John Bevere - What Do You Want Your Legacy to Be
- Watch
- Donate
Hey everybody, welcome to lesson six! Man, we’re flying through this course right now, but this one is going to really hit you at a heart level. We’re going to talk about motives and intentions. Now remember, just as a review, we are each uniquely gifted by God. That gift can be used however we choose because we’re stewards, and a steward has the authority to use a gift however he or she desires. So we can use the gifts to build the kingdom of God, which is to build people’s lives, which God intended us to do, or we can use the gifts to benefit ourselves, or we can completely neglect the gift. That’s one of the three options you can choose at any given moment of your life.
I brought up Whitney Houston in the last lesson, and I want to talk about Adolf Hitler. I believe he had a tremendous gift of leadership—almost a supernatural gift of leadership upon his life. That gift of leadership could have been used to greatly benefit the Germans, the Jews, the Polish, the French; but instead, he used that gift in a way that brought great damage to the Jews, the Polish people, and the French, and I could go on and on. If you look at Freddie Mercury, he was the lead singer of Queen. That man had a supernatural gift; he could get entire stadiums up and rocking on their feet within moments. Whitney Houston was the same way.
How will eternity judge you? You know, Jesus makes a statement, and we can’t ignore it. He says this in Matthew 11:19, «Wisdom is shown to be right by its results.» Then in Luke 7:35, he says, «Wisdom is shown to be right in the lives of those who follow that wisdom.» How will the wisdom of these people—Adolf Hitler, Whitney Houston, Freddie Mercury, and others—be viewed not only now but in light of eternity? It will be revealed at the Judgment Seat. I am not judging; although Jesus does say you are to examine the fruit of the wisdom, so we should.
What do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people saying about you? You know what’s more important is not what people say about you at your memorial; it’s what people say about you at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Because Paul, when speaking of his giftings, makes a statement in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Paul specifically speaks about his giftings. Remember verse one? He said, «Let a man consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.» So the theme of the first five verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 4 is the stewardship of his gift in him; it was the revelation of the grace of God. With us, it is different gifts, but listen to what he says in verse 5; it is mind-blowing. He said, «So do not go on passing judgment before the appointed time,» that would be the Judgment Seat of Christ, «but wait until the Lord comes, for he will both bring to light the secret things that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of the hearts, so that each one’s praise will come from God.»
Let me tell you, there’s one of two judgment seats. There’s the Great White Throne judgment; that is where people who have never received Jesus Christ as Lord will be judged for their sins. The other judgment seat is the Judgment Seat of Christ; that is where we as believers are going to give an account of how we lived this life as Christians—how we handled the entrusted gifts that God gave to us. At the Great White Throne judgment, no one’s getting praise from God. At the Judgment Seat, people are getting praise from God. That means that Paul is talking about the believer’s judgment here. So now that you know that, I want to read the last part of this verse again: «For he will both bring to light the secret things that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of the heart. Then each one’s praise will come from God.»
So in other words, not only will our actions be examined at the Judgment Seat, it’s the motives and intentions behind how we used the entrusted gifts. Oh my goodness, I’m really opening up a can of worms right now. So can we misuse the gift of God in our lives in regard to our motives? In other words, let me say this: does it appear to others that our gift is being used to build the kingdom, but in reality, it’s being used for self-promotion? Oh gosh, this is going to get deep!
All right, not deep in a weird way; it’s going to get deep in regard to our hearts. Okay, let me give you a personal example. When I was first working in that church that I alluded to in an earlier lesson—where we had over 400 employees, it was one of the biggest churches in the United States—I had a very high-profile position. People saw me because I served my pastors directly; I served all the guest speakers directly. Well, I hated confrontation back in those days. I hated it like it was a deadly disease, and I avoided it like it was a deadly disease. People used to say constantly, «Oh, John B. is such a kind and loving man,» because I would say things to you that were so nice, even if it wasn’t true. I would actually lie; I would say things like, «Oh, you are such a gentle person,» when in reality, that wasn’t the truth, right? But I would always tell people beautiful things.
