A Life That Outlives You

Well, good morning, Evangel, you may be seated. Wow, this is always one of my greatest honors. I love this church. Every time I walk in, it's filled with love and honor, and it's just a special place. And when I say that this is one of my favorite places, that's not just something that, flip it, that I'm saying. But truly, when I get the call from Josh to come, I do the little happy dance, and I'm just so excited to come back and be with all of you. Pastor Josh and Janae are some of the greatest young leaders in our nation. I say that to so many people when their name comes up. And when I think about them, I see them. They are leaders. They are visionaries, strategic thinkers. What I love so much about them, they set the example for us, not only in leadership, but also in their marriage, in their home life, with their children. And so, would you give them a big, big hand this morning, and let them know how much you love them? They are just special people, and the greatest thing that I can say about them is that I'm honored to call them friends. Just great, great friends. Well, this morning we only have a few moments together, and I want to jump into this. I've entitled this message, A Life That Outlives You. And whenever I present the Word of God, I don't want just to bring a message, but I want to be very mindful of where I am, and what I feel like the Holy Spirit is wanting to do. And this is my heartbeat this morning, is that you spend the time getting up, the energy of getting here. I want you to receive something this morning that you'll never, ever forget in your life. I want something so deep to happen in your spirit that it changes you. I have been in environments at different times of where I was changed forever by something

I heard, by something that I experienced. And so, that's my prayer before I have walked into this place, is that every one of us will walk out better people than what we did as we walked in. This morning, I want to share just a little bit about my own personal life story. I grew up in West Texas. My father was a blue-collar worker. My mother worked in a little small motel working the front desk. We lived in a little two-bedroom house. It was 800 square feet—mom and dad and three little boys. When I was in the second grade, we moved to another house. It was a three-bedroom house, and I remember walking into that house for the first time thinking I walked into a mansion. I could not believe how big the house was. You know, for the first few nights that I slept in that house, I couldn't sleep at all, because I was so worried that people would view us as being wealthy, and at night they would come and break in and steal all that we had. When I graduated from high school, the nicest restaurant that I had ever eaten at was Fur's Cafeteria. And when we ate there, it was a big, big event. You know, growing up, I never knew, I never realized that we were a lower-income family. And I want to remind you that you don't have to be a wealthy person, a perfect person, a perfect parent. You just have to be someone that is willing to fight for yourself and fight for your family. You see, in our homes, we're not just having a mindset that we're raising kids. The mindset is, in our homes, we're raising champions for God. It was back in the 1960s that Floyd Patterson was a two-time heavyweight boxing champion. One of his greatest fights was up against Muhammad Ali. But his greatest moment wasn't in the ring, but it was in his home, because he had a young son whose name was Tracy. Tracy was in middle school at the time, but Tracy was having a hard time at school.

Everyone knew who his father was, that he was a big-time boxing champion, and he was being bullied at school every day, kids pushing him, shoving him, saying, are you a fighter like your dad? Are you tough like your dad? I'm not afraid to fight you. And constantly, that was happening. One day, Tracy came home with a severe black eye. When his dad looked at him, he said, as he nodded, today it starts. He started meeting with his son in the garage every day after school, and they were training, working out with weights. They were working on footwork, jabs, uppercuts. But not only that, but his father poured a tremendous amount of time into him about discipline, character, respect, and honor. And Tracy grew into a young man that was an amazing, godly man. But he also followed his father's footsteps, and he, too, became a world champion boxer. Floyd Patterson, the dad, said, I did not raise a fighter in the gym, but I raised a fighter in the home. That's the same spirit that we find in the life of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. And Nehemiah lived 70 years after Babylon had invaded Jerusalem. When they went into Jerusalem, they burned the city. They tore down every building in the city. And before they left, they tore down all of the outer walls, declaring that Jerusalem will never stand again. Now 70 years later, Nehemiah is a descendant of the Jews. He is living in Babylon, and he is a slave to the king. He's working for the king. Through this crazy set of circumstances, the king ends up giving him permission to go back to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah goes back, and this is the first time that he has seen Jerusalem. And he sees all of the rubble and all of the destruction, but he also knows there's

