Dr. Kevin Leman
September 7, 2014 - W1436

Dr. Leman is a New York bestselling author of 49 books. He grew up in Buffalo, New York and now resides in Tucson, Arizona. One of the books he wrote is titled “Sheet Music” which is a book for married couples. He also wrote a book called, “Have a New Husband by Friday” which teaches about relationships.

 The book he will be referring to is a short book he wrote named “The Way of the Wise”. He is from a family of three. His sister was a straight “A” student and is now a pastor. His brother was a quarterback. Because he wasn’t a very high achiever in school he had a difficult time getting into college. But he is now an author of several books on relationships, and he travels extensively to speak at various seminars. Here is his story.

 I’ve visited this fellowship before. You guys are so gracious, warm and loving. Trust me, I love it here. I’ve been to other churches and they might as well have put up a sign that said “Only a select few are welcome here”.

 I travel a lot, I don’t like to travel, but, what God has told me to do, I thoroughly believe it is something I truly need to do. I accepted that and I revel in the fact that He gives me opportunity to do so. I grew up in Buffalo New York and graduated fourth in my High school class. Sounds great doesn’t it? But it was really fourth from the bottom not from the top!

 I was not a true believer in God when I was growing up but my mother was. She was the Christian in our family. She prayed for me every day and even wrote a scripture in the Bible for me which at that time, I could care less about. She was a real prayer warrior. Every morning when I came downstairs, I would see her with her Bible open. Her head would be hung down low as she prayed and read God’s word. She prayed for me a lot. She lived to be 95 years old so she got to see a lot of things that went on in my life. My biggest joy was when I was invited back to my High School because I was being honored to be put on their Wall of Fame. I remember driving up to the school and saying to her, “Ma, we fooled a few people, didn’t we?” She said she was so proud of me.

 I recalled with her, the night that the cops brought me home, and she would simply reply, “Oh but you were such a good boy.” I also reminded her of the time I was caught driving golf balls toward the New York State thoroughfare. She said “oh yes I remember that, but you were always such a good boy.” All I could remember as I reminisced with her was the scripture Romans 8:39 which says:

 “Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)

 I was the youngest in my family. I had a sister who was perfect and is now a children’s pastor, I had a brother who was a quarterback for the football team. But I was the jokester of the family. I became the best at being the worst. I was a showoff, a weirdo but an entertaining guy. I try to make even the staunchest person to laugh. If I do, then I know I succeeded in making the connection.

 I grew up rejecting the faith and got kicked out of college. My family moved to Tucson, Arizona to escape the harsh winters of Buffalo. I still live in Tucson to this day.

 I became a janitor working for $195 a month and one day a nurse walks by and catches my eye. One day as she is tending to a patient I was able to approach her and I asked her out. At first she hesitated, but then finally agreed to have lunch with me at McDonalds. We shared a 20 cent hamburger and a 10 cent coke. I envisioned her to be my future wife because she had such an openness and a warmth about her. We were together for 3-1/2 months and then she popped the question. She asked me “would you like to go to church with me?” I was floored because what do you say to that? All I could think was, “Oh, she is one of those”. But face it guys, when you’re in love with some chick and she asks you if you’d go to church with her, naturally you’d say, “Oh yea, sure, I’d LOVE to go to church with you”. But deep down inside you really don’t want to go. So here I am sitting beside her in church and I’m thinking, “No chick is worth all this.” It was brutal. She was a Baptist, there were so many rules. Then she said she wanted me to come back with her that night. I was thinking, “Why would you go back at night? Did you do it all wrong the first time?”

 But this is what happened in retrospect. God always uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Well that night, the Pastor was speaking about the man who knows Jesus in his head but not in his heart. Every time the Pastor looked towards me, I felt like he was talking about me. I was convicted. I knew who Jesus was in my head, I just had no use for Him, in fact I didn’t even believe He existed. See, I knew who Jesus was in my head, I just didn’t have Him in my heart.

 My mom wrote a scripture in my Bible. It is from Proverbs 3.

