Men's Night | Session 2 - Afshin Ziafat

Well, good evening.

Chris, I cannot believe you're a Cowboys fan.

I don't know what to do about that.

So I grew up in the heyday of Love You Blue, so I'm a diehard Oilers fan.

Still, I know they don't exist, I still root for the Houston Oilers.

You say, how?

I watch old 80s YouTube games.

Even if I know what the final score is, I try to pretend like I don't and I watch it and enjoy it.

So no, that's great.

I'm so glad to uh be with you uh again uh this evening.

Grab your Bible and turn with me uh to Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Uh we're gonna take a look at Hebrews 13 in a second, but in Acts 20 is where I want to direct you to first.

Um in Acts 20, uh uh there's something there's an amazing uh speech that is recorded in Acts chapter 20 that I wanna highlight as we think about uh what it looks like to be a leader.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Uh and this is really primarily spoken to a group of elders uh or pastors of a church, but what I'm gonna share with you is I really believe this is for every one of us as leaders uh in the church.

But but I gotta do a little bit of a background before we look at the speech.

In Acts chapter 20, uh I I think I have us starting in verse 17 on the screen, but I'm actually need to go back uh to verse 13.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

I'm gonna throw on my glasses here real quick because I'm old.

Here we go.

Uh in Acts uh 20, verse 13.

But going ahead, this is Paul returning to Jerusalem after his missionary journey.

And so he goes, he we we set sail uh for uh Aesos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged intending himself to go by land.

And when he met there at Aesos, we took him on board and went to my can't say that word, and sailing from there we came uh the opposite kaios.

The next day we touched at Samos.

Wow, these words.

The next day after that we went to Miletus, for and here it is, for Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

And you're saying, why are you reading that?

What's the point?

Here's the point.

Paul is returning to Jerusalem after his missionary journey, and he's gonna encourage all of these churches that he has kind of raised up.

And then we would think if he's doing that, for sure he's gonna go to Ephesus.

That's where he had the majority of his ministry, right?

Three years he spent in Ephesus, and yet what we learn here is he sails past Ephesus because he wants to make sure he makes it to Jerusalem by Pentecost.

He knows if he goes to Ephesus, he's going to be swamped.

There's no way he can just pop in and out of Ephesus.

And so he does the next best thing.

Look what he does in verse 17.

Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church to come to him.

And when they came to him, he said to them, and then pause there, we're gonna get to the speech.

But you say, why are you highlighting this?

Here's the it's so interesting to me that I would think Paul for sure would go to Ephesus, but he goes, There's no way I could go.

I'm gonna get swamped.

I gotta make sure I get to Jerusalem on time.

So he does the next best thing by sailing past, going to Miletus, and then calling for the elders.

That action of Paul tells me something.

Paul believes that as the elders of the church go, so the church goes.

I can't go and speak to all of Ephesus, there's no way.

But if I hit the elders, that's just as good, if you will, as hitting the rest of the church.

Because that's how influential they are to the rest of the church.

So again, I say to you, this is a message, this Acts 20, that is primarily for the elders, the Ephesian elders, pastors of the church.

But I want to say to you, in case you're here going, well, I'm not a pastor, why are you going to this passage?

Well, first of all, if you look at 1 Timothy 3 that talks about the qualifications of an elder or a pastor, there's only one that uh you might say is not for every Christian, and that's the ability to be able to teach doctrine.

But everything else, managing your household well, right?

Being thought of well by outsiders, right?

Everything else, your character, those are things that all Christians are called to.

So, in essence, I would say, yes, this is primarily for pastors.

You should pray this for your pastors, this passage that we're gonna read.

But I think it's not just for the pastors, it's for all leaders.

And you men are called to be leaders in the church and in your home.

You are a leader.

And friend, I think it's something that we are all to embrace.

And so I think it's very amazing.

By the way, this is the only uh speech in the book of Acts that's recorded to a Christian audience.

