Greatest Among Us | Roman Kotelevskiy | Nov 9th 2025

Today, my heart is excited. I got a room full

of people who love the Lord, and I'm gonna just

share the best I can whatever God's put in my heart.

I'm gonna share a message. It's called the Greatest among Us.

It's a message I actually shared this Wednesday with the youth,

and I try to shake it. I did. I was like,

I don't want to share this again. That was for

the youth. That's not for Sunday. And the Lord just

did not give me anything. And you know, we can easily,

as men and women given a free will, we can

easily open this beautiful, holy, amazing, life breathing thing and

come up with something amazing and it will all be good.

There's nothing here that is bad. It's all good. But

I always am troubled to share something that He's doing

internally in my heart and my life. I wanted to

be a effective, I wanted to be powerful, and he

was giving me nothing else. So today we're going to

get the youth sermon. So get your gears ready, dial

down your vocabulary. Let's go simple, because in simplicity there's power. Cool.

Would you close your eyes for a second and say,

Holy Spirit, give me your grace to see what you

see and experience your presence. Amen. Okay, So while I

was questioning this sermon if I should or shouldn't, I

asked the Lord that he would confirm it, and he

shared it through several people. So I was super excited

that this is the word of the Lord for this morning.

So thank you all for coming the greatest among us.

When we hear the word great or great or great tists.

There's certain ways that just because we're in this world,

there's certain patterns of thought that we're used to thinking

when it comes to greatness. And for a lot of us,

when we ask who would you say is great? And

many times we'll start pointing to people who have what

we call achievements, things that they have accomplished, achieved things

that are very honorable, and we say, this person right here,

they're great. And then we may ask, well, who else

is great? Then we may go all the way to

the other side, and we might say those maybe that

don't have all the achievements, but they have all the possessions,

they have all the stuff that all of us may

want in life. So you got people who have amazing

achievements and they've done so much. And then you have

people who just have all the stuff. A lot of

times they're just super wealthy and they just have everything

that anybody could ever imagine and more. And we're thinking, man,

these people are great. And if it's not for the

things you've done or the stuff you have, it's the

power you carry. And we perceive greatness through the things

you've done, through the things you have, or the influence

or the power you carry. And so a lot of

times when we're thinking about the greatest among us, we're thinking, well,

who's done the most, who has the most, and who

has the most influence and greatness we're perceiving and understanding

through the realm of how we grew up in this world.

And it's interesting because there was a point where the

disciples were arguing about who is the great greatest You

guys remember that story, and Jesus, as amazing as he is,

he calls the child to his lap, and the child

sits down, and then he says to them, if any

of you want to experience the Kingdom of God, you

must become like one of these, like a child, like

one that has nothing achieved, no possessions, and no influence,

and he's saying, do any of you want to experience

the greatest thing, you must become like one of these.

How many of us know that there's more depth than

just to the surface of what Jesus was talking about.

He's saying, He's saying, all the things that you've done,

all the things that you have, and who you think

you are needs to go to the trash when it

comes to this question of greatness. So you have in

the Bible, there's a story. I love this story. You

have these two guys names James and John. Have you

heard of them? James and john Sons of Thunder and

James and John. They devised the plan which they consulted

their mother for. How many of us know it gets

real when the mom gets involved. Oh yeah, things just

start happening. And they said, Mama, we need you to

come with us and be our spokesman. How many of

us know women know how to communicate things well, they

know how to articulate things men can't even think of. Like,

for example, if I'm trying to tell you how I feel,

it takes me five minutes to figure out how I feel.

I want to say this carefully. If my wife I

love her so much. If she wants to tell me

how she feels, she knows ten different ways to tell

me the same thing. Some of you women in this house,

there's a voice God's put on you. It's anointing from

Heaven that instead of using for the kingdom, we use

for gossip. Now, this is not where I'm going with

the message, but I'm just saying God's raising the standard

in the way we speak. The tongue. Shake my hand, somebody.

This tongue has the power like a flame in a

dry forest, like a little spark to blow it all up.

