Inland Empire: Riverside
Be Ready To Be Great - Audio
I love that. I love some kneecap hugs. My wife and I are getting ready to do the preteens. We won't get any kneecap hugs, but I guess we get to chase the kids all through the class, right? Yeah, we could do a little class chase there. That's cool. You know, I was coming here tonight. My daughter came out and she's like, "Wow, Dad, you look nice." Not because I look nice, but she was surprised, like, "Wow, Dad, you look nice." And then my wife sees me and she's like, "So that's what you're wearing, huh?" And she wasn't there to dress me before I left, and so I was getting trouble with that when I dressed on my own. You know, if you don't know, I hear the brothers, "Hey, man, hey, man, brother." "That's right, preach the word, brother." If you don't know, my wife and I, we moved here about four months ago, and it's been great to be here. We love, love, love the Inland Empire. Amen. I became a Christian in 1988. My wife did as well in 1988. I was at Grossmont College in San Diego and she was at ASU. She became a disciple out there, and then we met on the mission team to Las Vegas. They started a church in Las Vegas. That's where we met in 1991. And then in 1993, they asked us to go in the ministry as a boyfriend and a girlfriend that was scary, and we moved to Palm Springs and planted the Palm Springs Church. My wife and I, and that was exciting. And that lasted for about six months. We got married there. It was super cool. 122 degrees. The day we got married, that was awesome. And it's been hot every day. It's not a baby. Whoo! Come on, brother. Hot day. And, you know, amen. Amen. Amen. And then after about six months, we came up and led the UCR San Bernardino, the campus ministry. We did that. We did that. Yeah. That was awesome. And then we led the Riverside sector of the Inland Empire region back in 1993, '94 and '95. That's when we were here in the Inland Empire. And then we went to the south region for two years. That's where our kids were born. And then we led the Salt Lake City Church for two years. Then we went to Milwaukee for two years. Then we went to Chicago for seven years. And then we decided, you know what, we probably have had enough of the ministry right now. And so we quit the ministry in 2007 and moved to Murray Edda. And we lived there for two years. And then the Sacramento church asked my wife and I to lead the church. And so we led the church for the last two years. And now here we are back in the Inland Empire. And it's awesome. We love being back here. So that's our story. We'll be sure to offend each one of you before the end of the year for sure. Amen. You know, if we could go to our father in prayer, let's grab hands. Let's go to our father in prayer at this time. God in heaven, thank you so much for this great night. I want to pray for all the evangelists and elders who are in Arizona right now and a staff retreat pray you really blessed their time. Give them great wisdom and insight and revelation, great unity and fellowship with one another. God, thank you for us being here tonight. Father, pray that you would really bless us and guide us and strengthen our hearts towards you and one another, not simply with words, but with deep love, the deep concern for you and for one another and for this lost world. God, thank you so much for letting us be here blessed tonight. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God, listen, be ready to be great. Are you ready to be great? You know, some people think I don't want to be great. You know, God calls you to be great. God calls you to be a great person. Matter of fact, He says, if you're a servant, you could even be the greatest of all the great people. That's pretty cool, isn't it? You could be a great servant in the eyes of God. You know, I was watching the passion with my daughter last night. She's studying the Bible, she did the cross study and she's, she's in thing towards becoming a Christian and it's wonderful, it's inspiring and we're watching the passion account last night. I don't know when the last time you saw that, the cross study, but man, that is such an intense movie, isn't it? On so many different levels. And, you know, that last 20 minutes when He's carrying the cross and He keeps falling and He keeps falling and they're beating Him and, you know, me sitting there, I want to run and help Him carry the cross. Like, I want to run in there and go, I help you, I help you carry the cross. And yet there was everybody around there at the time they didn't know what to do. Should we help Him? Should we not help Him? You know, they pulled in Simon and Cyrene there and they're like, "You carry the cross." Well, remember that I'm innocent. You know, there's a great fear to help Jesus. And, you know, there was this great event going on and at the time people didn't know how to respond to it. And now that I have the big picture, now that I know all the information, I'm like, "I'll help. I'll