Hope Church LV Sermons
Life Lessons from 20 Years in Ministry
All right, I had a message today that I knew could either go 30 minutes or I could go five minutes. So I'm gonna do it in five minutes, all right? Time brings clarity. Time brings clarity. There was a day in my life I thought my parents were idiots. Time brings clarity. I now look back and realize my parents are infinitely wise. Time brings clarity. This is a big deal year for me. Ah, this December finished 20 years in the gospel ministry and December 23rd, 10 years ago, my family moved to Las Vegas. So 20 years in ministry, 10 years now, a decade in Las Vegas. Time brings clarity. After 20 years in ministry and 10 years in Las Vegas, I want to give you three statements. And I share these with pastors all over the country and around the world. I want to give you these three statements that I share with pastors, but then I want to un-paster them and give them to you as principles that you can take away with, all right? And these are all rooted. I'm not going to take the time, but they're rooted in Luke chapter 4, verses 42, 43, and 44. Here's the first principle. God's primary call on my life is not ministry. It's intimacy. God's primary call on my life is not ministry. It's intimacy. Let me say it in another way. God's primary invitation to you is not activity. It's intimacy. God has not brought us into relationship with Himself so that we can do something for Him. God's brought us into relationship with Himself so that we could know Him. And as we know Him, He does through us what we could never do left to ourselves. And that's really if you get that book by Miles Stanford on the Christ's life, you'll hear that. And as you hear me preach and teach, you hear me say that all the time. It just comes out because I'll be honest, for much of my life, I missed that. The first church I pastored. I was 23 years old when I went to pastor that church. I'd already been in ministry for almost seven years. I became a full-time student pastor when I was 18. I was in my freshman year of college. And I went to pastor my first church when I was 23. And I thought the goal was to do ministry. And so, man, we went in and we led people to do ministry. And the church exploded. It was in a small town. And in three years, we grew to running a fourth of the town in our church. We were doing ministry. And in one night, I lost all of it. In one night, the church asked me and our entire staff team to leave. They didn't like the growth. They didn't like us beginning to work overseas. They didn't like us sending money to Africa. They didn't like us picking up children and some of the projects and bringing them into our church. I started hearing people say things like what are they doing in our church kind of stuff. So in one night, this church I'd given three and a half years of my life to my first pastor. I'd spent three years commuting 180 miles a day, four days a week to go to seminary and come back and had a wife and two little kids and was trying to pastor this church. And we poured everything we could into doing the work of the ministry. And in one night, at all ended, we're packing boxes and we put our house on the market the next day and lost everything we thought we'd had. And in one night, God taught me the greatest lesson I'd ever learned. He's enough. You see, I'd gotten so focused on doing the work of the ministry that I'd missed the very reason he brought me into relationship with himself and that's to know it. It's not about ministry, it's about intimacy. And if we're not careful, we get caught up in being Martha and we forget about who Mary was and we get so busy with all the distractions. And that's where I'd come. That's where I'd gotten to. And God had to break me. Listen, I would have never moved to Las Vegas to start a church in my house. I was moving from that church to a bigger church to a bigger church because why? Ministry. It's all about doing ministry. I'd have never moved to Las Vegas and moved to 18 people in my house. But God had to break me and teach me that principle. I wish we had more time. I'd unpack that. But there's a lot of meat in that statement. Here's the second one. His call on my life is not simply to a church. It's to a city. His call on my life is not simply to a church. It's to a city. Let me say that in a way for you. God's design to use you is not just as a minister in his church. God's design to use you is as a missionary in this city. We tend to box our Christianity up and we think that the expression of what God's doing in my life is my serving in the church. Now, listen, we need serving in the body. God's given each of us as gifts to the body and He's given us gifts to use and service in the body. But if we're not careful, we become all focused on the church and we forget about the city. God's birthed us to be missionaries in the city. And here's how I know it affects you, okay? You expect me. You expect me as a pastor, man. He better hear from God before He moves from one city to another city, right? Do you know how it's true for you too? You don't just move to another city because you get a better job offer or there's cheaper housing. God put you here as a missionary. And until God says, "It's time to go," you better stay put. It's not just about a church, just about a city. And God's put us in this city to be salt and light. We're not here by our choosing. We're