Wild Horses : Leadership
In this sermon we focus on the importance of being centered, in control, and calm as key attributes for successful leadership, parenting, and personal growth. Drawing parallels from horse training and from Jesus the sermon calls for a life centered on Him.
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Small Group Curriculum: Discovering Your Purpose
Connect: Opening Activity/Discussion
1. Icebreaker Question: What is an animal that you wonder what its purpose is?
2. Discussion Starter: Reflect on a time when you felt truly alive and fulfilled. What were you doing, and why do you think it resonated with you so deeply?
Discover: Breaking Down the Sermon
1. Understanding Purpose:
- Read Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
- Question: What does it mean to you that God knew you before you were born? How does this shape your understanding of your purpose?
2. Known by God:
- Discussion: The sermon emphasized that God knows us deeply. How does this knowledge impact your relationship with Him?
- Question: How can recognizing that God knows you help you overcome feelings of inadequacy or fear? How can you fulfill your purpose of knowing him better?
3. Called by God:
- read 1 Timothy 3:16-17. What are some things we see in scripture as his general will?
- Read Jeremiah 29:11 and Ephesians 2:10
- Question: What are some specific ways you feel God might be calling you to serve or act in your current season of life?
4. Overcoming Excuses:
- Discussion: The sermon mentioned common excuses people make when called by God.
What are some excuses you’ve made, and how can you overcome them?
- Question: How can you rely on God’s strength and promises to step into your calling?
5. Finding Your Sweet Spot:
- Activity: Use the Venn diagram concept from the sermon. On a piece of paper, draw three intersecting circles labeled "Passions," "Giftings," and "God Opportunities." Spend a few minutes writing down what comes to mind for each category.
- Question: Where do you see overlap, and how might this indicate your "sweet spot" in God’s purpose for you?
Respond: Practical Steps
1. Prayerful Reflection:
- Spend a few minutes in silent prayer, asking God to reveal more about your purpose and calling. Listen for His guidance and write down any thoughts or impressions you receive.
2. Action Plan:
- Identify one specific step you can take this week to move closer to living out your purpose.
This could be volunteering, having a conversation, or starting a new habit that aligns with your calling.
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Man, it's good to see everybody today. Everybody doing good. So I'm glad that you are with us on this, what we call happy hour at the Rock. So.
So hopefully you're excited about being here, and if you happen to be new with us, man, I know there's a lot of things you could do on a Thursday evening, but. But you've chosen to say, man, I want to. I want to show up at the Rock. I want to show up at church. I.
I want to connect with Jesus. All right, so really thankful for that. I have to let you guys know you've probably figured this out. We are in the midst of a whole lot of construction going on in this place. We got our new kind of AVL room over there that we're not using, but the wall's down.
We're gonna start using that. But we've had to change a lot of stuff just to get ready for tonight. So I'm gonna kind of go off script for just a second, and I'm gonna help about seven people in the room. Jackson, if you could help us out. My preach lights are focused on them and on them, and they probably don't want to be in the spotlight.
Okay, so we'll work on that. I'm here to help you guys and to serve you as well, so give them a moment. But again, we've been moving all kinds of things, so bear with us. I'm gonna go ahead and give you a heads up now because I was gonna do this later, but since I'm already talking about it, next Thursday night when you come in, don't be shocked. This stage will be gone.
This is the last Thursday night I will ever preach from right here. It's the last Thursday night we'll ever lead from that stage. All right? Now, it doesn't mean the whole room will be done. No.
We got about four months left in front of us, but the room will be set totally different. I can almost promise you, wherever you're sitting right now, you probably won't sit there next week. Okay? So just go ahead and come in. Be prepared.
Don't freak out. Just come maybe a little bit early and find a good seat. All right? So I'm just kind of letting you know in advance that is what is coming. All right?
Now it is Mother's Day weekend, and I'm excited about Mother's Day weekend and everything that is going on and what we're doing. But as we talk about Mother's Day weekend, let me just go ahead and. And just let's celebrate some moms for a second. How many of you all in the room are. You're a mom?
All right, Just go ahead and raise your hand. All right, so let's celebrate those moms right now. All right? So it's so good thankful for. For you guys as moms.
And let me just ask this also, as a mom, just curious, have you little transparent. Can we be a little transparent? Can we be a little real with one another? Have you ever, as a mom, thought, I'm not doing a great job. You been there, you know what I'm saying?
Like, how about this, moms? Have you ever, like, do you ever think, man, I'd like to just be a little bit better at this thing called motherhood? Anybody with me? You know what I'm saying? Like, I think that is a natural thing to think about when it comes to motherhood, that all of us, like, you're there.
And let me remind you of a scripture that we read in our rock reading plan just yesterday, that you're the woman for the job, okay? So no matter how you feel, like, some days I'm a great mom, some days I'm not a very good mom. Like, listen, you're the mom for the job because you're the mom, okay? So don't lose sight of that. That we talked about it from Joshua, chapter one.
This is just in the reading plan, talking about how God said to Joshua, joshua, you're the guy for the job. And I would say this also for you as the mom. You're the mom for the job. So no matter how you feel, understand, God's called you to do that. Now should we all want to do it a little bit better?
Absolutely. Dads, we should want to be a little bit better at being a dad. That friends, we should want to be a little bit better at being friends. That when it comes to, let's say, coaching or mentoring people, we should want to be a little bit better at coaching or mentoring. That when it comes to being a spouse, we should want to be a little bit better at being a spouse.
When it comes to being a leader, maybe you're a leader at your. Your job, you're a leader in your family or a leader in the community. Maybe you're a manager, that type, maybe you're a teacher. So you're leading that way. If you're a leader, you should want to be a little bit better at being a leader.
