Dad-My Hero

But, glad to have you with us this Father's Day. We thank all of our fathers. I just want to celebrate our fathers. Y'all give a big hand clap. Spiritual leaders of our flock and your flock, your local flocks, your tribes, whatever you call them.

And we're so happy to celebrate you today. Thank you for letting me be with my father last week. He's retiring this month. He's got two more services. This is his second to last service, but last week, 16 years old, he was licensed to be a pastor.

And then went the Bible school and did all the education. And then at 20 years old, he was ordained and took on his first church. And then he had me at 21. So, I was born in ministry, guys. And he was almost born in ministry, right?

So, it was awesome to be with him last week. I mean, there was probably 700 plus people in the facility and a lot of celebration and a lot of choking up and a lot of laughing and a lot of crying and all those things, you know. So, it was just an honor to be there with him. He was supposed to be here this week to share with you guys, but he's transitioning to church out. So, it was really difficult.

So, he's taking a rain check on that and he'll be with you at a future date. We hope to have him at a future date. And he'll be sharing a lot more. He's going to come up and share with you guys from here and there now that he has a little more time to travel and preach and do things like that. So, but thank you guys for being with us today.

And I kind of want to hit on this, fathers. And by the way, those of you who are online, we're so glad you're here with us today. And as my lovely bride said, you can fill out those connection cards right online at saltchurch.org slash connection. And if you're new with us today, you have the blue card in your seat.

Let me say this. How many of you miss paper notes? Do I have enough? Okay. Yeah, we got one.

I see that hand. I see it. I see it. I see it. See it.

Paper hand notes. We usually do them online. And honestly, this week, I don't have them online. I had a busy week. Just be honest.

And I forgot. I forgot to post the notes this week on the Bible.com app. So forgive me for that. But this fall, we are going to go back to actual having paper notes in hand.

So you'll have an option of electronic and paper because I know many of you like to see the notes and things. And since the beginning of the church, we did that up until pandemic and just never went back to that. So if there's enough of you that want that, we'll do it. Amen. I'm going to provide everything I can for you so that you can study and you can take your notes.

And Yvette's like, yes, yes. That's my note and I'm going to be going to go show notes. It's my note. And I think that so much bet you can take your notes. And if you been listening to this, it's my notes, yes.

That's my notes. And so She's going through it, and that's great. I just love that. I love that. So, we are doing a stand-alone series for the next so many weeks called Summer of Salt.

We do this every year, and we invite guests to come in, I speak, and we just kind of share what's on our hearts and not do any type of formal series. It's just kind of old school. We call that old school. Back in the day, you just preached a stand-alone sermon every week. So, when I was growing up, that's what you did.

You didn't know what to expect the next week. And we do a lot of things in series now, and here we do them in series because, you know, you take bits and pieces. But this really is just a way of us, just me sharing what's on my heart through this month, just what God puts on my heart, and a little less structured as to the subject matter. But, obviously, today's Father's Day, and I do want to talk to fathers, but I want to talk to everyone here. And the title of the message today is, Dad, My Hero.

Dad, My Hero. Isn't that what every father wants to hear? Daddy, you're my hero. Maybe not say you're my hero. Maybe it's in some other format.

Or, Daddy, I appreciate you. Daddy, I love you. Daddy. Or just watching your kids imitate you or emulate the things that you do. And just seeing them look at you and just want to be with you, want to be like you.

That's what we all want as fathers because we all want to be heroes. We all want to be heroes. And for many of us, we think of heroes as, I don't know, a comic book character with a cape flying around a city or a celebrity or a sports hero. Growing up, my comic book hero was the Wolverine, man. Oh, yeah, there he is.

The Wolverine, man. I love the Wolverine. Man's man, you know, always got the job done. There was a comic book set where Spider-Man and Wolverine, which I'm a Spider-Man fan, too. And I probably, yeah.

I would say I'm probably more of a Spider-Man fan these days because Spider-Man's kind of the little boy who just, you don't expect him, right? In Christianity, that's kind of the unexpected people are the heroes, and that's what I want to talk about. But, man, I love the Wolverine, man. He was just bad to the bone. You could not, I mean, he's just mutant.

He's after you. He did not lose a battle, rarely lost a battle. And some of you are like, you think of a hero, and you're like, wow, I want to be a hero. I want to be Wolverine. But as you think about what you really are, you feel like this, right?

