Live_Like_A_Leader_Clean_Transcript_FINAL.txt
good to you? Come on. Has he been good to you?
[Applause]
What a great day to honor and worship the one who is worthy, who deserves all. You know, the Bible
says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” And the point is is that people praise a lot of things. They get caught up in a
lot of things. But there is no one who is more deserving. There is no one who is more worthy
of all of our praise and all of our honor. Come on. I it you know we could keep on singing from now to eternity. It
still wouldn’t be enough. God is so good. I said God is so good.
You ought to thank him right now. Thank him that you’re not in the hospital. If you’re not in the hospital, thank him that today you are able to have breath to be here and to worship him.
[Applause]
I want to just say to everybody, welcome to the house of God. Welcome to Champion Center. We’re so glad that you’re here.
It’s a It’s a rainy, chilly winter day in Seattle, but that doesn’t
stop us from doing what we do. And today, the house is full and people have gathered and we are honoring God.
I watched people today come off the out of the parking lot. Some of them didn’t have umbrellas and they didn’t care. They were on their way to church.
Great to see all of you in the house of God.
And I want to I want to ask you, you know, our vision this year is to just continue to be who God’s called us to be
as a church and continue to lean in and to rally around the kingdom of God. And
I want to encourage everyone, mark your calendar. February 16th, it is not a Sunday. It is during the week. I think
it’s a Thursday night is what we call rally night. Everyone is welcome at every location.
Why are we doing this? Because we’re doing the unusual right now. We’re doing some things we haven’t ever done before.
And I want to encourage you like get to February 16th rally night. All of our
churches invited. I’m going to be speaking, preaching, whatever it is. But we’re just going to believe God for new things this year in the house of God.
Amen. We’re going new way to new places, new heights.
Everybody say, “We are the church.” We are the church. Amen.
Father, I thank you today for your presence. And I ask you right now, God, that you would open up our hearts to
receive what you have for us today. I ask you to guide my thoughts. I ask you
to guide my words. I ask you today, God, that we would receive exactly what it is
that you have in mind for us. These are times like no other times. These are
days like no other days. And we’re not here by accident or by coincidence.
We are here in the perfect time that you plan for us to be here. So I pray God
that everyone who has an ear to hear would hear.
And I pray that you would do a work in us today, a new fresh word drop into our
mind, into our heart. I pray and we would go home different. We would we would not leave here like we came
in Jesus name. All in agreement, shout a big amen. Amen.
All right, you may be seated. We’re going to talk today on the topic of live like a leader.
Live like a leader. Say with me, I’m ready. I’m ready. My heart’s open.
My heart’s open. My mind’s ready. Bring it on. Bring it on. I’m locked in. I’m locked in.
Say it again. I’m locked in.
I’m going to start this series by talking about the reluctant leaders of the Bible.
Most people don’t realize that some of the best leaders started out as reluctant.
You ever hear Moses?
He said this. He said, “Lord, please send someone else.” You ever hear of Jeremiah?
Jeremiah, he said, ‘Lord, I I can’t do that. I I’m too young.
That’s what Jeremiah said. Or how about Jonah?
You saw where he ended up. It’s because he was running away.
from God’s call on his life to be a leader.
And we could go on and on with examples out of scripture, but I want to especially focus on Judges chapter 6.
And we’re going to go to Judges 6, and we’re going to read in just a moment, but I want to I want to give you the background of the text.
The Israelites had been oppressed for seven years by Midian. And the Midianites were were stronger than the
Israelites. And so the Midianites once they had a foothold over, you know, they they they oppressed and held down the
Israelites. and they they would they would as soon as the you know Israelites would maybe get
a little traction strength and in in their life and well the Midianites just live close by and and they would just
come in and swoop in and invade and take over. They would rob them. They would destroy or steal their their crops,
their harvest. Yeah. They’d wait till they gathered a harvest in and then they would just go get it like like it was theirs. They they would let them grow up
livestock and then the Mid Medianites would go take them all away. And this they just kept constantly grinding them down to extreme poverty.
