The Book of First Peter: Week 5

When you think about the leaders who have shaped your life,

you might not remember every single lesson that they taught you,

but you're going to remember how they made you feel.

You're going to remember how they invested in your life.

You're going to remember or you're going to be aware

today of what their life produced in your life And

when I look back over my life, I had different stages,

different men who invested heavily into my life. The very

first one that really made a huge impact was the

person who led me to Christ, Brother Bob. And when

I came to Christ under Brother Bob, I was able

to intern with him immediately. And so I would go

first period into school, then I would show up at

the church office. Our senior pastor had cancer. I had

all my credits done, and so it was one of

those things. My senior year, I'm hanging out with my

youth pastor every day during the school hours. And let

me tell you something. He taught me how to have

a heart for the lost. What we would do each

week is we would take a list of all the

kids in the youth group, and especially those who had

not been recently, and we would pray over every single

one of them. We would write them postcards and say, hey,

we miss you, thinking about you, praying for you. We

would reach out to those who had not been there

for a while. We would take them out to lunch

or take them out to dinner. And he taught me that,

you know, they're not just a project, but these are

people that Jesus Christ died for. And here's an awesome thing.

At 17, I.

Got to watch the power of God. transformed somebody's life

from being a name on a piece of paper to

someone who was prayed for, witnessed to, and then her

life was dramatically changed. And I got to watch the

power of God at work. So Brother Bob really taught

me how to have a pastor's heart. The next pastor

that had a huge impact on me was the very

first pastor that I served full-time under. That's David Kulp.

And David is actually one of our outside elders right now.

And I can tell you all kinds of lessons David

taught me. We were together for close to 10 years.

But the two that kind of stick out today are

the one was just how to do everything with excellence.

Everything we do with excellence.

Even when no one else was looking, we would go down.

Did any of you guys grow up with your youth

group down in the basement? Like that was this church.

We were down in the basement. And I was his

intern at first, and then I went on full time.

But when I was his intern, we would go down there,

and we would straighten all the chairs up, straighten the

Bibles up.

We would vacuum. We would dust.

And I remember early on saying, why are we doing

all this? These kids are just going to come down

and trash this here in about 20 minutes. And I'll

never forget that conversation. He says, listen, we're, yeah, we're

doing it to serve these kids. But here's the thing, James.

everything you do you do it with excellence because you're

doing it for god first and foremost and man that

changed the way i looked at everything in other words

when no one was looking and no one might ever

see that document i'm gonna still do with excellence because

it's for jesus christ the second thing he taught me

was don't ever ask anybody to do something i'm not

willing to do myself And so if, you know, if

I wanted chairs moved, be willing to go move chairs.

If I wanted a room clean, be willing to go

vacuum right next to them. And he basically just taught

me how to have, you know, the character of a leader.

The third pastor that I served under, the one I came,

I served under right before I came here, his name

was Steve Cordell. And Steve taught me something that I

wasn't ready to learn until I was about 30 years old.

And here it is simply. He taught me to stop

trying to make everybody happy. I'm an Enneagram 3. Any

other Enneagram 3s in here? Anybody? You know how that is.

That's miserable. If you tell me today as we're walking out,

if you walk up to me and you say, James,

I just want you to know, I don't like you.

There's a good chance I'm going to think about that

all week. And I'm like, why don't they like me?

I want everybody to like me. And I'm not ashamed

to say that. That's part of my personality. And if

you're in ministry, you really try to make everybody happy

all the time. And he taught me that's impossible. It's

impossible to be faithful to God's word and make everybody happy.

And so what he taught me was be nice, be kind,

be loving, listen to people. But at the end of

the day, you got to get away with the Lord.

Look at his word. And go where he tells you

to go, even if it makes some people very unhappy.

And that was a huge lesson for me. See, these

three leaders who poured into my life, they taught me

three lessons. One, how to have a heart for the lost.

Another one is to be a person of integrity. Another

one was to pursue God's favor over people's favor. And

here's what we're going to be doing today as we

jump into the fifth chapter. 1 Peter.

Today we're going to be looking at leaders and leadership.

Now today when I say leadership, I'm not just talking

about pastors, elders, and overseers. No, no, no.

Some of you lead businesses.

Some of you lead departments. Some of you lead classrooms.

