Stan Dennis, Stopping the “I Wish I Would Have” Moments

Stan Dennis | April 28, 2024

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Thank you Pastor Tim. Thank you. Lemme tell you something, we need to give it up for Pastor Tim as well.

If all we did was take home just a few minutes of what he said when I was even back there, just taking that healthy element of pace and rest, work hard, play hard, but we also need to rest. There's a pace within everything we do. I love how pastor him, matter of fact, Dr. Timothy Rivers, I love that. Listen, I'm not just throwing out flattery. I want you to understand there's a difference between a honorary doctorate and an earned doctorate and there's also a difference between those that settle on just academia on knowledge. We all want to increase knowledge, but when you have a higher calling to imply or utilize wisdom above that knowledge, because wisdom is the proper application of the knowledge, I don't want to just stand here and be impressed or overwhelmed by someone. I want to, let's say it this way. I love the fact that he has a gift that he's able to put handles on the word.

So when he preaches it, I got it. I can grab it and when I walk out, I got it mean. If you don't got it, you can't use it. See, if all we are is just impressed, we get tickled, we feel good, but I don't have anything that I can use until I can get ahold of the word. Pastor Tim has a gift to do that and man, I'm ready to jump into the word, but the worship the very word. I mean the very weekend that we're here, I didn't know that this is child dedication and the word that the Lord dropped on my heart, I had a whole different path originally when Tim called and then all of a sudden it's like, no, no, Stan, I want you, I want to lose what you're going through right now. Some of the things that are happening in our life and the focus is very simple, but let me pray and then let's just kind of jump in.

Father, speak to our hearts and have your way. Amen. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a moment in your life that has come and gone and then you look over your shoulder and say, man, I wish I would have. Yeah, come on, wait. Yeah, we've had more than one. We probably already had a couple this morning. Life is going to come at us and we're going to miss it, but we need to live with the intentionality we're going to talk about this morning is trying to stop having the I wish I would have moments in life, but now lemme say we said I wish I would have to a lot of things. So we may have said, I wish I would have invested into maybe a little Bitcoin or Apple. I wish I would have, Lord, I wish I'd have put sevens to 11 and I won that lottery and what I could do for the kingdom.

No, that ain't happening. That ain't happening. No. But then we get down to, I wish you would've taken a little better care of my health. I wish I'd have read more bedtime stories to my kids. I wish I'd have gone to a few more of my son's baseball games. I wish I hadn't have missed that recital of my daughter. I wish I'd have not taken my spouse for granted. I wish I would've spent more time with my mom and dad as they got older. I wish I would have taken that one job. I wish I would have. The thing is, and I'm start reading off in these, all these I wish I would have, it probably caused you to remember those I wish I would have times in your life. And here's the thing, if you forgot 'em, I promise you the enemy's there to throw that seed, he'll remind us of all the moments that we lost.

The thing is those moments can turn into a mountain and as we're trying to move forward in life, they can hold us down, drag us, drag us back, and it's just called regret to the point where if we build that mountain, if we allow the enemy to build it up and it shouts loud enough at us, we really have a struggle moving forward into our future because of the regrets, Lord, I mean, come on Lord. I've messed up so many times. My kids are already out of the house. How am I going to do anything for them now? Lord, what about our marriage? Come on, we're just happy we're still together. All the stuff that I've missed done the wish I would've. How is it going to change? See what happens if we buy into all the regret and we hold onto it, then we start living a life of compromise.

It's a life of lids that you just need to be happy. We still got rings, but we just have union. We don't have unity. Unity is where the power, the passion, and the purpose are. And all we are is just going through life. The enemy doesn't care if we just want to show up, but we got to make sure we don't show out. And when I mean show out, I mean live out what the Lord is telling us. Matter of fact, even this is probably the part where the Lord had to help me because what I'm preaching, lemme tell you, I've been a ministry for a while, probably 15 years. I was a senior pastor and it was when my son was 11 years old and I'm preaching, man, I'm in. I'm doing the thing and all of a sudden I've got three kids and it was like then the Lord said, Stan, if you'll slow down and you'll listen to me, I'll help you stop having me. I wish I would have moments. See what happens is I had one area in my life and the ministry and some others, it's gelling, it's clicking on all cylinders. But just because you have some areas in your life doing well doesn't mean there's other areas that are being neglected and not even intentionally. I somewhat justified what I was doing. I mean, I wasn't an absentee father, at least in my mind, but I started noticing the moments that I was missing because I was hanging my worth on what I was doing in ministry.

