Three Under To Put You Over

Let's wave our Bibles around and make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm here on purpose tonight.

I'm not just checking off a box, I'm fully engaged.

I'm hungry for the Word of God and for the Holy Ghost to shine His light on that Word that will make it Rama to me, that will build my faith and develop my spirit.

In Jesus' name, amen, our Bibles, please tonight, to Ephesians, chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

And we'll start reading with verse 1.

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.

For you, gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me toward you, how, that by revelation, he made note unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when you read you may understand my knowledge and the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power Under me who am less than the least of all saints under me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Three Unders to Put you Over.

Three Unders to Put you Over.

One of the great revelations of the Bible is, for the kingdom of God is humility.

And Paul, as great a minister as he was, wrote two thirds of the New Testament, went to heaven, received by direct revelation the identical revelation that the other apostles of the Lamb received, who walked with Jesus for three and a half years and nevertheless he was humble.

He said for this to be given to me as I'm less than the least of all saints, but this grace was given to me to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.

In Isaiah 55, it says that God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

His ways are higher than our ways, but we have his thoughts and we have his ways.

He will show it.

I used this this morning to open the sermon that Psalm 25, show me thy ways, teach me thy path, lead me in that truth, teach me for the out.

The God of my salvation, and God's ways are typified by Jesus.

I mean in Psalm 103,.

God made known his ways under Moses and his acts under the children of Israel.

The children of Israel didn't have a clue about God's ways, but Moses learned as he went the way God thinks, the way God moves, and so the power of humility.

The way up is down, the way over is under, and it's good to keep in mind three unders to put you over.

So I've got one, two, three, three unders.

That's right.

One, two, three unders to put you over.

How many of you are interested in going over?

Amen, all right.

So the first one is found in 1 Peter, 5.

And verse Peter praise God.

There you go, peter, I knew you were in here somewhere.

Verse six humble yourselves, therefore, above the mighty hand of God.

No, under, under there's the first under Put yourself under the mighty hand of God.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

God's not against you being exalted is against you exalting yourself.

And so in the verse before that, in verse five, it says yeah, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility.

Isn't that good?

Be clothed with humility.

So you're in charge of your own humility, you're in charge of what you put on, amen.

And so now I want to say this redemptive truth is not proud, it's not pride.

See, notice Paul didn't just say I'm a weak worm of the dust, I don't deserve this.

See, it's not about deserve.

Just get deserve out of your vocabular.

Get deserve out of there, because it's not about deserves.

We all deserve the same thing.

I deserve, you deserve to go to hell, but we're not going there Because Jesus took that.

He took that off.

It's off the table.

Praise God, we plea, bargain and so.

But redemptive truth is not pride and pride.

We can confess.

You know, I'm an overcomer.

Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

That's not bragging on you, that's bragging on him, that's bragging on the blood of Jesus.

That's never inappropriate.

You can always say what the word says about you.

That really is the correct way to live.

We ought to talk about what Jesus has done in us, is doing through us and in us and for us Amen.

For instance me I say this quite often.

I believe I've received the anointing to stand in the ministry to which I've been called.

I mean, I say that on a constant basis, because I know I can't stand in any kind of ministry without his anointing or I say it this way a lot of times.

I believe I've received the grace to stand in the office to which I've been called, because there's an office that I stand in and it's by grace, it's God.

It's not because I was his favorite, it's not because I was better, it's not because of any personal worth, it was simply an assignment.

It's amazing to me.

I still stay amazed at that and so.

But that's humility.

So it's not.

And humility is not thinking less of yourself.

That doesn't.

That does.

It's not what we're talking about.

It's thinking of yourself less.

Humility is thinking of yourself less.

Don't always be thinking about yourself.

You have to get over yourself.

Sometimes.

I had to get over myself this morning because I said something in the middle of the preaching and everybody laughed.

But I didn't laugh.

I felt bad that.

I said it and thank you for all of you that supported me.

I'm all pastor, you don't have to repent.

It's okay.

But I do and I did, but I forgave myself.

I'm free as a bird.

See, I'm not gonna beat myself up, amen.

What'd you say?

I'm not gonna tell you Get the media.

I don't even think they're gonna edit it, I don't.

It was shoot cussing.

You know shoot cussing.

Y'all know what shoot cussing is.

Stay and shoot.

Let your gay be yay and nay and nay.