Some of you coach teams. Some of you lead ministries here.

Some of you are raising children or influencing your grandchildren.

And what does that mean? That means somebody's watching you.

You get that?

Somebody's watching you. Somebody is learning from you. And somebody

is being shaped by how you live. See, wherever God

gives us example, you know, wherever God gives us influence,

he calls us instead a godly example. So here's what

we're going to do today. Now, 1 Peter chapter 5,

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

the first six verses, they are speaking to pastors and elders.

But here's what I'm going to do today. We're going

to extrapolate that out. Because I believe that these godly

characteristics that it calls for, well, that's something that every,

every Christian leader should aspire to obey or to be

shaped by.

And so here's what I'm going to do today. Three

simple steps.

One, we're going to study the first six verses of

chapter five. The second thing we're going to do today

is one applicable thing. I'm going to apply those leadership

characteristics to those of you who are leaders out in

the community, leaders here at Church of the Crossing, and

those of you who are leaders at home. The third

thing we're going to do before we end today, we're

going to flip the script, and we're going to talk

about what does it mean to be a faithful follower

under godly leadership, okay? So that's our roadmap today. Let's

go ahead and dive in. All right, we're going to

look at 1 Peter 5. Here we go. It says,

to the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow

elder and witness of Christ's sufferings, who also will.

Share in the glory to be revealed.

And here he goes, he says, be shepherds of God's

flock that is under your care, watching over them, not

because you must, but because you are willing. as God

wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager

to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you,

but being examples to the flock. And then he says,

and when the chief shepherd, talking about Jesus Christ, appears,

you will receive the crown of glory that will never

fade away. So that brings us to our first big

idea today. And this is the big idea of the.

Whole message today. God in leadership. Godly leadership, doesn't matter.

Who you are. If you have influence, you are a

follower of Christ and God has.

Put you in any position of leadership.

Well, it is revealed by the leader's heart and their character, okay?

So Peter highlights two characteristics of a faithful leader in

this first few verses here. A faithful leader, according to Peter,

number one today is, well, they have a servant's heart.

A faithful leader, first and foremost, has a servant's heart.

First Peter chapter five, verse one, it says what? To

the elders, okay, to the elders among you, I appeal

as what? A fellow elder. Now pay attention to that.

He says, I appeal to you as a fellow elder.

Now he could introduce himself.

In many ways. He could have said, hey, I am Peter,

you know, the apostle.

I'm Peter, the guy who, I don't know if you

heard about this, but I walked on water. I'm Peter,

who one time when he was hanging out on a

mountaintop with Jesus, got to hang out with Elijah and Moses.

Pretty cool. I don't know if you know who I am,

but I'm the guy who on the day of Pentecost

not only led 1,000, not 2,000, but 3,000 people to Christ.

I mean, that's how he could have introduced himself. But

he doesn't lead with his resume.

What does he say? He says, I appeal to you

as a fellow elder.

Now, this Greek word here, sem presbyteros, means someone who

is serving beside others.

Okay, so Peter, first of all, doesn't speak down to

these people, no. No, what does he do?

He stands beside them. This alone shows how much Peter

has grown.

Let's think back.

Old Peter was once in an argument about who was

going to be the greatest apostle someday. He actually argued

about that.

The old Peter actually bragged about his faithfulness.

He says, Jesus, if everyone else fades away from you,

I will not leave you. And then he did. The

old Peter reached for the sword. This new Peter says

leaders don't dominate others. The old Peter resisted the service

towel in John 13 whenever Jesus wanted to wash the

disciples' feet. This new Peter, mature Peter, says every believer, man,

we need to tie on that apron and wash those feet. See,

Peter's grown by the time we get to this letter. Now,

here's the very, very important thing that everyone must get

right now before we move further, okay? Get this, okay? Okay.

What made Peter so different now than when he was

a young, prideful man? And here's what I'm going to

propose to you. Peter grew because Jesus met him in

his failure. Do you hear that? Peter grew because Jesus

met him in his failure. Three different times in Matthew,

Jesus was denied salvation.

By Peter, his number one guy.

And so after Jesus resurrects, he pulls Peter and the

other disciples together. Then he pulls Peter aside and he says, Peter,

do you love me? And then he says, feed my lambs. Peter,

do you love me?

