Prevailing Church : Humility

Okay this is going to be difficult but let's focus. Yeah just Google worship

leader who brings both his kids on stage and sings and you might find it on

YouTube. No. He is famous. Okay father please Lord it's right here but it's not

So guys we continue. Good to go Wayne? Okay guys we continue with prevailing

church and a strange aspect that the prevailing church was developed which

kind of took me by surprise is a prevailing church we said is a church

that engages that contends that overcomes and yet it is impossible to do

that unless we embrace this nature of Christ which is humility or to take it a

step further which is a church that is okay with being humiliated a church that

is comfortable with humiliation very odd but if you want to be a prevailing

church that engages contends and overcomes then we must learn how to

respond to being humiliated how we must be a church that understands humility

you would think that a contending church shouldn't spend too much time down that

road and yet it's such an essential part of who we need to become so Hebrews

Hebrews 1:3

chapter 1 verse 3 on one hand says that Jesus Christ is the radiance of the

invisible God and that he holds everything together by the power of his

word and so we know that the Sun took his honored place high in the heavens

right alongside God far higher than any rank or rule so there's that side of

Christ and then yet at the same time it says in Philippians 2 7 that he did not

care two hoots for his reputation but he took on the status of a slave here lies

the paradox that the prevailing church must embrace that on one hand I must

have an accurate estimation of who God has made me and who I am and who we are

as a church but on the other hand I must be able to empty myself it's both

it's not one or the other

from God's perspective you are his son and that that in your heart from God's

perspective you are his son you must embed that in your heart but from your

perspective you must see yourself as a servant that represents him here in the

earth from his perspective you are his son and you must embed that in your

heart but from your perspective from my perspective I must see myself as a

servant who represents him on earth this is the nature that the prevailing church

must hold intention if it wants to engage contend and overcome otherwise

we will be a church that continuously reacts to things gets hurt gets broken

takes time to heal can't handle humiliation and is not like the

overcomer Christ who once said in Romans chapter 8 that you are more than

Romans 8 · chapter mention

conquerors because of Christ and if it is because of Christ then one of the

things that stood out in his life is his ability to stand and say I am I was

before your father Abraham was who can stand and say I am your master who can

stand and say I am the Messiah who can stand and say you will see the clouds

open and the Son of God come down he can say all that and yet at the same time he

can also say that I am the first of servants a chief apostle becomes a chief

of servants

so both have to come together eh? get used to this from God's perspective you

are his son embedded in your heart so that you never forget that but from your

perspective you must be his servant and representative in the earth and if you

don't think like that and in that order son first servant next then it is

impossible to become a prevailing church

in James chapter 4 verse 6 it says God resists the proud and gives grace to the

James 4:6

humble and the word resist there is almost like a military term where you

put up a front and strongly oppose and so here's what God is saying I resist you

Jacob with the same strength that a military commander would resist an enemy

that is the strength with which I resist you when you are proud but I give grace

as in all of myself unfettered without grudging bountifully I give myself to

you I give grace to you when you're humble and then it goes on to say in

verse 7 therefore submit to God and resist the devil if you want to be a

prevailing church this is critical because there is a therefore in verse 7

it says God gives grace God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble

therefore submit to God and resist the devil it is almost as if Jacob if you

don't go down this route acts 29 if you don't embrace this as your character you

will neither be able to submit to God nor will you be able to resist the devil

all day pride is the kind of thing that prevents you from submitting to God and

at the same time it is prevents you from resisting the devil then you can't be a

prevailing church

it is chapter 4 verse 6 says that God gives God resists the proud and gives

Isaiah 4:6

grace to the humble and then it says in verse 7 therefore submit to God and

resist the devil and he will flee from you it almost seems to say that listen

you cannot submit to God unless you walk in humility and you cannot resist the

devil and he will not flee from you unless you walk in humility and yet

this is not a one-sided equation because the church is plagued with one or the

other either they have an estimation of themselves that is way out of whack or

they have such a low estimation of themselves that we begin to sell

ourselves short we are either paupers or we are princes what about holding

both together where you're both prince and pauper where you're both son and

servant this is how prevailing churches are able to make noise here on earth we

see this in Nebuchadnezzar's account in Daniel chapter 4 if you go to Daniel

Daniel 4 · chapter mention Daniel 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 you'll find such a progression Daniel chapter 4 because

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

guys pride and false humility are the same eh both are self-focused one is not

better than the other my god can't stand it when you are next to proud people

can't stand it when you're next to people who are falsely humble both are

equally obnoxious and all of them all of us are one or the other at different

times of our lives if you listen to my words I'm not saying one or the other

I'm saying that both have to be held together so guys you have to listen to

the entire sentence so that you can get the sense of it otherwise we'll end up

as princes or as paupers you can't pick on one word or the other when I say

pauper what I mean is poor in spirit and that is a Jesus statement so on one hand

I have to be poor in spirit and I have to be a servant here on earth on the

other hand I have to have an honest estimation of myself that comes both

from God his word and those that I submit to here in the body we don't

realize that that to have an honest estimation of myself I need three things

one I need God's understanding of who I am two I need to understand what the

word says I am and three I need to understand what you say I am because

God uses you to point out my blind spots God doesn't show me my blind spots

through dreams because I won't understand it even if you showed it in a

dream which is why it's called a blind spot in the dark it even gets darker

but you have been placed in my life to show me my blind spots

and so these three things allow us to have a healthy estimation that is

godly so there's that on one hand on the other hand I'm poor in spirit I'm a

servant strangely enough even though I'm a servant I can't look at you and say

you're my servant too no I'm a servant you are God's servant and I'm your

servant I'm God's servant I'm your servant you are not my servant you are

his servant you have to decide for yourself how you deal with that but as

far as I'm concerned I am supposed to see myself as God's servant who serves

you but you don't serve me that is your call you are God's servant Jesus uses

the word slave which is even a little lower but since we don't understand

slave we'll stick to servant look at Nebuchadnezzar chapter 4 and not

Nebuchadnezzar chapter 4 Daniel chapter 4 Daniel chapter 4 verse 30 onwards

Daniel 4 · chapter mention Daniel 4:30

let's start at verse 28 all this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar 12 months

later as a king was walking on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon he said

it's not this the great Babylon I have built as a royal residence by my mighty

power and for the glory of my majesty the words were still on his lips when a

voice came from heaven this is what is decreed for you King Nebuchadnezzar your

royal authority has been taken from you you will be driven away from the people

and will live with the wild animals you will eat grass like cattle seven times

will pass by you for until you acknowledge that the most high is

sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes

immediately what he had said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled he was

driven away from the people he ate grass like cattle his body was drenched with

the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his

nails like the claw of a bird at the end of that time I Nebuchadnezzar raised my

eyes towards heaven and my sanity was restored then I praised the most high I

honored and glorified him who lived forever his dominion is an eternal

dominion his kingdom endures from generation to generation all the peoples

of the earth are regarded as nothing he does as he pleases with the powers of

the heavens and the peoples of the earth no one can hold back his hand or say to

him what have you done at the same time that my sanity was restored my honor and

splendor will return to me for the glory of my kingdom my advisors and nobles

sought me out and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than

before now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and glorify the king of heaven

because everything he does is right and all his ways are just and those who walk

in pride he is able to humble Wow using a pagan king to teach us multiple

lessons to become a prevailing church a church that engages contends and

prevails overcomes one must learn this mix that Christ your overcomer had

which is on one hand he is seated on high says he's I am on the other hand he

also says I was sent to be your servant the strange thing with Nebuchadnezzar

story is yes at one point he is proud and he's removed from office and he

spends his time with animals in forests insane but then the strange thing when

you read what we just read is when he's restored he doesn't say now oh god I'm a

worm that you have restored to the throne he says as soon as my sanity

returned I got my throne back I was made majestic again I had splendor restored

my mobile sucked me the people looked at me again and he begins to talk about

everything that is restored and then he says but all this was from the hand of

God this pagan king had an accurate estimation of himself and he gave credit

to whom credit was due to be given this is the way we need to live out lives as

a people of God and live out lives as children of God to accurately estimate

who I am I am this this is what I have been given I'm good at this it'll

bother on brilliance and overconfidence but it doesn't step into it and having

said that this is who I am I now say where I got it from both have to go hand

in hand and it's such a fine art that God wants to teach us any questions

before we go on it's not that you aren't wonderful after all you were made in the

God it's that he is more wonderful and your wonderfulness draws its source from

him I am wonderful there are times I'm brilliant the wisdom I have sometimes

just blows me away the things I build are so beautiful the obedience I

sometimes show and the skill that I have to build certain things that God has

given me are so amazing he includes me in projects that are impossible because

he knows that I will be faithful and I'll do them well and the grades that I

have in certain areas are tremendous I have an apostolic call upon my life I am

called to the nations this is who I am but guess what I was not born with one

of them it was all given to me and I thrill at having to work with my father

on these things he could do all of it himself but he says come Jacob I so

enjoyed doing this with you and therefore I can say it on one hand and

then draw my source from him as the author of everything I have just said

this doesn't mean you go around saying this everywhere but there are times

when you need to acknowledge how wonderful you are we don't we wait for

a prophetic word to tell us how wonderful we are and that's good because

God does tell you how wonderful you are but there are times when you need to

look at who made you and whose image you are made in and remind yourself of how

wonderfully you're made he said that about you before you were even formed

when yourES bawd

question

yeah

you know questions because you agree

that's good

Guys, so internally I must think so first,

before externally acknowledging stuff.

Because whenever these things are not internally cemented,

I indulge in either pride or in self abasement

or false humility.

Both are evil, both are evil.

Both will be resisted,

because they're just variations of the same thing, pride.

Excessive focus on self, exalting yourself above God,

above His word, above everything He says.

That's it.

One way or the other, it's the same thing.

But internally, if you can get to this place

where you acknowledge and know your measure,

not because of what you think of yourself,

but because you have gotten an idea

of what God thinks of you,

gotten an idea of what the word says about you,

and gotten an idea of what others say about you

because of their desire to see you do better.

And if you can walk there,

then you are usually safe from pride.

Then every time I get proud,

there will be some way or the other

that God will show me through the word or directly,

or through you, that Jacob, you stepped into pride again.

I've so, I know I've said this before,

but I'm so grateful for the people who point out pride,

who point out pride, arrogance,

wrongness, wrong motives in my life.

I love it.

I wouldn't be where I am

if it wasn't for people who did that to me.

My God, you should crave for it.

You should plead for it, saying,

oh God, please, please send me honest people

who will tell me things on my face

so that I chain myself.

Don't ask the question

when you are told about something and you're like,

well, what evidence do you have?

Tell me, why do you think so?

What did you see about this?

Show me evidence.

Why have you come to this conclusion?

Really, I've got to prove things to you?

Or someone else has to prove it to you?

If someone says to Betty,

Betty, you've got a deficit in this area,

and Betty knows that that person

is seriously interested in a well-being,

then Betty should examine what is said

instead of asking for evidence.

Go ahead.

Absolutely.

But when the motive becomes,

prove it before I accept it,

then you're already on the,

on an odd kind of defensive.

The thing should be,

what I normally do when people point out stuff

that is wrong, and every week I go through that.

My thing would be, uh-huh,

and then I'll go back and,

the uh-huh is a genuine uh-huh,

and then I'll go back and examine it,

and then say, where did you see it?

It's after.

The first thing is to receive it,

because I know there are certain people

who are interested in my well-being.

They want me to be better.

Schemility that demeans myself to exalt God is not godly.

Schemility that demeans myself to exalt God is not godly.

Schemility that demeans myself to exalt God is not godly.

The more this is solidified in a church,

the less we'll have disclaimers like,

you know, it's not that I'm not a sinner, but,

we all sin, but, we are all human, but,

my god, the number of disclaimers we have,

that's why church services go long.

Moses in Numbers 12-3 says something amazing.

It says that Moses was the meekest man

on the face of the earth,

and guess who's writing it?

Moses.

If I did that, you guys would not be very happy.

Well, Moses does that, and you can accept it.

Moses wrote the first five books,

and he writes that Moses was the meekest man on the earth.

Why?

Because the guy knew what God said about him,

and the guy had an assessment of himself before God

that was accurate.

At the end of the day,

a person who has an honest assessment of himself

will begin to live a life that is more transparent

and more willing to be accountable to man.

Hear me again.

A person who is beginning to walk in humility

and has an accurate assessment of his own self

is a man or a woman who is living a life

that is more transparent,

and is living a life that is more willing

to be accountable to man.

That is the evidence sometimes for a person who says,

I have an accurate estimation of myself,

and I walk humbly.

The way to find that out is,

is this person living a transparent life,

or is their life shrouded in secret?

You know nothing about them.

Is this a person who submits to men and women around them,

or is this a person who isolates himself?

Clear evidence sometimes, guys, of humility.

Any questions on that?

The reason I'm giving,

I'm saying any questions on that is challenge me,

because these are such critical things to our lives, guys.

If God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble,

then I think this is vitally important for me.

Yeah, if I am someone who has an accurate estimation

of myself, and if I am someone who says that

I know how to walk in humility,

then you will see greater transparency every year

in my life, and you will see a willingness to submit

to being accountable to men and women.

Both will be evident.

Both will be evident.

I don't know if you're quite quite a standby.

I get so tired of having to say stuff like,

you know, we are all sinners, but,

or I don't mean this this way, but,

or it's just constantly trying to say things

that'll make us look humble enough.

We can never say anything straight.

Hey, I had a brilliant week.

No, you know, the week was difficult,

but compared to the other weeks, I had a pretty good week.

Really, you had a brilliant week, say it.

Or you exhibited great wisdom.

I don't know whether it's wise in your eyes,

and maybe you had a week where you were wiser than this,

but this week was really wise for me.

You could have saved so much breath.

Continuously trying to downplay what we do.

You know, God really blessed me.

He gave me $12,000.

I guess that's nothing for you,

because you must be earning $20,000.

But for me, it was, you got $12,000, celebrate.

Give me half of it.

I'm not some nameless, faceless, Gideon-like character

of treading wheat in a winepress

and lamenting about the insignificance

of the tribe I come from.

I don't know why Gideon's helped up as a hero at that point.

I mean, if you want to compare yourself to Gideon,

compare yourself to him after chapter seven.

Not before.

He's talking about how insignificant he is.

When he's, and God literally has to come and say to him,

listen, valiant warrior, valiant warrior.

You know, half the reason we are afraid of things,

we talked about this two weeks ago, fear.

How we are not fearless.

We are not fearless because neither the people around us,

nor we ourselves, talk to ourselves about who we are.

There is this amazing thing called meditation,

which is simply God-directed self-talk.

We do not indulge in God-directed self-talk.

Therefore, when we are standing in the world,

we cannot say a single decent thing about ourselves,

except when we come to church.

God-directed self-talk.

God-directed self-talk.

Listen to Gideon's God-directed self-talk.

I am of the least of the tribe of Benjamin.

I have been left abandoned.

We have served the Lord, but nothing has happened.

This is a wine press.

I must be treading grapes to make wine,

which is used for rejoicing.

But how can we rejoice at a time like this?

So I will thrash wheat in the wine press.

And even when the angel comes,

he continues saying the same thing.

And so God has to now help him engage

in God-directed self-talk, where he says valiant warrior.

And even then, Gideon goes in the middle of the night

to tear down the idol,

because he still doesn't have the strength to do it.

Because like I said, if you don't practice it now,

it ain't gonna happen tomorrow or in heaven.

Self-directed, God-directed self-talk.

Because if your family doesn't do it for you,

if your wife doesn't do it for you,

if your children aren't doing it for you,

who's gonna do it for you?

Not cats.

Perhaps some cats.

Like Timmy.

I don't know.

Self-directed God-talk.

It doesn't really matter who we are,

it matters who caught it.

Yeah, and what he said.

This is how you build a decent estimation of yourself.

God-directed self-talk.

Any questions, guys?

Please challenge me on this.

Say, no, this sounds too proudish.

But it ain't.

Go.

Go.

Yeah.

I would use him as an example if I was preaching about that.

I would.

That he can use people who are scared,

frightened, don't think much of themselves.

I would use him as an example for that.

But in this case, I find it difficult

that he's lamenting even after the angel speaks to him.

Yeah.

So on one hand, begin to indulge in God-directed self-talk,

otherwise you won't be able to face your boss,

you won't be able to face your clients,

you won't be able to face your spouse.

On the other hand, learn how to empty yourself.

That's a strange thing.

One hand is this thing about accurate estimation.

On the other hand, you must be so obsessed

with emptying yourself, because that's what Jesus did.

Focus on how to fully empty yourself.

How do you empty yourself?

Three very simple pathways, which we've talked about before.

One, self-forgetfulness.

Self-forgetfulness.

Do well, and then forget yourself.

Get something, forget yourself.

Don't think too much of Jacob.

Jacob, that is great, that is a great message,

really good preaching.

Now, engage in this thing called self-forgetfulness.

Empty yourself, otherwise you will be stuck

at that level of great preaching for the next six months

when you could go so much further.

Self-forgetfulness is a word that C.S. Lewis came up with.

Second, acknowledge all that you have,

and our comes from him.

Acknowledge him as El Elion,

the mighty possessor of the universe

who gives you all things.

The mighty possessor of the universe

who gives you all things.

What are these, what are we talking about?

We're talking about ways to empty yourself.

What a cool thing, huh?

On one hand, God is saying,

be full of what I tell you you are.

And then on the other hand, he's saying,

now, go, empty yourself.

What a cool God.

And the third one is,

be full of what I tell you you are.

And then on the other hand, he's saying,

now, go, empty yourself.

What a cool God.

Not to cling.

These are three, I mean, magic bullets,

if I was allowed to say that in church.

Three, do not cling

to your advantages, privileges, and rights.

Whose life do we get all this from?

From the one life that really matters, Jesus Christ.

He did all three.

What a cool God, man.

What are we trying to do this for?

We must become a people who prevail.

One of the ways we prevail is by walking

in this kind of attitude.

Any questions, guys?

Think like this, huh?

Practice these things.

Self-forgetfulness.

After a great time of piano playing,

Chris goes and, no, no big deal.

After making a huge business deal,

Dano goes and, self-forgetfulness.

After teaching dance to 50 students, self-forgetfulness.

After a brilliant message, self-forgetfulness.

After getting a promotion at work, self-forgetfulness.

After playing a great game of soccer, self-forgetfulness.

In small and big things, because we think

we must engage in this in big things.

Now, you can't engage, you can never deal with big things

unless you do it in tiny, tiny, tiny,

tiny, tiny little things.

Self-forgetfulness also helps you

get over your mistakes faster.

So, you burn your cooking dish, self-forgetfulness.

There are more dishes to cook.

It just goes on and on and on.

Acknowledge him as El Elion, the mighty possessor.

This makes it easy, even when you lose things,

to know there is the mighty possessor of the universe

from whom everything comes.

And there is more, because he owns a candy shop.

It helps you recover from loss,

because he's the repairer of the breach

and the restorer of the streets that are ruined.

He's the locust chaser.

He didn't call himself that, but it kind of says that.

And then the last one is, do not cling on

to your advantages, privileges, and rights.

This is critical, eh?

You can do the law first, too, and then hold on

to your rights and advantages and privileges.

Must lay them down, because that is where pride begins to creep in.

Our relationship with our possessions

is also an extension of either pride or humility.

Our relationship with our possessions, this is critical,

our relationship with our possessions

is also an indicator or an extension

of our pride or humility.

When something gives you less joy and more,

when something that God has given you

is less of a matter of joy, but more of a matter of a statement,

then it will turn into an idol.

Let me give you an example.

So let's assume that someone gives,

what's his name? Mike.

Someone gives Mike this guitar.

And it is the ultimate guitar.

Eric Clapton played it.

And so he gives it to Mike.

And Mike holds it, he looks at it,

and it is supposed to be something that is a joyful gift

that he was given, because God loves giving us things

for our pleasure.

But he receives it and initially it's joy,

and from there on it becomes a statement of his status.

Where Clapton's guitar now becomes,

I got Clapton's guitar.

It's not a question of joy anymore,

it becomes a statement of status.

The moment a God-given gift becomes a statement of status,

it becomes an idol.

And with it will come sensuality, confusion, pride, and the demonic.

Doesn't matter whether it's your house, your promotion,

a car, a guitar, a wife, a husband, a child.

Doesn't matter.

The moment where God has given you,

for your joy,

that when he gives it to you,

that your joy may be complete,

when it becomes a statement of who you are,

it becomes an idol.

Check, check.

Immediately start checking in your life.

Because I've come to Canada to study and gotten a work permit,

or because I've immigrated to Canada,

or because I have this car or that car,

or because I have this guitar or that guitar,

or because I found a beautiful spouse,

or because I have five kids,

the moment what God has given you for your pleasure and joy

becomes a statement of who you are,

it becomes an idol.

And when it becomes an idol,

it always brings in sensuality, pride, confusion, and the demonic.

Or power, position.

Could be power or position.

King Asa, Asa,

when he saw everything that God did for him,

his heart got proud.

Proud.

Sometimes a lack speaks to.

Many of us aren't happy when someone else in church begins to really prosper.

It's amazing how bitter Christians get when others do really well.

Hey, when I walk into your house and I see a house that is beautiful,

my heart should thrill that your house is more beautiful than mine.

If you have anything that I don't have,

and you are enjoying it and God has given it to you,

my heart should be so happy.

I love it when Christians prosper.

I mean, I'll call him a show-off,

but I love the fact that he has a Mustang.

Every time I look at the Mustang, I think to myself,

I should have had it when he was young,

when I was young, but now that I'm old, I'm happy that he has it.

Thrill at other Christians who have good things.

Thrill at other Christians making money.

Thrill at other Christians and their big houses.

Thrill at other Christians and their comfy sofas.

Thrill at other Christians and their connect tickets.

Thrill at other Christians and their chalet in Vancouver.

Thrill at it, because we somehow do not enjoy it when other Christians prosper.

We either assign a motive for their prosperity,

or we assign a motive for our jealousy.

It's discernment.

I mean, I wrote a book, I couldn't even get it printed.

Chris writes a book and it's in the library.

Thrill at it, even though it's about cats.

Every time she sends me an email saying,

my book went into this place or my book is this,

I go tell people about it, man.

I throw in a bit about cats too, but I go tell people.

Every time Dana would do well in Bahrain, my heart would thrill, man.

Guys, why am I harping on this point?

Simply because it is an issue among Christians.

Simply because it is an issue in this church,

just in case you thought we were talking about the other church.

Joan's dad was like that.

He would thrill at other people prospering.

It's a culture of an orphan that seeks equality.

It's a culture of an orphan that seeks equality.

Why do you want to be equal? Because you're an orphan.

How are they?

It's a culture of an orphan that seeks equality.

Yeah.

Okay. Let's conclude.

I want to move from the word humility to humiliation.

Humiliation.

Most of the quotes that I will use are from quotes that

Oswald Chambers came up with and I think they're so worth considering.

From humility, we move to humiliation.

A prevailing church is a church that is willing to suffer humiliation.

A prevailing church or a people of God who prevail,

who conquer, who overcome, who contend,

are a people who are willing to suffer humiliation.

Matthew 5, verse 39, Jesus says,

Matthew 5:39

I tell you not to resist an evil person,

but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

I mean, in the natural realm, if you don't hit someone back when they hit you,

you are seen as weak.

But in the spiritual realm, when you don't hit back,

it shows evidence that the Son of God lives in you.

But the hit back thing sounds too far removed.

When you don't respond in kind to the way people treat you,

when people treat you unfairly,

when people misunderstand you deliberately,

when people misrepresent you deliberately,

our usual response is,

I must correct this, because for us,

vindication and justice is important.

And don't hang on to that, there's more coming,

so you'll get the full picture before you respond to that.

Vindication and justice is important.

And yet Jesus says that when someone slaps you on the right cheek,

turn the other to him,

because in the spiritual realm, when you do that,

it is the evidence of the Son of God whose nature is in you.

When you're personally insulted,

when you're personally ridiculed,

when these things happen,

you must not only not resent it,

but you must make it an opportunity

to exhibit the Son of God in your life.

Not only are you meant not to resist it,

you're supposed to use it as an opportunity.

Thank God for these ridiculously high illogical standards

that Christ has set for us.

When you're insulted, when you're ridiculed,

when you're treated wrongly, when you're misrepresented,

when you're misunderstood, when you're accused,

use it as an opportunity to evidence the Son of God,

because that is what he expects.

A prevailing church is willing to suffer humiliation.

You and I are not. I am not.

But this convicts me.

But this convicts me pretty hard.

There have been occasions when I remember the last church I was in,

and I was leaving for good to begin Acts 29.

And there used to be this nice lady,

but for whatever reason she had it out for me.

And she would make fun of me every Sunday afternoon

and gather a crowd to make fun of me too.

As a pastor, you have to be kind even though you don't want to.

And so two weeks left and I'm leaving,

and this lady comes up and she gathers a little crowd

and she starts making fun again

of things that she knows either irk me or make me feel not nice.

And she started doing it again.

And I'm thinking to myself, I've got two weeks, nothing to lose.

I'm going to give it to you.

And so I sense a lot saying,

what do you really want to do, Jacob?

And so she finishes saying what she says.

People start laughing and they make fun for a few seconds.

And then I say something really nice about her

and compliment her for something genuine.

And then I leave.

And as I'm leaving, I'm telling her,

Father, you know that was rough.

I didn't say anything back.

And she really made fun of me.

And I don't know, I find it a little unfair.

And as I'm walking away, I hear the Lord loud and clear.

And he says, Jacob, thank you for being so kind to my daughter.

I'm thinking, was it really?

For one thing, I can't bear it when God says thank you to me.

I find it, I usually can't handle it.

I don't mind me saying thank you to him.

But when he thanks me, it bothers me.

And as clear as daylight, I hear him saying,

thank you for being kind to my daughter.

And for the first time in my life, I realized,

oh shucks, as much as I'm your son, she's your daughter.

She was being nasty to me.

But I was nice to her.

And you heard it.

And you actually were happy that I was kind to your daughter.

My eyes were full of tears.

And I remember saying, Father, if this is all that it takes

to make you happy, I'll do it a million times.

But usually, we don't think of other people made in his image.

And we don't think of other Christians as sons or daughters of his.

It's you, you, and only you.

And therefore, you react and say things that are nasty.

Or at least get your pound of flesh.

Or put up resistance.

Or stand for justice.

Or I must be heard, I must be understood.

I cannot be misrepresented.

Or the vindication of the Lord should be numb.

Not Jesus-ish, guys.

Not Jesus-ish.

We're getting there.

We're getting there.

The Beatitudes basically can be summed up in these words.

Do what is not your duty.

Or your obligation.

The Beatitudes may be summed up this way.

Do what is not your duty.

Or your obligation.

It is not your duty to go the second mile.

Do what is not your duty.

Or your obligation.

It is not your duty to go the second mile.

It is not your duty or obligation to turn the other cheek.

But Jesus said that if you, if you, Jacob, are my disciple, you will do all these things.

I hope across this room we are being convicted by the Holy Spirit.

Prevailing people don't crave for vindication.

They're not upset at being misrepresented and misunderstood.

One of the things someone told me ages ago is that, Jacob, if you want to pastor a church,

if you want to work in a church, then please don't crave for being understood.

I say that to you.

If you want to enter church work or do ministry, then abandon this whole idea of I need to be understood.

Because it isn't a premium value item.

Jesus was brilliant.

He would be misunderstood and just in case not everybody misunderstood him,

he would go and say stuff like, oh, and by the way, eat my flesh and drink my blood.

And then he would walk away without explaining it.

Bad enough, there were enough people leaving him.

And then he would mess it up more.

But they understood when he rose from the dead.

And now to answer Diana's question, which she didn't ask.

Oh, before we go there.

Guys, I love this line.

A disciple realizes that it's his Lord's honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.

A disciple realizes it is the Lord's honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.

Every time I insist on having my own rights, I hurt the Son of God.

While in fact, I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I will take the blow myself.

Love the line.

It's not mine, obviously.

A disciple realizes that it is his Lord's honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.

Every time I insist on having my own rights, I hurt the Son of God.

While in fact, I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I will take the blow myself.

Is this the meaning of filling up in my own flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ from Colossians 1.24?

Where you wrong me and instead of making an issue of it, I take the wrong.

Because my honor is not important, but Christ's honor is.

Doesn't matter whether it's my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, someone here at Acts 29.

It doesn't matter.

I love this next line.

We are always looking for justice.

Never look for justice, but never cease to give it and seek it for others.

We are always looking for justice.

Never look for justice.

We are always looking for justice, but never cease to give it and seek it for others.

Never cease to give it

We're always looking for justice

Never look for justice

But never cease to give it

And seek for others

We're always looking for justice

Never look for justice

But never cease to give it

And seek for others

Seek it for others

And never cease to give it

Or don't go looking for it

We've got broader shoulders when we can take insults, we can take offences, we can take

people misunderstanding us, we can take people misrepresenting us, we can take accusations,

we can take mud on our face, we can take it because it is our nature.

Why is it our nature?

Because Christ lives in you and it is his nature.

We can take it.

So that he doesn't have to take it.

You can take it.

Read Paul's letters and you can see him taking accusation upon accusation, slander upon slander.

He calls himself and the rest of the apostles a scum of the earth.

But when it came to justice for others and giving out justice, cease not from it and

seek it for others but not for yourself.

Big deal.

Because at the end of the day, who is your judge?

God.

And he will give you your just rewards.

He is faithful in this.

What is hidden will come out to the light.

What is false will be exposed.

Either in this life or in the next.

But it will be exposed.

Such a cool statement.

Never cease justice for yourself but never cease to give it and never cease to seek it

for others.

The problem when you start seeking justice for yourself is that becomes your main obsession

and others get left out.

I'm done.

Any questions?

Sorry?

Yeah, I'll talk about it another day.

I'll ask you a question anyways.

Yeah, that's when he speaks up for the injustice that is being done by the Pharisees to the

others.

One of his main complaints with the Pharisees was very simple.

You have the keys to knowledge and you do not enter in nor will you allow others to

enter in.

And therefore Jesus would take up his cause against them.

But Jesus rarely defended himself.

He would defend his father every now and then but he would rarely defend himself.

These are characteristics of Jesus that have been swept under the carpet of our rights

and this sense of freedom, liberty, justice, equality.

They're very good qualities.

So maybe seek it for everybody else because freedom, justice, liberty, and equality for

us comes from him.

Hard, huh?

Psalm 25 verse 9 puts it this way and this is critical for a prevailing church that if

Psalms 25:9

you are humble I will teach you my ways.

My God, I would love to know his ways.

I would love to know his ways.

I would love to be taught his ways but to learn his ways I must, he says I will teach

you my ways and then I will show you my ways.

How badly do we need this as a church and as individuals?

And it goes without saying that if you are humble, if I am humble, let's take me, if

If I am humble I will follow order because order requires submission.

Hard, eh?

I'm not an authority unto myself.

I'm submitted to a people, to God, both.

Because if I'm humble I have to, I'm not saying I'm this, I'm just saying instead of always

saying you, you, you, I'm just saying I, I'm not saying that this is who I am.

I'm just saying that at the end of the day this is what I desire, that father if I'm

humble I will walk in order.

I won't take things into my own hands and say I know what you said but this is what

I want to do.

It doesn't work that way.

Questions guys?

Okay, let's just pray.

Father, today seemed kind of long but it's still two hours actually.