That. That no matter where you're at, all of us should go, well, like, I definitely want to get Just a little bit better at this. I want to be more successful, guys. That's really what today is about. Today's about this idea.
How do I be a more successful leader? Which would mean a more successful parent, a more successful as a spouse, more successful in any of those areas. How can I do that? And I think the answer I found is one of the answers. I should probably say it that way.
One of the answers I found was, was from the idea of training a horse. And this series we're in, it's three weeks, it's just about training a horse. And it's about a book I read. And when I read the book, it's just a leadership book. But I just saw so many parallels.
And the author who wrote is a Christian, and you could see his faith coming out in the book. And one of the things that he talked about was leadership. And then that led me down another path to looking at a guy named Todd Pierce. Todd Pierce is a world renowned horse trainer. And he goes into churches, he goes a lot of places.
But one of the things he does is he goes into churches and he preaches. But the way that he preaches is the church, before he shows up, brings £10,000 of sand into their auditorium, and then they put a horse ring around the sand. Stuart, how you feeling about that in here? You don't like that. You and the cleaning team doesn't like that.
I get that. Right. But that's how he does it. And then he literally trains a wild horse while he's preaching. All right, it's pretty cool.
I encourage you if you're into that kind of thing. Get on YouTube, search Todd Pierce, horse trainer. You'll see all kinds of great messages from him. He says this. He says the secret to training a horse is to be centered, to be in control, and to be calm.
He says if you want to train a horse, then you have to be centered, you have to be in control and you have to be calm. And I think those are great lessons for leadership. Those are great lessons for how to be a better leader. Those are great lessons for how to be a better parent, how to be a better spouse, how to be a better friend, how to be a better leader in your job. And so that's what I want us to just grab ahold of today and through this series.
The first two weeks, I really kind of talked about, hey, we're the wild horse. And this is what we need to do. We need to trust God. We're the wild horse. We need to know our purpose today.
We flip the series a little bit more to how do you help train the wild horse? And it starts with the idea that you have to be centered. That when Todd Pierce says this when he's training a horse, when he says be centered, what he's saying is when he starts to work with the horse and the horse starts to get a little crazy, maybe the horse starts to buck a little bit, maybe the horse starts to run a little bit, that immediately Todd goes to the center, that he always goes to the center, because the horse rails define the outline. The horse rails define like. Like his space.
But Todd will always stand in the center so that the horse always knows exactly where he's going to find Todd. He's in the center. Craig Groeschel, who's a pretty. Just an incredible pastor, leads the largest church in America, is also a leadership guru. He says that the number one characteristic that people look for in a leader is someone who is centered.
So Todd Pierce says, to train a horse, you gotta be centered. Groeschel says, to be a great leader, you gotta be centered. And for most of us, we'd say, okay, I don't even know what that means, because we have a hard time defining what it means to be centered. But we understand exactly what it means to be
uncentered, right? Like, you might not be able to define centered, but most of us would say, that person's uncentered.
That person is all over. The MA is going all like, I don't know, he's unstable. You want to be a great parent, you want to be a great leader, you want to be a great friend, man. First thing we got to do is we got to get centered. And the Jewish people caught this as well, because God said to them, they've been running wild, doing all kinds of crazy things.
And God's like, you guys got to get back on my path. You got to get back into doing things the way I want you to. And he says, if you're going to do that, then listen, I'll give you a shift shepherd who is centered, right? It's Jeremiah, chapter 3, verse 15. Honestly, this is really the only verse we're looking at tonight.
Like, this is the verse of the day. All right? So we're going to pick it apart. Then it says this. It says, then I will give you shepherds after my own heart.
I'll give you shepherds who are after me. Start with the idea of shepherds that God is saying, listen, I'm going to put. Put some people in your life who will protect you, who Will feed you, who will lead you, who will care for you, who will know you, who will discipline you. I'm gonna put some people in your life who are gonna help. And those people are gonna be centered, meaning this.
Those people, they're gonna be unshakable. Those people are gonna be people that you can count on that when you're going, man, I don't know which way to go. I don't know what's going on I can look to. That's who I'm going to find, is that person. And that's what we need to be for the people we lead.
That's what we need to be for the kids that we parent. Well, how do you be centered? What does being centered even look like? Well, I'd kind of lay it out like this, that to be centered means one, that you're committed to Christ, right? Like, here's just some action points.
If you're a note taker. This sermon's for you. That if you want to be centered, it means that first you got to be committed to Christ. All you gotta do is go back to that verse. In the verse, it said, I'm looking for a man after my own heart.
Shepherds who are after my heart. That if we go to King David, David was a shepherd who was after God's heart. That kept him centered because he was committed to God. What we need to look at if I'm going to be centered is I got to be committed to Christ. That Christ has to be the number one thing I seek.
As Matthew says, seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness. And everything else will be added to you that, that I gotta, I gotta have my mind on the kingdom. I've gotta look to Christ in all things. And I am confident when I say this.
Without Christ, it's impossible to be centered. It's impossible. You might feel like, no, I got life figured out. I'm stable. But I'm just telling you, without Christ, you are on shifting sand, that you need Christ in your life.
And so if you want to be a great leader who is always stable, you're going to build your life on the foundation of Christ. And, and what that means is I'm going to be committed. I'm going to pick up my cross, I'm going to do what he says. I'm going to follow him through thick and thin. So no matter.
Turmoils come in life. When my kids look at me, when my people look at me, they're gonna be like, man, that guy's immovable. I know right where to find him because he's committed to Christ. You want to be a leader who's centered. You want to be a parent who's centered.
You want to be a friend who's centered. Be committed to Christ. Be consistent in your character. Consistent in your character. That I really don't believe a leader can be centered who isn't consistent in their character.
