Finish Strong With Fearless Faith

The Secret of Humility #07

February 08, 2021 Fearless Faith Season 1 Episode 7
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith
The Secret of Humility #07
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Show Notes Transcript

Hosts Dan Wheeler, Terry Steen, and Brian Roland discuss living a life of humility.

 They will help you live your life with purpose, change someone’s life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Everyone starts the race... but only the Fearless Finish Strong!
 
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Dan Wheeler:

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Very true when you start thinking that you're kind of the cat's meow, and you've got the world all figured out, boy, God has a way of humbling you in a hurry.

John Matarazzo:

Live your life with purpose, change someone's life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong, the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. In this episode, Dan Bryan and Terry discussed living a life of humility.

Dan Wheeler:

One of the most hilarious movies of all time is anchorman. Ron Burgundy is played by Will Ferrell, and he's an anchor, and he's at a party and they're welcoming a new woman who's going to be a reporter at the station. And he goes up to her. And he says, Hi there. Do you know who I am? And she says no. And he's kind of offended. He says, Well, I'm kind of a big deal. And I always thought that was a funny line. Having worked in television for many, many years. My name is Dan Wheeler, and I'm with Brian Rowland, and Terry Steen. And Brian,

Brian Roland:

we've all worked with people like that in the news or in television programming heavily. We sure have. And as you will know, we both started at the same TV station years ago, and there was an anchor person there that thought he was Ted Knight. As soon as he'd come on, man, his voice would get deep and really just giving everything he could for the for the camera. And then off camera, he was a different person until the phone rang in the newsroom. And then he go right back into his Ted night routine, which was a, it's just funny to see how these guys work. Like you said in front of the mirror. They're one thing and then when they're with you, there's another

Dan Wheeler:

we've entitled this episode of finished drawing, we take great pride in our humility, Terry, that's the line that you've used often in the past.

Terry Steen:

It is it's just the oxymoron of it is just kind of funny. And I might add, if you look around your desk, hopefully, you will see the plaque that I was in a store one day and I ran across the plaque that said I'm kind of a big deal. And I could not leave that store without buying that, Dan, because he uses that all the time. And deep down I think he may really believe it, Brian.

Dan Wheeler:

I've really enjoyed that. Terry, it's one of most

Brian Roland:

seen him go through his phone and saying I met this person and I met this person and I met this

Dan Wheeler:

guy, you know, I have that plaque right on the end of my desk and everyone that comes into my office, I point to it just so they get

Terry Steen:

that's good to know,

Dan Wheeler:

as we grow older, I think some of our pride starts to fade as we realize who we are and who God is. And the example that Jesus gave us when we read in Luke chapter two about the birth of Jesus, it was not what the Jewish people of the time expected. They were looking for the Messiah, they were looking for a king, and he was a king. But he didn't come into the world the way they expected him to. And I find that that's true. God never does things quite the way we expect them to. And in chapter two, verse four of Luke reading in the New International Version, it says, So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea at the Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and the line of David. He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there. The time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them. In the end, Terry, there was no room for the king of the universe in a hotel or an M he was born in a manger. He was there were animals all around, there was straw. You can imagine the smell, not to mention it was in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was just a little Podunk town, that you would never think a king would be born you'd think it was Jerusalem, almost like a place in Iowa, right, Brian?

Unknown:

Hey, here's what I meant to say, Ohio, we're

Terry Steen:

better just because our state tree is a telephone pole. I don't think

Dan Wheeler:

that's a good one. But Brian, really, it's not the way any of us would expect Christ to come into the world. I feel like God always does things differently than men expect.

