Description
DETAILS
Excuse Me Your Manners Are Showing
January 10, 2010
Ed Young
All right happy New Year to everybody. Happy New Year to all of our campuses, and it’s great to have you in the house. Let’s have a prayer before we begin. Father, you give me the words to say and I pray that we would apply these words to every aspect of our lives and being. In Jesus name, Amen. Please be seated.
Illus: A couple days ago I sat down at a massive buffet, and this buffet had everything you could think of. It had a station where you could eat shrimp, crab claws and oysters on the half shell. They had another station that had all the meats. It had another station with the vegetables, it had an omelet station. Wherever you turned, there was food, food and more food. I love to eat. And to be frank with you, to be honest with you, I didn’t know where to begin. I thought, “Do I start there? Or maybe here? I don’t want to waste, an empty stomach on salad. I want the real deal.” Maybe you’ve experienced a buffet like that before.
Well, today, as I kick this series off on details, on manners, etiquette, respect and honor, I sort of feel like I felt at the buffet. I don’t know where to begin. There are so many different areas to dive into, so many different areas to think about and to consider. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the mood is rude in our culture today, have you noticed that? Am I the only one? People are rude, aren’t they?
Think about the freeways, people tailgating, cutting you off, giving you the one-finger wave, telling you where to spend eternity. It’s crazy out there. You pull up to an intersection, someone has the stereo cranked up so loud, (making boom-box bass noise) peels the paint off your car, you’ve got a sudden urge to go to the restroom, it’s that bad!
Think about our companies. Think about the corporate world. Back in the day, it was, “The customer is always right.” Put the customer first. Now it’s, “Ok, I’ll do enough just to get by and just to collect my paycheck.” Now it’s, “What’s your problem?”
You call somebody up, want to get some answers, you always get this answering machine or all this technology and they’ll go, “Choose several options. Option number 1, Option number 2…”
I want to say, “I want to choose option number none. I don’t want any option, I want to talk to somebody with skin on.” Those things make me angry. Am I the only one? I can’t negotiate those things very well.
The world of sports, the mood is rude there. Oh, you talking about some rude stuff, think about the NFL back in 1964. After a great play or something cool happened, it was a team thing. Today, accompanying every great player, every touchdown is trash-talking, it’s pointing, it’s all of this stuff about me. We’re so self-absorbed, we’re so rude, it’s even infiltrated the sport’s world.
I like what Lombardi said, Vince Lombardi said, “When you score a touchdown, act like you’ve been in the end zone before, and you’re coming back.” I really like that.
The mood is rude on the family front. Have you ever watched husbands and wives together maybe at a restaurant, or walking down the street. The husband is walking like ten yards in front of the wife. You know the husband is talking and the wife is rolling her eyes. Or the wife is talking and the husband is playing on his cell phone. It’s crazy. A lack of respect in the family. Parents are rude to kids, kids are rude to parents. And kids are being all rebellions and everything else.
The world of technology… I can go on and on. Again, it’s like a big buffet. Technology, I love technology, but let’s get real. Technology has blurred the lines between adults and kids. Think about that. Because adults talk to kids online like kids, and kids talk to adults online like adults. So, respect and honor (whoom) thrown out the window.
One of the number one problems that owners of restaurants face is people talking on the cell phones. And even in church as I scan the audience each and every week, I see people texting and people talking on cell phones doing business in church with the old cell phone. The mood is rude, it really, really is.
And when I think about the rationale of rudeness, the excuses that you give and I give, it’s pretty interesting. Some of us say, “Well, it’s the pace of life. We’re like on this Autobahn-type pace and we’ve just got to be rude.”
Others blame parents. We’re great at blaming our parents. “It’s my parents’ fault. It’s their fault. They didn’t train me. They didn’t teach me etiquette and manners and respect.”
Others say, “Well, you’ve got to be rude just to get by. That’s just the deal.”
Still others say, “It’s the media’s fault.” And if you want to talk rude, think about the media. Not all of the media, but so much of the media is pretty much a race to the bottom – how low can you go?
