Also Starring

I want to preach a message to you today. I want to preach on

the title of also starring, also starring, Psalm, Chapter twenty three.

You got a Bible, go to Psalm chapter twenty three. The twenty third

Psalm is one that we hear often. We don't preach from it a whole

whole lot, but I want to start there. We're gonna go several places

today, but the twenty third Psalm, starting in verse one. If you

there, say a man, if you're not, oh my, all the

old eyes can read a long Psalm Chapter twenty three, Verse one. The

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie

down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores

my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Under line, for his name's sake. Let's pray, Father, we

thank you for your word. It's the only change agent on the face of

the planet. And I pray that right now you change us, Lord,

at the very fabric of our being Lord, at that place where we understand,

at that place where we reflexively respond, that that place changes Lord,

and allow us to see more clearly the life you have for us in Jesus

name. Amen, Amen and amen. You know, uh, when you

when you watch movie, I did it again. I do that all the

time now when when you watch movies and you watch the credits, the person

that has the biggest part in the movie is the star of the movie.

Amen. Y'all don't know that. Okay, let me say that again,

because y'all are weak today. You're weak today. The person that has the

biggest part is the start of the movie. Um. And I think that,

uh that a lot of times. UM producers they have a certain budget

that they that they have to operate in, so they want some some firepower,

they want some name power, but they can't cast that person as the

main person because it costs too much money. So they'll just get somebody to

come in and make a cameo appearance and it'll it'll relate this starring so and

so also starring, and then the big name is also starring because uh,

you know, he's he's not really the full part of the show, but

he's there. I believe that most of us live our lives with Jesus and

the also starring position of our lives that uh, that it is the life

of Steve also starring Jesus, and when we live our lives like that,

we don't quite really understand um the point of the life that Jesus provided for

us through his sacrifice on Calvary, because once we are purchased and born again,

then our lives are not our own. It's not also starring. Everything

that we walk through, everything that we do, everything that we go through

is for his name's sake. Our purpose on earth is to make the name

of Jesus famous. That is the purpose of our lives here on earth.

And when we live with him in the also starring role, we have a

hard time wrestling through some of the things that happen to us because we always

think that we are the most important person in the story. But I want

you to realize that we're not the most I'm not the most important person in

my story. You're not the most important person in your story. Jesus is

the most important person in every story. He is the pre eminent one.

He is the Ancient of days. He's King of kings, He's Lord of

lords. He is the great I am. He is first and last,

he is beginning and end. He is the all in all, and when

we live with our lives being the center of the universe, every time calamity

happens, every time something tough happens, we experience those things we want to

say, woe is me. We have a hard time wrestling around the fact

that Jesus did not step in and he didn't intervene and stop these bad things

happening to me. But the reality is everything he does is to make his

name famous, because he is the only means by which we can be saved.

And Philippians chapter three, starting in verse eight, it says more than

that I regard everything is lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ,

Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all

things, and I regard them as rubbish and ordered in order that I may

gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own

that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,

the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the

power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him and

his death. If somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead, the

apostle. Paul writes, and he says, listen, I used to be

the star of my show. Paul writes things. He says, listen.

Concerning the law Pharisee, he says, I was the man among men.

I was everything. You know. Paul just has that attitude, a little

bit dutney. He has that very boisterous, bold attitude. He makes all

those great statements that we like to shout about as Pentecostals. I can do

all things. And I think that's how he said it too. I don't

think he says I can do all things. I think I can do all

things. If you need it done, I'm your man. And I believe

his scribe was sitting there saying, I'm not writing it that way. I

can do all things. Paul had this this confidence about him that did not

come from his ability. He looked back over his ability, he looked back

over the things that he gained himself, and he said, I count those

things all rubbish in the in the original language. I count those things as

dung. I count those things as a big steaming pile of poop. That's

what all those things were. They're they're they're irrelevant to the point because Back

then, I was the star of the show and not Jesus, and I

lived my life for me. I didn't live my life for him because I

wanted to be the one that everybody talked about, thought about. It's all.