a remnant of Jewish people that are still living among the rubble, living in severe poverty. And he gathers all of them, and when he gets them together, he then casts this compelling vision about rebuilding the walls, and one day rebuilding the city. But the people were afraid, because they knew the moment they started building, the enemy would come and destroy them all. And then Nehemiah stands up in front of them, in Nehemiah 4 and verse 14, and he says this, don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. It was like a battle cry when he stood in front of them, and he was saying, don't be afraid, but fight with everything that you have. Fight for your sons, fight for your daughters, fight for your wives, fight for your homes, because what Nehemiah knew, that they weren't just building walls, but they were building a legacy that would last for generations. And my question for you this morning, what is the legacy in which you are building and what you will leave behind? There are three things that I want to share with you today, three things that I learned from my parents. The first thing, number one, I learned that they fought for consistency. My dad was a laborer. He spent his time every day at work climbing ladders, working on rooftops, working in back alleys, and he would come home dirty, dusty, and tired every day. My dad was one of the most consistent men I've ever met in my life. He came home every day at 520, not 519, not 521, but I mean he pulled into the driveway at 520. And so often, I would be sitting on the porch waiting for him to get home with two baseball gloves and a baseball, and when he pulled in, I went running to the car wanting to play catch. As consistent as my dad was in coming home at the exact same time, he was just that consistent

in his mood and his behavior. I never remember a time running to the car, and he turned me down from playing catch with him, no matter how tired he was. Never one time do I remember him getting out of the car as he pulled into the driveway, and he was angry and mad. Never one time do I ever remember him walking into the house and yelling at us, or yelling at our mother. But what I do remember is when he pulled into the driveway, and I went running to the car, and when he saw me, there was a big smile on his face, and I knew he was glad to see me, and therefore, I was glad to see him. When I turned 16, I started feeling that independent spirit rising up, wanting to be my own man, do my own thing, and I didn't always agree with their rules. And there were times that I said things I wish I had not said. And there were things that I did at 16 that I wish I would have never done. But I remember so often sitting across the room from my father, seeing him at a distance, looking at him and thinking, one day, I want to be just like him, and that's the power of consistency. Nehemiah was also a man of consistency. He started building the wall. The enemies, they came, and they mocked him. They laughed at him. They made fun of him, saying, you will never rebuild anything with this group of people. The enemies stood by, and they watched day after day as the walls literally started rising, and they realized they're really going to build the wall. And they knew the only way to stop this was to stop the leader. They had to stop Nehemiah. The Bible says that four different times they came to Nehemiah, and when they found him, he was high up on a ladder, and he was working on that wall. And they said the very same thing to him every time they came. They called to him, and they said, Nehemiah, come down off that ladder.

Come down and spend some time with us. Let's go have coffee together. Nehemiah, come down and go to our village, and let's have a meal together. We just want to get to know you." But Nehemiah knew what they wanted. They wanted to distract him from his work, and they knew the intent was to destroy him. And all four times, Nehemiah had the same response, and I love his response. Nehemiah 6.3, he says, I am carrying on a great work, and I cannot come down. In other words, he's looking down and saying, I've got a calling, I've got a dream, I've got a purpose, I've got a reason for being on this ladder, and I'm not coming down until the work is complete. And moms and dads, I want to tell you today, stay on that ladder. Whatever you do, you have a calling, a purpose, a dream that God has given to you. Stay on that ladder and be consistent. Keep praying with your kids. Keep having family meals. Keep showing up at their games and their activities. And you stay consistent in your own personal walk with Christ. Stay on the ladder until your work is done. You see, we mold and we shape our children far more than by what we say. When I grew up, we had several family routines that I still remember and so fond of today. Every Saturday night, our Saturday night routine looked like this. We would have dinner together, and then we would move from the dinner table into the living room. We'd all gather around on the floor to watch TV, and the most popular show on TV at that time was a Western, and it was called Gunsmoke. And that was the highlight of the week. We all gathered around the TV, and every Saturday my mom always made two pies, and she came and served us dessert, and we watched the show together. And I still have such great memories, those warm feelings of what that was like.

