Balancing Life and Ministry

Mark chapter 6 verse 31 and he said unto them these are the words of Jesus come yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat I want to take a little poll here tonight how many of you did not have time to eat before church tonight would you live to raise your hand hold it up a little higher so everybody can see that's usually that's usually quite a few people thank you you may be seated I will remember that tonight that you're hungry and we have a saying at our church along with many other sayings that hungry people are grouchy people so if you're sitting next to someone who raised their hand beware if the pastor gets long-winded tonight so this title is like an attempt at a title balancing life and Ministry and I just want to kind of make a note up front that Ministry is life and life is Ministry but that's the best way I know how to express that we want to live a balanced life and try to find a way I started to say balancing family in Ministry but we have many people in our church who have either raised their families or single adults and so that may not necessarily be appropriate in the month of September this past month I taught and preached on the family brother Joel preached on Sunday the 17th on disaster in the Home Port Brother jury taught on Wednesday the 14th of September on children and parents so the three of us spent September teaching and preaching about the family this week on Friday night we're going to honor the Army volunteers who serve in Ministry at our Church brother Sergeant will be speaking them and if you're not already secured to come then you'll we'll see you on Sunday in church and brother sarge is going to be preaching Sunday and he's a tremendous preacher with a unique story and we're looking forward to him being here many of the members of our church lead very busy full lives there are times when you may feel like a juggler trying to balance all the facets of life including family work and Ministry you know you're blessed to be saved and to be a part of the kingdom of God but sometimes you also feel a little stressed in life so today I want to offer some insights from the Bible and personal experience on balancing life in Ministry and remember that life is Ministry and Ministry is life a few years ago our pastoral team team learned a new phrase that we've said mostly in leadership context that has helped us deal with the ongoing challenges that we face in Ministry there are some things that are problems to solve you saw them one time and they're solved at least for a while maybe forever but probably not forever but there are other things in life in Ministry that are not really problems to solve they are tensions that you have to manage they don't go away you're not going to fix them in a sermon or a rebuke or a plan a policy a practice it's just part of life human nature there will always be a baby that will cry in church there will always be people who don't know when Church really starts although it's announced and they'll come in late there'll always be people who think that they're supposed to be joining the safety team in the foyer or somewhere else or engaging a staff member in a conversation just as church starts and get their feelings hurt because we need to be about our father's business there are some things many things that are just tensions to manage and you're never going to fix them and it's been a long time since I've said this but I made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn't going to let it get to me see as I've known some bitter Saints and bitter preachers that got frustrated that burned out threw in the towel of ministry and maybe even living for God because they tried to fix something that cannot be fixed it's attention to manage so there are some things that I'll say tonight that are probably not going to get fixed you can pray and cry and come to the altar go on an extended fast and it will help it'll help you if it doesn't solve the problem but it might just be attention that you learn to manage in your life it's true of life and Ministry and my opinion you're never going to find true normal in life you can call it a new normal but it's like the Lord's mercies they're new Every Morning normal is abnormal every morning and so you might as well get used to being flexible and not brittle and fragile easily broken by the the changes of life and Ministry their intentions to manage my wife and I learned a long time ago that it is an unrealistic expectation that will cause frustration and a bad attitude if you expect life and Ministry to ever be normal life is filled with seasons and once you adjust to one here comes another one that requires new adjustments and changes and adaptation in your life life is filled with tensions to manage so I'm talking about what may be competing demands or expectations that pull on you in life creating tension and I'm praying that the Lord will help us manage the tension and balance life and Ministry now I want to give you a frame of reference on July 3 2019 I I taught an entire Bible study on the blessing of balance so if you want to know more about that theme you can go back it's archived online the blessing of balance I'm not really going to spend too much time on balance tonight necessarily about a balanced life but I do want to give you just a few thoughts from that message that balances a Pursuit probably not a final result in my perfectionist personality I've always thought to be a balanced person at p