That we need to be people of good character. Now, I know you might go, oh, I've seen some leaders who don't have great character. Yeah, we all have. But I don't think any of us would say that leader is centered, right? Like, we need to be people who are centered, which means we need to be have good character that.
That. Ephesians 4:1 says, Live a life worthy of your calling. Are you called to be a mom? Live life worthy of it. You called to be a dad.
You called to be a friend. You called to be a leader. Live worthy of that. Ephesians 5:1 says, Be imitators of God, meaning everything in my life is going to imitate him. My character is going to imitate him.
First, Timothy 3 talks about church leaders. All right? Now it's specifically talking about church leaders. But the characteristic of goes for all Christians. Many of the characteristics especially go for all Christians.
Be a person of good reputation. Be a person who's not easily angered. Be a person who doesn't. Isn't greedy. Be a person who isn't divisive.
That these are things that we see that a leader should have great character. You want to be better at being a mom, a dad, a parent.
Be content in how you were created. Again, this is all about being centered. That I can be content in how we're created. Have you ever been around a leader who was unsure of himself? Have you ever been around.
Maybe it's you that when you see yourself or you see a leader and they're just like, I just don't know. And they're constantly like, I just don't feel competent in this. I don't feel like I'm able to do this. And what that does is it causes you to go, I don't know if you're able to do it either, then, right? And the problem is when
we understand this content and how we were created, that we need to get to that point where we go, man, no, I know the God who created me and I know the gifts that he gave me.
So I'll be confident in my competencies, if I can say it that way, I'll be confident in the things that he has given me and the gift sets that he has given me. And I'm also gonna be clear on my incompetencies. See, I'm not trying to be somebody else. I'm not trying to parent like somebody else. I'm not trying to be somebody like.
No, I'm gonna be the person God created me to be. Which means there are some things I'm just not great at. Right. Can we all admit that we all have some weaknesses and there's some things that we're not great at. I'll be honest.
I'm not great at empathy. I'll just tell you right now, if you're going, oh, I want to go talk to Josh because I want some soft counsel, and I just want to understand, don't come to me, because I'm going to be real
direct. I can give you some people who have the great gift of empathy. I'm just not one of them. But I'm okay with that because I'm not trying to be somebody else.
I'm trying to be exactly who God created me to be. That's what it means to be centered. The last one is courage in your calling to know how God has called you. God was looking. He said, I'm gonna give some shepherds who are after my heart, that God was calling those leaders to lead the Israelite people.
God is calling you to lead, wherever that might be. All right, again, you know your season, you know your situation. Have courage and go exactly where God has called you to. God, be centered. Let me go another step.
That if you want to be better, if you want to be more successful at parenting, at being a mom, at being a dad, being a leader, then I'd also say this. Be in control. Now, when I say be in control, I don't mean in control of your emotions. I'll actually get to that in a moment. Okay.
When I say be in control, I mean, no, just be in control. Be the leader. Okay, again, go back to Todd Pierce for a second. Todd Pierce said this about training a horse. And I really want somebody to take my picture right now, because if I've ever felt like a cowboy, it's right now.
Okay, I got a real rope. If I can't wear a cowboy hat, I tried. It doesn't work. So I was like, this is as close as you're going to get with me. But.
But I bring this up for this reason. That Todd Pierce, again, he's the horse trainer. He said that he never lets go of the lead, that when he's training a horse that he'll grab the lead and he'll never let go of it. That he might let there be slack in the lead, he might bring some tension to it, but he's never going to let go of it because he's going to let the horse know that he's always in control. That we have to understand that when God has called you to lead something, be in control.
And if we could talk, like, let me just talk to parents for just a second, especially parents with kids, man, we've given up control way too easy so many times. We're just like, okay, and we let go of the lead and we turn over the lead to an iPad, we turn over the lead to a phone, we turn over the lead to YouTube, we turn over the lead to somebody else. Or we turn over the lead because we're too busy with the iPad, we're too busy with the iPhone, we're too busy with our social media that we're so here. Or we turn over the lead because we're like, man, I'm just so tired. It's not even worth the time fight.
Like, I'm just going to let them do what they want to do. And I, I just like, yeah, have at it. We're, we're unwilling to say no because we're just like, ah, if I say no, then they're going to cry and it's going to be a fit. And so what we do, rather than saying no, this is not what. No, we just go, well, whatever you want.
Well, we, we start to reason with 3 year olds now, guys. I love 3 year olds. All right, I'm not saying this negative, but just trying to change the situation doesn't necessarily mean you're leading in the situation. Okay, we gotta lead. Look at the next part of the verse.
Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart. Look at the next part. Who will lead? You? Who will lead?
That God was saying, I'm calling some shepherds who will lead in the same way that he's called you to shepherd some people to lead some people. So don't just give up the leadership. Don't just let it go. If God's put somebody in your life who you're supposed to lead, then lead. Remember, sin came into this world because Adam gave up his leadership, that Eve ate that apple or ate that piece of fruit.
And when she did, it was because she was in a conversation with Satan. That's all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. All right? And as she was in a conversation. Satan looked at her, said, eat this.
And then she ate it and gave it to her husband, who was with her. That it all came into being because he was unwilling to go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Eve, time out. Don't you remember what God said? Quit listening to that fool. Listen to me, and let's get out of this situation, man, we gotta lead.
God's put people in your life for you to lead. So lead them. And you might go, well, how do I lead them? Because again, right here, he's saying they will lead with knowledge, that they have knowledge on how to lead God's people. You might go, how do I lead?