Yeah. That's what I really am. Maybe I think I'm Wolverine, and then somebody looks at you from the other side and sees that. So, we are going to look at everyday heroes because you don't have to look at everyday heroes because you don't have to look at everyday heroes. You don't have to wear a cape.

You don't have to fly around the city. You don't have to be doing major big things to be a hero. Everybody can be a hero. In God's kingdom, there needs to be heroes. All different shapes and sizes.

And, you know, just a little thing before I start. I probably beat up on the men a little bit today. Is that okay? Can I beat up on you a little bit? Yep.

All right. All right. I'm going to beat up on you a little bit because what I really feel like is that men need, we need more men heroes. That's right. We need more men heroes in our society.

There was a Gallup poll done a few years back that said 51% of kids between 13 and 17 years old could not name a single adult in their life that they would consider a hero. They quoted this from one individual. I don't know any adult I'd like to model my life after. And that's sad because we all need heroes. Everybody needs heroes.

We need somebody to look up to. And others need to be heroes. We need to step up and start being heroes. We need mentors in our lives. We need models to follow after in our life.

Good, godly models. We need spiritual fathers. Pastors. Spiritual fathers. As pastors, I sit with a lot of groups of pastors and I can tell you that one of the areas that pastors struggle with the most is they don't have any fathers in their life.

Good, spiritual fathers in their lives. And we need those. Fortunately, I've had an earthly father and have some good spiritual fathers in my life. So it's, you know, I've had that. But for many, they don't.

And for many of you, you may not have a spiritual father. Maybe you have some spiritual brothers and spiritual sisters, but you don't have any spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers in your life. We need more people to stand up and be those. In the NLT, Psalm 16.3 says, The godly people in the land are my true heroes.

And I emphasize true heroes. I take pleasure in them. The godly people of the land. God sees heroes as godly people. And we need to choose our heroes carefully because whoever our heroes are, we become like those, right?

It's just like who your friends are, that's where you're going. Who your heroes are, that's where you're going. And we confuse heroes and celebrities all the time. I mean, we know celebrities and we see those as our heroes and we want to be like them and we want to emulate them. And we think of followers and all the people that focus, the popularity of that person.

Those are our heroes we consider. But we confuse heroes and celebrities all the time. I want to put up this picture. Michael Jordan. Jordan.

How many of you are Jordan fans in here, man? I love Jordan. And not only was he a North Carolina Tar Heel, you know, that was the best part of it. Wilmington, North Carolina. He's a Carolina boy.

Yeah, there you go. We got a Carolina guy in here. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're more prideful than Texas, I think, aren't we? North Carolinians.

My wife says that. I've never met another state that's more proud of their state than a Texan is, and I think North Carolina's it. Yeah, we love our state, and I just thought the world of Jordan because he was just so good at what he did, his ethics with his training, and he never got caught in politics. He never got caught in anything. Like, his quiet life was quiet, and I thought, man, this guy.

It's so honorable. I've never seen a goat like this. Yeah, he just doesn't care about how many people look at him until you unfold the story a little bit with the documentary, The Last Dance, and you discover that this dude had a lot of issues. I mean, he had failed marriage. He had a gambling problem.

He cursed people out on court. I mean, just all kinds of things. You never hear them. The mics aren't here with them on court. But when you get up close and you start hearing, he was tough.

He was not the guy I thought he was. I thought he was just this smooth guy that kept quiet and just showed it by what he did. But no, he wasn't like that. And although there were many good qualities about Jordan, there wasn't a lot of good qualities in the real story of Jordan. There was a lot of stuff there.

So we confuse celebrities all the time with heroes. And here's just a few things. Celebrities make a big splash, but heroes make a big difference. Yeah, amen. Celebrities have image and fame.

Look at all the followers I have. Heroes have character and integrity, and they serve others. Celebrities sacrifice for themselves. Heroes sacrifice for others. And finally, celebrities say, serve me, and heroes say, serve others.

And it's easy to be a celebrity these days. Instagram is out there. You know, you can follow anything. I've never seen so many health people on Instagram, these influencers, these health influencers. And they just, they say what they say, but half of it is just wrong, guys.

I mean, it's just, they just want followers. And I love Dr. Etz. If you ever get to follow Dr. Etz, I think it's IDZ, Dr.

