Three Lessons My Father Taught Me (Eric Leach)

As many of you know, we've been in the series built differently, and we're actually going to take a week break from that series.

And Pastor Brandon was like, Eric, we just uh want you to be able to share what's going on in your heart.

And so I'm excited about being able to do that today.

One of the things is growing up in the leech household in Omaha, Nebraska, was we were required as kids to do two things: no, no ifs, hands, or buts.

We had to play a musical instrument and we had to play a sport.

That was two of the requirements from my parents.

And so obviously, growing up in Nebraska, I played uh football, I played baseball, I loved sports.

I did music, I wasn't that great.

I played trumpet and piano and finally quit uh doing that.

But out of those, you developed favorite teams, favorite players, idols, heroes.

I grew up as a Nebraska Cornhusker fan, a Detroit Tiger fan, a St.

Louis Blues fan, a Denver Broncos fan.

Amen.

Football season's coming up.

One person, one person.

I got one excited about that.

Creighton basketball fan.

But idols and heroes is a unique thing.

I want you guys to just shout out some who are some of your heroes when you were growing up?

My dad.

My dad.

Come on, somebody else.

Grandma Manning.

Grandma, grandpa.

Awesome.

One more.

Peyton Manning.

Peyton Manning.

First service, not a person said, dad or any family member.

So second service, you're on it.

And you know where I'm probably heading with this.

But when I was about 10 years old, I must have been annoying my dad because he gave me three books to read over the course of the summer.

One was about a golfer who I don't remember.

The other was a history book about Ulysses S.

Grant.

And the third book was called Third Base is My Home.

And I read that book and I just kind of connected with it, and I'll get to it in a minute.

But we talk about heroes, and a lot of times they're sports figures, they're musicians, they're celebrities, things like that.

But a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character.

This one's a little more applicable.

A person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities is regarded as a role model or ideal.

Well, the book, Third Base is My Home, was an autobiography by Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson.

Now, I never saw Brooks play.

I'm old, but not that old.

He retired in I think 1979, and I was just about four or five years old at that time.

But something about the book resonated with me.

He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas.

He won a bubblegum-blowing contest as a kid.

He used to take broom handles and hit rocks with it, and that's how he perfected his swing.

But I just could relate to Brooks Robinson.

And so he became my favorite player of all time.

In fact, this is actually a photo of my dad with Brooks Robinson, and it's in my restaurant right now.

That was taken in 1989, the day before the earthquake, when they were in San Francisco at the World Series.

My biggest regret, honestly, is years later I met Brooks Robinson.

I got him to sign it, is that I didn't have my dad sign it.

And the reason I regret that is because my dad is my hero.

My dad was my hero.

Not always as a kid, right?

You have that tension, you have that thing.

But later on in life, my dad became my hero.

In fact, we talked every day on the phone.

He was the best man in my wedding.

And he and I became best of friends.

Just to give you a quick background on my dad.

His name was Ron Leach.

Grew up in Newburgh, New York.

And by all accounts, he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.

My mom was on the right side of the tracks.

My dad, not so much.

Grew up in a trailer, first car when they finally uh turned 17 years old.

His family had their first car, first one to go to college.

Took him 12 years to graduate.

I beat him.

It took me 15.

So I got that on him.

But my dad, right when he dropped out of college, he borrowed some money.

And this might sound familiar.

He decided to open a restaurant.

He bankrupted.

He thought you show up in a three-piece suit and tell everybody what to do.

So there he is.

He's got two kids, bankrupt his business.

He moves to Minnesota, starts a job there.

His father passes away.

He moves back to New York.

And he has to have a whole new career.

My dad started out selling insurance door to door for mutual Wilmaha companies.

And it was a rough time.

You're on 100% commission.

There were many times dad would come home for dinner, and my mom, being the strong homemaker, would be like, Hey, did you sell anything?

No, I didn't sell anything.

How many doors did you knock on?

Just like five.

Okay.

Enjoy your meal.

Well, you got to go sell something.

We don't have any food to put on the table.

And that was where my dad started.

He started off selling insurance door to door and by everybody's accounts.

He had an incredibly successful career.

When he retired, he was senior vice president of Mutual of Omaha companies.

An incredible achievement for a guy who had to go door to door and have my mom say, No, you need to go do more because we need to put food on the table.

And so there was a lot of perseverance and a lot of dedication.

And growing up, there was a lot of sayings from my dad, a lot of wisdom that he tried to impart, a lot that I rejected, a lot that I didn't understand at the time, and a lot that I later finally figured out.

So today I want to share with you three life lessons from my dad and from my father.

Three life lessons from my dad and my father.

And some of those life lessons, you know, they make you laugh, some will make your eyes roll.

Just ask my boys.

I say some of them to them, and I get that dad.

Usually it's about my dad jokes and different things like that.

But three life lessons from my dad and our heavenly father.

And one of the life lessons that my dad taught me was know the janitor's name.

Now, I thought this was referenced to his dad, because his dad was the janitor of a manufacturing plant.

And so that was my grandfather's career.

That's what he did.

And so my dad would always say, Know the janitor's name.