Here's just a quick acronym that I came up with that maybe will help you. I'll run through it quick. But if you want to lead, you got to love unconditionally. Like, love your people unconditionally. Love your kids, love your spouse, love your family, love your friends, whoever it is, love them unconditionally.
Then you empower fully. Again, specifically, when we're talking kids for a second, I empower fully that I look and go, how can I help my kid excel? Too many times, it's gonna get me in trouble. But it's truth, so I'm gonna say it too many times. As parents, you have a little helicopter you like to jump into, and you hover over your kid when you need to let them fail because you've empowered them.
You know what I mean? Sometimes it's okay to fall off the swing set. Y' all ain't getting what I'm saying.
Empower fully. Affirm continually, just always affirm them. It doesn't mean you don't tell them what's wrong. But you're constantly saying, and I value you. I am for you.
I am with you. I see great in you, that I believe in you, that you're affirming them. Especially as your kids get older and older and older and they're starting to. To chase after their dreams. You're affirming, you're challenging, you're launching them into adulthood.
And then disciple relentlessly. And again, when I say disciple, here's what I mean, is that you're constantly, over and over and over putting Jesus into your people. That man, I disciple. I lead people not just to lead them, but because I want them to know God. So if you want to be better at leading, be in control.
Don't give up control. Lead people with knowledge and understanding. And when I say understanding, here's what I mean by that. Be calm. You be Centered, be in control and be calm.
Here's this last part. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. And I say the word be calm with understanding. For this reason, it's really hard to be understanding of a situation when I'm not calm. Again, Todd Pierce would say when he's training a horse, he said, you can never let the horse see you get mad, because as soon as you're mad, your emotions are mad.
They sniff it out. As soon as you reveal your anger, they're done. So you've got to remain calm if you want to be able to lead. And, guys, this is where I just got to be real for a second. That.
That there's times in our life where we're not calm.
There's times in our life where, if I could say it this way, we lose our crap. And when you lose your crap, there's a lot of crap you have to clean up. You see what I'm getting at? And this is, like I said, this is where, if I could just be real, the worst days of my marriage and the worst days of my parenting. Been married for 33 years this weekend.
Been a parent for 31 years. But I can tell you the worst days of my marriage and the worst days of my parenting. Every one of them is because I lost my crap.
That I got angry that I was not calm. And when you're not calm, then you can't be understanding. You're not listening. You're not hearing what's going on, so you can speak. If you're not calm, I'm listening so I can respond.
And it's just a simple challenge, man. If I want to be a better parent, I gotta be calm. It doesn't mean I don't discipline. It doesn't mean I'm not upset. It just means I'm calm.
If I want to be a better spouse, I gotta be calm. If I want to be a better friend, I gotta be calm. That I can't just get irate and lose my crap, because it's not going to help you lead. Look at these scriptures. Proverbs 29:11.
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
James 1. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Ephesians 6, 4 fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. I want to challenge this.
If we really want to get better at parenting, at leading, at being a friend, at coaching people, mentoring people. Man, be centered, be in control, and be calm.
And don't think it's impossible. You want the best example of that? Can we just look at Jesus for a few minutes? Because that's really what it's all about. Remember I said at the beginning, it's all about Jesus.
You want to know what it means to be centered and just look at Jesus. I mean, that's a guy who was consistent in his character at all times. So much so that he never sinned. He was consistent in his character. He was committed to the Father, committed to the point that he would be willing to die for God's will.
That when you think of Jesus, man, he had the courage to follow his calling all the way to the cross. That if there was ever a centered leader, it was Jesus Christ. That you knew exactly what you were going to get from Jesus all the time. Am I right? Like, no matter.
Every time you look like, imagine the disciples, every time they looked at Jesus, they knew exactly what kind of man they were going to get because he was centered on the will of God. That. That Jesus was in control at all times. Jesus was in control. That Jesus never let go of the lead.
He was in control even when he was on trial in front of Pilate. And Pilate looked at him and said, don't you realize that I have the power to kill you? Jesus simply said, you would have no power unless I hadn't already given it to you. The only power you have is because I gave it to you. You think you're in control.
I still hold the lead. You're just doing what I need you to do. Now, that's not all the words Jesus said, but that's what was in the essence of everything Jesus said to Pilate. Because Jesus never lost control. He was leading the whole time he was on earth.
And he did it calmly. That Jesus, that. That when situations came up, he didn't lose his crap, that he remained calm. And I know some of you go, yeah, what about that time? He flipped the tables.
Even when he flipped the tables, it wasn't reckless rage. It was a righteous purpose. So. So he was still walking. Did he ever, like.
Like, raise his voice and speak truth? Absolutely. He did it to the religious leaders all the time, but he did it from a spirit where he wasn't out of control. And you want to know what the best way to be a better leader and just be like Jesus. You want to know the best way to Be a better mom.
Just be like Jesus. A better dad. Be like Jesus. A better friend. Let's simply be like Jesus.
That's the goal of it all and that's the goal of tonight. So I'm going to challenge you. I want you to think through everything that was said. And maybe during this response time for you is saying, man, I gotta get centered again. I gotta center my life on Christ, which will lead to consistent character, which will lead to courage, which will lead to contentment.
Maybe tonight what you need to do is you need to say, man, it's time for me to lead the people who have been in my life. I've been letting other things get in the way of. Of leading my kids and leading my people. But I'm gonna start doing it right. Maybe, maybe you gotta admit that you got some anger issues like I do.
And maybe tonight's a night to say, man, I'm ready to surrender them to the Lord. I wanna give you that opportunity. So I'm gonna invite you to stand with me and we're gonna go into this time of response. And just so you know, in this time of response that, that we've got communion up front. If you want to take communion, you can.