Have you ever thought how funny it is to see these entertainers, some of these hip-hop stars talk about, “Don’t disrespect me!” Yet they’re making squillions off disrespect — disrespecting women, disrespecting authority figures, disrespecting our country. The mood is rude. Why are we so rude and angry? That’s a really strong question. A deep question. Why?
I believe we struggle with rudeness because of a lack of respect and manners. And I think really the problem is not environmental, it’s not informational, it’s not parental, it’s not even geographical. I think the problem, although those are factors, the problem is a spiritual issue. It’s a spiritual issue. You show me a culture that moves away from God, and I’ll show you a culture that moves away from honor and respect and manners.
So, it’s a spiritual problem. And really, the situation is a deep one, it’s a historic one. We can trace the roots of rebellion all the way back to the first tree in the garden that held the forbidden fruit. That’s where we begin to struggle with rudeness. But again, the mood is rude.
This word rude is an interesting one. The word rude means to disfigure. It means to mar. So when I’m rude to someone, on the freeway or around the office, or in my home or at an athletic event, I’m disfiguring myself, I’m disfiguring the person I’m being rude toward, and furthermore, I’m disfiguring God. The mood is rude.
I read a couple days ago someone said, “Hey, manners and respect are pretty much common sense.” I totally disagree. Common sense is highly uncommon. Because people who have common sense have the ability to make sense out of the common. That only comes from God himself. So I would say common sense is highly unusual. We have, though, a power out there that we can, by our own volition, bring in here to give us the ability to show people in our lives and the world huge amounts of honor and respect and etiquette and manners.
So think about it. Are you waving the banner of good manners? Are you? I think about Abraham, Father Abraham, back in the book of Genesis. Specifically Genesis 13: 9-10. Abraham was a multi-billionaire, he was traveling around with his nephew Lot. Lot was younger than Abraham, Lot looked up to Abraham. Lot was also fabulously wealthy and they had all of their stuff together. They were moving here, there and yonder. And it came to a point where Abraham challenged Lot to split. He said, “Lot, this thing is crazy man. We’re so big, we got so much money, we need to split.”
So let me, let me read you this text in Genesis 13:9. Because if you want to talk about etiquette, if you want to talk about respect, if you want to talk about honor, check this out. Genesis 13:9 “Is not the whole land before you?” that’s Abraham. “Let’s part company,” he said. “If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right. If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
Now, it doesn’t seem like much, and many of us have read this before, but our boy Abraham is showing what respect is all about, he’s saying, “You choose first. Hey Lot, you choose first.” Abraham was showing Lot more respect than he was even showing himself. And that’s unnatural, that’s supernatural. That’s making sense out of the common. So, I want to say to Abraham, “Hey, Abraham, excuse me, your manners are showing.” Say that with me, “Excuse me, your manners are showing.”
Turn to your neighbor on your right and your left and say, “Excuse me, your manners are showing.” Isn’t that true? Because we’re all waving the banner of manners. Some of us have great manners, some of us hold people in high esteem, we treat others as more important than ourselves, we say in essence like Abraham did, “You choose first.”
Others of us though, are so self-absorbed it’s freaky. Have you ever watched some of the interviews of some of the athletes and some of the entertainers. Check out how many times they say “I-I-I, me-me-me, I-I-I, me-me-me, me-me-me, I-I-I, I-I-I-I-I, me-me, me-me-me-me-me, I-I, I-I-I-I-I, me-me.” You talk about me-istic, you talking about self-absorbed.
Here is the math of rudeness. You want to do some math? This is a very simple equation. Ignorance + arrogance = rudeness. If I’m ignorant of the grace of God, if I’m ignorant that I serve a God of respect and manners, if I’m ignorant of his forgiveness and what he’s done for my life that I don’t deserve. If I’m ignorant of the fact that he put my interest above his own, it’ll usher in arrogance. “This is all about me. Me-me-me, I-I-I, I-I-I me-me-me, me-me-me, I-I-I.” That equals rudeness. I’m disfiguring myself, others and God.
