(gentle music)

- We're told, saying thatall your sons and daughters

would be taught of the Lord.

That's why we gather, tolearn, it's a learning place.

It's not showing who we are.

Oh God, teach us, lead us, we welcome you.

We welcome your Holy Spirit.

Today I want to specificallywelcome CBN Partners.

Thousands are joining us by live streaming

and others that will see portions later

and CBN staff, all staffchapel and Regent University

people that are with us.

You know exactly what we donow and it's not perfunctory,

it's about prayer.

We have some prayer requests.

They have come by the tensof thousands by email,

by phone calls, get ahold of those.

We want to get in touch.

There's new ones here today.

So if you have this in yourhand, just look through them.

I'll read some.

I was laid off in May of 2018.

Unable to find a job that would allow me

to live independently.

During that time, since then, my wife left

and I've had to sell ourhouse and it goes on.

Make my body whole again.

I'm 42, I have high blood pressure

and on the way to diabetes.

My bones ache, my vision'sgoing, and the list goes on.

Pat, please pray formy bad sexual thoughts

and desires to view pornography.

Pray that the Lord would free me from this

and also that my health, my wife,

all these other great needs.

I'm a disabled vet.

I've had three spinal surgeries.

Pray that I can walk without a walker.

Someone writes and says,we couldn't send any gift

but we're about to be homeless.

Healing for my body.

There's so many more.

I want you to pray with mein faith now, would you?

Father God, in Jesus name,we love bowing before you.

We love that we have audience with you,

king of kings, Lord ofLords, and so now we invoke

your promises, Jesus, first of all

that you'll be with us,you would never leave us

or forsake us.

That your name, Jesus, is salvation.

That you are Emmanuel, God with us.

We thank you that you're presentwhere two or three gather.

And you delight, your fatherdelights to give good gifts.

So we're asking forintervention, for healing,

for ordering circumstances thatto our eyes appear chaotic.

Calm in your power and authority,

Jesus may your will be done

here on earth just as it is in heaven.

We have these things becausewe're praying your will,

not for things just for us,we join with our partners

in faith and ask that yourname would be magnified.

Gifts of healing, the gift of faith,

we believe you and yourgoodness, Lord Jesus now.

In your name we makeour prayer, amen, amen.

Hallelujah!

- [Congregation] Hallelujah.

- I wanted to show thisbeautiful mailing that came,

this actually came to my house.

This is mine.

They're stunning and that'swhere these come from

and there's a letter there

and people have emailed and called

and we want to continue tojoin together in prayer.

But in 2017, Dr. Rick Rigsby delivered

one of the most passionatespeeches ever heard.

More than 200 million peopleworldwide viewed the speech

in a video that went viralin just a matter of days.

Dr. Rigsby is the president and the CEO

of Rick Rigsby Communications,

former award winning journalist

followed a televisedcareer with graduate school

and two decades as a college professor.

Most of those years atTexas A&M University

where he also served as character coach

and the chaplain of theAggies football team.

The acclaimed national speakerand international voice

is a presenter to topcompanies around the world

and a favorite among theprofessional sports organizations

including the NationalFootball League and the PGA.

Dr. Rigsby is also a regular contributor

on Fox Business Newsand when audiences hear

Dr. Rick Rigsby, they're never the same.

So we have a clip fromthat video that went viral.

Why don't we take a look at that now?

I think it's gonna beon the screens there.

- It takes knowledge and wisdom combined

to grow your influence sothat you'll make an impact.

I learned how to make animpact from the wisest person

I ever met in my life,a third grade dropout.

Who said, boy, you keepstanding no matter what.

Wisdom will come to you inthe unlikeliest of sources.

A lot of times through failure.

When you hit rock bottom, remember this,

while you're strugglingrock bottom can also be

a great foundation on which to build.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Rick Rigsby,

would you welcome him.

(congregation clapping, cheering)

- Thank y'all very much.

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

How y'all doing?

- [Congregation] Good.

- I tell you, I have hadthe time of my life today

being with y'all here on this campus,

being with you in a varietyof different capacities

and I couldn't wait toget to chapel to hear

what God wants to say to us.

