The Rob Skinner Podcast: Helping You Make This Life Count Rob Skinner

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I’m going through the book of Matthew this year at the church I lead in Tucson, Arizona.  Today, I’m covering Matthew 11:1-19, entitled “Ears to Hear.”  You’ll learn what to do when you have doubts, why encouraging words are so important and what to do when you are shopping around for a different church, job or environment. 
Transcript:
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.  Matthew 11:1
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.  Jesus finishes his preparation of his disciples and continues his personal ministry.  The disciples’ short-term or limited commission isn’t described.  Chapter 11 and 12 describe the varied responses people had to John and especially Jesus.
1.    John’s response to Jesus:  11:2-6
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
John doubts
After at least six months in a dungeon, John isn’t the man he once was.  John is disappointed, disillusioned, doubting, discouraged and depressed.  Why?  Jesus doesn’t follow his pattern of fasting and instead eats and drinks with sinners.  John has taken offence or has been “tripped up” by Jesus’ approach.  Another thing that may have bothered John is that Jesus didn’t immediately declare, “I’m the Messiah!”  John had predicted that Jesus was going to baptize with “fire.”  He may have had in his mind that Jesus was going to blow people away in massive judgment.  Elijah struggled when, after calling down fire from heaven, there was still opposition from Jezebel.  John may have felt like Jesus’ didn’t come through as he expected.  Jesus’ “low-key” ministry of preaching, eating and drinking with shady people wasn’t matching his expectations.  He was looking for something more “messianic” and judgmental. 
The good thing about John is that he goes to Jesus with his doubts and fears.  He doesn’t ghost Jesus, drop out or cut off communication.  He doesn’t pretend or hide his worries.  He goes to Jesus himself.  Did you know you can go to church without going to Christ?  You can spend years in church and still have doubts about your faith.  That’s when you need to get into the word and start praying to Jesus to help you build a solid foundation. 
Jesus reminded him of all the scriptures he WAS fulfilling in 11:4-5, but apparently this was not enough for John, he wanted to see fire falling from heaven.  John’s struggle shows how personal troubles and hardships can affect our walk with God.
Jesus gives John a mild rebuke in 11:6.  He cautions him about getting tripped up spiritually because his expectations aren’t being met.  It may have been because Jesus was bringing in a new era and a Kingdom that John only knew from afar.  He wasn’t part of it. He offers a beatitude that shows the importance of being willing to elevate Jesus over and above our own expectations and feelings.
There are times when we have been super strong in the past spiritually, but then things can “trip us up.”
·       Physical problems
·       Health issues
·       Losing people to death
·       Different church styles
·       Things changing in chu

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Today, you’ll learn one of the secrets that enables billionaires and fruitful Christians become even more productive by seeking strong relationships. 
Transcript:
Nearly every day I go through my “Power Pack.”  This is a collection of scriptures and quotes that fire me up, encourage me and challenge me to grow, get closer to God and have greater faith.  I pulled one out the other day and it was a card on which I had written decisions made after a spiritual conference I went to.  I don’t know which one it was, but it had to be at least ten years ago.  It read:
1.        Conference Decisions
a.       Build a sharing habit
b.      Build relationships with strong leaders
c.       Build the church on small groups
d.      Raise the standards and confront difficult situations directly
e.       Concentrate on training leadership
                                                              i.      Build a training program:  Interviews
                                                            ii.      Write book on small church planting
I can see how I followed through with a number of those decisions.  I wrote a book on church planting, I developed a sharing habit, I have worked on training leadership with my young guns group and have forced myself to confront difficult situations directly.
However, of all of these, building relationships with strong leaders has probably done more to help me grow than all of the other ones. 
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Aesop said, “A man is known by the company he keeps.”  Jim Rohn said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”   All of these maxims point to the same conclusion, you maximize or diminish your life based on the quality of your friends. 
I can quickly point to those men who have made a powerful difference in my life through their friendship, example and advice, Dick Gee, Doug Baity, Ed Townsend, Preston Shepherd, Frank Kim and Bruce Williams.  Their influence on my life transformed me from a worldly kid into a spiritual man.  All of them shared their life and friendship with me.  They mentored me and made time to walk with me, teach me and correct me at times.  They were patient when I struggled and weren’t afraid to call me higher when I was coasting. 
My nature is to remain isolated and to try to tackle things on my own.  I’ve had to deliberately choose to allow people into my life so that I can “air out” my sin and weaknesses in an environment that fostered growth.  It’s way to easy for me to tell myself that I have to do it all by myself and should be able to do it without outside support.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I’m reminded again of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 4:5-6, 
“Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
My pride and fear would often keep me from seeking friendships with men who were as strong or stronger than me in the areas I was looking to grow in.  I had to realize that two are better than one.  I need someone in my life who can pick me up when I fall down.  My marriage is certainly one of those relationships, but that alone is not enough.  I need a number of trusted friends who can help me be a multiplying disciple and “have a good return” for my labor. 
I’ve been watching a series on TV called, “Under