Why is it here?

Because it's something that's really important that Luke, the author of Acts, wants to make sure we know.

And by the way, we learn at the end of this that this is the last time Paul's gonna speak to the Ephesians.

So this is kind of, in a way, a last um last words to his people.

So this is a massively important text.

So I'm gonna read it real quickly, and then I'm going to show you how we're gonna talk about it.

Let's just read it.

You yourselves, verse 18, know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only I may finish the course, my course, and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see me fake my face again.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, meaning it's not the pastor's church, it belongs to God.

And he says, which he obtained with his own blood.

It's precious to God, and it must be precious to us, his church.

He says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own cells will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance from all those who are sanctified.

Jump down to verse 36.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all, and there was much weeping on the part of all.

They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful, most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again, and they accompanied him to the ship.

So it's an amazing scene where he lays out.

Now there's a lot there in that speech.

I know, I'm not gonna be able to hit it all, but here's what I want to do.

I want to I wanted to first read the whole speech.

And I want you to see that Paul thinks that these words are important.

These are you're not gonna see my face again.

So this is what I want to leave with you.

All right, so it's very important.

And then I will, as I mentioned, as the leader goes, so does the rest of the followers.

And so I speak to you men who lead in your home, who lead maybe in a Sunday school class, in a in a small group, in a Bible study, who lead in the church.

This is for every one of you, okay?

What you do matters.

And Hebrews 13, 7 is what is the verse I want to kind of highlight that I'm gonna use as a lens to study Acts 20.

You say, what's Hebrews 13, 7?

Hebrews 13, 7 says this, we'll put it up, I think we have it.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

So three things I see that you are going to influence those who follow you with.

First of all, the words of a leader.

Second of all, the life or the example of a leader, and third of all, the faith of a leader.

So let's start with the words of a leader.

He says, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.

Now, look at Acts 20, what Paul says about the words that he left with them.

In verse 21, if you look at that real quickly, he said that he testified both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So what he taught them, all right, was that was these two sides of the same coin, which is repentance and faith.

This is the call of the gospel.

The call of the gospel, we talked about it this morning if you were here, was not to go and be better and somehow earn God's favor, but to really come to the end of yourself.

That word repent means to have a change of mind.

It means to turn away from your former life, but to it means to have the right view of your predicament again.

So when we say confess your sins to God, the word confess, con means with, and fess means to speak, like to fess up.

So confess means to speak with.

That's what it literally means.

So what what confession is, is to speak with God concerning your sin.

You don't make any excuses for it, right?

You have a complete change of mind, you see it as God sees it, and you say the same thing that God says about it.

It is a holy affront to a holy God, and I have sinned.

Repentance.

You come to the end of yourself and you say, Yes, I am undone, I'm a sinner.

And then faith in Jesus Christ.

It is coming to the end of yourself, saying, There's no good in me of my own self, and then you turn to Jesus and say, I put the full weight of my trust in what you have done.

This is Philippians 3.

I referenced it earlier, where Paul talks about all of his good works that he did.

As for zeal, he persecuted the church.

He said he kept the law, he was perfect at keeping the law, he did all these good works.

And then he goes, All right, let's look at this other side of my resume, which is my heritage.

He says, I was circumcised on the eighth day, I was of the tribe of Benjamin, right?

I was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

So he's saying, Man, if you go by my works, I have more works than anybody else.

And if you go by my by my uh uh heritage, my heritage, I can trace it back to Abraham.

And he says, All of this I consider as loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus and being found in him and having a righteousness not of my own, which comes through works, but that which comes through faith.

Here's what Paul is saying.

What he's saying is everything I thought that was going that was gonna gain me favor with God, my heritage and my works, I counted it as loss.

So, you business folks, think about your your balance ledger.

You got your assets and you got your losses.

And what Paul is saying is everything that I thought was in my asset column, I now understood them to be in my loss column.

