Become a Man Who Has Something to Give | Chris Harper

With a passion for biblical manhood and fatherhood, Dr. Chris Harper challenges men to find their true identity in Christ. The Apostle Paul said it. He said, "You were saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved." He's talking about on the cross you were saved. Jesus paid the penalty for your sin. He transferred to you His righteousness. He holds degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary and southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Chris and his wife, Ali, are raising four children in Arlington, Texas. He also loves to pick up basketball, a great cheeseburger, and will gladly explain why Jordan is better than LeBron. Casey MC, please welcome Dr. Chris Harper. [applause] Come on. What a word. I want it all. Dr. Dates mentioned Saul and David. You know what the difference between Saul and David was, Saul loved a parade. David loved the sheep. Saul loved a parade. David loved the sheep. I've known Pastor Tim Dunn now for five years, and I can testify he loves the sheep. He loves the sheep, and after having dinner with Dr. Charlie Dates, after hearing him talk about his congregation, and after hearing him talk about his community, I know he loves the sheep. [applause] And maybe the best part after two hours in the car with Dr. Perry. I am convinced you have always loved the sheep. [applause] We're going to get into it, man, if you're ready, say I'm ready. Listen, when we fail to remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it. I want to talk this morning about remembering. First Kings chapter two, verse one, first Kings chapter two, verse one. When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

"I'm about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses. That you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. That the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, "If your sons, if your sons pay close attention to the way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel." That says the word of God, amen? I want you to hear this morning that as men, as men who lead, leaders are life-giving men. And let me tell you what it means to be a life-giving man. It means you give what is alive in you. At the end of his life, David isn't merely handing Solomon rules. He is handing him a way of life. David could charge Solomon because David was living proof. "Be strong," he says, "show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his statutes, his commands, his rules, his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, why? So that you may prosper everywhere you turn. Brothers, we cannot pass on what we do not possess. There are too many men out here selling maps to mountains they never climbed. "Tell them to read when they don't read." "Tell them to walk with God while they're still standing still." This generation needs more than instruction, they need an example. Before you tell someone to be a godly man, become one. Before you train up a child in the way they should go, make sure you're going that way first.

The most powerful inheritance anyone can leave is a faith that has actually lived. So David tells his son, "Keep the charge of the Lord. Walk in his ways. Keep his statutes, his commands, his judgments, his testimonies, at his is written in the law of Moses." Why? So that you will prosper. Brothers, I want to prosper. Everywhere I go, I want to prosper. He says Solomon, follow God's word because it is a life-giving word. Brothers, we can leave our children money. Maybe we can leave them a little land. Maybe we might leave them a good reputation, but all of that will fade. The Word of God is eternal. The Word of God never fails. It never fades. It lives forever. It's like I tell my children. There are two things that are eternal. The Word of God and what you put on the internet. So be careful. Be careful, I want to share with you. And I've been in this story now for about six months. I've been processing this story because this story is so heavy on me. But I want to give you what the Lord has given me. I want to share one of the most tragic stories

in all of scripture. And it comes out of the book of judges. And it's a story about a man named Jephthah. Now the Bible says Jephthah is a Jewish man. His father is a Jew, but his mother is a whore. It's what the Bible says. So he grows up fighting because every boy got to defend his mama's honor. The Bible says he grows up as a fighter. In fact, he becomes a great fighter. So much so that he's causing trouble for Israel. So Israel takes him and sets him outside the camp. The Bible says that he goes to live in the mountains. Him and his merry band of fighters. Well, Israel has a problem, a problem called the Ammonites. And the Ammonites are like a thorn in their side. And they can't seem to shake the Ammonites. So the leaders of Israel get together. And they say, we need to find someone who can fight for us. And one of them says, well, what about Jephthah? You remember Jephthah? He's a fighter. Go get him and ask him to fight the Ammonites. So the Israel leaders go and find Jephthah. And they say, hey, we want you to fight the Ammonites on our behalf, Jephthah who not a dumb man says, OK, I'll do it on one condition when we win, you make me king. I'm the judge. So Israel gets together and says it. It's best to be led by one of our own, so why not?