IDZ. It's short for his name. It's like an Indian name or something. And he gets up online, and he calls out these. I love watching him because he's like, that's just stupid.

That doesn't mean, of course you can eat bread. Bread won't kill you. You know, like, all these guys are out there, and they're just saying things. And it's easy to be a celebrity, and it's all about how many followers I can get. But real influencers, real heroes, heroes, you can be a hero online.

You can say the right things. You can wear the right makeup, and you can do all that. But really what a hero comes down to, what a real person comes down to that's on Instagram is somebody who really cares about others and not themselves. But you see it the other way around. They really care about how many people like them in most cases.

They're not... They're not trying to help people, they're just trying to be a celebrity, and we've got these reality shows, these contests, listen, there's too many celebrities and not enough heroes, we've got way more celebrities than we need, how about some more heroes, we need to step up and be some heroes, amen, amen, so let's talk about that, I'll give you three reasons why, or qualities that make a hero, and I think this is going to be powerful for many of you, whether you're a man or a woman, and it says this, the first thing is true heroes stand alone for what's right, true heroes stand alone for what's right, heroes don't do what everybody else does, heroes do the opposite of what everybody else does, in fact in 2 Samuel it talks about David's heroic man, it says these are the three most heroic man in David's army, Joseph, Eleazar, the son of Dodo, apparently he was, he had a dodo as a dad, and then we had Anshamah, once during an attack, when all Anshamah's men deserted him, he stood alone at the center of the field and beat back the Philistines and God gave him great victory, he was one that would stand against the battles that he was facing, when everybody else ran away, he stood strong, strong, and we all face battles in our lives, okay, spiritual battles, ethical battles, moral battles, relational battles, all those battles are there, but sometimes you do the right thing, even if you have to stand alone, if you're the only one in the battle, if you're the only one that's going the right way, you go against the flow, not with the flow, true heroes do that, in fact Exodus says it like this, do not follow the crowd in doing wrong, don't follow the crowd, very plain and simple there, right, don't do the things that the world are doing, don't participate in the things, don't live the way that the world's living, guys, he says do things differently, we live different, and fathers, your children are watching you all the time, can I say that, and some of you that are older fathers, you know that, because you've watched your kids grow up and become like you, or become not like you, right, and you're like, wow, what could I have done differently, they are watching you, your spiritual life, the way you handle people, the way you respect people, they are watching you all the time, and they're soaking in those things, fathers, we've got to be careful how we live, if we are true heroes, and we stand alone, your kids will receive from that, it will benefit them if you're stand alone people, and let me just talk to teenagers and young adults a little bit, how many teenagers and young adults do we have here, all right, we got a few, yeah, yeah, let me just say this, let me just say this, it's hard to stand alone when you're your age, and the crowd's going to say do this and do that, and I'm going to tell you, I'll tell you, there's a lot of, this is a season, this is a time where you really need to be different. It's good to be different. It's good if you're not invited to the parties. It's good if you're not invited to the social occasions.

But that means you're different. You're different. If you want to live right, if you want to be a child of God, if you want to walk in the way that God's calling you to walk, when everybody else is getting drunk, you're not going to get drunk. You're not going to go and get drunk. And I want to speak, I'm not here to do a message on alcohol or anything and the lines of that and stuff, but I do believe we have an epidemic in this time where we've made alcohol like going to a coffee bar.

And I've seen more young people drinking. When I was younger, it was like the alcoholic would go to the side bar in the dark alley and the Budweiser, you know, the Budweiser sign kind of blinking like that. Nowadays, it's right out there for you to enjoy whenever and wherever. You know, like this is a family event. This is, you know, campfire and bring the dogs and stuff like that.

And I'm not like beating against that. But we've got to be careful because alcohol is really, these are really strong drinks. And I see the drinking that's going on. And we are called to be sober minded. We aren't to be drunk.

It's actually drunk. Being drunk is a sin. It's a sin. In Isaiah, I don't have this in your notes, or in the notes, it says, destruction is certain for those who are heroes when it comes to drinking, who boast about all the liquor they can hold. I remember those days when you're young and everybody's bragging about how much drink they can hold, how much liquor, no guys, that doesn't make you a man.

