Forging Wisdom in the Fire | Kris Vallotton

I'll give you that pay little later

Well these guys you guys come Sunday night man that's like you guys are real Christians

Thank you for being here

Well let's pray Holy Spirit thank you for what you're doing in us and through us and well thanks for this whole week so beautiful thank you for beautiful people thank you for this this church Lord this local church that so loves you and seek your presence

I pray god you would anoint the speaker can I get an amen

And that you would anoint the congregation we can get another amen amen

Thank you Lord

Um well I want to talk about humility and I sort of entitled this message all the way down to the top and sir could you stand up

You have glasses on you look at me now you look at him yeah can you stand

I I saw the Lord put a crown on your head and it said wisdom on it and I I just feel like the Lord is opening up your uh your heart and mind to this gift of wisdom

And I was reminded of Solomon when he asked god for wisdom and then in James chapter 1 it says if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask god who gives to all men without reproach

James 1 · chapter mention

And I just saw you as a king asking god for wisdom

When god came to Solomon said in the night and said what what do you want

And he I'll give you anything you want

He said well you're giving me these amazing people but I actually don't know what I'm doing

And so I need wisdom and I saw you crying out for wisdom as a father and as a leader

And I saw the Lord take this crown of thorns and he put on a crown a beautiful crown a royal crown on your head

And I believe that the lord's answering your prayers for wisdom and for insight

And and I see the Lord giving you a platform as a father and city and I see you uh crying out for justice crying out for poor you know uh Blake and I were having this conversation this morning

I I really would encourage you to read Job 30 uh 29

I've been reading it for a while but it's a it's Joe it's Joe recounting when the favor of the Lord was on him

So it's kind of written in the negative but it's a share

It tells us like what justice looks like what god what what does it look like to be noble

And I feel like the lord's called you to be a noble man a man in your city who's a father to a community and a patriarch in your family

And I feel like the Lord really wants to give you this you know I think Ephesians 3 calls it the wisdom from another age

So I bless what God's doing in you and I bless what God's doing through you

And I thank you for the integrity of this man's heart

And I thank you for the way that he already stands for the victim for the person who's been dealt with unjustly

And I was moved by Blake's message yesterday

I think it was he was talking about the greatest the greatest evils of mentioned in the Bible

And the first one was how did you say about the victim what say it again the mistreatment of the oppressed that God's first warning was for those who oppress the victims

And so I believe that God's there's there's something rising on you to take a stand for the for the oppressed for the poor for the injustice around you

And I just pray for god to give you wisdom for that Jesus name that's a good word right there

Um many years ago I I I told you that I Kathy and I we got in business

I maybe tell you a little bit of the story if you haven't heard it

But years ago um we had a prophet named Dick Mills who came

Is anybody ever remember Dick Mills

Yeah okay some of the Dick Mills would come to our church every year

He was he was a prophet really great guy and him and his wife would come to our church and our little church and we reveal and he'd come once a year

And so the first time he came to our church after church we had lunch with them

The leaders had lunch with them and I was sitting on his left side and we were having lunch and he turned to me and he would write down these little prophetic words

His wife would write down these like like a scripture give you a scripture and then he give you this prophetic word out of it

And so I'm sitting next to him and I'm I probably I think I'm like 26 years old and and he said uh he points to me he goes I got a word for you I got a good word for you so what is it

He said God's giving you double wisdom for business the wisdom of man and the wisdom of god

Have you ever got a prophetic word you didn't like

So I wanted to be in business my whole life until I met Bill Johnson

And when I when I met Bill Johnson and I heard Bill Johnson preach for the first time I was a two and a half years into a three and a half year nervous breakdown

And I would sit in the back very back of the church cause I had such social anxiety

And I listened to Bill preach the very first time in our little church of when he came as 60 people and I had never heard anyone speak like that before

And within about three or four months I'm like god that's what I wanna do the rest of my life

I wanna do that

And then about a year later I get to prophetic word that if you go into business I'm gonna give you

I knew it he said I'm giving you wisdom for business the wisdom of god and the wisdom of man

That was on a Sunday afternoon and I remembered distinctly because on Monday morning I was at Bill's office and I was crying and I was saying I don't want to be in business and bills like well don't worry about it

You know god wants you to be in business so make it happen

I'm like yeah that's what I'm afraid of

And then a few days later two days later actually on a Tuesday night we had an African American friend of ours who was a prophet come over

His name was Danny and he was sitting at our dinner table and my kids were young at the time

And we're having dinner and and we're laughing and joking and cutting up and just being funny

And all of a sudden like I would say like the Holy Spirit comes on him and he gets this far away look and he he he looks at me and he goes god just told me that if you open a business he'll bless you

I said well you tell god I don't wanna be in business kind of said to him

He said bro I'm just telling you what he said

I said well tell him what I said exactly how it happened and then uh on uh on Friday morning

So that was Tuesday and on Friday morning I was going to I had my car all tore apart in our shop

I was I was working in a repair shop and I had my car all tore apart

So my friend Charlie Harper was bringing me to work and we passed by

Thank you so much

Now Siri won't talk to me and I have a stand for it just forgot to bring it

And we passed by the 76 station in town and when we pass by the station Charlie goes I had a dream last night that you bought the 76 station

I said bro I do not want to be in business

He goes mom just telling you what my dream was

I said well I was a nightmare

Well that afternoon Friday afternoon the guy who owns that 76 station who I never met and isn't a Christian call me

He goes hey my name is Bob and I own the 76 station town and I feel like you're supposed to buy my business

I haven't put it up for sale yet

And I want to say I don't want to be in business

But then I'm like you know I remember a nice and far and I'm like you know you could die doing this you know