Somebody say amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- I want to thank youPastor Joel, Pastor Mark.

God bless y'all, the worship team.

Awesome, and I know thatthere's a clock here.

Am I right?

And so, Pastor Joel already told me,

brother, if you get close to1:00 folks will start creepin'.

And so, listen, I come froma predominantly black family

I don't know if y'allcan tell that or not.

And I'm an ordained minister.

I'm a pastor.

Those two variables representa lethal combination

when it comes to time, am I right y'all?

You get big daddy some chicken wings,

I'll talk to you all day long.

But in the words of King Henry the Eighth

as he spoke to each of his six wives,

I won't keep you long.

(congregation laughing)

As I'm listening to the prayer requests,

as I'm listening this morningto the prayer requests,

my mind immediately goesnot to the congregation

inside the church but those have no need

or see no need for whichto come into the church.

So instead of complainingabout the folks who don't come

to church why don't we offer a picture

of an authentic Christ to the world?

Testing, one, two, three.

Is this a Lutheran campus?

(congregation laughing)

Nothing against Lutherans.

Great tater tot casserole,whatever that is.

But y'all need to make some noise, amen?

- [Congregation] Amen!

- It appears that aChristian is a rare sight,

an authentic Christianis a rare sight in 2019.

Be careful just becauseyou're privileged to work

on one of the greatest campuses

and networks in the world, be careful.

This is evaluation minutesponsored by Almighty God.

And the person that's being evaluated

happens to be the personthat's speaking to you today.

But since y'all happen to be here,

can I just share a few of God's words?

- [Congregation] Amen.

- My Bible is turnedand has been turned here

for some time, Matthew chapter 23.

What's the goal?

God wants us to be anauthentic representation

of an invisible reality.

In other words, God wantsus to make an impact,

not just an impression.

Everybody say impact.

- [Congregation] Impact.

- That's not good enough.

You're up to an Episcopalian level.

Everybody say impact.

- [Congregation] Impact!

- I want you to feelthe power of that word.

He wants us to make animpact every single day.

That's what the world needs.

Our world needs hope.

I said our world needs answers.

Our world needsrepresentatives of the church

to make sure that we'repraying for those folks

around the clock as if it was us.

The goal is to make an impact.

The goal is not to style and profile.

Oh y'all don't hear what I'm sayin' to ya.

We live in a time where we'drather look good than be good.

And I wonder if God isn't telling us

it's time to stop laughingwhen it's not funny

and stop scratching where it doesn't itch.

See, we've kinda got thisthings twisted a little bit

and whenever I get twisted in my life,

there's only one placeI go, the word of God.

Matthew, chapter 23.

I want you to say amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Beginning with verse 23,

here comes a warning from Jesus.

Woe to you scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, uh-oh.

I could stop right there.

How many of you knowthat God could tolerate

robbers, murderers, thieves,

but had no tolerance for hypocrites.

Woe to you scribes andPharisees, hypocrites,

you tithe mint and deal in cummin,

you've neglected the weightof your provisions of the law,

justice and mercy and faithfulnessbut these are the things

you should have done withoutneglecting the others,

you blind guides, who strainat a gnat and swallow a camel.

You got any friends in your life

that major on the minorand minor on the major?

Just keep looking straight ahead

as if I'm not talking to you.

(congregation laughing)

First, you strain at agnat and swallow a camel.

Woe to you scribes andPharisees, hypocrites,

you clean the outside ofthe cup and of the dish

but inside they're full ofrobbery and self indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, firstclean the inside of the cup

and of the dish so theoutside may become clean also.

Let me just rehearseone thing in your ears.

Just listen to this, listento verse number 25 again.

This is Matthew 23.

Listen again, if you'relistening say amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- You clean the outsideof the cup and of the dish

but inside are full ofrobbery and self indulgence.

How many of you know that we're living

in an outside of the cup kind of culture.

Oh the goal is to appeasethe sensibilities of folks

we don't even know.

The goal is to go to Ross dress for less

and just gussy it upand look a certain way.

The goal is to learn how to pontificate

with an ecclesiastical excellence

regardless of whatever that means.

The goal is to sound a certain way.

The goal is to look a certain way.