Brian Roland:

But that's the truth. You know, and he uses people you would never expect them to use, at least will be gathered the most. And I mean, he really puts him in a place that's going to attract people that you would say, Well, wait a minute, what's he tracking them for? But God loves everyone. He's gonna use whoever he needs to use to gather them in. And that's what I love about this story, too. I mean, he, he brought him in, in such humble beginnings. And yet he's gonna he was gonna have the greatest Kingdom but the people couldn't understand it. The disciples couldn't understand it at first. But then they got it when once he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, He told him he's returning, they understood the kingdom then,

Terry Steen:

well, Terry, he gave the disciples an example of humility. So clearly, oh, man, he did. And, you know, being born the way he was just kind of laid the groundwork, and it never changed throughout his ministry, you know, in john 13, there's no better example than when he washed the disciples feet. You know, there was the irony of that the disciples were so uncomfortable because he took his, his outer robe off, and he got a towel. And, and they knew at this point, he was the Messiah, God had revealed to them he was the Messiah. But yet here he was doing a job, you know, we can't relate to it quite as well as these could back then. Because they always needed their feet washed. They wore sandals, they were always walking. And it was usually the lowest servant that got the job of washing the feet. So they had a Messiah, washing the feet. And it was the irony of that was such a neat example.

Dan Wheeler:

And Jesus was always the same no matter who came to him. He approached them with love. And yet certain people saw who he was like the centurion.

Terry Steen:

Oh, yeah, the centurion. It was in Matthew, the eighth chapter there. And he had a servant that was paralyzed. And so he came to Jesus one he wanting Jesus to heal his servant. And Jesus asked if he wanted him to come, and he said, No, no, no, you don't have to come. I understand your authority. And even though this Centurion was a powerful man, he was he was leading an army, he humbled himself did not even want Jesus to come back to his home. And he had reason to be proud from the standpoint of society, but he understood who he was talking to. And to me, that's the neat thing, if we could remember that if we could remember who we're talking to, then we'd understand true humility, the King of the universe, how could we not be humble?

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, we're gonna stay with us, because I'm going to talk about some of the legendary examples of humility I worked with, as a host on national television for many years, and how they impressed me we're going to really take a deep dive into some scripture, some examples of humility, and how God honors the humble. We're going to talk about godly examples in our own lives, and then give you some great takeaways about growing stronger with humility. But Brian, you know, we talked about the powerful sons sure in and yet Jesus was impressed with the widow

Brian Roland:

is the truth, you know, over in Mark 1241, through 44, tells the story and it's, it's just amazing when you see how he turned us on how he wanted what he wanted the disciples to see, it says Jesus sat down opposite the place where offerings were being put and watch the crowd putting their money into the temple Treasury, many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came in put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. And this is what I think is great, because he called his disciples over to him. And he said, Truly, I tell you, this poor widow is put more into the Treasury than all the others, they all gave out of their wealth, but she gave out of her poverty, put in everything all that she had to live on. What I love about that is the lesson we learned. She gave everything totally depending on him to provide. And she did that all the time. It wasn't just that that one that one event, and he wanted his disciples to see that you could put everything back in because I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to watch over you I'm providing for you. You are my child. And she knew that the rich people are thrown in just Okay, I'm going to please people, I'm making a big thing. People can see what I'm doing. Here's the money I'm giving, but yet she gave all that she had, and the Lord blessed her and took care of her.

Dan Wheeler:

In my role as a host on QVC. for 29 years, I was fortunate enough to be the sports guy. So I interviewed a different Hall of Fame athlete every week, I worked with the musicians as I hosted a lot of the music shows and worked with various entertainers of all time. And some of the legendary examples of humility that I met were first of all, Charlton Heston. The guy's one of the greatest actors of all time, he came in very humble, he was very kind to everyone. He was sell selling a the Bible on DVD. And so he was going to recite the 23rd Psalm and he's got that great voice and I watched him practice the 23rd Psalm, which is only I think six verses long, but he practiced it. I counted 12 Time's walking. Here's the great Charlton Heston but he wanted to make sure he did his very best. Bob Hope came in one time and he and his wife Dolores, and was just so kind and just chatting it up with me before the show. I really enjoyed being in his presence. There was a really a calm to him. I worked with Cal Ripken, Jr. Many times. He was always very respectful to everyone and was excited near the end of his career when he was going to form his Cal Ripken baseball Academy,