But the basic principle here is every person has value because every person bears the image of God.

My dad would tell me, Know the janitor's name.

I used to visit my dad at Mutual of Omaha, and it was always cool because it was this big giant building.

They had this glass dome that had the cafeteria down in it.

And I would walk the halls with my dad, and my dad would be walking down and be like, Hey Brad, how you doing?

Just a simple connection.

We go down to the cafeteria, we go to check out, and he knew every lady's name at the registers.

And they would all call him Mr.

Ron.

Mr.

Ron, it's so good to see you.

How are you doing today?

And he would engage with them.

And it was just interesting to watch that observation.

There was one particular one every time she'd ask him, Mr.

Ron, you're wearing that Fahrenheit cologne, aren't you?

You smell good, Mr.

Ron.

But that was an engagement.

And I would watch my dad know all these different people.

And it was a great lesson for me.

But as an adult, I realized he was talking more about humanity than anything.

It wasn't really about learning the names, it was about truly seeing people.

And there's a huge difference between looking at somebody and actually seeing somebody.

Huge difference between looking at somebody and actually seeing somebody.

Our culture has become incredibly good at looking through people.

We notice who can help us.

We remember the people that are important.

We recognize people with influence, right?

We often become blind to everybody else.

Have you ever noticed how differently people are treated because of what they can do for you?

The CEO gets attention, the janitor barely gets eye contact, the customer gets smile.

Man, you walk in.

Oh, it's so good to see you.

Thanks for coming in.

Or as a cashier often gets silence.

The executive gets respect, but the waitress gets impatience.

But none of those distinct distinctions exist in the kingdom of God.

Amen.

It's about seeing people.

In fact, James says favoritism is a sin.

James 2, 1 through 5, my brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, we must not show favoritism.

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and a fine cloth, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.

If you show special attention to the man wearing the fine clothes and say, Here is a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, You stand over there or sit on the floor by my feet.

Have you not discriminated amongst yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him.

Know the janitor's name.

James says, Don't show partiality.

The wealthy man walked in wearing expensive clothes, the poor man wearing dirty clothes.

One received the best seat, the other says, sit in the corner, sit at my feet.

James just simply says, That's rude.

That's not okay.

You have become judges with evil thoughts.

Why?

Because God's economy is different than ours.

God never measures a person's worth by their paycheck.

God never mentions person measures a person's worth by their paycheck.

The value is in the person, not the title, not the appearance, not the paycheck, not their image.

No the janitor's name.

It basically means that everybody reflects God's image, from the CEO to the homeless person, all across the board.

We all have value and we all serve a purpose.

And Jesus had the incredible ability to notice invisible people.

It's about seeing people, but it's also about noticing invisible people.

This amazed me how many times Christ would be walking and huge crowds are following him.

Yet he continued to notice one individual throughout those entire times.

A great example of this is in Matthew 9:20 through 22.

Matthew 9:20–22

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.

She said to herself, If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.

Jesus turned to her, turned and saw her.

Take heart, daughter, he said.

Your faith has healed you.

And the woman was healed at that moment.

Large crowd.

Jesus' cloak simply gets touched.

It's by a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, health issues.

Jesus stops and sees the invisible person.

Another great example here in Mark 10, verse 46 through 52.

Mark 10:46–52

When they came to Jericho, as Jesus and his disciples together with a large crowd were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, which means son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging.

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout.

He didn't just call out, he shouted, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet.

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet.

But he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Jesus stopped and said, Call him.

So they called to the blind man, Cheer up.

On your feet, he's calling you.

Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

What do you want me to do for you?

Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see.

Go, Jesus said.

Your faith has healed you.

Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Well, had the man listened to the crowd and just been quiet, he might still be blind.

But Jesus saw somebody who elders said was invisible.

He didn't matter, he wasn't worth it.

Don't waste your time.

Leave him alone.

Not at all.

Jesus sees the invisible, and so should we.

That's what knowing the janitor's name is all about.

That every person has value and everybody should be treated with value.

Ultimately, that's what we all want, is it not?

We want to feel accepted, we want to feel love, we want to feel a part of something.

We have that in Christ, but as humanity, we try and remove that.

We treat each other poorly, we treat each other rudely.

But knowing the janitor's name is somewhat about showing compassion and love.

What we have on the inside reflecting on the outside.

The third thing about knowing the janitor's name is that everybody has value.

Everyone should be seen because we're all created in his image, but everyone has value.

We see this with Zacchaeus and his interaction with Jesus.

If you look here in Luke 19, 1 through 10, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short and could not see over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately.

I must stay at your house today.

So he came down and at once was welcomed and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, Has he gone to be the guest of a sinner?

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Lord, look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I had cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.

Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Everyone has value.

Here in that time and age, a tax collector was some of the most hated people around, because they essentially robbed from you to keep for themselves.

And Jesus took the time to somebody that was invisible to everybody else and said, You know what?

You have value and you're important.

Today's salvation has come to his house because of that.

Jesus continually interrupted his schedule for people everyone else ignored.

Why?

Because people were never the interruption.

People have always been the mission.

People have always been the mission.