run and help you Jesus because I have all the information." You know, we rarely know great opportunities when we are in them. When a great opportunity is upon you, you rarely know, "Hey, I'm in a great opportunity right now." Think about Jesus walking on the water. He's walking on the water. Peter's like, "Hey, let me come out with you, okay?" You know, what about the other 11? Do you wish, do you know that they wish like years later, man, I wish I would have gotten out of the boat too because they had more information, but they didn't know at the time, "Hey, I can get out and walk on the water too." So often you and I are in an opportunity to be great, but we don't recognize this is an opportunity for me to be great. And that's where faith comes in. That's where doing what is right comes in. Look in your Bibles over to Philippians in chapter 2. You know, so often we want to have all the information before we'll get out of the boat. We want to have all the facts. Let me ask a thousand questions to myself and God before I even invite this person to church. Let me get all the information right before I say, "Okay, come to church with me." You know, we want to know everything there is to know before we will take the chance to be great. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, "Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." You know, God is moving in you and moving in my heart to will and act on his behalf, but how willing and eager are we to do that all the time? To just be ready to do what God wants us to do. I believe from Christian experience that we are not walking around ready to be great, ready to do great things, ready to be miraculous. And God's always ready to be miraculous. God's always ready to do great things. He's always wanted to move in you and away that inspires people because people are watching you. At your job, in your classroom, people are watching you. You're being watched and we have a chance to do great things. You know, my wife and I, when we were, when we had just moved to Palm Springs, we had been there like, I think a month, and we were driving up to Riverside for church and her car broke down. And it was a 1988 Skylar or something like that, right? And she'd had it for five years and she'd never changed the oil. She didn't, she didn't know. Who knew? What do you mean? Just like every two or three months, she goes, I think I should put some oil in. So she put a quart of oil in. She did this for five years. And so we're going to church and it started sputtering, right? Sputtering and we were on the freeway and I'm like, let me get on this frontage road and we'll drive the frontage road. Well, the frontage road eventually divided from the freeway and we're way back in the middle of nowhere in her car conch stop. And it's 930. We didn't have a cell phone. We had just moved here. We, our bank accounts were like, we had nothing. We were out in the middle by this fish farm. And it's Sunday morning at 930. And all of our friends were at church. Who can we call? They're all at church that we were stranded. And I'm just sitting there like just struggling and angry. I mean, I was there at peace and I was joyful and I had no problems. And I'm just struggling, right? And 10 o'clock rolls around and Jen says, I think we should have church. And I'm like, what? She goes, it's Sunday at 10 a.m. for five years. We've been having, I think we should have church. I'm like, we're out here in the middle of nowhere. What do you mean, have church? I'm the leader on the side. What we do? What do you mean? And I started thinking about it. I'm like, Hey, man, maybe we should have church. I said, okay, in five minutes, we're having a pre service meeting. You and me. So we came together in five minutes. We had a little pre service meeting, right? We had a half a can of orange soda and some chili cheese Doritos, I think it was. And I said, okay, you're leading singing today. You got the first couple of songs. Why don't you go ahead and do the welcome also? I'll get, I'll get up. I'll do communion. I said, can you pass the trays during community? Yes, I can pass the trays during community. All right. I said, why don't you do the fellowship break? Great. I'll do the lesson. Why don't you do a response? That's great. Okay, we got our church and we're playing out, right? Awesome. So we come together and she starts singing and we're singing. We're out literally in the middle of nowhere. We're out by some fish farm or something. We're out in the woods and we're just singing and clapping and she gets up and she doesn't welcome and it's awesome. And I get up, I do the communion and she passes around a little orange drink and all the little we take the communion and she gets up and then she looks like right now we're gonna have a fellowship break. I'm like, okay, great. So we have a fellowship break and we hug and how you doing? We meet each other and the night before on the way home, we got into this big