And you say, What does that mean?

That what Paul is saying is my works were actually working to destroy me.

My good works.

Now, how can good works be a bad thing?

Here's how if they make you think that you're fine and you do not need a savior, precious cargo on a ship is no longer precious if it's causing the ship to sink.

You throw it overboard.

And he said, I came to understand that everything that was good for me was actually working against me.

That is the content of what he preached: repentance and faith in Jesus alone.

Okay?

And so, friend, this is what we got to teach to our children, to our students, to the people who are following us in our community groups.

He says that the audience is both to Jew and to Greek.

It reminds me how Paul says, I became all things to all people.

So, for instance, fathers in the house, let me just say, you have to gauge where your children are at, and you speak to them accordingly.

And you always look.

Deuteronomy 6 says that the word of God, that hero Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbors yourself, this word shall be on your heart first, and you shall teach it to your children as you go throughout the day.

So looking for bridges with your children to the gospel.

And again, speaking to your audience, with your audience in mind.

So I'll teach my 10-year-old differently than obviously I teach my five-year-old.

And I'm looking for opportunities to point them to the truth of the gospel.

One time my wife did this brilliantly.

Let me just chase this rabbit real quickly.

My wife was in a Walmart with my um my daughter, she was younger then, and Elise just kind of blurted out once.

There was this African-American lady who walked right by, and Elise just turned to my wife and just blurted out, Mom, why is this woman uh a different color than we are?

Her skin color is different than ours.

And literally the woman turned around and she heard it.

And Meredith's telling me this story, and I'm like, oh my goodness, what did you what did you say?

And Meredith immediately just jumped on that opportunity and said, Well, honey, here's why.

Because the Bible says that all people were made in the image of God.

And God is so glorious that one color would not suffice to reflect his glory.

And so he made people of all different colors to reflect his glory.

And I was like, okay, you will write my sermons from now on.

I mean, that was brilliant, right?

Brilliant.

But just looking for opportunities, you know, to point people, point those that you follow to the gospel.

So, anyway, sorry, I chased that rabbit.

Content, the audience, keep the audience in mind, the scope of what we as leaders are to teach.

Verse 26 to 27, he says, I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God's word.

Friend, are you with me?

He says, I didn't shrink back.

I'm innocent of the blood of you all.

That is a reference to Ezekiel 33 about the watchman who is warned to blow the trumpet when he sees the enemy coming, lest the blood of the people of the city be on his hands.

So, friend, here's what it's saying: those who follow you, be they that your children, maybe your coworkers, uh or your employees, your uh people in your community group, in your Sunday school class, whoever you follows you, you're gonna be held accountable.

As a watchman, did you blow the trumpet?

And the trumpet here is the whole counsel of God's word.

Not just the parts that you know sound, feel good to us, but even the difficult parts.

So at Providence, my church, I preach verse by verse expositionally through the scriptures.

And because we do that, it's made me have to preach some really hard truths that normally when I was on the road, I would never preach.

Like 1 Corinthians 11 on head coverings.

I never preached that on the road, right?

Or some of the really difficult passages, but here's the deal.

Why would somebody shrink back from declaring God's whole counsel of God's word?

He tells us.

He says, After me, many fierce wolves will come.

And their desire is just to draw away the disciples after them.

In other words, people who just want a big crowd are gonna water down this scripture, are gonna teach what people maybe want to hear.

Because their aim is just to get a big crowd.

But people who truly fear God and want to see disciples made, not just big, no more butts and seats, okay, are gonna preach the whole counsel of God's word.

John chapter 6, Jesus teaching hard truths, and the Bible says that many of his followers left him.

John 6 · chapter mention

And so he looked at the original 12 and he goes, Are you gonna go away also?

And they left him because they said, This is hard truth.

And he goes, Are you gonna go away also?

And they said, To whom are we gonna turn?

You have the words of eternal life.