And this is where our story picks up. Judges chapter 11, verse 29, the spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizba of Gilead. And from Mizba of Gilead, he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonite shall be the Lord's. I'll offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. And he struck them from Aor to the neighborhood of Meneth, 20 cities, and as far as able Kareem with a great blow, so the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. Then Jephthah came to his home in Mizba. and with dances, she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me, for I've opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." And she said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me what is gone out from your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies to Ammonites." So she said to her, "Father, let this one thing be done for me,

leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down the mountains and weep for my virginity, me and my companions." So he said, "Go." Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed. She and her companions and wept for her virginity on the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father who did with her according to the vow he had made. She'd never known a man, and it became custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadiah for days in the year. He did to her according to the vow he had made. He said, "God, listen, if you give me favor, if you give me favor, if you give me the wind, then when I get home, when that victory parade comes riding in front of my house, then whatever comes out of my house, God, will be yours." I'm assuming he had a lot of cats. [ Laughter ] Y'all must be cat people. So you go to Israel today and the houses are built up. The livestock lives on the bottom floor. I'm assuming he thought a ram or a goat or a sheep was going to come out. So the Lord gives him victory, and the parade, the victory parade gets to miss, but gets to the town. It gets in front of his house, and the doors open up, and he's watching, and he's looking, and here comes his daughter, and she's got a Sunday dress on, and the Bible says she's got tambourines, and she's singing, and she's dancing. Daddy, you did it. You won. You're the judge.

You're the king. Daddy, I'm so proud of you. And the Bible says he tears his clothes, and he gets down on his face, and he says, "Baby, girl, you have brought me so low." And she says, "What do you mean?" "Dad, you won." He says, "You don't understand, baby girl." Now, listen, I got one daughter. She can't even go to the neighbor's house without me watching out the window. He says, "Baby, girl, you don't understand." I told the Lord that if I won, then whatever comes out of my house is his, I have to offer up as a burn offering, and listen to her courage. She said, "Dad, do what you vowed to do. Just give me this one thing. Let me go up and down the mountains for a couple of weeks and weep from my virginity." Why? Because every little girl dreams of her wedding day. And she's not going to have one. And this is what the Bible says. So he said, "Go." And at the end of two months, she returned to her father who did with her according to the vow that he had made. I can tell you that in the Hebrew, let me tell you what it says in the Hebrew. He did what he said he would do. Now, I've watched preachers do some hermeneutic gymnastics around this. Try to preach away the fact that Jephth is going to set his daughter on fire. So as men of God today, we've got to come together as good Bereans. We've got to come together and we've got to reconcile this. I mean, how vindictive does God have to be to hold this man to his word? And how stupid was that vow?

But this is what I want you to see this morning. Jephth's daughter dies and she died. Not because her daddy made a stupid vow even though he did. Not because God is vindictive because God ain't. Jephth's daughter dies because her father does not know the word of God because he doesn't have anything to pass on. Remember, Jephth is a Jew. And if he would have had the books memorized, he would have known Leviticus chapter 27. And you say, well, Pastor Chris, what does Leviticus chapter 27 say? Well, let me tell you, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, if anyone makes a special vow concerning a person. Let me translate that for you, if anybody makes a stupid vow. Then the valuation of the male from 20 years old to 60 shall be 50 shekels. If the person is female, the valuation shall be 30 shekels. Watch this. If the person is from five years old up to 20 years old, this would have been Jeptha's daughter. The valuation for the male shall be 20 shekels and for the female shall be 10 shekels. 10 shekels is $3. All he has to do is give the priest $3 and the vow is canceled. But he doesn't know the word of God. He doesn't have life to pass on. And when you don't know the life-giving word, it's just death and destruction. He didn't know this book. My neighbor is a firefighter. He came over to my house and he brought a drone. My house backs up to a park and he's out flying the drone and my kid said, dad, this is awesome. We should get a drone. I said, you know what? We should get a drone.