I had to slow down. Matter of fact, that even means now right here today I've got a message. But what you need is a word. See, in the process of sharing a message, what we're all looking for when we hear it is, I just need a word.

The Lord showed me something in the first service that was kind of happy. He's showing me something now that I don't like. I'm a man under authority and I submit. But I got a picture of a young lady. The makeup is covering the bruise and I just felt like the Lord telling me to tell you, you're no one's punching bag. I love you so much. You're here for a reason today.

Part of me wishes that Mandy was here and nobody else was here. And I would run to you and give you a daddy hug and tell you I would hold your cheeks together and tell you what God says over your life. But I no way would I ever embarrass you. But I do want you to do this. Please do not leave today without coming up the end and seeking one of these other wise women sharing your heart and getting the help that you need. As I say, I got a message, but we need a word. And I've been a ministry long enough that I don't even like to hear myself that long. Pastor, do you have anything on your heart?

I'm covered. Alright. Alright. See again. Well, the verse I was even going to share to you, Proverbs 1921 says, many of the plans in a man's heart, but it's Lord's purpose that prevails. That doesn't mean we don't plan, it means we submit our plan. So when I have a plan, I have a message, but I yield to it to understand again, it's not about a message, it's about getting a word. So as we get into this, make sure you're listening. There are times that I've been sitting in a message and all of a sudden one word takes me off on a path. That's what I need. And I may rejoin that word later on, but you let the Lord take you down. Whatever you need to give you what you need. Let me tell you, I mentioned this before, my problem, especially as a younger man or young minister, was not how to hear the voice of the Lord is being patient enough to get the timing that went with the anybody ever jumped the gun.

Yeah. Jumped the gun so much that it made it look like it wasn't the Lord. It was the devil. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. And I tried to sell it because I knew that I knew. But yet because the timing was wrong, the Lord showed me, Stan probably the best lesson I can teach you and understanding the timing is you need to know it's never ever, ever, ever just about you. So when we understand that we are a body fitly joined together, part of the reason we need to slow up is because there's other works that are going on. Just get the word or say it like this. We are always responsible for what we say, how we say it and when we say it, don't ever settle on even just two out the three. Sometimes in marriage we justify just because it's factual. Just because it's factual doesn't mean you need to say it.

And even when you do, you watch how you say it. Alright, that's enough of that. Let's see what else The Lord, Hey, I want to tell you, this whole thing popped in my heart because of what's been going on in our life and I want to give you a little glimpse of just the last three weeks in Mandy and mine and Mandy was hoping to be here, but we had an event and she wasn't feeling well. Last night she got up this morning not feeling well and I was pretty well trying to drag her, but she was, she's resting. I want to show you what's been happening in our last three weeks. Look it up here at the screen. I want you to see this picture. That is Elias. He's Eli. We're calling him. That is our first grand baby, man. Come on.

I have been creeping out everybody with kids for probably three years waiting for little Eli. I'm telling you yesterday. I'm just holding at him and looking at him, just smelling him. You know that new baby, they got that new car smell right there. I'm telling you everything. Just listening to him breathe. Now listen, you probably got up this morning, I don't know if you checked the news, you know the weather, but last night, somewhere around midnight, they closed the voting. This morning they announced not only is he lies the best grandbaby I got Grandpa of the year award. Yeah, yeah. I said, he's only three weeks old, but he already runs a 4, 3 40. He's got 44. He some of you're like, you're taking your jacket off. Come on man, I'm going to knock you out. You're not the best grandfather. There's something about it, man.

I'm loving it, but all of a sudden it makes what I'm teaching about it and become more vivid. How do you stop having the I wish I would have moments. I want to make sure I'm as intentional as I can be. Part of my intentionality started with this next picture as I'm in ministry. My son's 11 years old and then the Lord told me, slow down. Let me show you this picture. This was last week. My son got married to Bethany and she is an amazing young lady. We love her family. Charlie and Susan, her parents are amazing, her brothers, her youngest sister, Anna, they're incredible. And all this started when he was 11 and I started trying to get ahead and bringing some intentionality. What we are doing, and I guess it was last Monday before all of his buddies started coming in for the wedding, before family got in.