If you got it on your way in, you can take communion anytime you want. And maybe while you're taking communion, think through those things I shared. If you need somebody to pray with, I want you to know we have a prayer corner right back here. There's just a little table back there. Darren's there.
I know he'd love to pray with you. We've got a prayer corner in this back corner here. We'd love to pray with you. Maybe tonight is the night that you're going to take a step of baptism. That I know.
I think there's at least two people getting baptized. If I remember right, I'm excited for them and taking those steps. Maybe that's you, because. Here, let me just explain this, that when you see somebody get baptized, here's what you're seeing. They're saying, I want to center my life on Christ.
That's what I want to do. And when you do that, what you're doing is you're saying, jesus, take the lead. Jesus, take the lead. I'm gonna be in control of the people you call me to lead. But it starts with me saying, jesus, will you take the lead in my life and never let go?
And I'm telling you right now, when you turn your life over to Jesus and you let him take the lead, he will lead you down the right path. You might be a wild horse. I might be a wild horse. Jesus doesn't wanna tame us, but he does want to train us. So let him take the lead in your life.
We're going to sing a song right now. Let's respond, and let's do what God is calling us to do. Come on, let's.
Man, it's good to see everybody today. Everybody doing good. So I'm glad that you are with us on this, what we call happy hour at the Rock. So.So hopefully you're excited about being here, and if you happen to be new with us, man, I know there's a lot of things you could do on a Thursday evening, but. But you've chosen to say, man, I want to. I want to show up at the Rock. I want to show up at church. I.
I want to connect with Jesus. All right, so really thankful for that. I have to let you guys know you've probably figured this out. We are in the midst of a whole lot of construction going on in this place. We got our new kind of AVL room over there that we're not using, but the wall's down.
We're gonna start using that. But we've had to change a lot of stuff just to get ready for tonight. So I'm gonna kind of go off script for just a second, and I'm gonna help about seven people in the room. Jackson, if you could help us out. My preach lights are focused on them and on them, and they probably don't want to be in the spotlight.
Okay, so we'll work on that. I'm here to help you guys and to serve you as well, so give them a moment. But again, we've been moving all kinds of things, so bear with us. I'm gonna go ahead and give you a heads up now because I was gonna do this later, but since I'm already talking about it, next Thursday night when you come in, don't be shocked. This stage will be gone.
This is the last Thursday night I will ever preach from right here. It's the last Thursday night we'll ever lead from that stage. All right? Now, it doesn't mean the whole room will be done. No.
We got about four months left in front of us, but the room will be set totally different. I can almost promise you, wherever you're sitting right now, you probably won't sit there next week. Okay? So just go ahead and come in. Be prepared.
Don't freak out. Just come maybe a little bit early and find a good seat. All right? So I'm just kind of letting you know in advance that is what is coming. All right?
Now it is Mother's Day weekend, and I'm excited about Mother's Day weekend and everything that is going on and what we're doing. But as we talk about Mother's Day weekend, let me just go ahead and. And just let's celebrate some moms for a second. How many of you all in the room are. You're a mom?
All right, Just go ahead and raise your hand. All right, so let's celebrate those moms right now. All right? So it's so good thankful for. For you guys as moms.
And let me just ask this also, as a mom, just curious, have you little transparent. Can we be a little transparent? Can we be a little real with one another? Have you ever, as a mom, thought, I'm not doing a great job. You been there, you know what I'm saying?
Like, how about this, moms? Have you ever, like, do you ever think, man, I'd like to just be a little bit better at this thing called motherhood? Anybody with me? You know what I'm saying? Like, I think that is a natural thing to think about when it comes to motherhood, that all of us, like, you're there.
And let me remind you of a scripture that we read in our rock reading plan just yesterday, that you're the woman for the job, okay? So no matter how you feel, like, some days I'm a great mom, some days I'm not a very good mom. Like, listen, you're the mom for the job because you're the mom, okay? So don't lose sight of that. That we talked about it from Joshua, chapter one.
This is just in the reading plan, talking about how God said to Joshua, joshua, you're the guy for the job. And I would say this also for you as the mom. You're the mom for the job. So no matter how you feel, understand, God's called you to do that. Now should we all want to do it a little bit better?
Absolutely. Dads, we should want to be a little bit better at being a dad. That friends, we should want to be a little bit better at being friends. That when it comes to, let's say, coaching or mentoring people, we should want to be a little bit better at coaching or mentoring. That when it comes to being a spouse, we should want to be a little bit better at being a spouse.
When it comes to being a leader, maybe you're a leader at your. Your job, you're a leader in your family or a leader in the community. Maybe you're a manager, that type, maybe you're a teacher. So you're leading that way. If you're a leader, you should want to be a little bit better at being a leader.
That. That no matter where you're at, all of us should go, well, like, I definitely want to get Just a little bit better at this. I want to be more successful, guys. That's really what today is about. Today's about this idea.
How do I be a more successful leader? Which would mean a more successful parent, a more successful as a spouse, more successful in any of those areas. How can I do that? And I think the answer I found is one of the answers. I should probably say it that way.
One of the answers I found was, was from the idea of training a horse. And this series we're in, it's three weeks, it's just about training a horse. And it's about a book I read. And when I read the book, it's just a leadership book. But I just saw so many parallels.
And the author who wrote is a Christian, and you could see his faith coming out in the book. And one of the things that he talked about was leadership. And then that led me down another path to looking at a guy named Todd Pierce. Todd Pierce is a world renowned horse trainer. And he goes into churches, he goes a lot of places.
But one of the things he does is he goes into churches and he preaches. But the way that he preaches is the church, before he shows up, brings £10,000 of sand into their auditorium, and then they put a horse ring around the sand. Stuart, how you feeling about that in here? You don't like that. You and the cleaning team doesn't like that.