So I go by drone, not like a big CIA drone but like a medium-sized drone. I put the drone on the charger, I tell my kids, hey, when I come home, it's drone day. You're going to have a celebration so I get home and they meet me at the door and they're like, daddy, it's drone day. I'm like, absolutely it's drone day. And I get the drone off the charger and I'm going out the back door and my wife in her infinite wisdom says, babe, are you not going to read the instructions? And this is, let me tell you how my mind works. This is what I said out loud. I said, babe, I drive a pickup truck. I can fly a drone. As if somehow those things correlate. So I get to the park and I'm out at the park and I get the drone fired up and it's like hovering 10 feet and I look at my kids to the right, I'm like, guys, are y'all ready and they're like, yes, dad, you're amazing. I said, I am amazing. Guys, I can look at my kids over here, I said, are y'all ready? Yes, daddy. You're the best dad in the world. Yes, I am. We take off. It is 45 seconds of chaos. There's true story. There's a dude pushing a stroller, I clip him, he dives into the bushes. I think that if I can just run after the drone, somehow I can control it better. So I take off, I smoke my three-year-old, he's crying. The drone hits a house and it disappears over I-20. My 12-year-old son bless his heart. He looks at me, he says, dad, was that expensive? I said, yeah, yeah it was.

I love him. He said, you think they'll send us another one? I said, no, get in the truck, we'll find this drone. We still to this day have not found that drone. I had the instructions. Not only did they even send QR codes with videos I could watch. I had everything I needed to be successful, everything I needed to be a life-given man, but I failed to read the instructions. Y'all have, we have everything we need. We have everything we need. God has given us the instructions that make us life-giving men. Brothers, we cannot pass on what we don't possess. We have to know the Word of God. I mean, how embarrassed are you going to be when you get to heaven and meet Obadiah? And Obadiah says, what a big dog, what did you think about my book? And you said, you wrote a book? Yeah, man, what's your favorite part? And then you got a lie. You can't do that. Or when you meet Habakkuk. I can't wait to get there and meet my heroes. I can't wait to get there, and I'm gonna get to heaven like I belong. I know the people. I know the stories. I can't wait to have tea with Esther and say, "Girl, if I perish, I perish. "You're crazy, girl. "I can't wait." I got to know this word.

To know this word, to know what did David tell Solomon, to know the statutes, to know the laws, to know the precepts. You will prosper wherever you go. You will be a life-giving man. Most of us, brothers, I love you. Most of us, we don't have any life to give. We don't know the word of God. Most professing Christians have never read this book, cover to cover. It takes the average reader 70 hours to read this book, cover to cover. 15 minutes a day is 90 hours a year. You could read this book 1.3 times every year, and we don't. In fact, my friends at the state of the Bible, every year they produce a report of who reads the Bible in North America. And for the last 20 years, the person that reads the Bible the most is the 70-year-old African-American woman in the South. She's the real MVP. You got a Bible jeopardy question, call her. Let me tell you who reads it, the least 18 to 40-year-old men in the Northeast, and then all of us are somewhere in between. But as we have to know this word, it's like Spurgeon said, a Bible falling apart belongs to a man who ain't. That's the Texas version. We got to know this word.

I want, if you cut me open, I want to bleed scripture. I'm gonna give you a quick framework. It's what I call Bible schizophrenia. It's a terrible name. I don't care, I like it. (congregation laughing) Bible schizophrenia, every time, this is gonna help you be a life-giving man. Every time I sit down with this word, I read it as if I'm three different people. Every time, every day, when I got into the word this morning, I read it as if I'm three different people. First, I read this book as if I'm a son because I am. Because my father has written me a book. Now, not everything in this book is about me, but make no mistake, everything in this book is for me. My God has wrote me a book. So every day I get to sit with this book, I get to open it and I get to say, "Father, teach me something, show me something." Some of you, you only get that information second and third hand. You only get this book through preaching or through podcasts. Let me tell you what that's like. That's like your lover writing you a love letter every day and then you fall in love with the male man. And he ain't even cute. You don't have to love the male man. You get to love the one that wrote the letter. So I sit down with the one who wrote it

and say, "Teach me." And this is where I do inductive Bible study. What's that? I just ask questions and I have the Holy Spirit answer them. I ask five questions, every time I read scripture, five questions, this is simple, y'all. What did that just say about God? It says, "God is good." So I write down the amen, "God is good." Next question I ask is, "What did it say about me?" Well, it says, "I ain't good." Okay, I hear that, I ain't good. I'll write it down. I ask, "Is God teaching me a principle?" Like, what did he mean when he said, "Don't build bigger barns." This is a principle I need to know something about. So I'll highlight it or I'll write that down and I'll ask my pastor or I'll go seek out the answer, but is there a principle God showing me? Watch this, is there a promise God is making? Pastor dates, Dr. Date said, "I want it all. "I want every promise in this book." Do you know theologians say there's more than 600 promises in this book? I wanna know every one of them. All these, yeah, who preaches online, talking about I need a new revelation. Why do I need a new revelation when you don't even know the old revelation?

