Stuck in Space, Full of Joy

Hi everybody, welcome back to Ignite. A special program today and a message that I afraid you could sit and actually listen through all of it, okay? Sometimes you tune me out, sometimes you don't go, oh it's funny to watch the numbers you know. How many watch it to the end? I need all of you to watch this to the end, you'll be glad you did, all right? I get Tim Rogers, thank you very much if you're watching this. Tim is a buddy, a son of a guy friend from Springfield, Missouri. And he texts me and he says, I'm on the Amazon River right now. And I just met your soulmate. I knew what he meant. He's this guy is a face sharing machine. You have to meet him. So when he got back to the States, we hooked up. And here we are today. Just absolute miracle. So, I mean... How did this even happen? I have no idea. The Lord's providence. You know, you mentioned soulmates. Yeah. Barry. Yeah. Barry. This is Barry. They meet Barry, okay? They call him Butch, last name Wilmore. I can't begin to tell you his background, but this guy, he was captain of his football team way back. He's an overachiever, you know, a Navy pilot, what, 20 some odd missions in Desert Storm, a trainer who trains others, a test pilot. But more importantly, I guess, more interestingly to all of us, although he said the best part of his career is landing on a carrier or whatever being there in the game. But 20 years with NASA, okay, three space flights. But you may remember him. Okay? In fact, he wrote a book about it. It's called Stuck in Space. Yeah, yeah, Butch is the astronaut that last year went up for a, what is it, 12-day ride? Roughly, yes sir. 12 days and ended up being... 286. Nine months, okay. So that got my attention. He said, I had this astronaut that was lost in space last year. Yeah, he says, you really need to meet him. Not because of his astronaut, but because he just loves the Lord. So we hung out last night and spent a little time together and I thought, oh, I... I went to bed last night. I thought, that's one of my best friends. Praise the Lord. I started thinking about that. I said, we are so like this. And then it hit me. What do we have in common? We love the Lord. And we have oneness with God. You're awesome. Well, let me share a thought. You're Mr. Shine. Yeah. Right? Mr. Shine, that's what you're known as. I pedal car wax. Yeah, people introduced me, as you did, as an aviator, test pilot, astronaut. But because of God's word... We know who we are. We see everything through the lens of Scripture. Yeah. You are a wretched sinner. I am a wretched sinner. Amen. That's who we are. Saved by grace. Saved by grace. Wretched sinners saved by grace. There's only two types of people in the world, Barry. There are wretched sinners, and there are wretched sinners saved by grace. Saved by grace. And it's those wretched sinners that don't know our Lord that is the passion behind all that we do. The last 10 minutes that you've shared, it's the passion behind all of it because the world needs Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the prize. Jesus is the only way to eternal hope. Everything else, Barry, It's deception. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And he is the way. All the things you're doing today, the only thing that matters that has eternal value, okay, is how many people did you move closer to Jesus? When we get to heaven, the only thing that's going to matter when we're in heaven, when you're in heaven, the only thing that's going to matter is how many people are in heaven because of your influence. Right? Okay. And most people say none. Unfortunately, it's to say most people say none. Now's the time to start. And the scriptures point to that, too, as you know. We want to ignite you today. Okay. Keep going, baby. It said, lay therefore up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And that's not just good works. That is souls. It's souls. That we share this blessed truth with. And the Lord uses that through the Holy Spirit to bring them to himself. There's a great scripture, 1 Thessalonians 2, 9, I think, where Paul's talking to the Thessalonians. And in my language, not his. He's speaking to the church. He's led them all to the Lord, the church there. And he says, so what do I get out of it? Well, what's, he literally says, so what's my reward? When I see Jesus, what will be my reward? I don't think he was as flippant as that. He was asking that question. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul saying that? And you know what he says? He stops and he says, it's you. The people he led to the Lord, he says, will be his treasure and his reward forever. Can you imagine being with people forever that you know they are there because you helped influence them to get there? That's forever. Praise the Lord. Is there anything better than that? Absolutely not. I mean, I don't care. Drive the fastest car, go to the moon, whatever. Who cares when we get to heaven? It doesn't matter. Mark 8, 36. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his soul? Yeah, yeah. I'm struck by your load. Can I digress for a moment? Sure. This is my naval aviator wings of gold. What makes them set apart and different is that there's an astronaut symbol in the center. So if you are selected into the astronaut corps, once you fly in space, the first thing they did when we got to space, when we had a little slow moment, is the commander of the STS-129 gave me a set of naval aviator astronaut pilot wings. And there's only probably less than 70 individuals in the history of human spaceflight that have this. Wow. So that's why I have it on a couple of shirts. That's why I wore it specially today for you because of what it stands for. But this is not who I am. It's what the Lord has allowed me to do. It's given me the opportunity to share his blessed truth. Okay, I digress a bit. Okay? We're going to talk about the important things. I've got to ask. Come on. You're going up for 12 days. What was that like? It was a horrible... grueling, what, nine months? And, you know, I mean... I have to start with the first passage of Scripture you mentioned, Romans 8, 28. Something else that you don't know, we haven't talked about this. When my daughters reached the age where they could speak and understand, guess what passage I started having them memorize? Romans 8, 28 to 30. Wow. And we know that all things work together good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, him also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestine, them he also called, whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Praise God. And they know it. And when we teach catechism, the little kids, That's the verses that I have to memorize. Wow. So again, brothers in Christ and like-minded, I mean, here's another example. So that's where it starts, planning his purpose. The Lord has shown me that. He has made it known to his world through his word of what... He is doing, working out his plan, working out his purposes for his glory, our ultimate good, even in the situation because of the sin that has tainted this world in his creation, the difficulties of life. Even in those, I can be content. And we were content. Even when you're stuck in space and might not get back. Content through it all. But you had no fear. No, sir. If it's my time, praise the Lord. We raised our daughters that way. We prayed that before we left. Lord, your will be done. And if that means that I don't return, Lord, take care of these ladies. We prayed that the day before I left. So comment on it a little bit. Just give a peek into that. We don't want to dwell on it. But nine months in space. Nine months in space. And you weren't given tasks to do. It wasn't an experimental thing. It was like... You're stuck there for nine months. How did you deal with that? Dealt with it because the Lord was looking at his plan, his purpose was his glory and our good. So that's it. And day by day, we got, you know, we're carrying out the plan of the day, as we say in the military, and just praise him for the opportunity wherever we are to serve him. And even if that's in the International Space Station, we're just grateful for all of it. And by the way, you could pick up the phone and call Deanna anytime you want. Is that right? Well, through the computer, but yes, sir. Exactly. But not anytime. Anytime. I thought about having Diana on, but I thought, you know what? She won't shine us both. They won't pay attention to you and me. For sure. He has the most amazing life. The two of them together, whoo! They're amazing. She's awesome. She really is. But, you know, through it all, there were some things that occurred in our spacecraft that resulted in the fact that we wound up. Fortunately, the Lord allowed us to get docked, which was imperative. We'd lost several thrusters, lost the ability to fully control the spacecraft. But in his providence, we was able to maintain control. And you were the only one on the crew that had actually powered and driven. Yeah, in the hall of the astronaut corps at that time, there was no one that had actually flown a spacecraft in space, had prior experience, and I was the only one. And the Lord and his providence. Isn't that amazing? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. It is amazing. Last question, then we'll go on to the important stuff. Yeah. Your perspective of God, I mean, I hear it in the ones that were just up there, you know, what they're saying. I mean, you have a different view, a different worldview. You know, to go to DePaul or wherever, you have a different worldview. You go up there, you definitely have a different worldview looking back on earth. Can you put that into words for us? I can. The best I can. I did not need to go to space to learn anything about my Lord, my Savior. The word is sufficient. It's all we need. Yeah, it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, how impoverished you are. His word is sufficient. However, in many different endeavors, people have had other experiences than me. But looking out, being in space, realizing there's so few people who've had that opportunity and seeing the beauty of this planet and the heavens from that vantage point gives a perspective that I would not have had otherwise. And the ability to worship my Lord, to glorify Him and honor Him in my heart, absolutely. is enhanced, no doubt, because of the experience and certainly preserving us through those trials as well. One of the most precious times in prayer I've ever had was that night after we got to the International Space Station. Nobody knows this, but there were no crew quarters available for me. You know, crew quarters is about the size of a large coffin. You can shut the door, have some privacy. You got a computer. But all of those were taken when I got there. And you didn't have that luxury. I didn't. I was just in the corner of a module. But just in the corner of a module, strapped my sleeping bag to the bulkhead, just floating there out in the open. Just a wonderful time of worship and prayer with the Lord. A wonderful time. Oh, my. It was because we were safe. And he had preserved us. Yeah. Yeah, indeed. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Praise God. Praise God. It was amazing. So you have been interviewed nonstop. I mean, I keep seeing you pop up. You're in that, what is it, the man in the middle of Fox with the gals? Right, the outnumbered show. And they're just letting you go. And every time I see you, Kaylee had you on Fox a couple weeks ago. She did. And it was like she just gave me, I mean, she's a Christian. She just fed you. I mean, that's all you got was Christian. I mean, the opportunity God has given you to amplify the experience you have with him. Indeed. Just to share the truth of his word. She just gave me that opportunity on national television. I'm so grateful for that. But ultimately, it was our Lord that orchestrated that. And when that was over, you know, I was at a conference at my church. I had taken my computer into my pastor's office, and I sat there and I did that from there. And then I finished. I closed the computer. I'm like... Lord, wow, I never would have dreamed that type of an opportunity. I teared up. Everything was so, it was emotional because my Lord had, you know, this wretched sinner saved by grace. He put in a position to praise him throughout the airways across the nation in this world and just... I just pray he continues to work, continues to give you, ourselves, these wretched sinners saved by grace opportunity, that all the other wretched sinners that are not saved by grace will hear the truth. The Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. Ephesians chapter 2, he will open them up, make them spiritually dead to spiritually alive. And here we go, closer to Jesus every day. And we all have a platform. We all have a pulpit. We did. You know, my business is my pulpit. He blessed my business. It's a lot of folks in it now. We're the number one selling brand. Went from nothing to that. Completely by my saying, your will, not mine. I'll phone your lead. I don't have any intelligence. I'll trust you. So I'm excited about where our company is now. You know, I go in the store and I see all that. But you know what happens? I walk into Walmart and there's 30 products or so sitting there. I say, thank you, Lord. I didn't know how it happened. Right. And I heard that from you last night that you didn't, you're not glorying in your accomplishments. And being up there and doing that, you're glorying that God was there and now God is using you. That's your platform. He's given you a pulpit. That has amplified your opportunity to tell and to express the message that was already in you and has been in you for decades. John 3.27 tells it. John the Baptist says this. A person cannot receive even one thing. unless it is given to him from heaven. Every good gift. And God's word is true. I am nothing except for my Lord and my Savior Christ and giving me ability, giving me talents, giving us all capabilities. Therefore, he deserves the glory for all of it. And laying for ourselves up treasures in heaven, the opportunity to share that, that people may hear the truth. And it is the truth. That is the key. It is the truth. And one of the passions that I have Let me share this story real quick. It's Matthew 7, 13 and 14. There was a time that I didn't know that I didn't know the depths of Scripture. I've been raised in the church. I knew the stories. The Lord had saved me. I knew the gospel. But I didn't know the depths of Scripture. But I didn't know that I didn't know it. A buddy of mine gave me a tape, a cassette tape, many years ago. And I listened to it. It was John 7, 13 and 14. And this pastor was talking. I thought it was a seminary class. I listened to it and I'm like, wow, I've never heard this. These seminary classes are amazing. So I asked him for more and he went all the way through the end of the chapter of chapter 7. I listened to all these. Finally, I realized that this was not a seminary class. It was teaching from the pulpit in a church in California. And this pastor's name I had never heard was a guy named John MacArthur. Yeah, it was John MacArthur. Very good teacher. So that's my passion. Chapter 7, 13, and 14 is the wide and narrow gates. The wide gate, many travelers, it's the easy way. It leads to destruction. It's deceptive. You know, theology doesn't matter. Hope and happiness, that's what the road signs say. This is the way. But it's deception because theology doesn't matter. Believe what you want to believe. The narrow gate, a little bit of the narrow gate, you can't go through. They're taking baggage arm in arm. Okay, let's take a little time on that. Yeah, okay. broad is the way to destruction. It is. Most of the people around us every day are heading in that direction. Yes sir. How much break God's heart but his conduit to them is us. Exactly right. Exactly right. Folks I say this so opposite but the opposite of Christian love is not hate it's just apathy. There's apathy. It's so easy to walk past people. Almost every one of them are hurting to the point of despair. When you start talking to them, they break into tears. They're hurting so badly. We walk right by them on our Bible studies or what have you. You need to be aware, just your countenance. You know how the scowls on people's face, I've watched people come to church with scowls on their face. Yes. I just sit and watch them. You know, who's going to talk to you about the joy of the Lord? And then if you're buried in your phone, like it's easy to do, but when you're on your phone, nobody's going to talk to you. But when you're off your phone and you're smiling and you're looking like, I want to talk to you. Guess what? They look at you and they want to talk to you. And you love on them. He says, they'll know you're my disciple by your love. And that's what you and I do all day long, every day. We just love on people. Try to. And then as you continue that passage, this is it. Those people that are on that wide gate, they stand before the Lord and they say, we didn't mean it works in your name. We cast out demons in your name, all these things. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you. And that gets me in my heart. The people need to know the truth. There's a way it seems right, but the end there is death. There's the preponderance, unfortunately. Do you know the statistics say most evangelicals think there's more than one way to heaven? and they believe that being good will get you to heaven. Being good doesn't get you or anybody else to heaven, it's the opposite of that. You're bringing glory to yourself. And we have statesmen, we have people in high political office that think that they're really special and God really loves them and I'm afraid they're gonna get that voice at the end and say, wait, depart from me, I don't even know who you are. I did this, I did this, I did all kinds of great things. We have to get back to basics. We have to get back to basics. Just focus on the Lord and it's not about what we do, it's what he did. Yeah, that's the key, that's the key. Every single other belief, every single one of them, man has to do something. That's what sets biblical Christianity apart is that man can do nothing. Jesus Christ did it all. All the other religions, 10,000, whatever you call it, however you would number them, all believe the same thing. Man's gotta do something. Christ did it all in biblical Christianity. We can't do anything. We just come to him, wretched sinners. He embraces that, saves us, forgives us, because we are sinners. It's the sin that separates us from him. We gotta really, Barry, we gotta get people lost before we can get them saved. We don't get them lost, we don't get them saved. They gotta know they're lost. Exactly right. We all have to know we're lost. It's, you know, here's the dichotomy. It's an absurdity, quite frankly. God loves us. He does. And He loves all of us. Think of the most scandalous, the Charles Mansons, I don't care, I won't mention political people but you can come to mind pretty quickly. God loves them as much as He loves us, as much as He's ever loved anybody. He loves them. But it's not justified. Is God a just God? Yes, he is, except for one thing. There's no justice in the way he loves you and loves us. Amen. We don't deserve that love. We don't. How big is space? How many light years? I mean, and even if there's an end to that, what's beyond that? What's beyond? There's no end. Amen. And he took us and made us out of nothing. We're nothing. You can't describe how tiny we are. Tiny doesn't even begin. It's a million. How far down do you get? And that's what we are to God. But he loves us. And he made us in his image. And he loves us to the point of if we just receive his love. He not only wants us to be in heaven, he wants us to be Jesus Christ. Everything was made, Jesus made everything. And he's saying, I want you to be a joint heir with Jesus. Are you kidding me? So it's unjustified love. Here's the dichotomy. I would dare say most Christians are doing this. They're taking that unjustified love that he has for us and using it as their justification for going to heaven. Because he loves me, I'm praying, he answers my prayer. And he does. He loves all of us. And he even answered prayers. And how many people do we know that are in that, and believe they're good? Because I pray every day. I read my Bible. I go to church on occasion. I have all that. Never accepted Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, but I do all that. And so I know it's because of the unjustified love that he gives us. The dichotomy, the irony, the absurdity. Most people are believing that that unjustified love justifies them. That's why I'm going to heaven. That's where America, that's where Christians are today. And they're going to stay there unless we interrupt them. And you start out by saying that we are even at first aid. We're sinners saved by grace. We deserve nothing. Nothing. I just pray so often, God, why? I don't get it. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve any of it. How do I get into a podcast? How do I get into what I'm doing? Only one reason. I know who you are, God. And I want to live for you. And I enjoy your love. And I want your love to flow through me. And nothing else matters. And in the process, he could bless your business. He could bless whatever's going on. He could take care of you in space. Amen. But at the end of the day, it's about his love and the opportunity to share that love. That's it. That's life. Indeed. Indeed. Isn't that amazing? It is humbling. It is. We have so much more to talk about. And we're up on the half hour. Could you stay over and then we talk about how we express that love? Because you're doing it a million ways. You have a million stories. Maybe I can catch up. If we catch up next, how could we do that? Let's do it. I'll come back. I'll give you a one-sentence summary of the Bible. Absolutely. The whole Bible. Absolutely. Yes, sir. Listen. What is it? You ready? Yeah, I'm ready. Before the foundation of the world, God the Father determined to present God the Son with a redeemed humanity that would honor, worship, and glorify Him for all eternity. Praise God. That's it. Praise God. And there's a lot in that. Praise God. But that summarizes it all. We are a love gift from the Father to the Son, if you believe. How humbling is that? How blessed we are. How blessed we are. Indeed. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Catch us after this break. We're going to come back and do it one more time. God bless you.