Good morning. Yeah, you may have been looking for somebody else to walk out here. Hey, matter of fact, let's just be praying for our pastor. He has an opportunity to be preaching this weekend and hey, how you doing? We just pray that the Lord uses him in a mighty way the same way that he's used here. How many of you enjoyed this last series that pastor preached? Come on. When you preach a message like that and it is unattached to a need, it's just because he heard the voice of the Lord and said, I need to teach this, and what we were able to do last week, come on. We didn't take an offering. We did it out of the overflow of what you've done. Well, I'm so excited and ready. I hope you are. We're going to get into the word this morning and it's going to be a little bit different.

Matter of fact, when there was not preaching in a segment of a series, so you know what you're going to do, I mentioned to Tim, I said, if it's a one-off, I have something on my heart that I believe the timing is now, and we're going to start off with a question. Is anyone here facing or in the middle of a challenging time? Yeah, it's like, yeah, who is it? Come on, let's get it. It could be physical, financial, relational, directional. It could be you personally or it could be someone so close that it feels the same. A child, spouse, close friend, family member. You can actually have multiple areas in your life that are going really well, but there's one, one area that is just stinging. I'm not quite sure what to do with it because I want to get past it so fast, but here's the deal.

This is what the Lord gave me this title is today is How do you handle getting hit? How do you handle getting hit? Well, now if you're like me, I don't want to get hit. I mean, come on, we don't want to get hit, but in life we're going to be taking some hits. That's the reality. I think Jesus gave us a great example, Matthew eight, we've all heard the story and Matthew eight, he's preaching and the crowd's pressing in. He's telling his disciples, guys, it's Get on the boat. We're going to go to the other side. We know the story that as soon as they get out there, suddenly a storm came, waves are coming over the boat, they're scared, they think they're going to drown and Jesus is sleeping. Now we can go into the story, but I feel like there's even a bigger story that he's teaching them that this who picked the destination and the transportation, the transportation is Jesus.

He said, guys, let's get into the boat. This is where we're going, and in the midst of it, a storm came up. You think Jesus was too busy sermon prepping that he didn't check the weather. You think, oh man, I missed it guys, we should have been on camels and donkeys going around the sea. No, I feel like he's also teaching them a very life lesson of how we're going to take hits, but it doesn't have to leave us hopeless or helpless. Now here's the thing. We got to set a parameter as we jump in because there's basically two extreme teachings within the church about getting hit in life. Probably the best rule is anything taken to an extreme, most likely has one foot in air. One extreme is this, the more hits you take and the harder hits you take, the more spiritual you are. So I'm just going to go play in the street and get run over and be super spiritual. No.

Yeah. Now that was no, don't go be playing in the street. The other side is over here that the Christian life is more like a dodgeball game. If you're close to the Lord and you're on your game, oh yeah, he may come close, but nothing's going to touch me and nothing's going to touch me. Well, the truth is we're all going to take hits, but again, it doesn't leave us helpless or hopeless. Matter of fact, if we were to avoid every hip, then what would we do with these verses? Look at these one Corinthians 10 13, the temptations your life are no different from what others experience and God is faithful. Look at this. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand when you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure it. Look at this next verse, Colossians 1 23, but you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.

Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news. What about Galatians six, eight? So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. Come on at just the right time. We'll reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up one Timothy six 12, fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses, one Corinthians 16, 13, be on guard. Stand firm in your faith. Be courageous, be strong. Why do we need to be on guard and why do we need to stand firm if God is in control anyway?

Because his word just told us to do it because it's, it's not just about getting through it, it's what we learn and gain while we're walking in it. Because of playing sports in college, I got to get a few freebies. There was a golf class that signed up and I never showed up, never showed up. I got credit for a class that I went through, but I didn't gain anything from it. If we're not careful, we're going to go through some things in life and our focus is to be getting through it. I want this in the rear view mirror so fast that I don't learn anything from it, that I'm also destined to repeat it. I had a great history teacher, man. Matter of fact, it's just an elective. I'm going in there, it's elective just to get this over with. I walked in Dr.