And in that whole scene, I see that Jesus was more interested in the quality of his disciples than just the quantity of his followers.

And so we as leaders are going to be held accountable for proclaiming the whole counsel of God's word and not shrinking back.

Okay, more I could say, but I gotta move on to point two.

So that's the words of a leader.

Now, secondly, I want you to see the life of a leader, or you might say the example of a leader.

And I love that it says in Hebrews 13, 7, real quickly, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, and consider the outcome of their way of life.

Look at me, men.

The outcome of their way of life.

That says, watch their life over a long period of time.

Friend, talent can be spotted pretty quickly.

Character, it can only be it only is revealed over time.

You can't spot character immediately.

Character is observed over a period of time.

A uh long obedience in the same direction as Eugene Peterson used to say, right?

A steady, um, consistent following after Christ.

And this is what Paul says in Acts 20 in verse 18.

You saw, uh, he says, How I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, right?

You watch the way I live my life.

And then in verse 28, which may be the key verse, he says, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Here's what Paul wants them to know it's not just the words you speak that matter, but your life.

Watch over yourself.

It's the same thing Paul told his disciple Timothy.

He said, Watch over not just the doctrine, but yourself.

For by so doing you are saved, both yourself and your hearers.

Meaning your words are important, but listen to me, if your life doesn't match up, it's all for naught.

They're gonna be watching more even than listening to your words, they're gonna be watching to the way you live your life.

And he's saying you will not be able to lead your people somewhere where you yourself have not gone.

You can't lead people if your own life is a wreck.

It's like that.

Remember the uh the stewardess, the flight attendant would always tell us that when the um you know the air masks fall, uh, if the uh pressure goes out, whatever, then you're you're to first put that air mask on yourself before you put it on your child.

Because you're not gonna be able to take care of your child if you yourself are passed out.

This is why I love how Robert Murray McShane, uh famous pastor of yesteryear, says, the greatest need of my people is my own personal holiness.

The way I live my life, my example.

Then I forget one time flying to um Florida to speak at a camp, and I was picked up at a youth camp by this um shuttle, was taking me to the youth camp, and as we were going there, this van passed by me that on the back of the van was an advertisement for this place called Dave's Pizza.

And here's what the back of the van.

It said, follow me to Dave's Pizza.

That was the ad.

And I thought to myself, this is the way my mind works.

I go, man, that van better always be going to Dave's pizza, right?

I mean, if it like pulls off the Starbucks or something, I'd be like, uh, where's Dave?

Where's this pizza, right?

And so I say, especially if you claim to be a Christian, if you come to church and bring your family, which is a great thing to do, but yet at home, the point is this your life better be leading people to Jesus.

Right?

If you're not gonna go to Dave's pizza, you better just take that ad off.

Right?

So if you're gonna claim to be a Christian specifically, the way you live is gonna make a massive impact.

One of my favorite verses in the book of Hebrews is also in Hebrews 11, verse 7.

Hebrews 11:7

I was at 13.7, but 11:7 says this.

By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Now don't miss it.

Here's what he's saying.

Y'all know the story of Noah.

Says Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.

The events as yet unseen was rain.

It had not yet rained up until that point.

So this is how remarkable God's word was.

I'm gonna send a judgment, a flood.

Water from the skies is gonna fall and flood the earth.

And so he said, he says he heard the word of God.

This is faith in action, and then he moved in obedience to build an ark.

And here's what I want to submit to you.

That ark that he built, in fact, let's just imagine an ark back here, okay?

Everyone, can you can you see the ark?

Say yes.

You gotta go here with me.

Can you see the ark?

Okay.

Imagine this big giant boat that Noah is building.

And here's what I submit to you that this ark was not just a big giant boat, right?

But it was a physical manifestation of Noah's inner faith.

Meaning, anytime somebody walked by and looked at that boat, they weren't just looking at a big ship.

They were literally looking at Noah's faith.

Tangible.