But here’s some good math, are you ready for some good math? Some easy math, some old-school math. Knowledge + humility = respect. Knowledge, I have knowledge, I know God. I’ve received him, I understand about grace and mercy to the best of my ability. I understand that, I have the knowledge of that. I have the knowledge that Christ is in my life, that he challenges me by his Holy Spirit to put others interest before my own, I have that knowledge. And because of that knowledge, what’s the result? I’m hammered by humility. Then you can say, “Lord, I don’t deserve the next breath. It’s all by your amazing one of a kind second mile grace that I’m even taking up space and taking up grace on planet earth.” Knowledge + humility = respect.
Now, what does respect mean? I’ve talked about it for a while. Respect. Respect means to examine. It means to look again. And one of the things we must understand is the fact that we’ve never stared at somebody, we’ve never locked eyes with someone who does not matter to God. So every single person we see matters to God. We honor them, the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, “As we look into the windows of their soul.”
Are you a man or woman or student of respect or disrespect? Are you waving the banner of good manners or bad manners. Because it’s all about the details. It’s all about the details. Small tweaks take you to giant peaks.
People say, “Well, the devil’s in the details.” You ever heard that before? That’s a fact, the devil is in the details. Do you know why? He knows if we concentrate on the details, we won’t achieve our destiny. So that’s why little things are often the biggest hurdles we’ve got to jump over.
But I’m here to tell you, as we concentrate on the details, as we allow the Holy Spirit of God to rule and reign and to show us what to do in the small things, the small things will accrue and it will take us to a life of destiny. So the details will move us from mediocrity to magnificence.
Are you ready? I am. Are you ready for this study? Because I want to tell you several things about manners right quick in this opening session.
Number 1, manners aren’t surface-y; they’re soul-ish. They’re not surface-y. They’re soul-ish. They’re deep. They emerge from the core of you and me. I’m not talking about Emily Post, put your napkin in your lap, don’t burp at the table, walk toward the traffic when you’re walking down the street with a woman so if the car runs over a mud puddle and splashes, it splashes the man and not the woman. I mean that’s great and fine. But I’m talking about something deeper than that. I’m talking about Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Humble. Everyone should look out, not only for his own interests, that’s understood. You know, the Bible never tells us to love ourselves. It never says, “Love you.” God just knew we’d do that. But also, it says to look out for the interest of others. Wow. Manners aren’t surface-y, they’re soul-ish. They’re a God-thing. We move away from God, we move away from respect. We walk with God, we have huge amounts of respect and honor.
And again I’ve got to ask you the question – are you showing people respect? Are you a man or woman or student of respect when you walk in a classroom? Of respect, when you deal with your spouse? Of respect when you talk to your parents? Of respect, when you talk to your boss? Of respect when you talk to your friends? Are you a man or woman of respect?
Manners emerge from our soul. They’re not surface-y. They’re from our core. Those of us who follow Christ should have the greatest amount of respect and honor than anyone on the planet. People’s heads should snap because we’re waving the banner of good manners.
Illus: I had a meeting about a year ago with an actor. And this actor came by my office with several other people and we were talking and this guy is known as a Christian, you’d probably know his name, and I will not reveal it. And during the meeting, it was about thirty-minutes you know and we started back and forth, back and forth, and man, the dude, like after we had been talking for about ten minutes goes, “Excuse me. (get’s on phone) Yeah, what’s up? No, I’m not going to do that deal. No. All right. Thanks.” Then he goes back to the meeting.
5 minutes later. “Excuse me. (get’s on phone again) Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah. Try that. I want to be on that reality show. Yes. Yes. Get me on there. No. All right, All right.”
The brother took like 4 or 5 cell-phone calls in the midst of this meeting. He had an opportunity to sit down and focus, he had an opportunity to wave the banner of good manners, to show respect and honor, not only to me, but to the people he was with and the other people in the room. Some were not followers of Christ, and I thought to myself as he walked out, “What a horrible example!”
So, we either reflect or deflect the character of God by the way we treat others. And those of us who are followers of Christ, as we treat others the way Jesus treats us and the way Jesus modeled us to treat others, you’re looking at everybody with significance, teaching us how to listen, teaching us how to talk, speaking the truth in love and all that. As we do that, we can take the ball down the field in a greater and more focused way than we ever thought possible. Because so often, the world would rather see a sermon than hear one any day. How are your manners? They’re not surface-y, they’re significant.