I said, Brady, Monday's our last lunch before you become a married man. So he picked the place. We went and had sushi and I picked the content. Now listen to me, that was not, well I guess he's getting married. I probably ought to share a few things. No, that was not my first conversation. This was me doing bullet points over the things that I've been doing my best to say and live out. How many of you understand saying it is one thing, living it out is another. Let me give you one example of us when we, now my wife is a southern sweet Southern bell. We were doing some pre-marriage counseling. We're sitting at a coffee shop and this is about the third time we're meeting with this couple. We knew the young man, we knew him. We knew him for a while. Wonderful young man.

They're coming in about the third session. All of a sudden she's got tears in her eyes and we sit down and as we sit down, my wife said, darling, what's wrong? And she begins to say, well, this past weekend some of his college friends came over, one of them said something and did something that was inappropriate and he didn't do anything. And my wife loved this young man. She gave him the Heisman hand. We're sitting there at this coffee table. She puts her hand up to his face probably about six inches away, and she looks at her and said, you don't need to believe for one second that that will change. Oh, you talk about putting it in reverse. No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean he's backpedaling. He's sharing, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Lemme tell you, there's a difference between marriage counseling and pre-marriage.

We're not trying to save anything right here. That sounds like an exit to me. I'm going to talk you out to getting married. You try to talk me into why you should. That's right. And I mean I'm letting my wife go. She said, no, no, no. You do not have to put your faith in the fact that the next time this comes around he's going to do the right thing. You don't for one second have to believe in that. Lemme tell you, he was very apologetic. He's sharing and express in his heart. And I said, words must be said. It's up to her if she wants to fully believe them. But there's a problem. Experience speaks so much louder than those words. And what we really almost need, and I'm not going to pray for, I don't want you going through another problem, but until the heat gets turned up, all you have is words.

So you better start living it while you're also saying it for people to believe in it. Well, lemme tell you, they have a wonderful marriage. They're doing great. That was a life lesson. But I'm telling you, I don't know if you want me doing your pre-marriage, man, we called a marriage. I say this, I don't want to say no, but you better believe I'll say not now. We had one that was two weeks away, two weeks away. You know what that means? Some of you dead. That means money's been spent. Say we're not doing it. We're not moving forward. Not now.

How do we stop having the I wish I would have moments in life. I sit down with my son at this restaurant and I just begin to go over some things. I tell 'em, son, you are about as soon as you say I do, you're stepping away from the me, which you already should be working on. It's not all about you, but you're stepping away from me and you're entering into we everything you do, everything you think, every action needs to be with her in mind. Before you thinking of you, I said, you're going to sign a contract. We don't belittle that, but you're entering into a covenant. See, if you just focus on the contract contracts, we have a tendency to look at it for our rights, but it's a contract. When it's a covenant, we're looking to take up our responsibilities. Now we're doing all this while having sushi, but I'm telling him I'm going down a few other things.

I told him there's a reservoir of words that you don't ever, ever need to dip into. You're going to get in some arguments, but you don't ever dip into those words because as soon as you do, the enemy is going to follow you the rest of your life throwing those seeds out, waiting to see if they take any root. So don't ever use the words. And I went down some other things with him. I just reminded him. I reminded him of something the Lord put on my heart his senior year in college. And again, this was after the Lord told me to slow down and listen. I started writing some things. I'm going to share with those in just a minute. But I also mentioned to him one other thing. I said, buddy, mom and I see something in Bethany that you don't see to the degree we see.

He said, now I know you love her. I know you appreciate her. But appreciation, greater appreciation comes from two basic things, information and experience. Now you can have a lot of information. It's kind of like what I mentioned about Pastor Tim. You can have tremendous knowledge. That does not mean you're walking in wisdom. And what I was saying about this appreciation is experience. What we're seeing is a reflection of how Bethany's going to be years from now. Because two years ago her brother went through a horrible accident and almost lost his life and she never left his sight. But listen, she didn't just stay by his side shedding tears. She stayed by his side speaking the word. I said, buddy, that is a reflection of who she's going to be as a wife, as a mom, you're more fortunate than you realize.