So I met with him then he said why don't we meet tomorrow morning

Saturday morning

We met and my wife was all excited

She's like oh this is amazing

I'm like no this is not amazing

And so we I I go to meet with him and we have breakfast and he wants to sell his business for forty seven thousand dollars and it's nine nine thousand dollars to get in

And I I'm really excited because I'm behind a month on my house payment and I have no money

So it's first time in my life I've been cited to be broke

And I come home and my wife's all excited like how would he say

And I told her and she's like oh well why don't you call your grandmother and see if you can borrow the money

And my call my grandmother's not gonna lend me the money

And my grandmother's you know she's in heaven now but she's she wasn't the most generous person I've ever met

And I'm like my grandmother's not gonna lend me the money

So anyway my wife was encouraging me you know it said it talks about impropers that drip faucet thing she was dripping encouragement to me

Finally like after three days I decided well call my grandma

So I called my grandmother

My grandmother at the time wasn't a Christian so I didn't tell her all the backstory just said hey you know I'm thinking about buying a service station

I'm just wondering if I could borrow you know$9,000

And she said well I'll think about and I'll call you back

So I'm like okay and then she called back like a day or two later and she said hey I've been thinking about it

I said yeah

She said I can't loan you the money

And I was so happy and then she goes but I'll give it to you but you just can't tell the other you can't tell the other children

I'm like so I get off the phone and cats like what did she say

And I said terrible she's gonna give us the money

She's like I told you so I told you so whatever and so we end up

So I go and and I'm working at this tire store as the as the shop manager

So I go tell my my boss hey you know I've got a 30 day escrow and I'm gonna I'm buying this this station down the street

And and and within three minutes he fires me

Ha yeah first time well I was gonna say first time ever been fired

I was actually fired twice in my life but uh so I called up the owner of the 76 station and I said hey I just got fired and he's like well why don't you just take my station over right now

Like just take it over run it my name

We'll have a 30 day escrow and you put the 9,000 escrow in

At the end of 30 days it's yours and you can run it under my name

And I'm like well that sounds great

And so uh we we started Kathy and I we we start running the station under his name and um and you know it was ours but under his name

So um I used 14 dollars of the 9,000 I was supposed to put in ESTRO because you know it was a brand new business and we you know you need cash in the door for instance there's just you know the first payroll all all all stuff

And I you know I had I'd run someone's automotive business for seven years but I'd never been in business for myself

And so um so we get to like the 26th or 7th day and and Bob comes in in the morning he's like hey you need to put money in nescro

You know I'm like yeah yeah and I don't wanna tell my use 14 dollars cause it's been running the business under his name and he's been so good to us

And so the next day comes the next day comes the next day comes and now we're at the 30th day and it said morning of the 30th day and and escrow supposed to close at noon

And so he comes by at seven in the morning he's like hey you need to put that money in escrow and I'm like yeah I'm gonna do it today you know been a little busy

And so I go in so he leaves and I go in the back room

We have this little you know kind of a closet of the storage room

And I'm laying on the floor and there and I'm like this is your fault

I do not want to be in business

I told you that now I'm 14 dollars short and I don't know what you're gonna do about it but this is not my problem this is your problem

I'm like I'm having a David prayer with no you know nothing good in it

And about an hour later so it's around 9 o'clock in the morning this man that runs the store down the street he comes in he's a friend of mine

He comes in and he uh he's on the gas island and I'm underneath a car on a creeper and he hands me um some money and I'm like oh thank you

And I put it in my pocket thinking he paid for you know he's paying

This is you know this is when you had self service you had to come in to pay

And so I I put it in my pocket and he goes you should look at it cause I I thought he just handed me you know like you know 10 dollars or something

So I roll out and I I pull it out of my my pocket and I open it up and it's 14 100 dollar bills now

We hadn't told anyone we were short and I'm like there is a god in heaven and so we you know pay the nine thousand dollars and we and I'm like now I'm kind of getting excited right cause like I have the supernatural you know four prophetic words

The guy calls me I get 14 hundred dollars supernaturally and I'm like that's really cool and I'm like and I remember what my friend told me if you go into business I'm gonna bless you and so I'm really excited by the fifth year

I'm like so broke I can't even pay attention my house is foreclosed on twice

One night I wake up in the middle of night and someone stealing my cars my two cars

And I call the police the sheriff's department and I get a hold of the sheriff's deputy

I know them cause I work on their cars and I'm like hey someone just stole my cars

And they go Chris sorry your cars are repossessed

They repossess both my cars and uh and people were bringing us food here we have a business and people are my friends are bringing it our home group is bringing us food and my kids were taken out of Christian school like five times for no payment

And and so now I'm like I I got in this business supernaturally but I am I'm done

So I'm laying on the floor 6 o'clock in the morning and I'm sobbing

I got a payroll on Friday it's Thursday

I have no money for payroll my I my parents bought my house out of foreclosure

My you know it's like Mike the the impound lot for my car for the for my two cars is three blocks from my station on Main Street

So my friends are driving by like hey man what up your car

Like yeah so it's like he total humiliation and I'm laying on the floor in the back of the shop

And and I and I and I'm sobbing I'm sobbing and I'm done and I'm disappointed and I'm discouraged and I I I can't reconcile

Like I definitely had a prophetic words to get in this business and you said you were gonna bless me and I'm in the back and I I am I'm I'm mad and I'm disappointed and I'm hurt and I'm scared

I have no money for payrolls and you know a gas load is$9,000 and if you don't pay for gas you run out of gas and you run anything like a dairy with no milk you know