Later that evening, my dad always did the same thing before bedtime. He would walk to the dining room table, and he would take his checkbook, write out a check, tear it out, and place it inside his Bible, and leave the Bible on the table. The next morning, as we were going to church, he would take the Bible, and we would go to church. And then, during church, the offering plate would come by. My dad would open up his Bible, take out the check, place it in the offering plate. And I watched that scene hundreds and hundreds of times. When I was 12 years of age, I got my first job, and my job was being a paper boy delivering papers. Once a month, I had to go door-to-door and collect the fee. And back then, everyone paid in cash. Everybody paid in $1 bills. And so, on my way home on my bicycle, I carried with me a money pouch that had 200 $1 bills in it. I would always go into my bedroom, and then take all those $1 bills out, and I would lay them on my bed side-by-side, row-by-row. And my whole bed was filled with money, and it looked like I was an absolute millionaire. Then immediately, I would take out 50% of it and set it over here and say, that goes back to the newspaper company. Then I would take out 10%, and I would move it over here and say, and that's God's money. And then I would look at all the rest of the money on the bed and say, and that's all my money to do whatever I want to do with it. You know the strange thing about that? I never remember my parents ever teaching me about tithing. But I have been a tither, faithful tither, since I was 12 years of age. Never one time in my life have I ever tried to justify not paying tithe. I've never come to the place of where I need to buy a new car, I need to buy a house, we need to go on a family vacation, I just need to back off, I just don't have enough money. That has never been a part of my life because tithing is as much of my life as just naturally

breathing. And how is that? How is that possible? And here's the reason why. Because consistency is not just a habit, but consistency is an inheritance in which we pass down to our children. In other words, what I'm saying is what we do in our house every single day is building the future of our children and their children. You see, consistency is like building a house with bricks. You can take one individual brick and hold it up, and it seems so insignificant. I mean, what can one brick do? But you put one brick upon another brick upon another brick, and as you continue doing that day after day after day, you will raise up a fortress. When you think about the routines of your own life, the good routines, the moral routines, the godly routines, and you look at one day, and it looks like you're accomplishing nothing. But you take one day upon another day upon another day, and eventually you are raising up a fortress of leaders in your own home. The second thing that I learned from my parents, number two, they fought for godly wisdom. In Nehemiah 4, in verse 9, here it says, but we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. What we find here is that Nehemiah is praying day and night, consulting God, saying, God, I need you. I need your direction in everything that we do. Again, when I think back upon my parents, they were common people. My dad only had a high school education. No one would have said that he was an intellectual, that he was philosophical, but he carried a wisdom about him that could not be taught in the classroom. And let me show you the difference between knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. When you think about knowledge, knowledge is just information. Intelligence is the ability to process that information.

But wisdom is something very different. It's the ability to see from God's perspective. This is the reason why that James, in James 1.5 says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Now, he's not talking about something of human origin here. What James is talking about is something that is supernatural. He's talking about supernatural insight, where the Holy Spirit is whispering in your ear, in your spirit, and that you know things that you should not know. When you think about wisdom, wisdom, the godly wisdom, will flow into your marriage, your children, your home, your work, your finances. It's how you elevate every area of your life. You know, now, we hear people all the time talk about having a premonition. You know, I just had this bad feeling that something is about to take place. You know, a premonition, that's exactly what it is. It is just a feeling. It's having a hunch that something's going to happen. But wisdom is far from that, because wisdom is like turning on a spiritual GPS. Have you ever been in a large city, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and where you've never been on the roads that you're traveling on? You have no idea how to get to where you want to go, and you're in heavy traffic, boxed in on every side. Everyone's driving fast, and you're trying to make split-second decisions. You see up in front of you, excuse me, up in front of you, that the road splits in three different directions. And you're panicking, thinking, do I go left, straight, right? Where do I go? And the tension and the anxiety is mounting. Now, if your spouse is sitting in the car, and they, in an elevated voice, is telling you you're in the wrong lane, you're headed for the wrong exit, now the anxiety is really going through the roof.