fight, right? Got into this big fight. And the next day, that day when I was studying at my quiet time, it was amazing how much her sin became clear in the Bible to me. And so, and so I get up to do the lesson and then I do it on my quiet time, right? Which happens to be all the sin that I saw in her life. And so I think it was Nehemiah. And so I'm preaching, I'm preaching like 15 minutes to her, right? I'm preaching the word, you know, I'm hitting the Bible, you know, God said. So she gets up to do the response, right? And she goes, she goes, church has been great today. But you know every once in a while, you feel like the minister speaking just to you. I feel like you were speaking just to me right there with that lesson. It's awesome. We had church. We had church. We had an opportunity right there to struggle, walk, or we had an opportunity to have church. And we had church. And I can tell you, of other Sundays, well, I didn't make it a great opportunity where we had house church with me and my family, and I didn't make it special. Sunday is an opportunity. That day was an opportunity. And I took that chance and made it great. And it was awesome. We had three visitors. We had an awesome attendance. We had two birds came and then a deer, a deer came and stood like the whole service. They stood there and watched us. We had a good, great, and awesome. It was an awesome service. It was firing me up. You know, God is constantly moving in us to do great things. You know what it means to be great. It means to be a Christian. Simply just be a Christian. Being a Christian is being great. There's no great deed in the Bible done outside of the normal call of Christianity. It's faith, it's humility. All the great deeds in the Bible that we're done, we're done simply out of Christianity, out of a love for God. Being great is being a Christian. And God is moving in your soul. And God is moving in my soul to be great, to be a Christian. You know, I have never regretted sharing my faith with somebody. Never once have I regretted. I've been, I've felt like an idiot at times. I've never regretted inviting someone to church. I have regretted not inviting people to church. There's been so many times that I have been in a situation and I have left and I have just felt horrible. Because I didn't do what God was calling me to do. And I was in the midst of an opportunity and I didn't take it. I've never regretted sharing my faith, but I have regretted not sharing my faith over and over and over. And you know, when the Spirit's prompting you, share your faith. And we run through our, well, the last three people, God, you said share your faith with weren't open. So why are you having me share my faith when nobody's open? Because I'm doing what you say, but nobody's as if we need an approval list before we can do what God says to do. God says, share your faith, share your faith. That's a great thing. That's a great thing. And it's just Christianity. I've never regretted getting up super early and having a prayer time. I have regretted not praying so many times. I've never regretted knowing, knowing my Bible. I've regretted not studying my Bible, not reading my Bible, not knowing what the Bible says. Being great is simply being a Christian. Do you want to be great? Do you want to be great? Then just be a Christian. God does great things through Christianity. Do you think that the widow had in her mind that gave their two copper coins? I'm going to be great. She just had, I'm just being a Christian. I'm just going to give my copper coins here. And it was great in the eyes of God. Look over in Psalm 2037, Psalm 2037. You don't know where you're at in your book. I don't even know where we're supposed to be at in our book. Somebody said we started on the 8th. We started on the 15th. I don't know when. Anyhow, I read desperate. I don't know if they're 18 to 19. I don't know if you read the one about being desperate. I know Brian did because he sent out a text about, oh, that was passion. The one before that. You know, the one about being desperate why stay here until we die. I've never regretted Christian action, but I've regretted Christian inaction. I've never regretted doing something for God, but I've regretted not doing things for God. And we don't have to have it all figured out. We don't have to have the answer. We just need to do what God says. It's amazing how well life goes when we do what God says to do. You know, in day five, the one with trust, a bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Dude, that is so cool. We don't have all the answers, but we certainly got a song. Well, why is this happening and I ran and why is this in the Middle East? What about prophecy? I don't know, but I got a song to sing. Let me tell you about my conversion, what Jesus has done to me. I don't know about the Middle East prophecies, but I can tell you what Jesus did to me in Palm Springs. I can tell you that. We don't have all the answers, but we got a song to sing. We have a song to sing and it's Jesus and it's beautiful. It is beautiful and we need to sing it loud and proud. Psalm 37 verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. Man, if you could just do that, just trust in God and do good. Just trust in God and you just keep doing good. But all the good I've done hasn't produced. Just trust in God and do good. But when I do good, it always seems to trust in God and do good. It really can be that simple, but there's more. Dwell in the land and save past. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him. And He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the new day sun, new day sun. Trust in the Lord. Do good. Commit your way to the Lord and this is what God will do. I don't know about you. I love to try to control my destiny. I love to try to control what happens at each hour of the day, what I eat, where I go, how I do it. And it just doesn't work that way. And then you get married and it's all upside down. And then you have kids and then it's really upside down. And then you should get started getting older and jobs and church. What about me? What about me? Trust in God and do good. And it is amazing how many good things will happen to you in your life. I read this thing that's really cool about trust. To trust in the Lord wholeheartedly means one should not rely on His own understanding for human insight is never enough. The way of God is incomprehensible yet He is trustworthy. You know, you and I will never ever figure out God and His will and His plan. And we never have to. But we do have to do what God says to do. You know, a lot of us, we want to have a do over. You know, we go to do something like we go into this place and God says share our faith and we don't and we leave. And they were like, I wish I could do it all over again because if I could go and do it over again, I would share my faith with that person. You know, oh, I wish I wouldn't have done that. I wish I wouldn't have done that. 11 in the boat. Can we have a do over? Because I'd like to walk on the water and I want you guys to know that I have walked on the water. I have. It was awesome. So I got that going for me. I just want you to know that. When I was in Chicago, the lake was frozen. And I just got right up on it, man. I was like, whoa, like Peter just walking on the water. It was awesome. Just being great. That's all. Just being great. You know, a lot of us we we don't know when greatness is upon us. We don't know when it's upon you. And it's upon you every day. It's upon you every single day. To say hi to someone at work. You don't know? Say hi to someone at a bus stop. Say hi to someone sitting near the class. Just hi. Hey, how are you doing today? Hi. That's amazing how far that goes. Just saying hi. Just being nice to someone. You know, it's amazing on Sundays how often we walk by each other and don't say a word. Brothers and sisters in Christ all around and we got we know who sits here. We know who sits here. We know who sits here. We know who sits here. And that's where you come and sit. Don't talk to me while I'm going to my spot. Like your spot has your name on it. Look around and see if your name is on that CD or it's because we like claim it, right? Anybody can see it. But we kind of like cleft. That's like that's my seat, man. What are you doing sitting there? You know, we don't we don't walk by it. Just hey, hi. How you doing? How's it going? Whoo hoo. You know, we really need to do a better job, you guys. Just just saying hi to each other in here. If we ain't saying hi to each other in here on a Sunday, when we got our Christian shine on, man, we are in trouble, right? Because we come to Sunday just shining, you know, just whoo hoo. Man, see on Tuesday at 8.30 in class, you're like, oh man, good. We really have got to get better at just being great toward one another. Being great is simply just being a Christian. You know, I got a call tonight as I was working on this from Rod. Rod and Darla, raise your hands. Rod and Darla hosted a Super Bowl party and I'm a big Patriots fan. And they hate the Patriots, right? And so I was at their house. I was struggling as much with them as I was with the fact that the Patriots were losing. Because Rod is nice until you get to know him. But man, when you're in this house, he's like, I hope Tom Brady gets his knee broke. I hope that I mean, he's just like bringing the, I was like, that was about to be a fight. A great fight. It's about to be great, right? And I was struggling. I was struggling with Patriots and then they lost. And so I was out of the house in like 10 seconds. I couldn't get out of the house fast enough. And I got home and I wasn't mad at Rod and Darla was mad that the Patriots lost. I was struggling, right? Rod and Darla, you guys been Christians how long? Three years. I get a call from Rod tonight. Hey Don, just wanted to see how things are going. Darla was saying, you might be mad at me or else or