So one day I’m in prayer, and the Holy Spirit said, «People are saying that you’re a very loving man.» I said, «Yeah.» Now normally, if God says that, you think it’s an affirmation, but the way he said it to me wasn’t an affirmation. I knew something was coming, and he said, «Son, do you want to know why you only speak nice words to people?» I said, «Why?» He said, «Because you fear their rejection.» He said, «So who’s the focus of your love, you or them?» I said, «I guess I am.» He said, «Son, if you really love people, you tell them the truth. You do it with a heart of compassion and a heart of love, but you tell them the truth.» I remember that changed my life drastically. I realized it appeared to everybody else around me that I was a very loving person, when in reality, I was a very selfish person. I didn’t want to be rejected; I didn’t want to lose a friendship or a relationship because of telling somebody the truth.
Well, can the same thing happen with our gifts? The answer is absolutely yes. I want to share a story with you that really shaped my life early on. When I was traveling back in the mid-1990s—actually, it was the late 1990s—I was asked to do a conference in the Midwest part of the United States. There were other speakers brought in, and it was my night to speak. Usually, when I speak, God doesn’t give me a direct word; I just kind of feel it in my heart. But the morning I woke up in the hotel, I heard the Holy Spirit almost in an audible voice say, «Son, I want you to speak on the 'Bait of Satan' in the conference tonight.»
Now you have to understand, «Bait of Satan» had been out for a few years—four or five years. I had preached the message all over the country; it had already caught on to become a national bestseller. I was actually writing—I was like two books down the road. I was writing a new book, actually three or four books down the road, and I’m in the middle of writing this book, and the message is hot in my heart. I’m thinking, «Okay, all right, 'Bait of Satan' tonight.»
So I remember going into the conference, and the pastor told me, «Man, people have traveled from all over to hear you tonight.» You could just sense the excitement in the pastor in the green room. Then I walked out into the service, and man, the excitement was there; the energy was there, and I felt this pull: «John, there are people that have traveled from great distances. They’ve probably read the 'Bait of Satan.' They know the message. I don’t want to preach the 'Bait of Satan.' I want to preach this new message I’m writing.» The thought crossed my mind—gosh, I felt like I knew I heard that morning, but I remember when the pastor introduced me, the crowd’s energy just pulled me, and it pulled me right out of preaching on the 'Bait of Satan' into preaching the new fresh message I was writing.
I remember it was so exciting; there was so much energy. People were standing on their feet; I’d make comments and people would be on their feet, going like this. The service was over; man, the energy was great! We went back to the green room. Everybody was happy—happy as can be. The pastor’s happy; the leaders are happy—"Oh, what a great message you preached tonight!»
I go back to the hotel room, and the next morning when I woke up in that hotel bed—the same bed I was in the morning when he told me to preach on the 'Bait of Satan'—I felt like there was a sack of sand laying on top of me. I felt so heavy, and I knew immediately I disobeyed God the night before. I remember that morning I literally rolled out of that bed straight to my knees and said, «God, I didn’t preach the 'Bait of Satan.' I disobeyed you last night.» I remember saying, «Lord, I am so sorry. Please forgive me.» The heaviness didn’t lift; the grieving didn’t lift. I remember I packed up my bags and went to the airport because I was flying to the West Coast to preach in San Diego.
I’ll never forget it—I mean, I was feeling so heavy, feeling like I was dying inside. I remember my plane was delayed two hours, and I’m just walking around that airport so sad, so heavy. I get on the plane, fly the three to four-hour flight out to San Diego and I remember the plane was circling San Diego, and all the grieving, heaviness, and sadness just lifted off of me like a butterfly. I thought, «Lord, I asked you to forgive me this morning when I was kneeling beside the bed in the hotel room. Why have you let me carry this heaviness, this sadness, this grieving all day long?»
The Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to me. He said, «Son, because I wanted you to feel the weight of your disobedience. There was a pastor in that conference last night who needed to hear what I entrusted you with on the 'Bait of Satan' message, and he didn’t get it.» I went, «Wow.» I remember him saying this to me: «Now, son, this is a new city. Obey me.» You know, it wasn’t condemnation, but I will tell you it was conviction to the hilt. I will say that one experience has caused me to never make that mistake since. I have never had that grieving after preaching a message, and I realized when he said there was a pastor who needed what I gave you, that we really carry something valuable—all of us—when God entrusts us with that gift, and we can use that gift in a way that appears to others…
I mean, you can be on the worship team at church, and you can go to every practice; you can be there early Sunday morning, stay for every one of the three services, whatever your church has, and you’re doing it so people will see you out there. You’re wanting a husband or a wife, and you’re wanting to be recognized. You’re going to lose credit for that gift and all that you’ve done— all the practices—because you did it with the wrong motive. This is what Paul means when he says he’s going to disclose the motives of the heart. Why did we use that gift?
You know, I’ve cringed sometimes hearing people talk about, «Well, you know, we need some extra money in the house, so I decided to go out and do a couple of meetings.» I’m like, «Did you really just say that? Did you go preach those meetings to get offerings because you needed some extra money?» Hey, I am being a little blunt here. I feel I’m 61 years old; I’m like a dad in the church. I don’t want to see you fall into this trap. We don’t do what we do; we don’t release the gift in order to get a blessing. We release the gift because God has something to give people through us. That’s why we do what we do. And then God says, «Hey, the labor is worthy of his wage.»
Let’s talk about this. I’m going to show you scripturally how this can happen. If you look at Balaam, Balaam prophesies, and his prophecies are still in the Bible—they’re true; they’re still being read thousands of years later. But Balaam was judged because his motive was wrong; he was prophesying because he wanted an offering. If you look at Moses, God said to Moses, «Speak to the rock, and I’ll give enough water for all of Israel to drink.» Moses was angry; he struck the rock. He didn’t speak to it, he struck it. And do you know what happened? Water came out, and three million people and animals got a drink from water coming out of a rock. Can you imagine what the people were saying? «Oh Moses, why did we doubt him? Over and over, God shows his hand on Moses. We’re just in the middle of the desert, we just drank enough water for three million people! What a godly leader we have!»
And Moses, the thing’s over, and God says to Moses, «Come on over here; I want to talk to you. You’re not going into the Promised Land because your motive was wrong.» Yeah, that miracle worked; that gift worked. But you’re not going to the Promised Land because you disobeyed me. Let me tell you something—motives are important to God. Let’s return to Paul’s words that we discussed in the last session: 1 Corinthians 9:16–17, «For necessity is laid upon me. Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward.»
So let me tell you, don’t utilize your gift for the sake of personal gain. Use your gift in a way that you know God will take care of you. You know, God has commanded those that preach the gospel to live off the gospel—so let your motive be because you want to serve people. Hey, you can have one of two motives: a selfish motive or a selfless motive. Let’s talk first about the selfless motive. The selfless motive is, «What can I do for you?» The selfless motive says, «What a privilege to serve others with my entrusted ability! I’ll do my very best no matter what I get in return.»
That’s the selfless motive. The selfish motive would sound something like this: «What’s in it for me? What can I gain from my ability? Why should I do a thorough job when there’s not much in it for me? I’m successful; I can take it easy now; I can coast.» You know, this course is being taped in a very, very rough year. We’ve had a pandemic; we’ve had racial division. We’ve got people who are struggling financially with sickness, and there’s almost a temptation—and I feel it in the spirit—for people to draw back.
I really believe this is why God is having this course taped because it’s almost like people want to go into a passive mode. «I don’t want to get into an argument; I don’t want to get persecuted; I don’t want to say the wrong thing.» It’s almost like we’re being pulled into a passive mode. Let me tell you something: Jesus made a statement. He said, «Occupy until I come,» which means do business until I come back. This is not a time for us to become passive; this is a time for us to become even more aggressive in preaching the kingdom of God, utilizing our gifts to build people’s lives!
Hey, great moves of God have always occurred in difficult times. Now is the time to rise up! If it’s a difficult year while you’re watching this, then guess what? Don’t get passive—become more aggressive with the gifts that God has placed on your life. So far, we have talked about each of us getting gifts and the grace to operate in those gifts. We’ve discussed our responsibility as stewards of those gifts. For the remainder of this course, what I want to do is talk about how to discover your gifts and how to develop your gifts. These are going to be two very, very exciting lessons that are coming up. We’ll see you in lesson 7!