Henderson's class and oh my gosh, history can just be about a bunch of names and dates and memorization, but the way Dr. Henderson taught it was like going to the movies, man. He brought it to life and I ended up maxing out every class I could with him. I got a minor in history because of this one guy, and I remember him saying, you've all heard the phrase history is written by the victors. He said, actually, that's not true. He says, history is written by those who wrote history. Come on. Yeah, he said, now, yes, most of the time that was written by the victors and yes, many times they put their own spin on it. There's something about going through a hit that we want to get on the other side to the point where when we reflect back and somebody said, Hey, hey, how did you handle that situation? We tell a partial story. Oh yeah, devil came after me, man, I quoted this verse and God delivered. I thought that was a year and a half. So you were faith man every day. No, there were days that I was faith man, and there were days that if a feather fell on me, I was done.

We need to be honest. Look at a couple of these other verses and we're going to move on. Hebrews 10 23, let us hold tight tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm. One says, hold onto your profession or your confession of faith. Listen, I can't hold onto something that's not in me. If I don't know his word, then how am I supposed to stand on his word? Hold tightly. James one, two. Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. Please, that makes a great t-shirt and bumper sticker, but you're telling me what I'm going through right now, what my child is going through, what I'm facing. I'm supposed to find this joy in it. It comes with a different perspective and that's not always easy to do

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. I like this. So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be perfect and complete needing nothing. So when I ask you another question before we jump in, could there be a greater value waiting for us if we understand there is more to gain in learning how to handle the hits than just avoiding them and enduring it. We're all going to take hits and there's different levels of hits. Come on. Now how we handle it is different, but I'm not talking about just the little disappointments, but life's going to come at us. The enemy's going to do anything he can and there's different levels. There's like a slap, a slap. Oh, that's a surprising disappointment. It's like a wake up call. It gets your attention, your awareness is up and you wish you had another chance.

You're like, Hey, just I'll be more prepared this time. There's a wake up call. It's what do you mean I didn't get the promotion? You just learned your child didn't make the team. A good friend said, Hey, we're moving out of state. It's a slap. It's just something that it's a wake up call. I wish I had more time. I wish I had another chance. Guys, we all face that. We're facing those all the time, but it goes a little deeper. What about a gut punch? A gut punch takes your breath away. You're going to be okay, but you know when you had it, I got to have, there's a minute that I can't do anything. I'm okay, but I'm going to need a minute.

The person you're dating suddenly wants to break up with you. Your spouse tells you they're not happy and we may need to go into some marriage counseling. There's some layoffs coming and you just heard that your name is on the list. The diagnosis from the doctor wasn't good is a gut punch, but it goes deeper. You get knocked down. Now you get right back up on your feet, but you're stumbling and you're staggering. Something came into your life and it knocked you down. You got up but you're stumbling, you're staggering and you lost your sense of direction. You don't feel as confident as you did before the hit and you need to hold onto something or someone for stability because you're vulnerable for another quick hit. It wasn't that the diagnosis from the doctor wasn't good this time it was bad, effective. Immediately the company is shutting down. Your spouse says, I think we're done. I want a divorce. It knocks you down.

There's a couple other layers. What about getting knocked down and you don't get up quickly, you're not sure As you're laying there, you're not sure if you can get up. Your mind is trying to fill in the blanks of what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And it just keeps racing. That's not the deepest one though. The deepest one is when you get knocked down and you're not laying there wondering if you can get up, you're entertaining the thought. Do I even want to get up? Lemme tell you, I was 21 years in ministry, in ministry before I ever had a hit go that level. I walk people through it, I walk beside them. I've been with some individuals in some very difficult times. I remember preaching on a Sunday morning looking right over here. I'm wrapping up the message and I'm giving an altar call and do you know where you'd be if you don't know the Lord came today?

Do you know where you would be? And I remember this guy, this young man in the back smiling. He said, I sure do. Just nodding his head and I loved it. He was a son of a pastor friend. He was off to school. It was August and he was about to head back to college his freshman year and he's nodding his head and I'm scanning the next day I'm with his dad and we get a phone call and we go down to the hospital and we don't go to an emergency room. We go into a back room and a hallway that felt like it took forever to walk and as we walk and we turn into the room there with a sheet covering him as they pull back the sheet, is this your son?