I get that. Right. But that's how he does it. And then he literally trains a wild horse while he's preaching. All right, it's pretty cool.
I encourage you if you're into that kind of thing. Get on YouTube, search Todd Pierce, horse trainer. You'll see all kinds of great messages from him. He says this. He says the secret to training a horse is to be centered, to be in control, and to be calm.
He says if you want to train a horse, then you have to be centered, you have to be in control and you have to be calm. And I think those are great lessons for leadership. Those are great lessons for how to be a better leader. Those are great lessons for how to be a better parent, how to be a better spouse, how to be a better friend, how to be a better leader in your job. And so that's what I want us to just grab ahold of today and through this series.
The first two weeks, I really kind of talked about, hey, we're the wild horse. And this is what we need to do. We need to trust God. We're the wild horse. We need to know our purpose today.
We flip the series a little bit more to how do you help train the wild horse? And it starts with the idea that you have to be centered. That when Todd Pierce says this when he's training a horse, when he says be centered, what he's saying is when he starts to work with the horse and the horse starts to get a little crazy, maybe the horse starts to buck a little bit, maybe the horse starts to run a little bit, that immediately Todd goes to the center, that he always goes to the center, because the horse rails define the outline. The horse rails define like. Like his space.
But Todd will always stand in the center so that the horse always knows exactly where he's going to find Todd. He's in the center. Craig Groeschel, who's a pretty. Just an incredible pastor, leads the largest church in America, is also a leadership guru. He says that the number one characteristic that people look for in a leader is someone who is centered.
So Todd Pierce says, to train a horse, you gotta be centered. Groeschel says, to be a great leader, you gotta be centered. And for most of us, we'd say, okay, I don't even know what that means, because we have a hard time defining what it means to be centered. But we understand exactly what it means to be
uncentered, right? Like, you might not be able to define centered, but most of us would say, that person's uncentered.
That person is all over. The MA is going all like, I don't know, he's unstable. You want to be a great parent, you want to be a great leader, you want to be a great friend, man. First thing we got to do is we got to get centered. And the Jewish people caught this as well, because God said to them, they've been running wild, doing all kinds of crazy things.
And God's like, you guys got to get back on my path. You got to get back into doing things the way I want you to. And he says, if you're going to do that, then listen, I'll give you a shift shepherd who is centered, right? It's Jeremiah, chapter 3, verse 15. Honestly, this is really the only verse we're looking at tonight.
Like, this is the verse of the day. All right? So we're going to pick it apart. Then it says this. It says, then I will give you shepherds after my own heart.
I'll give you shepherds who are after me. Start with the idea of shepherds that God is saying, listen, I'm going to put. Put some people in your life who will protect you, who Will feed you, who will lead you, who will care for you, who will know you, who will discipline you. I'm gonna put some people in your life who are gonna help. And those people are gonna be centered, meaning this.
Those people, they're gonna be unshakable. Those people are gonna be people that you can count on that when you're going, man, I don't know which way to go. I don't know what's going on I can look to. That's who I'm going to find, is that person. And that's what we need to be for the people we lead.
That's what we need to be for the kids that we parent. Well, how do you be centered? What does being centered even look like? Well, I'd kind of lay it out like this, that to be centered means one, that you're committed to Christ, right? Like, here's just some action points.
If you're a note taker. This sermon's for you. That if you want to be centered, it means that first you got to be committed to Christ. All you gotta do is go back to that verse. In the verse, it said, I'm looking for a man after my own heart.
Shepherds who are after my heart. That if we go to King David, David was a shepherd who was after God's heart. That kept him centered because he was committed to God. What we need to look at if I'm going to be centered is I got to be committed to Christ. That Christ has to be the number one thing I seek.
As Matthew says, seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness. And everything else will be added to you that, that I gotta, I gotta have my mind on the kingdom. I've gotta look to Christ in all things. And I am confident when I say this.
Without Christ, it's impossible to be centered. It's impossible. You might feel like, no, I got life figured out. I'm stable. But I'm just telling you, without Christ, you are on shifting sand, that you need Christ in your life.
And so if you want to be a great leader who is always stable, you're going to build your life on the foundation of Christ. And, and what that means is I'm going to be committed. I'm going to pick up my cross, I'm going to do what he says. I'm going to follow him through thick and thin. So no matter.
Turmoils come in life. When my kids look at me, when my people look at me, they're gonna be like, man, that guy's immovable. I know right where to find him because he's committed to Christ. You want to be a leader who's centered. You want to be a parent who's centered.
You want to be a friend who's centered. Be committed to Christ. Be consistent in your character. Consistent in your character. That I really don't believe a leader can be centered who isn't consistent in their character.
That we need to be people of good character. Now, I know you might go, oh, I've seen some leaders who don't have great character. Yeah, we all have. But I don't think any of us would say that leader is centered, right? Like, we need to be people who are centered, which means we need to be have good character that.
That. Ephesians 4:1 says, Live a life worthy of your calling. Are you called to be a mom? Live life worthy of it. You called to be a dad.
You called to be a friend. You called to be a leader. Live worthy of that. Ephesians 5:1 says, Be imitators of God, meaning everything in my life is going to imitate him. My character is going to imitate him.
First, Timothy 3 talks about church leaders. All right? Now it's specifically talking about church leaders. But the characteristic of goes for all Christians. Many of the characteristics especially go for all Christians.
Be a person of good reputation. Be a person who's not easily angered. Be a person who doesn't. Isn't greedy. Be a person who isn't divisive.
That these are things that we see that a leader should have great character. You want to be better at being a mom, a dad, a parent.
Be content in how you were created. Again, this is all about being centered. That I can be content in how we're created. Have you ever been around a leader who was unsure of himself? Have you ever been around.