Every time somebody walked by and saw that boat, they must have thought that crazy Noah, he really believes God is gonna send water from the skies and flood the earth.

And so my question for us is this friend, look at me.

What is the arc you're building with your life?

That if somebody watched you, they would say, Oh, he must really believe in Jesus.

That's why he's not participating in this event or this thing.

That's why he's treating this person with love who doesn't deserve it, let's say.

That's why he's behaving this way.

What is the ark that you are building?

And for me, what's so amazing is it says he did it for the saving of his household.

Man, look at me, fathers.

Eight people when everybody else thought he was nuts, probably jeered at him, probably thought he was crazy.

And how long did it take him to build it?

It wasn't just like five years, it wasn't just like ten years.

I mean, most biblical scholars think it was over a hundred years.

Building this ark, continually building this ark, and his family was watching him, and they got on that boat and were saved.

And that was my dream for my dad, for the rest of my family today who don't know Jesus, even though they think I'm crazy.

Every day that I follow God is another nail that I'm putting in an ark that's somewhere they're watching.

And my greatest dream is that they're gonna get on a boat with me and be saved.

What's the ark you're building?

So, friend, it's not just your words, it's your life that you lead.

The exact opposite of Noah, by the way, is a man named Lot.

You know the story of Lot?

Lot went into Sodom not to influence the city, but he actually became influenced by the city.

He just was part of the city, didn't live his life for God in front of others, and guess what happened?

When God, just like Noah's time, when God decides to punish Sodom and Gomorrah, the word gets to Lot and he finds out about it, and he runs to his family.

That's why I say he's the exact opposite of Noah.

He runs to warn his family.

And in Genesis 19, it says, it seemed to them as if he was joking.

Are you kidding me?

We've never seen you live for God, and now you're gonna tell us about his coming judgment?

Didn't make any sense to them.

So the question is this are you a Noah or are you a lot?

Does your faith, does your life, the way you live, your example, commend Jesus to your home and to those who follow you?

Or man, do you get swept up in the culture around you?

And someone would say, What?

Excuse me, what are you talking about?

You undercut your ability to tell people about Jesus if you don't follow him with your life.

And so, friend, he's saying, watch over yourself.

Watch over yourself.

Jesus lived this way.

He not only told his disciples to be servant leaders before he went to the cross, he got on his knees and he took out a cloth and he washed his disciples' feet, teaching them, literally serving them.

He taught his disciples to love their enemies.

He didn't just say, Do as I say, but do as I do.

Guess what?

They all understood later that he knew Judas was an enemy, and yet he washed his enemy's feet.

So he didn't just say, do as I say.

Jesus said, Watch me and do as I do.

And so, friend, it's very important.

Um, one last little quick thing, and I'm gonna get to the last part here.

Uh I'll never forget, I mentioned earlier this morning about Samuel saying to Saul, obedience is better than sacrifice.

I'll never forget when my dad disowned me.

That um I was sitting there in a service, this would probably date me, right?

It was in the maybe the early 90s, and that song that we sang all the time.

I know if you've been around church, you remember it.

I could sing of your love forever.

Anyone remember that?

I could sing of your love forever.

By the way, we sang it forever.

I could sing of your love.

Are there any other words?

I don't even know.

I could sing of your love.

And there was one time I was singing that right after my dad had disowned me for being a Christian.

And I remember hearing God almost audibly, I didn't really, but just felt him saying to me, Afshin, instead of you singing about my love forever, I'd rather you go love your father who's turned his back on you.

Because when you do, you're gonna sing 5,000 times louder to me.

Thank you for loving me.

And you're gonna show him the gospel.

All right, the words of a leader, the example or life of a leader, and then finally the faith of a leader.

The faith of a leader.

You see it here.

And by the way, I love this.

It's like what uh Hebrews 13, 7, remember the words they spoke to you, your leaders.

He says, consider the outcome of their way of life, and here's the last thing, and imitate their faith.