That alone is going to help you stop having a lot of I wish I would have because you're trying to see how somebody's going to respond before they even get there. So I went on. I told him my goal is to help Brady live a life of intention and not have those I wish I would have moments in life. So I wrote some things. Matter of fact, there's an old book called Raising Modern Day Nights that the Lord just said, you need to read this. This is an old book. I didn't really like the cover, but I began to write it. I read it and it was this. The book involves intentionally guiding and equipping young boys to become honorable, courageous, and responsible men. Because what I wanted was my son to know the difference between being a male and being a man. I want him to know the difference between being a father and being a dad.

And he needs to know it before he gets there. It's the process of growing up. So I didn't listen to me. I miss so many things. I miss so many things. I had a mountain of regret on my Be careful, be careful how much you look back into that pile of regret. Don't do that. You keep facing forward. I wanted to Brady to know these differences. So I focused on a few of those things and I was even joking. No, I wasn't joking. At the rehearsal dinner we had, we're praying over Brady and Bethany and all the family of friends that have come in and all of a sudden the Lord dropped on my heart, said, I want to speak to you everybody just a minute for about collateral blessing. Our focus is on Brady and Bethany. This is their night, their time tomorrow is the wedding.

But family, some of you have come in from a long way just like you've come into church. I don't know how you got here. I don't know if a friend invited you, if you just happened to pass by, but you're here. Part of the collateral blessing is not just the word and the worship that you've heard, but it could be a conversation that you had in the hallway. It could be something as you go out to the parking lot, that one word from somebody else reiterates what you needed from God's word. That is exactly what you needed. What I mean is don't just be the one looking for the word. Be ready to give that word. That means even in the midst of your pain, I'm not belittling pain. I'm not saying we don't have our own junk, but one of the best ways to get out of some of our stuff is also be looking for opportunities to be used even in the midst of it.

See, what it does is just creates an awareness because when you're looking for opportunities to be used, that's one of the greatest ways you can stop having those. I wish I would've moments because we get looking at the mountains so much that we miss the moments or we get so focused and ingrained in the moments that we get off course of the mountain. We need that healthy balance to see and allow the Lord to guide us. Let me give you, I'm going to read off just a few of these. They're very short because when Brady was in college somewhere around freshmen, sophomore year, Manny's like, I'm calling Brady and he's not even answering, he's not picking up the phone. I'm like, well, let me try. So I call Brady boom. He answers immediately, Hey bud, how you doing man? Hey listen, I know next month you're coming home.

You coming on Friday or Saturday? Okay, hey, when you're leaving Sunday, alright, hey listen, I got to go and I'll talk to you later and I hang up. Listen, I don't have to go anywhere. I could stay on the phone with him for an hour. But what I did was I cut it short. I realized that it's not about all the volume of information, it's about the connection. Having that bridge to get information across. Lemme tell you, parenting is more like miniature golf. I don't care how straight you hit it, that alligator's mouth better be open or it's just bouncing off. So it's those moments that we need to take advantage of and man is like she wasn't real happy with that little life lesson, but we did learn and I learned much more than that because all of a sudden some of the things that the Lord started putting in my heart were these bite-sized moments. He was showing me stand. He just reminded me. He said, you went to seminary and you're trained and monologue speaking, but more is caught in dialogue. I need you to not only speak, I need you to listen while you're speaking. It is good.

I just didn't know if I could do it because it's pretty darn hard. And I realized, you know what, you can't speak and listen this at the same time. So that means I had to switch and I had to start listening and the greatest conversations start by great questions. So instead of me trying to come in with answers, I started digging after questions. Oh yeah, why? Why? Because if you keep digging after questions and you get down to the why, what has some value, but the real value is in the why. To discover the why. You got to get past all the what. So you need to dig down. You need to be observant. Alright, let me read a few of these. These are real quick. This is what I gave him his senior year. Every Sunday afternoon I'm shooting one of these things out.

I going to give him a character and then I'm going to try to pull something out, a character trait, and then I'm going to give him a little something. Week one attitude. Legendary college coach John Wooden, his first national championship team with UCLA. These guys were just, they weren't seven footers, these guys were short. He told them, I don't care how tall you are, I care how tall you play. I said, Brady, always remember he who is in you and you won't be easily moved by those around you. I love you son. Week two, achievement. The three greatest essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are hard work, sticktoitiveness and common sense. Don't make anything harder than it already is. Take these three essentials in everything you do while saturating them in prayer. Ask him for God's guidance. I promise you'll do great. I love you son.