peace today knowing that I don't have to be perfectly balanced in life that I'm only part of the body of Christ with some strengths and other weaknesses and God has caused the body to be fitly framed together and there are other people who balance me and make up the difference in life and Ministry in our local church I've learned to try to add or I am strong and be silent where I don't have strengths and giftings and support other people well while I'm the pastor of this church I serve in a lot of other supporting roles in Ministry and I try to be a good support and not always try to think that I need to be the chief there because sometimes I might be called to be the chief here balance once you think your balance beware because you will not stay balanced you have to constantly work at it you may have heard me use this phrase that I learned that you always have have to press order into the disorder of your life things break down things get out of place especially if you have children or grandchildren they get lost and you have to constantly work to press order into the disorder of your life I also learned that that balance is not achieved in a single day or a week or a year but over a lifetime maybe with experience and experiences and different roles in life you can become a more balanced person and I hope that I am at least more balanced than I might have been 40 years ago seldom will any day have equal parts of everything but you can try to do your best at making Every Day Count for Jesus Christ in 2022 life seems busier than ever before but it's crazy because we have more gadgets and gizmos to save us time but time seems so limited it seems like it's in short supply I don't know exactly what God had in mind in Daniel 12 and 4 but Daniel the Lord said shut the words and seal the book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased I can't prove but I wonder if Daniel was talking about our day when travel is easy it sounds like Saints and churches who run to and fro you know some folks are gone every couple weekends but but it's the nature of our world people are just continually on the move in life and not bad things and knowledge has increased in fact it's gone exponential in maybe the last 50 years 20 years 10 years so I I know it's not true of everyone and I'm not trying to impose my pace of Life on you but life is extremely busy for many many people in biblical times a pace of life was much slower agrarian cultures had to have better balances of seasons of busy seasons in slow Seasons proverbs 10 and 5 says that a a son that sleeps in the Harvest causes shame and that day when it was Harvest Time you worked as many hours as you could to get in the Harvest I have a friend who's a farmer in Iowa and now with modern equipment when it's time to get the corn in when the moisture content is right those combines run day and night to get that harvest in or the soybeans because they know that Harvest time is a short period of time but then there was Winter then there was downtime when they could rest and recover life was much better than the pace was much slower but I do remember a verse when the psalmist said that it is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late now they didn't have electricity and so things slowed down when the sun went down but I guess some people did sit up late and ate the bread of Sorrows but the Bible said he gives his beloved sleep so I do want to point out that life is certainly less complex than with no electricity no motorized vehicles no mass communication but even then even in that slower paced life Jesus had what would have been considered impossible days of business and that's our text Mark 6 31. and he said to the disciples Come Ye yourselves apart we need a retreat into a desert place a place where there's no stores no malls no people nothing going on and he said we're going to rest a while doesn't that sound awesome we're going to rest a while I appreciate the wonderful people of our church who no longer ask me if I'm rested up after General Conference the answer is no I was exhausted but Jesus said we're going to go to a deserted place we're going to rest a while even then there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat they fought traffic no they didn't they were busy and there were people people so many people that they did not have any time even to stop ministering to people to eat a meal sometimes life for you and Life For Me gets like that to me this is a very insightful verse that Jesus is trying he is really trying to have a retreat with the twelve if you read Mark chapter 6 you'll see some pretty fascinating things that just prior to this invitation to isolation John the Baptist Jesus's cousin is beheaded at least this is referred to in this story John introduced Jesus to the world Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River not because it was for the remission of sins but to fulfill all righteousness John was a selfless Prophet happy to decrease while Jesus increased and now John is dead and this is the story that is there the disciples the Bible said in Mark 6 29 two verses before our text they took up the corpse of John the Baptist and they buried him but if you read John 6 all the way back to verse 1 it is this is an interruption this story is an interruption on what is going on in the ministry of Jesus and the disciples the flow of this story is at Mark 6 and 7 Jesus Calls the twelve he sent them for two by two gave them power over unclean spirits he