Yet it has the same power as a little rotor

on a ship to change course of everything. It can

speak grand speeches and then go and blaspheme everything in

everyone this tongue. How many of us know, God's raising

the standard for the believer. But it's interesting because this

tongue is tied into something deeper. It's tied into a root,

so it goes based on what's inside. How many of

us says something like I don't know why that slipped up?

Why did that come out? It's a good question. Maybe

we shouldn't jump over that question so quickly. But with

the tongue it's amazing. Is what is available to us

if we can make peace or we can start wars.

That's the power of it. So James and John they're like, Mama,

we need your help. So they show up to Jesus

and what happens is the mother kneels before Jesus. And

when she kneels before Jesus with James and John, everybody

knows she about to ask something serious, and she goes

after jesusays, what is your request? She says, my request

is that in your kingdom, my sons, James and John,

they would sit at your right and at your left.

And Jesus, he's amazing. He's like, oh, I don't think

you know what you're asking. Are you ready to drink

of the bitter cup of suffering? I am about to drink.

James and John come out, Yes, we're ready, And Jesus says,

you sure will. But I am not in the position

to say who sits at my right and left? So

watch this verse Matthew twenty I think it's verse twenty

twenty four. This is right after Jesus gets done saying

that when the ten others heard what James and John

had asked, they were indignant. They were angry. There that

thing rows up the greatest among us. Who do you

think you are? There's ten of us here too, Why

don't we all sit next to him? Why is it you?

They became angry, jealous, bitter, indignant. But Jesus called them

together and said, you know that the rulers in this

world lord it over their people, and the officials flaunt

their authority under them. Watch this next verse. But among

you it will be different. I want you to notice

that word different, because Jesus is still talking about the

same thing. He's talking about greatness, and it's amazing. Go

back to the first verse twenty five. Yeah, you know

that the rulers in this world lord their rulership over

the people, and the officials flaunt their authority over those

under them. But among you it will be different. Not

if should be different, not it might be different, It

will be different. How many of us know that when

Jesus makes a distinction, we need to pay attention for

we might grow up in the church living like the world.

So here's the greatness distinction. The world sees greatness through achievements, possessions,

and power. But among you, what must it be whoever

wants to be your servant, or excuse me, whoever wants

to be your leader, must become your servant. Next verse,

and whoever wants to be first among you must become

your slave. This right here will mess with everybody and

every leadership conference you've ever been to the words of Jesus.

How many of us know that he is going way

deeper than the surface. The world sees greatness on the exterior,

the fruit of it. But Jesus says, greatness is way

beyond the exterior. It goes deep within. It starts from here,

from the interior. So if you want to be first,

you must become a servant. If you want to be great,

you must become a slave. And it's amazing because when

Jesus says servant and slave, he's touching up on something,

something deeper than what just is at hand. He's talking

about a position or a condition of your insides, internals.

He's talking about something deeper than just the fruit of

being a servant or being a slave. He's saying that

servant and slave comes from a deeper place within you.

How many of us know that you can just go

ahead and start serving and becoming a slave and doing things,

but you're still not great in the Lord's eyes. So

what he's touching up on is something way deeper. And

I want to quickly go to First Corinthians, chapter thirteen.

Jesus is defining greatness, and I believe that these next

few passages right here will help us understand the heart

of Jesus when he speaks. Paul writes, if I could

speak all the languages of the earth and of the

angels but did not love, I would be super annoying.

That's what he's saying to the Lord. He's not talking

about people. He's talking about to the Lord, super annoying.

One that has achieved so much to know all the

languages of men and of angels, but has no love. Noisy, gong, clinging, annoying,

just making noise. That's what the Lord sees. If I

could speak everything, I would just be annoying. Next verse.

If I understood the gift of prophecy, or had the

gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's

secret plans and possessed all knowledge and had such faith

that I could move mountains. How many of us know

that if you were that person in this room, you'd

be the guest speaker at every big event. Everybody would

want you at the schedule. You'd be the president, and

then after that you would be the counsel to every president.

After that, you would be in such place of regard

and such place of honor, and such place of greatness

that the whole world would want to know what's your

next move? Possessing all knowledge, possessing all that prophecy had

to offer, possessing so much power that you can move mountains.

