I, Me, Mine | Week 1 | Full Service

I I I found it funny that as they sent out these emails nationally and the the the stuff that that I just wanted to show you the picture of the marketing for it where they listed who's speaking and stuff. And there we all are, and it says Levi, and then Jonathan, and Charlotte, then the emcees, Tony and Sojo, then Bill.

I was below the emcees in bar in billing. That emcees, the one that tell you, like, when the breaks are and where the bathrooms and stuff are and things like that. So that that kinda like you know, I thought it was hilarious.

And I thought it was better because the first thing they sent out didn't even list me. It just listed all the bios of everybody, even the bios for the emcees, and they didn't have me on it. But but when I when you see that, I I I kinda like I 99% laughed. 1% was like, wah wah wah. Like, wow.

I I I I I they think that the MCs have a bigger draw to this thing than I do. And the the the but the reality was they're probably right because the MCs have both written books. I've done nothing.

Every one of them wrote a book but me. Had to walk out there and said, this is the only book I have, so we're stuck with this, guys. And but it was funny that it even bothered me just a little.

And it reminds me that, you know, we always gotta be on the lookout. When we're our walk with the Lord, our relationship with God, there's things that we think, well, I've matured. I I don't have any issues anymore. You know, you just you think you're past something. And

there's always a moment that that that something it's just gonna get in there a little bit sideways and and get us off track.

And and what wanted to get me off track there is kinda is is really what the series is about. For the next few weeks, we're gonna be in Matthew chapter six in this series called I, Me, Mine, because that's really the theme of what Jesus is talking about. He's been in the the,

Sermon on the Mount where he's been unpacking biblical teaching, but from a perspective of what does it mean to be in my kingdom. And he's taking a lot of things that these these Jews and the faithful ones, they would have known the Old Testament, but he's saying, I think you were applying it wrong. You've gotta understand this is how righteousness works. And and and one of their biggest deals was they made it about themselves.

And they thought, you know, I gotta perform for God. You do these things. And and he's unpackaging it. He's saying that's not how it works. And in Matthew six, it's really all about the motive surgery

in our life. Like, what are we doing? Why are we doing it? What does it mean to walk with the Lord? And the big idea kind of for all of Matthew six, and especially for today, the eight verses we're gonna look at, is simply this. My faith should be me centered, not he centered. I mean, I said that backwards. See?

See how insidious it is? You just wanna go there. It's I I I was like, what am I doing? It's 11:30. Sorry. It should be he centered, not me centered. It's what what I just did is what we're supposed to not do. Do the fight that.

And and what does that look like? What does it mean to have a he centered faith? Because a lot of times, we don't think that we're being me centered.

Matter of fact, the the the the religious people he's talking about when he's trying to rephrase, in my kingdom, this is how we our faith should be. This is what it means to walk with me. The illustrations he's using is the people that were doing it that way didn't think it was being that way.

They thought in this culture that that doing public displays of righteousness was a good thing. It showed that you're spiritual. It it it showed others. They thought they were and it showed God. They they thought performing in front of others and performing for God was what you did. You did these acts of righteousness,

and then that say, hey, now God will love me. He'll he'll he'll it was like this this transactional relationship

kind of thing. And he says, that's all wrong. That's not how it works. And I think in looking at this, we're gonna see that it applies to us just like my story did that we it's it's so subtle it gets in there. And here's the problem. When we walk with God in a me centered way, nothing changes. There's no transformation.

That's what he's saying as we read this. So let me just read these eight verses, then we'll talk about it. So he says this, watch out. Watch out. Don't trip yourself, Bill. Watch out. Don't do good deeds publicly to be admired by others.

For you will lose the reward from your father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do, blowing trumpets as the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity. I tell you the truth. They have received all the reward they will ever get.

But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your father who sees everything will reward you. Now he applies the same concept of prayer. When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and the synagogues wherever we can see them. I tell you the truth. This is that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private. Then your father who sees everything will reward you.