Also notice this. (Number 2) Manners aren’t general, they’re specific. That’s why this series is called Details. It’s all in the details.
People say, “The devil is in the details.” That’s so true. You know why it’s in the details, because he knows if we concentrate on the details, we’ll discover our destiny. So it’s the little things that give us the biggest problems.
I would say the divine is in the details as well. God is a God of the details. And maybe this whole casualization of our culture, as cool as it is, has hurt this thing. And it’s even infiltrated those of us who walk with Christ. We kind of have this, “Whatever” mentality. We’ll be late for an appointment, “Whatever.” Late for church, “whatever.” Just throw something on if it’s lying by the bed, “Whatever.” Our language, you know, “Whatever.” We treat people, you know, “Whatever.” The “whatever” mentality is not biblical.
And I’m all for being relaxed and having fun and all of that. But we’ve got to raise the bar.
And one of the problems with technology is the simple reality that it’s blurred the lines of respect. Have you ever thought about that? Technology blurs the lines of respect. You can go online or do whatever – text and Twitter and whatever you want to say, email. And you can just write all of these outlandish, stupid things out there, and use all this casual stuff and read this and that, and so now, kids are talking to adults like kids and adults are talking to kids like adults, and it goes back and forth and the lines are blurred and there’s no honor, there’s not respect, and it’s just a free-for-all. And I’m all for technology.
You know, our church, we’re into technology, we embrace technology. But we have to take a long look and say, “Am I twittering or littering?” “Am I blogging or bragging?” We’ve got to ask ourselves those questions. Because technology is a real reflection of where we are in today’s culture. We’ve lost that respect and we’re going to talk about that.
I remember when Jesus told the story in Matthew 25 about this master who had these servants. And he gave one of his servants 5 talents. And the servant parlayed 5 into 10. This dude invested and he doubled his money. His master replied in this story Christ was telling us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful with a few things, I’ll put you in charge of many things.” So, we focus on the details, friends, and we’ll discover our destiny. The deity, the divine, is in the details.
Number 3. Manner’s aren’t selective, they’re standard. They’re for everybody! “Well, she’s just a waitress.” “He’s just someone who cleans the office.” “They’re just our neighbors.” We’ve never met a ‘just-a’. There’s no such thing as a ‘just-a’. A ‘just-a’? You’ve never locked eyes with someone who does not matter to God. I’ve never looked at someone who is not a piece of art, a masterpiece.
You ever seen a, seen a great painting, like maybe an original painting from one of the masters, maybe a Picasso, or Renoir. You ever seen the Mona Lisa, or one of those paintings in person, and when people see it, they’re like, “Ohhh, ah. Ohh, wow! Ohh, wooo.”
You know what that is? That’s honor. If you look behind the word honor and the picture of honor and the tone and tenor of honor, “Oh, whoa.”
What would happen, husbands, if we walk through the door after work and our wives greet us like, “Oh, ahhh!” Man, would that be great! Our kids looked at us, mom, and they go, “Ooh, ah!” You look at your pastor, “Aahh!” you know, that’s great!
We should honor one another. We have never, ever, ever talked to someone who does not matter to God. And that’s so critical and crucial.
Illus: Years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I had just signed the scholarship at Florida State, and I was trying to stay in shape. And I got to know this guy in our church. He was very interesting personality. He played in the NFL for about 10 years, and he had just become fabulously wealthy.
And one day at church we were talking, and he said, “Hey man. Uh, you want to go running with me?”
And I said, “Yeah!” I would love that. I mean, to hang out with this guy, you know, NFL, mister, he’s a cool guy, a great Christian guy. And I said, “Yeah!”
And he said, “Well, let’s go to my country club,” and he named the country club and I thought, “Wow, you can’t even get into this country club.” It is just like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
So, I was with this dude, and we walked into the locker room, with the mahogany, and the carpet, and over there you see the guys playing cards and drinking this scotch and smoking the big ol’ Cubans, whoa. And I recognize some of them. And he said, “Yeah, that guy there is worth $700 million. This guy has just sold his company for blah-lah-lah-lah-lah.” And he kind of greeted them, you know, and these are big time guys. Heavy hitters we would call them.