Just the day before I'm looking at him here and now I'm watching that pain grip my friend, but I'd never experienced that. Most of what I was given at that point was more theory. It came from the heart, but I'd never experienced that kind of pain. But it's just that it's a feeling. It's a feeling. It's a feeling based on circumstantial facts, not godly truth. The best lies have a lining of truth and can I tell you, I love how the Lord allows us to acknowledge our emotions and not deny them. He's the one that gave them to us, but he also guides us on how to handle them, the priority in which we should put our trust in them. Do you remember Pastor Tim's message about a month ago when he talked about doubt? I was so good. I love, he said, everybody would deal with doubt.

It happens when your experiences aren't met. Doubt is like a bridge. You need to go over it. If every time you come up to the bridge of doubt you stop or you turn around, you're not going very far in life. We're going to have to face it and move on. I know what I feel, but I know what your word says, so I'm going to press on. The Lord shows us this type of honesty in scripture by recording the thoughts, words, and actions of leaders as they struggle with getting hit and how they walk through it, their disappointment. I don't think I realized this until I went through one of the toughest times I even went through. Then all of a sudden I'm looking at a passage and have you ever really connected with somebody in scripture? I mean there's a character in and man, there's something about them now.

There's a guy by the name of Asaf that I just connected with. We have different giftings, but it was something about the way he grew up and his life and Asaf was a worship leader. He wrote more of the Bible than most of the disciples. He hung out with David. He was close with David. He was a worship leader that was assigned to oversee the Ark of the Covenant. His father was a worship leader, his brother was, his family was. Everything he did early on was just amazing. As David was coming into his kingship, man, every day was better than the day before and then they run into some tough times and I love the fact that the scripture allows us to see him voice it. Now, I'd love to talk to him. I look forward to him, said, Hey, did you really want to write all that down there?

No, no. I just want to say we went through tough times and I stood on the word and God came through. Come on. What value is that based on the verses we started off reading, hold onto your profession, your confession of faith when you've done all to stand, continue to stand. How did you do that? How did you stand through that process? I don't want to just hear another verse now. I understand the foundation without God's word is shaky, but I need to see a leader and hear somebody how they walked through it. I love Asaf’s story because it started off like mine. The problem is some of our upbringing can also be some of the blessing or the cursing of how we walk through hits. See, man, I grew up in a small little world, a little town where man, my family's name, my name and everything.

I was handed so many things so early, man, I'm playing basketball when I'm in third grade with the sixth graders. I thought I was all that and a huge stale bag of chips, man, I'm telling you, my kids look at my high school annual and they just want to gag. I mean because I'm in everything. I loved it. High school, college, when I got out of college, I'm working for a company. I set a record, a rookie sales record for an 87 year old company. They're flying me to Atlanta and things are rocking and then I get knocked down. I get a phone call that my dad passes away. All of a sudden it helped bring the perspective. I was never supposed to be going into business. I was going into the ministry, but it rocked my world. When I look at Asaf though, how our lives parallel, we're going to read some of this and I'm going to do my best.

Listen. If I tell about myself, then there's potentially for some value, but if I tell on myself the way Asaf was honest, then there's a greater potential for even better understanding. Asaf in Psalm 73 says This truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure, but it's for me. I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping and I was almost gone. Anybody, everyone to be honest enough to say, I'm not talking about just taking a hit. He said my feet were slipping and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their weakness, anybody else looked around and got a little envious. They seem to live such painless lives. Their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don't have troubles like other people. They're not plagued with problems like everybody else. Listen to me. Pain will poison your perspective. You'll see facts and assume they're godly truth. The Lord gave me this and I wrote it down and said, our selfish nature wants to assign blame so that we don't feel shame. Therefore, we've learned to play the game and that's why everything remains the same.

Now listen to me. We've got to learn to take responsibility, but be careful for ownership. Let me give you my definition so that brings a little more context. They both sound the same. I said it, I did it. I'm sorry. It's the end result that is different and it's the end result of what the enemy wants to do to you. Take responsibility at the end says, I did it. I said it, I'm sorry, and I give it to you, Lord. Ownership says I did it. I said it, I'm sorry. And then the enemy says, now wear it like a label the reason you did, it's because that's who you are and that's because that's who you are. You're going to do it again and again and again. There is no hope for you because that's who you are. That's a lie. Take responsibility, but be very careful for ownership.