And I'm laying on the floor and I'm like and I'm just telling the Lord like I am so done I am so done with this

And all the sudden I have this vision and in the vision I see uh god and he's walking down this path and there's all these men they look like um they look like linemen in a football in a foot on a football team

And they're standing in front of god and they're they're like like they're gonna resist god

And and he's walking down the path and he and he's just saying get out of my way and they're standing as if they're going to block him and he's grabbing and he's throwing them like ragdolls and he throws like five or six of them

And in the vision I'm next and I stand in front of them like the steam stance they did and he looks right at me and he goes get out of my way and he reaches over to grab me and I move aside and he passes me and without looking back he goes now just follow and I came out of the vision and then he said to me

He said you're building a business I'm building a man someday this will all make sense to you just follow and we did that 15 more years

No I I'm smarter now

When god says if you open a business I'm gonna bless you

I'm like does it have anything to do with money

Because I figured out I figured out something that God's idea of blessing me and my idea of blessing me ain't always the same

And I figured out that there's a lot of peace that comes from being on the same page with god

And you know things were we we know had lots of hard years after that

And there was I can tell you lots and lots of stories miraculous stories that happened in between

But I submitted myself to can I say to the crucible

And I started figuring out that he got and I didn't tell you this part

God said ten years from now this all makes sense to you

And it was about 10 or 11 years later that I ended up at Bethel and I end up at Bethel Church

And and it's interesting because I well that's a longer story but end up at Bethel Church and Bill said I can't pay you until the school starts because I things are a little tight

When I got to Bethel Church I went in the I was there about a month I didn't know anybody but Bill and I walk into the CFO's office and he's got his head on the on the counter on his on his desk and he's obviously weeping and I'm like wow this man's touched by the Holy Ghost

And I turn around and walk out and he goes come back in

I said mom what's going on

And he had piles of bills these are 30 days late these are 60 days late these are 90 days late these are hundred twenty days late these are hundred fifty days late

And I have a payroll on Friday and I have no money and I and he said I don't know what to do

And I said well what Bill tell you do

He said Bill told me to give away$10,000 to the Baptist church

I said are you gonna do that

He goes I don't have$10,000 to write to the Baptist church

And um and I'm like and the lord's like remember I told you that I'm preparing you for what's ahead

And the Lord just um was so good to us

And and after the at the end of three years we all Bethel's debt was paid all of our employees were paid on time and we just began to grow

And and here's you know a person with Bill you know Bill's only letter church of 200 people

And I never had more than 45 employees

And we just start doubling in size and doubling size and doubling size

And every year we started school ministry it starts at 37 students next year has 68 Next year has 128 Next year has 300 and it's just doubling every year

And our congregation goes from 900 people I think by year four five were like 2,000 people and then 3,000 people and 5,000 people

And and uh and I'm like okay Lord you all those years of pressure you were creating you were creating you were you were building somebody you were building capacity for something that would come

And um obviously I want to be careful to not be ridiculous

Like there were so much to learn

We were growing so fast and we were making tons of mistakes

I've never LED that we didn't have I never had a human resource department

My by like year I never had enough employees to have human resource department

I mean you know pretty soon we had 400 employees and 500 employees and people were coming from everywhere and like oh my gosh it was a lot to learn

Obviously there there's still a lot to learn

I don't know if you ever learn at all

We got in the middle of Covid and that was really tough

Another you know I have 24 students and of 6 weeks before they graduate our governor shuts down all schools you can't have on campus schools and he gives us three days notice and I don't have an online platform what am I gonna do with 24 students

Uh 47 of them are internationals

They can't go home because of covid rules

And and I got my students getting covid and it's going crazy things are crazy

And I'm in the newspaper 5 times for breaking the covid rules and just goes on and on

Yeah I'm very I'm becoming infamous quickly right

And I don't know what to do

And and the Lord said to me this on I had I had this dream on the third

I had this dream on March 27th, 2020 and the Lord said humilities the way forward so I'm like alright Lord he said just get low

I don't know about you when you know I I am I I know everybody's wired differently like I I'm a fighter I grew up in the street I grew up in a tough home

I'm a survivor so like I know how to fight I don't know how to not fight

I don't know how to let people say stuff about me and not rush in and defend myself

Is anyone else personality like this

Like I understand like my wife's a flight person like she doesn't like conflict and when there's conflict like she would like to hide in the cave right

And I and I have a leader who's who's a flight person

I'm not saying one's good one's bad just saying personalities are polar opposite right

So my nature is you know I can tell you some things like a board of supervisors says something bad about Bethel and I'm usually on the phone with him in the morning going let's have lunch

Like if you say something bad about Bethel you know it's my nature to like hey let's have a conversation about that especially if the information wasn't accurate which is normally what happens

So it just goes on and on and then the lord's like and then the Lord tells me give your cheek to the smiter humble yourself love people who hate you bless people who are persecuting you

And I I don't know you know it makes a great teaching

It's just not an easy life especially if you're wired like me cause I wanna come out I wanna defend myself on a fight and the Lord is like I want you to humble yourself you know it's it's it's in some ways it's hard to imagine that god loves us immeasurably but he actually opposes us when we walk in pride cause the Bible says that he's opposed to the proud but he gives Grace to the humble

Now I I don't know if you know what Grace is

Maybe you do

I'm trying to treat you stupid but I hear people speak of Grace and mercy as if it's the same thing

And I'd like to point out the Grace and mercy aren't the same thing

That mercy means you didn't get what you deserve

The Grace means you got what you didn't deserve

So like a police officer let's say I'm speeding and I get pulled over and I'm 20 miles over speed limit and the police officer doesn't give me a ticket that's mercy I didn't get what I deserve