So who's the janitor in your life?

Who's the janitor in your life?

And I just want to give a couple of examples that really impacted me this week.

And I wasn't expecting this as I was preparing the sermon.

So in my time when I was at the Hot Rods, I tried to make sure that I would go around and greet a lot of the employees.

It was important to me.

It was important to me that they knew that they were a valued member of our team.

And this past week I actually got to see two of those former staff members on a fluke chance.

One came into the restaurant, his name is Cole.

And if you've ever worked in a kitchen environment, kitchen environments can be pretty rough.

It's not the most PC place in the world to work.

And Sweet Baby Cole, that's what we called him.

He came to work for us when he was 15 at the hot rods up in the kitchen, upstairs in the club.

And he was exposed to a lot of different things.

But Sweet Baby Cole was innocent and he was a great kid and absolutely loved him.

I've run into him probably about 12 times.

So the first time after I left the hot rods, I ran into Cole and I said, Hey Cole, how are you doing?

And his first response was, You remember my name?

I'm like, I can't forget you.

You were Sweet Baby Cole.

You were special.

And so this last week he came into the restaurant and I said, Hey, Cole, how's it going?

It's going good.

So what year are you in school now?

He's a senior at WKU in marketing.

He goes, I'm now working at my church.

I'm volunteering at my church.

I'm still working at the hot rods.

So eight years have gone by and he's still working at the hot rods.

And it was able to engage with him and find out about his life and what's going on and encourage him.

And it was amazing.

The first time I saw him again out in public, and I said, How are you doing, Cole?

Watch his face light up.

Like he remembers me.

I'm somebody.

The other interesting thing about knowing somebody's name is I honestly don't remember his name.

But I was at Best Buy looking for a new charger for my computer.

And a guy comes up to me.

He goes, Hey, you run the Hot Rods, don't you?

I'm like, Well, I used to.

And he was part of Hope House.

Who in here is familiar with Hope House?

Drug and alcohol recovery program.

And after six months, you're able to start to work and do different things.

When I was at the Hot Rods, we partnered with them.

And if they were on good behavior, after six months, they got to come work at our concession stands.

And he was one of the workers at the concession stand that I made sure I go around and give them fiss bumps and say, Hey, let's have a good day.

How are you doing?

Just talking with them.

And he so he stops me and he's telling me that.

And I'm like, How are things going?

He goes, Man, I'm run to recovery houses now.

I'm like, that's awesome.

Proud of you.

Way to go.

Are those not words of affirmation?

My dad would always discipline me, but he would always tell me he loved me.

And when he said he was proud, that's uplifting.

And that's just two examples of knowing people's names.

And it's not literally about knowing their name, it's about investing in their lives to let them know I care about you.

More importantly, Christ cares about you.

It goes beyond just that.

So who are the janitors?

Is it the person cleaning your office?

Is it the drive-thru employee working for minimum wage?

Is it the server at the restaurant?

Is it a substitute teacher?

Is it an Amazon driver?

Is it somebody at the nursing home sitting all alone that just wants a visitor?

That's a hard one for me.

I remember going to visit my grandmother in the nursing home, and there's just something about it that I struggled with.

Is it the teenager that doesn't have a lot of friends that just needs a mentor?

Somebody to invest in them.

There's always somebody that we can invest in.

Some are carrying grief, some are carrying loneliness, some are carrying fear, some are carrying depression.

I think somebody once said everybody has a personal battle that nobody knows about.

Amen.

It's easier when you're going through a personal battle when somebody genuinely cares about you.

And that's why earlier we were talking about life groups.

It's so important that you get involved and get plugged in.

You may never solve their problems, but you can remind them that they are seen and that they are loved and they're genuinely cared for.

Because at the end of the day, we all long to feel wanted and accepted.

And that's what Christ has done for us.

Sometimes a kind conversation changes somebody's entire day.

You can be having the worst day, and somebody says a kind word and it changes your perspective.

Conversely, you can be having a great day, and somebody can tear that down with just a word or a treatment.

When you remember somebody's name, you tell them you matter.

Not you matter just because I can get something from you, but you matter because you matter to me and you matter to our Heavenly Father.

I love the fact that RLC too has shirts about Christ, about RLC, King Jesus.

Both my boys are wearing shirts right now, the ones in King Jesus, but I implore you keep in mind when you wear those out in public, you're a walking testimony beyond anything else.

So how you treat people when you engage, especially with that, lets them know you want to be welcoming, loving.

We are here for one purpose on this earth, and that's to share the love of Christ.

So remember that as we go out.

Before I get to the second point, nobody remembers a guy who knew everyone's job title, but everyone remembers the person who made them feel important.

Maya Angelou famously said, People will forget what you said, but they will never forget the way that you make them feel.

People will forget what you said, but they will never forget the way that you made them feel.

So how are you making individuals feel?

By knowing the janitor's name, you can light somebody's day up simply by engaging.

I always think it's interesting too.

I think about Kroger.

I'm the first one to always complain that it's all self-checkout, it's all self-checkout, it's all self-checkout.

But when you actually go through the regular checkout line, how are you treating that individual?