Maybe it's you that when you see yourself or you see a leader and they're just like, I just don't know. And they're constantly like, I just don't feel competent in this. I don't feel like I'm able to do this. And what that does is it causes you to go, I don't know if you're able to do it either, then, right? And the problem is when
we understand this content and how we were created, that we need to get to that point where we go, man, no, I know the God who created me and I know the gifts that he gave me.
So I'll be confident in my competencies, if I can say it that way, I'll be confident in the things that he has given me and the gift sets that he has given me. And I'm also gonna be clear on my incompetencies. See, I'm not trying to be somebody else. I'm not trying to parent like somebody else. I'm not trying to be somebody like.
No, I'm gonna be the person God created me to be. Which means there are some things I'm just not great at. Right. Can we all admit that we all have some weaknesses and there's some things that we're not great at. I'll be honest.
I'm not great at empathy. I'll just tell you right now, if you're going, oh, I want to go talk to Josh because I want some soft counsel, and I just want to understand, don't come to me, because I'm going to be real
direct. I can give you some people who have the great gift of empathy. I'm just not one of them. But I'm okay with that because I'm not trying to be somebody else.
I'm trying to be exactly who God created me to be. That's what it means to be centered. The last one is courage in your calling to know how God has called you. God was looking. He said, I'm gonna give some shepherds who are after my heart, that God was calling those leaders to lead the Israelite people.
God is calling you to lead, wherever that might be. All right, again, you know your season, you know your situation. Have courage and go exactly where God has called you to. God, be centered. Let me go another step.
That if you want to be better, if you want to be more successful at parenting, at being a mom, at being a dad, being a leader, then I'd also say this. Be in control. Now, when I say be in control, I don't mean in control of your emotions. I'll actually get to that in a moment. Okay.
When I say be in control, I mean, no, just be in control. Be the leader. Okay, again, go back to Todd Pierce for a second. Todd Pierce said this about training a horse. And I really want somebody to take my picture right now, because if I've ever felt like a cowboy, it's right now.
Okay, I got a real rope. If I can't wear a cowboy hat, I tried. It doesn't work. So I was like, this is as close as you're going to get with me. But.
But I bring this up for this reason. That Todd Pierce, again, he's the horse trainer. He said that he never lets go of the lead, that when he's training a horse that he'll grab the lead and he'll never let go of it. That he might let there be slack in the lead, he might bring some tension to it, but he's never going to let go of it because he's going to let the horse know that he's always in control. That we have to understand that when God has called you to lead something, be in control.
And if we could talk, like, let me just talk to parents for just a second, especially parents with kids, man, we've given up control way too easy so many times. We're just like, okay, and we let go of the lead and we turn over the lead to an iPad, we turn over the lead to a phone, we turn over the lead to YouTube, we turn over the lead to somebody else. Or we turn over the lead because we're too busy with the iPad, we're too busy with the iPhone, we're too busy with our social media that we're so here. Or we turn over the lead because we're like, man, I'm just so tired. It's not even worth the time fight.
Like, I'm just going to let them do what they want to do. And I, I just like, yeah, have at it. We're, we're unwilling to say no because we're just like, ah, if I say no, then they're going to cry and it's going to be a fit. And so what we do, rather than saying no, this is not what. No, we just go, well, whatever you want.
Well, we, we start to reason with 3 year olds now, guys. I love 3 year olds. All right, I'm not saying this negative, but just trying to change the situation doesn't necessarily mean you're leading in the situation. Okay, we gotta lead. Look at the next part of the verse.
Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart. Look at the next part. Who will lead? You? Who will lead?
That God was saying, I'm calling some shepherds who will lead in the same way that he's called you to shepherd some people to lead some people. So don't just give up the leadership. Don't just let it go. If God's put somebody in your life who you're supposed to lead, then lead. Remember, sin came into this world because Adam gave up his leadership, that Eve ate that apple or ate that piece of fruit.
And when she did, it was because she was in a conversation with Satan. That's all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. All right? And as she was in a conversation. Satan looked at her, said, eat this.
And then she ate it and gave it to her husband, who was with her. That it all came into being because he was unwilling to go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Eve, time out. Don't you remember what God said? Quit listening to that fool. Listen to me, and let's get out of this situation, man, we gotta lead.
God's put people in your life for you to lead. So lead them. And you might go, well, how do I lead them? Because again, right here, he's saying they will lead with knowledge, that they have knowledge on how to lead God's people. You might go, how do I lead?
Here's just a quick acronym that I came up with that maybe will help you. I'll run through it quick. But if you want to lead, you got to love unconditionally. Like, love your people unconditionally. Love your kids, love your spouse, love your family, love your friends, whoever it is, love them unconditionally.
Then you empower fully. Again, specifically, when we're talking kids for a second, I empower fully that I look and go, how can I help my kid excel? Too many times, it's gonna get me in trouble. But it's truth, so I'm gonna say it too many times. As parents, you have a little helicopter you like to jump into, and you hover over your kid when you need to let them fail because you've empowered them.
You know what I mean? Sometimes it's okay to fall off the swing set. Y' all ain't getting what I'm saying.
Empower fully. Affirm continually, just always affirm them. It doesn't mean you don't tell them what's wrong. But you're constantly saying, and I value you. I am for you.
I am with you. I see great in you, that I believe in you, that you're affirming them. Especially as your kids get older and older and older and they're starting to. To chase after their dreams. You're affirming, you're challenging, you're launching them into adulthood.
And then disciple relentlessly. And again, when I say disciple, here's what I mean, is that you're constantly, over and over and over putting Jesus into your people. That man, I disciple. I lead people not just to lead them, but because I want them to know God. So if you want to be better at leading, be in control.