Week three, pick your words wisely. Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't and the other half who have nothing to say, but just keep on talking. Brady, you want people to want to listen when you speak. So it begins with being a good listener and then choose wisely your words. Love you. Week four, don't let nerves stop you. The only difference between the prose and the novices are that the prose have trained the butterflies to fly in formation. John 10 27 says, my sheep hear my voice and they will not follow the voice of a stranger. Brady, you have no reason to fear. Listen closely to the Lord's voice and his word then take steps of faith. Love you dad. Two more. Week five was wisdom. There's two thoughts. We're all born ignorant, but we must work hard to remain stupid.

Don't take the fence down until you know the reason it was put up. Good Brady knowledge is good and we always want to be learning, but wisdom is what you truly want to strive for. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. Wisdom helps people. Knowledge by itself can annoy people. Love you bud. And the final one, I had a bunch of these and I'm thinking about, Lord, what if I put some of these out and then you tag your stuff at the end of them? I don't know. We'll see. Character Brady always remember, ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. Watch your thoughts. They become your words. Watch your words. They become your actions. Watch your actions. They become your habits. Watch your habits. They become your character and watch your character because it becomes your destiny.

I love you son. This happens to be the very purpose of our marriage ministry today. It's built on one key focus, helping individuals develop healthy habits. I realized it's not about the information overload. As Christians, what we need to be doing is live the word that we know. While we have a hunger for more, it's not about memorizing a bunch of verses that are just in our head. When the enemy attacks in our heart that we're able to speak, the faith is released. So what words are here? What words of the Lord are right here? What do you need in your heart for what you're going through right now? What the enemy is right now trying to turn into a regret. You may still have an opportunity to change it around if you're speaking his word over it.

And next weekend I have the opportunity to speak to a church staff in Florida. They had a wonderful article written about being one of the fastest growing churches in the country. They're young, it's wonderful, it's great. But they're bringing me in to teach them about one key element, how to stay healthy during the process of growth. Because lemme tell you it, when things are going well that we have a tendency to let up and we let up. Let things in, man. When things are going rough, we're on our knees, we're praying every day, but when things are going well, somehow we have a tendency. I got it. God, thank you. We'll see you stay close, but I got it.

Come on. And the next thing you know, how did that ever happen? Didn't happen overnight. How do we stay healthy during the process? Well, all these things. One of the other things that Mandy and I do, one of the retreats that we do, incidentally we're doing another. We're honored to do another level marriage retreat for embassy. It's in August at the Gaylord, but there's another trip. Yeah. Alright, thank you. There's my mom right over there. Thank you very much. Yeah, we're going to have a good time. Now there's another type of retreat that we do for both companies and individuals and it's called a vision retreat. And what it is, is we help you come into an agreement on the most important things of your life and then you use that as a map to run for the year. Because without intentionality, we just become reactive versus being proactive.

So we help individuals get ahead of it. Meaning when we meet with a company or church, we're not talking about dictating the vision of the church or the company. We're making sure that the ones that are carrying out that vision have a vision for their own life. We want to make sure they're healthy. Well, when we started looking at some of these things and what the Lord was showing us, we're like, father, we got to make sure that we're emulating it, living it, not just speaking these words out. So how do we stop having the I wish I would have moments in life. Well, we begin living with purpose and intentionality. Living with purpose and intentionality comes through a process of maturing. Now all of a sudden that begins to sound a little more like work. It is, but it's well worth it. Pastor and praying over all the kids and the baby dedication. Parenting is not easy, easy marriage is not easy, but it is well worth it. We put the time and the rewards are incredible if we'll put in the time. The problem is if we're not careful, we're gelling over here and justifying over there. It doesn't mean all our life is an upheaval. Things are going good over here. I'm working hard. I'm providing for my family. Yeah, I'm just not in my family.

See, we got to make sure that we have a healthy balance. Well remember I say great appreciation comes primarily from information and experience. Will appreciation and education go hand in hand when you get into education, the things that you appreciate, you hold onto the rest of it. You are impressed for a little while, but it's gone. You got to go back research, oh man, that professor said this or that message. I got to go back. But when I have an appreciation for something, I hold onto it. It's easy to recall it. But appreciation again comes through these areas of really mentorship. One of the best examples of this process is how we see Jesus dealing with his disciples. So Jesus mentored them. I want to read this to you. The impact of mentorship can be observed in the transformative effect it has on individuals and communities. Mentoring relationships provide opportunities for personal growth and character development. So let me ask you, are you a mentor or a mentee? We are both. That's a good answer and I didn't trick anybody that. Now the answer is we need to be both.

