Forget About Yourself | Tim Rice

Amen. Come on, stand to your feet and

let's give God praise in this place.

Come on, stand to your feet. Let's give

him praise. He's worthy. Come on, you

can do better than that. Lift your

voice. Give the King of glory is due.

Thank you, Jesus.

Amen. Amen. All right, you can be

seated.

I'm excited to be here with you this

morning and share

excitement and nervous at the same time.

Amen. Good stuff. Pastor Mark told me a

long time ago, boy, if you ain't

nervous, that mean you ain't got nothing

to say.

Feel honored to be here. Um, over the

past couple of weeks, my wife and I's

life has just been kind of like a a bit

of a roller coaster. um not in a way of

like unstability, it's just like we're

along for a ride that we didn't

necessarily know that was getting ready

to happen, but um we know who's driving

and so we ain't got nothing to worry

about. And so um

things that God has been speaking to me

over the past couple of weeks and

months, I begin to write down and

prepare. And you know, you think

sometimes when you know that you're

getting ready to preach or or that you

have an opportunity to share somewhere,

you're like, you start digging in your

personal history because that's where

authority is at, right? And so you start

digging in your personal history and

you're like, Lord, what's going on? And

and then you start sometimes finding

yourself thinking that you're going to

go one way and then God's like, "No,

we're going to do we're going to do

this." And that's kind of what happened.

And I want to share with you this

morning, if you would turn with me in

your Bibles, we're going to look at John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. Uh we're going to start in

verse 28.

The scripture is John the Baptist. He's

replying responding to uh his disciples

and it says you yourself bear me witness

that I said I am not the Christ

but I have been sent before him.

The one who has the bride is the

bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom who stands

and hears him rejoices greatly at the

bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy

of mine is now complete. And then one of

the most famous sayings that we've ever

heard and you've probably repeated

yourself maybe once or twice is he must

increase but I must decrease.

Amen.

>> I want to talk to you for the next few

moments. The title of our talk is going

to be forget about yourself.

>> Forget about yourself.

Let's pray. Holy Spirit, thank you so

much for the opportunity that we have

here this morning, God, to gather, to

come before you, to hear your word.

Father, I pray that our ears and our

hearts would be open

to hear what the spirit of the Lord is

saying. Our heart would be receptive to

receive what it is that you want to

plant in our hearts, God. that it would

go down, that your word would get roots

deep in our heart, Father, in this

season, God, that we would not walk

in our own ways, God, that we would not

be so full of self, Father, in a time,

God, that you are calling us

to carry the good news in a time that

you are calling us, Father, to be good

stewards in the time, Father, God, where

you are moving in ways that are going to

be unprecedented, ways that man has

never seen before. Father, how important

it is to know your voice, to hear you,

to follow you, to obey you, to trust

you. And so, Father, I ask this morning

that you touch our hearts. Let us not

leave the same way that we came in.

Have your way in Jesus name. Amen.

So you guys, if you've if you've been

around me a little bit, you guys know I

I love I love worship. I love I love

music. I love to sing. And and often

times in different seasons of my life,

what I've found is that the Lord will

give me a song for my season. You've

heard me talk about that here. Uh I've

shared different songs here. And over

the past month or so, I I I think maybe

even longer than that. Uh I found myself

in my my personal time with the Lord.

And there's a song that has been rocking

me. And as I've been singing it, the

Lord's just been revealing things. I'm

going to share it with you in just a

second. But I felt

compelled to start to dig out like who

wrote this song? You know, I'm a

songwriter and sometimes, you know, when

we're writing songs, it's amazing when

you find out uh sometimes you think you

hear something you were like, man, that

sounds like so and so wrote it or

something of that nature, right? There

are times where that has happened to me.

And so, I started thinking, let me find

out about this. And I found out about a

man named Bruce Ballinger or Ballinger.

I'm not quite sure exactly how the last

name is pronounced, but in 1976, he

wrote this song in Toronto, Canada.

It was during the time of the Jesus

people movement that was taking place

all the way far distant from him in

California and here he is in Toronto,

Canada. And it's as if there's this

domino effect. It's as if if there's

this this thing that's taking place

across the nation and in his church,

he's the music minister of his church

and they begin to experience revival in

the church.