I think we need to take a page

out of grandma's playbook, y'all.

Grandma and grandpa could have cared less

where they lived yet wegain tremendous value

by showing off our house.

The house is not the issue.

The issue is we're beingdistracted by things

of material lanes.

Our grandparents could havecared less how they looked

when they came to church,they came to worship.

Our grandparents didn't derive their value

from what kind of car they drove.

I got friends in Dallas drive Land Rovers,

they ain't even got no land.

You see the point that I'm trying to make.

(congregation laughing)

If you allow yourself,look up everyone, look up,

everybody say, I'm listening.

- [Congregation] I'm listening.

- As a former communications professor,

let me just throw something on you.

50% of what you hear you forget,

just like that other remaining 50%

you lose 38% over the next 24 hours.

Let me throw another thing on ya.

Everybody say, I'm listening.

- [Congregation] I'm listening.

- Business consultant RobinSharmer said the average person

distracted a minimum oftwo hours every single day

interrupted once every 11minutes and it takes 30 minutes

to return back to analpha level of thinking.

We are serving peoplewho are not listening

and who are distracted.

What's your point, Pastor Rick?

Give people for which to listen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- And when you advance youragenda, you've just lost.

I know what I'm talkingabout, I'm 63 years old.

The first 40 years I lived showboating.

I lived for me and I havenothing to show for it.

Do I have your attention now?

God has called us, amen?

He's calling us to make animpact at the grocery store.

To make an impact by letting people in

instead of cussing them outwhen you drive down the road.

Don't look at me like you don'tknow what I'm talking about.

(congregation laughing)

He's calling us to serveat every single level

to let our light shine in such a way

that men would see our good works,

glorify our father who's in heaven, amen?

The goal is to make animpact so that we advance

the kingdom of God.

When we get distracted

by what we look like,

by what we sound like,

the church would justshrivel up if I left.

With where we live.

If we get distracted byour notoriety, our status,

when we get distracted thekingdom of God doesn't advance.

God's got a little warning for us.

It's the first word in the passage.

It starts with a w, it ends with an e.

It's only a three letterword but it's powerful.

Here it is, woe.

The hood definition, slow your roll.

(congregation laughing)

Suburb definition: Be careful, buddy.

(congregation laughing)

Christ belongs to all people, amen.

Listen to the denotativedefinition of the word woe.

Misfortune, Jesus is saying,

great misfortune will be the companion

of a person who is constantly showing off.

Great sorrow will accompany a person

who's a hypocrite.

Where you talk about God on Sunday

but you act like hell on Monday.

When you got a word for everybody

but you don't know the word.

Y'all ain't hearing whatI'm saying to you today.

When you love titles but yougot trouble loving people.

God says, when you pay moreattention to your traditions,

oh by the way, the word ofGod says the traditions of men

make the word of God of no effect.

When you pay more attention to your robes

and where you're seated at the table,

Jesus has a word for you, woe.

Which means great sorrow, great misfortune

will be your companion.

Listen again, everybody say I'm listening.

- [Congregation] I'm listening.

- Woe to you scribes and Pharisees.

You tithe dill, mint and cummin.

You've neglected the weightof your provisions of the law.

Woe to you scribes andPharisees, on the outside

white washed tombs, hey, hi.

On the inside, dead men's bones,

robbery and self indulgence.

What's the remedy?

First clean the inside ofthe cup and of the dish.

So that the outside mayappear clean as well.

How do we do it?

Death.

Doesn't that sound lovely?

Death.

Dying daily, dying daily.

You know, I love beingaround broken people.

I love being around folks thathave gone through something.

I'm mindful that this is aweek of prayer, amen, amen.

I didn't learn the power of prayer

being on a mountain top.

Oh no, when I'm on a mountaintop, I'm too self sufficient.

When I'm on the mountain top,my prayers are all about me.

Bless me, bless thee, give mea better version of myself.

But let hell come in.

Fall apart, any of y'all ever fall apart?

Anybody in here ever gonethrough hell and high water?

Seven of you.

I said has anybody in hereever gone through something?

Guess what happens to your prayer life.

Look up, look up.

Guess what happens to your prayer life.