here by God's sovereign purpose and plan. And God desires us to penetrate this city. And so when we think about our faith, hey, we need to think about God, how are you using me in my fellowship to encourage and to grow into challenge? But we also need to think about God, how are you using me in my city? Do you know the job God gave you? If you have a job and if you have one in these days, be thankful. But if you've got a job, do you realize the job God gave you? He gave you not just so you can make money and provide for your family. God gave you that job so you could be a missionary. There are people all around you who are lost. And what's God's plan to reach Him? He put you there. You're the plan. I've had people come say, Pastor, why would you come talk to this guy I work with, man? I'd love for him to hear, you know, he's way more likely to listen to you than he is to me. You're a missionary. Let me give you the third statement because we got to eat. I don't feel bad going over a little bit because we're going to feed you. So here's the third one. Here's the way I share it with pastors. The local church is not the finish line. It's the starting line. The finish line is God's kingdom expanded among the nations. Let me give it to you. God's activity in your life locally. He is always connected to his activity globally. God's activity in your life locally is always connected to his activity globally. Let me tell you what that'll do. How to make you want to get up in the morning. Because what God's doing in your life is way bigger than you. It's way bigger. Let me give you. I'll give you one story. Now I'm going to close, all right. Here's the story. Last year, this year, 2010, we had a young couple come in the doors of our church who were in financial need. They were hurting. Like many have come in the last 18 months. They were hurting. They needed some help. They were hurting not only financially. Their marriage was in real trouble. We begin to come around this couple. We begin to minister to them. We begin to share with them and a small group got involved with them and God did some amazing stuff in this couple's life. We thought praise God. I got an email four or five months later. It's from a lady who's an executive secretary to one of the leading diplomats of a country on the other side of the world. Here's what she said. I'm a Christian. I live in a country where there aren't many Christians. I have a daughter who lives in your town. She and her husband have been away from God and I've been praying for them for years. She said they walked into your fellowship and God has done an unbelievable thing in their lives. She said, "If you ever need any door opened in our country, you let me know." Now we were just helping some people in Las Vegas who were down and out. What we didn't know is that God was opening the door to a nation on the other side of the world. Now here's the thought for you. Who are you going to meet this week? That's a gatekeeper to a nation or a people on the other side of the world and God's going to use that relationship to take the gospel where it's never been before. Every time I sit down on an airplane to go travel, I think, God, I wonder who this is sitting next to me. I wonder where they're from. I wonder what their story is. Sometimes we're able to get into dialogues. Sometimes people, I try not to tell them I'm a pastor because as soon as you do, man, it kills the conversation. Either they don't want to talk anymore or their talk changes. You know what I mean? Oh, he's a pastor. Oh, yeah, I like the Bible. That's a good book. I'm sorry, I just said that. It just changes. But here's the thing. You are living your life every day on mission with God and God is at work all over the world. Let me tell you what that means. The person that's going to come sit down in your work this week. There's no... You have no idea what the last 20 years God's been doing in their life to bring them right there to you and God served them up to you on a platter. 20 years of activity people pray. We have no idea and God's brought them right there for you to get in on it. And it just may be somebody that opens the door to the gospel to a country on the other side of the world. Who knows what God may do. Philip met a man on a road through some area. God said in Acts that I want you to go out there and meet this guy. Philip went out, met this Ethiopian. And when he got to where he was, the Ethiopian was reading Isaiah. And he said, "I wish there was somebody here to explain to me what this means." Philip said, "Well, I think that may be why God sent me here." And he shared the gospel with that Ethiopian who gave his life to Christ and he took the gospel back for the very first time to the continent of Africa. One man, one step of obedience, one conversation, and the gospel goes to an entire continent. You just never know. So after 20 years of ministry, those are three things that really were God's given me a lot of clarity. It's not about ministry, it's about intimacy. It's not just about my church. It's about a city. Hey, we can have a great church and our city can be lost and going to hell. We need to reach our city. And number three, what he's doing locally, it's always connected to what he's doing globally. Let me pray. Jesus, thank you for our time together today. Thank you for your church. God, we bless you. We love you. We honor you.