That's what you're supposed to be.

All right, so in Ephesians 3, 14, here let's get back to Ephesians 3 again.

Let me show you something I wanna remind you about humility.

You know, get over yourself.

That's kind of humility you get over yourself.

Don't think the world revolves around you.

Ephesians 3, 14.

Paul is writing this tremendous Holy Ghost prayer and he starts it this way For this cause I bow my knees under the father of my Lord, jesus Christ.

For this cause I bow my knees.

So, humility, praise.

You.

Show me somebody that has no prayer life and I'll show you a proud person, someone that's inflated with pride, doesn't feel the need to pray, doesn't feel the need to constantly pray.

I like what Brother Lawrence said one time.

He's a monk or something I forgot now what he was but he used to talk about practicing the presence of God.

Practicing the presence, in other words, it's not about bowing your knee one time and clasping your hands and praying some prayer, but it's about talking to God and being conscious of his presence all day long, everything that you're experiencing.

You're just.

You just have a constant dialogue, you practice his presence, and so that's the epitome of humility, because we do need him, don't we?

We do need him Now.

So that's the first under humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

And then the next one is found in Hebrews, chapter 13.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

These are all for your benefit.

God wants you successful.

He wants you to win.

He wants you to win.

Hebrews 13, verse 17.

Hebrews 13:17

Obey them that have the rule over you, or who are your spiritual guides, and submit yourselves.

Why?

Because they watch over your souls.

Now again, soul.

We're spirit, soul and body.

I like to emphasize this as often because people come from all kinds of backgrounds.

One of the greatest revelations I got when I started going to Lakewood Church almost 40 years ago, sitting under Brother John Osteen's ministry, was that I'm a spirit, I live in a body and I have a mind of will and intellect which is called the soul.

I'm going to say, growing up as a Catholic and going to Catholic school for eight years, the nuns taught me that soul and spirit were the same thing they talked about.

So we still say we need to win souls.

We, our souls, going to have?

No, your soul is your mind, your will, your intellect, and so the part of you that's born again lives forever.

That's the spirit.

And so it says here, then that I'm going to watch over your soul, or I'm going to watch over your way of thinking.

You need to have a pastor and a church to come to so that you can have your thinking informed.

It helps you.

I'm anointed to do that.

I said I'm anointed to do that.

That's a gift to you.

I'm a gift, and so that's why you should.

It says obey.

That's a little scary for some of you, I know, but the word obey means to rely on, to agree.

Just agree with me.

Quit disagreeing with me.

Just agree, get me the benefit of the doubt.

That's another good one.

It means to believe me, have confidence in me.

It means to yield to trust.

I know trust is an issue for many people because you've been wounded in other places.

You might have been wounded in a church.

In fact, the pastor might have wounded you.

I mean, I know people.

I've been around a while.

I've seen people that were road hard and put up wet.

You know what that means.

I mean suck dry, manipulated, depreciated, took, taken for granted, abused, verbally and otherwise.

It happens, and I just think of myself.

You know, when people come in the door, you know, sometimes I see countenances and I can.

It's kind of like a sheep that's got a ear that's dangling because the wolf bit half the ear off.

What are you going to do with that sheep?

Well, you're going to tend that wound.

You're going to love on that sheep and be tender with it and get it where it's over that trauma.

And the trauma is not just physical, and so we're not a museum of wonderful metal winners, we're a hospital of people that come from all kind of background, and so trust is a factor sometimes that people can't really trust me like they should.

But let me tell you, you're the one that's going to lose.

If you don't, what have you got to lose really?

Well, I don't want anybody to ever trip me that way again.

Whether you go through life like that, you are going to lose.

I'm trying to put you over, I want to put you over, and that's a losing attitude.

So you have, you know, just go ahead and trust me, because God said to do it.

If you do it that way, it takes all the pressure off of you trying to judge what kind of person I am.

You're doing it because God said to do it and then when you do that, see you're free, praise God.

I said you're free and so.

But so that's what.

Submit yourself, so it's under you.

Submit yourself under yield, and it's that the word under there is, is, is implied the second under to put you over.

And over the years I've seen the success of people that do that.

That just you know.

I've seen people that were wounded in other churches and they just came in here and it took them a while to get their feet on the ground.

But you know, after a while.

And then you know I like to tell people give me a year of your life.

That's what brother Osteen used to say.