When you pray, don't babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, for your father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him. And then it goes on that we'll look at next week. He says, pray like this.

And and and that prayer is not some magic incantation. The prayer that we'll see and take apart is an outline of this is the stuff you need to talk to God about. And the order is kind of important. And that prayer just we're gonna talk about next week, it starts off, our father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

See how how we're supposed to even start our prayers? Him centered. He centered,

not me me centered. So what was he saying here? He's talking about these public things of like, hey, giving gifts, bringing your giving to the into into the synagogue, like coming to church and giving. He's talking about serving others. He's talking about prayer, and what do we do there? And and he goes on in the rest of the chapter, and he talks about fasting. He talks about what we do with our treasure. He talks about how do you trust God, and he talks about worry,

and all these things. And he repositions it to say it comes from all these issues need to be something. He doesn't say we don't do these things. He's saying not to not do these things. The problem is not doing something in front of people. The problem is putting people between you and God and why you're doing

And and and so he's kind of unpackaging that and says we need to recenter our faith. And and in these verses, there's three things that I think is really clear as what he's saying to do that helps us to be he centered instead of me centered. Because like I said, a me centered way, when it's I, me, mine, nothing changes.

That's why you don't get the peace that surpasses all understanding. That's why we don't end up living that life and and the me I, me, mine, me centered faith leaves us burdened, bothered, overwhelmed, anxious. He centered faith actually changes everything. How? Well, first point.

If we're gonna be he centered, the first thing we need to do is check our why. You need to check your why. That's what he says in verse one when he's First, he's talking about in this Jewish culture, like I said, public righteousness raises their status. And he said, don't do these things to be admired.

To be admired by others. That Greek word there for admired by others, that's with the word theathenai. It means it's where we get the the English word theater. It means to perform, to put on a show, to act for applause. See, God looks at the motives, not just the moments.

And that could be we could be doing stuff to impress someone else. We do it in front of people. But a lot of us, the reason we're doing those things in front of people is the show might be for God. Some of us, that's that's one of the whys that we might have. Is your why I I I gotta be here to to

impress God? I gotta do these things so God will love me? Otherwise, he's mad at me or angry at me? See, the the problem with that is that's a lie. And a lot of our whys on why we we're serving God. Why we walk with God. Why we worship God. Why why we work for God. A lot of our whys are lies.

And the lies take us down the wrong road, and then it's not effective. And then we get frustrated. Like, ask yourself right now, why are you here right now? Do you know what the purpose of being in a public worship setting with your church family is for and who it's for? See, our why when our why is wrong, we miss the point.

For example, if we're really here to worship because we know God's love, then we would sing songs even if we don't like singing.

We wouldn't say, I don't like that song. Because we'd realize the song isn't for me. It's for he.

So if you're struggling with it, does that mean, oh, stop being lame? No. Checking your why helps you realize where the problem is. It's an indicator light. And that's why sometimes we struggle because with our why not being right, we then turn things like praying, giving charity, giving that. You know, we turn those things

into into these they become a burden. Because if our why is it's about putting on a show for even for God, then I feel like, well, I gotta go do the show or God's not gonna like me. Then it becomes this obligation, and then it becomes this whole mess. And then it just becomes tiring, and we don't wanna do it.

So if we get stuck in that, the answer isn't to force yourself. The answer is to check your why, to sit down and go, hey, what is going on? Why do I not wanna do this? Why do I not wanna sing? Why do I not wanna give? Why do I not wanna serve? Why do I

why is church just something I'll I'll go to, but I'll I'm I'm we get really erratic when we when when it's I, me, mine. If it's really just all about us, then all about us means I'm gonna be really inconsistent in my attendance. See, gotta check the why. So ask yourself, why are you here right now?

Because even doing the right thing for the wrong reason empties it of any spiritual value, and it empties it of anything that can change. All right, well, I'm checking my why and I go, hey, think my why might be wrong, how do I figure that out? Because here's the thing.