If we want to move forward to what's next, we must be faithful in the now. One of the first lessons the Lord taught me after taking a huge hit and in my time of prayer, I was praying, Lord, get me out of this and put me where you want me to be. That's a good prayer. That's a good prayer. Anybody ever prayed something similar? Father, get me out of this and put me right where you want me to be, but the Lord's answer for me. Now, it may not be for you, but this is what he answered me. Stan, you're praying for an airlift, but I'm going to take you through a season of airdrops. One word from the Lord contains a whole lot of information. I knew what he was talking about. I'm a roots go down kind of guy. I'm a family guy.

My family's here and I love it. I want everybody around me. I want everybody to come to this church. Never leave. We only get bigger and bigger. I just love that that's not the way it is. This whole thing about the airdrops meant stand. You're going to have to stay very close to me and listen to me because the next provision in your life is right here. But don't get too settled because tomorrow you're going to go over here. Now this is good and I know you like it, but next month you got to be over here. I hated that. Hated it. And here's the other thing I found out about it.

God can be fully in temporary assignments, but are we, because I'm here to get what I need from my family and everybody else. I don't care about your name. Good for you. I don't care. I'm here to give what I need because I'm going to be gone. If you start treating temporary assignments, there's no sense in me getting close to you. Wait, it's not about me just getting my provision. That is a selfish mode and I was incredibly selfish. I had to learn. Father, it's not about just the provision. Is my assignment done now? I need to go. That was the first lesson, second lesson that he gave me. Stan, if you'll slow down, I'll let you not only hear people's problem, but for a moment I'm going to let you feel their pain. I wasn't a fake phony pastor. My heart was there, but I realized I got this picture of me being like a preaching pez dispenser.

What? Oh, is it? Finances, my God is fly all you'll need according to his riches and grow. Oh, oh, you're struggling with sickness. My God, I'm quoting verses that. I mean, but it's like a fastball. It's not handed. There was no relational connection. You cannot settle on just giving the word. We are responsible for what we say, how we say it and when we say it, don't settle on just two of the three or one of the three. I'm right, so I'm going to say it. Your ultimate goal is not to give it, it's to be received. So therefore I have to take the time to make sure I'm delivering it the right way. Okay? I handle those lessons. That's all right. I'm moving. All right, check Lord, I'll improve there. Third one, write it all down.

Write it all down. Write down everything you do and everything you feel because this is not just for you. I'm talking about during the process of getting hit. I don't want to write it all down. I don't want to remember any of this stuff. I want to get back up and I want to preach again about the glory of God and how we're all going to be in heaven. He said, write it all down, everything you feel, and that's when I went back to Asaf and I'm looking at how honest he is, but then this fourth lesson was the one that really, this is where things started changing in me. Now, I don't know about you, but the Lord said, Stan, there's one other thing I need you to do, and I need you to take a knee. Now, listen, sports is big in my family, and again, one word from the Lord can contain a lot of meaning, and I knew what that one word meant because sports was very big in my family. Taking a knee, I don't take a knee. Now, taking an knee means I've been benched. I don't set the bench. I'll take a breather.

I'll take a breather, but I'm ready to go. Let's get Johnny. Johnny screwing us up. I got to get back in the game. See, I wasn't one that just made the team. I was the one that, I was the one that took the mound. I know what it's like to take the mound and throw a no hitter striking out Every guy I faced, I know what it was like to have a play drawn up for me with only seconds on the clock to make a shot and beat the team that wins state. I know when the Lord said, Stan, you need to take a knee. What that meant because my arrogance and my ego started a long time ago. If I take a knee, people are going to see that I'm sitting on the bench. What's up stand? Is he injured? Why is he in the bench? I remember how long, Lord, can I get up? All I got was, am I enough for you? I want you to be, Lord, you know I love you. Then stay down. I remember begging him, please let me up. Am I enough for you? Then stay down.