It doesn't make you anything but silly and stupid, okay, when you get drunk. We need to stay away from drunkenness, okay? We need to watch ourselves. We need to watch our lives. You don't have to go with the crowd, whether it's drinking, drugs, whatever it is.

School and college is very hard. There's going to be a lot of peer pressure. And that's what it really comes down to for all of us is peer pressure. We're pressured into doing these things because we want to be liked. We want to go with the crowd.

And there's nothing wrong with that because we were designed to be relational. We want to walk with the crowd. We want to be with the people. We're not meant to be alone. That's how God designed us.

But what Satan does is uses that as a weapon against us because he tells us that unless you do this, unless you follow the crowd, unless you do these things that are contrary to what God has, then you're not going to be liked. You're going to be ostracized. You're going to be left out. So go with it. It's okay.

It's okay. Or maybe you're silent when someone is being treated wrong. In fact, I just saw a video of women and children. I think it was in France somewhere where women and children were being attacked by a knife, a guy with a knife, and the men around were all . Standing around, either watching, there was one man hiding behind a tree with a phone in his hand, recording the whole thing.

Other men were just running away, trying to get away so they wouldn't be harmed. And there was one little French guy that ran with his backpack and chased him down. And he was a believer, actually, and he was, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, and he's chasing him out with his backpack away from them, and he ran away. And that's a man right there. He may not have the muscles, but he's the man.

He's the Spider-Man, right? He's Spider-Man. He stepped out. He went for it. And, you know, sometimes silence is golden, but a lot of times it's just plain yellow, okay?

Just yellow being quiet. And if you don't stand for something, you've all heard this, you'll fall for anything. How about if you don't stand for something, you won't stand for anything? You don't stand for anything. In a world of tolerance and truth, you know, like, tolerance says anything goes.

Like, your truth is my truth. You know, my truth, you know, they're all truth. And that's what we're facing even more. You've heard this 10, 20 years ago, and we kind of threw it to the side. But it's really before us now.

This is exactly what we're dealing with. And as Christians, we don't have my truths. We have the truth. We don't have my truths, your truths, my truths. We have the truth.

That's why Paul says in Romans, don't conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will. One version says don't model the contemporary world. Don't model the world. Be different.

Don't feed what the world's feeding. Don't feed the flesh like the world says. Just feed the flesh. Enjoy life. Do it this way because that's your truth.

That's what you have. You know, that's what the world has for. Just take care of yourself, this and that. But don't feed because what you feed grows, right? What you feed grows.

If you feed the flesh, the flesh will grow. If you feed from the world, you'll be like the world. But if you feed the spirit, you'll be alive by the spirit. The spirit will bring life to you. And so we don't conform to the world.

And conformity doesn't happen overnight, okay? I mean, it happens in small increments, very small pieces. We conform in little bits and little pieces and to the point where we're like, whoa, how did I get over here, you know? It never happens overnight. We just allow little things in our lives like movies and the people we hang around with and inviting that old habit back into our life.

Oh, I can do it just once. And then before we know it, we're like the world. We're just like the world, but we don't want to be like the world. We want to be different. We want to walk.

We stand alone. We stand alone. In fact, it says this in Psalm 44, and I like how the message paraphrase puts it. Blessed are those who give yourselves over to God. Turn your backs on the world, on the world's sure thing, because that's what they say, it's sure, you know, you, this is the thing, this is it, eat, drink, be merry, that's it, right?

Right? Go, go for it. That, that, and ignore what the world worships. See, true godly men, true godly heroes, true godly women, whoever you are, true godly heroes stand alone. They worship God alone, they focus on God alone, they don't play video games till 3 o'clock in the morning, they go to bed early and wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning to get in the presence of God so they can be prepared for their day.

And God is looking for man to step up and say, I'm in, God. I'm ready, God. It's time for an army of men to rise up and say, I am fully committed to you, God. I want your presence. I, I honor you with my life, with every piece of my life, not part of my life.

I'm not going to conform to the world. I'm going to walk alone if I have to. Yeah. And, and men with that kind of attitude and that kind of strength and inviting God into your life and the presence of God, there's nothing we can't do. And we can step up as leaders as we're called to be because frank leaders, not a lot of men leaders right now.

We need more men leaders. Amen? Which leads me to my second point. True heroes make a sacrifice for others, make sacrifices for others. And I emphasize for others.