God probably understands your why better than you do better than I do.

That's why it should be he centered, not me centered. Because sometimes we don't even understand our why. He does. This passage uses the word father 16 times. Matthew six.

He's a good father. Now I know in our culture a lot you because I didn't have a good example a father. But what a father should be, he's really leaning into the fatherness of God. And and a good father you know, when you have a little kid, a good father, good mother, you know,

you if you are a good mom or dad, you know that when your kids are being dumb, like they they don't trust you sometimes. But you know that you have a bigger perspective, a bigger understanding, a bigger knowledge, and you know that you even know them better than they know themselves. Right? That's

what we need to understand. That's why we need to check our why. And how we do that to help check our why is the second thing he says is get alone and get real.

And we need to get alone and get real. That's when he starts verses two through four. He starts to say, okay. What do do? If you're not gonna be admired, if you're not gonna put on the show, then what do we need to do when it comes to our

and and and and giving? As we act, we need to get along. That's what he says. Do it give your gifts in private, and your father sees everything and will reward you. See, that that that word for this for private is a word that just means hidden, unseen, inward, private before God. I mean, you bring a gift, you do it. But he was saying it's gotta start in here. It's an inside out kind of a thing. You gotta get alone and be real with God. As a matter of fact, that's why a lot of us, your public worship is directly

impacted by your private practices. What we bring on the weekend is 100% connected to the time we spent with God during the week.

And and and so we we we need to remember that. So sometimes when we come in, I'm not really into it. It's and then and then and then we get the wrong ideas. Like, you know, that's just not feeding me or that's not challenging. Or I didn't like those music or I didn't like that. And and I'm, like, kinda bored or I'm kinda this. It's it's probably because there's no nothing happening

regularly during the week. He's saying, hey, get alone. Do this stuff alone. Make it an inside out thing. Because he says you get this reward. He talks about reward. He talks about all of this brings a reward, right? And what he's saying is the reward they get on the outside, he say, don't give like they give.

Don't do this thing like that. And how does it say? With trumpet blast. He's not exaggerating. That's what they would do. The religious ones that everyone looked up to, and they thought they were doing the right thing. Like, I'm impressing God. I'm impressing these people. I'm being a good example.

But they thought like doing it. So they would actually hire and have trumpets. When they're bringing their gift, they'd be It'd be like if you guys came in today, and it'd be like you hired the USC marching band or something. And you're like, and

you're like, damn it. You're carrying your offering envelope. Oh, we don't do that anymore. You got your computer or your phone out, and you're putting your online giving in. Look at me. You know, and it's this big deal.

And he said, don't do it that way. You gotta get alone. Get real. It needs to be something that's happening in here that spills out into here. Because if you do it out here, you think then then God's gonna give you something in here. And and it's opposite. Matter of fact, that like I said, that word for reward,

it's interesting. He says, when we do it this me centered way, he said, you will have received all the reward you'll ever get.

But he says, when you give your gifts in private and your father sees everything, we'll reward you. He does the same thing about prayer. Has this double reward. You're gonna get this is the only reward you're gonna get versus you'll get this reward from the father. What's interesting is in the Greek,

those words for reward that we translate in English as reward are two different words. That's the cool thing about digging in and studying. It's saying something more than you think.

What he's saying is the reward that all you get for the reward, if we do our worship me centered and even my faith is I, me, even if I'm pursuing God because I just want this, I need this, I have if it's an I, me, mine, a me centered, and we do it this way, he said,

all you're just that's all the reward you're gonna get. The word for reward there means, in Greek, paid in full. Done. Invoice done. There's no more coming. That's it. So it says whatever you get out of that moment is it. No change, no transformation, no peace. You only get what you get in that moment.

So when we have a me centered that tries to do a show before God, before others,

all you get is whatever that good feeling you got in that moment or the bad feeling. That's the problem. Your only reward is what this moment brought you. So if you're doing it for that show, like you get a good job, that's awesome. Or you feel good that you did look what I did. You know, look what I did. I did something for God. He goes, that good feeling, that moment, the applause you got,

that's it. There's no more coming. There's no more. You're not getting my reward.