You become less self centeredand more God centered.

Guess what happens when yougo through a difficult season

like that, you don'tcome to the alter saying,

God fix me, come on somebody.

You come to the alterexpecting God to break you.

You see, when it's allabout styling and profiling,

it produces a shallowsuperficial Christianity

that's fraudulent.

Be careful.

But don't you know I'm a deacon?

Don't you know I'm an elder?

Don't you know I'm on the worship team?

Don't you know about these things?

Don't you understand howgreat I am in my own mind?

Woe, don't care who you are.

Doesn't matter what you do.

God is talking to me,

I wonder if he's talkingto you this afternoon.

Over here, is he talkingto y'all this afternoon?

Pastor, is he talking to us?

He's actually saying, weought lead the charge.

We ought model it.

I said we ought model it, Pastor.

Harvard Business Review, September 2004,

the article is titled DeepSmarts, here's the thesis.

Lecturing, what our universitysystem is based upon,

is the worst kind of teaching method.

Sorry, Regent.

(congregation laughing)

But I got good news, professor.

If you want to get theintended message across,

model the behavior.

(congregation clapping)

I'm talking about your Jesus.

I said, sir, I'm talking about your Jesus.

Jesus was modeled in my home.

As the video showed from the wisest man

I ever met in my life,the third grade drop out.

How many of you know thatschool doesn't make you wise?

I got friends who are PhDs whoare as nutty as fruitcakes.

Not you, Brother Joe, but folks.

(congregation laughing)

Y'all listen to this.

My father left school in the third grade

to help out on the family farm.

Just because he left school doesn't mean

his education stopped.

Mark Twain once said, I'venever allowed schooling

to get in the way of my education.

Taught himself how to read.

He taught himself how to write.

One of the earliest lessonsmy father taught me was this.

Son, don't expect otherpeople to do for you

what you ought to do for yourself.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- My father taught me biblical principles.

He decided that he wasgonna stand and be a man.

In the midst of Jim Crow-ism.

When racism was de facto,the way of life, 20s and 30s.

With this color skin,that could have you killed

in the United States.

But he decides in the 1920s and 30s

he's gonna stand, not as ablack man, not as a brown man,

not as a white man, but a man.

One of the earliest lessons he taught me,

respect others regardlessof whether they respect you

and you will command respect.

He decided to stand.

You know what I know, y'all?

If you choose today to deny yourself

to take up your cross and follow him,

your impact will lastfar after you're gone.

(congregation clapping)

My father decides to make animpact in the 20s and 30s.

It continues the 40s, 50s,60s, let's stop at 1972.

I've got an afro so big Ican't get in the Volkswagon.

(congregation laughing)

I still get in the Volkswagon.

(congregation laughing)

I'm working at a fast foodrestaurant in San Francisco

called Jack in the Box.

Y'all ever heard of Jack in the Box?

I come home one day with an attitude.

My father said, son,what's wrong with you?

I said, that white man over there told me

I had to scrub toilets.

Daddy, I don't scrubtoilets, I fry french fries.

My father said, son, whatis the color of your skin

have to do with yourdisplaying excellence?

Right then I could tell this conversation

was not gonna go the wayI thought it was gonna go.

I want you to hear Colossians three here.

Son, haven't I taughtyou that whatever you do

you do with excellence?

Now who signs your paycheck, son?

I told him.

He said, son, you do whatever that person

who signs your paycheck tells you to do.

When you own your own placeyou do whatever you want.

Now this is what yourdaddy wants you to do.

Leave your car in the driveway.

I could tell this conversationwas going downhill real fast.

Walk back to Jack in the Box.

I decided to get a littlemilitant, just a little.

Because I grew up in aday where let's just say

we didn't practice timeouts in my neighborhood.

(congregation laughing)

A time out?

I could time how long I was knocked out

but we didn't have no time outs.

(congregation laughing)

Daddy? Yes, sir.

Didn't you tell me you hadto get off the sidewalk

to let a white man walk on thesidewalk, said it like that.

He said, yeah, son,there's a word for that.

It's called history.

Your father chooses tolive in the present.

I can tell the conversationwasn't going the way

I thought it was going to go, ma'am.