But if you had all that but didn't love others,

how much would it be zero? In whose eyes? Let

me ask you a question. If it's God's perspective that matters,

why are we so focused on each other's If it's

his attention that matters. Why are we so condemned by

each other's judgments? Why are we so convicted by even

our own thoughts or judgments about ourselves? If it's God's

that matters. Deception is when you take the place that

belongs to God and give it to another, even yourself.

I would be nothing next verse if I gave Now

this is an interesting one because in the church we

understand love has an action. You know, it has a fruit.

It looks like something. So what's Paul right? If I gave,

If I gave, if I did everything that you say

love to us, if I gave everything I had to

the poor and even sacrifice this body, I could boast

about it. But if I love, if I had no

love for others, what would I be? What would I gain? Nothing?

This is so like mind boggling. How many of us

know God is really interested and not just the fruit

of what you're doing, but where it's coming from. How

many of us know that you can do all these things?

But if the intention is not pure, it's a zero

to the one who sees it. I can't see your intention.

I can't see why you're doing what you're doing. Your

spouse can't see it, your friends can't see it. The

ones you want to be seen by can't see it.

But there is one that can. Yeah. Now, listen, if

you want to give everything you have to the poor

and bring it in here, we'll help with that. Listen.

We'll hook you up with the right connections. We'll get

that all settled for you. But keep your heart good,

Keep your heart good. Next verse, I want you to

catch this. Love is patient and kind, interesting, Love is

not jealous, boastful, proud watch this next verse or first,

or rude. Well, I'm just being honest. No, you're being rude.

Well I'm just telling them how it is. No, you're

being rude, and that isn't love. It's amazing how love

can keep your heart right. But it's interesting that love

is so truthful that it will still tell you the truth,

but it will be kind in the way it does it.

It's just this is so amazing. It does not demand

its own way. Right here, we're in marriage counseling right now.

Love does not demand its own way. It it is

not irritable some of us. Well, God is so good,

and it keeps no records of being wronged. If you're married,

raise your hand. It's good marriage counseling. Put your hand on.

If you're single, raise your hand. Keep it up now

look around, kid, So everybody knows. But love is very interesting.

It doesn't seek its own and it doesn't hold the

record of being wronged. That doesn't mean that I don't

trust you if you've wronged to me, but it means

I don't hold it against you, and I can forgive you.

How many of us if we just close the service

right now we can go and repent from something. Yeah, yeah,

would you be honest? Raise your hand. Cool, that's good,

that's a healthy sign. But it's interesting that in all

that the Lord is trying to teach his disciples, He's

trying to take him to the core of who we

are in the Lord. See Jesus, when he came, he died,

and he rose from the dead. He wanted to restore

the original image that you and I were formed in,

and that image was love and for love. It wasn't

for ourself, it was for one another. It was for

the Lord. And the closer we can get to that

picture of what real love looks like, the more we

will fall into our true identity. Now, for the sake

of time, I have a lot on my heart, but

I gotta get to this. I'm gonna ask I need

to demonstrate something. I'm gonna share a story right out

of the scripture. I need three volunteers, Mister Frank, can

I do I have my Sons of Thunder in here? Jameson,

where are you at? Sons of Thunders? Come here? Give

it up for Leon Kenneth, pastor Frank, bring three chairs?

Would you there was a situation that happened the scriptures.

May see what you bring my props. How many of

us know that sometimes a visual helps understand a deeper picture, y'all.

There was a situation also talking about greatness and the

way that the Lord wants it. Yeah, that's perfect, just

right back there, that's amazing. Can you see them all? Good?

In John chapter thirteen, this piece of gospel is written

at the very end of Jesus's walk here on earth.

Jesus did ministry for about three and a half years,

and in his three and a half years, this is

one of the last days he's on the earth, and

he's sitting in a room called the Upper Room with

his disciples. And this is some might say, this is

the most highest place that Jesus has been. This is

his pinnacle of ministry. This is the greatest place he's

been thus far. He just got done raising Lazarus from

the dead. He just got done walking into Jerusalem, or

riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, where

everybody was bowing before him, saying, behold the King of Israel,

Blessed be on the one who can't comes in the

name of the Lord. This is the place that he's

at the height and everybody's ready for his next move.