Give me a year of your life.

It takes a year for a pastor to get the whole word, the whole counsel, the word into you.

I mean you can't do it in a couple of services.

It takes at least a year.

I gave him 15.

Didn't want to leave then, but I did.

I love you All right.

So Ephesians four, verse eight, wherefore he saith whom he, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity, captive and gave gifts, under men, verse 11.

And he gave these gifts.

He gave some apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, a five fold ministry talked about that recently.

These are gifts.

The Greek word is not charisma, like gifts of the Spirit, it's the Greek word Doma, which means present, a present.

So I've been given as a present to you.

The office of pastor is a present and it's for your benefit.

And so what happens when you get a present?

Well, it's only a benefit if you receive it.

If you just leave it under the tree, wrapped, it looks pretty but it's not of any use.

But when you receive it, you rip the paper off of it and you open the box and you take it out and it's a fuchsia colored tie and you say thank you, I've been needing that.

My wardrobe needed fuchsia.

Hopefully I'm better than an old tie, but anyway I haven't.

I'm not a regift, I'm just a gift.

I'm the gift, the first, first generation.

Have you ever been re gifted?

I mean, it's obvious.

Somebody gives you a candle.

I don't know what do you do with a candle.

I don't know what you do.

All right, so so receive the gift God gave you.

And what's the reason for the gift to mature you, to help you grow in the things of God.

Let's look at first Thessalonians.

We're talking about humility, one of the great, greatest revelations of how to the power of humility.

It's power.

It looks weak in the natural, but it's not.

It's power.

First, thessalonians five, verse 11.

Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do.

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves.

So Paul is riding to the church at Thessalonica.

He's also encouraging them to have it steam, have a steam and submit to the office of the leadership that you have, the office of the, which would be the office of the pastor, and this is profitable for you.

See, if I watch out after your soul, let's go back now, you know, to Ephesians Excuse me, hebrews, I'm sorry.

I get the right scripture, hebrews 13, where it says I watch after your soul as one that gives an account.

And let me finish reading that, because it's very telling.

Obey them that have the rule over you, cooperate with them, trust them, believe them that have the rule over you, or your spiritual guide.

That's what I am.

The word pastor is a pilotage or steerage.

It's like the captain of a ship I'm responsible for the direction.

My function is to lead, feed and guard you, just like a shepherd.

And so then it says obey them, that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch after your soul.

As one that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for the preacher, no, it's unprofitable for you.

So if you don't cooperate and you don't listen and you don't submit yourself, then what's gonna happen at some point?

I'm gonna know it.

Sometimes it's after you've gone in a huff.

Some people leave it without a word.

Some people leave and write a note half of it's nice and the other half is yuck, yuck.

I don't like to read those letters.

My staff reads all letters like that and I don't like to lay my eyes on them.

I've done enough of that in 33 years and 26 years of pastoring.

I don't want to read anybody's critique of my ministry.

You don't even know what you're talking about.

You're not, you're not able to critique this ministry.

I don't allow it.

We don't allow it.

What, what, what.

What kind of faith do I have in God that made me who I am?

To listen to you denigrate what I do.

Well, you mean, you're above reprimand from you.

I am Brother hosting could rebuke me all they wanted.

He didn't.

He didn't find anything to rebuke, amen.

But I'm subject.

I have other ministers that I fellowship with on a regular basis.

They, they, I've never been rebuked by anybody.

So don't be, don't be writing me ugly letters.

That's not nice, but so it's.

So.

What am I gonna do?

Well, I'm gonna give a report, and it's gonna be with grief.

I'm gonna say something like well, so-and-so left the church.

They wrote me an ugly letter.

I'm no longer.

I've forgiven them, father.

I prayed your mercy on them and now I'm taking my pastoral covering off them.

I just have to put you on notice, father, that I'm no longer responsible for their lives.

There's someone else's problem and they are a problem.

So what's who's that?

Unprofitable for?

It's unprofitable for you.

It's unprofitable for you.

So you know, these are things that you need to know.

Humility will take care of all of that.

Humility will take care of it.

Let's be humble, let's be submissive.

Let's you know, and so the pastor.

It's a safeguard against deception.

I have to watch after you, watch over you, not on a personal basis.

I'm not watching every little thing you do.

I'm talking about the direction of the ministry.

Are you with me now?

So humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, submit to your pastor.

And then also, the last one is found in Philippians, chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Are you getting anything out of this tonight?

Well, some of you have heard it before, and so that now this is seed and it's gonna help you water the seed that's already been planted, you'll also be able to help people that Opposing themselves, maybe they criticize you know.

You know what more things than I know I Used to.

I remember one time years ago, brother those things had just gotten his television equipment and we had our first Sunday on television and Brother Stain it.

I mean, he had no Experience being on television, you know, and it was a little bit awkward I mean, the normal man say it.

It was a little awkward for him and I just kept praying for him because I'm for him, he's my pastor and I got the vision of it.

Instead of preaching to 5,000 people in person, he's preaching to untold thousands all over the nation watching this program, and so I got the vision of it.

And so the first week was a little bit dicey.

He didn't know how to have an entrance.

They didn't know how to shoot an entrance to the program.

So they had him coming down the aisle Remember that old building, how long the aisles were.

I mean he's walking half a mile with a camera on him like this, you know, and it was awkward, you know.

And he and he didn't do it the next week and so some people got to shooting off their mouth.

After, after the second week, they were shooting off their mouth.

I was kind of young in the Lord, I hadn't been saved, but about a year, year and a half.

But I knew that was wrong and I told I said look, you're, you're out of order.

You don't like this.

Why don't you leave?

If you haven't got any more vision than that, let's put up with this.

I mean I don't like it that he's preaching into the camera.

I wouldn't relook at me.

Yeah, if he'd look at you, he'd quit looking at you real quick, so You'll be able to help others.

I won't have to get involved.

Praise God.

All right, so the light you find, philippians.

Yet chapter 2, verse 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also in the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be Equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and Took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion.

As a man, he humbled himself and Became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also had highly exalted him and Giving him a name which is above every name.

That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow things in heaven of, things in earth and things under the earth.

That word things, as italicized, it can mean words, it can mean beings.

I Mean just think about the name of Jesus above every word, it's above every being, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God which worketh in you both to willing to do of his good pleasure.

And so the third Under is humble yourself under the mighty hand of God to serve.

You know, put on your servant clothes.

You know Jesus did that.

Jesus put on his servant clothes.

He served as your Savior.

He was God, he was equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit and he humbled himself to become a mere man.

And, and so everything he did in the Gospels is as the Son of man.

He was a man anointed of God, that's, he did not function on the earth as the Son of God, he was the Son of God, but he functioned as a man anointed of God.

That was humbling.

He humbled himself, and he did that as our servant.

We sang that song tonight I'm your servant, I've come to wash you, wash you.

He washed us in his blood.

He's our servant.

Amazing.

And so you, you have to humble yourself to die to your own desires and agenda to serve others.

Look at To hold your place there and run over to James.

It's just a few pages to the right, james, chapter 1, notice it talked about work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

James 1 · chapter mention

We'll get to that in a second.

What does that mean?

All right, james 1, 21.

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

So James is written to believers they're saved, they're born again.

So what's he talking about?

Receive the engrafted word that's able to save your souls again.

He's not talking about salvation of your souls.

You're not working at your own salvation.

Fear and trimming as far as going to heaven.

You're working out, renewing your mind and, as I said this morning, part of being a church member is elevating our EQ.

You know our IQ is what we go to school for.

You can have a high IQ and all that kind of thing Intelligence quotient but we need high EQs in church emotional quotient.

We have to have a maturity, we have to have thick skins and tender hearts.

Amen, that's what I said this morning.

I still believe that Thick skins and tender heart, hard to offend.

I mean, I just consider myself impossible to offend, you know, I just say I will not be offended.

Blessed are those who are not offended in me.

And so to work out our own salvation means let's work on our attitude, let's guard against pride.

Let's guard against any kind of tendency that we would have to promote ourselves or to vaunt ourselves.

No, let's think about everybody else first.

Let's look and see what kind of a blessing we can be to other people.

And so God can't take you any higher than you can get lower.

I said God can't take you any higher than you can get lower.

You know, brother Hagin tells the story that he and Aretha were in.

Was it Mesquite?

No, let's see, I'm trying to remember where their ministry was in Texas before they went to Tulsa.

Huh, mckinney, I think it was McKinney, and they had their house and they had a garage and their ministry was growing, books were selling.