But he did something that really messed me up. I thought he would bring me over to those tables and introduce me to those guys. He didn’t do that. He takes me over to the people who were shining shoes and he sits down and has this conversation with them, and not the other guys. He’s introducing me to the people shining shoes and wiping off golf clubs and he’s treating them with such respect, I thought, “This is freaky.” And I’m a high school kid, I thought, “You know what? That’s Jesus. That’s Jesus.”
Not to say that you don’t show the love to the people playing cards and sipping scotch and smoking Cubans, that’s great. But how do you treat people that can do nothing for you – those guys shining shoes and cleaning golf clubs? My friend’s a multi-qua-zillionaire. What can they do for him? Come on, what can they do for him? Been in the NFL ten years, what are they going to do for him? If I’m him, I’m thinking, “Wow, I want to hang out with these guys. Maybe they’re selling their company, maybe I have a chance to invest and….” No, no, no.
How do you treat people who can do nothing for you? We’ve never locked eyes with someone who does not matter to God.
So, manners aren’t selective, they’re standard, they should be for everybody. I love Colossians 4:6. I mean it puts it right in our face. “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
I always get scared when people say, “Well, I’m just a ‘tell it like it is’ person, you know, I just tell it like it is. When I think it, I say it.”
I think, “I’m talking to an igmo.” If you’re ever around someone like that, be respectful and honor them, but run. Those people are nuts, man. If I said everything that I thought … Whoa.
You know what I’ve noticed about people who talk about being rude? If you have a rude demeanor, as you age, you will look like rude. On the other hand, if you’re a person of honor and respect, you will look respectful and you’ll have this kind of look of honor about you. I’m talking about on your face. And you can have all the cosmetic surgery and stuff you can imagine, you’re still going to reflect it.
Illus: I’ll give you an example. A couple nights ago, I’m at a high school basketball game. To my right was Lisa. There were two empty seats, and to my left, I look and see this guy. And this guy had one of the worst expressions on his face. He was in his 70’s. He’s just like (making a rude facial expression) and I looked over and there was his poor daughter. And there was no doubt that it was his daughter, and her husband, and she had the same thing going on. Rude is contagious. She was like this (rude expression), he was like that (worse rude expression). She was 50, on her way to looking like that. Ok.
Now, some students were sitting in front of us. Well behaved, mannerly, no disrespect, they were model students. This gym was packed except for this next to the last row. And I’m going to tell you the reason there’s some seats between myself and this guy. So, the game keeps going on, this one team is behind, and finally it gets to the last, and this young guy, in fact, that goes to our church, he scored a left-handed shot with .8 seconds left to win the game. They’d been behind the whole, it was a great deal!
But anyway, these kids just stood up in front of us, and clapped. They were maybe up, I don’t know, 15 seconds. You know, everybody was up. Well, when they stand up, this rude guy goes, “You kids sit down. If you want to stand up, go across to the other side and sit over there. Some of us are trying to watch the game.”
I found myself sitting down.
You talking about speaking harshly, wow! Wow! So, what a horrible example. Our words are so powerful. Words of honor, words of respect, or words of disrespect, dishonor. Are we looking into the windows of people’s souls? Are we looking really at people, or through them? How about people from different cultures? How about people with different colored skin? How about people who drive different cars and live in different neighborhoods and different places. This is tough, man, this is some deep stuff.
Here’s another one. Manners aren’t about you, they’re about others. They’re really about others. “You choose first.” That’s what it’s about. “You choose first,” Abraham. “You choose first. Yeah, yeah, Lot, you choose first.” That’s what it is. We have this ‘me-first’ mentality don’t we? It’s all about me-me-me-me-me, I-I-I-I-I, me-me-me-me-me, I-I-I-I-I. No, no, no. It’s about others.