I was reading a a paper that was written

uh an interview that they interviewed

his son and his son was actually telling

the story because Bruce passed away in

2004

and his son was telling the story about

the moment that God had given him this

song. He sat down at a piano in a

meeting where where God is moving and he

began to play under the uncction of the

Holy Spirit and he says that it's as if

the Holy Spirit gave him the words to

this simple tune and he began to sing.

This song later on was picked up all

over the world. It was sung a lot by

Benny Hen and all kinds of events. And

the place where it was most famous,

according to the son who wrote the the

paper on him, it was actually more

famous in the underground churches of

China and Russia than anywhere else in

the world.

What a place to be famous, you know.

What a what a place for a song to be

sung. And the song is called We've Come

into This House. I don't know if anybody

in here may know it, but the lyrics say

it like this. It says, "We have come

into this house. We've gathered in his

name to worship him. Come on, if you

know, you can sing it. We have come into

this house. We've gathered in his name

to worship him.

We have come into this house. We've

gathered in his name to worship Christ

the Lord.

Oh worship him Christ

the Lord. My favorite part is the second

verse. It says so just forget about

yourself

and concentrate on him and worship

him.

Just forget about yourself

and concentrate on him and worship him.

Just forget about yourself

and concentrate on him and worship

Christ the Lord.

Oh, worship him.

Christ

the Lord.

Such a powerful revelation.

And as he began to sing that there was a

move of God that continued to take place

and they stewarded over time and time

again.

And as I begin to sing this song, I

begin to just think about it in my

personal life about how many times I've

found myself in the place where my mind

is so much on me that I'm forgetting to

do the things that the king has said to

do.

I begin to think about it and study

because you know we've been around on

this earth for hundreds of years and

there have been many studies done on the

human mind and there is a study that

actually says that the human mind

normally has around 70,000 thoughts per

day give or take.

Some can think more than that. Some may

think a little less than that. But the

average is 70,000 thoughts a day. I've

often asked my wife, I say, "Babe, what

you thinking about?" And she'd say,

"Nothing." I said, "There's no way

possible. There's 70,000 thoughts going

on.

There's no way possible." And I think I

might be on the upper scale of that. I I

think sometimes a little too much.

And what studies have also revealed is

that not only do those 70,000 thoughts

happen on an average day for a human

being, but that we're actually highly

self-focused.

The studies are estimating that

individuals spend approximately 95% of

their time thinking about themselves,

their stories, and their personal

narratives.

That a significant portion of our

thought life is dedicated to

self-evaluation.

personal goals and the management of one

one's own life. And those are not

necessarily bad things.

We all have goals, some of which are

things that God has spoken to us and

that we're creating structure and

building capacity for in order to do the

thing that God has told us to do.

But what I have found is that 95%

out of a hundred we're thinking about

oursel is what studies have said. And I

think about it, isn't it somewhat

dangerous? Because we live in a society

of consumers.

>> We live in a society where the world has

created this thing that says it's about

you.

Like we all have needs and necessities,

but we have a society that has created

this thing of of how can we best give

people what they want?

And some of that's great, too. I I can't

tell you the last time I walked into a

grocery store.

Groceries show up at our porch cuz my

wife says she doesn't like to go to the

grocery store. So, she orders them and

they come to the house. It's a good

thing. It's not bad.

But isn't it strange that the world that

we live in, if we're not careful, can

form a culture inside of our mind that

means and then it thinks that it's all

about us and then we begin to boldly

approach the throne that way through the

filter of me.

>> And the most dangerous thing is when the

king is speaking and he tells you to do

something that's costly and then you

think to yourself, nah, I don't think I

like that.

And it happens, I think, so subtly,

you know, we live in that society. And

then we could even, you know, I remember

hearing a joke about this guy was

talking about this thing that really

takes place. Google reviews on churches.

It was a comedian telling it. And I I

got to be honest, I think it was a

little funny, but I started to think

about it. And I'm thinking, man, isn't

it so crazy how how everybody's got an

opinion on God's bride?

>> And some of the things would be the

craziest thing. Well, I just didn't like

the music.

>> I don't know where they got that

preacher from, but you know, he uh he I

I just wasn't fed.

>> If you're waiting for the preacher to

feed you guys,

>> you're starving.