And and and but what does the reward mean that he says the father is? It's a word that says this compensation that comes from a worker that has a long term relationship. What it means in another scriptures, it's trying to use this idea that you have a job and you're in this thing. It means that you are faithful, but God is faithful.

It's like you will cons there's there's more coming. It's always coming. There's always an input. There's always this love. There's always this life. There's something that's deeper, and it's continual. It's always the Bible says the life, the what he really gives us is he gave us himself.

We have him. We have Jesus. We have the gospel, and through that, we have life. Zoe is the Greek word. That word for life doesn't mean just biological existence. And so when it says eternal life, it doesn't just mean biologically existing forever. It means real life. It means life that transcends circumstances,

transcends that, and it never goes away, and God brings it. And he says, when we live, the real reward is we get him, we get real life. And what happens is by embracing that,

it changes us from the inside out. Then you actually don't see giving, serving, trusting him, even through tough times, as a burden, or I have to, or else. You see it as a blessing, and I get to. So the thing is, if you don't check your why and get a loan, you should, because if it feels like I

I know I should do that, but it's just so hard or I don't really feel like it, or I just keep failing, I don't think I can do it right or whatever, and you just hold off, There is something desperately wrong with your understanding of God's love for you.

Because what he's trying to say here, what happened with these religious leaders, they thought they had it together, but they didn't. And then some of the outsiders that watched them that thought it was the same thing said, I could never do what they did, so I'm a loser. When we live our faith me centered,

the only reward we get is anxiety that comes from either being going back and forth from feeling superior to everyone when you do get a win, when you get the applause and you feel like you're doing it right, and the self loathing of the shame of every time you get it wrong. Does that make sense? That's what it's saying.

Some of us, you feel you feel what I'm saying. It's like this is your life. It's like watching Pong. You just go back and forth. Some of us have been stuck in one or the other.

You've grown up being like them. You just you do these things. You do it. It makes you right. You believe the right things. You act. And that just and and and what has resulted is is a superior feeling, an arrogance. And you think, I don't really have to do all that, I'm doing this, I'm good.

I've done this show before God, I'm good. You know what happens when you feel that way long enough? It it creates this this this this this thing in you that that's when we get spiritually arrogant, we become filled with contempt.

You know why? Because we think we're winning.

And we compare because I, me, mine compares. It's a comparative, compares to other people.

Not to what God said. We don't look at his love. We don't look at our sin. We don't check our whys. We don't get alone and get real. So as long as I'm doing these things, I feel like I'm better than them. We look around everyone else, and I'm doing better. And when I feel like I'm doing better, then I protect that, and I look down on others, and I have contempt. And I see a lot of that in Christianity today in our culture.

I see a lot of guys doing my job, that they're what they do is they get up and they try to chew on other churches and say, this is what's wrong with it. Now you can talk theology. That's fine. But when you say, oh, you're not as good as us because you didn't do this, or you didn't talk about that, and this is my problem with mixing politics into the into the pulpit.

I think we should be politically active. Hear what I'm saying. I think your theology should push your political ideology. We should be active. But the win, the mission is not to take our culture over for Christ biblically and dominate that. That's not the win. And when we mix that, we get filled with contempt, and our preaching

then mixes with political ideology. We say, we've gotta win back this culture. We gotta close the border. We gotta do this deal with that. We gotta do all that. When was that the mission of the church? Those things probably need to be dealt with. I'm not denying that.

But that has nothing to do with our walk with God and how we're saved. And then people, if your pastor doesn't talk about this or celebrate that, they're a bad church. Hogwash. That's contempt.

And you know where our contempt comes from? Spiritually arrogant people that think we got our act together so we're better than those people on the outside. We're not better. We're saved. And the reality is this, folks.