He said this, leave yourcar in the driveway.

Walk back to Jack in theBox, tell your supervisor

that your daddy said youwere here to volunteer

for an eight hour shiftand all you want to do

is scrub toilets.

What's my point?

The impact that started in the20s and 30s, 40s, 50s, 70s,

80s, 90s, 2019, Janetand I have four boys.

Our youngest is 18.

Recently I made the mistakeof going into his bathroom.

I said, son, come here.

Daddy needs you to scrub this toilet.

I need you to scrub it with excellence.

You ain't gonna believewhat that boy said to me.

How much do I get paid?

(congregation laughing)

Joel I told him you got onemore day on God's green earth,

that's how much you get paid.

Pastor Rick, why you so hard on him?

I'm not being hard on him.

I'm not interesting in rearing boys.

I'm interested in rearing men.

And I know that if I allow him

(congregation clapping)

Come on, somebody.

If I allow him to get awaywith slothfulness at 18,

I promise you one thing at age 28

I'm gonna have to apologize to his wife

for delivering her a boy and not a man.

Let me tell you something, folks.

There is a biblical standard.

That we ought to adhere to.

We ought lead the worldwhen it comes to excellence.

That's the way you make an impact.

That's the way you grow your influence.

What'd you just say John Maxwell?

Leadership is influence,nothing more, nothing less.

Your ability to influencepeople within the sphere

of your periphery determinesthe impact that you make.

We ought lead the worldin making an impact.

My father goes away to World War II,

comes back, tells his familyhe's moving to San Francisco.

First week he's there he falls in love

with a forklift driver.

My mother was a bad mamajama,let me tell you right now.

You remember your high school history.

Usually during world war times,

women would hold jobstraditionally held by men.

My mom drove a forklift at an arsenal

that supplied the weaponrythat supported World War II.

They fall in love and they get married.

I become the oldest of the lot.

My daddy gets a job as a simple cook

at this place calledCalifornia Maritime Academy.

We have four or five maritime academies

all throughout the United States.

Now in order for thesemen and women to graduate

and go into the merchant marine business,

to become tugboat pilotsand ocean liner captains,

they have to go to sea threemonths out of every year.

My father is on the support staff

which means he has togo to sea right along,

Pastor Mark, with these cadets.

In a 30 year career,this third grade drop out

sailed the world 10 times over.

Learned portions offive foreign languages.

I want you to listento the biblical mandate

that literally came out of Matthew 23.

Son, don't be a hypocrite.

Everything you do, do with excellence

for the moment all discipline is painful

than pleasurable, laterit yields peaceful fruits

of righteousness to thosethat are trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11.

I have four degrees.

My brother is apresidential appointed judge

in Washington, D.C.

We weren't the smartestones in our family.

It was a country mother from Oklahoma

quoting Henry Ford every day.

Ricky? Yes, Mother.

If you think you can

or if you think you can't, you're right.

A third grade drop outdaddy quoting Michelangelo.

Used to make me sick.

Now it brings water to my eyes.

Ricky? Yes, Daddy.

Ricky, I'm not gonna have a problem

if you aim high and miss.

But I'm gonna have a realissue if you aim low and hit.

Everybody say basics.

- [Congregation] Basics.

- I can't hear you.

- [Congregation] Basics.

- Y'all need to make some noise in here.

I preach in some whitechurches I get so bored,

I put myself to sleep.

Everybody say basics.

- [Congregation] Basics.

- Son, here's how you make an impact.

Here's how you avoid being a hypocrite.

You take the basics from the word of God

and you execute thembetter than anybody else

to grow your capacityfor the things of God.

Basics, what did you just say Chuck Noll,

former head coach, Pittsburgh Steelers?

Champions are champions.

Not because they do extraordinary things

but because they do ordinary things

better than anybody else.

What would happen, Christian?

What would happen?

What would happen?

If everyday we told the truth,

thought the best of people,

did what we said we were gonna do,

stopped gossiping, lookingfor folks we could help,

what would happen?

I'll tell you what would happen.

Our godly influence would grow.

Our capacity for him would grow.

It would transform our communities.

We would no longer beworried about the robes

and where we're sittingand being called folks

only with whitewashed tombs.