I don't think I realized how arrogant and full of myself I was. Now, let's look back at Asaf. They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for. Listen, Asaf’s name calling, come on. You ever been there? Don't lie. I mean something's going on. Are you kidding me? Lord, look at that. Look at what's going on. I remember one of the most difficult times that I told you I've been 21 years in ministry before I'd ever taken a hit like that, and it was on a Sunday, 13 years ago, eight months, but who's counting? I'm preaching a message, meaning I drive separate because I go early. I'm preaching a message and I go home, and as I'm in the living room, all of a sudden my wife and the kids come home and my little girl, my little aunt is so strong,

She hit the door and came straight up to me, this little girl. Now listen, we started the church when she was, she wasn't quite two. Now she's nine. The church is her world. Her friends are her world. I promise you, without exaggerating, at least two times a month that after church, our kids are going home with some of the other staff kids or vice versa. We're in each other's life and my little girl runs up to me after service comes in that living room pointing her finger pointing like this because she's a little bitty. She said, what did you do baby? What are you talking about? My best friend just said, I'm never going to get to see her again. What did you do? See, what happened was a staff member was hurt and the problem grew to the point where they made a decision to leave and my little nine-year-old knew about it before I did. She's sitting there just going off on daddy. I remember glancing at Mandy. I remember turning and I walked through the living room. I walked through the kitchen, I walked through our bedroom, shut the door. I went through our bathroom, shut the door. I went into our closet, shut the door,

And I'm so thankful for Asaf because I went off. It'd be so easy to paint a different picture than what I did. I'm going off in front of the Lord. I'm cursing in his presence. Even repeat it even as I'm praying about the message. Lord, I don't have to do that. I don't have to show them. I said, no, it's okay. I remember I told you I'll do anything for you, but you protect my kids. You can have it all. You can have it all. We had an agreement and I'm going off and I remember saying, I've never touched the money. I've only touched my wife. This isn't fair, and I'm throwing people under the bus. Johnny, he's horrible. Lord, are you telling me to call him out? I'll put it on Facebook right now. I'll tell you, I am trying to claw my way out by climbing on others and I remember yelling, this isn't fair. I didn't do anything

And the Lord lovingly said, that's just it. Stan, you didn't do anything and immediately took me back to about eight years before when I dealt with an elder that did something horrible that he shouldn't have. I still have the letter that he wrote, and at the very top I become the man that I despise. But as a pastor, I don't get to read that letter out to everybody and when we met, here's the thing. Here's the problem that indirectly caused my little girl to be hurt, said Stan, you didn't do what I told you to do with the situation. I wanted it to be good and I wanted it to be good fast that when I went in and had this meeting, it's like going in and get 80% of the cancer and say, you know what? That's pretty good. Let's just wrap it up.

I didn't deal with it all and because I didn't deal with it all, it came back to impact a staff member and come back to hurt my little girl. Lemme say it like this, you can't be a halfway leader. You can't be a halfway husband. You can't be a halfway wife. I'm not talking about perfect. None of us are going to be perfect, but there is an element of that ministry of excellence. Excellence is giving my best. There's days my best is here. There's day my best is right here, but excellence is what we're supposed to be giving each other.

The fact that I could sit there and vent the way that I did and the Lord loved on me and let me go through this process, let's get back to acep. It says they scoff and speak only evil in their pride. They seek to crush others. They boast against the very heavens and their words strutt throughout the earth, and so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking all their words. What does God know? Does the most high even know what's happening? Look at the wicked people enjoying a life of ease while they're riches multiply. Now, notice in this next verse. Notice how as E's heart turns and be honest with yourself. Has this ever happened to you? Asaf now says, did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long. Every morning brings me pain.

Now he's exaggerating a little bit, but he's venting and the Lord allows us to see him vent. I know what it's like to go through. Mandy can testify. I went through nine months where I only slept three hours a night. That was how much my mind would let my body sleep through exhaustion before it would wake me back up saying, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? All the words that I'm preaching as a pastor, I had to find out, are you living them or just speaking them?