They make sacrifices for others. Because lots of people make sacrifices for themselves. That's easy, right? I mean, we, we, we sacrifice our health for our, our businesses. You know, we work long hours and we don't eat right and, and we do all these things.

And then, and then, you know, go back to sports athletes. Why did, why did they do it? Why do they work so hard? Why do they give up time? Why do they give up family?

Why do they give up all these things? Why, why do celebrities, actors, why do they give, why, what do they give up? They give up having families. They give up their time. They give up having, you know, any time for anything, right?

Because they're focused. They, they make sacrifices to get to where they are. So it's not hard to make a sacrifice for something that's for us, but when it's for others, really defines who we are. God, God needs men and women who serve sacrificially, sacrificially. That men that give themselves, we just need this more than anything, guys.

I just, like, praise God for the men in here. Praise Jesus. You know, you guys are sacrificers. Praise, I love it. But I'm just talking in generalities, okay?

When I look across the landscape of the church as a whole, I don't see men as much as women give their time, their treasure, their talent, their kingdom sacrifice. They step to the sidelines. They become Ahabs. They've let things pass by. They, they, they, they, they move it over, move it out of the way.

And it's, it's a real problem because more women had, praise God for our women. Can y'all give our women? Man, that, they inspire, they should. You inspire us men to take some leadership roles because, you know, we're called to be leaders. Men, they're called to be leaders.

It's very clear. But women have had to step up because men are not there. Men are not in the homes with their children. Men are not in the lives of people. Men are not mentoring.

We're prideful. We're selfish. And God's calling men to step up and say, Count on me. Count on me, God. Willing and able to lead like it really matters, in spiritual matters.

I'm not going to sit on the sidelines. I'm not going to wait and see what happens. I'm going to be active. I'm going to be engaged. I'm going to make a difference because God's called me to that.

And there's no better place to be than in God's will. And that's His will for your life. A lot of people are like, What's God's will for my life? To walk in His ways. And when you walk in His ways, His will is revealed to you more and more and more.

Whoever wants to be great must become what? A servant. So how do we become a great leader? We need to serve. Serve.

Now, women, y'all don't have a problem with that. Y'all have servant hearts. Y'all love people. Men, we've got to work on this because we don't like to serve. We like to be served.

Let's just be honest. I'm a man. I can be honest. We are prideful people. We fight pride all the time.

Can I get a good amen on that, men? Amen. Amen. Women, shh. And we need to be a servant.

To serve. They gave up jobs so that they could serve others. And it's usually the opposite. It's how many are going to serve me. And this world is how many are going to serve me.

Society says the more that you serve, the more people that serve you, the more important you are. Right? That's what they say. How many people can you get to serve you? How many people can you get underneath you?

But God says the greatest heroes are like Jesus who gave his life, who humbled himself on the cross and died for us. Jesus brought the sacrifice for the sins of all the people once and for all when he sacrificed himself. Ultimate hero, ultimate sacrifice. Ultimate hero, he was. He's our example.

He was the ultimate sacrifice. And you don't have to die on a cross to be a hero. You don't have to do big major things to be a hero. You can be an everyday hero. In fact, Jesus says even if you give a cup of water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.

Even if you give a small, just seeing somebody that's thirsty, just give them a cup of water. When you're serving in children, you see a child that needs water because men need to serve in children as well. What is the same in the first seven? I won't go. I'll give you a small and so.

I won't go. I won't go. I won't go. I won't go. I won't go.

It would be nice to have some men role models, and we have a few of those men that are serving. But, you know, take some time and serve the children. Roll on the floor some children. Give them some water. Just do those little things.

The unnoticed are greatest in the kingdom of God. The people who serve in children, the people who serve in the background. Pastor Rick Warren was talking about a man that was in his church, and he said that he was serving in children's ministry. He was talking to his wife. He said, I feel so used.

I feel so used. I've heard that statement so many times in church. I feel so used. I feel so used. His wife said, what are you upset about?

You asked God to use you. You said, take it all, God. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. God, I remember when I was called to ministry, I told God, you can have it all. Have all my life.

But sometimes you do feel used. Sometimes you're emotionally used. Sometimes you're physically used. That's a good thing because you're serving God. Sometimes that's what it's about, that we're willing to go through times where we feel used.

Jesus was used. Jesus was used. Jesus was used by the people for miracles. People used Jesus to get them some bread, right? They wanted to see his miracles.