And this passage in John, it says, Jesus knew that

his time was ending. Happens to be that this is

the night before his crucifixion, this is the night he

was betrayed, And so what does he do? Verse three?

Let's go to verse three John, chapter thirteen. Jesus knew

that the Father had given him authority over everything, and

that he had come from God and would return to God.

Jesus knew at this moment how great he really was.

He knew that he was above absolutely everything. The Father

has given him everything, And so what did he do?

Verse four? He got up from the table, He took

off his robe, wrapped the towel around his waist. And

then what did he do? He poured water into a basin.

Just like that, he poured water into a basin, and

then they began to wash their feet. Some of you

are a little bit nervous right now. Let you say, Frank,

keep your shoes on. Nobody needs to pass out, bro,

Nobody needs to know I'm kidding. Some may ask, why

would Jesus do that? You see, back in the day

they wore sandals. Everybody say sandals, and their feet were

really dirty. Say dirty. When you have dirty feet and

you have food, what do you want to do? Wash

your feet? So typically what they had when they came

into a house, they had a servant there, or somebody

could be the person of the house washing the feet

of those that would enter. That's why I remember when

Jesus was addressing the super spiritual Pharisee and he said, listen,

this woman Mary has been washing my feet with their

tears and drying it with my hair. But when I

came into your house, you didn't offer me any of that.

So what Jesus did is he took off the identity

that you and I so hold to in this world,

took off that outer garment, put a towel around his waist,

and he began to wash the feet of his disciples.

It's interesting that Jesus started to do this. So now

feet were dirty back in the day. What do we

all have today, shoes? What's your only point of contact

in this world? It's your feet, It's your shoes. And

it's interesting because when Jesus washes the feet, he's doing

something in the natural. Yet he's showing the spiritual aspect

of it. He's saying, in the natural, your body is clean,

but your feet are dirty. In the spiritual he's saying,

you are clean, but sometimes you walk in in this world.

Catch that and watch what he does. He comes up

to James, is I, James, can I see your foot?

Can I serve you? James is like, yes, my master,

you can. And then, oh boy, that's so dirty. That's

so messy. Buddy, you've been but you've said some nasty

things recently. Buddy, that's really dirty. Do you guys get

what I'm saying. He comes to James and he's saying, James,

let me serve you, not only cleaning the mess off

your feet, but also let me have a reach into

your soul. And so he's cleaning, he's cleaning. It's looking

nice as right. There you go, buddy, love you man.

You can do better than that, because I'm in you.

You'll be all right. Just trust me when that person

says something against me, don't don't you get all riled up.

It'll be all right. Trust God. I'm I'll smite them

from heaven if I need to. But don't put it

in your own hand, all right, my man boom, And

then it says that Jesus went to the next He

went to John James and John my man. Son's a thunder.

Let's go. He come in. John. Oh boy, John's a mess. John, Buddy,

I thought she loved me. It's all good, buddy, let

me restore that in you. Oh what what'd you say

to her? Oh no, she was just she was just

trying to be nice. He didn't have to get so offensive. Buddy.

It's all good. It's all good, you know. So he

washes the feet, he serves his disciples, He takes the

lowliest place. And but watch what we do. Sometimes we're like, oh,

John said what to who? Oh my god, I've got

a go tell Oh, I've got a go tell Junior,

junor you know what John said, John, John? Just John blasphemed.

He said that woman she said, she said all that stuff.

She offended that. And you know what she said to

the other person. Oh my god, this goes deep. She said,

my mom is gonna tell you something. And we go.

We that's what we do. And then we come we come,

We're like, oh no, that's what he did. Oh he

punched her in the face. I gotta tell somebody, and

we get so weird with each other's experience. We get

more used to talking about each other than to each other.

And what we do is we find the dirt on

each other's feet. Because we're all believers, we know we're clean,

we're gonna be eternity forever. But we find the dirt

in each other's feet and feel better about ourselves. We

feel better that maybe my shoes are better, my shoes

look a little bit. I don't have that mess on

my shoes. I'm not that messy, so I have the

right to tell others about how messy they were. But

Jesus doesn't do that, does he? He washes the feet.