But let's say I'm going 20 miles over speed limit police officer pulls me over and he gives me$1,000 for speeding that's great I got what I didn't deserve

Are you with me

And Grace is the operational power of God

Grace gives the ability to do what I couldn't do one second before I received it

And and one of the most powerful things about prophecy is that if you receive a prophet in name of prophet receive a prophecy ward

What is the prophecy ward

Well there's probably lots of answers for that but one of the prophecy ward is that when you receive a prophecy in the name of a prophet let's say you say this is a word from the Lord you receive Grace

What is Grace

Grace is the ability to do what you couldn't do one second before you heard that word

Are you with me

And and and and the point is this is that you know if I prophecy over you let's say you hear my human voice and and will metaphorically say my human voice is red but if the Lord is speaking through me on the red is blue and blue is Grace and blue and Grace is what makes the blue the red happen

Are you following me

So the the god says if you he's opposed to the proud but he gives Grace to the humble meaning he gives me a he gives me an ability that I don't have until I humble myself

Humility is really important

I I wrote this some time ago

Greatness is planted in the seed bed of humility

It's watered by the deeds of servanthood it's cultivated by the hands of perseverance until it finally yields of the harvest of royalty

Um John 15 why don't you turn there

I know you know these verses I think somebody quoted them tonight

Actually Jesus is talking about vines and branches verse Chapter 15 verse 1 I am the true vine and my father is the divine dresser

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it that it would mirror more fruit

You are already clean because of the word which I spoke to you

The word clean is the root word prune abide in me and I abide in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide me

I'm the vine you're the branches you abide to me and I am him

He bears much fruit for apart from me he can do nothing

If anyone does not abide to me he is thrown away as a branch and it dries up and they gather them and they cast them in the fire and they are burn per seven

If you abide in me my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you once you say this with me if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it'll be done for you

I I I started writing a book I never finished it but it was called Wishful Thinking ask whatever you wish

Wouldn't you like to have a relationship with god where you can just ask whatever you wish and be done for you

Like this is a powerful process this a powerful promise ask whatever you wish

How do you get to a place where you get to ask whatever you wish

Well he says if you he said if you're the I'm the vine you're the branch and he said you got two options if you are a branch you can be pruned or you can be cut off

But I don't know if you know this but when you celebrate someone else's pruning be careful cause yours is next

And then he said you're already pruned you're already clean you're already pruned by the word that I spoke to you

So he says I pruned you with the word that I spoke to you and then he said if you bite me and my word abides in you in the context what words you talking about

He's talking about the word that prunes you okay are you with me in Hebrews 5

He says you guys ought to be teachers by now but you actually you actually can can't you actually still on milk and he said you you you haven't matured to a place where you can eat meat and then he calls meat the word of righteousness and I'm pointing out that god wants his church

He said you said I said seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and it's easy to seek the kingdom but not his righteousness

Are you with me

And so what I'm getting at he's like if you let me prune you you're already prune because of the word I spoke to you already clean and then he says if you bite me my word abides in you

What words you talking about

He's talking about the word that prunes us

Are you with me

He's saying if you let me speak to you in a way where I can cut you back to your fruitfulness I will trust you with your desires if you receive if you let me speak words of righteous to you words of correction to you

If you let me prune you then I will trust you to ask me whatever you wish

I can trust you if I can prune you

Are you are you with me

So when he's talking about abiding in me and my word abides in you he's not just talking about like you know row row row your boat gently down the stream

He's talking about you guys are not even being funny tonight it's warm in here

He's talking about the the he's talking about that you have a relationship with god where he can correct you or he can say to you you're building a business

I'm building a man Lord I wanna quit

Yeah well that's not an option it's not an option well Lord if I stay here is it gonna get easier no no it's not gonna get easier I think Blake when he had that chart thing he is killing me

Did you guys get how many of you were in the conference

He wrote this chart

He has this chart going on

He's like this is a kind of story Wanna tell

And we aren't like yeah we had a hard time and then whoop we went up

I'm like isn't that the way it's supposed to be

And he's like sometimes prides and pride is pride is reinterpreting our prophecies

I have a sense that god is more concerned about making us significant than he is about making us comfortable

No I'm not saying that life is terrible

I've been married to the same woman for 51 years

I have a wonderful family

I love them

We mostly have great time

I live I mean my house is a house of laughter 90 of the time

And that's with my wife with Parkinson's you know it's like I mean we just find lots of joy

If anybody knows me I'm not a depressed person

I had six months of depression didn't like it at all just really sucked

So I I I you know I want you to know that you're not talking to a depressed person or somebody who's like I I I don't I don't really love the whole god

You know the gospel of martyr martyr martyr yeah like I I you know I'm like you're gonna kill me for my faith

I don't wanna know it just wanted to be you know quick and over like don't torture me

It's not my nature to like say well things can be tough but things can be tough and sometimes in the middle of tough stuff the season goes faster when you have an idea of how you're supposed to respond

Are you with me

And so humility in James 1 it says in humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your soul

This like to point out that just salvation doesn't happen unless you find humility in uh in first Peter it says that this it says God's opposed to the prowl but he gives Grace to the humble

You can't even get Grace if you don't humble yourself in James chapter 4 God's which I've already quoted

James 4 · chapter mention

God's opposed to the pride but he gives Grace to the humble in Proverbs chapter 29 verse 23 it says a man's pride will bring him low but a humble spirit will attain honor

Proverbs 29:23

And and I and I'd like to point out the God's ultimate goal for humilities that he would exalt you