commanded them to take nothing for their Journey oh staff only no script no bread no money in their wallets he said just put on your sandals but don't don't take an extra coat you're to travel light only a carry on no check baggage and he told them when you enter a house stay there till you depart from that place you're going to just go and there's going to be people that will open their homes to you and you're going to stay there and preach the gospel and when they receive you and hear you and if they don't to get away from that City and Shake the Dust off your feet so this is what's going on in in Mark chapter six they they're preaching they're they're going out and doing the work of God they're very very busy and we have this story of the death of John the Baptist and then Mark 6 30. I want you to see Mark 6 30. the verse before a text the apostles gather themselves together into Jesus and he told them all things both what they had done and what they are taught so now you have to jump back past the story of John the Baptist's death to see what was going on he sent them out they were traveling light preaching the gospel Healing The Sick casting out devils and they come back telling Jesus how busy they've been in Ministry and then we have this verse our text that he says okay guys it's been really busy there have been so many people coming and going there's been so much busyness of ministry we we need to get away and take a break the goal was to rest a while because many were coming and going and there was no time to eat now Jesus did not resent nor did he reject the people who pursued him and in this story is pretty fascinating that the disciples are trying to get away but the people if you keep reading in Mark 6 not on the screens they ran ahead and when the disciples landed at The Retreat spot they had outrun them and they were waiting on them more prayer more teaching more Ministry more miracles we're so glad you guys are here we knew you were coming to this spot Hallelujah let's have another night of Revival and the disciples weren't that excited about this extra day of Revival they weren't that pumped about all the people figuring out where they were going on this retreat and those people were an intrusion to them but the Bible said that Jesus came out and he saw much people and he was moved with compassion toward them because they were a sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things here on Retreat where there were more needs more people more problems to solve more people to help when Jesus could have said you know call down fire from heaven or make me invisible like he did back at Nazareth he didn't do that and I want to point out something here about Ministry and I should have probably shown you this verse on the screens but you have your own Bibles I've learned in Ministry that your plans don't always work and mostly in leadership settings not in this General congregation I try to teach leaders about realistic expectations of ministry that sometimes you think you're going on vacation but you're not sometimes you think you're going to have a little retreat but you're not and it's not the fact that you don't get that reprieve it's what it hap what happens between your ears it's your attitude toward it it's your outlook toward it if you're working in Ministry in this local church and I'm not here to tell you my story or act like I'm a sad guy I love what I do I thank God for what I do it has its challenges like your life has its challenges but I'm telling you that in your ministry our expectations can set us up for frustration for disappointment for a bad attitude and you're trying to balance life family work and here you come as a volunteer and things go wrong and people don't always appreciate it and you thought you were going to catch a break and you didn't Jesus did not get frustrated with the people that were waiting on the disciples when they got to their Retreat the day is far spent his disciples came to him this is Mark 6 35 and they said you know Lord I'm glad you know don't you love it when people tell you obvious things they come to Jesus and they said Oh Lord this is a really this is a desert place Look Around Jesus there's no Dollar Generals Walmarts Kroger Publix there's nothing here there's nothing there's no fast food there's no Market this is a desert place and now the time is far past and they said to Jesus send them away that they may go into their country round about and into the villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat now there was a little soft spot in their heart for the people who were hungry but their solution was get rid of them let them go take care of themselves we have had a full day of ministry and frankly we're tired you promised us not really you told us we're going to go to a desert place and rest we haven't had a day off we don't even have time to eat and now there's more people there's more work to do I signed up for this and I didn't expect it and I've learned and you've heard this definition of dependability if you've ever been in a volunteer meeting that dependability is fulfilling what I agreed to do even though it requires unexpected sacrifice and can I say to you my church family I can't remember signing up for anything in Ministry that didn't require more sacrifice stuff that I didn't plan to have to do it just goes with Ministry send them away well Jesus said to the disciples give them something to eat now you know this story now what's going to happen and then they