We are always looking for somebody to mentor us or we need it. But the thing is, you also have something to give. Don't wait until becomes polished. Just be pure. Be real. Own the mistakes. Let me say this, I say own it. Now. This is just definitions, but the Lord gave me this and again, it's my definition so I'm not speaking against anybody that has different definitions of it, but be careful for ownership, but take responsibility. They sound the same. I said it, I did it, but ownership says I said it. I did it because that's who I am. And if I believe it, it becomes part of my identity. Then how am I ever going to walk away from it? Because it's part of who I am. Responsibility says I did it, I said it. I'm sorry Father, you take it and now I can walk and keep moving. I'm not living in denial saying I didn't do it, didn't say it, but I'm not going to own it and wear it like it's part of my identity because I am who he says I am.

Not even what some teachers, some friend, maybe even a parent may have said over you that is contrary to the word of God. The story of Jesus and his disciples in New Testament exemplifies mentorship and the steps towards maturity. Jesus selected 12 guys invest his time and energy in teaching and training them. So let's look at a few things right here. Number one, first there was a calling and an inviting. Jesus calls his disciples inviting them to follow him. In Matthew four 18 he says this, he approached Simon, Peter and Andrew while they were fishing and said, follow me and I'll make you fishers. Amen. The disciples responded by leaving their nets and following Jesus. So let me ask you, have you or are you responding to Jesus's call and invitation in your life? Have you said no? Maybe because of the regret thinking if I can get a few of these things cleaned up, then maybe I can come back to the Lord and I'll take that invitation now, but how I am Lord, you don't even want me. He said, I want you exactly the way you are, but you're not going to have to stay that way.

Is there anything that you need to leave behind? They dropped the nets and ran. Is there something that you need to let go of that will allow you to follow Christ? Are you holding on to something that you need to let go of? I ran into at Mandy, one of her banquets. There's a teacher, and I'm listening to his stories after this big award, he was an engineer. He had been an engineer in the workplace for 20 some years. Made a lot of money, had a lot of success, and one day he said, I'm giving this up and I'm going into the school system. I'm going to teach. He went to a high school here in the metro and they had zero. He was teaching robotics. No one in that zero. There wasn't even a class After two years there's 152 students in robotics class.

So many of these now want to become future engineers and he was saying this and there's a bunch of teachers, but he's saying, I felt like what the Lord has given me is more of a calling, so I'm going to give this part up so I can do this. Is the Lord asking you, maybe you're in the right field but maybe you need to be using it a different way. These are God giving gifts and talents, but have you given it back to him? See the difference of the anointing on that gift is when we give it back to him. God's word never returns void, but the anointing that is always on his word is not always on us. We can operate in that gift and give God the glory and then all of a sudden I step out of that still thinking. One of the saddest things in scriptures to me, one of the saddest verses in the Old Testament about Samson when he said he did not realize the spirit had left him

Going about doing the same thing and did not realize it left him. Number two, the second thing, second area where Jesus mentored his disciples was in learning and observing. Man, these guys were getting a crash course by the master. The disciples spent extensive time with Jesus observing his teachings miracles and his servant leadership. They witnessed his compassion, his love, and his commitment to the kingdom. In Matthew 8 23, you can see it, it says this. Then Jesus got into the boat and started to cross the lake with his disciples. Suddenly a fear storm struck the lake in the waves breaking into the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. I think it is important to understand you think Jesus had a bad day? You think he didn't check the weather report on his app? You know what guys? Forget the boat. We're going to go by donkey. We're going to go around the sea.

Jesus picked the destination and the transportation and he had peace in the middle of it. Then it says, but Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went in, woke him up shouting, Lord, save us. We're going to drown. Jesus responded, why are you afraid? You have so little faith. Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. Who is this man? Come on. Have you ever done that? Have you ever had the Lord do something? You saw something in your life and I'm like, oh my gosh, the freshness, the newness. Assume you may be in the middle of a storm right now and part of you feels like I don't even know if the Lord cares. It seems like the Lord doesn't care what I'm going through. Nothing seems to be changing. We're still going through the storm and if there's a storm, therefore there must be a problem.