Terry Steen:

Iron Man,

Dan Wheeler:

the Iron Man, he put that record so far out of sight. four consecutive games played, he was always there. Yeah. George Foreman, my buddy, you know, he reclaimed the heavyweight championship of the world at the age of 45, knocking out a man less than half his age, Michael Moore was 22 at the time, very kind. He's a preacher, and very dedicated to getting the word of God out. And yet he has a church. And it's funny the name of the town, it's in his humble Texas and really lives up to that name. Tim Conway was the final one on site. He was just such a nice guy came in with a few clothes hangers over his shoulder didn't have an entourage. And I noticed he was just sitting alone in a green room. So I went and hung out with him for an hour. I thought, Man, what an opportunity, just the nicest guy. So you know, sometimes the people who were on their way up building their career, were tough to work with a lot of private big egos. But two people who had nothing to prove who really knew who were that they were, were some of the greatest and yet some of the most humble guys, that's another great example for all of us.

Terry Steen:

And that's neat. And I think from a business standpoint, it's something that CEOs and managers many times lose sight of, that they invest their time only on that upper level. And you know, the character and the humility of a business person when they know the janitors name. And they treat them the same way they treat the vice presidents.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, that's, you know, I used to talk about my late wife Beth that way, she would be the same to everybody in the hospital. She was just as kind to the people who clean the rooms as she was to the nurses as she was the doctors. Yeah. And ultimately, the administrators of the hospital. Brian, let's take a look at some of our favorite verses. that deal with humility. You've got a great one found in First Peter, First Peter

Brian Roland:

five, five of the NIV version, it says in the same way, you were a younger, submit yourselves to your elders, all of you clothe yourselves that humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. You know, and I think of that, I think of people I think we all know people that are very proud. They've, they start to tend to believe that it's them that's taken, that's taken care of things, and it's not God. And eventually, they all seem to lose everything they've once had and have to start again. But God, he opposes the proud, but he shows so much favor to the humble as we saw with the widow's mite. So then that's one of my favorites.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, Terry, how

Terry Steen:

about you, Solomon was the wisest man in the world. And he wrote some incredible proverbs and many of those talk about humility. So you know, Solomon had to kind of figure it out, I think. And I come to Proverbs 22. For says, humility, and the fear of the Lord, bring wealth and honor in life. So we come back to the fear of the Lord, which is being in awe of God and understanding who he is. And that helps us live a humble life and there's a reward for living a humble life that tells us that we will have some type of wealth and honor and a life that's worth living by being humble voice.

Dan Wheeler:

So true, great words and Proverbs, and I'm going to stay in that same book, Proverbs 16:18. This is a verse that I think many people who don't know the Bible, still know this verse because it says, Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall, and many people, no pride comes before a fall. Very true. When you start thinking that you're kind of the cat's meow, and you've got the world all figured out. Boy, God has a way of humbling you in a hurry.

Terry Steen:

That's right.

Brian Roland:

It's the truth. And you know that it's, it's, it's funny, because I just mentioned about, we've all know people that have fallen, that have taken great pride and did things for themselves. But over in Proverbs 11, to sticking with that, it says when pride comes then comes disgrace, but with humility, comes wisdom. And so we see that in everyday life, with humility comes wisdom, but with pride, it comes disgrace it's going to come back and get you eventually. And how many people that are have all this pride or surrounded with real friends, it's the yesterday people that are around him are Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You're right. But it's the ones with humility that people come to for wisdom.

Dan Wheeler:

So true. Brian, Terry, you've got a verse that I think applies to us individually and also to us as a nation as the United States of America.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, it's one of the most well known verses and with the way and the condition of our country right now, there is no verse that should mean more to us as Christians, and this one, which is Second Chronicles 714. And I just want to read it, because it's a powerful verse, it says, if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land in our country needs so much healing, it needs so much forgiveness. And this talks about that humility that's needed. We have to humble ourselves. And it can only start with us, we think about our country, we think about the big picture. But nothing will change until each of us begin to humble ourselves and say, this kind of prayer, to see God turn our nation.