said where are we going to go and buy enough bread to feed these people so he has them sit down there's Five Loaves two fishes he feeds the multitudes Five Loaves and two fishes a tremendous Miracle divided they all ate to their fill they took up 12 baskets full of fragments of the fishes and it is is it an interesting that even when these disciples had sacrificed Jesus called them to sacrifice again they say that's the reward of sacrifice to sacrifice again but at the end of the day he didn't just feed the multitudes he fed the twelve there were 12 baskets of food left over so that their personal needs were met while they were ministering over time and what they did not expect Mark 6 45. straight where he constrained his disciples this is after the feeding of the five thousand get in the ship and go to the other side be foreign to Bethesda while he sent away the people I thought this was pretty cool and when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray and next we're going to see Jesus walking in the water in a storm to come to the disciples who just saw five thousand fed who can't catch a break or a day off and now they're going to get in a terrible storm where they think Jesus doesn't care and they're going to die such is life and Ministry but I just thought it was was insightful to me that Jesus put the disciples on a boat sent them away and then he stayed to kind of manage the crowd tell them all to go home and this is life and Ministry so how how did Jesus balance life and Ministry well prior to being 30 he didn't have a public Ministry we know nothing about the 30 silent years he was in the shadows of Life probably doing carpentry work living as a young man as a young adult all the way to the age of 30 when he performed his first miracle I think he was somewhat like John Luke 1 and 8 he speaks of John the Baptist that he was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel this is about John the Baptist not about Israel but John was like that serving in the shadows really no notoriety until his ministry started Jesus had a a very brief Ministry Perhaps Perhaps three and a half years he was single never married he gave his full time to the ministry of the gospel and of laying down his life for the world now there's a little insight that I want to just throw in here it's found in the book of First Corinthians 7 and it is Paul's writing about those who are single maybe single again in some cases and those who are married and he shed some light on what would have been the life of Jesus and what Paul's life was like and about people who are married and the responsibilities of family this is a New Living Translation I'm reading I want to be I want you to be free from the concerns of this life an unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and thinking how to please him but a married man has to think about his Earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife now I don't say that in any humorous way or to try to make some jab at wives or husbands because he'll put the other perspective as well but here is insight about Ministry if you are married then you should think about responsibilities to your wife or husband and to your family just because you have a Ministry doesn't exempt you from the other responsibilities of your life you can't just say I'm doing something for God and neglect your family his interests are divided in the same way a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and spirit but a married woman has to think about her Earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband Paul says I'm not saying I'm saying this for your benefit not to place restrictions on you I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best with this few distractions as possible so he talks about the advantages of being single and doing Ministry he also talks about the responsibilities of family while doing Ministry now Jesus loved his family as he was dying he put his mother into the care of John Zebedee he said woman Behold thy son and he said Son behold I your mother and from that hour that disciple John took her into his own home now I know that Jesus you know didn't have a place to lay his head foxes have holes birds of the air have their nests but I never really thought about this until I Was preparing for tonight that it is strongly implied that until Jesus died he took care of his mom because he transfers her care to John Zebedee not to any of his four half-brothers or is at least two half-sisters but he transferred the transfers of care of Mary to John Zebedee so before he dies you can see it in the text that Jesus as the oldest of his family is taking care of his mother we also see that that Joseph is not in the picture for some years now that probably his stepdad had passed away so Jesus does not neglect his family I know that his family comes to him I have this in my notes when they think he's kind of off his rocker he's over balanced and he tells them that my disciples are my family my father my brothers and my sisters and we are to love Jesus more than we love our family we understand that but we're not talking about salvation we're not talking about relationship tonight I'm talking about the balance of life and Ministry there were Jews that said that they had committed money to the Lord and that was their excuse for not taking care of their elderly parents they said this this is Corban it is a gift and that means it's laid on the Altar and Beyond reach and they used it as an excuse