Perhaps a few more carsmight stop at our church.

Everybody say basics.

- [Congregation] Basics.

- My father was a cook, a simple cook.

Son? Yes, Daddy.

When you go into arestaurant, sample the soup.

Order a bowl of soup.

Why's that, Dad?

If the soup's not good, don'tinvest in the restaurant.

They're not teachingthat at Harvard, I know.

They're not teaching that at Stanford.

They might not even beteaching that at Regent.

Basics, see in shallow superficial culture

everybody focuses on the extreme

at the expense of the basics.

See this championship ring?

I wear it for one reason.

We won a lot of gameswe shouldn't have won

at Texas A&M but becausewe executed the basics

better than the other team.

We lost a lot of gamesthat we should have won

but because we did not execute the basics,

y'all ain't hearin' me.

I have a dear friend in the faith.

One of my mentors in the faith

was a professionaltennis player in the 70s.

I asked him, who was yourstiffest competition?

He said, Bjorn Borg.

I said, tell me.

He said, Bjorn Borg executed the basics

in such a way he wore his opponents out.

Five consecutive Wimbledon titles.

Multiple grand slams.

Can you imagine how we canadvance the kingdom of God

by simply and unwittinglyexecuting the basics?

Here are the basics I learnedfrom a third grade drop out.

Son, don't judge folks,right out the Bible.

Son, I've been all over the world.

I've seen good and bad in every shade.

Resist the temptation to judge people.

Then he dropped Jonathan Swift on me

who said on one occasion,vision is the ability

to see the invisible.

Look up, look up everyone.

Everyone say, I'm listening.

- [Congregation] I'm listening.

- If all you see is what you see,

you don't see all thereis that needs to be seen.

Jesus, I want to thank you for seeing more

than what most people saw.

Everybody say don't judge.

- [Congregation] Don't judge.

- Here's another basic, are you ready?

Early, son you'd rather be an hour early

than a minute late.

There is no excuse, Christian, for us

other than a medical emergency,

we ought to be the firstone at the building.

What about traffic?

Leave the night before.

(congregation laughing)

Jot this down, jot thistitle down real quick.

I don't have time to get into it.

Jot this title down, Extreme Ownership,

How the Navy Seals Lead and Win.

Raise your hand if you read that book.

Y'all know what I'm talkin' about.

You will eliminate makingexcuses and blaming others.

Two Navy Seals, JockoWillink and Leif Babin.

They are two COs, NavySeals when they make excuses

and blame others somebody dies.

But your typical Christian,

I didn't do it, she did it.

Sister Jones did it.

Brother Henry did it.

Oh, I believe that guy did it,

I certainly, I know better than that.

I only mention that in confidence

because it was a prayer request.

Jesus got a word for ya, woe.

Listen to these basics.

Hey, Son. Yes, Daddy?

Be kind, kind deeds are never lost.

Being 63 I remember the word manners.

Do any of y'all up here remember manners?

I didn't point to y'alljust 'cause you look older.

I'm just asking, do you remember manners?

I remember when kindness was a value.

Young folks listen to me.

Today kindness is a commodity

that we barter to get whatwe think we might need

to make ourselves appear a certain way

so that we can appease the sensibilities

of folks we don't even know.

But Jesus was not a situational Jesus.

And kindness is not situational.

You'll grow your influence if you're kind.

Sometimes all folks need is a smile.

Sometimes they just needyou to hold the door,

pick up a paper towel in the bathroom.

Be kind, what'd you just sayGeorge Washington Carver?

If common people do commonthings in uncommon ways

they'll command theattention of the world.

Let your light shine, friend.

Let your light shine, friend.

Don't get all wrapped up aboutwhat folks think about you.

Remove the chains and shackles

from your own sense of self importance

and let that light shine.

Pastor, let it shine.

How about this one?

Son, make sure servant'stowel is bigger than your ego.

Ego is the anesthesia thatdeadens the pain of stupidity.

(congregation laughing)

You might have a relative that might

need to hear that in a card.

Can I say it one more time?

Ego is the anesthesia thatdeadens the pain of stupidity.

