started to swear and the words wouldn't come out. But I knew that God had changed me. I knew that God had changed me. And uh so his his partner, his In business, also had a filthy mouth. And he was so impressed at the change of this guy. He says, What happened to you? And he told him. And a week later he trusted Christ. A week later, his wife was so impressed for what happened to him that she said, You know, I'm on my way to Christ too. So I think about that, I think there's four generations. You know, I as I think about the words of Desmond Doss, uh, I too would say what he said, Lord, just use me in one more, just one more, like that, that we save for for an eternity with Christ. So that's man to man. That's a purpose from God, a plan from God, and he wants us involved in that, to save men for an eternity with Christ. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity you've given us to invest in the lives of others. We thank you for your grace in preparing us, equipping us, giving us a heart for others. Pray that you would continue to involve us with the people that you bring, that you would give us the margin, the ideas, the resources, that you would live your life through us to make a permanent difference in the lives of others. And Lord, we just pray this in your name. Amen.

David Dennis 23:30

Making a permanent difference in the lives of others. That's what I want to do. These messages have been so encouraging to me. Richard has shared deeply from the Word of God, as well as his own personal experiences and example. How he has a heart for individuals. Do you and I have that heart for individuals? You know, I think it's so tempting and often easier to just invest in the group, maybe the Sunday school class, the Bible study, whatever. All that is well and good and is helpful. But as Richard has helped us see, the Lord brings individuals across our lives, often so that we can individually pray for them, serve them, love them, and help them to grow. Join us next time as together we learn more about making disciples naturally.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Thank you for listening.