Are you making them miserable or are you building them up?

We are in the people business.

We are in the Christ business.

So kind of the challenge is who is the janitor?

Not literally, but who is a person you've walked past a hundred times without ever really seeing?

Maybe your greatest ministry this week won't happen behind a microphone, but it might happen in a hallway, it might happen in a break room, it might happen in school, it might happen in a classroom.

How are you gonna treat somebody?

Want you to turn to your neighbor and say, Who's the janitor?

The second principle is be an active participant in your own survival.

Be an active participant in your own survival.

My boys are probably rolling their eyes right now because I said it to them about a thousand, hundred thousand times.

They're smiling at me right now.

But the main principle is trust God completely, but take responsibility for what God has placed into your hands.

Be an active participant in your own survival because essentially what my dad was saying is don't just stand there waiting for somebody to rescue you.

If you have a problem, do something.

If something needs to change, start changing it.

If you made a mistake, own it.

If you don't know something, learn it.

If you get knocked down, get back up.

If you're in a hole, this is one of his famous ones.

If you're in a hole, stop digging.

Stop digging and figure a way out.

Stop digging.

Participate in your own survival.

And as I've gotten older, I've realized that there is an incredible biblical principle behind that as well.

Because we confuse faith with passitivity.

We often confuse faith with passitivity.

We say, Well, I'm just waiting on God, and sometimes that's exactly what God wants us to do.

But sometimes I wonder if God looks at us and says, You're not waiting on me.

I'm waiting on you.

Faith doesn't mean doing nothing.

There's an interesting tension in scriptures between this, and let's take a look at them.

Faith doesn't mean not doing nothing.

Proverbs 3.5 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

God, I believe you.

You got this, you can handle it.

That's awesome.

Well, James 2.17 also says, so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

So there's an interesting duality.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Absolutely trust God.

Depend on God, pray and seek his direction.

But sometimes we have to take the first step.

There's an old story, not a real one, but I'm sure you guys have heard it about the drowning man.

So there's floods going on in Texas, and there's a man on top of his roof.

And he's praying to God, God, rescue me.

And the guy in a rowboat comes by.

Says, Hey, jump in, I'll save you.

I'm good.

God's going to take care of me.

Rowboat goes on.

Guy in a motorboat comes by and says, Jump in, I'll save you.

I'm good.

God's going to take care of me.

Helicopter comes.

He says, Grab a hold of the rope.

I'll save you.

Nope, God's got me.

The man drowns.

Goes to heaven and says, God, I was praying for you to rescue me.

God says, Yes, I sent a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter.

You didn't take the first step.

We have to be active participants in our own survival.

But trusting God doesn't mean sitting on the couch waiting for God to do everything for us.

One of the clearest examples is found in James 2, 17.

Before we get to that, Noah was a fabulous example of faith and action.

Noah, God gave him the commandment, command to build a boat.

He told him what was going to happen.

There's a flood coming, was going to build a boat, but you need to do it.

Noah had to pick up the hammer.

Noah had to pick up the hammer.

God didn't say, Hey, I'm just going to do this.

There had to be action involved.

And sometimes in that process of action being involved, allows it to be a testimony to everybody else.

What happened when Noah was building the boat?

Everybody mocked him and ridiculed him.

But he stayed steadfast to God.

What an incredible testimony throughout that entire process.

Noah did this.

He did all that God commanded him to do.

It would have been real easy for him to say, okay, God, you got this.

I'm going to sit back and relax.

But Noah had to pick up the hammer.

And along the way, it became a testimony for others.

In the Built Differently series, we're studying Nehemiah, right?

And I told PB I'm kind of borrow a little bit about Nehemiah because I think it's valuably important to this lesson of being an active participant in your survival.

Nehemiah 4 9 said, And we prayed for our God, and we prayed to our God and set a guard as protection against them day and night.

So what was going on?

Nehemiah, God told him about what was going on in Jerusalem.

So Nehemiah knew that.

Nehemiah first prayed.

Then he went to the king.

Then he took the next step and he traveled.

Then he got supplies.

Then he started to rebuild the wall.

Then he started to do this.

Then he came under attack.

And when he came under attack, is where the four nine and it gives us the incredible statement.

He prayed to God and set a guard.

It's not just one or the other.

He prayed and set a guard.

And that's where the value is in being an active participant in your own survival.

Sometimes Christians want to do one or the other, and I'm guilty of this.

Some people say, forget praying.

I can do this on my own.

That's probably me, right?

I'm like, I can do this on my own.

I'm going to throw everything on my own back and I'm going to trudge ahead.

And you forget to pray first.

Other people say, Don't worry about anything, just pray about it and let God take care of it.

Nehemiah says, Why not both?

He prayed like everything depended on God, and then he acted by setting the guard.

That's what biblical faith is all about.

You pray and you lock the doors.

There are moments when we make Christianity very, very difficult when sometimes it can be a little bit simple.

It's pray and that's what being an active participant is in survival.

Are you struggling with your finances?

Yes, pray about it.

But make a budget.

Marriage.

Pray and talk about it.