They wanted his miracles, but they didn't want him. But yet he loved them and he served the Father. And Jesus is calling us to do the very same thing, to be used. So it's a good thing to say, I feel used and it's good. Let's say that together.

I feel used and it's good. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Turn to your neighbor and say, do you feel used? Say yes if you agree.

All right, all right. So the next time somebody comes to me and says, I feel used, I'll remind them of that. Amen. Amen. You feel used.

Praise God. Because God does his greatest work in those who are doing the smallest things. The people, people come in and believe it or not, some of you come in here Sundays and you don't know what goes on to prepare this. But people are going in there scrubbing the toilets and wiping down the sinks and spraying lemon smells in there. Because it, you know, this is a theater, guys.

And there was movies the night before. And it does not smell good in there when we come in this place. And they come in at six o'clock and set up and they go unnoticed. But God doesn't see them that way. God sees them and celebrates them.

God celebrates them. It's amazing. They're amazing people. They're the greatest heroes of all. And then there's another category in Proverbs 31.

Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves and protect the rights of all who are helpless. Speak for them and protect the rights of the poor and needy. So how do we do that? Just being aware of those who can't help themselves. There are people all around us who can't help themselves.

Children, for instance. We need to stand up for the right things. Good Lord, we need to stand up for the rights of children today, more than ever. How about those who are disabled? How about those with mental health issues?

How about the elderly? We forget about the elderly all the time. We need to stand up for them. We need to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves. So, here's my question for you.

I want you to think about this. Is there an area in your life where you are sacrificing for others on a regular basis without receiving anything in return? No money, no benefits, no anything. Are you doing that on a regular basis? Not just a one-time, get it done, check a box off.

I had a pastor friend that said he saw a guy in his church, he had a wealthy guy in his church, that had come through one time a year, and he would just check off his boxes. Okay, that needs to be fixed, that, that, that, okay, okay. And that's nice. I mean, pastors appreciate that, taking care of the facility and somebody to pay for it. But you never saw him any other time.

So, so my question is, regularly, not just in church, just, just in, in general. Like, what are you doing? Think about that. And number three, this, this is important. True heroes take risks for God.

See, there's something built in us, something innately in us that wants to take risks. You ever thought about that? Well, why is it that I want to take this risk? Why is it, why is it that I'm afraid to take this risk? But something in us says, I really want to.

I think about going to the amusement park. When I, when I was real young, I would start out with the Scooby-Doo roller coaster. I think the very first roller coaster I rode was Scooby-Doo and Kings Dominion. Yeah, the Scooby-Doo. And I'd work my way, and it was so scary, you know, and then you conquer that.

And you're like, wow, yeah. And you get to tell everybody, you're like five years old. You're like, ah, I rode Scooby-Doo. When I rode it, I rode it again, like at 13, I was still scared. I was like, whoa, this is a lot rougher than I thought it was.

But, but you have, you, you do that and you work your way up all the way to, to the big one. You know, you like, like the big one. And, and there's been times I've been at the park and I don't know if you guys have done that. And you chicken out, you know, you're like, gosh, I just can't do it. I can't do it.

That, look at that drop. Look at that, look at that loop. And you say, I'm done. I can't do it. I can't do it.

You leave the park, you get home and you start thinking about it. Why didn't I ride that? Why did I do that? I really, now I'm like, oh, I can't believe I didn't ride that ride. And in fact, we were at Universal Studios a couple of years ago and we had ridden a lot of roller coasters and stuff.

And it was the end of the night and I was tired and I didn't feel well. And Miranda and our friend Peter says, we're going to ride the Incredible Hulk. And I was like, I looked at it and I was like, you know, that thing's like shooting out of the cannon. And, and I was like, I really want to ride it, but I'm scared. It's the end of the day.

My stomach hurts a little bit. I don't know if I can handle this. And, and even, even now I think about it. Man, I wish I rode the Incredible Hulk, you know, like, because there was a risk there, and we all have this innate desire to want to take risk, whether it, that's why we're competitive with sports. Yeah, it's a great ride.

See, she's making me feel worse about it. We're going back. I'm not going to ride it. And that, that's why people gamble and do all these things, because we're risk takers, you know, and real heroes take risks for God. That's right.