Are you ready to do what you have to do to get yourself through? Our part should always feel like work, but if it feels heavy, you're either doing the Lord's part or you're doing it wrong. And let me back up just a little bit. We are going to merge our church. We're talking with Gateway. We're talking with Craig Richelle and Life Church, and I'm thinking Fresh start. Fresh start. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Fresh start's always better, right? What's better is what the Lord wants. We ended up merging the church with a large church out of Chicago and I thought, look, we're going to go back. We love the coast. There's some opportunities. Let me tell you something. I got one word at this point. The Lord said, be patient and I'm going to be honest with you. Come on. Patience is actually pretty easy when you've got multiple options within arms distance and when you're laying your head down on a stack of cash at night, yeah, yeah. Patience is pretty easy. It's like, come on, come on, devil. Just bring it on, man. I'll go years with you. Come on, hold on. Seven and a half months, man, you bring it on. Come on. Well, Lord, if we can wrap it up in five minute and I can still take that trip. We want to do five months, man, you bring it on.

Is that really standing in faith? Man, my time came and went seven months or six months, six months. I got seven phone calls. Four of 'em were say, Stan, man, you and Mandy got to put your name in for this. You guys would be great here. Three of 'em said, Stan, if you come, it's yours. And I'm like, no, Lord told me to be patient. Thank you. Seven months phone stops ringing. You ever been to that point where you're trying to be patient and you're standing there and you hear nothing except the Lord? Repeat the word that he gave you. Just be patient. Here's the problem. In the midst of me walking out what God's telling me to do, there's a conspiracy between I think is the mortgage company and the automotive company.

They had the audacity to send us a bill while I'm standing in faith and I'm like, father, you're telling me no one all these things, but I've got to do something, and that cocky stand that was bringing on now has to do something and I got a phone call. We all love those phone calls, don't we? Yeah, not this one. It was an okay call. I got a phone call from Faus and Sons, a funeral home right here in Grapevine. They said, pastor Stan, your name was given to us. I didn't even ask him who he said, but listen, there's a lot of times individuals come in and they would like to have a Christian funeral and we'll pay you to do this. Man. All of a sudden I entered into a season where I became the funeral preacher. Hated it, hated it, but every time I met with the family, I was still giving my best. I sat down and the Lord just gave me this simple thing to sit down with families and talk about painting a picture of their loved one, but I would do it and then I'd get that check and I felt so cheap undervalued as a father.

I remember one time I get a phone call that said, pastor Sam, if you'd come on up, the family's here. There's an accidental overdose. He said, but I got to tell you when I showed up, he said, I got to tell you pastor, the dad and the son are in there, is the younger son is 27 and accidental overdose. He said, they're drunk, they're hurting, but if you still want to meet them, I go in and I'm looking down at the bottle, they're sitting down, I'm looking, there's about 20% left in a Jack Daniels bottle, and I just loved on him. I found out a little bit this gentleman had struggled with an addiction and he'd been sober for almost a year and a half. He went to a party. The reason his brother, his older brother was taking it so hard was because he was with a friend. They went to a party in Fort Worth, shouldn't have been there, and he called a couple of friends and he called his brother, come and get me. Come and get me. I don't need to be here. Come and get me. None of them could make it.

Wrong place, wrong time. He ends up ODing, so I'm going the next day, they don't remember a word of what I said, just loving. On the next day, I walk into that faus right there in Grapevine. That thing is packed standing room from the back all the way to the side of where the stage, the other room is packed, and this is the most ratted tatted group. I mean, I don't know if any of 'em ever been in church, and lemme tell you, they weren't just mourning, they were ticked. And I'm like, Lord, wow. I'll just do my thing. I go up, I read my first verse. I sit down, we go through the words of remembrances and a few things, and while I'm sitting there, the Lord tells me, stand, I want you to hit it.

