How Jesus Leads Differently | 1 Peter 5 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Jordan. I'm Danny. I'm Chris. This is totally an aside to the scripture of 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter to me is so encouraging. And here's why it's encouraging. Because Peter wrote it. Right. Right. Like, it means growth is possible. Like, I mean, it's this guy who we see is impulsive. And you know, he's saying things, he's blurting stuff out and getting called Satan. Obviously, he has a transformative experience. And here he is later life. I don't know if he's like, you know, how old he was. I have to do the research on how old he is. But he's got some wisdom. And he's got some perspective. And he's still walking with Jesus. And he's giving that away. And so it's just super encouraging to me to read 1 Peter. Because I think it's like, he's one of those characters, we get a unique arc, story arc of his life. Yeah. And he talks about, you know, Jesus is the chief shepherd, right? And he's giving advice to people who are leading the church and all of that. But Peter was a powerful mentor to the people he was writing to. He was an example of faith. And lots of people were encouraged by his example. So who's a person who played that role or plays that role in your life? And why has their leadership, mentorship, guidance been so meaningful to you? So someone really special to me, her name is Betty. I've met with her for years. And man, she just brought wisdom, truth, wisdom. I remember I was having some struggles with a relationship. And she was like, well, whatever God is trying to teach you, you better learn it fast. Because he's going to keep testing this. He's going to keep pushing you on this. And I mean, it's just so good to have somebody like that, who was ahead of me in life, had kind of a similar situation. She and her husband didn't have kids. Judd and I don't have kids. So she just had some really good wisdom and nuggets that she could share with me to kind of nurture me and bring me along. And I had stepped into a leadership role. And she was in a leadership role. And it was just great. It was great and so important, I thought, for me to humble myself and submit myself to somebody else's authority, and be able to learn from them and grow. It really taught me a ton. Yeah. Yeah, I think of a guy named Arnold. When I was 20 years old, I moved from North Carolina to California, bought a one-way ticket to go from the East Coast to the West Coast because Arnold took a chance on me as a youth ministry intern. Wow.

And... You said California and Arnold. I was wondering if it was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Me too. No. You could say Arnold Schwarzenegger. That would have been a much different experience. Much different experience. I thought the same thing. More than I want to pump you up. Oh, man. Shout out to Arnold. Shout out to Arnold Schwarzenegger. The reason I loved Arnold was that he was a man that was filled with faith. And I looked up to him because I wanted to do what he did. And instead of just telling me what to do, he just showed me how to do it. And I think that the best leaders and the best teachers, they don't just say, all right, this is how you do it. They show you how to do it. And Arnold was never telling me to do something that he wasn't doing. And I just remember being like, man, I want to be that type of leader that when there's people that are under me one day, I don't want to just bark orders. I want to actually bring them into my life and show them how to do the thing. And he modeled that really well. Yeah. I love that. I think of my young life leader, basically youth group leader from growing up, Vinny, that I was 14 and he was in college and had no reason to want to hang out with this kid who couldn't drive and had to pick me up every day, but like seriously pursued and invested me in a way that like changed my understanding of how God pursues me. Also like thinking that God at some point in my life was like, okay, he's this person that's like there. If I like come to him and ask questions to him and go to him, but like, he's just kind of like waiting for me. And I feel like Vinny changed my perspective a lot of like how God is a pursuer and is actively drawing near to me. And cause every day he's texting me like, well, let's go to Wendy's. Like, I think he must've spent like half his bank account just over like a couple of years stretch at Wendy's and so very close and still involved