Like I'd like to point out that god actually does want to promote you

Like the ultimate goal is that god would promote you because it says this Luke chapter 1 verse 52 he has brought us he has Jesus is saying he has brought down rulers from their thrones and he exalts those who are humble

Luke 1:52

And I'd like to point out that humility plus nothing equals promotion

Okay can I say that again

How many people would like to be promoted

And some of you like I don't know after we just told me I think I think I'm good with but it's great to be gifted and talented and be educated and experienced

But what if a person who lacks all these advantages

If a person lacks all these advantages but he actually humbles himself he'll be promoted

Like if you humble yourself you'll be promoted

You know we talking a little while ago about vines

And my my uncle had a Vineyard and I worked on a Vineyard once in a while when I was 15

I mostly worked on my grandfather's farm but once in a while we'd go to my uncle's Vineyard and we'd work on the Vineyard

Now I didn't know anything about vines

And my my uncle would um just tell me okay you're gonna prune the vines

And again I had no idea what I was doing let me be clear

He would just go hey where the fruit stops cut it there

So I cut the vine and then I Learned many years later that vines if you if you if there is no vine dresser this is how a vine typically grows

So let's pretend for a second that the branch is 20 feet long and it hasn't been it hasn't been cared for

They'll be 10 feet of wood five feet of leaves and then five feet of fruit

And if you don't prune that branch what a what a vine does is it will spend all of its energy extending a stick and eventually have no fruit

Like a vine is more concerned about extending itself than it is about bearing fruit

Are you with me

And so where where is the vine dresser

Trim the branch back to where there's fruit

And why does he say I'm either gonna I'm either gonna prune you

I'm gonna cut you off because if you let the branch grow by itself without a wine dresser eventually it has no fruit anywhere and you have to trim it back to the to the actual vine and it'll have a new sprout

Are you with me

Like like I'm pointing out that that if you don't if you if you if we don't have a spirit of humility on us we end up in races to see who has the greatest extension and pretty soon pretty soon I'm measuring my life but how long my branches

Oh I got I got 500,000 people on my Facebook page and I will do whatever it takes to get more followers or to get more popularity or get more anything not realizing that I have actually a long time ago I became bigger on the outside than I am on the inside

I actually have no capacity for all these people that I attracted

It's called self promotion and let me just tell you whenever you get bigger on the outside than you are on the inside it's just a matter of time before you're gonna fall before you're gonna fall I think it's not by chance that some people who mind social media for their prophetic words actually fell because you end up extending your old people are wild there

They've got you on their platforms and we were one of those platforms and you keep getting a bigger and bigger and bigger but the problem is you got no character

You want the character to carry all these people that you attracted

Are you with me

And arrogance you should have known that arrogance listen not just bad prophetic words not just mining stuff but you should have known that when you attract people instead of let god attract you instead of the favor of god attracting people instead of letting god promote you you promote you

You should have already known you are destined for a fall

You just got a you just got wood hand stubble all you got is a stick because you haven't let the Lord prune you

You haven't let the Lord go you're building a business I'm building a man cut Lord how long is this gonna last

Cut Lord I want out of here cut

I I I don't know if you know this but Joseph between the time Joseph got this prophetic where he's gonna be the leader a leader and by and by the time he got to the palace the 17 years 17 years I I propose this that between the promise and the palace is always the process

If you figure out some way around the process you can't stand the palace anyway

Because the process isn't there to kill you

It's there to increase your capacity so when you're in the palace you can stay there

Are you with me

And lots of things happened at Bethel you know you know fast growth no experience with with this many people no experience with all this stuff

And and it it was it was hard but I have to say this like listen we didn't do anything perfectly so please don't hear that but the capacity for pain was practiced 20 years earlier

You know what I'm saying and sometimes the Lord wants to promote us and you're like the lord's like I'm taking you to the top and we're like awesome

Now I figured out you're going somewhere like that the process is gonna be I love with I think it's Bishop Joseph Gardens and said god opens one door and closes another but it's hell in the hallway

I cringe when someone gives somebody a big word I'm like I know where that goes

I'm serious like god you when you're when you have a big thing to do and you're way back here I don't I'm not trying to disappoint anybody

I'm probably helping a whole bunch of people

Like you think something's going wrong in your life

And I'd like to propose there might be something going right in your life

You think life is hard

I might you just might have the wrong perspective

You know if I if I wanna be a Green Beret and I go to boot camp and we're in hell week I don't think something's wrong because I have a vision I have a vision to be a tough soldier

I wanna be one of the greatest soldiers in American history

I got a vision that when this is over I'm gonna be considered one of the greatest right warriors in American history

And my point is that when I go through hell we got to go something's wrong

I go something's right

I'm preparing

And then when I get on the battlefield I'm like I prepared for this

I am ready for this and not talking about arrogance I'm just talking about the reality of I've been through something so that I can actually do this

How we doing

I'm supposed to be done in 5 minutes right

Okay haha it's interesting how powerful humility is in first kings 21 Chapter 21 Ahab you know who Ahab is he's married to Jezebel ring a bell not a good guy

God sends Elijah to Ahab and he says he says to them behold I'm gonna bring evil upon your house I'm utterly gonna wipe you away I'm gonna cut off Ahab and all the male children from Israel

And he goes in and gives this word to Ahab this guy is famous for being wicked and Elijah prophesied this terrible word to him you know it's Old Testament right

This terrible word to him and and he and he and he says to he says here's a part of it and the one belonging to Ahab who dies the dogs will eat them and the one who dies in the field the birds will eat them

And he goes on like this for verse after verse like it's not good and it says this

When a have heard the word of the Lord Elijah leaps and a have hears the word of Lord and say it came about