Now listen to me. I know the Lord speaks to me a little bit different. I believe in Psalms 1 19, 1 30, the entrance of his word brings light and brings understanding to the simple. He makes things simple so that I can grab and I knew exactly what he meant. He said, I want you to hit it. I want you to address it. I'm like, Lord, look at this crowd. I'm not going to address nothing, and I get up there and I'm struggling. I get up there. No, this is a very cute message. We're just going to love. And I said, Stan, when you're going through a difficult time, it's never just about you. I need you now. And I still looked at it. I looked up, I looked at it probably 15 seconds, which felt like eternity. These people are, what is this? And I shut my Bible. I said, you without sin cast the first stone. Oh my gosh. I got five or six. Hell yeahs a couple of other, I got one very, very loud tribute to how his mother was, right? Yeah. I mean, and it was on man. I went at it and I just said, don't you dare nullify his last year and a half for his last moments. Any one of us get at the wrong place in the wrong time. I don't remember the rest, but I mean, it wasn't like walking out of church and how you doing? Thank you. Thank you. I mean, man, I felt like I was back in. I was running a high five. Give me a low, give me a high. I mean, it was awesome.

And then I go to my chair, my car. I got my check and I slammed the steering wheel. What am I, the funeral preacher? And the Lord said, am I enough for you?

Just a week later, I get a phone call, another funeral, Stan, there's no funeral. We're just going straight to the graveside. Can you come? Yeah, it's raining, it's pouring down. I'm driving up and it's raining so hard. All I could think about was my shoes. I'm going to get my shoes muddy. Oh, I'm all about me. I'm looking up and I can see the silhouette of the funeral director and one a lady. I'm like, Lord, this guy lived his whole life. One person. We're not even having a funeral. It's a graveside. Wow. That's all I was thinking. I opened that door and I'm going to have to run up there. It's raining so hard. I put one foot down in that mud and the Lord said, where are you going? I shut the door and I felt the Lord say, let me tell you about your brother that you never knew. He began to download all this stuff. Then I run up. I start with one verse and then I just begin to share what he gave me. I had to yell because the rain hitting the tent was so loud, and it's just the three of us, and I'm right here. And all she could do is, how did you know Jesus?

I go back to my car. I've got my check, and the Lord said, that's the best message you've ever preached. And I said, no one is ever going to hear that. And Lord said, I heard it. Am I enough for you? So I took a knee and said, father, I'm done. I made so much about me, but I'm done. And then I get another call. This one was a friend from up east and he knew we were waiting and I thought, oh is an opportunity for church, and it wasn't. He called me and said, Stan, there's a company. There's an energy company in Texas that is revamping all of their leadership. That's wonderful. Good for them. He said, no, Stan, you need to give 'em a call. Come on. I barely know how to change a light bulb,

But I gave him a call, didn't get anything said on it. For two weeks. I decided to call back, and when I called back this time, I get a young lady and I said, Hey, I heard there's a lot of changes going on. I was trying to speak. He gave me a name. Steve said, Hey, call this number. They gave me the number and I call this guy and the first thing is, how did you get this number? I said, oh, so-and-so gave it to me and said, oh, yeah, yeah, I think I know why you got it. I give you another number and tell him Steve told you to call him. So now all of a sudden I get another number, and the very first words again were, how did you get this number is a senior VP that was hired to Clean House.

And I told him, I said, listen, I heard that you're making a lot of sweeping changes and that you need some executives that can basically handle or be able to speak with other companies. He said, I need people that can go into an executive room and not blank themselves. I'm like, I think I can do that. Yeah. All right. And we began to talk and he said, you know what? I tell you what he said, call back secretary, let's have lunch. In that time, I met with about six other businessmen, friends of, they had their own companies. Nobody had a resume. They had bios. I put together this portfolio and I go in and we have lunch and I go for the top position. Yeah, it was crazy. Minimum seven to 10, 10 year's experience, and I've put this, we have lunch and he looks at it and he looks at the position I went for and he just kind of snickered and left shut it, and we had lunch and at the end of it, he said, I like you, Stan.

Call back and go after, I want an interview for one of these lower positions, shoot for the stars, get the moon. A week goes by and all of a sudden he gives me a phone call and he's livid. He just let go of everybody in the southern part of Houston area. He said, all those guys that you had set 'em up. I want to interview every one of 'em. So over about a three week time, I push mine to the last one. All of a sudden at the end, I'm the last one to go in. Hit no word on how everybody's doing. When I walk in the hall, seventh floor of the building downtown Dallas, when I'm walking in, he comes out shaking my hand, Stan, I'm hiring every one of those guys and I'm going to put you as a regional director. The number two position in the state. I'm telling you, seven to 10 years experience, and I don't know if I've changed seven to 10 light bulbs and here I am. I'm like, wow. When they gave me the package, my expense account was larger than the first salary I had as a pastor. I'm looking at this money and I'm like, the very first time the check comes in, we're moving it from checking to savings. They're going to want this back.