But at that moment, if you just reach over and push and turn on the GPS, in front of you comes up a map. And there is a voice that begins to speak, saying, in the next 500 feet, take the exit. You take the exit. Then the voice says again, go to the stop sign and make a right. You go to the stop sign, and you make a right. And all of a sudden, there is a peace and a calmness that comes over you, because now you're being led to the destination of your desire. It's the working of the Holy Spirit. Solomon was the wisest and the richest man that has ever lived. And listen to what he says in Proverbs chapter 4. When he understands wisdom, he says, get wisdom. In verse 6, do not forsake wisdom. In verse 7, get wisdom, though it costs all you have. In verse 8, cherish wisdom. You know what he's saying? He is saying don't live one single day without the wisdom of God. Have wisdom every single day. It would be good for us to take a sticky note and write the word wisdom on that, and stick it on the mirror where we get ready. As you're brushing your teeth, combing your hair, putting on your makeup, that as you see that word wisdom, that you are praying God today, I'm going to operate in godly wisdom. Not earthly wisdom, not earthly decisions, but I am going to operate by you. Every day, this day, God, I want to make right decisions. I want to speak the right words, do the right actions, the right deeds. I want to be led in the next 24 hours making perfect decisions on everything that I do, and it will change the course of who we are. And Hebrews, in the Hebrew language, wisdom means... In other words, it means skillfully living out your life. Last week, your pastor, in the beginning of his message, did a masterful job in setting

up fasting and talking about fasting that starts this next Saturday. It would be a great thing to add wisdom into that prayer time of your fasting, and saying, God, that I want to operate and move, and I want to make every decision that I have led by you. And what your pastor was saying is that when you fast, you are positioning yourself to hear the voice of God, and that's desperately what we need. Thinking about skillfully, not accidentally, but skillfully, are we living our lives? I want you to listen to this. When we have wisdom operating in our life, it will keep you from pornography. It will keep you from having an affair. It will keep you from developing addictions. It will keep you from marrying the wrong person. It will protect you financially. It will keep you from being influenced by a worldview. It will protect you from making wrong decisions, and it will protect you from insecurity, because when you turn on the spiritual GPS, now you're skillfully living out your life. The third thing that I learned from my parents, number three, they forgot or they fought for family security. Here in Nehemiah chapter seven, starting with verse one, it says, and after the wall had been built, I had set the doors in place. And the gatekeepers, musicians, and the Levites were appointed. And I said to them, the gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. And while the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem. The guards, and some at their post, and some near their own homes. In other words, Nehemiah was highly intentional of what was going to enter the city of his gates. In the same way, we are gatekeepers of our homes. And when I think back upon my parents, now looking backward, now I see that they were literally gatekeepers of our home.

A few weeks ago, I sat down at a Starbucks thinking about this very thing, and I wrote down the things that I remember about my parents. And I want to read through these slowly, and maybe you want to take your phone and just take a picture of this, but this is what I found through them. They guarded what shows, movies, and music we watched or listened to. They watched closely who we spent time with. They guarded their own words, tone, and actions as an example for us to follow. They protected the atmosphere of our home by not allowing fighting, criticism, or name-calling. They brought God into our home through daily conversations, and they guarded us by setting boundaries. And that's what gatekeepers do. We are aware, and watchful, and protective, not allowing the enemy to invade our homes, barring the doors, and keeping it out. In 2 Samuel, there's an amazing story about a man whose name is Shammah. Shammah is one of David's mighty warriors. This man is a warrior. Israel was having a difficult time, because they were planting all of their crops. But at harvest time, the Philistines, their arch-enemies, would come at harvest time every year and raid all of their crops, taking all of it with them, leaving Israel with nothing. So now Shammah and two other warriors are standing in a bean patch declaring no one is going to take the harvest of this field. Well just as they expected, in a few moments, a large group of Philistines came running over the hill with war paint, and with this cry, this war cry that was terrifying, that sent a chill down their spines. Watching this great group of men rushing toward them, Shammah is ready to fight, and he pulls his sword. He puts his feet into the sand, grounds himself, and at that moment, he hears a sound behind him. He turns around, and the two men with him are... now running for their lives, and Shammah is all alone.