But now I understand that there is some suffering because the moment I suffer

and am delivered, he becomes the star of my show. Oh, somebody

should have shouted right there. The moment that I realized that it's not about

me, but it's about him getting glory through me, then I can process

things in such a way that they're a little more palatable because I realize I'm

in the supporting cast that big Jesus a little Steve. You know, I

like being little Steve. I'm not often little Steve. Come on somebody.

Most of the time, I'm Big Steve, But when it comes to Jesus,

I'm little Steve. And I like being little Steve when it comes to

Jesus. The Apostle Paul has this way of of explaining the fact that I

used to be something and thought I was something. But now I realize the

only thing that matters is that Jesus has seen through me, and if that

is through suffering. I'm okay with that because the destination is better than the

position. See where I'm headed. It makes everything I endure now worthwhile.

And you're like, that's crazy, but it is the whole way life works.

Nobody takes their first job making a billion dollars a year and works their

way down to poverty. If you do, let me know, I want

that job for a day. Come on, somebody, just one day.

We work ourselves from the struggle to the sufficient. We work our way from

providing for our bare needs, and we learn to mature and grow into and

receive the blessings until we're positioned in a way that not only can we provide

for ourselves, but there's also some to help others. It's the natural progression

of life. But when we say it, it seems backwards, and it

seems like if a god loved us, he wouldn't ever call us to suffer.

But sometimes we need to be in the position. So the testimony is

so big that he's seen and it can't be explained by anything other than the

miraculous hand of Jesus. We looked through scripture and we see those things.

We look at this man who was laying by the gate beautiful, who had

weakness in his ankles from his birth. He was weak and lame, and

his only problems, say, only his only problem was his ankles. And

they would carry him and they would lay him by this gate called beautiful,

and people would walk in and out of this gate, and he would beg

alms, just a little change, sir, can you spare time? That

was his whole life, livelihood. And then one day the apostles came and

they saw him as they were approaching, and he saw them, and Peter

looked, just as silver and gold have a number, such as I have

I given to thee, rise up and walk. I want you to understand

that the miracle happened, and that he rose up and he walked, and

everybody saw the miracle that happened. But the gate was called beautiful even when

he was laying there with his ankle's lame, it was still called beautiful.

It was called beautiful when he was lame. It was called beautiful when he

was healed. It was called beautiful every single time he passed through it.

Because God's plan is beautiful, even if it means I have some hard times

that I have to suffer through. Now listen to me. God didn't not

make him laming his ankles. God did not cause the bad things to happen.

God uses the suffering and the bad things that happen because we live in

a world sick with sin. Come on, somebody, your husband didn't God

didn't make your husband walk out. God didn't make your daddy neglects you.

God didn't make that person abuse you. God didn't do those things. But

he uses those things to bring you through so that there's a testimony. At

the end. He finds us in our broken places, and we say,

why is me? And God says, it's all about me? And the

healing makes all the pain and the struggle worth the hurt. When we don't

live as Him as our star, as our costar, but we live co

starring him. And Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, it says, for

grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own

doing. It is the gift of God, not the result of works that

no one may boast. You know, I think I think it's funny when

somebody wants to argue with me about how much they know about God. First

of all, I don't claim to be an expert by any means. I

just claim to be a vessel. That's it. There are people who know

a lot more than me. And that's not false humility, that's reality.

There are people that if I was called into a scripture quoting contest with I

would forfeit. If somebody came in and said, okay, pastor Gary,

come on the stage and you and Steve are gonna quote scripture by side,

whoever quotes the most scripture wins a million dollars, I would say, just

put his name on the check. Now we'll say he's had a lot more

years to learn it than me. Yeah, that's right. See, not

just kidding. But they argue about how much they know about God, and

God looks and he says, why are you boasting? And how much you

know about me? When your wisest thought is nearest foolishness to me? And

we try to find our position, and we jockey for position in the kingdom

somehow, when there is no There is no place in the kingdom. There's

only the place where He has set us, and we need to learn to

set where we're set, and we operate in that place not because of privilege

gained, but because of the opportunity to make him famous. And when we

live our lives sacrificially to him, we are marked and identified with the peace

of God. You know, I think probably if God spoke to me this

afternoon and he said, Steve, you've got to choose which of my attributes

you want. I know everybody says wisdom, and that sounds great, but

I think I would choose peace. I would choose the peace of God.