Take care of my sheep. Peter, do you love me?

Feed my sheep. And here's the point. Here's why I'm

bringing up.

Peter's past failures is because we, those of us who lead,

we do not lead because we're better than anyone. Do

you hear that? God does not pick you to lead

because you're better than anyone.

We do not lead because we've never failed.

We lead because we have responded to the grace of

Christ in our life. See, faithful Christian leaders never get

over the grace they have received. You never get over that.

You're in awe of that.

He continues on.

He says, I appeal as a fellow elder and witness

of Christ's suffering. So pay attention to that. He talks

about Christ's sufferings here. And he talks about how someday

we are also going to share in that glory to

be revealed. Now, again, paying attention to that word share here,

Peter had witnessed the sufferings of Christ.

And since Christ resurrected and went back.

To heaven, Peter has experienced the suffering of the apostles

and the people all throughout the known world. He even

says this the chapter before to the people reading the letter.

He says, dear friends, Do not be surprised at.

The fiery ordeal that has come on you to test

you as though something strange were happening to you. But

rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings

of Christ. So here's what Peter does. Peter always connects suffering, okay,

with glory. Suffering now, glory later. Suffer now, glory later.

He saw that Christ suffered, and then he went into glory.

He looks at us, he looks at the people receiving

this letter, saying, you suffer now, but you be faithful.

You will enter into glory someday. So let me tell

you something. There's a fair warning that scripture gives to

every single one of us, every single one of us

who step into any type of Christian leadership. Very fair warning, okay?

christian leadership leads to suffering you cannot be a christian

leader a faithful christian leader without suffering okay because leadership

involves suffering the longer you lead you're going to experience

criticism misunderstanding rejection disappointment relational loss i've experienced all those

through my ministry okay Some losses came because of decisions

I made. Some losses became because of decisions they made.

Some losses are just losses. Some people die. Some people

move away. Some people just don't like me. I've experienced

all these losses. You know, during the first 52 weeks

of the pandemic, I had someone encourage me to write

down all my losses. And during the first 52 weeks

of the pandemic, I experienced 46 losses. Either family members

who died, church members who moved away, church members who died,

or church members who left the church during what we

would call the great American shuffle, where churches just shuffled

for a while. And we got some new people, but

also some of our people went to other churches. And

let me tell you something, those losses hurt. They hurt significantly.

There's this series of discussions that's went pretty viral lately,

and they're discussing Christian leadership. And the thing that keeps

being proposed is that the average person during their lifetime

experiences seven significant relationship losses. Seven in a lifetime that

are pretty significant. And they said that a senior pastor

experiences seven relationship losses every single year. And man, I

know that. You know, if you're between funerals or people

move away or people are upset, whatever. And so, you know,

if I'm not careful. Every painful goodbye would be just

something else that I build up a wall around my heart. And,

you know, and I can start producing a heart that

keeps people at distance. I could all of a sudden

preach to people without truly opening my heart and not

being real or vulnerable. Now, how do I work through

these year in and year out? Let me tell you

how I do it. I do it exactly like what

Peter just suggested. You look at the sufferings of Christ.

You remember how Christ suffered. Look at Christ's childhood. He

was rejected in his hometown. His own siblings rejected him.

He had a good friend die. He was betrayed by Judas.

He was abandoned by the disciples. Peter denied him three times.

And here's the thing, remembering the sufferings of Christ.

Does not make my sorrow just go away.

No, no, no, my sorrows don't go away when I

look at the sufferings of Christ, no.

But here's what Christ does. He takes my sorrows and

he gives them meaning.

And here's what Christ has taught me. That through my losses,

I can enter into your loss deeper. So when you're

rejected by somebody, I could sit with you in that

because I understand rejection. When you've had a big loss

in your life, I could sit with you. I can

enter into that with you because I know what it

means To lose. To be betrayed. To be disappointed. To

be hurt. And here's the thing I want all of

you leaders to know today. God does not waste the

sorrow of a leader. He uses it to make the

leader more compassionate towards those they lead. And the wounds

of leadership can either make you better or they can

make you bitter.

That's your choice. You know, these wounds can make you, well,

lose your compassion towards people because you.

Don't want to become vulnerable. You don't want to become

close to Peter. Peter says this, he says, or excuse me,

not Peter, but people. But Peter says this in verse two,

he says, be shepherds of God's flock that's under your care.