And if talking about it with your spouse isn't enough, we had this really cool thing called RLCC, real life church counseling, where you can get professional help.

I'm not too proud to admit that there was a period of time where my wife Sunshine and I, we weren't getting along that great.

Anybody else in marriage have a struggle?

It happens.

Getting outside help is not a moment of weakness, that's a moment of strength because you're saying this relationship is more important to me than anything else in the world.

Pray and talk about it.

School, pray and study.

I was not a good student.

I graduated high school with a big old 2.6 GPA.

I was smart.

I had to pull a 4.0 in my undergrad to graduate with a 2.05 GPA.

I didn't like school.

My dad used to say to me all the time, Eric, you're not going to learn your books through osmosis.

You can't put them under your pillow and expect to absorb it.

You actually have to study.

And as school starts back up, school, pray about school, but also study.

Job, pray and fill out an application and show up for an update or resume or show up for the interview.

Business struggling, pray and do the hard work.

It's pray and.

And it's throughout scriptures that that's also cemented.

Prayer shouldn't be an excuse for an activity.

Prayer should prepare us for activity.

There are certain things that God will do, and there's certain things that we have to do.

God saves, God heals hearts, God opens doors, God changes lives, God gives strength, God gives forgiveness.

And that's huge.

God gives forgiveness and can restore us completely.

But God commands us to forgive one another, does He not?

We are commanded to work.

Adam and Eve worked in the garden.

Sin came into the world, and then we had to toil.

I don't enjoy the toil part, but I do enjoy the work part.

We're called to serve, we're called to give, we're called to apologize.

That's my struggle right there.

We're called to study, we're called to prepare, we're called to love, we're called to go, we're called to speak, obey, and listen.

And sometimes the go and obey can be a difficult thing.

This past week I was texting with Chris Durham.

There were some fires going on and flooding down in Panama City, and he was like, Yeah, house two blocks over, got struck by lightning.

But here's a couple who was called to go and they chose to obey.

There is action, they were being active participants of what God had called them to do.

And so it's important as we go through these things that we understand God fixed the relationship, or God can fix a relationship, but maybe God is saying to us, Have you apologized?

Have you apologized?

Have you taken the first step?

God help me out of this financial mess.

God's saying, Have you changed your spending habits?

God provide me a new opportunity.

And God's saying, What are you doing with the opportunity that I gave you that you're already in right now?

God used me, and He's saying, Are you willing to go?

Sometimes we have to take the first step.

And we see this in Joshua 3 with the Israelites.

So the Israelites are on the edge of headering, heading into the promised land, but the Jordan River stands in front of them, and it's spring season, so it's completely flooded out.

God promised to hold back the waters, but first the priests had to actually step into the water.

They had to do that before God was going to hold the water back.

The scripture says, as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped into the brink of the water, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away.

God was going to take care of them, but the first step had to be by them.

And that's oftentimes what God is telling us to do.

Step.

And we say, God make it safe.

God says, step, and we say, Show me how this is going to work.

God says, step, and I'm saying, give me a guarantee that it's all going to be okay.

Step.

Sometimes a miracle doesn't happen until we participate in it.

Being an active participant means taking responsibility.

And this might be one of the biggest lessons my dad was trying to teach me.

You cannot control everything that happens to you.

But you can control how you respond to what is happening to you.

There's a huge distinction.

We don't control the economy, we don't control what others say, we don't control people's decisions that impact us.

We don't control every circumstance all around.

And we can't control what we happened yesterday.

But we have a tremendous amount of control over what we do next.

And that's where responsibility begins.

One of the most dangerous games that we play is the blame game.

It's their fault.

It's my boss.

It's my parents.

It's my brother.

Never hear that one, do we?

It's my sibling.

It's everybody else's fault but mine.

It's my childhood and it's my opportunities.

And here's the thing: there's some legitimate hurt that has gone on in our lives.

It has caused pain.

It has caused scars.

It has caused wounds.

It has caused healing through Christ Jesus.

And that's part of everybody's individual story.

And it's really how you go about it.

And here's the interesting thing.

If everyone else is responsible for where I am at, then I'm giving everyone else control over where I'm going to go.

At some point we have to say, I can't change what happened, but with God's help, I can decide what happens next.

Do you guys follow that distinction?

If everyone else is responsible for where I'm at, then I'm giving everyone else control over where I go next.

Instead, I can't change what happened, but with God's help, and that's the key factor right there.

It's not taking it all on you.

It's with God's help, I can decide what happens next.

Every single person in this room has been wounded and has been hurt.

And how you choose to deal with that, it can tell your story or you can break your story.

But even if your story's broken, there's an opportunity to have that healed and that wound to be fixed.

This isn't self-reliance.

Sitting there saying be an active participant in your own survival isn't just about self-reliance.

There's an important distinction.

The distinction is I don't need God, that's pride.

It means because I trust God, I'm going to faithfully use what He has given me.

Paul explains this beautifully in Philippians 2, 12 through 13, in that he says, work out, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it's God who works in you.

Notice both sides.

You work, God works.

We participate, God empowers.

It's being active between you and God.