It's the attribute that I would choose. But I could walk in his peace

no matter what happens, no matter the pressure against me, but that I

can operate in his peace. Because when I operate in his peace, it

may not be flamboyantly testimonial, but people that are walking through hurt and pain

can see me operating peace, and they believe that they also can have that

same peace, and they're drawn to Christ. And I think that peace comes

with the understanding that He is always the star of the show. In Galatians

chapter two, verse twenty, it says I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live. Now, How don't you take that

in for a moment. I'm crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who

live. It's no longer it's no longer me who lives, because the limitation

on me is life. The limitation on me is my next breath. The

limitation on me is my strength. The limitation on me is the way that

I was born and all of those predetermined persuasions that I have in my family

alcoholism runs very deep and very strong. And if it's just about my life,

then I have to battle those things every day. Come on, somebody,

but he says, it's not me that lives. If I'm truly crucified

with Christ, it's not me that lives, but Christ lives in me.

The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in

the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Let's talk

about faith. Let's position faith with our new understanding that that God's not our

costar, but he's the star. Let's talk about this word faith because faith

has been preached a lot of different ways and a lot of different theologies all

across the world. Amen, there is a that there is a determination of

faith that I must live and I must reject any kind of of worldliness.

I have to be completely poor in order to have faith. That's the pendulum

over here. Then there's the faith that swings over here that says anything I

say, I can have. So let's experiment. I want you to think

of your your the car you want, not the car you need. Come

on, somebody, if he's gonna give you the car today, he's gonna

pay for the gas too. Okay, I want you to think of the

car you want. I'm gonna count to three, and when I say it,

I want you to say the name of that car out loud, and

then we're gonna check after services if it replaced your clunker in the parking lot.

All right, So so I'm seriously you say it out loud because you

got to name it to claim it. So on the count of three,

one, two, three, Now somebody's gonna pretend like they go to the

bathroom and go, look, I know you are. I know you are.

But there's that faith, and that swings all the way over on this

end of the depend on that says, hey, if I have faith,

I'll never want for anything and I will live a life of a Bill Llionaire.

The pendulum swings both ways. And how many of you know that the

pendulum only works when it's right here. That's the purpose of the pendulum is

to touch what's right here, so right here probably must be the truth.

Let's talk about what faith looks like if we understand that it's all about him

and not about us. That Hey, God, if you want to bless

me and it looks like abundance and that's the testimony, I will receive it.

But if it looks like failure, if it doesn't look like what other

people think it should look like, that's okay, and I will receive it

because you know best, and my life is about you. It's not about

Steve. It's about you, and that's all that matters. If I can

just live my days making you famous. I know there's some promises you have

for me to provide, for me to be with me and not forsake me,

to be my healer, to be my baptizer, and the Holy Spirit

to be my God, my comfort, my help. There's some promises that

come, But those promises often come when life doesn't feel like and look like

the way we want it to look. Because He has written the script of

humanity, and you are a person in that script, and the whole story

of humanity about is about what God the Creator has done for us and we'll

do through us and when we live our lives understanding the story is so much

more immense than we are. It's so much larger than just me and my

wants and my desires than we can begin to make some scriptural and theological ends

meet that we've always struggled with. God, Why would you do this to

me when you're not doing it to them? God, I'm and listen.

I know that most every person here has asked, God, I'm a good

person, Why no I have what that terrible person has? When we should

say God, thank you for helping me through my most difficult times. God,

thank you that you kept me and that you protected me. Thank you

for providing when there was no way provision could come. And you didn't provide

a million, You just provided rent. Come on, somebody, my lights

didn't get turned off, and I have Benny Weeni's in the cupboard. That's

pretty good dinner. Actually, probably why I look the way I look?

Come on, somebody. God is the star of the past, the present,

and the future. He was and is and is to be the same

yesterday, today and forever. In Galatians chapter two, says that I've been

crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in

me. Sometimes we think that we have to lose ourselves to belong to Christ.