30 some years ago when Iwas first called to preach,

didn't know the word of God, professors.

Didn't know the word of God, pastors.

But that didn't stopbig daddy because I like

generating a crowd.

Til I realized that a monkeycould generate a crowd.

Pastor, I'd walk intothe pulpit like this.

Are you ready?

Remember what I just said.

Ego is the anesthesia thatdeadens the pain of stupidity.

Don't know the word, preaching,

walking into the pulpit like this.

(congregation laughing)

And we're wondering why cars

are driving right by our churches?

Son, make sure your servant'stowel is bigger than your ego.

And how about this basic?

Son, if you're gonnado a job, do it right.

I know it ought to be do it well

but I like the way he said it.

That reminds me of alittle boy in Los Angeles.

All he wanted to do wasplay Little League Baseball.

His mother couldn't evenafford to buy him a glove.

He goes into the cupboardand gets a paper bag

and turns it into a glove,finds a tennis ball out back,

throws it against thebackdrop and catches it

with a makeshift glovemade out of a paper bag.

That's his Little League.

When he does play LittleLeague, he's really good.

I mean, really good, sogood he gets a scholarship

to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Gets drafted by the San Diego Padres.

Helps the Saint LouisCardinals win a World Series.

Several years ago when Ozzie Smith walked

into the Hall of Fame,

Sorry, ma'am, I didn'tmean to wake you up.

(congregation laughing)

I'm a former college professorat a secular university.

My whole goal was kindawaking up the hungover.

Not saying anything.

I'm playing with you, baby girl.

Listen to what Ozzie Smithsaid about excellence.

All my life I've beentold what I could not do.

I decided to pursueexcellence and I was guided

by one motto: goodenough isn't good enough

if it can be better, andbetter isn't good enough

if it can be best.

Translation, whateveryou do in word or deed,

do as unto the Lord.

That's advancing the kingdom of God.

Let me close.

Learn these basic lessonsfrom a third grade drop out.

His greatest lessonawaited a time of tragedy.

Back in the 70s, it was allabout stylin' and profilin'.

Wearing a gown we call the leisure suit.

Ask your grandparents what that means.

Wearing purple platformshoes, come on somebody.

Making sure you majored on the minor.

How does my afro look?

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees.

Boy, this is my life here.

Just keep looking straight ahead.

I'm just wondering if Godisn't speaking to us today.

Not as a people in here butas a society of Christians

charged with going and makingand baptizing and teaching

and we can't get over ourselves.

So, I meet the finest womanI've ever met in my life.

Back in my day, in the 70s

we'd have called her a brick house.

(congregation laughing)

Glory to God.

Just one little problem.

Back in the 70s, ladiesdidn't like big old lineman.

The Blindside hadn't come out yet.

(laughs)

We go to this dance and Iam in love with this woman

and I discover that 200other guys are also.

But I wait my turn and Iactually muster up enough nerve

to go out and introduce myself.

My name is Ricky Rigsby.

She goes, hi, my name is Trina Williams.

I said, may I dance with you?

She said, sure.

I see my friends laughing so I figured

I might as well go for it.

So I pulled out a pieceof paper and a pencil.

You young folks, we didn'talways have cell phones.

I pull out a piece of paper and a pencil

and I asked Trina for her phone number.

Do y'all know thatTrina was the first one,

actually, Trina was theonly woman in college

who gave me her actualreal telephone number.

(congregation laughing)

I call her the next dayon a landline phone.

Y'all remember those?

With a rotary dial.

And what I asked hercaused one of my friends

to fall out the bunk bed with laughter.

All I said was, will youwalk to Baskin and Robbins

with me and have an ice cream cone?

He cracked up, Trina said yes.

We walked the six miles there.

My car was broke.

(congregation laughing)

Walked back six miles.

I made her laugh and bought her ice cream.

We went on a second date.

Third date, started going together.

A month, two months, three months.

It's getting serious.

I take her home to visit my folks.

Y'all know what a screen door is?

We pull up and my father is looking at us

get out the car, he's lookingthrough the screen door.

My father, my dad, myhero he looked at Trina.

Then he looked at me.

My daddy actually whispered in my ear,

son, is she psycho?