So many of the Israelites fled their their homes and they made hideouts in the mountains in the Judeian hills just
trying to survive. And it was in those circumstances that God sent an angel disguised as a man
to the town of Ofra, not Oprah, Ofra, to a wine press where
a guy named Gideon was secretly threshing wheat to hide it from the
Midianites. And that that’s where we’re going to pick up. Judges 6:12, the angel of God appeared to him and said, “God is
with you, oh mighty warrior.” And Gideon replied, “With me?” Like, if
God is with us, then why is all of this stuff happen to us?
He’s like immediately like, “Do you know who you’re talking to?
Like where are all the miracle wonders that our parents and grandparents told us about this mighty God? He’s sarcastic.
Our grandparents and parents, they told us, “Didn’t God deliver us from Egypt?” Like telling us that there’s a great history that we have as God’s people.
But then look at us today. The fact is that God has nothing to do with us. He’s turned us over to Midian.
And then scripture says God faced him or the angel of the Lord faced
him directly and said, “Go in the strength that is yours.
Save Israel from Midian.
Haven’t I just sent you?” Gideon like I think probably in my
imagination he takes a couple steps back and again he’s like
me are you talking to me?
How and with what could I ever save Israel?
Could I ever lead? Look at me.
My clan is the weakest and I’m the rut of the litter.
And what that means is it means that I’m the smallest
and I’m the weakest of the weakest. Like he puts himself way down on the totem pole.
And with that he begins the process
of saying no, leaning into reluctance.
And the angel God basically just said back to him, “I’ll be with you
and believe me, you’ll defeat Midian as one man.
The way God saw Gideon and Gideon saw himself was completely different.
Gideon was upset. I understand.
Gideon was angry with the circumstances and
with the position that his people were in.
But here’s the thing I want you to understand is that Gideon was waiting for God or someone else to do something about it.
When God on the other hand saw Gideon as someone who could do something about it,
so God said to him, “Get up.
Get up and do something.” and I just read to you. He’s like waffling.
He’s like saying, “I can’t.” He’s like saying, “You you got the wrong guy.”
Now, what I think is really important for us
to understand is that, and let me just say this clear. I want to say it to the audience here. I want to say it into the
camera. I want to say it to every location. I want every person to hear me say this. And you don’t have to buy into it immediately, but I just want to tell
you that God sees you as a leader, whether you do or not.
God sees you as an ambassador of his kingdom, called to represent
and lead on behalf of his kingdom, to champion his church and to extend his kingdom.
You on the other hand might be hesitant, unsure
that you’re supposed to or actually can do something that would make a difference.
And that’s where we are. That’s the reality of this standoff that many people have with God right now.
And I don’t think that there’s ever been a time in modern history when there’s been a greater need for good leaders
and godly leaders than there is right now.
Almost all of the problems that we have are because of bad
leadership and could be solved with good leadership.
Why do I say that? Because everything, absolutely everything
rises and falls on leadership.
We’re calling this year the year of the leader at Champion Center.
And we’re praying for opportunities and moments that that you can step into. Our
vision for this year is that everyone in our church would discover and develop the leader in you.
That we would all know that we are here for such a time as this.
And that we would be the church that the world needs right now.
We honor the church of the past. We’re thankful for the ones who got us where we are.
But we’re the church of today. We’re meant to be here today. Right.
You weren’t meant to live in the 1950s or 30s or 20s or
you’re here on time and this is your time
and this is our time as God’s people. We’re citizens of the kingdom.
And God destined us right now to be the church, to lead,
to lead at school, to lead at home, to lead in the community.
God’s intent for us is that we would all know that following Jesus is a call to live like leaders.
I’m going to say that again. Following Jesus is a call to live like leaders.
And the number one problem that we’re facing in America right now is the secularization of America.
Secularism is the idea that religion has no role in American politics or government.
And I want to talk about that for a minute today. In fact, I want to just show you a video from Prager University
that explains secularism in America. And the man who is talking, his name is Robert George, a professor at Princeton University. So have a look if you would.
It has become a dogma of progressive ideology that America is a secular nation. What do people mean by secular?
The argument goes this way. Since the constitution establishes a strict separation of church and state, religion has no place in how the country is to be
governed. Religion is a purely private matter and therefore must be kept out of politics or public policym.