If you sit here and say, God, you do everything while I watch, you're in the background.

If you say, God, I've got this, I don't need you.

It's all about you.

Where they come together and say, God, I can't do this without you.

But I'm going to do everything that you have called me to do to make those changes.

That's being an active participant in your own survival.

Don't spend your life waiting for somebody else to fix everything.

Take responsibility, make the call, do the work, ask the question, learn the lesson.

Our most painful lessons in life are often the things that define us.

It's not easy when you're going through it, but after you get through that storm, it makes you who you are.

James says, faith without works is dead.

Noah said, pick up the hammer.

Nehemiah said, pray and set the guard.

Joshua says, step into the water.

Jesus continually says, Follow me.

That's action that requires movement.

Turn to your neighbor and say, be an active participant.

The third lesson my dad taught me, and this one took me a while to learn, is keep your head up and your chin down.

Try that right now.

Keep your head up and your chin down.

You end up nodding your head, yes.

It's a very difficult thing to do, and I didn't quite understand it for the longest time.

But dad's my dad wasn't talking about posture, he was talking about how you go through life.

It's a message about how to approach life.

He was teaching me that there are two things that I need when life gets difficult.

I need the right perspective and I need the right focus.

I need the right perspective and I need the right focus.

Keep your head up means don't lose hope.

Keep your chin down means don't lose focus.

And I've discovered this that those are two ideas that are all throughout scripture.

Keep your head up.

It's about perspective.

It's happening inside of us and it affects how you see God.

Keep your head up.

Oftentimes what you put in is what you put out, right?

If you're putting your scriptures into your mind, when things get rough, it's ready to go.

How many in here have ever got ready in the morning and you look in the mirror and you're like, I look good.

I feel good.

I'm gonna have a good day.

And then you go out and you have a good day.

A lot of times you look in the mirror and go, that does not look good.

You're not looking good.

You're fat, you're this, you're that.

You fill yourself with negativity.

What happens when you go out in the day?

Negativity.

Negativity.

That's what keep your chin up or keep your uh keep your chin up and your head down is all about.

Keep your head up as filling yourself with good things, and God continues to fill us with good things.

And our mind is a very, very powerful tool.

In fact, Romans 12 2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Your mind can renew you, it can restore you.

And it all depends on what you're filling that up with.

You can't always control what happens to you, but you can guard what you dwell on.

That's an important distinction.

You can't control what happens to you, but you can control what you dwell on.

Are you gonna allow that negativity to feed you and exude negativity?

Are you gonna set it aside and know that you're a child of Christ and you have value, you have worth, and you're more than that.

You can't control every circumstance, you can't control what somebody says about you, you can't control disappointment, but you can control every, you can't control every diagnosis, loss, setback, or closed doors.

But scripture repeatedly tells us that we have some responsibility for what we will allow our minds to dwell on.

Paul says in Philippians 4 8, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, think about those things.

He's telling you the value of putting those positive things into your head because that's ultimately what you exude.

And we live in a world that's full of negativity.

All you have to do is open your phone.

The news, social media, bad news, comparisons, influencers, we're never going to meet those.

You're not as good.

Jealousy, look at your own mistakes, regret.

And in my opinion, regret's one of the worst things in the English language.

It's looking back and having regret.

You can't control what you can't continually feed your mind and with fear and expect to produce faith.

You can't continually feed your mind with fear and expect to produce faith.

You can't continually feed your mind with comparison and expect to produce contentment.

You can't continually feed your mind with anger and expect to produce peace.

Those are all contrarian.

What you feed inside of you grows.

And sometimes we have to preach to ourselves.

Sometimes we have to preach to ourselves, and we see this in Psalms.

This is David.

David is speaking to himself.

David's like, Why are you so cast down?

What is going on?

Stop being discouraged.

He's hurting, but he says to himself, Hope is in God, for I shall praise him.

And sometimes you have to preach to yourself.

Sometimes the best sermon you're gonna all hear all week is yourself.

And how do you do that?

How do you stay positive?

How do you keep your head up?

It's by being in the Word of God and filling yourself with goodness and truth, not allowing Satan to lie to you and tell you that you're not worth enough, that you're not important, that you don't exist.

And I gotta be honest with you, I was doing this to myself this morning.

I was like, this is gonna be bad, this is gonna be terrible.

You're not good enough, you don't deserve to be up there.

And that's allowing a foothold to come in and creep into self-doubt and all those things.

And it's saying, God, I need you, but I'm gonna put in the effort.

It's feeding yourself with good things so that you can do this.

Doing keeping your head up doesn't mean pretending life isn't hard.

This is important.

Biblical hope isn't pretending, it's not walking around saying, Everything's wonderful, I'm great.

How are you?

I've got everything put together.

No, that isn't it.

That's not faith, that's denial.

Keep your head up doesn't mean that you don't cry, it doesn't mean that you aren't, don't have disappointment, it doesn't mean that you don't get discouraged.

It means Christians have to walk, it doesn't mean Christians have to walk around smiling all day.

But what it does is that this is difficult, but God is still good.

This is difficult, but God is still good.