We come to church and we think it's all

about God and they say yes. So let's

serve because the greatest among you

will be a servant of all. Jesus Christ

the model is a servant to everything.

He's the point of it all. And so they

say okay serving. Even Pastor Patricia

was just talking about how great it is

that we have people in this body that

serve and we're seeing it in every area

and all the differences that are being

made. But it's still possible to come to

a place where you're asked to serve in

your place and you think, I just don't

like it

>> as if it's all about ourselves.

>> Or sometimes I was even talking with

Pastor Mark on Wednesday. I was at the

barber shop, had the opportunity to cut

his hair and we were talking and I said,

you know, isn't it strange too that I

think that sometimes we actually could

make the gospel about oursel if we're

not careful?

You see, the good news is about Jesus

coming and dying on the cross. The side

effect of that is the fact that we have

salvation

and we can make it more about what we

get than the sacrifice of the son.

He's the point.

>> He's the reason for it all. He's the

attention. He is the one, the only. He's

the main thing. And as as Papa Mark

would always tell me, son, the main

thing is to keep the main thing the main

thing.

We have this tendency to do this. And

I'm reading out of this scripture in in

in in John because John the Baptist, he

knew exactly who he was.

He knew exactly who he was.

John's whole life was about preparing

the way for the Lord, not building his

ministry.

In fact, when we look at this specific

passage in my Bible, the ESV, the

paricopy or the subtitle over this

section is John the Baptist exalts

Christ,

not himself. Christ

>> and then he comes into verse 28 where we

picked up and we read, but I actually

want to rewind a little bit and give you

a little bit of history here because

Jesus in John chapter one was baptized

by John already. And so here's some time

that has passed and the scripture says

that Jesus and his disciples. They were

right there on the Judean countryside

pretty much in the same vicinity that

John was. And there's multiple beautiful

places of water where people are getting

baptized. But John's disciple

and a Jew who are going back and forth

over a discussion of purification.

This disciple comes to him and he says,

"Rabbi,

he who was with you across the Jordan,"

meaning Jesus, the one who you bore

witness to, the one who you you made

sure that we knew that this is the

Messiah.

Look, he is baptizing and all are going

to him.

And then John comes in and he begins to

make sure that we understand what we

read earlier is that I've told you

before, I'm not the Christ.

>> This thing ain't about me.

>> This thing ain't about my ministry. It

ain't about I'm I'm the baptizer.

And the disciples saying to him, but

they're all going there now.

And John comes to this place because he

gets it. He realizes it's not about him.

and his whole life was that way. When

you find in the scripture uh uh other

places in John, it'll actually tell you

when they're asking him who he is. Some

say you're Elijah, are you that? And

he's not answering. And then finally he

comes and he says he says in in John

John 1:23

chapter 1 verse 23 it says I am the

voice of the one crying in the

wilderness make straight the way of the

Lord as the prophet Isaiah said.

I want to tell you that I believe very

clearly that all of us understand this

when I say this. It is not about us. We

all have an understanding of that. But

the truth that we really trust that is

shown in the way that we live.

>> That's right.

>> It's shown in the way we live

the fruit. And you can't fake fruit.

That's right.

>> I remember years ago I was uh

at a at a young adult meeting. I think

it was a call me crazy

and Pastor Patricia got up and she was

sharing and she said, "Guys, I'm telling

you, I don't know when, but I know it's

coming. There is a move of God and

there's going to be a harvest that

comes." And she began to share about

this vision that she had where she was

dancing with the Lord and she saw all of

these things.

And then she said to us, "But when it

happens, will it be about you or will it

be about the will of the father?"

And then she grabbed my wife Maria and I

and she said, "Come here." and she stood

us in front of the folks and she said,

"When the Lord comes in that way and it

gets to a point where it maybe it's

revival after revival, it's meeting

after meeting and things are going and

and there's stuff going on. What if the

Lord asks you to get a mattress and just

put it in an office so you can go take a

nap because when you wake up it's time

to go back to the glory? Would you be

able to do that? Would you submit your

life to that? Would you give yourself to

that?

And I remember both of us looking at

each other. This was before we were

married. And both of us were like,

"Yeah, 100%."

I'm telling you, the thing that's

getting in the way, guys, if I could be

100, just be frank with you right off

top. The thing that's getting in the

way, it's not the devil. The gates of

hell don't prevail against the church.