And in the natural, I can’t do that, nor can you. But this supernatural thing takes place inside your life and mine and we begin to become others driven. And it snaps the heads of people who are far away from God, and they begin to think, “Wow. That’s awesome!”
So, Excuse me, your manners are showing. Husbands – excuse me, when you burp at the table, your manners are showing. Hey ladies – excuse me, when you nag your husband again, your manners are showing. Hey kids, you talk back or talk smack to your parents – excuse me, your manners are showing. You, with the three-pointer in the game, talking trash to your opponent – excuse me, your manners are showing. You text in church – excuse me, your manners are showing. You arrive late to church – excuse me, your manners are showing. You give somebody the one-finger wave on the freeway – excuse me, your manners are showing. You walk past people who help and assist you at the office or at school, maybe I’m talking about the janitorial staff, maybe I’m talking about the people that work with technology – excuse me, your manners are showing. You go to the coffee shop and grab some coffee and don’t look at the person, make eye contact and say, “How are you doing?” You don’t use ‘thank you,’ ‘please,’ ‘excuse me’ – excuse me, your manners are showing.
I’m starting to get excited now, but, do you really want to apply this stuff? I do. As we face this New Year 2010, do you want to apply this stuff? I do. Do you? In the balcony, what’s up balcony? Yeah.
I want to give you ten things, ten things, ten principles right now, and I’m going to fly through these, 10 things that we can do in 2010.
“Ed, how do we do them? Ten things? I mean give me 2 or 3…”
No, no, no – 10. 10. And we can do 10, I’m telling you. It’s all about 10. We can do this. No doubt about it. Can we do it on our own? No. God, though, will give us the ability, and I’ll tell you how. Because it’ll sort of explain itself. Are you ready? Yeah! Oh yeah.
Number 1. I will take responsibility for respect. I’m going to take responsibility for it. It’s a spiritual issue, it’s a God thing, I’m not going to blame my sister, my aunt, my father, my boss, my coach, my teacher, whatever, I’m going to take responsibility for it.
You show me somebody who’s rude, they always have that victim mentality, don’t they? It’s all about the victim. “Poor, pitiful me.” And you become self-absorbed, and I-I-I, me-me-me, my-my-my. Manners aren’t passive, they’re active.
Number 2. Oh, I need this one. I will welcome and receive correction gladly. I don’t know about you, but I kind of bow up when I receive correction. Do you? I must be the only one. That’s fine to bow up, but think about it. Pray about it. Talk to God about it.
Number 3. I will deal with people honestly without hostility. Some of you now thinking, “Are you kidding me – there’s going to be ten of these?” Yeah, just stay with me. Stay with me. I’m going to speak the truth in love. I’m going to realize the power of the words.
Number 4. Remember this? I will look at, not through, people. Who are those people on the peripheral? Who are those people like Zacchaeus who are hanging from the trees, wanting to see who Jesus is? Who are those people in your life and mine? What did Jesus do? He wasn’t passive, he was active. He goes up, “Hey, hey, Zacchaeus!” He said, “Let’s do lunch.”
Number 5. Uh oh. I will look my best because I represent the best. I will look my best. I’m not saying to freak out over it. I’m not saying to go somewhere and spend a ton of money. But I’m talking about cleanliness, order and neatness, because the Scriptures have a ton to say about it. Are you putting your best foot forward? You’ve got to look the best, right? Because we represent the best.
Now that’s a word to husbands and wives isn’t it? Around the house, what we wear, ooh. Wow. You know, women put on that ‘not tonight’ night gown, you know. Guys wear those 1980’s shorty-shorts around. Whoa. Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Number 6, I’ll keep going. I will show respect in all of my relationships. I’ll show respect. I’ll show respect. Let’s make a covenant, a commitment to put the needs of others, to put their interests above our own. What would happen in your family, if you’re single, well, amongst your friends or in your dating relationship, if you did that?
Guys, women are begging for that. They’re begging for someone to be their knight in shining armor. We’re going to talk about that during this series too. I’m telling you, you girls, you don’t even want to date someone who does not show you honor like that, or respect, is not mannerly. Don’t even waste your time.
