Ep 14: The Dean Scream

Speaker1: Well. Good morning my friends. Hope you're having a great day. I'm Daniel Dopp and this is for your Sunday morning drive. The short podcast designed to put you in a Colossians three two mindset and get your mind ready for worship on those hectic Sunday mornings. Be sure to check out the podcast on the Ministry League Network, on their app, or at Ministry League.com. If you're looking for some great resources to help you spiritually. Now, before we get started this morning, I just want to take a moment and say, I know things are in a really weird space in our country right now, and this episode is admittedly a little bit out there as far as the initial topic, but I thought it would be a good time to release this episode, because there's a lot of tension and there's a lot of things going on. People's ears are getting blown off. The things are crazy, but I thought it would be a good time to release this episode, to maybe provide a little bit of levity, and also to make a plea about how we conduct ourselves as Christians. So if you would give me some grace on this episode, I'd appreciate it. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully you're still here. When we get back, let's go ahead and get into it. I'll let you be the judge. This is episode 14. The Dean scream. Let's go to church.

Speaker2: Are we there yet?

Speaker1: First things first. This is not a political episode. We don't do those here. But what the staff at for your Sunday morning drive does. Love is a good meme. It's me. I'm. I'm the staff. Anyway, I would like to take a little trip in our time machine back to the year of 2004. Your host is 14 years old, Myspace is the king of social media and Facebook has just been launched. World of Warcraft was just released and mercifully, the show friends has finally come to an end. Oh, And in January, Howard Dean is on the path to be the Democratic presidential candidate. And after coming in third in the Iowa Democratic caucus, he gave us this impassioned speech.

Speaker3: And then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the white House.

Speaker1: The speech isn't necessarily the issue, though. Rather, it's how he ended it, how he punctuated that speech that many believe put a nail in his political coffin. And it went a little something like this. Imagine that in one moment, all your influence, all your momentum, all your goodwill is thrown out the window. Everything you worked so hard for has become simply the butt of a joke and the object of ridicule. And it happened so fast. Now let's take a step back to the spiritual and look at the serious application that we can make from Mr. Dean's moment of infamy. My friends, it only takes a moment, a second for us to lose our credibility and to destroy our influence as Christians. Sometimes, my friends, we tend to think that no one is watching, that no one cares, that no one looks up to us, that we have no role to play in the kingdom. But that's so untrue. If we have been baptized into the blood of Jesus Christ, we wear his name and we have one of two choices. We can either lift that name on high and carry it well, or we can drag it through the mud. And both of those come about from the way that we live our lives. And I understand there is a lot going on in the political space right now. There always is. I guess what I'm asking. What I'm begging, what I'm pleading. You, my friends, is that we think before we speak, that we think before we post, that we think before we share. Take a moment, just a few moments to think. Would Jesus really be pleased with what I am about to say is what I'm about to share and who I'm sharing it from.

Speaker1: Going to make us shine brighter for the master? Or is it just going to make us look like another person, another Christian, that has replaced King and Kingdom with a politician and with political fervor? Sometimes we get just one shot with people to show them the love of Jesus, to tell them about the salvation he offers. If we don't protect our reputation, protect our influence, then maybe we've thrown that away. Don't throw it away in a moment of anger, of frustration, of carelessness. Proverbs 22 verse one says, A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, and favor is better than silver and gold. We have something so much more important on the line than a silly political endeavor. And the cost can be souls. It can be spiritual life and death and the lost are depending on us. Matthew 516 says, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Be a light Christian. Shine as bright as you can for the master. And if we're looking for something to scream about, let it be the Word of God. Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours. Here are our discussion questions for this week. Have we thrown away the ability to make an impact in the lives of others for Jesus? Do we need to rethink how we present ourselves to others? And lastly, how can we rebuild those bridges that we might have burned?