Therefore, we get all this confusion going on. Somehow we think that if we ever go through a storm that there something must be wrong. I just told you, Jesus picked the destination. The transportation went right through the storm, had absolute peace and told them they could have that same peace. Some of you are going through some storms that are self-inflicted and you need to hit reverse and you need to say, father, forgive me. Show me what I need to do. Some of you're going through a storm and the Lord has directed your path to go through it and you're about to hit reverse and you just need to say, father, give me peace. I'm here for a bigger reason. I'm here for a bigger purpose. Here's the thing, I can't tell you which one's which the Bible says. My sheep hear my voice, the voice of a stranger. They will not follow. What's the Lord saying to you in the middle of your storm? What's he telling you to do with it?

Now let's look at why they also learned from the observing part. Matthew nine verse nine says, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth, follow me and be my disciple. Jesus said to him, so Matthew got up, followed him later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to the home and dinner guest and man this room was full with a bunch of people that these disciples are looking around. I said, should they be here? Should we be here? Notice in the word it says, they asked Jesus, why does your teacher eat with such scum?

These religious leaders only had one view. If you don't get good enough, then I don't want to have anything to do with you. If you don't reach a certain level, then we can't be close. We got to be very careful. If we ever become inclusive, we need to make sure we are ready to include, not exclude. I have a group of men that are a big blessing to our ministry and every September, this will be the ninth year, I take 24 of these men and we just go up and we golf and I feed into 'em a little bit and when the Lord put this on my heart, he just told me, I just want you to bring these men with you. He just told me, don't bring any ministers. I've got enough time and some other ministers, these just need to be men in the church and they don't have to be of one particular church.

You just be open. Matter of fact, when a spot opens up, I don't go over and let's see who the biggest giver is. They need to get an invite. No matter of fact, there was a spot opened up two years ago and one of the individuals, he said, Hey Stan, I know this one guy. I think he should go. I'm like, that's good enough for me. He's in well on this trip, about a month after we accepted him and gave him all the details and he's in the trip. Well, we're up there playing golf man, we're having a great time and he's not on my team, but he's in my foursome and we're barely on hole three and this guy for all three holes. He's crying, he's cussing, throwing clubs. I'm like, oh, he's going to fit right in. This is great. Now I looked at him and I'm like, okay, everybody's got a story.

Everybody's got a story and if we're not careful, like these religious leaders, they looked at those people and called them scum. I'm like, what's going on? What I found out was he had just finalized a horrible divorce and a month before, literally a week before we accepted, I think that was the timeframe, his best friend, they're hanging out together and he has a heart attack and he's trying to resuscitate him and his best friend dies in his arms, so he needed a little space. What he needed was a safe space not being prejudged or Let me ask you this. Have you ever been judged on one of your worst days and somebody made a decision based upon seeing you not at your best? How unfair, how unfair Have you ever felt overlooked just because of somebody else? The way they preconceive? I said, if we're not careful, we have a tendency to only know people by the way they walk in the door.

What I mean is when I see you, whatever you are doing, when I first saw you, that's what I assume you've done all your life. There's always a story behind a story. We got to make sure that we get into each other's lives and find out what is going on we need to use. As these disciples started looking at, I thought we weren't supposed to hang with them, but I guess we are. Jesus started teaching them what was really valuable. What disciples were learning and observing from Jesus was that everyone is important and we don't turn our back on anyone, so let me ask you again, what are you learning and observing God do in your life? Are you allowing him to teach you during both the good times and the bad times? See sometimes the bad times that we want to put in the rear view mirror so fast, but it is rich with lessons.

I reminded, I used to take my son's skiing and we go and winter park, Colorado, you go up, there's called the Parson Bowl. The Parson Bowl is great because it was all snow is beautiful because it's above the tree line above the treeline. Nothing grows when things are going really well, there's not in our life to be honest. There's very little growth. It's how we go through the tough times that are really the growth times and it's not about dodging bullets in life. It's about making sure that I'm hearing the path that I'm supposed to take and not having the I wish I would have moments in life. The third area where Jesus mentored his disciples was instructing and correcting, man, it's okay to get information but now all of a sudden I'm getting some feedback. This part can get a little bit tougher. Jesus provided personal instruction and correction to his disciples both in public and private settings.