When a have heard these words he tores clothes put sackcloth on fasted and sat and sat sat in sackcloth and went about despondently

Next verse god says to Elijah did you see how a have humbled himself

Did you see how how he humbled himself

Because he have humbled himself before me I will not bring evil on his day

This is a wicked king who brought bail in is married to Jezebel like this is like this is you know or this is not good and he just got a bad prophetic word and Elijah leaves the house and who knows it might have been a day later

The guy goes Elijah come here did you see how he humbled himself

It's like I don't think god was surprised but he's acting surprised

Look at that go back and tell him that word you gave him false profit

I mean I'm not gonna bring it about in his day say how powerful is humility that god actually relents with the first or second wicked is king in the Old Testament

God actually relents because the guy throws rips his clothes and throws dust on his head fast and god goes oh my gosh Elijah go back and tell him it's not gonna happen in his day

It won't happen in another day

But my point is is that humility attracts god humility attracts the presence of god

What does it mean to be humble

I'll tell you what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean I feel bad about myself

I would point out that you were made in the image and likeness of god

I think another one of Blake's another one of Blake's sayings my trying to say quotes as he talked about how god hates idols and refuses to let us make idols because he already has he's already made someone in his image and it's you and he put his spirit in us

So listen whenever I feel bad about myself I'm insulting the god who made me and whose model and how many know the father was the painter Jesus was the model were the painting

I can't I can't feel bad

I'm not talking about conviction or upset of course but self esteem

I can't feel bad about myself without insulting him

So humility is not thinking less of yourself

It's just thinking of yourself less

And I'd like to point out that when you're thinking bad about yourself you're still the center of attention

Yeah so I'm not talking about feeling bad about yourself so what does it mean to be humble

What it means that you actually pray

Here's attributes of humanity

I actually pray

Like I don't just talk about it

I actually pray

Like I actually say god I need you

I I I I you are influencible

Like someone can actually influence you

And when you're corrected you don't defend yourself

That's hard

You rejoice when others are celebrated

Yes there's no job too small for you

I tell my students if you can't do what you can do you won't do what you can't do

And I tell them if you can't do what you if you don't do what you can do you'll never do what you can't do

Like if you go in the restroom you get in the stall and there's paper all over

Pick it up and put it in the toilet

It's not that hard

And what I'm getting at is that every place you go should get better when you're there

I don't mean you have to clean the whole bathroom

I just mean humility goes

There's no small there's no job too small for me

I go in the restroom and I tell you I do it all the time

You know what

I I I tell you one of the ways that I that I decide who I'm gonna put on my team or who I'm gonna hire who I'm gonna promote is I can't tell you how many times I get out my car and I see somebody walk across our parking lot at Bethel and I see paper blowing in in on around the parking lot or junk in the parking lot

And I see one of my students or one of my team pick up the the garbage and put it in the garbage instead of walk past it

I'm like that's a guy I want

There's no job too small for me

Well I'm the leader of Bethel

I don't give I don't care not cussing anymore

I can't even find words for myself

Number six you don't have to always be right

No 7

You seek you naturally seek advice of other people

No

8 you're actually teachable

No 9

You freely admit your flaws and mistakes and failures

Okay I'll say it again you freely admit your flaws and failures

No

10 you live to help other people succeed

Here's a big one

No

11 you're not easily offended

No 12

You you live with a thankful attitude

No

13 you don't live with a sense of entitlement you don't feel like someone owes you something

No 14

You're quick to forgive and you don't hold grudges

And No

15 you are confident in who you are and content with who you're not you know when I came to Bethel I had never been on a big public platform before and of course I'm you know my leader has been he's a fifth generation pastor so he's been on platforms all over the world so I'm learning from him because I've never been a public person before

And and and you know there's there's so much criticism and you know falling Bill was not an easy task

Let me tell you that like falling a man like when Bill teaches he he he does this all the time

You see him do this he puts his toes over the edge which I have fear of height so I don't naturally do this

And then he shares one line and pauses so I try to be built stand on the edge course I have fear going on and I share something and I pause and like oh he ran out of things to say

And I would get all of these this feedback from my messages in the first couple years and they would say that that I was polluting the podium because of my humor

Sometimes it's true

And about the second year it's like I just trying to be Bill and try to be I was just trying to find myself in in this big public arena that was growing and growing and people pulling on you

And just like I never had anybody want my autograph people standing in line to meet with me

And like I don't know how to deal with this

I'm a business guy

Nobody wants to talk to a business guy and all of a sudden it's like you have favor but you don't know what to do with it

And the first thing I do with is sabotage my favor

And the Lord said to me one day wouldn't you rather be hated for who you are than love for who you're not

And then one day I was having such a struggle you know Bill just preached us of crazy good message and we were in conference together and I was I was up next and I was like I was just sweating

I'm like I have nothing like that to say

And the Lord said if I wanted two bills I would have made another Bill

Just be you just be you and I'm like they don't like me said no they don't like you when you try to be him

Because if you try to copy someone else the best you can be is a copy of the original

Just be you

I want to end with this story

It happened fairly recently

I have a I have a chief of staff she's so smart so smart

The Lord has surrounded me with really smart people which is so good

They even have an education and stuff

So when I hired Emily to be my chief of staff um after the day I hired her the next day she came to work

And so it was her and I and I said okay I wanna I wanna create expectation like DTR define the relationship

This is the most important thing I need from you

The most important thing I need from you is for you to tell me whenever you think I've done something wrong

No I understand that I'm your boss and I understand that you might think if I tell him this bad thing then he's going to demote me or it's gonna keep me from you know whatever being promoted or whatever