ow to Support the Rob Skinner Podcast.  If you would like to help support my mission to multiply disciples, leaders and churches, click here:  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robskinner
I’m Rob Skinner and this is the Rob Skinner Podcast.  Today I’m talking about how to become a multiplying disciple.  Specifically, how you need to multiply your talents in order to multiply disciples and your impact in your spiritual, financial and personal life.
Reach Rob at Rob@RobSkinner.Com
 
Transcript
Multiply Your Talents to Become a Multiplying Disciple
“Skinner, you’re a jack of all trades and a master of none.”  My friend, Chris Bishop, gave me a rough evaluation that later proved to be right on target.  He was describing my interest in so many different areas and at the same time, I wasn’t great at any one thing.  In the fall I had tried soccer and dropped out.  In the winter, I got cut from the freshman basketball team.  I placed my hopes in making the spring freshman baseball team.  If there was one sport I thought I was good at, I thought baseball would be the one.  I bought brand new Adidas cleats.  I tried my best at the tryout.  Jeff Martinez laughed at me after the sprints and said, “Skinner, how’d you get so slow?”  The coach told us that our names would be posted on the coaches’ office window if we made the team.  I waited all day, sitting in classes visualizing the name, “Rob Skinner” on that roster.  When the final bell rang, I ran to the gym locker room where the coaches’ office was.  I looked down the list of names.  I thought I must be reading it to quickly.  I read each name again, slowly. 
·         Todd Newman
·         Shawn Huff
·         Jeff Martinez
·         Chris Bishop…
All my friends were listed, my name wasn’t.  I looked one more time and raced to my Mom’s office in room E-5 of the English department.  She was an English teacher and department head.  She said, “What’s wrong?”  I said, “I didn’t make the team!”  I kneeled down and sobbed and sobbed on her lap.  On top of the humiliation of getting cut, someone stole my new cleats.  I guess I wouldn’t need them anyway.
I’ve never been great at any one sport.  I’ve been passable at a large number of sports and activities.  I love to surf, scuba, play frisbee and ultimate.  I’ve run a marathon in Tokyo.  I love to backpack.  I enjoy clubs and activities and served as the president of the International club and Senior Class President in high school.  I like to write and was the editor of my high school newspaper. 
I always thought this lack of focused greatness was a weakness until I became a disciple of Jesus.  Then I realized the gift I had been given.  God’s Kingdom is filled with every type of person.  Every race, age, class, language, height, gender, interest, skill and occupation is represented in his church.  When I became a true disciple and joined the fellowship of believers I felt like a fish back in water.  I was able to connect with so many people.  My varied background allowed me to make connections with people from all over the world.
Scott Adams talks about the importance of developing a broad array of talents in his book, “How to fail at almost everything and still win big.”  He calls it “Talent Stacking.”  He writes that it’s much better and more achievable to be in the top 25% in two or three or more skill or talent areas than it is to become the top 1% in any one field.  He himself was a cartoonist with a background in computers and added writing, public speaking and hypnotism to his talent stack.  The uniqueness of his talent stack makes him a unique and wealthy individual.  He claims that for every person genetically gifted to master a particular field like LeBron James, there are thousands who can combine reasonably good skills from a variety of fields and excel.
Paul talks abou