Whenever I read a story like this, I always like to read it slowly, and then I want to pause, close my eyes, and put myself into that scene, and then ask the question, if I had stood with Shammah that day, would I have fought with him, or would I have run for my life? My eyes closed, and as honest as I could possibly be, I said I would have run for my life. The reason why is because my life's worth more than a bean patch. I'm not dying over a handful of beans. I've got a wife, and I've got children. My life is valuable. I'm not dying for a little bean patch. But then the next question was, why was Shammah? Why was he willing to fight and possibly die? And the reason why is that he operated at a higher level of wisdom and insight, because what he knew that the other two men did not know, that the Philistines will come and take the bean patch today, but they will come to our village tomorrow, and the next day they will take our wives, and the next day they will take our children, and today it stops. Today I draw the line, and they will not take one more thing from us. And as he put his feet into the sand, standing all alone,

it said that the spirit of God came upon him, and he slew them all. You see, I want you to remember this. Small things really do matter. Small bean patch battles matter. What I mean by that is that in our daily activities, our daily routines, everything matters, because you have to fight to spend time with your kids. You have to fight to have family dinners, fight for consistency, fight for wisdom. One day, you will not be able to control the world that your kids walk into, but you can shape the home in which your kids will walk out of. And I'm asking, what kind of legacy are you leaving? Here's the Biblical concept that we find, is that every generation is to rise higher than the previous generation. That's the goal. My parents were amazing people. They raised three young boys. They were not ministers. They were just godly people, church-going people. They loved God, loved the church, and us three went into full-time ministry. In our lifetime, as wonderful as they were, we have gone so much higher and further than they could have ever possibly imagined in their life. Now it's our responsibility to raise children that they will go higher and further

than anything that we have ever thought possible or could imagine. And it goes from one generation to the next generation to the next generation, and there cannot be a weak link in the family chain. And what are we leaving behind? What is the foundation in which we are building? Bill Havens, back in 1924, loved the water, loved boating, loved rowing. He was on a rowing team, and he became such an expert at that, is that he was invited to go to the Olympics in Paris. It was a chance of a lifetime. I mean, he was so excited about going to the Olympics. He got the information, and he looked at the date, and the date was the exact time that his first child was to be born. And it didn't take him very long to make the decision. He said, I cannot be halfway around the world when my child is born. And he gave up his spot for the Olympics. Another man stepped in, and they traveled to Paris, and they did very well. In fact, they set a new world record, and all of them came back wearing gold medals around their neck. And Bill Havens never made it back to the Olympics. But he was there the day that his son was born, Frank. Years later, when his son was a teenager, you would find Bill and Frank every afternoon

out on the Potomac River, and they were out on a boat, and they were rowing, and working out, and they were training, and Frank became an expert rower. And now he was invited to the Olympics that would be held in Helsinki. Bill, the father, did not have enough money to travel with him, he had to stay at home. And he was on pins and needles the whole time that his son was gone. But Frank did well. Frank, while he was gone, set a new world record, and he won a gold medal. He sent a telegraph message back to his father, and this is how it read. Dear Dad, Dad, thanks for waiting for me to be born in 1924. I'm coming home with the gold medal that you should have won. I did it for you, Dad, your loving son, Frank. My question is, are you building a foundation so strong that those behind you are not just following you, but they are surpassing you? It was an early Sunday morning. It's during a time that we had five weekend services, and we had been working on trying to relocate. We needed a bigger building desperately, and we'd been working on this for seven long years, and it was nothing but problem after problem after problem and obstacles, and it felt like an eternity. All five services, standing room only, and on this Sunday morning, I was able to walk up on the stage and tell our congregation, we have purchased the land, and we're starting to build immediately. And the place erupted in applause.