Keeping your head up allows you the opportunity to confront your demons and continue to move forward.

And what you feed yourself is oftentimes what you exude.

Now I'm gonna give you two examples of this.

Again, my time at the Hot Rods, I had two employees who worked for me and both were struggling.

We went through about a month-long journey with both of them.

One of them kept coming in every single morning, and they would say, I'm gonna get fired.

The next morning, I'm gonna get fired.

The next morning, I'm gonna get fired.

Anyone want to take a guess what happened?

They got fired.

I had to go to them and say, Hey, you've got 30 days to find a new job because the owner's gonna fire you.

I protected you for that time.

It's time for you to move on.

The other one was a salesman, and he was struggling and he wasn't doing the daily activities that he needed to.

I sat him down and put him on probation, and he decided to get active.

And that's what we're gonna talk about next is putting the chin down.

He didn't have self-confidence, he wasn't filling himself with good things.

So every day I try and encourage him, every day I try to build him up, but ultimately he had to put in the good work, and his career turned around because of that.

So two people can be walking through the same storm and have different results.

So the second part about keeping your head up is keeping your chin down, and that's heads up is God still working.

Chin down means so am I.

It kind of goes along with being an active participant in your survival, but you can't fill yourself with positivity if you're not taking that first step.

That you have to be part of it.

Proverbs 10:4.

Proverbs 10:4

This one hurts, it hits home.

Lazy hands makes for poverty, but diligent hands brings wealth.

What they're just saying is that you have to be part of it.

The chin down means hard work.

And one of the things as Christians that we should really model in the workplace is we should, I firmly believe that we should sign because shine because we're a testimony.

When I was 18 years old, I worked at a fine arts gallery.

Seems like a strange job.

I started when I was 17 and 18 and 19.

I have to wear a suit every single day, I had to go in and sell fine arts.

Art that I would never buy.

Uh it made no sense to me.

But in addition to fine art, it was like Mount Blanc pens,$250 pens, all those types of things.

And the owner was Mr.

Scott.

I went to church with him.

His real name was Fred.

I could not call him Fred.

I had to call him Mr.

Scott.

But my first year there, this is 1992, so a long time ago, I did 175,000 in sales.

And he was like, This is amazing.

He made me take a personality profile because he wanted to hire everybody just like my personality.

And he goes, What makes you tick?

I said, Well, I always want to be successful.

But I'm also a child of God.

I want people to know that my work ethic is a derivative of who I am and my value and what I feel.

You guys will have an opportunity to have a platform.

Somebody comes to you and say, Man, what makes you different?

I'm a child of God.

That should shine and that it should exude through you.

I really feel like that verse is super, super important to us.

Another verse, Colossians 3, 23, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord.

As working for the Lord.

So it doesn't matter.

You go back to know the janitor's name.

Again, a life story that my dad would teach me.

I wasn't a great student.

And he's like, grabs a shovel one day and says, start digging a hole.

I think I might have told you guys this before.

He goes, because if you're going to be digging trenches for a living, I want you to be the best trench digger that you can be.

Do it as you're doing it for the Lord.

Difficult things, but we have to get to that point.

You can't accomplish everything.

One of the hardest things also in life is to know when to say yes and know when to say no.

You have limited time, limited energy, limited attention.

Galatians 6.9 talks about how we can get discouraged because of all the things that we try and accomplish.

How many in here feel like the plates are overloaded all the time?

You guys can be honest.

I see one hand, two.

The rest of you are liars.

That we can often take on too much, and sometimes we do need to say no.

Galatians 6.9 says, Let us not become weary in doing good.

For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.

And what hope that gives encouragement.

So in the time it can be super difficult.

But take hope that sometimes down the road that it will become rewarded.

This isn't casual Christianity.

Paul isn't wondering about hoping he accidentally discovers his purpose.

He has a destination, he has focus, he's moving towards something, and he's keeping his chin down.

Now, part of that is also not answering every critic, not answering every opportunity, and I'm not allowing anybody else's priorities to become my priorities.

I've got something God has called me to do, and I'm going to go down that path and move towards what God has truly called me to do.

No, I'm doing great work and I can't come help you right now because God's got me on a completely another path.

So keeping your head up and your chin down, you need both.

You need both.

Because hope without discipline becomes wishful thinking.

Discipline without hope becomes burnout.

Hope without discipline becomes wishful thinking.

Man, I wish I could do this.

I'd love to be able to do this.

Maybe it'll happen.

But it requires discipline.

Discipline without hope becomes burnout.

If you continually do the same thing day in and day out and there's no results, you're gonna get burned out.

You're gonna get frustrated and you're gonna come down.

And here's why dad was saying both things are so important.

You need both.

You need to keep your head up and your chin down.

Because ultimately, because if all you do is keep your head up, you'll become optimistic without ever accomplishing anything.

Your dreams, your hope, your talk, you plan.

But if you never take that first step, you're never gonna get anywhere.

You can become productive while becoming absolutely miserable.

You work, you grind, you accomplish, you push, but you're eventually exhausted because you've forgotten why you're doing what you do.

And that's why you need both.