No, I want to know every promise in this book. [BLANK_AUDIO] MacArthur Boulevard at Starbark. I'm convinced Oklahoma City is where dreams go to die. I was at the end, y'all. And all of a sudden, it was like a wind had come over me and I heard Chris, I closed the lilies of the field, I feed the birds of the air. How much more will I do for those that I love? Whew, what's a promise? And somewhere along the way, I held on to that promise. And when I needed, he gave it. Is there a principle, is there a promise? The last question I asked, man, is there a sin I need to avoid? Is there a sin I need to confess? Is there a sin I need to repent of? Listen, I can't spend very long in this book without coming under some sort of conviction. If you can read the Bible more than 30 minutes and not be convicted, you and I don't read the same Bible. So I asked, Lord, are you revealing something in me that I need to repent of, that I need to confess, that I need to watch out for? Inductive Bible study, so I read it, I read it like a brother, a son. Secondly, I read it like a brother. What do I mean by that? I'm always reading the Bible in the community of other men. Why?

Because I believe Aaron truly does sharpen iron. I believe if I'm reading this word with Dr. Dates, the Holy Spirit will show him something he don't show me and he'll show me something he don't show him. And when we get together, we sharpen one another. So I'm always looking for brothers to read this word with. I've been reading this Bible with men for years now. We will read a verse together every day or a passage together every day and we'll talk about it. We'll use the Bible app and what is the Lord revealing to you and what is the Lord showing you? And brothers, every one of you should be doing this. I mean, you'll go golfing together. You'll play fantasy football together. Why wouldn't you read the Bible together? Every man, if you don't get anything else from this message right here, leave here today, looking for someone that's gonna read this word with you. Someone that will sharpen you. Go to your church and say, hey, I need somebody to read this word with me. And if you can't find anyone in your church to read the Bible with you, go find another church. I'm not just reading it as a son. I'm reading it as a brother in community with other brothers because I wanna grow. I wanna be challenged. I wanna be stretched. I want to listen in here and see what other people listen in here and see and I'm not talking about people

that just look and talk like me, people that are different. People that can open my mind and broaden my horizons and teach me things I didn't know. I'm gonna read it like a brother. Lastly, lastly, every time I open this word, I read it like a father. What does that mean? It means I'm just looking for one truth to deposit that day that I can pass on to someone else. God, I'm a husband to Ali. I'm a father to Scarlet and Malachi and Calvin and Oliver. I'm a brother to Tim. God, give me something today I can pass on to someone in need. Give me an encouragement for my wife today. Give me the correction I need today for my children. Give me the affirmation. Give me the rebuke, whatever it is today, God, give me something that I can deposit. This is why Paul told Timothy to guard your good deposit that every day you should be depositing the truth of God's word because at some point your wife, your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers, they're going to need to make a withdrawal and you don't want it to say insufficient funds. (congregation applauding) But my fear is, my fear is, man, in your life and even in my life there are days my wife needs to make a withdrawal, my children need to make a withdrawal, my coworkers need to make a withdrawal and there's not much there.