I'm telling you, we're down there in a training. There's 32 people that they hired. The highest one is a senior VP from Boston, and we're going around. I've been with Reliant 15 years, I've been with Da Dah. I'm the last one to go, and everybody's kind of glazing out, and I said, my name's Stan Dennis. I've been the regional director in the last 25 years. I've been a pastor, and I just looked straight at the senior VP and I could hear them say, whoa, what company? What'd he say? What he say? What a pastor, what? No, he said, A pastor, and all of a sudden I was on this ride for a full year. He was trying to make me be a wine connoisseur, where everywhere we went, all of a sudden I was a priest. I wasn't, but he was like, anybody drinks too much?

Make sure you see Stan. And he said, you see the way it crystallizes around the cork? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'll take a Coke Zero. All of a sudden a year into this, I get a phone call, said, Stan, need to meet. I go up into the office and now it's a lady, she's another senior VP from Boston and she's got that portfolio that I put together. Lemme tell you, man and I, we didn't change anything as that money was coming in, it was going into savings. We're hiding it in the backyard just so we could.

I walk in and she's looking at the portfolio, looking at me because the guy that hired me was hired by another company to go clean house and she, how did you get this job? I said, my dad got it for me. Yeah, I'm sitting there. She said, I can't deny what you've done for the company, every one of you guys, but I want to give you a territory like one of the other guys still great salary. This was a huge six figure income that was out of my world before, and I'm driving back and I told her, I said, you know what? Thank you very much, but I feel like it's my time to move on. This is the part that I really want you to hear. As I'm driving back up, I'm coming to Flower Mount, I'm going through Las Colinas, and I said, Lord, what was that? He said, Stan, you stay faithful to me. I can bring you things that you don't deserve and I can do it in an instant. He's no respecter of person.

Psalm 77, stay right there in 73, I'm going to wrap up real quick, but I want you to see in this part right here. This is Asaf. I pray out to God. Yes, I shout, oh, that God would listen to me When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord all night long. I prayed with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God and I moan overwhelmed with longing for help. Now, right here again, watch Asaf’s heart change. You don't let me sleep. I'm too distressed even to pray. I think of the good old days long since ended. This is nostalgia. When you're going through the middle of taking a hit, you'd be very careful about nostalgia. It's an emotional longing for an unobtainable past. You made a wise, painful decision. You broke up with him for reasons. You quit that company for reasons, but now because things haven't developed the way you want, well, you know he's not that bad and he's going to be getting out of prison soon anyway. We will begin to justify things if we're not careful. He said, has the Lord rejected me? Will he never again be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door in his compassion? This is a church leader going off

And I said, this is my fate. The most highest is turn his hand against me, but then I recall all that he has done in the midst of what you're facing, you're going to have to recall the promises of God. Stir those up. Go back to chapter 73 and we're going to end with this because he, then he also says it this way, after complaining, he said, then I went into your sanctuary of God and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. When he went back into the house of the Lord, when he renewed his mind about the promises of God, he got his perspective right and things begin to change.

What you gain, you need to be ready to give away to others. Don't go through the process with the goal of just getting through it. Learn everything you can and be as honest as you can when you get out of it. We are going to close, and I'm going to read these words from a song that is just, I couldn't shake this song over the last couple of weeks. I want you to close your eyes and focus your heart on the Lord. As I read these words from the song, my Jesus by n Wilson, are you past the point of weary? Is your burden weighing heavy? Is it all too much to carry? Then let me tell you about my Jesus. Do you feel that empty feeling because shame's done all its stealing and you're desperate for some healing? Then let me tell you about my Jesus. He makes a way when there is no way He rises up from an empty grave. There is no sinner that he can't save. Let me tell you about my Jesus. His love is strong. His grace is free, and the good news is I know that he can do for you what he's done for me. Let me tell you about my Jesus and let my Jesus change your life.