Heads up gives you perspective, chin down gives you perseverance, head up reminds you of who God is, chin down reminds you of what He has called you to do.

And you think about the runner in Hebrews 12, 1 through 2.

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking towards Jesus.

Looking towards Jesus.

That's what Dab was saying right there.

Run the race, that's the chin up.

Keep moving, keep working, keep pushing, keep going, but where are your eyes?

Looking to Jesus.

That's the heads up.

You aren't staring at everybody else in the starting lane.

You're not looking to see where they're on in the race.

You're running your own race, and you need to keep your eyes on Jesus.

Head up and chin down.

There will be days when you want to quit.

And this is why the lesson is so important.

Because everybody eventually reaches a point where life doesn't go according to plan.

The business doesn't work, the relationships struggle, opportunities disappear.

The prayer doesn't get answered the way you wanted it.

You make a mistake, somebody disappoints you, you disappoint yourself.

That's me.

And those are the moments that my dad's words become even more catching, saying, keep your head up.

The moment doesn't define you, the failure doesn't define you, the disappointment doesn't define you, your worth isn't determined by your worst day.

Your identity isn't determined by somebody else's opinion of you.

If you belong to Christ, your identity has been settled.

It is in Him and only Him.

You are His, so keep your head up, but don't just sit there, keep your chin down.

Learn, adjust, forgive, apologize, try again.

Show up tomorrow, take the next step, and do the right thing and keep moving forward.

My dad's lessons and my father's lessons are vitally important in my life.

Know the janitor's name.

Be an active participant in your own survival.

Keep your head up and your chin down.

These are some of my life lessons that I go by.

But I'm gonna be honest with you, the greatest lesson that my father ever taught me was the love of Jesus Christ.

My dad's parents were not Christians.

Even when they passed away, I don't believe that they were.

My mom's father, my grandfather, was the first member of an armed entire family to become a Christian.

In fact, he got disowned because he became a Christian.

My dad and mom went to the same high school and then they went to the same college, and it was my mom's family that led my dad to Christ.

In fact, later on, my dad wanted to get baptized when he was in his late teens, I believe, and his parents wouldn't let him.

They said, No, you're not getting baptized.

It was years and years later, my three siblings, myself and my dad, all got baptized on a Sunday night at Harvey Oaks Baptist Church.

Incredible time.

My dad's greatest gift to me was my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Yes, he disciplined me.

Yes, he told me he loved me.

Yes, he told me he was proud of me.

But it was the love of Christ that he instilled in me.

And he absolutely gave his life to Christ and dedicated much of everything that he did.

Leading men's groups at his job, going through business books that were Christian-based, sharing stories, sharing the love of Christ.

And at one point in his life, my mom was adding it up.

They supported over 300 missions organizations throughout his course of his life, and you never know that full impact.

But for me, that was the value.

And so it creates some challenges.

My dad lived by these three things, and a lot of others.

And one cool story was how much of an impact you can have in somebody's life.

When my father passed away about, I think, eight years ago now.

About a year later, my brother is an executive pastor out in Colorado.

And he goes and he has to evaluate insurance.

So he goes to an insurance agent because he's looking for new insurance for the church.

And they go through the whole spiel with the agent, and the agent stops at the end of it, and he goes, By the way, I just have to ask you.

My dad's name's Ron.

My brother's Ron.

I call him Ronnie still, even though he's 58.

And he goes, You had the same name as a guy who worked at Mutual of Omaha, Ron Leach.

My brother goes, That's my dad.

And the guy starts crying.

And he goes, You have no idea what your dad meant to me.

He goes, I was a young agent.

You had to go to training in the home office.

My dad was uh part of that training.

And he goes, I had zero confidence.

I was gonna leave that and I was gonna quit.

And your dad pushed me, encouraged me.

And he didn't just say it verbally.

He would send me a handwritten note about every three months telling me, you can do this, you've got this.

He goes, Because of your dad's encouragement, I now have a career.

What we see might be a little trivial interaction has an opportunity to make a lasting impact in somebody's life.

The Bible studies and the different things that he did was an example for me to invest into others.

Because it's not just about changing a life here, it's about changing eternity.

And that's an incredible opportunity that we have.

And so the challenge for you guys today, quite honestly, is we go out.

Whom have I overlooked that God wants me to notice?

Is it a coworker?

Is it a classmate?

Is it the person that's really, really, really hard to love on?

We all have those people in our lives.

There's certain people it's real easy to love on them.

There's other ones that it's hard.

And the second thing is, am I doing all the things that God has called me to do?

Am I doing all the things that God has called me to do?

And the third challenge for the week, is my mind filled with hope and is my life focused on Christ?

Keep your head up and your chin down.

Is my mind filled with hope and is my life focused on Christ?

And here in a moment, the band's gonna come up and we're gonna close out in worship and prayer.

But my hope is that your life is filled with Christ.

And if you don't have Christ in your life, maybe today's that day.

We have a prayer team in the back that you can go meet with.

The altar will be open where you can come and pray and share and turn your life over to Christ because ultimately, having Him alongside us, all these principles come into action.

Let's pray.