But I wanna tell you that Winston Churchill when they fought when he fought the war he said no one wants to tell the boss bad news

So he actually developed a a department a separate department that their full time job was to tell them where the worst battles the worst losses were every day

They had to report to Winston where the worst battles were every day cause he said no one wants to tell the boss bad news

So I said I need you to tell me whenever you think I'm doing something wrong I have a bad attitude anything like if it's negative I need you to tell me

She goes all right

I said I promise you it won't cost you I promise you she's okay

So about a year and a half past two years past I don't know how long past and one day this is probably a year ago I walk in her office and I say good morning good morning

She has office right next to mine and she's like morning not like her at all her normal is very high

And she said hi

And I so I walk past and I'm like oh you know that something's wrong something's wrong

She's communicating to me without communicating to me cause like I know her well enough to know that is not her norm

So I walked back in her office

I go hey how you doing

She's all right not her norm

I'm like hey is there something you wanna say to me

She goes not right now now I don't know how you feel but the unknown is way worse

Like I am not gonna walk around for three days wondering what it is you wanna tell me

Are you like that too

Like please tell me you know doctor calls he's like hey hey I got some news to tell you okay tell me you got into coming office

Oh my god I'm like I'm dying for sure I'm gonna die

So I'm like so I go I go in rough she has this little office

I shut the door I sit in the chair and I go I need you to tell me

She said I'm not ready to do that

I said I'm ready for you tell me

She said I haven't gathered myself

I said you don't need to gather yourself you just need to tell me

And she's like I really don't want to

I said I really need you to

And I remind her I said remember when I hired you should go

I know I know

I said come on just tell me

She goes well I haven't really processed it with the Lord

I said okay process it right now

Wait like I can't do you're not gonna tell me and I'm gonna live with this for 3 or I don't know how long it's gonna take you to process

Is anyone else like this

Like just tell me it can't be as bad as I'm imagining

And she goes okay okay

And she turns her chair around and she's you know she's got tears in her eyes and she's obviously she's obviously very anxious

And I go it's okay yeah just tell me

She goes remember you told me that we should never do anything for money in ministry

I said yeah

She said well we're building this ministry and all you talk about is how much money it's gonna make

And I feel like we've been working on a ministry for two months that's not in the heart of god and has the wrong motive

It's cause of you

I'm like that's all it is

I didn't say that

I said I said okay kill that ministry

She's like no no no we got

I said no no kill the ministry

Well I said no honestly let's just kill that ministry

You're right

I'm wrong

There's been a lot of pressure and this whole economic side I let it get to me

We can't do ministry for money

Yes we have to obviously have sustainability

I don't mind that but we can't have the motive of the ministry be making money

Kill it

And we killed that ministry that day

But something really powerful happened between EMU and I I proved to her that I need accountability that nobody is beyond not understanding your motive went the wrong way

However long you pray have a great idea you have you don't always know what's in your heart

But the day she said that I think we're doing this for money and I think that's you

I felt the Lord stab me in the heart and say this woman is a gift to you

And when she left when I left the office that day I'm like Lord thank you for people who will tell me the truth

Thank you that when the emperor has no clothes someone to go go tell the emperor has no clothes and you're not afraid you're gonna lose your head

This is part of humility and I wanna tell you something

I don't care how righteous you think you are how how righteous you really are how righteous you try to be like you have blind spots

I have them too

And god puts other people around us to keep us safe

But if we punish the people who he's put around us and make them afraid to tell us the truth like I love accountability yeah when none of your team wants to talk to you cause I talk to your team they're all afraid to talk to you

And I wanna say there's two ways that we punish people while there's probably more but the two ways that are common

When we tell someone the truth one we argue and two we withdraw

I tell you something hard and you disappear for six months

And you just told me listen don't tell me the truth cause I don't have the courage I don't have the courage to hear it and listen

Here's another thing about humility and connection and accountability and can we see what's happening right now

Do we not need accountability

I gotta tell you the stuff that that you saw on that you saw that I did wrong

I didn't do that wrong on purpose

There is blind spots in my life that I need people to speak in my life and hopefully not on social media

But if you don't have someone else speak to you you end up on social media

Because if you don't humble yourself then god make sure you're humbled

That's called humiliation

Are you with me

And I'm just pointing out that we need people in our lives that can tell us the truth because because God's designed us like like I've never seen I've never seen my face except for the mirror

Yeah yeah I that mirror if that mirror is not accurate I don't even know who I am

And I point out that we actually need other people to tell us who we are you know in a broader sense

Like other people tell us like hey that's not a good motive

Hey that's beautiful what you did there and what does it take to get people to actually tell you the truth

Oh I know I was gonna tell you I almost skipped it

Sometimes people tell you something they think there's truth and it's not the truth

But but listen how we treat people when they give us negative feedback still matters right because someone could tell me something like it happens to leaders all the time right

People walk up to leaders

They if you're a public person like yeah you know you spoke this message and I feel like the devil was on you that day or something

You know I'm exaggerating to be funny but people have feedback all the time and you know and you go I take it to the Lord and I'm like and I take it to some of my my team and I'm like what do you think

And they're like that I think that's that person's but the point is is that if I punish that person I just told other people who are more accurate or other people who

And some Emily's Emily's had other input for me many times cause we're in we're in the trenches every day

That and she's like I think this and this and this and she's talking to me

I'm like that doesn't hit me like we've done anything or that's nothing nothing we should do

And we have we have a conversation and she knows she can give me feedback that isn't accurate and it's okay like I'd rather have that than have no feedback

So it even even if someone gives you feedback I'm talking about I'm not talking about enemies guys but I'm talking about you have surrounded yourself with people who are wise