Each one of them, friend, gets even more important.

And here's what I want to say to you your words matter, your life maybe even matters more, and then I would say ultimately it's your faith that you're gonna pass on.

What your children, what those who follow you in your ministry, wherever you are serving God, what they are going to hold on to you from you is ultimately your faith.

That's what's gonna be contagious.

Who did you turn to, especially when things went hard in your life?

And I love this.

He says a few things about his faith.

One, it was an inspired, it had an inspired perspective.

He says in verse 22 that he's going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit.

Before he says, I know, I don't even know where I'm going, he goes, All I know is that the Spirit has called me to go and I must go.

So back to Noah.

Noah being warned by God.

Okay?

Friend, we don't live out our faith until we're in the word of God.

It says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Romans says, Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

So we've got to be in the word of God to hear from God and to hear the instruction from God to be able to step out.

So it was an inspired perspective.

The spirit, he says, has constrained me, but not only that, it was a limited perspective.

Look what he says.

And he's, I think, content in his lack of knowledge, in fact.

He says in verse 22, now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there.

Eyes on me, real quickly.

That is faith in action.

I'm stepping out because God has called me.

I don't know what's going to happen.

But I just know I gotta go.

And Jesus, God does this all the time.

He comes to Abraham, he says, Go to a land that I will show you.

He didn't even say, leave your father, leave your country, and this is exactly where you're gonna go.

He says, Leave your father and country and just go, I'll show you the land.

Excuse me?

Uh why don't you first tell me where it is, and then I'll figure out if I want to go or not.

No, you just go and I'll I'll show it to you as you go.

Or how about, hey, Abraham, take your son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice.

And heading up that hill, up to sacrifice his son.

Son asks Abraham, I see the wood, I see the fire, where's the lamb for the burnt offering?

And Abraham says, My son, God will provide for himself a sacrifice.

I have he's like, I don't know how it's gonna work out.

I just know God's gonna provide.

Or how about Jesus when he sent out the 70 two by two into every city that he himself was gonna go, and he told them to pray, and he says, When you go, don't take your money back, don't take a knapsack.

In other words, you just go and you trust that I'm gonna provide for you there.

That's faith in action.

Do you follow God this way?

And then he had an eternal perspective.

And I love this.

It says here in verse 23 and 24, look at it real quickly.

He says, Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction await me there.

And here's what I love.

He he knows what they're gonna think after verse 23.

They're gonna think, well, then why are you going there?

You don't know what's gonna happen, but what you do know is affliction and imprisonment awaits you there.

Why go?

The very next thing he says in verse 24, I do not count my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, only that I finish the course of the ministry God's given me.

In other words, he's saying, I have an eternal perspective.

There's something greater than even my safety, preserving my life, and that's fulfilling the course of the ministry God has given me.

And this is the heart we should have that says, man, I have an eternal perspective.

This world is not all that there is, and I'm living life for what's gonna last for eternity.

I mean, I'll never forget when the Syrian refugee crisis hit, and I don't want to get into very like political things here, okay?

But you remember all that?

Man, do we close our borders or do we not?

And there was a lot of debate about that.

And so I was asked to go to DC and I sat on a panel on Capitol Hill to give a Christian perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis.

And really quickly, I want to share with you, this is what I said.

I said, all I know, all I know is, look, I want my government, I'm an American, and I want my government to protect me, to make sure no bad guys get in, to do whatever they can to vet who's coming in.

So I'll leave that to them.

But as a Christian, let me just tell you, if somebody from a place that's got a lot of people who want to harm me, maybe, but someone who's fleeing that place is coming to my country and is living across the street, let's say from me, what am I called to do?

And he's saying, and I this is what I said, I said, safety cannot be what trumps everything for me.

There's something even more important than safety, and that's the obligation I have to the ministry God's given me.

And so I told my story there on Capitol Hill.