That's the words of Jesus.

>> We blame the devil for so much. We give

him more glory than he needs.

Yeah, you might have heard me say this

before, but if your engine blows up

because you didn't change your Oh,

honey, that's not the devil.

>> There's some of this that's on us

because the thing that gets in the way

is us. The biggest obstacle is us.

And if there's anything I could tell you

on Palm Sunday where the triumphal entry

of Jesus coming in and they're all

hailing him as Pastor Patricia said and

then just days later it was back to what

we want. What was asked? What do you

want? Parabus or Jesus?

>> Just days later it's back to what you

want.

So the the song is really simple and

it's massively biblical because it says

forget about yourself and then do what?

>> Concentrate on him.

>> Now that sounds easy,

but the only way it's possible is if you

set your affection in a different place.

You see, you have to actually find him

more valuable than yourself.

>> You have to find him more valuable than

yourself.

The only way to not think of oneself is

to take your attention, your affection,

and your mind and place it on him.

And brothers and sisters, let me be

clear. There is no better place you

could set your mind than on the Lord.

>> There is no better place that you could

set your mind. See, a lot of us, we'll

do this thing where we think about

oursel because we've got needs, right?

We've got needs. We've got things that

we want. We got things that we we want

to do. And so we're thinking about

oursel. Can I submit to you that I have

found in my life that the more I have

fixed my eyes on the father, all the

things that I need have always been

given to me.

>> It's the only way. Scripture backs this

up because Colossians 3, some of you may

know this. It says, "Set your mind on

things that are above, not on the things

of this earth. For you have died and

your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Some of you have been looking for your

life in the wrong place.

It's hidden with Christ in God.

We're looking out here as the sister was

just testifying, looking for something

and then she finds the Lord and she

finds her life.

>> Set your mind on things above. Uh David

would say it like this. I have set the

Lord always before me in Psalm 16 8-9. I

have set the Lord always before me

because he is at my right hand. I shall

not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart is glad. My whole

being rejoices. My flesh dwells secure.

David is saying, "Gladness, joy, and

security come from

having the Lord always before me."

He's before me.

Think about those words for a second.

I didn't even get this in my notes. I'm

hearing it right now.

He's before me.

>> Before me. Before when I wake up in the

morning and the first thing that I do is

reach for my phone.

>> The first thing that I do is get up and

go. No. before me, before I take care of

anything of me, I got to give him thanks

for another day before I get out of bed.

It's that simple as setting your mind on

him.

>> We wake up and we think of all the

things we got to do. The ability to do

the do comes from the king.

>> Isaiah says it like this. You keep him

in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on

you because he trusts you. Some of us

have been looking for peace. We go and

try to find it all kinds of different

places and doing different things. You

want peace, put your mind on him.

>> It's a promise in the word. It belongs

to you.

Another thing we've got to stop doing is

over overanalyzing everything.

See, this overanalyzation brings us to

the place of leaning into our own

understanding.

Cuz it's like, well, I don't understand.

I don't understand. Your understanding

can wait, but your obedience can't.

>> I don't get it. Uh uh uh. And then we

try to be wise in our own eyes as the

scripture in Proverbs said, "Trust in

the Lord with all your heart and do not

lean into your own understanding. and

all your ways acknowledge him and he

will make your paths straight or he will

make straight your path.

Do you know what the quickest point from

A to B is?

>> Straight.

Some of y'all have been wandering around

in the wilderness because you've been

thinking like the Israelites. Well, I

think this or we should have stayed in

Egypt and it took them 40 years to get

to the place.

Acknowledge him.

Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the

Lord and turn away from evil. And what

does it say? It will be healing to your

flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Hallelujah.

>> The last thing I want to say is

a testimony that

I've seen so many times and my hope is

that it builds the faith in the room to

really understand that it is that

simple. That there is nothing in your

life that is going on that deserves more

attention than the Lord. Amen.

>> There's no need that you have. We We

serve a God who is a need meter. And the

scripture says that he knows what we

need before we even ask. We're told not

to be anxious or to worry about

anything. Because which one of you could

even add an hour to your life by doing

it, but to seek the kingdom first and

his righteousness and then all these

things will be added to us.