I want you to catch this next part. But when

Jesus came to Simon, Peter, how you doing, Peter? You're

doing all right. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter

set town. Lord, are you gonna wash my feet? Lord?

Are you gonna wash my feet? Jesus replied, you don't

understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.

Next verse, No, he said, no, you will never ever

wash my feet. He didn't just stop at never, He said,

never ever wash my feet. This is amazing. This boggles

my mind, Peter exclaimed, watch this. Jesus reply, Unless I

watch you, you won't belong to me. And then Simon

Peter the most. I don't know if there's a more

unstable mentally person as far as the disciples go. He

had he had Satan cast it out of him. He had.

He's he's doing everything wrong at the right time, you know,

that's what he's doing. And so he's like, never ever,

will you wash my And then she's like, well, then

you're not gonna have anything to do with me. Then

just wash my hands, wash my head. I need my

elbows clean, I need everything clean, he says, not just

my feet. Next verse, Jesus replied that a person who

has bathed all over does not need to be washed

except for the feet to be entirely clean. Are you

getting the spiritual concept of this? Watch this. So when

Jesus comes to wash Peter's feet, he has to give

Jesus permission. You have to give Jesus permission. He won't

just come and wash your feet. He won't get into

the nitty greedy of your soul without your permission. That's

how beautiful he is, That's how gentle and humble he is, Peter,

May I wash your feet? So, oh Lord, look at

how clean these shoes are. This is why a lot

of us don't come to him, because we think we're

all right. We think that we can just get by.

We're not that bad. We think that we don't need

each other's counsel in the Lord. We don't think we

will be all right just getting by to church, feeling

better about ourselves, and then slipping out. But it's interesting

that when Jesus gets real close, he can actually see

the mess you don't see, and he starts to wash

it clean, just like a good, good servant, the best servant.

And then it's amazing that after cleaning the feet of

his disciples, watch this, he says, but not all of

you are clean, for Jesus knew who would betray him.

Do you understand the spiritual concept of what he's talking

about cleanliness? This is what he meant when he said

that all of you are clean, for he knew who

would betray him. Extpert, After washing their feet, he put

on his robe again and sat down and asked, do

you understand what I was doing? You call me teacher

and the Lord, and that is what I am. Jesus

is saying, you perceive me to be in this great

place of honor, authority, power, influence greatness, and that is

what I am. Watch and since your lord and teacher

has washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet.

I have given you an example to follow. Do as

I have done to you. Thank you, guys. You guys

may be seated. Let's give him a hand. This is amazing, guys,

this is amazing. He's saying, just as I have done

to you, you now carry the baton to do it

to each other. Hold up, Hold up. Jesus is talking

about greatness, and he's talking about not lording your greatness

over the people, but rather taking your greatness to as

low as possible. Because the world measures greatness about as

far as how high you can go, but in the Kingdom,

it's measured as has how low you will go. And

Jesus is saying, you want to be great, you must

follow the greatest example of greatness, and you must serve

one each other. This has two meanings. One is a

natural meaning. One is that we look for ways to

serve one another. That is just what we do. We're believers.

We've laid down our life and we serve one another.

That is what we do. We don't say, Mom, what

can you do for me? We say, Mom, what can

I do for you? We don't say, pastor, what can

you do for me? We say, pastor, what can I

do for you? What can I do for the church?

What can I do for my work? What can I

do for my business? What can I do? What can

I do? How can I serve? That is just what

we do. That's one side of the natural aspect. But

there's a supernatural, spiritual aspect that God is really highlighting.

And I want to emphasize this one. It's about the

cleanliness and it's at that point of contact we have

with this world. None of us are immune from the enemy.

None of us are immune from having shots fired at us,

darts thrown at us, arrows bolted into our side. None

of us are immune from that. But you and I,

when that happens, we like to carry it around as

our identity. We like to carry around the wounds that

we've gone through and claim it as our own. We

like to say, God, I don't need a cleanliness from

anybody else. I'm good the way I am. This is

the way you created me, so we attach it to

our identity who we are, and we don't allow it

to be washed off of us and Jesus in his majesty,

he says, do this to one another. What is he

asking us? What's the second part of this? He is

asking the believer to be vulnerable with each other, confess

your sins to one another so that you may be healed.