in my life now, but like forever changed how I view God as a father, I would say. That's so good. That's so good. I'm really fortunate because one of the people who has been a long time mentor in my life is my actual brother. It's my oldest brother. And it reminds me what you said, Jordan, my brother was really good at not necessarily giving me advice, but getting me into situations that he knew I hadn't experienced before, and then helping me to process what I was learning in those experiences. you know, the way he would teach was by, hey, let's go on a journey, let's do this thing together. And that's still the way it is with him. And I'm just so thankful for that. And I think the thing that you make me think about all of you is, the people who've had the most spiritual impact in my life have had it over time. Like, there's something to be said for, and I have, I'm sure we all have great examples of, man, there was a message I heard and that really shifted something, I mean, that can happen. But it's that long-term relational connection, an intention over time to build into you or the person that I think is just so meaningful. And I think that's what, I think what Peter's getting at in the first, Peter is like, that's the kind of shepherd that Jesus is. So I want to ask you to go back through, and Betty, Arnold, and Vinny, and for me, my brother Skip, what aspect of Jesus do you see in how they mentor and guide at you? So Betty was like this because Jesus is that way. Arnold did this and it worked

because this is the way Jesus, does that make sense? Yeah, I think, when I think about Arnold, I just think about patience. I mean, I made so many stupid mistakes as a 20-year-old intern. And I can look back and laugh at a lot of them now, but also there were a few times where it was like, oh, that was like really a bozo-like thing to do. Again, we're talking about this idea of like being sheep. I was a wandering sheep and didn't know what I didn't know. And I know now, especially working with young people, man, it's so hard to be patient when people you're leading or in relationship with, they're not getting it, or they're not where you want them to be. And it feels like you're trying to teach and coach and something's not clicking. Like it's really hard to just to stay patient. And he was incredibly patient with me. And yeah, I want to be more patient. Amen, amen. And Jesus is that way. Jesus is patient with us. Yeah, patient with me, for sure. Betty toggled between truth and grace beautifully, masterfully. And like, sometimes I need truth, really like hard truth, because I'm hard-headed and sometimes it doesn't always come through.

And sometimes I need grace. And she just bounced between those in the right ways where it met me exactly where I was. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, I mean, again, I feel like Vinny was such a pursuer and I feel like God is that way too. And similar with Jordan, I feel like the grace aspect was so fresh to me too. Like I remember riding in his car one time with him when I was 14. And I was just like, Vinny, what would you do if I got a girl pregnant? And was like almost provoking him just to be like, oh, I'd beat the brakes off you. Or like, you know, like, and I'm just like teeing him up to like give a funny answer. And he just like sits there and he thinks, he goes, I'll tell you I love you and I'm with you. And I was like, what, like, that's not funny, that's not a funny answer. But it was just this profound moment where like, and I knew he was being real that like, I feel like just, I think clicked in me of like, okay, this is how, this is just a reflection of like how God views me too. And like, not that actions are without consequence and all these things, but it's like just God's presence not being like, okay, that was the last straw and now I'm out.

It's like, I feel like Vinny really displayed. He's like, I'm here no matter what, so. Yeah, and that's good. Yeah, when I think about my brother, my brother, he's so generous. He's so generous and has been so generous with me. My brother had a business and I worked for him in college, mortgage financing. And long story short, I made a mistake that was at least a $5,000 mistake. It was probably more than that. And let's just be clear, I was a college student. He wasn't paying me that much money, right, to begin with. So I was costing way more than I was. And honestly, everybody that my brother worked with, they knew, like he was firm, but he was fair, but he was firm, right? They all thought he was gonna kill me, number one. He thought he was gonna kill me. And they thought at minimum, he was gonna fire me. And so did I. And I'll never forget going into his office and him saying to me, do you realize how much you cost the company today? And I was like, yeah, you know, he told me. And he was like, I should fire you, but I'm not gonna fire you because I just paid $5,000 for your training today. Right, right. Don't ever let it happen again, right?

But in that, there was a generosity. And I think there's something about Jesus that I learned in that moment. Like Jesus is generous, but Jesus is firm. Like Jesus will correct. But his grace is just so powerful that even in his correction is for our good. So I always love telling, my kids really love when I tell that story. It was a screw up, you know? But I think that for all of us, as we think about that, like that's the kind of shepherd that Jesus is. And you know what Peter was saying to people in 1 Peter is obviously in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of crisis, in the midst of persecution, we have a good shepherd and he's trustworthy in every phase of our life and in every moment of our life. every way that we would follow him. So I pray today that you would experience him in all of those ways as your shepherd. ♪♪♪