Now notice something, whose flock is it? And this is

very important. It's not my flock. It's not my flock.

The Church of the Crossing doesn't belong to me. It

doesn't belong to the pastor before me. It's not going

to belong to the pastor after me. No, it belongs

to Jesus. And the department that you lead at your work,

God has placed you in leadership over that. That classroom

that you're over, God has placed you in leadership over that.

You are a steward of that.

Even your children, you don't own them. You get to

borrow them.

For a time, but they ultimately belong to God. See,

when God gives us leadership over people, we're stewards of

people that God has temporarily entrusted to our care. Do

you hear that? When God gives you and I leadership

over people, okay, we're just stewards of the people that

God has temporarily entrusted us with care.

Now, what does that mean?

Since leadership is temporary, The question is not whether or

not how many people you have following. You know, the

bigger question is this. What kind of person are they following?

Who are you? What type of leader are you? What

type of man are you? What type of woman are you?

Who are you?

That matters more than anything else.

See, when I think about the people that God has

entrusted to me, I usually think about three categories. The

first one's my favorite. family and I want to make

sure that my girls know that they are more important

to me than any platform or any job and that

they feel secure they know that I'm always going to

be there for them for my staff I want to

be a good influence on them I want to be

a good example to them but I also care a

A lot of our staff moved from different parts of

the country, and they put a lot of trust in us.

And let me tell you what I noticed how that changed.

When I was executive pastor at Moel Church, I used

to look at the budget every week and go, all right,

we were this far behind or we're this far ahead,

and that means this, this, this, and this. Let me

tell you how I look at a budget nowadays. I

simply look at a budget, and I'm like, okay, good.

My staff's jobs are secure. Because now I look at

that as something— that provides i look at it differently

i can't help it but i care about their families

and then when i think about you you're the third

group and i love you i care about you but

i want to make sure that i'm being faithful of

god's word that that we're being faithful to disciple you

to lead you to walk with you to help you

become disciples who actually make disciples.

And here's the thing I understand, okay?

Not only do I want to be a godly example

to you, I understand this, you're not people for me

to use. You are simply God's people that he has

entrusted to me. Now here's the thing, here's the idea.

I pour into you, I pour into.

You, and here's the idea that you will then turn

to someone else and you will pour into them. That's

the idea. And so that leads to my next question

right now. Who are you pouring into? Church? It's a

very simple question. Who are you pouring into right now?

Who are you pouring into? In one of my interviews,

I had to conduct a lot of interviews for my

first micro project of my doctorate and one of the

interviews was again David Culp and David Culp talked about

whenever he was 16 years old he felt a call

to ministry so his youth pastor came to him and

said hey David how about every Tuesday after school you

come to my office and I'm going to teach you

how to be a pastor and so they did this

he would take David on hospital visits he would take

David into meetings. And sometimes, you know, when you walk

into a hospital visit with a 16-year-old boy, it's awkward.

So he always just said, this is my junior associate.

Here's what stopped me dead in my tracks when I

was doing this interview. David, when he talked about that,

and I've known David for 26 years, rarely seen him

get emotional. He became very emotional. He's close to 60 now.

And he's remembering something that happened at 16 years old.

And let me tell you what he said next. He says,

it may sound a little corny now, but as a 16-year-old,

it meant everything to me. Guys, there's people out there

just waiting for you to pour into them. They're just

waiting for someone to grab a hold of them and say,

I believe in you. Will we do that, people? People,

the Church of the Crossing, as you're poured into, will

you go and pour into other people? And here's the thing.

David's mentor not only just taught him things, he shared

his life.

And guess what happened?

When I was 19 years old, David brought me on

as intern for the next 10 years. David, whose life

had been poured into, then poured his.

Life into my life.

And then I poured my life into Andrew and Tim's life.

And Andrew and Tim has poured their lives into many,

many lives. That's how the fountain of God flows. You

get poured into it, then you pour into other people.

So here's the question right now. Who is your junior associate?

Who's your junior associate at home, at work, here at

this church? Who are you inviting close? Who gets to

see more than your public success? Who actually gets to

see what you're like when you're actually grumpy?

Who gets to see your life on how you deal

with your spouse? Who actually gets to see those things?