What is he saying? Be open? Don't let negativity, weakness,

enemies influence fester. Don't be ashamed of exposing things that

are dark. Don't be afraid of what others may have

to say. When you do not come to your neighbor

who you trust in the Lord and with vulnerability, you

are robbing them of greatness because their greatness is found

in the way they'll wash your feet. Now, if you

don't trust that they'll wash your feet, find somebody that will.

It's okay to not go to somebody you don't trust,

because you don't need the darkness you're in to become darker.

But you can't allow the fear of that truth to

stop you from finding somebody. You can't allow what somebody

might say, or what they might think, or how they

might feel stop you from opening up to somebody who

you trust. When you don't open up, you show that

the enemy can have influence and you'll mask it up

for him. Are you getting what I'm saying? That's why

we must wash each other's feet. So what is my conviction?

What am I trying to compel you with today? First

and foremost, nobody knows it all. Everybody can use a

little bit of cleaning here and there, and sometimes the

person that comes to you you don't necessarily have to

replicate that with them. And if you go to somebody,

they don't need to replicate openness with you, but they

just need to serve you and wash your feet, wash

that thing off of you, wash the light off of you.

How many times do people come or we hear something

and we're so ready to give them a piece of

our mind, and we haven't consulted the Lord. We're not

giving him or them a peace of God's mind. We're

giving them a piece of our mind that was formed

in the world's thinking. So I am convicted myself to

be real, to be open. We so carefully to present

to each other an image we like of ourself, and

we don't get into the nitty gritty of really what's

going on. We don't find somebody we can trust. I

don't run to one another with truth about what our

reality is. Therefore we struggle with healing, and then we

find every reason to be offended. Jesus showed us the

posture of our attitude is humility, go low, but he

also showed us be open with one another. Would you

stand to your feet? I'm gonna ask you this morning

two questions. How low will you go and how open

will you be? Because when you go low to serve

one another, that's just an act of service. When you

open up, that's an act of transformation, that's an act

that you're saying, I'm open to transformation. We run from

being open because we're concerned that something might change and

we're okay with what we're used to. But I feel

like the Lord is compelling us as his bride to say,

you know, what is time to open up to one

another and trust God in each other. And if you're

here in this room and someone would come to you

with some dirt that they've acquired, you have to remember

that dirt doesn't belong to them. It came from somewhere else.

That go on them, and it needs to be casted out.

It needs to be removed, It needs to be cleaned,

It needs to be loved, it needs to be forgiven,

it needs to be broken. So two things, How low

will you go and how open will you be? Can

I have the Destiny Team quickly come up if you're

in this room and you feel like, man, I just

haven't been open. I've been dealing with something so deep

and it has been tormenting me and I've gotten used

to it or whatnot? Would you just come and be open,

male to male, female to female, for the safety of that.

But if there's something in this room that's been bothering

you and you can't, or maybe all you've been doing

is serving yourself and you want to stop just serving

your own interest in building your own kingdom and building

your own image and building your own empire, and you

just want to let it all go. I want to

invite you to come and pray with a Destiny Team member.

And if you're not going to come up here, find

somebody next to you that you would go and pray with.

But I would encourage you. These Destiny Team members have

been anointed for such a time as this to speak truth,

to speak light, to speak hope, to speak transformation and

help you break things off. And this morning it's a

good morning to let go, to let go of perspectives

you how to yourself. And I'm telling you this morning

will be the best morning of your life if you

let go of a lie that you've been holding onto

about yourself. Everybody, with all your eyes closed, we just

begin to even in your own own mind, just begin

to ponder on the Lord and ponder on maybe way

he's speaking to you, maybe way he's revealing to you.

But Father, I thank you for everyone in this room. God,

I thank you that this morning they're making a decision

to go low, but also to be humble and open,

open with you, open with their neighbor, to be open

with whatever they're dealing with. God, I thank you that

greatness is not found in our achievements, our possessions, or

our power. But greatness, God, it's found in you. It's

found in love, it's found in humility. It's found and

oftenicity is found in your grace. God. I thank you

that we in this room will be a people who

will go low and who will be open in Jesus'

mighty name, God bless you.