There is a problem with this claim however it’s false. What the constitution actually does when it comes to religion is first ban religious tests
of any sort for public office. That’s in article 6. And second forbid the enactment of any law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Those are the words of the first amendment. The plain
meaning of those words is that Congress was forbidden from one establishing a national church on the model of the
Church of England and two attempting to disestablish or interfering with the established churches that existed in some of the states in certain cases for
decades after ratification of the First Amendment. But what about the separation of church and state? That’s in the Constitution too, isn’t it? Well, no.
Try as you might, you will not find the words separation of church and state in the Constitution. The famous phrase comes from a letter that Thomas
Jefferson, who was not at the Constitutional Convention, he was in France at the time, wrote years later to a Baptist community in Danbury,
Connecticut. Jefferson, in his characteristically eloquent way, was simply trying to capture the spirit of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a national religion.
The author of the Declaration of Independence was committed to an America where people were free to practice any faith or no faith as their consciences dictate.
None of the founding fathers, including Jefferson, who was among the least religious of them, though not an atheist, ever entertained the idea that
there was to be a separation of religion from public life or from politics. The secularist claim that our constitution
consigns religion to the purely private sphere is contradicted by the words and actions of the greatest figures in American history. From Washington who
called for national days of prayer to Lincoln who proclaimed a national day of prayer and fasting to Martin Luther
King. King of course was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, a Baptist clergyman who fought racial segregation
and discrimination in the most explicitly biblical terms.
If you believe the secularist understanding of the separation of church and state, Martin Luther King violated that doctrine in almost
everything he did. And so did every president in American history. Every single one invoked God in his inaugural
address. For Martin Luther King, as for so many other Americans, racial injustice was not only a violation of
the golden rule, but first and foremost a violation of the teaching of the book of Genesis that every human being is
made in the image and likeness of God.
I know that some of you listen to that and you think, well, if separation of church and state is not in our constitution, why do so many people,
even church-going people, insist that there is no religion in government or politics? And the answer is secularization.
Secularist leaders make policies against God having any place in public life.
They close the door on everything that is against God and they open the
door to everything God is opposed to.
See, when people, this is a quote by GK Chesterton, when people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing.
They believe in anything.
Long breathing pause because I want that to sink in.
I want you to understand that we as a nation, we as a world
have become secularized with an ideology
that has intentionally ban God and leaves God out, which opens the door
for everything that is opposed to God.
Lying to children and sexualizing children is not okay. It’s not okay.
But many people are opening the door and entertaining such a horrible, horrific,
godless thought of taking advantage of innocent
innocent children.
There are people who won’t speak out against this that are in our public offices.
I mean, this is a world right now where people say with a straight face that men ministrate.
Like, I don’t know what you want to bet on if you want to bet the farm.
[Music]
But people who were born male don’t have babies.
They don’t have babies.
Now, some of you like whenever I started down this path in 2022 and I just decided
like this is where I’m going, people got mad. People said, “Oh, here he is. He’s into politics. He’s into No, I’m into Bible.
I’m into God. I’m into the kingdom.
I’m into the kingdom way of doing things.
Oh, you’re promoting hate. No, I’m promoting love. Truth.
Real love tells the truth.
If you love your children, you tell them the truth even when it’s the hard truth. Yes. Right.
And I know many people that over the last couple of years have said, “Oh, you’re you’re ratcheting things up.
You’re blah blah blah. You’re Well, okay. It’s come to us in new and fresh ways by the day and by the week.” Our
community, our local school districts are telling teachers they have to call a child by whatever name that child chooses rather than the name their
parents gave them. And they’re telling ch right here in our community. They’re they’re they’re making rules and laws
for teachers to allow children to choose a their gender. And then the teacher has to
affirm that. And the teacher tells the child, “But this is our secret. Don’t dare tell your mom and dad.
This is hellish. This is evil.
This is dark. Yes, it’s all the foundation of a secularist ideology. It all comes out of the
removal of God from public life. So, here we are.
We’re in our own version of Ofra.
And here you are in a wine press, right?
And there’s many of you who God’s been preparing you all your life
for the season that we’re in right now.
the gifts he’s given you, the home you grew up in,
the place he’s put you, the talents that you have, the connections that you have,
the finances that he’s blessed you with are all part of preparing you for this time.
And I know that some of you are reluctant.
You’re reluctant to the idea of being a leader.