So they had a plan to take over their house, turn their house into a ministry headquarters and move.

And they had all their plans all made.

And they went up to visit some friends in Tulsa and a businessman met them there this was 1963 or something like that and he said you know, brother Hagin, you need to move your ministry to Tulsa.

Well, he had plans to just expand where he was, he didn't care about going to Oklahoma.

And so he said let me show you this building.

It's for sales, brother TL Osborne's building.

Brother Lonnie ought to be here.

He can tell this whole story.

But because he was there and so he took and showed him Brother TL Osborne's building it's been torn down now, but it was his first building.

And so he walked in there and he said you know, something like a buzzer went off in my spirit, and I mean it was the witness.

He felt a witness that he was supposed to have that building.

So when he got back home he didn't want to go there.

He had no desire.

I want you to know that he had no desire to go there, he wanted to stay where he was.

And so that's what he told the Lord.

He said Lord, he said you know, in the natural, I don't care anything about going to Tulsa, but if that's what you want for me, I won't stand in your way, boy, how's that for a ringing obedience?

I mean I love it when these men of God tell on themselves like that.

I mean that was kind of man.

I don't know if I could talk to God like that, but he did.

You know, I won't stand in your way.

I guess she won't, but anyway.

And so he said I won't stand in your way and he said I'm gonna give you that building.

You won't even have to pay for it, you just watch me.

And that's where they went.

God opened the whole thing and they moved to Tulsa and the rest is history.

I mean it's amazing what God will do when you're humble, when you humble yourself.

But you've got to crucify your own flesh and not go along with what your own desires are.

Sometimes it's God is in your desires and sometimes he's not, and you've got to be open to letting him correct.

You know, I knew I had a calling when I got to Lakewood Most people don't know that that soon but when I got saved, god began to go into my mind and memory and I began to remember things as a child.

And Paul said you know, I was alive unto God once, and then sin came and I died.

Remember that verse.

So I believe all of our children are saved when they're born.

They're born saved, but then when they come to a certain point where they recognize sin and they cooperate with it, then they need to get saved.

And hopefully, if you're close to your children and you keep them in church, it's seamless.

They just get saved and it's just.

There's no time that they ever spend lost.

But I couldn't say that about me, and so I remember when I was four years old we were at our Lady of Fatima Church in Galena Park, texas yeah, god can even speak to you in a Catholic church and there were missionaries from South America there on that Sunday.

How would I know that?

I buried that.

But when I got saved, god began to remind me and cause in my salvation experience.

He called me to pastor and that's unusual, I admit.

Most people don't know that and I had a hard time really believing it for a while.

But then he started showing me that when I was four years old, and in church, here's the South American missionaries.

They're giving a testimony about their ministry there among the Indians down there on Amazon or something, and my little heart burned on the inside and I desired to be like them.

I wanted to be in the ministry.

Well, a Catholic boy, that means being a priest.

A Catholic boy means you're not gonna get married and all the nuns man, they encouraged that call, they encouraged.

They saw something in me and they wanted me to go to the seminary.

From my young age, when I got to be in the fourth grade, I was a target and I became president, the nights of the altar I was the class monitor.

I was the enemy of all the students.

I had to tell on people I was misbehaved.

I hated that Usually I didn't, but anyway and so I knew all of that.

But I just looked to serve.

I said, well, god, you're gonna have to work that out.

I'm 33 years old, I'm kind of late to the game.

I don't even know how this could happen.

I'm glad to do it somehow, some way.

And God just be opened, door, open door, open door.

And then finally, when I started opening the services in prayer, just amazing how God opened that door.

I won't go into all of that.

And then one Sunday we're in church.

Brother Osteen says okay, I want the following group to meet me in the counselor's office right after church today.

And he had a long list of people, about 30 people, and he read these lists of people and they were all people that I knew and respected.

They were leaders, the head of the prayer partners, the head, the ex-head of the prayer partners, this minister, that minister, this person, that person I won't name any names.

But, and finally, the last two names on the list, john and Gladys Griner, and I almost fell out of my chair.

I was blown away.

What am I doing in that list of people?

What in the world could he possibly want with us?

So we go and sit in this room about the size of this middle section and Gladys and I sat on the back.

We tried to get all the way.

In fact we tried to sit outside if possible, but we sat on the back row.

And so Brother Osteen says you know, but Odie and I we've been doing all the work around here.