to neglect their elderly parents I'm not trying to Pat myself on the back it's not part of my notes but we kept care of my mother-in-law my wife's mom for four and a half years we took care of my mom on and off for several months as did my siblings because just because I'm a pastor or whatever other office I may hold it does not exempt me from being a son or a husband or a father and so you have to try to you have to try to press order into the disorder of your life at times you may feel squeezed and pressured but God will give you Grace if you have priorities and you live by priorities and not by pressures it's also interesting that Jesus had friends now we don't really know how many times he went to the home of Mary Martha and Lazarus but he called Lazarus his friend people noticed how much he loved Lazarus he's eating a meal with him when Martha complains and wants Jesus to get Mary to come in the kitchen and help her remember that story I love the story I'm not going to go into detail about that I also want you to know that Jesus Faithfully attended church Luke 4 16 he was in Nazareth where he had been brought up as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day so even though he was God in flesh he was faithful to go to church also he went to General Conference every year you don't have to do that but as a child Luke 2 41 every year his family went to church at Passover as an adult John T 13 that Jesus passed over and was at hand and Jesus went to Jerusalem I want to just show you that Jesus was connected to life to family to Ministry he did not put himself in a place where being exempt of being connected to other people even though he was the Lord of all the Earth and then Jesus took time to refuel in prayer and I'll talk about that in just a few more minutes he rose up a great while before day now let me say some practical things all of this is practical because the Bible's practical I heard a statement years ago that Ministry is not the performance of an hour or a half hour or whatever Ministry is not just something you do it's sort of like evangelism evangelism is not like what you do by knocking on seven doors or taking two and giving two business cards away oh witness is who you are it's what you are everywhere you go everything you do you Jesus said you are my Witnesses and Ministry is not just something I do when I prepare to speak or preach I hope that Ministry is what I am it is the outflow of my life and in theory and hopefully in practice it is what we all are not just what we all do not like the priests and levite who weren't on the clock when they found that man who was beaten up on the side of the road and they somehow Exempted themselves from being a neighbor from being a friend from being a fellow human being Ministry is what we are not just what we do it is the outflow of a life that's why I said that life is Ministry family is Ministry and I know that trying to balance life in Ministry at times creates tension but but if you think of life and family as complementary to your ministry and not a conflict you will have a much healthier outlook on life and Ministry because I've learned over time that my family is my Ministry my family is my primary Ministry and in our church all these years later they are part of my Ministry they are an extension of what my wife and I have tried to do for all of our married life amen and I've learned this about the outflow of a life this is one of those life verses for me proverbs 4 23. keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life the NIV I believe says that from your inner World your your heart is the Wellspring of life so Ministry is served not by the number of hours I spent preparing this message or any other message or however much time you spent practicing to play or sing or serve or teach that's part of it but it is more than just that prep time someone called that defensive study but offensive study is time with God it is time in prayer time into word time in worship that is making who you are and then when you're in a place of performance of teaching preaching serving leading ushering or whatever it is you do it is who you are that is Flowing out not frustrated by Ministry and it's more than you expected but like Jesus reaching down inside and finding something else to give when it wasn't what you planned on to make sure that your family is your ministry and your family when possible can serve with you it's pretty amazing in our church we have families that schedule to serve together and families that plan to worship together and in our church we work real hard to have teams of people so that you're not always serving so that you have time to worship and time to serve it is our goal we may not always hit that Mark to not just make you a commodity to wear you out to use you up until there's nothing left of you and your family but that Ministry is a healthy thing a good thing amen we want your family to be strong and healthy in the bible church leaders are to to rule their homes well to leave their homes well whether you're a bishop in first Timothy 3 1-3 or a deacon in first Timothy three four and five these are higher standards set for leaders in the church than than what you would call just the regular Saint whatever that is but I'm okay that the Bible requires leaders to to live better in a by a higher standard because of the privilege of leading in Ministry and and serving amen but but the writer Paul tells us that you need to make sure that you lead your home