Number 7. I like this one. I will incorporate the power words into my vocabulary. What are the power words? Well, students, ready for this? Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. “Why are you saying sir and ma’am?” I’ll tell you why. Because you’re talking to a gentleman, a lady, you’re talking to someone who is older than you. Let’s bring back mister, misses, miss. And adults, don’t say, “Oh, no, no, don’t call me Mr. Young, just call me old Ed. A horse is a horse of course of course,” you know. Please, thank you. Excuse me. Power words, man! We’re going to be talking about some power words in this series. I’m doing a whole talk on power words. I can’t wait.
Number 8. I will make hospitality happen. This is something that I’ve heard very few messages on, or read very few commentaries about. The Bible commands hospitality. Did you know that? It commands it. And no one ever talks about it, because it’s uncomfortable. And I’m not talking about entertaining. And that’s fine, but I’m talking about just being hospitable. I’m going to challenge you to be hospitable during the next several weeks.
Number 9. A little music trivia, do you remember the Beatles when they had that, which album it was, they said, “Number 9, number 9.” Do you remember that? Anybody remember that? Any Beatle-mania people here? Yes, some. Man, you guys are smart. That good that you know that. Most people don’t. The White album, yeah, the white album. “Number 9, number 9.” Who in here likes the Beatles? Ok. I like them ok, I like them ok. I really like Paul McCartney in Wings. I do. Not every song, but like, it’s going to be a little bit goofy, but you remember that song Paul did, Silly Love Song? “You think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.” I like that. I also like that song he did called Jett. Bom-bom-bom-bom, that’s a great starting. Jet!
I don’t want to turn in my man card when I say this, but you know, don’t judge me about my musical selections. But I tell you who I like. Not all of his songs, but I like a couple of his songs. You’re going to laugh at me, but I’ll say it, I’ll confess it, we’re in church. Barry Manilow. I’m serious. Let me tell you why. Some of you guys are thinking, “I’m leaving. This is what – Barry Manilow?” He has a unique place in my heart because Lisa, she went to this little high school in Columbia, South Carolina. And one of the local high schools invited Barry Manilow to perform at the little high school! And they ask him, I don’t when, 1974 or whatever, and he said yes! This was years before, at that time he wasn’t that popular.
Well, over the next two years of that, you know, from 75 to 76, his career, (whoom) blew up. Guess what? He kept his word, and Barry Manilow preformed at this little high school. But anyway, the song I like that Barry Manilow did, because most songs these days, they don’t have a beginning and an end, have you noticed that? They just like, start. All of a sudden it’s, (making beat-box noises). And here’s how it ends (making same beat-box noises). It just fades away. That’s not music. It just fades away. Now, Barry Manilow, he has a song, Could it be Magic. Ok, let me tell you why that song’s so brilliant. Because I listen to it a lot. Ok. Because I have ADD, I’ll like lock in to certain songs, like I’ve heard some of U2 songs, I bet, 10,000 times. I even know them backwards.
Anyway, Barry Manilow. Could it be Magic, the song’s brilliant. Here’s how the song starts. Bong… bong… it’s on the piano. (making piano sounds)
And he sings it. Ok, so you think the song’s over, you know, “could it be magic,” whatever, ok.
And he sings it, and you’re thinking, “Ok, the song’s over. But there’s a little bit of silence, and then all of a sudden he comes back to it. I love it. (making piano noises again) I just like that. I don’t know how we got into that.
Number 9. You know who’s the best rapper? And this, guys, I’ll tell you, in my opinion, best, this guy, I pray for him regularly, and I’ll tell you about that in just a second. The best rapper, no doubt is Eminem. I mean, in my opinion, that guy cranks out lyrics.
And, you know what I’m doing right now? I’m going to tell you this – this is a little bit of insider information. I’ve had too much espresso. I promise you, I’m going to redo an Eminem song. You just wait – you wait. And I’m going to Christianize it, and I’m going to do it on this stage over the next several weeks. Yeah, I am. And I’ll tell you which song it is too, Lose Yourself. You know, (attempting to sing the song). I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it.