something. And I was like, I was like, no Rod, I'm not mad. I wanted to save it for here in front of everybody. Dude, you ticked me off the whole time. No, I wasn't. I wasn't mad at him. I wasn't. I got home. I was like, I'm not mad at Rod and Darla mad at the Patriots lost. But that simple act, that simple act to call and say, are we okay? Is there anything between us? Because I got this feeling that maybe there's something in there. They don't know, right? They don't know because Rod said, you're awfully nice, but man, you left like, like angry or something. That act, do you know how much stronger our fellowship would be? If we would just simply start right there. Right? You know, hey man, I just felt a little weird with our interaction and I want to call and make sure we're okay. Because sometimes there is something there and sometimes there isn't, but we'll walk around with something there whether there is or isn't and not say anything. That is great Christianity. That is great Christianity. Is there anything between us? That is great Christianity. That is what Jesus died for. That's what he prayed for, our unity, our oneness. That is what great, that's just being a Christian. You want to be great? Just be a Christian. Just do what you need to do. You know, this whole thing about us meeting each other is, there's so many cool people in our fellowship. There's just really neat people that we have here that we really need to take the opportunity to meet one another. Like, you know, I went to a conference in Boston in 1989 and I was, you know, 10,000 people there. Are you guys going to San Antonio? It's going to be, come on, man. Dude, it's going to be smoking. It's going to be amazing. And so, I was going on the escalator and I was like, I don't want to insecure, you know, 10,000 people. Who am I? I've been a Christian two months. I'm like, you know, and there's this person on the escalator up in front of me and I'm like, Don, you should go talk to that person. You should go, I don't know that person. What are you talking about? Who are you not going to go say hi to that person? I'm on the east coast, man, on the west coast, you know, all this stuff, you know, and I was like, I was like, all right, all right. I'll go up and say hi. So, I run up to escalator, you know, and as the escalator gets higher, I get taller and she gets shorter, you know, like knee hugs, you know, right? And so, I tap on her, so I'm like, Hi, how you doing? Just wanted to say hi and what's your name? And we started talking and we're talking. I was like, man, this girl looks familiar to me. We started talking and she was, she was Don, like, yeah. She was on song, song Google on now, Elaine, song, Elaine, right? Or is it Google on or what was the main name? Anyhow, song, Elaine, we'll just stick with song, Elaine, before she was song, Elaine. And so, we're up and I'm like, like, saw it? Is that Don? We went, we're, here we are at Boston, right? We went to the same high school together. We went to the graduating class. I was on the football team, she was a cheerleader, you know, and she saw me, she's like, oh my gosh, you're a Christian? I'm not kidding, right? She's a Christian. She goes, I prayed for everybody in her class, but you, can I never thought you would make it? Come on. I'm like, see, your face was sister, that's what you get. I didn't say that to her. But here we are in Boston, right? I'm totally nervous and I'm like, I'm like, let's just go say hi. God does that stuff. That's just being a Christian. Just being a Christian. You know, on the way here, I was driving and we're praying about my last thing. I'm like, I don't know. There's a car blinking and I almost drove by. Do great, be great. Stuck on the side of the road. Oh, good night. So I pull up next to her and I roll down the window and she just, she's crying. She's just crying. She's like, my car broke down. I'm like, do you need some help? So I pull over and she was, my car just broke down and I don't know what to do. And I said, is there anybody nearby? My husband's in LA and we're just on the phone and he doesn't, he can't help me. And I'm just, and she's just, she's crying. I'm like, okay, well, let me, let me try to, let me try to help out. So I get in the car. I'm like, it's going to be okay. And she lives up street and within about five minutes later, a car starts. She's like, oh, thank God. God bless you. And, you know, so often we, we just go right by those. We just go by them. We just go by them. There are so many opportunities for you and I to be great. So many chances for you and I to be great. What does it mean to be a great? Simply to be a Christian. I want to encourage you guys to examine this concept in your heart of, am I willing, do I want to be great? Am I ready to do what God wants me to do when he wants me to do it? It's great being here you guys. We love being here. Have a good night. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Midweek lesson by Don Splitt