well because if you don't know how to lead your home well how will you know how to leave the Church of God we'll read that verse First Timothy 3 4 and 5. one who rules his own house well having his children in submission with all reverence for if a man does not know how to rule his own house how will he take care of the Church of God verse 12 let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ruling their children in their own houses well leading their family as part of their Ministry now I want to give some personal observations and pardon me I kind of went past that and didn't slow down to show you those verses but what my point is is that it is not family or life here in a box and Ministry over here in a box or a silo it is who you are and it is living life from the inside out my personal priorities that I always have to press into order that I'm not perfect in but it is God first I want to be saved it is marriage second it is family third it is Ministry fourth and when I said that to this church to our church board 27 plus years ago I'm not sure everybody understood and when I said it to the church when I when you asked me to serve as your pastor but my idea was and I had watched a lot of people in Ministry serving in a bible college but I've watched people not get that right and so they lost out with God they lost their marriage they lost their family and so it crippled their Ministry but if we can try to get that right and and I promise you I'm not trying to set myself up as the Paragon of perfection or some perfect example you know I I do my best I'm telling you that this is what I've watched and I've watched people with extremes fail they either neglect your family and totally pour themselves into ministry that's an extreme that's a ditch on one side of the road but I've watched other people say well I'm not going to lose my family I'm going to focus totally on my family and they never got involved in Ministry their family never saw them involved in Ministry and I have watched that fail as well because where your treasure is there will your heart be also how can your family think you love the Lord in your church if you don't get involved in making a difference for the Lord in your church it's our values it's who we are that we love the Lord and we love our church and we serve where we can where we're gifted where we're needed and I know there are reasons that some people can't be involved officially as a volunteer at the church I'm not trying to condemn anybody but I'm telling you the value of the kingdom of God that if you're saved you serve that's just what you do this church we work really hard to be a family friendly church this is where it's in my notes about a B Teams and the importance of integrating your family and Ministry where you can don't just serve the church alone bring your family with you when you can help them see the mission of the church and be partners with you in Ministry amen you may not always be able to serve side by side but serve together worship together as I've already said don't go overboard where your kids feel like you know they're this laborers and no reward serve joyfully amen just like you give cheerfully serve joyfully amen try to create some margin in your life minister and then go home and when you get there be there be where you're at when you're there I coined that weird expression because I need that try to be there physically and emotionally and mentally engaged not having your mind somewhere else whether it's your secular job or church ministry try to be with the people you're with not distracted somewhere else this is so important not just quality time but quantity time take time amen to be fully present with your family if you lead a small group lead your small group find a time to tell everybody to go home and get Jesus to send them away my habit at church I don't come in real early I focused on my message but typically after church I stay until almost the last person many times I turn out the lights and there are people who just like to stay and visit and talk and that's wonderful but just make sure if you do that that your family's together with you on that okay you don't get in the car and get an earful of someone who needed to leave 30 minutes early because there's an early morning I don't want shirts to be the excuse or the Fall Guy if I can say it like that for why you don't have a balanced life I used to have this 10 o'clock rule on midweek you know go home after a while I may still be here you you may be here you may not have an early morning may not have a family but make sure that your family doesn't resent church and Ministry I'm gonna say something not intended to say and I need to wrap this up I know but after church I'll let our kids kind of hang out sometimes they get a little carried away we try to Corral them in but some of you like me you're still here and your kids have been here for an hour and a half I don't want them to hate Church I want them to have friends here and and hang out here and and when they get a little crazy we'll do our best to chill them out some but they're little kids and we want them to love our church and Atlanta West we worked with Planning Center Online that means you get an email I think you got it today it tells you to block out your dates for the next month then when you can't serve please don't wait till the day of and and do that the reason we have that opportunity is so you can say we're going to be out of town we're going to worship