What I’d like you to know is that reluctant leaders typically become the best leaders.
And that may sound odd to you. So let me give you a few reasons why.
Why do reluctant leaders typically become the best leaders? Number one, because they’re trying to avoid the limelight.
And you might say, “Well, PK, isn’t that a good thing that,” and I’m going to say, “Yes, people who want the limelight are a
liability to leadership.” We got a lot of people in in leadership right now cuz they wanted the limelight and they’re like the dog chasing the
car. Like they if you catch it, what are you going to do with it? like you sink your teeth into the bumper.
Yay, you got the office. Yay, you got the position. Yay, you got the title.
You don’t have a clue what you’re doing cuz that’s all you were chasing. And we’ve got a world full of people who are
hungry for the limelight. But my point is that that’s an indicator. If that’s you, that’s an indicator.
Being reluctant is an indicator that actually you’re the best material for leadership.
I heard a retired NFL player Troy, I think you say his name, Palama
Palamalu. He he retired a few years ago and he’s like a strong big dude,
tough guy, but he told a story. He said that when he was in the sixth grade, he hit a kid
really hard on the football in the football game. Like he hit him hard, the kid was down on the ground and and he he
he he cursed at him, called him names, like you know, did that little swag kind of thing.
He said he got in the car after the game and he told his older brothers what he’d done and kind of laughing and, you know, thinking big of himself. And he said in
that moment his brother said to him, “Come on, Troy.” We don’t do those things.
We have you forgot who you are.
You forgot who we are as a family. Like we don’t talk that way. We don’t act that way.
And I heard this NFL I mean he’s known as a beast on the field. And I heard him say this. He said
I look back in that moment I was very ashamed of my actions.
And looking back, I wonder in my mind if my brothers had said, “Good job,
how that would have changed the trajectory of my life.”
See, that’s what I’m talking about when I say live like a leader. I’m not talking about titles. I’m not talking about positions.
I’m talking about the idea that every moment is an opportunity if you have the courage.
And there are children watching. There are girls younger than you are. There are boys younger than you are. You could be 15 sitting here today. Don’t miss the moment.
Well, I don’t know what they’ll think. I don’t know what somebody will say. Don’t miss the moment. Do you remember what family you’re from? Do you remember that God called you?
That Jesus saved you? That he brought you into the kingdom of God?
Another reason reluctant leaders become some of the best leaders is that they’re not looking for a title or position. If anything, they prefer not to have one.
Now I know that in some scenarios positions become necessary but just take it from me like titles and positions don’t make a leader.
People who want a position are also a liability right?
They aim for the position and they don’t know what to do when they get there.
It’s the reluctant one who says, “Okay, if I if you got to put the title on me, if I got to like wear that around the
office or be that at the church, okay, I accept it.” But that’s really not what great leaders
are hungry for. And it’s why a lot of leaders are reluctant. Great leaders, potential leaders are reluctant.
Number three is because they begin by knowing that they don’t know how to lead.
This is why some of the mo most reluctant leaders become the best leaders because they start by going like me.
I don’t know. I don’t know how to lead.
And this is one big reason that honest and humble people are reluctant to lead because they know they don’t know how.
They are honest and they’re humble.
But this is so much better than assuming
that you do know how the best leaders are learners. Yeah.
If you’re a reluctant leader because you don’t know how to lead, that actually means you’re a candidate for being an exceptional leader.
I don’t say this. I just want you to know like to this day I find myself in moments just crumbling
under the weight and I don’t know what I’m doing. God, I I’ve never been here before.
I’ve never faced this before. Can you get somebody else?
And I know I’m saying that because I think some of you look at people like me and you see the grandiose dynamic of
elevated positions or platforms. And I just want you to understand
that the best leaders and some of you are hiding in some of these spaces in a wine press.
You want to serve and you want to love and you want to do something for God, but number four, they don’t know they have all the answers.
So reluctant leaders uh they they know rather that they don’t they don’t know they don’t have the answers and being a leader means that
you’re not the smartest person in the room. Right.
The fact is that leading is not about being the smartest person or
a lot of people look at leaders and they’re like, “Oh, look.” Well, no. We just find smart people.
We bring smart people together and we have people around us that are
willing to work for a big audacious worthwhile goal. Is anybody with me?