So I want to deposit this word so that I have something to give. And here is how good and sovereign our God is. There are so many times that I will give someone a truth from God's word and they will say, man, that's exactly what I need it today. things not so that you can just store up the treasure of His Word. He is giving you the treasure of His Word so that you can write checks, so that you can make deposits, so that you can put it into the minds, into the hearts of others. One of my favorite conversations came from a man in Mississippi. He said, "Dr. Harper, I did your study on courageously following God's Word." And he said, "I didn't speak the Word enough over my family." He said, "I got convicted. I didn't pray the Word enough over my family." He said, "So we were on a road trip." And I leaned over and I turned off the radio and I told my kids to put down the iPads. He said, "For four minutes, I just began speaking the Word over my car. I began praying the Psalms over my family." He said, "After four minutes, my wife leaned over, turned the radio back on. The iPads went straight back up. I felt like a dummy." He said, "I felt like an idiot." Until a week later, he said, "I was picking my oldest son up from basketball practice." And he got into the cab of my truck and he leaned over and he turned off the radio and he said, "Dad, could you speak some more of those words over me? Could you tell me some more of those words? If we get a generation of men just speaking life-giving words over their families, we win. We win. We can't pass on what we don't possess. Jeptha's daughter dies, not because her dad made a stupid vow, not because God's vindicted. She died because her daddy didn't know the Word of God." David looks at Solomon and says, "Follow the Word. Keep the Word, but let me, let me finish it and take my seat." Let me tell you, that's not even the best reason. Do you know why I read this word? It's so I can remember who Jesus is. Number one command in Scripture is fear not. Number two is remember. Why? Because we are prone to forget. Most of y'all forgot to take out the trash on Thursday. Some of y'all just said, "Bro, it was Thursday." No, no, no. I read this book because God is calling me to remember His faithfulness, to remember His goodness, to remember His mercy, to remember what His Son, King Jesus, did for me. So every day I get to get into this Word and I get to be reminded

of His faithfulness, reminded of His love, reminded of His mercy. I read this word because I want to remember because the Him is right and true, Lord, here's my heart taking seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Why? Because I'm prone to forget. I'm prone to wonder. No, I need the reminder. So I just want to ask you this morning, do you remember? Do you remember Jesus? Do you remember that more than 2,000 years ago there was a man born contrary to the laws of life? That this man lived in poverty. He was reared in obscurity. He never owned a home. Never wrote a book. He wasn't a venture capitalist. He wasn't a CEO. No corner office. He didn't have an Instagram following. He never really had a family of his own, no wife, no kids. He never went to college. He never traveled to the big cities. In fact, he never went more than 200 miles away from the place he was born. Do you remember? Do you know that he never did things that usually accompany greatness. His resume was simply his name. While he was young, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One friend betrayed him. His best friend denied him. [BLANK_AUDIO] He went through a mockery of a trial, and then he was nailed on a cross between two thieves. Do you remember? Do you remember that while he was dying, his killers threw dice for the only thing he owned, which was his coat? And then when he died and made no mistake, he died. He was laid in a borrowed grave thanks to the pity of a friend. Do you remember? Oh, but don't you remember that in infancy, my man startled a king. In childhood, he puzzled doctors. In manhood, he ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the water as if it was pavement and he hushed the sea to sleep. Though he didn't travel,

his name can be found in every city, every state, every nation right here in Raytown, Missouri. He healed the multitudes without medicine and never once charged for his service. You can have Medicaid. He never wrote a book yet all the libraries in the world can't hold the books that have been written about him. He never wrote a song yet he's furnished a melody for more songs than all song writers combined. He never went to college with all the schools put together, cannot boast of having as many students. He never gathered an army, drafted a soldier, a fire to gun, and yet every day, more and more of his enemies are brought under his good and Kingly rule. He never practiced psychiatry, yet he has healed more broken hearts than all doctors near and far. Today, every week, millions gathered to sing and praise his name. The names of past great men, men of Greece and Rome, have come and gone. The names of past scientists, philosophers, and generals and theologians have come and gone, but the name of this man abounds more and more. Time has passed. 2,000 years, the scene of his crucifixion, and today Herod could not stop him, the grave could not hold him. He stands forth, the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory,

proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by demons. He is the living personal Christ and no King like my King. (congregation applauding) And listen, listen, he loves you. He loves you, and he's for you. Oh, and he wants you to know him. If all I do with the rest of my life is getting to know him, it will be a life well lived. Because it will be a life giving life to know King Jesus, Father God. Help us know you. Oh, help us know you. My brother just said he wants to know you, God. Oh, if there's anyone under the sound of my voice, God that doesn't know you, today would be the day, God. Oh, that your spirit would be so heavy, God, they wouldn't be able to walk out of this place without you know, oh, God, that they would know you. And God, there's many men in here that need to be reminded, God. We need to remember, God. Remember your faithfulness, remember your goodness. Remember the treasure you've given us to pass on. To others, so God, I pray. Oh, I pray that you would help us remember, and we pray that Jesus in your mighty name in the men of God said, hey, man, hey, man. (audience applauding)