Leo's been living with me for a year and a

couple months. And it's interesting because it helps me, but

it helps him. These relationships are powerful. Powerful.

See, if your leadership ends with you, your leadership is incomplete.

But a faithful leader serves others by pouring their life

into others. Number two, our second big point today. A

faithful leader is a person of character. Now, Peter gives

three contrasts in this passage. He says, a leader leads.

Not because you must, but because you're willing.

A leader leads not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. Okay,

a leader leads, not lording it over those entrusted to you,

but being examples to the flock. Now, the very first

thing that Peter says is that leaders lead.

Not because you must, but because you're willing.

A faithful leader has a willing heart. They want to

lead others, but not for themselves, but for the glory

of God. That doesn't mean that leaders don't get tired, discouraged, frustrated,

but it does mean that we don't resent people that

God has placed us in leadership over. See, a cold

heart still shows up, but you can stop caring. A

cold heart could see people as interruptions. A cold heart, well,

they'll just go through the motions.

And by the way, this can.

Apply to every parent in this room, workplace leader, or pastor.

The question isn't simply, am I doing the job? The

deeper question is this, do I still deeply love.

The people that God has.

Called me to lead? Peter continues to say that a

godly leader is a godly leader who is not pursuing

dishonest gain, but eager to serve. Now, dishonest gain, we

always think about money. And yeah, that's true. But it's

not limited to money, okay? I can use people to

build a bigger platform. I can use you to feed

my ego. I could be in leadership just because I

like to be in control. And one thing that I've

seen over and over and over again in leadership is

leaders often are attracted to those who are wealthy and influential. Why?

Because of this potential symbiotic relationship where you help me

and I'll help you. And I think it's good to

remind everybody here a couple times a year that when

it comes to money and influence in this church, here's

what you should know. I have no idea who the

top givers are in our church. I could leave this

meeting right now and go look at it. I have

chosen not to look at it for years. I have

no idea who the top givers are, okay?

And here's why. I don't want to be tempted to

show favoritism.

In other words, when we walk out of this room

and we get into the lobby together, no one in

the lobby gets more of my time or has more

influence over me because of your finances. Everybody is on

a level playing field. And that goes with all the

pastors here as well. We don't want to use money

or people for dishonest gain.

Peter warns us to.

Stay away from this type of dishonest gain. And by

the way, it's not only just, you know, stealing money

or using people for money. It's whenever you use your

leadership to benefit you.

See, a faithful leader.

Does not ask, how can these people advance me? A

faithful leader asks, how can I lead these people and.

Show them Christ?

In my life. Next, Peter reminds us that godly leaders

lead by example. He says, not lording over those entrusted

to you, but being examples to the flock. Now pay

attention to that word examples, okay? Now, we see the

same language from Jesus. What does he say?

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them,

but not so with you.

Instead, whoever wants to become great among.

You must become a servant.

Here's the interesting thing about Jesus Christ. He had all authority.

Guess what he did with his authority? He did not

have people serve him because he was an authority, but

because he was an authority, he used that authority to

serve other people. So our authority that's been given to

us is ultimately not to serve ourselves, but to serve

other people. That word examples is typoi in the Greek.

And it refers to a pattern or mark or an

impression that can be copied. And here's the image that

Peter gives every single one of us. He's saying that

your life leaves an impression on other people. Your attitude

is contagious.

Your character shapes the culture around you.

The people you lead will follow your example. In other words,

if you're defensive, they're going to become defensive. If you

hide and don't admit to your mistake, they're going to

hide their mistakes. If you take all the credit the

people around you are going to fight for credit. I

often think about how people actually learn from others. They

say by age of five, a young child knows right

from wrong. So say you're raising a child up. And

very early on, they learn that lying is wrong. But

as they grow up, they watch you to learn what

honesty looks like in everyday life. So imagine a child

who hears, always tell the truth, but then dad gets

on the phone and he calls off work and says

he's sick, but he's not really sick. Always tell the truth,

but then mom tells the bill collector it's on its way,

it's not.

Always tell the truth.

And then they watch mom or dad hide purchases from

each other What's this child learning? Yeah, lying's wrong. Lying's really, really,

really wrong. Unless it gets you out of trouble. See,

the lesson we teach with our words can be undone

by the example we set with our lives. See, when

our words and actions don't match, we give people a

reason to question our message. Leadership is not merely about

being in this position of influence. It's about being the

kind of person that you are As you influence other people.