And you said hey let's DTR let's define relationship

When you see something in my life feel free to speak into it

And they speaking in my life and it's like yeah doesn't feel right

It's okay it's okay

They don't have to they're not always right but I still need to make sure that I that keep the relationship close because the next time they might be right

And I need that kind of input in my life and so do you

Self righteousness is like filthy rags and when you start thinking you're above it that's when you're in trouble

And so I just wanna um honey end with this idea

I don't like when people humble me

I don't like it

I mean it's happened you know many times in my life and I can avoid that by humbling myself

And I'm convinced that the times that I've been humiliated or times that the Lord spoke to me many times that I missed it

Or can I say I didn't take time to listen

And then the lord's like okay you're not gonna listen

So I'll let Joe who hate you tell you

And that's a whole lot harder than your friends because I actually do

Faithful are the wounds of a friend

I believe it's your friends who are supposed to wound you not your enemies

And by the way probably like you I have pretty big armor for enemies cause if you're doing anything for god you're gonna have enemies

Jesus said Jesus said love your enemies so you gotta have some

I don't wanna be listen no one at my funeral is gonna go and everyone loved him and a chance that's gonna happen and I count that as joy that I'm doing something worth resisting

Yeah that's good but I I don't want my enemies to give me input into my heart

I want my friends to I wanna have friends that go bro can we have a conversation

Wow what did you you preach that I preached a message a couple years ago

Man I offended all my women's staff and I got the SLT and I thought it was a great message people stood in applaud

I didn't notice my whole staff was sitting

I got into this SLT meeting this is probably three years ago and and and Haley started on me and Libby was right behind her

And pretty soon they were crying and I was crying and then the next message I had to ask the women to forgive me

That was a great message

I was just stupid

I was blind

So you know we need people in our lives

We need we need to posture ourselves so that we don't have to be humiliated speaking from someone who's currently been humiliated

We need people who can speak into our lives

We need to invite those people in our lives

And by the way I do believe that the bigger your foundation of people that can tell you the truth and by the way the truth mostly positive right

Most of the input I get

So I'm I'm I'm have a message tonight that is not a balance message

Ninety percent of my team is like that was amazing

Gosh that was so good

Like I love when you do that the way you do and I need the encouragement for sure

I'm just pointing out that we also need the iron sharpens iron

I don't know man that church hurt my feelings

Well I don't know if God's trying to fix your feelings or change your heart

I don't know at least in my life

So would you just stand

Am I speaking to anyone tonight

I don't know kind of feel like I'm looking in a mirror talking to me and reminding myself I I really feel like humility positions us for promotion

And and when we get in a battle did you notice that says when it's in a John the book of John it's when Jesus watches the disciples feet

It's it sets the it sets the foot washing up like this

Jesus knowing that Judas was filled with the devil and knowing that his time had come he said he took a towel and he put it over shoulder his arm and he began to wash the disciples feet

And he said to them you don't know what I'm doing like I know what you're doing washing my feet

Now you don't know what I'm doing

But he said but you'll know here after and he gets down and he humbles himself and begins to wash their feet

And remember he said you don't know what I'm doing

Foot washing was very common in Jewish culture so he's like you don't know what I'm doing

The Philippians said that Jesus humbled himself even to the death of the cross and god highly exalted him

I'd like to point out when the devil made a move to fill Judas Jesus made a move to get low like this was a strategic military move

You're after me

I'm gonna humble myself all the way to death of the cross and then god highly exalted him and give him the name above every name that the name of Jesus every knee would bow

And when he said you don't know what I'm doing you think I'm washing your feet

Actually what I'm doing I'm beating the devil right here

Wow I'm destroying the devil I'm going all the way down to the top and sometimes the best thing we can do is just get low like you have 10 reasons why that person what they said about you isn't accurate

Fine you know I wanna defend myself

Fine I wanna that's all fine but what if the Lord brought this in your life

What if the goal is just to get low and let the storm pass

So I wanna pray for you how many of you are in some kind of turmoil

Oh thank you misery loves company and funny of course but I just wanna pray for us

Father I thank you for what you're doing in this time and that you're making the crooked places straight in our lives

The rough place is smooth and Lord we got we got some wood growing and and branches that are extending

And lords sometimes we get in a race to see who can have the longest branch and then you come back and you're like all I care about is fruit

And Lord I I just have the sense that all of us are being pruned back to our place of fruitfulness

And Lord I pray that you would give us a vision for what it is you're doing in our lives so that that vision would give the pain that we have at different times a purpose

And that we realize that this is actually good pain

This is actually building spiritual muscle this is actually building spiritual character

And Lord you care a lot about the fruit of the spirit in our lives even more than you do about the gifts that are displayed through us

You love the fruit that's happening in us

God we just we just do yield ourselves and we ask you Lord to just take out anything in our lives that isn't isn't good

And also Lord I pray that you would fill our lives with wise people like the Emily's of the world who can come in and speak into our lives

God would you give us Nathans and gods

And would you give us people that can speak into our lives that are trusted people who have the Holy Spirit in them people that have the courage to go

I'm not sure that was the right mode looks like we're doing the right thing

Well I'm not sure that was the right attitude

And Lord may we have trusted people and friends and family who come into our lives speak into our lives and help us to grow in a healthy way

Father Lord forgive us for where we failed where we've we've have encounters and sins things that have entangled us that have not represented the king well

And let the king be well represented by our hearts our attitude

Not just what we do but the way we do it why we do it the motives of our heart

Lord I bless every single person here in Jesus name

Amen

Thank you for listening

God bless you