He explained parables, answered their questions and corrected their misunderstandings. In Matthew five verse one, one day as he saw the crowds gather and Jesus went up on the mountain side and sat down. His disciples gathered around him and began. He began to teach them. Now listen, they needed their iPads. They needed, there's a lot of content that was given in this timeframe. Matter of fact, we call it the beatitudes. There are eight specific beatitudes, but they're 19 topics that Jesus addressed right after the other and chapter six he said, he talked about salt and light, the fulfillment of the law, murder, adultery, divorce oath, an eye for an eye, love for enemies. Jesus continues to teach him. He moves into chapter six about giving to the needy prayer, fasting treasures that are in heaven. Do not worry, he moves on in chapter seven and says, judging others, ask, seek, knock.

He begins to speak about narrow and wide gates. True and false prophets, true and false disciples and the wise and foolish builders is just laying out all these wonderful things to them, what they should do, what they shouldn't do. I mean it's overwhelming. I can imagine these guys, they're nodding their head like they're getting it and they're only getting a thimble full each time, but they're sitting underneath all this information. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he's taught as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. When he got up there, he wasn't just opening up the scrolls and reading, which is just information. He was imparting wisdom. He was telling this is the what and this is the why. This is how you're going to live it out. That's why we need to be in a church that preaches the word and doesn't just take us deep into the word and drown us, but as Pastor Tim will put handles on that word so that we know how to live it out. That's what the enemy's afraid of. That's when we stop having the, I wish I would have moments when we begin to live out the word notice even after preaching when he is done preaching Chapter eight, Jesus begins healing a man.

He's continually giving. In what areas of your life are you allowing the Lord to give you instruction? Is there an area that you're saying, no, Lord, I got this. I've got this one. I know what to do. Maybe you're justifying your actions because you have the facts or could it be because you're misapplying the facts because you didn't ask questions? In what area of your life are you receiving correction from the Lord? What plans are you allowing the Lord to alter in your life if you allow him to make the judgment? I promise it's only for your better. The fourth and final area that Jesus mentored his disciples with empowering and then commissioning after Jesus' resurrection has commissioned his disciples, continue the ministry, make disciples in all nations. Matter of fact, Matthew 28, it says this, go and make disciples of all nations. Can I tell you, the Lord will not tell anybody to go that he is not already empowered and equip them. He's not going to tell you go take a mountain that you're not equipped to do. He will set nobody up for failure. As we end our time today, I have one last question.

Are you walking in the empowerment and fulfilling the mission God has given you, or let me even ask a different question. Are you even aware that he has a plan for your life and he is going to equip you to be a better husband, to be a dad, to be excel in your job? He has everything. Did you even know? Were you aware? Did you think church was just a place that we come in and get an emotional boost a little bit of high so we can run and then about Wednesday we No, that's hump day and then we crawl back into the weekend. It's not about, boy, I hope they sing that one song because man, that makes me feel good. I'll buy about an hour off that we've been wonderfully made. He's given us our emotions and I love it, but it's when that truth of not just the proper tone of the music but the words that we were singing line up with God's word that all of a sudden it goes beyond an emotional high to I can take the ground. I no longer have to live in those I wish I would have moments. I'm going to be intentional with my life,

So let me pray over you. If you know the Lord has something for you, if you know he's empowered you, if you know the mission he has, then that's wonderful. We're going to keep marching together, but if not, then let today be your day. Let today be the day that you begin to live life with purpose and intention. Let today be the day you stop having those. I wish I would have moments in life. Father, there's individuals here that love you a great deal. They know that you love them, but the enemy is constantly reminding them of moments that have been lost and regret has set in and they become stagnant. They're no longer taking the mountain. They're just trying to survive.

Some of you this morning need to be the day that you come to an altar and you let go of that regret. I'm not talking about belittling the pain. I'm not talking about acting like it never happened. I'm talking about casting your care over on a father who loves you and says, give that to me and I want to interject a plan that how you can begin to live a life of purpose and significance. No longer do you need to allow the enemy to beat you up because today is the day I want to give you the revelation of knowing. I've equipped you. I've empowered you. I sent my son for you and I did it all because I love you. Father, I thank you for it in Jesus name amen.