Like, God calls us to do something, and, and, Lord knows we're going to have to take some risks, church. We're, we're ready to, to move on, to move to greater things. God's calling us to bigger things, and we're gonna have to take some risks. We're gonna have to, we're gonna have to take some financial risks. We're gonna have to make some locational risks.

We're gonna have to take some leadership risks. We're gonna have to do a lot of things. And God's calling us to do that. And we can't be afraid of failure. The reason people don't take risks is because they're comfortable and afraid.

They're comfortable with where they are. I like where I am. I like the things around me. I don't want to leave my seat here. I like the theater.

There's nice seats and stuff like that. And I just want us to stay right here because I feel comfortable. But then it gets boring when you're comfortable after a while because God wants us to take risks. He's calling us or scared of criticism or whatever it might be. But the biggest thing or reason that we don't take risks is because we're afraid of failure.

We fear failure because, you know, nobody wants to fail. Here again, criticism, pleasing people, all those things, right? But failing is good if we see it from the right perspective. Failing is a good thing. We learn from failure.

Good people fail all the time. If you fail, it's worse to not do anything than to do it and fail, okay? In fact, a loser isn't someone who takes a risk and fails. A loser is who doesn't take the risk at all. Like, you need to take risk.

You need to step out. And if it's done with love for God and his kingdom, it isn't a failure. It's never a failure in God's eyes. We've made extreme failures in this church. We've tried events that nobody showed up to.

We've done things that we've gone to places and schools, and we're like, we can't do anything here, you know? We just tried all kinds of things. Especially during the pandemic, we had to bounce around a lot. We were trying everything we could. And some of them were wins and some of them were losses.

There's just failure. Life is full of failure. But if we don't take the risk, we'll never know. If God's calling us to take risks, we're going to have to take risks. If the kingdom of God really matters, we've got to take risks that are beyond us.

We cannot be afraid. There's hundreds of thousands of people in Hampton Roads that do not know Jesus. And I say those numbers again. Hundreds of thousands of people that do not know Jesus. We have an opportunity to reach more people, and we're going to have to take some risks.

We're going to have to do some things that are... A little uncomfortable. We're going to have to do some things that are out and beyond of what we normally think of, even as church. What do we do to reach these people that are far from God? Isn't that why we're here?

To take risks for people. That's what heroes do. Risk equals faith, right? When you take a risk, you're trusting God, you have faith in God. And Paul would have been considered a failure.

Here's what he says in 2 Corinthians 11. I use the Living Bible paraphrase because, frankly, I like how they lay it out here. It says, I've worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again and again. Okay? Five times, or five different times, I was given 39 lashes.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned with rocks. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I drifted in an open sea all night, and the whole next day, wow. I've traveled many weary miles.

I've often been in danger from flood rivers, from robbers, and from my own people, as well as from others. I face grave dangers from mobs in cities, and from death in the deserts, and in stormy seas, and from men who claim to be brothers in Christ, but are not. Meaning he was used and manipulated himself. I feel so used. I've lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights.

Often I have been hungry. Whoops. Lost my place here. Don't you just love technology? Look to the left.

I've traveled many weary... Yeah, I know, I know. I like my iPad. There we go. I hit the wrong button there.

I've lived in weariness and pain and sleepless nights. Often I have been hungry and thirsty. I have gone without food and often have shivered with cold without enough clothing to keep me warm. Looks like a failure, right? So many risks, so many painful things that happen in life.

It just feels like failure. But what motivated Paul to continue? What motivated him? Here's what he says. Why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work?

I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I'd do this if I wasn't convinced of your resurrection and mine, as guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic? See, that's what distinguishes true heroes from just celebrities, right? Do you think I was just doing it to be heroic?

Not on your life. It's the resurrection that undergirds what I do and say and the way I live. That's right. That's right. That's right.

He kept his eyes. The secret was he kept his eyes on the... On the prize, which was Jesus Christ, and not on the situation. That's what kept him going. It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that promise.

And he gives us that promise. And here's what he says in verse 32, he says, If we will never live again after we die, then we might as well go and have ourselves a good time. Let us eat, drink, and be merry. What's the difference? There's no resurrection.

Why are we even here, people? Why are we even listening to this teaching? Why are we looking at the Bible? What does that matter? That's what he's saying here.