together I'm not available on a certain day what a wonderful world that is where you can say I'm not available now don't always be unavailable right and that leads me to this sit down with your family and my wife's sitting right here and those secrets on our family we're pretty transparent sometimes I mess up the block out oh that's the week of our anniversary that's not a smart thing to do we try we try to block out time for family vacation I like to go hunting in the fall if you don't like hunting I'm sorry I do I try to I try to block out time to do certain things I'm not great at taking a full day off because things seem to never stop I know I have to work on that all the time but you should do the same you should make your family important and as much as you can look ahead in the calendar know what's going on at church and block out time for your family so you can put make them important in your life and then prepare to serve my mom was so cool four kids my dad taught Sunday school was a song leader back then but my mom had all the kids clothes all of our clothes laid out on Saturday night so on Sunday morning she was not frazzled running around you know having Conflict at home you can by a lack of planning and forethought create conflict or you can relieve a lot of conflict I know Wednesday nights are difficult I had a friend a man who became a friend I took a psychology class just an introduction to psychology in a junior college Kenneth Benson was the professor he was an amazing man I've told you a story before it was Presbyterian I witnessed to him I baptized him in Jesus name he received the Holy Ghost in the baptistry which was pretty amazing but he was so committed he told me at 5 30 on Saturday night we shut everything down we get ready for church on Sunday morning hold on Wow 5 30 that's really early I'm not telling you to do that but I was so impressed but this man who made sure that his family made worship important it wasn't an afterthought they planned to make Church the center of their week and really really important amen if you don't mind please stand worship serve rest live your life with balance when you have times of crazy stress try to take time off Ministry work life when it doesn't work and you go on the retreat and it all falls apart don't get a bad attitude Step Up love people Minister out of a Compassionate Heart Like Jesus try to do a makeup day find a way to keep yourself healthy spiritually and your family whole amen I know you I believe you love me I think you love me I love you but one day you know I'll pass off the scene leave this life planning to go to heaven this church will find another pastor but for my family I'm the only husband dad grandfather so my family is important to me and I want your family to be important to you again I'm not talking about myself I'm just telling you that someone else will be on the platform scene someone else will run sound someone else will serve in children's ministry someone else will do what you're doing now they will come and take your place so while I want you to serve I don't want you to lose your family or your soul while you're serving God and his church amen make sure you strive to live your life with balance and finally take time to refuel to refill your tank I have a lot of scriptures in my notes about Jesus going onto a mountain and praying and staying all night and rising up a great while before day to pray when it's time to worship try to worship I'm cursed with a really detailed mind so I'm always jotting thinking but I really work hard when I come to church before I stand up here I want to worship God I know you can't do everything safety team you know Watch and Pray and sometimes you just can't fully focus on worship or prayer you know they talk about people who try to sneak a preach will sneak a worship sneak a prayer do your best to engage and to not be distracted if it's Church time be in this be in church and if you're watching online I'm not speaking to you right now but don't be Meandering down the hallway or in the foyer if you're not needed there be in church someone engages you in a random conversation give them from you you have permission right now so remember when brother Johns was teaching on this I don't want to offend you but neither do I want to offend the Lord by not worshiping him or Pastor who's preaching right now I need to be in church and I need to be worshiping and praying and fully engaged it take it caused something to pay attention right and to give yourself to worship I want to be saved and I want you to be saved and you're not a commodity as I said earlier to be used and used up just to find someone else to fill your spot we want to do ministry in life with wholeness and as much balance as possible so that we can make a difference in this world starting with ourselves and our families amen I'm gonna invite you to come if you have an early morning or you need to go I understand that but if you have just a few moments to come and pray I want to invite you to pray amen the heroes of my life are people who may not be the most talented may not be the most gifted for the heroes of my life are people who have lasted a long long time [Music] and done Ministry for decades live with integrity walk with God did the best they could with their families and served in Ministry where they were called [Music] and didn't give up cash in backslide I want to be that kind of person and I want you to be that person as well let's pray right now Lord [Music]