I just think the Holy Spirit is talking to some people right now.
And lastly, another reason that reluctant leaders become some of the greatest leaders on the planet is that reluctant leaders recognize the risk.
And that’s why they hesitate.
And I want to say to you, if you see the risk, that’s a good start.
The best leaders count the cost and are optimistic
and courageous eventually, right? But they start with a real reckoning
that there could be relational changes that will happen if I step out, if I lift my voice.
Some of the greatest leaders examine the risk of the outcome.
Not being what they hope for. I’ll look foolish. I’ll look silly.
Some of the best leaders started by considering the risk of being blamed.
I don’t want to be blamed. I don’t want people to say, “I messed it up. I did it.” Some of the best leaders start right
there, right where many of you are today. The best leaders recognize the risk.
And then at some point, because some of you might be saying, “Well, why why do they do it?” I’m going to tell you right now why
they become okay with it. Because the cause is great enough.
In fact, the number one reason that reluctant leaders decide to lead is that the cause becomes compelling enough.
And that’s where we are today.
And that’s where we are as God’s church today.
I don’t know what God’s going to say to you.
I don’t know how God’s going to talk to you.
I don’t know who he’s going to say, “You better show up at that school board meeting.” I don’t know who God is going to say,
“Look, you’re working where you’re working right now because I put you there.” Like, I I don’t know.
An NHL hockey player made big news a couple of weeks ago for not being willing to put on a pride jersey.
Ivan Proberol Proarol Philadelphia Flyers 26-year-old hockey player did not
participate in pregame warm-ups when the team wore pride themed jerseys
and used sticks wrapped in rainbow pride tape.
It was the flyer’s celebration of annual pride night in support of the LGBTQ community.
And when he was when he made the decision, I just want you to go inside of his mind.
born in Russia, made it to America, made it to his dream,
living the good life, and now one simple night that no one would have noticed,
just put the jersey on, man. Just go along. Just go along with it.
and he said, “You know what? I I support and respect everybody’s choices.
My choice is to stay true to myself and to my religion.
The woke community went absolutely crazy.
People were calling for him to be fired, sent back to Russia.
Most of the major newscast, they got on and they vomited all over everything because one man stood up for what he believed in.
And he wouldn’t violate his conscience no matter what.
Now again, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen.
And there’s been other athletes that over the last couple of years have done similar things, but I think he’s the first hockey player.
And you know what? Now they can’t keep his jerseys in stock.
How would he have known that? Like, do you don’t have a way of knowing? But the people needed a leader.
I said the people needed a leader.
And once they got a glimpse of someone, someone that says, “I’m not going to do that.” That violates my beliefs. Right.
It was like it was like a young man thousands of years ago walking out of the wine press.
And saying here we go. Here we go.
It’s like the reluctance was behind him.
And to Gideon’s credit, he changed his view of himself.
He started living from the new perspective of who he was. And you know what happened? It was kind of like selling out of jerseys.
Others joined in with him and together they led and they ended the tyranny of the Midianites.
And the Bible says Gideon lived a long quiet life and died at a good old age.
The story would have been different if Gideon had not made the shift
from living like a helpless bystander to living like a leader.
I’m praying courage over God’s people.
I’m praying that we would all have the courage to pray big, think big, invest big.
I’m praying and I believe I I I I believe with all my heart like this is this is there’s never been a greater day of opportunity for God’s people.
I’ll even say this to some of you young people who, you know, the the mindset of the world right now about, you know,
young people about working. They’re getting they’re they’re they’re doing it as little as they possibly can to get by. And that’s the whole new I’m going to just tell you if you decide to go
against that and you work hard, I’m going to tell you that this is the best time
for you to be in a company and to show them that you have character and you have integrity and you are honest and you will work hard. This is a great day.
Come on. This is a great day. But the enemy wants to stop you. The enemy wants to stop us. This is our day. This is the
day of the church to rise up in the land and to lift our voices and not be
afraid. And as we do, I’m telling you, God is going to use you. God is going to use me. God’s going to do great things
for us. If we can have the courage to be a voice in the schools and the government, courage to show up as the church, be the church.
[Music]
Come on, let’s give the Lord a great big hand today. Sing it out with me. Sing it with me.