Another way to say it is simply this.

Who are you? Who are you? When no one's watching you.

All right, I'm going to close up today. And here's

what we're going to do. It's really interesting because the

passage goes from this high call of leadership. And then

it flips the script the last couple verses. And when

it flips the script, it goes to being a follower.

Because followership matters. And it's like, okay, that's kind of

weird for the leader of the church. He's going to

preach to us about how to be good followers. It

does seem kind of like, let me tell you how

to follow me. No. Let me give you my credibility

here for a moment. For 18 years, I was an

associate pastor. And there were two men I served, and

whatever they told me to do, I did it with joy.

And I served them passionately. If you want to be

a good leader, you better be a good follower first. Okay?

The best indication that you're going to be a good

leader was that you were a good follower. Okay? You

can't skip that part of the process because if you

don't learn how to be a good follower, you're going

to be a very manipulative leader. Okay? Now that we

got that, I want to go on and just simply

look at this. Peter says, okay, all of you, clothe

yourselves with humility toward one another. Now he says, here's

how we need to follow. We need to clothe ourselves

with humility. Now in the Greek here, this phrase gives

this image of a servant tying on an apron. And

Peter might've been thinking back to whenever Jesus wrapped a

towel around himself and washed the disciples feet. But either way,

Peter says, all of us, we need to tie on.

That apron of a servant.

The man who once resisted the servant's towel says, everybody

tie on that apron. And here's what he's trying to

teach us. In God's kingdom, greatness kneels. Greatness kneels. God

would tell all of us today, pastor, tie on humility. Parent,

tie on humility. Supervisor at work, tie on humility. Employee,

Tie on humility. Older person, tie on humility. Younger person,

tie on humility. Leader, tie on humility. Follower, tie on humility. See,

humility listens. Humility accepts correction. Humility apologizes. Humility shares credit.

Humility serves when no one else applauds. Peter concludes by

saying this.

God opposes the proud. but shows favor to the humble.

So therefore, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that

he may lift you up in due time. Don't be

concerned about exalting yourself. Serve God, and in his own time,

and he's gonna exalt you, okay? Learn to be a

follower before you become a leader. Here's how I wanna

conclude today. I'm gonna conclude with two questions. Here we go.

Who has God entrusted to you? And the second question is,

What are they learning from your example? What are they

learning from your example? And I want to share it

with you in my heart as we close today. Because

I want you all to know I love you. I

pray for you. I care deeply about you. And here's

a passage that I read all the time and I

ask God to help me live up to this passage.

In 1 Corinthians it says, but each one should build

with care for no one can lay any foundation other

than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now

it goes on talking about What type of man or

woman leads the church? If anyone builds on his foundation

using gold, silver, or costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,

their work will be shown for what it is because

the day will bring it to light. And so I

always pray and ask God, I say, God, help me

build with costly stones. Help me build with gold here.

Help me to give the people my best for your glory. Now,

here's the thing. While I'm your pastor, I want to

be a faithful representation of Christ. And I don't serve

you to gain. No, I serve you for the glory

of God. And here's my sincere hope is that you

will deeply love Jesus Christ. That you will know how

deeply he loves you. And then you will follow my

example as I follow Christ. And now what's the example

I'm trying to set? That we will go love one

That you will pour your life into someone else for

the glory of God. Let's go ahead and put that

commitment sheet up there. And here's what I'm going to

ask you to pray over the next few moments. And

here's what we did Thursday night. I'm just going to

leave you alone for a couple minutes for you to

have some time to talk to God. But this is

the commitment of the Christian who influences us. We love

people even when it costs us. We serve people when

no one notices. We protect people when danger comes. We

feed people when they're hungry. We search for people when

they wander. We develop the people who may one day

be shepherds. In other words, we invest in the future.

And when leadership becomes painful, we remember whose flock it is.

Everyone belongs to God in the first place. So here's

what I'm asking you to do is not commit to

all those today, but to take and look and ask God,

Which one of those does he want to speak to

you about over the next couple moments, okay? So let's

just begin and bring our hearts before God and say, God,

shape me. And which one are you wanting to shape

me by today?