But the reality is you don't lose yourself. You become everything that you

were created to be. When you accept Christ, the bank could come and

get ready. When we understand that Him alive in me, there is no

limitation of my strength and my ability. There is no limitations that exist just

in our natural lives. If we live a life that allows Jesus to shine

through us, then we have the opportunity for life and whoa life and and

as a powerful word, because that means you get this plus something else life

And so you don't give up life. Come on, somebody, you get

life and life more abundantly. So you don't give that up to get this.

You flip the script and allow him to be the star, and you

step into the also starring role, and he gives you life and life more

abundantly. That as I go through my tribulation and I go through my pain,

I receive his peace and I receive his deliverance. And he sets me

as a city on a hill and people see what's happening in me, and

they're drawn to him because of what's happening in me. That there will be

seasons of life that I go through and I'm on the mountaintop and it's abundant,

and people see what is happening through me and they want it. And

they'll also see me as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

and it doesn't crush me because his rod and his staff, they're there

to comfort me, and he delivers me from evil. And he'll even set

a table before me in the presence of my enemies, because it's all about

him. But the only way you can have that is if you know Him,

because it's not me that lives, but Christ in me. And if

you're here today and you don't know Christ, if you're here today and you've

never repented of your sin, and ask Jesus to be the Lord of your

life. And listen, church people, the Lord of your life, I'm

about to come after your heart. So get ready put your seatbelt on the

Lord of your life. Salvation Covenant does a truly function unless he's the Lord

of your life, that he is in charge of everything. He gets to

make the decisions that suddenly faith is not about what I can get. It's

unwilling to fail on your behalf. God, that I look at others and

I rejoice with their blessing. But in the midst of my pain, when

I don't understand why, I lift my eyes to the hills from where my

help comes. Like those three Hebrew boys, they said, throw us into

the fire. God will deliver me. But if he don't. If he

don't, that's okay too, because what we'll get started through our death will

be something you can't handle. Think about it. The apostles, just after

a matter of fact, because of that gay, beautiful story that we just

talked about, they were dragged in and they were beating. They called him

before the Sanhedri and the counsel, the religious order of the day, and

they said, listen, you can't preach Jesus anymore. You're gonna get more

of the same. Peter looked at him and said, listen, I can't

help but preach Jesus. So they dismissed them and they had this meeting.

This sums up everything we've preached about today. This fellow Gameliel, he looks

at him and he says, hey, listen, I don't know yet.

I'm figuring this thing out. He was watching their life. Somebody is watching

your life. He was watching and he said, hey, I don't I

don't know yet. I'm still watching. But if this thing is not of

God, it's gonna die on its own. But if this is God,

who are we to try to stop it and stand against it? Listen,

if what is going on in your life as God, nothing can stop God's

plan, But you have to submit to him for his plan to take root

and work. If you want life more abundantly, today is the day you

surrender your life to Jesus. No more playing games, no more. I've

been here for ten years. If I go down and get saved, what

are they gonna think? They're gonna think? What a wonderful day. Everybody

stand to your feet all over the building. You guys can get ready to

serve communion if you will. I don't often do this, every head bout,

every eye closed. If you're here today and you want to ask Jesus

to forgive you of your sins to be the lord of your life, You've

never done that before, but today you want to surrender your life to Jesus,

because you want that life and life more abundan. You want Jesus alive

in you. If that you slip up your hand and say that's me,

Pastor, pray for me. I want to give my life to Jesus today.

Amen. If you're here today and you'd say, Pastor, I prayed

that prayer. But I don't live like he's the lord of my life.

I've allowed doubt, I've allowed to sin, I've allowed all those things to

creep in. And today I want to renew my commitment to him. I

want to know that I know that, I know that Jesus is my lord.

If that's you, slip up your hand and say that's me, Pastor.

I want to make things right with him today. I want to get

rid of the doubts. Amen. Amen, I want I believe there's two

others. Just put your hand up and put it right back down. We

got a couple of minutes we can wait on you. Amen. Amen,

every I open, every head looking around, I'm gonna count to three.

When I hit three, our altered team was going to quickly come to the

front and turn around. You're gonna move the moment I say three, You're

gonna make your way down to the front, and our alter team is gonna

pray with you. They're gonna pray for