Come on.
[Music]
You’re for me, God. You’re not against me. I am who you say I am. Thank you for your people today.
Thank you for your church today. I am. Thank you for the men of God today. Thank you for the people of God today.
Not against me. I am who you say I am.
God’s got more in you.
Thank you, Jesus. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am.
Set free Jesus.
Build your church. Build your church. Build your church. Build your church. Build your church.
[Music]
There’s a place for me. Thank you, God.
I’m a child of God. Yes, I am.
Amen. And I want to just speak over young adults today. And I want to tell you that God has called you. Wherever
you are, whatever it is that is your background, don’t think less of yourself.
Don’t underestimate what God can do in your generation.
I want to speak over young men and young women who you don’t know. You don’t you you you’re thinking like, “Wow, Pastor
Kevin, that’s great for somebody else.” But I just want you to know you’re not here by accident and you’re not here by coincidence. God put you here right now
to hear this message today. And I want to call out young men to be bold. I want to call out men to be bold and to have
courage. But I want to talk to the 20somes. I want to talk to teenagers right now. And I call you a leader in
the name of Jesus. I call you to your place. I call you to your post. Come on. I call you to be a man of God.
[Applause]
I call you to not listen to the disparaging conversations that are going on in your head right now that are demeaning you,
that are telling you to stay quiet, stay on the sideline, you don’t have nothing to offer, you don’t have nothing to say.
I speak against that in the name of Jesus. And I prophesy, I declare that God is raising up young men.
God is raising up young men for such a time as this. I speak over young women who have in your past, you have been all about what other people think about you.
And I’m saying you to you today, God’s going to take you to a new place. And God’s going to give you a self-image
that is solid, that is strong, that is grounded in him. and what he says about you.
I speak over every every young person, every mom and dad who you have heard what the world says, I want you to pause
right now and to listen to what God says. If I’ve confused you today, if preachers like I can like me confuse
you, do me a favor. rather than walk out, slam the door. Will you stop? Will
you pause? Will you think with me for a moment? Will you just come into the
logic? I call it kingdomology. I’m not talking about just happen to champion something that isn’t that isn’t truth.
I’m talking about will you lean in to truth? No matter what the world says, will you lean in for yourself? think
this thing through and embrace the truth that God has for us.
Are you willing to go against the grain?
[Music]
You know, I wouldn’t have been nearly this confident to talk to our church this way a few years ago, but I got the
brass now to show for it. I I I got I I I
Come on in. The water’s fine. There’s something about liberating your soul before God.
There’s something about not having the fear of man that will that will cause you to really have a a new sense of self
and an awareness in your heart that you’re living your life on purpose.
You’re not just living it hiding in a wine press somewhere. You are stepping
out to be everything that God has called you to be.
I want you to touch somebody next to you and just tell them you’re the hope of the world. Come on, tell them you’re the light of the world.
Come on, tell them you’re the light.
Let’s remind one another right now what Jesus said about us. He said, “You are the light of the world.” You ready to turn that light on this week? Come on.
You ready to stand up, have courage, man? I’m just excited. I believe God’s
going to do something special. He’s going to use you. He’s going to use our lives. The kingdom of God is getting ready like for the greatest day we’ve ever known.
I really believe that with all of my heart.
[Music]
Okay, anybody want salvation? You want a new beginning in your life today? You want to know Jesus as the leader and Lord of your life? Throw your hand up in the air right now. Step across the line.
Good. Hands are going up. Hands are going up. Hands are going up. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Jesus came to give us the best life this side of heaven. You’re not missing out on anything but stupid and crazy and
goofy and mess up and don’t don’t let the devil tell you that you’re not you’re not missing out on anything when you become a Jesus follower. You’re
getting the best life this side of heaven.
Everybody that raised your hand, put it back up. Hold it up high. Say it with me. Everybody, everybody say along with us. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, forgive me today.
Forgive me today of all my sin. of all my s. Come into my heart. Come into my heart. Come into my life. into my life.
Today Today I boldly declare that you’re the leader.
You’re the leader and the Lord and the Lord of my life. my life. Thank you for my salvation. Thank you for my salvation.
In Jesus name. in Jesus name.
Welcome to the family of God. We love you guys. God bless you today.
about me.