What difference would it make? For tomorrow we die, and that ends everything. So, he ends with this. Don't be fooled by those who say such things. Don't be fooled.

Don't be fooled. Men, don't be fooled. Don't be fooled that this is life. Don't be fooled that this is just it. Don't be fooled and go and live and act and do the things that the world shows you is available for you just because you think it's the thing.

That's it. Don't be fooled by that. There is greater purpose. You are not meant to be that. That's why so many men.

There is a lot of bored Christian men. A lot of bored Christian men. Why? Because they're not taking risks. They're not living sacrificially.

They're not standing alone. We are called for so much more. Like the Christian life, oh, it's boring. No, I can tell you, if you jump into this, it ain't boring. Okay?

It's a roller coaster ride and it's crazy. And it's good. And it's exciting. And that's what we were meant to do and meant to be because that's why we were designed the way we were. Because we are meant to do that.

So if you want to live a bored life, live the way of the world. If you want to live an exciting, energized, Holy Spirit-filled life, following God, everything's there for you. Life and life abundantly is available for you. But it doesn't look like abundantly to the world. It looks different.

And that's why we're called to be different. So, dads, I ask you, are you modeling these things? Don't make the mistake of just living comfortable. Just risk it. Once you risk it, what could it hurt?

I promise you, because God promises it, it will be life-giving for you. And I close by this statement in Mark. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. Amen. You will lose it.

But if you give up your life for the sake, and for the sake of the good news, for my sake and the sake of the good news, you will find true life. True life. So, I'm ready to see some fathers and some men in general, future fathers and men in general, just step up and be the godly men that God has called them to be. there are a lot of tiny DIDs, and no one is ever going to be about this God of locating the doctrine of the doctrine of the doctrine of the law. And we're going to be successful.

I just think that if that, if that switches, if that happens, if we can flip the script a bit here, I think, I think God can do the impossible, God can do the impossible anyway, but he's asking us to align with him, and we can watch the impossible happen, because the Bible shows us that your reward in heaven is determined by how much you stand alone, you sacrifice, and you take risks for God, amen? That's our reward, it's heaven. Our reward is Jesus. Don't make that mistake of turning your soul to the world. Turn it to Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, who endured the cross and sits at the right hand of the Father.

That's what kept him focused. And we are to join him there. Amen. Amen. Amen.

This life isn't it, okay? It's far greater things. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for your word. Thank you, God, that you have called us to greater things. So help us step into those greater things, because it's just like the parable of the talents. You gave one ten, you gave one ten, you gave one five, you gave another one, one bag of gold. You said, go and invest it.

They went and invested, they brought master back, double except for the last one that had one, because he was afraid. And the master said, why did you do that, you wicked person? And then he took the thousand and the talent and gave it to the other two. Because you say, whoever sacrifices, home, family, fields, whatever, because of me, will get it back a hundred times over. A hundred times over, Lord.

And eternal life. So God, convict us, Lord, today. You've given us stuff. You've given us one talent. You've given us five talents.

You've given us ten talents, whatever they might be. Let us not waste them. Let us not throw them away. Let us use them so that you can bless them and multiply them and use them for your kingdom, Lord. Convict us.

Let us see. Motivate us. Give us a hunger in our hearts, Lord, for more of heavenly things and not earthly things. Change us, Lord. Make us more like you.

We want more of you, God, not more of what the world. The world has failed us over and over again, and we're all living testimonies of that. But today, we put our hearts and trust fully on you. Take it all, Lord. Take it all.

Use me. Make me feel used. For your kingdom's purpose. So I pray over everybody here today that they would just receive that. They would just receive the power of the word.

But not only that, they would receive the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that's so integrated in the scripture today. So with all heads bowed and all his clothes, if there's somebody here that wants to know Jesus today, that you're ready to submit it and commit and make him fully yours, not partly yours, fully yours, everything, everything in my life. You say, it's all yours, God. It's all yours, God. Would you raise your hand and say, I'm in.

I'm ready. I'm ready to make a decision. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Just pray. Pray this with me. Pray this with me. Father, I give my life to you today. Take it all.

My time, my treasure, my talent, my family, my everything I have. I give it to you today. I submit it to you today. I no longer walk my own way. I walk your way.

I align with you today. Come into my heart. Come into my life. Forgive me of my sin. Make me yours.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's move here. Come into your heart.