And I said, I'm thankful that when we fled Iran and the Iran hostage crisis hit, and many people in America hated Iran.

There was one Christian lady who looked at me and didn't see threat, but saw opportunity and loved me and poured herself into me and gave me a New Testament.

Because there's something more important to me than even her safety or her comfort, for more important to her, and that was to fulfill.

And I'm a Christian today because of her.

I'm not saying safety is a bad thing.

I'm just saying it's not the primary thing.

The eternal perspective on your life.

So do you have this faith?

And let me just say one more thing.

I think this faith, and he talks about the afflictions and the trials he suffered, this faith is most evidenced, not when things are going good for you, men, but when things are going bad.

That's what you're gonna leave behind.

All right, when things are going bad.

1 Peter 4 19, let those who suffer according to the will of God continue doing good as to a faithful creator.

Meaning when suffering comes to you, if you keep following Jesus, you're declaring by that act to the rest of the world, I believe God is faithful even in this.

So let me close with this story.

My older brother, um, well, before I get to him, there was a period of my life where I went through a very dark season.

A lot of things were going on in my life, and I would have panic attacks in the middle of the night, waking up with a cold sweat for about a two-month period of time.

The only way I got through that time, I would I would literally be on my knees reading the Psalms and clinging to God's word.

I used to never want to talk about those days.

Guess what?

Um, a couple of wee years after that, my older brother, who has an autistic son, has a job that's crumbling in LA, finds out, uh, I mean, sorry, uh, he calls me out of the blue and he says, Hey, Afshin, um, I had a panic attack last night, and I remember you used to have them.

He's not a believer.

I don't know, you used to have them, and somehow you got through it.

Can you tell me how you got through it?

And I'm like, Are you kidding me?

And I'm like, um, hold on, let me call you right back because I was with a bunch of people.

Got off the phone, called my sister who's a Christian, told her to pray, and she's like, Awesome, um, tell them about Jesus.

I'm like, well, duh, right?

But honestly, I kind of was doubting because man, I always tell them about Jesus.

What's this time gonna do?

But I really felt like God was saying, uh, I have a word for you.

So I said, God, what would you have me share?

And God gave me the verses.

I call my brother.

I said, bro, what happened?

He tells me, and I said, Until you get your heart right with God, you're never gonna have peace in your soul.

And he goes, Oh, whatever with that Jesus stuff.

And I go, well, man, God gave me some verses to share.

Can I share them with you?

And he goes, sure.

Well, the scripture says, Do not be anxious about it in anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, make your request known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Scripture says, do not worry about tomorrow, for today has its own troubles.

I told him the story about, you know, consider the lilies of the field, how God cares for them.

I told the story of Jesus calming the storm.

I said all these verses to him, and at the end he just crumbles and he goes, dude, I need Jesus.

What do I need to do?

Now, guys, I'm an evangelist at heart, so what do I need to do?

That's like your dream question, but I was so stunned that for a second I was like, I don't know, what happens next?

But then I go, I then all of a sudden I go, bro, Romans 10.30 says, All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And I didn't even have to say, are you ready to pray that?

Right there on the phone, my brother goes, Jesus, I call on you, save me.

And I got to lead my brother to Christ.

But here's the deal look at me before we pray.

God took the darkest time in my life, and he redeemed it.

And he used it for good.

So I say to you, what you're gonna pass on ultimately is your faith in those dark seasons.

So would you bow your head with me and let's pray.

Jesus, I thank you, God, for these men.

I thank you for the uh various uh arenas that you have placed them in to be leaders.

I know they're leading in many ways, and maybe the young men that are here are gonna be leading in many ways in the future.

And so, Lord, I pray that God, we would remember that what we influence our people with is our words, our life, our faith.

We want to be Noah's, not Lot's.

We want to be building the ark that you've called us.

That people see with our life and our words that Jesus, you are good, that you are God, that you are Savior.

We love you.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.