Don't give up control. Lead people with knowledge and understanding. And when I say understanding, here's what I mean by that. Be calm. You be Centered, be in control and be calm.
Here's this last part. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. And I say the word be calm with understanding. For this reason, it's really hard to be understanding of a situation when I'm not calm. Again, Todd Pierce would say when he's training a horse, he said, you can never let the horse see you get mad, because as soon as you're mad, your emotions are mad.
They sniff it out. As soon as you reveal your anger, they're done. So you've got to remain calm if you want to be able to lead. And, guys, this is where I just got to be real for a second. That.
That there's times in our life where we're not calm.
There's times in our life where, if I could say it this way, we lose our crap. And when you lose your crap, there's a lot of crap you have to clean up. You see what I'm getting at? And this is, like I said, this is where, if I could just be real, the worst days of my marriage and the worst days of my parenting. Been married for 33 years this weekend.
Been a parent for 31 years. But I can tell you the worst days of my marriage and the worst days of my parenting. Every one of them is because I lost my crap.
That I got angry that I was not calm. And when you're not calm, then you can't be understanding. You're not listening. You're not hearing what's going on, so you can speak. If you're not calm, I'm listening so I can respond.
And it's just a simple challenge, man. If I want to be a better parent, I gotta be calm. It doesn't mean I don't discipline. It doesn't mean I'm not upset. It just means I'm calm.
If I want to be a better spouse, I gotta be calm. If I want to be a better friend, I gotta be calm. That I can't just get irate and lose my crap, because it's not going to help you lead. Look at these scriptures. Proverbs 29:11.
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
James 1. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Ephesians 6, 4 fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. I want to challenge this.
If we really want to get better at parenting, at leading, at being a friend, at coaching people, mentoring people. Man, be centered, be in control, and be calm.
And don't think it's impossible. You want the best example of that? Can we just look at Jesus for a few minutes? Because that's really what it's all about. Remember I said at the beginning, it's all about Jesus.
You want to know what it means to be centered and just look at Jesus. I mean, that's a guy who was consistent in his character at all times. So much so that he never sinned. He was consistent in his character. He was committed to the Father, committed to the point that he would be willing to die for God's will.
That when you think of Jesus, man, he had the courage to follow his calling all the way to the cross. That if there was ever a centered leader, it was Jesus Christ. That you knew exactly what you were going to get from Jesus all the time. Am I right? Like, no matter.
Every time you look like, imagine the disciples, every time they looked at Jesus, they knew exactly what kind of man they were going to get because he was centered on the will of God. That. That Jesus was in control at all times. Jesus was in control. That Jesus never let go of the lead.
He was in control even when he was on trial in front of Pilate. And Pilate looked at him and said, don't you realize that I have the power to kill you? Jesus simply said, you would have no power unless I hadn't already given it to you. The only power you have is because I gave it to you. You think you're in control.
I still hold the lead. You're just doing what I need you to do. Now, that's not all the words Jesus said, but that's what was in the essence of everything Jesus said to Pilate. Because Jesus never lost control. He was leading the whole time he was on earth.
And he did it calmly. That Jesus, that. That when situations came up, he didn't lose his crap, that he remained calm. And I know some of you go, yeah, what about that time? He flipped the tables.
Even when he flipped the tables, it wasn't reckless rage. It was a righteous purpose. So. So he was still walking. Did he ever, like.
Like, raise his voice and speak truth? Absolutely. He did it to the religious leaders all the time, but he did it from a spirit where he wasn't out of control. And you want to know what the best way to be a better leader and just be like Jesus. You want to know the best way to Be a better mom.
Just be like Jesus. A better dad. Be like Jesus. A better friend. Let's simply be like Jesus.
That's the goal of it all and that's the goal of tonight. So I'm going to challenge you. I want you to think through everything that was said. And maybe during this response time for you is saying, man, I gotta get centered again. I gotta center my life on Christ, which will lead to consistent character, which will lead to courage, which will lead to contentment.
Maybe tonight what you need to do is you need to say, man, it's time for me to lead the people who have been in my life. I've been letting other things get in the way of. Of leading my kids and leading my people. But I'm gonna start doing it right. Maybe, maybe you gotta admit that you got some anger issues like I do.
And maybe tonight's a night to say, man, I'm ready to surrender them to the Lord. I wanna give you that opportunity. So I'm gonna invite you to stand with me and we're gonna go into this time of response. And just so you know, in this time of response that, that we've got communion up front. If you want to take communion, you can.
If you got it on your way in, you can take communion anytime you want. And maybe while you're taking communion, think through those things I shared. If you need somebody to pray with, I want you to know we have a prayer corner right back here. There's just a little table back there. Darren's there.
I know he'd love to pray with you. We've got a prayer corner in this back corner here. We'd love to pray with you. Maybe tonight is the night that you're going to take a step of baptism. That I know.
I think there's at least two people getting baptized. If I remember right, I'm excited for them and taking those steps. Maybe that's you, because. Here, let me just explain this, that when you see somebody get baptized, here's what you're seeing. They're saying, I want to center my life on Christ.
That's what I want to do. And when you do that, what you're doing is you're saying, jesus, take the lead. Jesus, take the lead. I'm gonna be in control of the people you call me to lead. But it starts with me saying, jesus, will you take the lead in my life and never let go?
And I'm telling you right now, when you turn your life over to Jesus and you let him take the lead, he will lead you down the right path. You might be a wild horse. I might be a wild horse. Jesus doesn't wanna tame us, but he does want to train us. So let him take the lead in your life.
We're going to sing a song right now. Let's respond, and let's do what God is calling us to do. Come on, let's respond.