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In this episode I  talk to Ben and Susan Borland, missionaries to Montevideo, Uruguay.  Listen as they share about their first year on the mission field.  They talk about:
·        Their first impressions after landing in Montevideo
·        What the country is like
·        The challenges they’ve faced
·        Their plans for their second year

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In this episode I  talk to Budi and Listiana Hartono from Jakarta, Indonesia.  They led the church in Jakarta, Indonesia and now they oversea the growth of the 40+ churches in Indonesia outside of Jakarta.  Converted in the early nineties, they have witnessed the church grow from a handful of disciples to over 7,000 disciples all over the country.  Listen as they share about:
·        How they reach out in the country with the largest Muslim population
·        How Listiana fought through cancer and is now five-years cancer free
·        How they planted their first church at the age of 25
·        Their joy at seeing their daughters Karla and Andrea become Christians
·        The spiritual zeal and growth of the younger generation in Indonesia
·        How they are planting four new churches in Indonesia this year

How to Support the Rob Skinner Podcast.  If you would like to help support my mission to multiply disciples, leaders and churches, click here:  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/robskinner
In this episode, I continue my series on becoming a multiplying disciple.  I talk about resisting the natural tendency to run from getting help when we need it the most.  I talk about why we do this and how we can seek help instead of run from it.
 
Transcript
I remember listening to a lesson at the 1995 world missions seminar in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The speaker was sharing about good news around the world.  One church was lifted up for baptizing hundreds of people and becoming a church of thousands.  Over the next few years I heard conflicting reports from that same church.  Then I heard the church’s leader had been removed.  It seems the actual membership was hundreds of people short of what had been reported.  When I heard that I thought, what happened?  How could that happen?  How could people not know how many people were in the church?  I’m sure there were a number of reasons for that leadership failure, but I would guess that primary among them would be that the leader or leadership team didn’t seek help early enough and may have run from getting the help it needed before the problem became so severe.
“Where are you?”
This failure to seek help goes back to the garden. 
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  Genesis 3:6-9
When offered that first temptation, centuries of misery could have been avoided by asking for help and advice from God before chomping into the apple.  Once the sin was committed, shame, pride and fear kept them from turning to the one being who could help them.  God had to ask, “Where are you?” 
This is why we struggle to get the help we need from God and others so that we can grow and get back on our feet after a set back.  Shame, pride, embarrassment, laziness and the distorted thinking that comes from these problems forces us into isolation.  We delude ourselves into thinking that if we run from the problem, from God and from other people, the problem will disappear.  It rarely does.  In the case of that first sin, it quickly compounded and affects us today, thousands of years later.
During finals week of my first semester at UC Berkeley if faced five finals in two days.  On the second day I arrived at my statistics final after little sleep.  The previous day I had rear-ended a car on the way to campus, showed up to the wrong building for my first test, ran out of gas on the way home from campus and spent two hours waiting for the tow truck.  It seems God had designed this two-day gauntlet to humble me and prepare me to become a Christian.  The first half of the statistics final was closed book.  I had difficulty answering the questions.  My only solace was that the second half of the test was open books and open notes.  When the professor said “start!” for the second half, I dug through my backpack for my book and notes.  They weren’t there.  I had forgotten them in my dorm room.  I struggled through that 45 minutes as I watched those around me find the answers they needed in their notes and books.  At the end of the test I went up to the professor and told him I had forgotten my notes.  In his heavily accented, Eastern European English, he said, “Why didn’t