>> Amen.

>> We know these scriptures, but when it

comes down to doing the do,

I love the way that Cindy Jacob said it

when she was here. Read the book and do

the stuff.

We always want to over complicate it.

Guys, can I tell you this word, man,

it's deep, but guys, it's not that

complicated.

>> It's really not. It's not rocket

science. Rocket science ain't for

everyone, but the word of God is.

>> Come on. It's not that complicated.

I was

two weeks ago.

We were sitting at the house. Some of

you may know this, some of you don't.

And I'm not saying this to draw

attention to it. I just want to testify.

My father-in-law has been going through

it. He's been in and out of the

hospital. It's been a bunch of crazy

things going on. Um, and I don't want to

get into too many of the details, but

the main thing is that, uh, you know,

he's here and we've been thinking like,

man, how do we best serve this man in

this time? How do we best serve this

man? And it feels like the answer is

just be kind and full of love. Be kind

and full of love. And there are moments

where you're like, huh?

There are moments where you're like,

man, I kind kindness sometimes ain't the

most easiest easiest thing to be.

And so I'd taken him to the emergency

room. We get there and they start asking

all of the the questions about the

bills. You know

how many you know going to the emergency

room cost some money. So we went

we get out on Monday. They couldn't

figure out anything wrong with him. And

I'm thinking to myself, we just went

there and spent all of this money and we

don't know what's going on.

Wednesday comes around, we have to take

him back. And I looked at my wife and

she it's almost as if she could see it

in my eyes. She looked at me and she

said, "I'm not worried about the money.

I got a bank in heaven.

And that thing hit me in my in my soul

and I said, "Oh, that's my confession

from here on out. That's my confession.

I got to I got to make in heaven. I

ain't worried about the money. I got to

make in heaven cuz I've been depositing.

The scripture tells us,

>> come on. If you've been depositing,

there's a bank in heaven."

So, we get in there and and they're

taking him to go do another scan and

Maria's with him and I'm in the room by

myself and the lady comes in that saw me

on Monday and she said, "Um, you was

just here on Monday." And I said, "Yes,

ma'am." She said, "Um,

you know what the bill was just for

Monday, right?" I mean, we start talking

about money and I said, "No." She said,

"Well, Monday was $8,000 a loan."

I looked at her and I said, "That's

okay. I got a bank in heaven.

I got a bank in heaven. I said it out

loud.

And then she handed me this paper. She

said, "Well, fill this paper out cuz

they might be able to help." And I said,

"Okay, cool. We will get this paper."

And we start we start working on it. And

then it goes from the emergency room to

the ICU.

days in the ICU, days in the hospital,

test after test, exam after exam, all to

a point where they're finding some

different things, but nothing is the

reason. We still don't even really have

much of an understanding of why things

have been going on. But we're just on

Operation Love Rocky to life. Amen. And

we get out of there and then I'm at the

barber shop standing there and my wife

texts me and she says, "I got the bill."

I still got it in my message. I've been

I've been telling everybody about this

cuz it's just amazing what God will do.

The bill $68,000.

I heard that. That's exactly what I

said.

68,000 something. It was actually over

that. That's just the low number there.

And then she said,

"And here's the balance." And sent me a

screenshot. Zero.

zero.

But see, that's what happens when you

focus on him. That's what happens when

you focus on him and you understand that

this ain't some game. That faith ain't

some little little candycoated thing

that we talk about. THAT THIS THING IS

REAL. THAT THE KING OF KINGS and the

Lord of Lords IS NOT JUST SOME SIDE

CHICK to your life. HE'S NOT THE SIDE

DISH. HE'S THE main thing. He's a need

meter.

HE KNOWS HOW TO DO IT. HE WANTS TO DO

IT. AND IT'S NOT EVEN FOR YOU. IT'S for

his glory.

>> It's for his glory.

And some of us in this room have even

made the prophetic the prophetic words

in our life. And these things that God

wants to do, we making it about us. And

it's NOT EVEN ABOUT YOU. YOUR HEALING

ISN'T EVEN ABOUT YOU.

THE THINGS THAT GOD WANTS to do. IT'S

NOT ABOUT YOU. IT'S ABOUT BRINGING HIM

GLORY

>> SO THAT THE WORLD will see.