Dan Wheeler:

Boy, it's so true. And what a timely verse, you've probably been hearing that verse quite a bit lately, but really does say so much for where we're at right now. James, for 10, the New International Version, this says it pretty succinctly, humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. I think it's interesting that it doesn't just say Humble yourselves, it says, humble yourselves before the Lord, going before the Lord with that spirit of humility and saying, God, I know who you are, you are the creator of the universe, you made me and yet you care about me. I'm really not worthy that you should have gone to the cross to die for me, but you did. And then it says, When you do that, he will lift you up. And it's so true. I think we've all experienced that, in our own lives. Brian, how about Micah? Did Micah have anything to say about humility?

Brian Roland:

You know, what I think is great is that he's showing us what the Lord wants us to do. It says in Micah six, eight, he has shown you all mortal, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? But how do we do that? Well, Philippians, two, three, and seven, puts it right there for us do nothing out of selfish ambition, or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of the others, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Jesus, which is what he told us. That's what he wants us to do, who being in very nature of God, did that consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, rather, he made himself nothing. By taking the very nature of a servant to we've talked about earlier, and being made in human likeness. There's There's our walking papers right there. It's telling us our go orders. That's what we're supposed to do. Right there.

Dan Wheeler:

Right. So you guys know, the three of us, Brian, Terry, and myself, we also have a producer. His name is John Matarazzo. He does a great job. He's been kind of guiding us through this podcast experience. And john, I want to think it wants you to think about this, I'm going to give you a little time, we're going to talk about some of the godly examples we've seen of humility. And I know you've worked in Christian TV for a long time. So maybe think about someone that maybe had an impression on you. But, Terry, I know you work with a lot of pastors. And you've probably seen a wide range of pride and humility, not that we're supposed to judge anyone. But what are who stands out to you?

Terry Steen:

Well, it's interesting that you mentioned that because I I've consulted and worked with them, and been on staff with them for probably 30 to 40 years now. And there's all kinds and they're all human. we all deal with pride. we all deal with humility. And so whether they say it or not, you can just see some of the levels are at salons based on how big a church they have or how small a church they have and who they kind of don't spend time with or who they want to hang around. And so you just observe all that in different meetings. But I've run across some pastors who have reason to be prideful because they have a church of 234 1000. I think of one pastor in particular. His name's Carl Stevens. He lives in Orlando and he is built over the years, an incredible church and incredible Christians. school. And yet anytime I run into him at a meeting or a conference, he'll come up and introduce himself to me as if I don't know who he is, instead of like, of course, you know who I am. And that's always, at always grabbed me the humility of that, that he wasn't assuming that everybody thought of them as some great big pastor. You know, it was I like that.

Dan Wheeler:

He never says to you, I'm kind of a big deal

Terry Steen:

He didn't say that, yeah,

Brian Roland:

you said that.

Dan Wheeler:

Well, Terry, I know you had a great mentor enrollment. I mean, Brian, you had a great mentor before you came to Chicago and we worked at a Christian TV station, you worked for a great man

Brian Roland:

I did. His name was Rex Humbert and I told you before that he was just a great person to look up to. He was the one person that I could say that I worked with in a Christian field, who walked his talk, always walked his talk. And it was he was just, he would open the doors. He had the flu one time and I, I stopped by the house, because my friend of mine was parents were missionaries and wanted to meet them. And I said, Hey, Rex, I said, I got somebody that wants to meet us, buddy of mine from school in it. And he said, Oh, man, Brian goes to you right now. And I suggest if you could, and he goes, he said, I don't want to get you guys to catch the flu. And that I said, just five minutes. He took him in there. And he sat with him for 15 minutes and just spoke with him and, and just became genuine and but that's how Rex was. He always preached salvation, nothing else. He goes, I'm not a theologian. I preach salvation. If you're any of his sermons. That's what it's all about. He walked his talk.