We need some help from you.

You all recognize ministries here in the church and we won't help with weddings and funerals and we're gonna start calling on you.

We'd like for you to step up and do some of these as they come up, because we just can't do all of this work here.

We're just not able to do it all.

We just felt like we could trust y'all to do that and, headed over this, we're calling it the Pastors Council and heading over the Pastors Council, the directors of this Pastors Council will be John and Gladys Granner.

Well, you know, I mean I turned white and every neck in that place turned around and looked at us and they were not filled with joy and they're all looking at us and there's no place to go.

We're on the back row and not anybody congratulated us.

Not anybody said you know, john, that's wonderful.

We watched you, we admire you.

Thank you for all you do around here.

Anything you need you call me, I'll be there.

No, not a word Zero, which shocked me all the way down to my toes.

I wonder if Brother Osteen knew what a bunch of stiff necked old clucks that he had out there that he thought were ministers.

Isn't that terrible?

That's why I'm not mentioning any names, so they might hear this someday and if the shoe fits, wear it.

So anyway.

So you know, brother, his son-in-law no, not Gary went to Victoria.

I'm sorry.

Jim Graff called me, so he was kind of my in-between with the staff.

He called me.

He said we need a wedding done.

So Methodist lady, and she's been divorced and her pastor doesn't wanna do the wedding because he did her first wedding and he just doesn't feel good about doing it and we're gonna do the wedding.

Well, you know, I'm a man under authority, I don't get to choose that.

I wouldn't do that.

If I'm in charge, I'm not gonna do somebody's wedding from the general public that doesn't come to my church.

I don't do that, but they did.

That's their business.

I don't have a right to say no.

I said, yeah, I'll get somebody right on it.

So I started calling and I went down four people.

Nobody wanted to do it off my list.

Nobody would do it.

So I called Jim back a week later and I'm kind of feeling bad.

A week has gone by this is a person who's you know this coming up pretty soon and we didn't give an answer.

So I called Jim back.

I said Jim, nobody wants to do it, I can't get anybody to do it.

He said well, you do it.

I said well, I can't.

What do you mean?

You can't?

I'm not ordained.

What do you mean?

You're not ordained?

I said well, I'm not, I'm not ordained, I can't do a wedding.

We'll fix that.

Okay, see, I never asked, I didn't go up there.

And hey, brother Osteen, will you ordain me please?

Pretty pleased with sugar on it.

No, I just waited and it came to me.

Are you with me now?

I'm talking about humbling yourself.

I said I'm talking about humbling myself.

So and so I served others.

I did weddings, I did funerals, I did counseling, I went on errands.

I mean I prayed for people.

I had special meetings away from church for people and I just did the work of an associate pastor just on a volunteer basis, without the official staff position.

Romans 12, 3 says that I beseech you therefore, brethren, not to think of yourself more highly, as you ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has given to every man the measure of faith, and I like what the Amplified says.

It says don't have an exaggerated opinion of your own importance.

Don't have an exaggerated opinion of your own importance.

And so we're all part of the same body.

Well, I'll have a different function.

I mean, what good does it do for the little finger to brag to the little toe?

I mean it doesn't really matter, right?

I mean you, just one of you is a toe and whatever is your finger, you're both members of the same body.

We have different functions.

There's no point in thinking, oh my, and this, oh my, and that.

Well you're.

You know, let's guard against that.

It's one of the cardinal blessings of the kingdom to think of ourselves with a soberness and to evaluate ourselves and to make sure that we're doing the right thing all the time rather than the other to assume that we're just that we're humdingers, we're a humdinger.

Reminds me of the lady that prophesied over her pastor thou art a dinger, but soon thou shalt be a humdinger.

No, they never came to this church.

That didn't happen here.

Ephesians 5.21 says to submit one to another in the fear of God.

See, that's part of the way you know you're filled with the Holy Ghost, being filled with the Holy Ghost speaking to yourself in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, giving thanks in all things and then finally submitting yourself one to another.

That when you can submit one to another in the fear of God, you know he's watching and he's keeping score.

He's keeping the books.

If something's inequitable, god knows it and he will balance the books at some point in time.

Don't try to balance the books yourself.

God will do it.

Amen.

And so be under God, be under pastor, be under each other.

Three unders to put you over.

Did you get anything out of this tonight?

Well, praise God, amen, all right.