But anyway.

We date all through college.

I propose and she said yes.

I married the most beautifulwoman I've ever met in my life.

Y'all ever go to a wedding

and before the wedding even starts

you hear something kindof murmuring in the chapel

that sounds like this,

how in the world?

And it was coming frommy side of the family!

(congregation laughing)

We get married in September.

Get saved and filled withthe spirit in November.

We got jobs.

I'm a television reporter.

She's a labor and delivery nurse.

We have a couple ofchildren, two little boys.

Other than 48 milliondollars in student loans,

we're living the American dream.

One day Trina finds alump in her left breast.

Breast cancer.

Six years after that diagnosis,

me and my two boys wentup to mommy's casket.

And for two years my heart didn't beat.

If it wasn't for you, Iwouldn't be here today, Lord.

Remember I told you I spent 40 years

making life about myself?

Well, now I'm looking at two little boys

literally orphaned for mom

and I've got to be a daddy and a mom.

Had to grow up in a hurry.

But guess whose words on this earth

encouraged me more than anybody else's.

The words of a third grade drop out.

He had one more lesson to teach his son.

He would die a year later.

This lesson took place in a classroom

called a funeral home.

The chalkboard was Trina's casket

and it was there that my father said,

Son, just stand.

Listen to me, family.

Keep standing.

You might give up on yourself

but don't you ever give up on God.

You keep standing.

He's an awesome, mighty, powerful God

that can do absolutely anything.

He can do anything, he can do anything.

The fact that I'm here.

Last time I was here as a guest,

nowhere near a stage,broken hearted with no hope.

It took a third gradedrop out to remind me

when I told him that I'd lost hope,

he said, Son, how can you losesomething that God gave you?

You've lost perspective but not hope.

A time goes by and I start speaking again.

And all of a sudden in themiddle of a Bible study

at 6:30 in the morning,I spot the finest woman

I've ever met in my life again.

My friends can't believe it.

You got two, are you kidding me?

(congregation laughing)

If Trina was the love of my youth,

Janet is the love of my life.

(congregation clapping)

First thing she did after we got married

was she adopted my little boys,

fulfilling Trina's last wish

that her babies not gothrough life without a mommy.

Then we had more children.

So we go from 36 to 18.

I want you to see this picture up here.

Take a look at this picture.

This picture, not that one but this one.

I had nothing to do with this picture.

Listen to me carefully, y'all.

I had nothing to do with this picture.

This picture is the legacyof a third grade drop out

who placed the demand onhis boys to be godly men,

to stand when everything inside of them

wanted them to fall.

My question to you is,what will your legacy

look like one day?

Let me leave you with this right at 1:00.

Take the picture down.

I leave you with this.

If my father showed mewhat a man looks like,

a dying wife taught me how to be a man.

Two days before she died,no hair because of chemo,

a body failing, some ofher last words to me,

I can actually rememberright before she said this,

our son Andrew came downstairs.

At the time he was ouryoungest and he had his shirt

and it was wrinkled and Iheard mom say this to him.

Andrew, Mama not alwaysgonna be here to help you.

And I waited for Andrew toleave not really understanding

what was just said.

She was saying goodbye to her baby.

I went over and I satnext to Trina on the couch

and without her breathing labored,

as clearly as I'm talking to y'all,

some of her last words,Ricky, it doesn't matter

to me any longer how long I live.

What matters to me most is how I live.

My dear precious brothers and sisters,

one question coming fromthe throne of God today,

how you living?

I think we have one of two choices.

We can live adorningthe outside of the cup

and hear the wrath of God saying woe.

Or we can let our lightshine with such power

that the world would say, excuse me,

that Jesus that you serve, is he real?

And can you tell me about him?

Pastor.

(congregation clapping)

- Dr. Rick Rigsby, LessonsFrom a Third Grade Dropout.

Would you pray with me?

Holy Spirit, seal this within us.

Thank you, thank you forthe life that we receive

from your word today.

I pray that it would be multiplied,

multiplied across theaudiences, the classes,

and our lives, sealed by the Holy Spirit,

your word of life within us,in Jesus name we pray, amen.

God bless you, have a wonderful day.