Dan Wheeler:

And of course, you and I worked for a man named Owen Carr who found channel 38 Christian television in Chicago. I'll never forget one day we were short on our production staff. And we had a production following Owens show. And he was taking office Mike and getting ready to leave. And he heard us say, Well, what are we going to do guys? We don't have a floor director. And he says, Hey, guys, what does the floor director do when we said, Oh, he's the guy that holds up your time cues and make sure you're on the right camera. And he goes, Well, I could do that. Right? We sit on, we know you're busy. He goes, No, I don't have anything for like an hour and a half. He takes off his suit coat rolls up his sleeve. on it, the CEO and the president station hold up time cues. Go on, you know, but that was the kind of man he was, you could always tell because he always had creases in the knees of a suit. He was on his knees in the morning. But we don't have a lot of time. But John, who comes to your mind as an example of humility.

John Matarazzo:

So actually, I have a verse that I want to share kind of leading into that real quick, my life verse deals with humility. And it's Isaiah 66, verse one and two, and that second part says, but God says to Isaiah, but on this one, I will look on him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. And so whenever God speaks, I want to be somebody that is so concerned about what God said that I'm obedient to it. And I'm humble. So no matter what situation of life that I'm in, I'm submitted to His will. A couple years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a man named Doug stringer on my TV show, I actually got to do a podcast episode with him. Something that he said that has always stuck with me since then, is he says, I've got no special qualifications. I'm just available and obedient for whatever God has for me. And that has opened up so many doors for him. And that's been a challenge for me continually.

Dan Wheeler:

Wow, that's great, john, little disappointed you didn't mention any of the three of us. Well, guys, we don't have a lot of time. I guess we've got about 30 seconds each to kind of give our takeaways, a personal takeaways on how we can grow stronger with humility. Terry, I'll start with you if you're ready.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, I think it's just like everything we follow Christ's example. You know, he lived a life of humility. And when we do, there's rewards for us. Just like we've talked in the Scripture, there's answered prayers and honor and life and he promotes us. So if we'll fight that human nature of pride, God will reward us and take care of everything. Mm hmm.

Dan Wheeler:

How about you, Brian?

Brian Roland:

Well, I'll tell you there's there's a gentleman that I grew up in church with one of my heroes. His name was Dr. Bruce matar, everybody that knew him, knew he was just how he was humble, a humble man, but things he would teach you. And he was a good mentor early. Like when I was getting married. He said, I said, What's the secret to a successful marriage? And he said, who cannot give each other? And I said, What do you mean? He goes, you say, I love you. She says, I love you more. You keep doing this to see her I'll give each other and boy that has been just a pattern for success. And if things like that just made him so special to everyone.

Dan Wheeler:

Oh, that's great. I know as I grow older, I realized more and more that I have really nothing to be proud of apart from God. I've everything I've accomplished was by the grace and mercy of him. God loves the humble but he opposes the proud and I want to always remember that, you know, you're, I think your accomplishments fade. We've all had that box of trophies we wanted when we were younger, that just sat around and collected dust. So maybe it's time that you got rid of that box of trophies and you replace them with new accomplishments for the Lord. And always having that humble spirit and that humble attitude toward everyone you meet, amen. Well, John Matarazzo, could you quickly tell everyone where they can hear our podcast as we conclude?

John Matarazzo:

Yes. Make sure that you subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening. If you're in iTunes, definitely make sure that you rate and review the finished strong podcast. Give us five stars and write a review and that helps more people discover how they too can finish their race strong.

Dan Wheeler:

Well thanks, guys. And thank you for listening to another episode of finished strong. We'll look forward to the next one. Remember, stay strong. But stay humble. God bless.

John Matarazzo:

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website@faith.org make sure that you write and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong