The Proof of God’s Goodness

Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. Meet me at verse 5, and I will go through to verse 11.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5, and we'll go through to verse 11.

Hebrews 12:5

And the writer of Hebrews, who is unknown, I believe it's Paul,

but he doesn't declare that he wrote this epistle.

He says, and have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his

children? He said, My child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline,

and don't give up when He corrects you.

For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children.

Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined by his father?

If God is not disciplined by his father, God doesn't discipline you as he does

all his children. It means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.

Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit

even more to the discipline of the father of our spirits and live forever?

For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, right?

Doing the best they knew how.

But God's discipline is always good for us. Say, it's good for me.

Say it again. His discipline is good for me.

So that we might share in his holiness, verse 11, no discipline is enjoyable

while it is happening. It's painful.

But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who

are trained in this way. The title of the message today is The Proof of God's Goodness.

The Proof of God's Goodness. We've been talking about the goodness of God several

weeks, and today I want to declare with you the proof of his goodness.

Now, ain't going to be a lot of shouting today.

Ain't going to be a lot of running around. I came with a bunch of amens before

I showed up in my heart, all right?

So I've already preached myself happy before I showed up And the Lord has already

patted me on the back Amen And so I know you're not going to say a lot of amens

today But it's going to be good.

I was invited on a special Zoom call.

It's once a month. There's about 30 pastors across the nation that's on this call.

And the people that invited me to participate in this pastoral leader call,

I know they love me. I know they believe in me.

They believe in our ministry. They believe in what God's called me to do.

So they invited me to be on this call. And I've been on it. It's once a month.

And less, you know, maybe 30 minutes to an hour, give or take.

And this particular time I was on the call, the particular pastors asked me to share.

And so I shared a little bit. The question was something along the lines of

what do you as a pastor do on Mondays?

And Sundays after church and Mondays and that sort of thing.

And most pastors take Mondays off. I'm off on a Monday as well.

So if you reach out to me, I don't respond because I'm off. All right.

I love you, but I'm taking some time off. Ain't that right, Don?

Amen. Take some time off.

And so they asked me to share, what do you do Sundays? And, you know,

some people share. But I got real vulnerable, in my opinion.

I thought, you know, I'm going to share. I said, you know, Sundays I don't really

get on social media after church.

I typically just kind of delete my app. I don't scroll around on social media.

Mondays I try not to do it either. I just try to really focus and relax.

And I got real vulnerable. I said, one reason I don't stroll on social media

is because I really don't want to hear what's going on with other places.

You know, hey, I'm human sometimes, and, you know, we didn't baptize 800 people today.

I'm like, man, I'm trying to get 800 people to show up at church, you know what I mean?

And they baptized 800 people. I'm human. I don't want to hear that.

And I was honest. I said, I really didn't want to hear that, you know?

And I told them, I said, sometimes, you know, somebody will say,

you know, we just got a new building. I'm like, man, I'm believing God for a new building for us.

But they got one. I'm like, man, Sunday afternoon, just didn't want to hear

that on Sunday afternoon.

You know, I'm like, believe in God myself. How many of you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, just that period of time, I just, you know, didn't really want to hear

it. So I told him in the meeting, and I saw some people in the Zoom call nodding up and down.

Well, as I get done, the pastor's wife jumps on there, and she says...

Um, how can I say it? She says, she says, uh, yes, that was really good. Thank you.

You know, we ought to celebrate the good things God's doing in the kingdom of God.

And we ought to look at other places and celebrate all the goodness of God and what God's doing.

And we ought to rejoice with them that rejoice and celebrate.

Well, immediately I said, let me unmute my mic. Okay.

How many of you know what I'm talking about? I got something to say.

I wasn't saying I'm not happy.

About what's happening. I'm saying I just didn't want to see it at the time.

So I'm sitting there like I'm about to unmute my mic.

I can't wait to say something. And the Holy Spirit arrested me.

And the Holy Spirit said to me because I was thinking I'm never getting on this call again.

I'm not getting on here. They embarrassed me, making me look bad on this and

dog me out. And that's not what I was saying. It was a misunderstanding. I'm done.

I'm done with this call. I'm done with this group. I ain't going to be a part

of none of this. I know that's not good English, but that's how I felt.

I'm done with all this. And I didn't, the Holy Spirit said, don't unmute your

mic. Just sit there and listen. She went on and on.

And then she got done and she moved on to something else. And then somebody

else shared and went on. But the whole time I'm done, right? I'm done.

You embarrassed me. You made me look bad. You didn't misunderstand what I'm

saying, this, that, and the third.

And when I got off the call, I told Stacy about it later on that evening.

And she was like, are you sure she was talking to you?

And I said, I'm telling you, it was to me because I had just got done talking.

And then she jumped in and said that. And she was like, you know,

I'm not so sure that she was talking to you. I think she was just talking.

Like, nope, she was talking to me. And so later on, I go and I pray about it.

And the Lord said something to me. He said, can you be corrected?

And I thought, sir, and he said, can you be corrected?

Now, the truth of the matter is we should rejoice with them that rejoice.

We should get excited. And it shouldn't cause any tribulation or any anxiety

or any envy or anything like that when we hear of good things happening. That is the truth.

And I was sharing a vulnerable moment at that moment, but she was telling the truth.

And I took it as, you know what? But after I settled down, got my emotions under

control, I took it as I can be corrected.

I should rejoice when I see those things and not think, well,

why is that not happening for me?

Or why is it taking me so long? Or when is it going to be my season?

Come on, somebody. Who am I talking to?

What's taking so long? And why is it happening?

And what am I doing wrong? Or what's going on here? And the Holy Spirit said, can you be corrected?

And I began to think about this passage of scripture that we read in Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

And I want to break some things down with you that the Lord showed me.

And it's found here. Let's look at verse 5 again in Hebrews 12,

Hebrews 12:5

verse 5 and 6. I'll read it again.

It says, have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?

He said, my children, don't make light of the Lord's discipline and don't give up.

Don't give up when he corrects you.

So don't make light simply means don't despise or don't belittle or consider

very weighty when the Lord disciplines you.

For the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes each one as he accepts as his child.

So discipline isn't just about being rejected.

Matter of fact, it's not being rejected at all Discipline is a sign of love.

I want you to hear what I'm saying when the Lord disciplined you,

especially teenagers in you, when you're being disciplined, it is a sign of love.

It is not a sign of rejection.

It's a sign of love. And God's discipline is his way of showing you his goodness.

It's his goodness that he's showing you when he's disciplining you because he

wants you to mature and he's not trying to punish you.

He wants you to grow up and mature.

Discipline shows that God is invested in helping you grow and become who you were meant to be.

And so don't get offended when God corrects you.

And primarily God's going to use not only his word, we'll get to that later,

but he's going to use other people to discipline and correct you.

But here's the part that we have to play. We have to see it as love.

And we've been talking about the goodness of God, and we've been shouting about

how good God's been, and we've been discovering his goodness is going to occur to us more in the future.

And surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life,

but the proof of his goodness is when he corrects us.

The proof of his goodness is when he disciplines us. And discipline is never fun.

Discipline is not enjoyable, but it's necessary because it is maturing us so

that when we get to the place God wants us to be, he can then trust us with what he has for us.

And so, like I said, it wasn't going to be a lot of amens in here,

but I got an amen stirred up in my heart because we're going to have to understand

that we cannot get offended when God corrects you.

Say this out to me. I am not offended when God corrects me.

In verse 7 of the same chapter, Hebrews 12, verse 7 and 8, it says,

Hebrews 12:7

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children.

Whoever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?

If God doesn't discipline you as he does all his children, it means that you

are illegitimate and you are not really his children at all.

I remember growing up, especially as a teenager, and I look back at it now as

a grown man with children, I remember thinking my parents were really hard on me.

I thought they were real, real difficult and real hard on me.

And some of my friends were doing all type of stuff that I wanted to do and

I couldn't do, you know, they were spending the night at people's homes.

I wanted to spend the night. My parents was like, no, you're not spending the

night. And we don't let our children spend the night anywhere.

I get it now. No, we're not spending the night at nobody's house.

I wanted to do that because I found out when my, when they was,

you know, especially my My friend ain't gonna say his name because he might

be listening, but you're spending out of his house We can be out all night long,

His mama didn't care what was going on.

I wanted to spend out of his house, but my mama knew okay. Hey, I.

Now, this particular friend is in the ministry now, praise God.

He's a preacher, but hey, it was wild, and his mom let everything happen,

and that's where I wanted to be.

But I thank God that my parents didn't let me get involved in that because he

went through a very difficult time in his 20s and 30s and forever.

Thank God God saved him and rescued him, but because of the undiscipline that

he received, he was wild.

And he'll tell you, I was wild because of it.

But I always thought my parents were a little strict and a little mean,

but I look back at it, it was simply discipline.

I'm trying to get you to be where you need to be, and it's because of my goodness.

Now, I'm talking about people that love you.

There is bad discipline. There is vindictiveness and craziness and that sort of thing.

I'm talking about when you realize that people that love you,

you have to understand that God's discipline is a sign of a real relationship with Him.

If God doesn't discipline you, it will suggest that you are not truly His.

You should feel sometimes corrected by Him.

When you say something, you should feel in your heart, you should sense in your

heart, I probably shouldn't have said that.

You should sense in your heart, I probably should apologize.

When's the last time you apologize to somebody.

That's a question you need to answer. You should sense, you know,

I probably shouldn't have said that.

I should apologize. That's the Lord's discipline you.

He's trying to get you where he needs you to be.

He's trying to grow you up and mature you so that you become who you are meant to be.

A loving parent wouldn't neglect their child's growth or allow them to continue on a harmful path.

I would never let my children continue on a harmful path, especially if I could

see they're going down that path.

I'm going to correct them and discipline them and punish them so that they can

begin to see that this is my goodness.

Now, in the moment, they may not see it. In the moment, you may not see it,

but it's the goodness of God.

And what we're going to have to do, listen to me, we're going to have to change

not just our behavior when being disciplined,

but the way we think about what we're

doing when we're being disciplined a lot

of times we're trying to modify behavior and that's not effective

modified behavior isn't isn't effective i

have to change the way i think about it and then

my behavior will be modified you you can look in any situation what any you

know think about food or whatever there's certain times that i don't eat food

not because i not because my body is not telling me go in the cabin get something

it's definitely telling me it's hey it's 10 30 to eat, go and get you a snack in there.

No, I don't eat after a certain time because I've changed my thinking about that.

And now that my thinking's changed, my behavior is following the way I'm thinking.

Come on, somebody say amen.

And so you got to change your thinking. And what God is doing is he's trying

to get you to change your thinking when he's disciplining you so that you begin

to think like him and then you'll behave like him.

In verse 9 and 10 in the same chapter of Hebrews 12, He says.

For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.

But God's discipline is always good for us so that we might share in his holiness.

Our earthly fathers did the best they could. My parents, I think they'll be

okay with me telling you this.

My parents, I remember there's one particular time I was really,

I was young and I was really naughty in school. Now, I had good grades,

but I was talking to people. I was getting in trouble.

I was elementary age. I think I was in the third grade.

I was getting in trouble, and I was talking, and I always got some letter written home.

Now, as I got older, I stopped all that because I needed to get out and play with my friends, okay?

I ain't got time for all that. I need to get outside. But when I was younger,

you know, I was doing all this craziness.

I remember my parents kept telling me, if you continue this behavior,

you're not going to have Christmas.

I said, yeah, right Kept doing what I wanted to do Christmas morning showed

up I had no gifts under the Christmas tree.

They were serious about it Now today, they feel very bad about that They apologize

I don't feel bad about it Because I mean,

I'm fine But they do They feel really bad They've apologized to me profusely

Like we shouldn't have done that That was overkill So on and so forth But I

remember waking up I got the point though,

I got the point Waking up, there was no Christmas and then my friends called

me back on the landline, you know, called me on the landline.

Hey, what'd you get for Christmas? I said, I got Jesus.

And that's all I need. Praise God. That's what I said for real.

No, no. I know. Okay. What did you get? Jesus.

He's my present. He's the gift that I received. But you know what?

They didn't always do it right. Like it said, and it says here,

they don't, our parents don't always do it right, but God's discipline is always

going to be right, and it's always going to be good, and it's going to help

so that we can share in His holiness.

And holiness is not about your behavior. Listen to me.

Holiness is about thinking like God thinks.

That's what holy means. It doesn't mean I don't wear makeup.

That doesn't mean, oh, I don't, you know, wear tennis shoes or whatever case. No.

Holy means I think like God thinks.

If you think like he thinks, now you're holy. Be holy. What is he saying?

Be holy. Think like I think.

Be holy. Think like I think. And when you begin to think like he thinks,

you are considered holy.

Earthly parents discipline as best as they know how, but God's discipline is

perfect and always for our benefit.

When earthly discipline is imperfect, like my parents would tell you that was

imperfect. They probably shouldn't have done that.

God's discipline has eternal purposes.

His goal is to make you more like Him.

He wants to make you more like him. And all of this is because of his goodness.

Yes, we can shout about all of the stuff that comes with his goodness,

but we're going to have to also talk about his discipline.

Because he's good, he's going to discipline us.

He's going to correct us, and he's going to lead us in the way that we should

go. And it's all because of his goodness.

Thank God. Right now, just take a moment, lift your hands and say,

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness.

Verse 11, it says, no discipline is enjoyable. How many of you know what I'm talking about?

I hear around my house sometimes, it's boring, it's boring. Well,

when you're being disciplined, it shouldn't be fun.

Am I right about it, Kurt? It's going to be hard. You think people in prison

are having a great time just kicking it?

No, there's some things that were done, and it's going to be pretty boring there.

And discipline is not going to

be easy. It's not enjoyable while it's happening. It's actually painful.

But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those,

watch this, who are trained.

Somebody say trained. This is what discipline is about, being trained in this way.

Discipline is all about instruction and

training So that

you could think like God thinks And also

experience His goodness Accept

discipline and allow it to shape your life And your character Discipline is

going to shape your character Discipline helps develop spiritual maturity You're

going to grow up You don't grow up on cotton candy.

You don't get strong on eating Doritos all day.

You grow up on solid discipline, some good, strong protein, some good carbs.

Some of you know what I'm talking about.

This is how you're going to grow and be strong and develop.

Discipline helps develop spiritual maturity.

Now, Proverbs 12, verse 1, take a look here. Proverbs 12, verse 1,

Proverbs 12:1 Proverbs 12:1

to learn, the scripture says, to learn, you must love discipline. Look at this.

It is stupid to hate correction.

I can talk about this all day. You know how many people cannot receive correction?

You can't say anything to some folks without them getting offended,

mad, and just angry and not receiving it well. And I'm leaving.

I'm done. I'm not talking to you anymore.

And then we tend to not say anything

to these people because they're not going to take it the right way.

And then now you have to walk on eggshells because so-and-so is not going to

take it the right way. And now I don't say anything.

So now I've got to put up with mess because I don't want to say anything to

somebody. Them days is over, praise the Lord.

We're going to have to talk to people and let them know, listen,

I need to correct how you're talking to me. Come on, somebody.

Spouses need to do that too. I don't like when you call me. There was a pet

name I used to call Stacy, and she didn't like it. So I stopped calling her that.

I'm glad she told me that. Amen?

Why? Well, I bet not say anything to her because he's not going to listen,

and I keep calling her this pet name, and she don't like it,

and now we in marriage, I keep calling her, and she ain't never said nothing to me.

And then I'm angry, and this is how some people are, well, you should have never told me.

I ain't going to call you no name yet. Matter of fact, I ain't going to talk

to you no more because every time I talk to you, you just Get upset and I'm

done You know what we're not talking about This is called immaturity.

Y'all know what I'm talking about. This is not right.

You should be able to say something to someone in love and it be addressed accordingly,

without getting offended, upset.

We are all correctable. Say, I am correctable.

Now watch this. I'm getting ahead of myself. But to learn, you must love discipline.

It is stupid to hate correction. Say it's stupid to hate correction.

Correction opens the door to direction.

Correction opens the door to

direction. Someone you love, someone that you trust, trying to help you,

trying to correct you, is going to lead you on a certain direction.

There's a certain direction that you need to go, and it requires some correction,

Direction opens the door to protection.

Correction opens the door to direction direction opens the door to protection

There was a good friend of mine, he pastors a church in another city We talk

all the time, and I told him, I said, man, if you ever hear He listens to my message,

if you ever hear anything that just sounds weird Or that maybe not biblically

sound or off or, you know maybe going a different direction,

don't just sit back and say, preach, brother.

I need you to say, hey, man, that might be a little off.

Come on, somebody. You know, you need to have people like that.

That might be a little off.

Now, I need that from my, you know, a pastoral friend.

I like what Pastor Kevin said when he was here. He said, if I ever needed to

talk to a pastor about something, I would pray.

Then he said, I would fast, and most of the time, I don't need to say anything

to the pastor about it. Amen to that.

I got people that listen to my messages that are in place that help me if I

need to be correct in that area. I don't need you running up to me, okay?

Let me just let that be known. Somebody say amen to that.

Correction opens the door to direction. Direction opens the door to protection.

Protection opens the door to perfection.

What is that? Maturity. Maturity

So in order to grow and be mature We must be corrected Which gives us direction

Which opens the door to protection Which opens the door to perfection Maturity

Correction means we are going to be restored In the right state of mind,

Restored in the right state of mind And as a result of correction You should expect to become mature,

Mature People you trust, if you allow them to correct you,

you'll become mature. I was sitting down with the man.

He's 80 plus years old. And I told him that whatever was happening blew my mind.

I said, that just blew my mind.

And he's been in ministry, you know, 50 plus years, 40 plus years.

I don't know how long he's been in ministry.

He looked at me across the table. We're sitting at Panera.

He looked at me and he said, do you want your mind blown?

Like, literally, do you want your brain to explode? And I said,

well, that's not what I meant.

But I said, you know what? No, no, I'm open to correction.

He said, don't use the term, my mind is blown.

Just use the term, that was fascinating. That was exciting.

That was something I hadn't seen before. And I thought, Can I be honest?

My flesh said, no, defend yourself.

That's not what you meant. I did not mean that my brain was going to explode.

I did not mean my mind. I said, no, I'm correctable.

I said, sir, I won't use that phrase anymore. Thank you for telling me that. Amen.

Do you have enough humility to humble yourself to say, sir, yes, sir.

Is there anything else you need to correct me with? I remember this particular

time I was with my last pastor, and he did a really good job of training me to be in the ministry.

I give him a lot of credit for that. I learned some things to do with him,

and I learned a whole lot of things not to do, okay, while I was with him.

But while I was with him, he gave me opportunities.

He really trained me to be what I'm doing today. I mean, just with opportunities and stuff.

And one particular time He and I were talking And someone came up with a biblical question,

And they went to him with it They said, Pastor And they asked the question And

as soon as they got done with the question I answered it I answered it And I

told him what it was And the guy ran off Well, the pastor put me aside,

A couple hours later He said, hey, can I talk to you?

I said, yeah, what's going on, Pastor? He said, hey, they were talking to me.

And I said, oh, you're right. He said, they didn't ask you the question. They asked me.

And you answered it. But they were talking to me. He said, I just want you to

know that when someone's talking to me, let them talk to me.

You don't need to jump in.

I was in my, I was, you know, early, late 20s at that point.

I wasn't always as mature as I am today. I wanted to fight that.

Well, you know, but I knew the answer. I didn't do all that.

I said, pastor, I'm sorry.

I apologize. You're right. I am correctable. Say that. I am correctable.

That's the goodness of God right there. I am correctable.

And I listened to him and I allowed my direction to change.

And now I'm under protection and now I'm being spiritually mature where perfection is concerned.

Somebody Job chapter 5, verse 17. Job chapter 5, verse 17.

Job 5:17 Job 5:17

Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. So we're supposed to be happy when we get corrected.

I know that's an oxymoron, isn't it? Happy is the man whom God corrects.

Therefore, do not despise the chastising of the Almighty. So I am supposed to be happy.

When I get corrected. Somebody just kind of laugh for a second. Say, ha, ha, ha, ha.

We're supposed to be happy when we get corrected. Several years ago,

this was a long time ago, there's a man going to our church.

He had told me early on that he wanted to be a pastor. I said, that's wonderful.

You know, I'm going to help invest in you to get you to that place.

He wanted to start his own church, and he felt the call on his life to do that.

I want to help. I want to help you, man. Just if you stick with me, I'll help you.

We'll get you there. We'll release you, whatever the case may be. We're doing those days.

We used to come to church on Wednesday night. Before we started, we'd boost online.

We would come on Wednesday. Well, this particular gentleman never showed up on Wednesday.

We used to have prayer meetings right here in the church. We do it now on Zoom.

Technology is wonderful that we can all be able to still get together because

there's a lot going on. And so he wouldn't come to prayer.

We would have him on the schedule to lock up and to close and to clean at the

end of service, like many of us do, because that's part of our ministry, sir.

He would make up a reason why he couldn't stay. He would come up with something.

Like one reason was, I had to go to the grocery store, so I can't stay.

Well, you know, the grocery store don't close until 10 p.m.,

but I don't know why he couldn't stay 30 minutes after they get done.

He would come up with all these reasons why he couldn't stay.

And then he was late all the time coming to church.

And the Lord said, I got something to say to him, and I want you to be the one

to say it to him. I said, all right. I said, hey, brother, come in my office.

Stepped into my office in there. I said, tell me a little bit about your church.

Oh, he started telling me he had the name of the church he was going to start

and how great it was going to be. I said, do you want your people to show up on Wednesday night's?

Oh, you got to show up on Wednesday nights because Wednesday nights is critical

for growth and development. You got to show up on Wednesday nights.

I said, do you want people to pray? Like, do you want your people to show up

for prayer on Tuesday nights because at the time we were doing it? Yes.

We got to pray just to make it today. That's why we pray. No, that's not what he said.

But he said, yes, we got to show up for prayer.

That's very important. I said, how about coming on time?

Do you think you want people to like, do you want to kind of come late or would

you love for them to show up on time?

He said, no, you got to come on time, man. Like, we're going to get started.

You got to be here on time.

I said, how about like serve, like, you know, maybe lock the door or maybe be

a part of the cleaning team.

Would you want your people to do that? Yes. The church needs to be clean.

Like, we can't have it dirty. Yes.

Pastor, this is what I'm saying. When I start the church, man,

we're going to have Bible studies, and we're going to have prayers,

and we're going to clean and serve, and people are going to show up on time.

It's going to be a wonderful thing.

I said, well, let me ask you this. Do you believe in sowing and reaping?

I do believe in sowing and reaping. Whatever man sows, that shall they reap.

I believe in sowing and reaping is what he said.

I said, so let me get this straight. You want a church that someone,

they show up on time, they serve, they come to Bible study, and they come to

prayer, and they're engaged in the service. That's what you want. That's what I want.

I said, so you're literally telling me that you want someone to do the opposite of what you're doing.

And I had Steve stand by the door just in case he wanted to jump on me.

Don't mess with me, Steve. We'll hurt you. I promise you.

And I had him by the door, and he sat there, and his face got really angry.

I thought he was going to jump on me. I said, get ready, Steve.

And he got really, and he stood up. I said, now give me a hug.

And he stood up, he gave me a hug, and then he stormed out and left.

He called me the next day. He said, Pastor, I'm sorry.

I didn't see that. You're right.

I want people to do what I'm not doing. He said, from here on out, I'm coming on time.

I'll be at prayer. I'll be about, I'm serving. I'm going to do all these things.

Thank you for correcting me.

And for a short period of time, he did that. He went back to his old ways after

that. But for a short period of time, he did that.

And he thanked me with tears in his eyes on the phone. Thank you for correcting me.

See, I wish that my role could just pat you on the back. Oh,

you look so good. Everything is so great. It's so wonderful.

Oh, you're so beautiful. Keep acting the way you act. And oh,

yeah, just keep doing what you're doing.

You're just the best. And you're so amazing and great.

And I wish I could be like you. I wish that was my goal, but that would be an

indicator that I don't love you.

I literally say, I don't love you, and just do whatever you want to do.

You know, do whatever, and I don't love you.

But some people need, we all need to be corrective, but let me say it this way.

There are some people like me that care about you.

Matter of fact, most people, most pastors care about you, and they want to see

you grow, and they want to see you develop, but it requires correction.

You're going to have to be someone that's flexible and correctable.

I want you to say this after me. Are you ready?

Release your faith. Say this after me. I love correction.

I want correction. I am not prideful. I am not stubborn.

I am humble. I am flexible. I am correctable.

Correct me.

I know that was hard on your flesh right there to say that. Correct me.

Show me what adjustments and changes that I need to make, and I will gladly make them.

This is who we ought to be as a child of God. Show me where I'm going wrong.

Correct me. It's because you love me.

It's because you see something in me that I don't see in myself.

I thank God for the people that were bold enough to correct me,

to help me, to say something to me when I wasn't always doing things the right way.

I'm honored that they would see something. I remember I was dating this one

girl before, obviously before Stacy, obviously. I was dating this one girl.

And somebody said something to me like, man, it was a friend of mine.

And I want friends to speak into my life, you know. He said,

man, I'm telling you, she's not it.

I'm glad he said that.

There's a good friend of mine that he ended up he actually ended up getting

married I told him I said man I don't think this is right not because she's

not good but because I see how you are,

with her he wasn't happy he wasn't excited and I went to him at this particular

time he's he's engaged. The wedding's gone.

This wedding was hundreds of thousands of dollars. He had a lot of money,

his family. She had a lot of money. They put a lot of money in this wedding.

Hundreds of people showing up for this wedding. Hundreds.

A lot of money invested. I went to him. I was a groomsman.

Pulled him aside. I said, hey, man, I don't think you want to get married.

Told him as a friend he said man I do I do I do I said no you don't,

no you don't I said let's walk away from this no no no no no no this is right

this is right this and that you know how hard it is to walk away from something

like that that was very hard but I'm a friend.

He ended up getting married. The marriage lasted less than a year.

Got divorced. He called me. I walked him through the divorce too, friend.

And he said, I should have listened to my friend who told me to walk away.

I would have saved a lot of heartache, time, energy, all of that.

Can we be corrected? Can we be, yes, I love the answer of yes.

Can we be open enough to say, I don't know everything, and I need someone that

has a different vantage point to correct me? That's the goodness of God.

How does he correct us? 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17.

2 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God,

2 Timothy 3:16

and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof. watch this, for correction,

for instruction in righteousness.

Look at the next one. That the man of God, that's you and me,

may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Let's go back to verse 16. I love it.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God. For what?

Profitable. We should gain something, doctrine, good, sound,

theological teaching for reproof.

I love this, for correction. Scripture should correct us.

We shouldn't correct Scripture.

Scripture should correct us. I saw somebody on social media the other day that

was trying to correct Scripture.

I was like, no, the devil is a lie.

Scripture should be correcting you.

Somebody say amen to that. Amen. It should be correcting you.

I like it in the message translation, 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17,

the message translation.

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another,

showing us truth, exposing our rebellion.

If you cannot be corrected, your rebellion is being exposed.

Correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way.

Through the word, we are put together and shaped up for the task God has for us. Glory to God.

Scripture is used to expose our rebellion and correct our mistakes.

Correction comes from the word of God and or the man of God who you know loves

you to give you instruction as to how to expose your rebellion. Somebody say amen.

I was doing an interview on Flashpoint, which is a television of Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

And they have, you know, they're a mega television ministry and they called

me and asked me to do an interview.

And I called a friend of mine who's in TV.

I said, watch this interview. How did I do? Because I want to get better,

right? I want to do the best that I can be. Do you want to be the best you can be?

Well, then it requires asking questions to people you trust and being open to their correction.

Oh, help them, Lord. I want y'all to get this. So I called a friend.

I said, man, he does TV all day, every day. This is what he does.

I said, watch the interview. He goes, bro, the interview was really good.

And he said, except for I want you to focus on, and he labeled like 12 different

things I needed to focus on.

I was like, gosh, it was bad. He said, no, it was really good.

But if you focus on these 12 things Right It would be great He said most people

thought your interview was great,

But these 12 things would make it even greater Can I be honest with you and

tell you I started feeling like,

These excuses started coming out of me Well I did do that No you didn't Well

I did say that And I thought wait a minute I'm correctable,

I solicited this I wanted the feedback Why am I trying to stand up and defend

Well I did do that, I did say that Well look, well the reason why I didn't do

that Because my chair was broke You know, why am I trying to do all that.

One of it was lean in When you're in there, lean in And so I was leaned out

And he was like, you want to lean in I'm like, well the chair The chair caused

me to lean back What am I doing? Making excuses,

unwilling to be corrected. And what did it expose? It exposed rebellion.

Are y'all getting something out of the word today? Psalms 139 verse 23.

Psalms 139:23

I like it in the Passion Translation. Psalms 139 verse 23, the Passion Translation. God, watch this.

Psalms 139:23

I invite your searching gaze into my heart.

Examine me through and through. through, find out everything that may be hidden within me,

put me to the test, and sift through all of my anxious cares." I love that because

you're inviting the Lord to search your heart.

Expose what's hidden on the inside of me. Correct me. Instruct me.

Tell me what I need to do. What should I start? What should I stop?

And a lot of times when I do this, the Lord tells me, stop saying stuff like

this. And there'll be stuff I'll be saying that I probably shouldn't say.

I'm not talking about nothing bad, just stuff like, what's, you know,

yeah, just not in faith, you know, stuff that I probably shouldn't be saying.

Change, don't say that, say this, you know.

Don't act that way. Don't respond that way.

You know, it's not about you, Devon. You don't have to be so easily upset all

the time about someone saying something to you.

I know I'm not the only one that feels this way. You don't have to get upset.

You know, it's not about you. People are probably not thinking about you.

Stacey say something. I can't believe she said that. Stacey's probably having a bad day.

You know, sometimes your children can have a bad day too.

Consider that, by the way. I know you want to drop the hammer, you know.

But sometimes, you know, maybe they're having a bad day. Now,

they don't need to have two bad days in a row.

Amen? There's going to be some correction that takes place.

But, you know, hey, today's your day. Let's do better tomorrow, right? Amen?

Consider that they may be having a bad day. This prayer that we just read invites

God into the deepest parts of your heart and mind.

Ask for correction. Look for correction. Look forward.

Let me ask you this question before I have you stand up. Are you correctable?

Are you willing to be corrected?

Are you open to correction?

This is how you experience true life.