If you really get alone and get better, and I know for my life, the closer I get to God, the longer I'm gonna pastor, the more I study the word to preach the further away I ever feel from being perfect like Christ. I feel less worthy thirty, forty, whatever years into my faith.

You know why? Because the deeper you get, the more you feel like, oh my gosh, I'm an idiot there. The more I realize like something stupid like, why have I got bottom billing? That's a stupid thing. You start noticing things more.

And then but but they but if it's a performance space, we can't go there. If it's about me or mine, I can't go there because I realize I'm getting further away. That was the whole point. We were never even remotely close to being righteous before Jesus. The only answer is Jesus died for us, gave us Zoe on the cross, and because of him, just like what we saw in the baptisms,

we are all worthy, and he already loves us. So why do we need to point out everybody else's failures? We

don't need to be people filled with contempt. We need to be people that are filled with the love of God. And that's exactly like this whole idea. Or you're because then you're on the other side. People feel like, I can't keep up. I can't do it. I'm self loathing.

This person thinks they've already done it. This person thinks I never can. But when we embrace the love of Christ, he transforms the inside out, and guess what? We actually do start living in righteousness. And we want to. We want to. So if your why doesn't lead to a want to, there's something wrong with your why.

Because whys are often lies that distract us and put the wrong thing in front of us. And that's the struggle. We need to check our whys, get alone, and get real. Because that's Peter is a good example.

Disciple Peter. He was a guy that was just, I'm all in for you, Jesus. He goes, I'll die for you. Lopped a guy's ear off. And then Jesus was like, Stop it. And he goes, You're not gonna you will eventually die for me. You know what you're gonna do? You're gonna deny me. I would never do that. Cock a doodle doo.

That was all about him. I'm gonna show you how much I love you. I'm gonna do this. He's like, you can't. You're not gonna make it. But then Jesus dies, and then he realized I failed. And when Jesus comes back, he he he wants to restore him. And when he meets up with him, he only asked him one question.

And was his question, hey, why'd you backstab me? Why'd you fail? Why didn't you get your act together? You know, I don't know if I'm taking you back, but if I do, one more time, you're out. Did he say any of that? No. You know what? When he restored him, he never even brought up what he did. Not once. His only question

was, Peter, do you love me? That's all he wanted to know. And you know why you wanna ask him if he loved him? Because he says that what he was implying was, hey, you didn't trust me. I just proved what I said I was gonna do? I've already loved you. And

now, because what I did, you can love me back. So do you love me? Because if you love me, feed my sheep. If you love me, let's go.

And and and here's the thing. This is what's cool about Greek. I gotta go a bit egged because every now and then you wanna dig into that because it changes the meaning when you understand what's going on. When he asks him, do you love me? Jesus says, do you agape me? Agape is a Greek word for this unconditional love. It's considered like the love of God. It's an I will love you no matter what.

And you know what Peter's answer was? Yes. I phileo you. That's where we get filetos of brotherly love. Philadelphia is named out of that. So basically, goes, do you love me? With that righteous unconditional love, he's like, I love you like a bro, man. And he's like, okay, feed my sheep. Peter, do you agape me? I

we're bros, man. I love you like a bro. All right. Take care of the lamb. And then the last time he goes, okay, Peter, do you love me like a bro? And Peter broke. He said, you know all things. You know I agape you. I just didn't think I could say it because I failed.

And then you invite them back into the walk.

That's what Jesus is talking about here. Our faith is not coming here. Our why so many of our whys is, I'm putting on a show for others and God. In other words, I'm trying to live for His love because I think it's a transactional relationship. I do this, he gives me that.

So if I go do all the things he wants, he's gonna give me what I want. Here's the problem. That doesn't work. And secondly, that's a me centered faith.

He centered says, I've seen how you love me and you know me better than I know myself, and you have loved me in ways I can never imagine. I'm gonna trust you that what I really need is what you want to give me, not what I wanna get from you.