Number 9. I will live in prayer-mode. I’m going to pray for Eminem. You think I’m crazy? Ok, prayer mode. What’s prayer mode. You talk about discipline, talk about spiritual discipline. This is how we’re going to make this stuff happen, man. Prayer-mode is, ok, I shake Chris King’s hand, didn’t Chris do a phenomenal job last week? If you missed that, pick that tape up, it’s called 48 inches. Chris stand, turn around man. 48 inches. What’s up Chris? It was a great talk. But anyway, if I’m talking to Chris like that, boom, I’m praying for him that quick. Boom, boom, boom. That quick. That quick.
Sydney, how you doing? I talk to Sydney, shake her hand, “Hi Sydney,” Sydney’s friends with our family, our twins. Pray for her. “God bless Sydney today. I don’t know what she’s dealing with, but you do.”
What’s up Jeff? How you doing brother? I like that coat! Where’d you get that? (Macy’s) I love that, stand up, man, that coat right there, you talk about, look at this guy. Jeff, how was the game, man, what’s your guys’ record? 18 & 4. And where do you play ball? (Southlake / Carroll) Southlake / Carroll, thank you. So you see, I just prayed quickly for Jeff.
What’s up Brent? How you doing? I prayed for Brent. Pray for Hugh. Just anybody you see. Thumbing through a magazine. You know, I love fishing, I read fishing magazines all the time. But I pray for fisherman I don’t even know. Pray for people, boom-boom-boom.
You start praying for people, what’ll happen? Wow, you’ll start putting their interest and needs above your own. You’ll see God show up in crazy, insane ways. Just life a life of prayer. and I don’t do it for every single person. I forget sometimes. But just stay in that mode, pray-mode. Prayer-mode. Pray for every single person you see. You see your parents – pray for your parents. See your kids, pray for your kids. See this person, God bless this person. You’re sipping coffee somewhere, whatever, it will change your life to live in prayer mode. You won’t believe what’ll happen. Prayer-mode, prayer-mode, prayer-mode.
Now, that brings us to the last one, and this is my most favorite one. Oh, people are going to go nuts. People will be standing for this one, you’ll be going crazy like you did last night when the Cowboy’s won their first playoff game in 50 years! Yes!
I will fast to make it last.
That’s right, we’re starting a fast. When? Today! There’s no time like now. Right? You ready to fast? Now, see, I love food – that big ol’ buffet I was taking about. But the Bible says to fast. And we’re going to do the Daniel fast, a modified fast. Daniel ate vegetables, fruits, water, you know, healthy stuff like that. Amino-acids, Protein shakes, things like that.
Ezra 8:23. “So we fasted and petitioned our God about this. And he answered our prayer.” As you exit, if you don’t have a computer, just pick up a hard copy at our kiosk. This is about how to fast. Go online, fellowshipchurch.com, how to fast. I want you to follow Lisa and I on Twitter, because we’re going to go through each of these 10 things I talked about. We’re going to give you things from recipes to what we’re dealing with, what we’re struggling with, like I want a big fat juicy steak or whatever. And it’ll be cool. We’re going to have some fun with this.
However, you’re going to lose pounds, that’s cool. You’ll look better, feel better, awesome. But the deal is, it’s a spiritual issue. So we’re going to take the ten things and think about these things and mediate on these things and pray for these things while we’re fasting.
All right, here’s a fasting contract. And you don’t have to fast, this is between you and God. During the fast I will specifically pray for what? (rewind) I don’t know. Any time I see those lines, I think about that. (rewind noise) No one knows what they mean, except you. I will fast beginning today, right? And think about the power, of all of us, thousands and thousands of people at all of our campuses, fasting, praying, there’s no telling what God’s going to do! This is awesome! What a way to start 2010. 48” and then a fast, Chris.
Who will fast with me?
Visit Fellowshipchurch.com, it says here, for recipes and daily encouragement. Please I want to connect with you guys on the Twitter, that’s a fun way to do that. We already have some funny things we’re going to put on there, today and the next several weeks.
So anyway, this is going to be a fun series. We’re doing these 10 things. Wow, I’ve talked for a long time, but we’ve had fun, haven’t we? Church should be fun.