 “Do not forget my teachings but keep my commandments in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Love and faithfulness will never leave you. Bind them around your neck and put them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win good favor in God and the sight of man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:1-6)

 So this little book, “The Way of the Wise” is based on King Solomon, the wisest king of all. It teaches us about how to live a true Christian life. It has some interesting titles, like “Jesus is not the Big Bad Wolf”; “I’m All Yours, All 96%”; “Jesus and God That’s all they Talk About is Jesus and God” and “God Doesn’t Want To Be Your Number One” which is an interesting chapter. We have a lot of misconceptions of what a Christian should be like. This book is dedicated to all the people who question God and wonder where they fit in life’s expectations.

 It’s just like the skit where one person tries to turn over the stool to Jesus for Him to make the decisions in her life. But she wants to do what He asks but only on her terms. Think about it, here we are trying to turn this place we call earth into what we want it to be, but it was God who aligned the stars, the sun, the moon, the universe. He positioned the sun so that it warms this earth and gives us light and the moon reflects this sun so we have light even at night.

God is huge. Too many of us try to limit God and what He can do. But God is God, He can do whatever He likes. Think about it, as Jesus hung on the cross and had to put up with the mocking and torture, He could have zapped them at any time, but He didn’t. He knew God the Father’s plan and He obeyed God. He was 100% man and 100% God.

 Anyways, we tend to limit God and His relationship with us. God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him not just from the head but from the heart. A lot of us will only give God about 96% of ourselves. But God is a jealous God, He wants 100% of us…ALL of us. The difference between the Head knowledge of God and the Heart knowledge of God is something simply called – Faith. Jesus wants us to trust Him.

 A great example of Faith is Mary. When she was 14 or 15 an angel of God came to her and told her she was going to have a baby. Did she question it? No, she simply said “let everything you say come true”. That’s the childlike faith that God wants from us. He just wants us to love Him with all our heart.

 Now about the disciples, Jesus handpicked every one of them. Now this is the conclusion I have on them as I studied them, they weren’t the brightest people in the world. They witness firsthand the miracles that Jesus performs including His very first miracle of changing water into the best wine ever, or the feeding of the 5000 with only a few fish and a few loaves of bread. They walked with Him every day and saw all that Jesus did but they still fell short. There’s Thomas who tells Jesus they don’t understand anything He is talking about when He tells them of things to come. Then there’s Philip, who says, “Show us the Father.” And Jesus tells him “All this time you have been with Me. You don’t even know who I am? If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.”

 Where were the disciples after Jesus was hung on the cross? They are huddled behind locked doors fearing for their lives. When Jesus comes to visit with them before He is lifted to the heavens, He walks in through the walls and sits among them. The disciples don’t recognize Him, They don’t say “Oh, Jesus, there You are we were expecting You.” No, they didn’t get it, and neither do you and neither do I because we don’t believe how awesome God really is. He can take all our problems that we think are huge, and turn them around. We just need to love Him with all our heart and not just with our head. We just need to give him our 100%. But after that those disciples went out as Jesus commanded in the Great Commission and they preached taught and healed in the Name and Power of Jesus Christ, because it was from their heart that they believed. So like them, we too can go and do the Great Commission if we choose to believe 100% and give Him our all.

 Think about it God knows us before we even knew Him. Think about who believed in you, remember how you came to Christ? How many people believed in you? It might have been your grandfather or your mom. It might have been only one or it could have been many, but in any case you have been blessed. I got news for you, the turtle on the fence post didn’t get there by himself. You got where you are today because someone believed in you.

 But remember God doesn’t just want the crumbs, He wants all of us. There are some of us who have beaten ourselves to death because there is something we did that we have never confessed. We don’t have to confess it in front of church. We just need to tell God. And we will find that He is a merciful God. Why is God’s grace so abundant? It’s because we need it. We are such stupid people, and we do dumb things, but He loves us. And if you are like me, this is what we need to do: we get behind that wheel of life and we drive. We each say “Hey I can drive and I’m a pretty competent driver”…. Saying “Lord, I got it now”. Then if in about ½ mile drive, we crash, we just simply get out of the car and say “Lord? Is that You? Can You just get me a tow truck and get me out of this mess?” And you know what, He will because He is able to – what? – “Forgive us of our sins”. He doesn’t put us down for that mistake we’re going to make or have made, because it is already forgiven, that’s how much He loves us. He just wants us to come and partner with him in all things. He wants us to give Him our 100%.

1) How inadequate do you feel sometimes?

2) When can you give your 100% to God?

3) Who believed in you, prayed for you or with you that helped you to this point in your life?

4) How can you build your faith or trust in God?