I mean, it was like electricity that shot through that room. And as I look back, it's one of the greatest days of ministry in my life, because it was such a great day of victory. I remember after the fifth service, I walked down off the stage and went to the front row, and standing there for that last song, and I remember how tired I was after five services, and yet it was a good feeling. As I reached the front row, my personal assistant came to me and said, pastor, we need to see you in the hallway. And the look in her eye, I knew something was wrong. So we walked off, went out the side door into the hallway, where they informed me that my father had just died of a massive heart attack. I'd gone from the highest high to the lowest low in a matter of seconds. I went home and packed a suitcase and drove to Amarillo to meet my mom and other family members. I remember arriving that evening and walking into the house, and when I walked in, you literally could feel the absence of my father's presence in that home. A little later that evening, just walking through the house, I found myself in their bedroom. So many memories rushing through my mind, and I opened up the closet door. There all my dad's clothes are hanging on the rack, but my eyes are drawn to a cream-colored jacket. And the reason why is because that was what he was wearing the last time I saw him. I reached over and I took it off the hanger, and I put that jacket on, and when I turned around, I saw my reflection in the mirror, and immediately I could see my father's resemblance, my physical resemblance in me. Standing there, staring at myself in that jacket, I realized for the first time in my life the gift my father had really given to me. It was his legacy, but what he had really given me was a life well-lived. And what are we leaving? Those that are behind us.

And for every mom and for every dad that is here today, think about this. One day, your house will be quiet, the toys will be gone, the bedrooms will be empty, and you will so wish for one more bedtime story, one more conversation, one more car ride, one more play date at the park. And so while you still have it, stay on that ladder. Don't come down. You've got a calling, you've got a dream, you've got a purpose to change the nations through what you do in your home. I'd like to ask everyone to bow their heads for a moment. What I'm talking about today is the power of Christ and what He brings into our life, the benefit that He brings. Maybe you've walked into this building today, and maybe you're far away from God. Maybe you've drifted away. Maybe you've just never come to the place of saying, today I want to make a decision for Him to invite Him in as King and Lord and God of where I can hear His voice, be led by Him, by the Divine. life, the way you're living it, and you're ready for a God change. And this is your moment. And without any more delay, I'd like to ask how many of you right now, I'm not gonna ask you to come forward, I'm just gonna ask you to lift a hand, but how many of you would lift a hand and say, Pastor, pray for me this morning, because I want to know Christ. For all of you at the Dickinson campus today, as I'm asking for those to raise a hand, we see you, and we would love for you to raise a hand to receive Christ. In this room right now, and there also at your campus, hands are going up across this room, and I want you to know today is a special day. You can put your hands back down. Many many hands have gone up, and on this day, July the 26th, is a day you'll never forget, because it's not just an empty prayer, but it's a prayer from the heart of saying God, I invite you in as Lord, and God, and Savior. As I pray, you pray under your breath, and pray your own prayer, and invite Him in.

Jesus, I pray right now, Lord, for every person who has raised a hand, and Lord, that You're doing a miracle in their life. Father, I pray that today that You would just remove all of our past sins. Lord, that You would wipe everything clean and new. Lord, in the future, we realize that we will stumble and we will fall so many times, but You'll just keep picking us up, time after time after time, and we just keep moving forward. Father, thank You for this great work that You're doing. You're doing amazing work in the lives of hearts of people, and that our lives will never ever be the same again. Lord, I also pray for every person in this building, that Lord, that we all have the opportunity to lead those that are behind us. It doesn't matter if we're single, married, have kids, no kids, Lord, it just means that we have influence. God use us mightily. God, as we enter into this time of prayer and fasting, I pray, God, let this be one of the most life-changing experiences we've ever experienced. And we thank You for what You're doing this morning, and we love You with all of our hearts. And in Jesus' name we pray, and everyone said, Amen, Amen.