And when we embrace that love, we can truly say, you know what, you're right, I do agape you, God. And you'll walk with him. You'll check your whys. You'll get alone and you'll get real. And from the inside out, you will start to be able to say, I get to do that.

I have a lot of pastor friends that I worry about. I talk to them sometimes because they're like, Ugh, how do you preach five times on the weekend? And and I go, duh. Preaching's not my problem. It's the it's the preparation that's my problem.

I mean, I hated school. I got good grades. Hated it. I really hated doing papers. I said, I wish I'd been a math major or something. I didn't like writing papers.

And I was so glad when I walked got out of grad school and started this church and I was never in school again. I was like, I'm never gonna have to do this again. Then I realized, I'm giving a researched book report every week. It's a new book report, and it's on the same book every week.

And I'm like, would think I would hate it. Yeah, that's the hard part, but I love it. And I love it. And I go, if you get tired out and you love it, yes, it's tiring. I'm not it is exhausting. But I don't sit there and sack like, woe is me. I'm a pastor that has to do this. I'm like, lucky am I

that God gifted me the way he did and lets me do this. When you look at what God asks you to be as he asks us to be his disciples, do you say, I am lucky that I get to do that? Or do you say, Man, I wish Bill would stop hollering about me and telling me to do that? Which one is it? That's your why.

You'll know your why when you start questioning that. And the only way you're gonna really do something with it is to get alone and get real. When was the last time you slowed down enough to hear God's voice?

And does that kind of transformation, when you hear how it'll make you want to, when you hear that God will transform you, does that seem like a reward to you or an annoyance or a fear?

Because there's something wrong with your understanding of how God loves you and knows you. And you're putting yourself above God like you think you know more than Him. And that's the problem. That's the problem. But just get alone and get real. I love this quote, Anne Lamont.

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Somebody's like, this isn't working. We'll just unplug for a minute and then plug it back in. We'll see what happens.

So if we check your why, get alone and get real, and that leads to this last part, verse five through eight is what now he starts talking about praying. And he's saying, so then what you do at that point is stop performing and start praying.

Stop performing and start praying. See, these rabbis, then these spiritual people, they would intentionally go out on the street corners, as it said. They would pick the busiest street, the busiest time of the day, then just start praying. He says, don't do that. And he also says, don't pray like the Gentiles.

He says they just babble repetitively repetitively, Which is kinda funny because he says that that that word for babble in the Greek means to ramble, to repeat empty phrases. It's spiritual noise.

And that's funny. That's he said that what they would do is they would cut themselves. They would pray. They would just yell the same thing to their god over and over again, whether it was right or we want this. Basically,

they'd be yelling like, we don't want this, god. We want this. Whatever their god was, we don't want this. We want this. We don't want this. We want this. Chant they'd have these chants, these written prayer like, hey. We did they you say it almost like a enchanted. It's like a like a wizardry wizard saying, you know, the spell or whatever. And and then they do it like that. He says, it doesn't work. It's not this repetitive chant,

which is ironic because then he says, how should we pray? And he says, my father art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and he goes through the Lord's prayer. How many of you grew up in a church and came from a church that you chanted that prayer all the time? Let's do the prayer. You're doing the exact same thing. It's like, what are you, Gandalf? Thou shalt not pass. You know, it's like, what is going on?

That's not a chant and a repeatable prayer. That's an outline of topics in order of how you should approach your prayer life. And it talks about might your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He's not praying about the will for the whole world. You should be praying about doing God's will in your life

and asking for forgiveness. And when you confess your own sins, guess what? It makes you easier to go, and maybe I should forgive those. He's saying battle the tendency to become spiritually arrogant. This prayer, as it talks about, forces us to not have contempt, but to be contrite.

We have to stop performing. That's why he says don't be a hypocrite. That's the actors. They wore masks back then because they had more roles than they had actors. So and one actor would play more than one part,

but they didn't have the makeup artist like Eddie Murphy and those guys do in the future where you just play 17 different parts, and they would just go put a different mask on. And he says, don't babble. Don't ramble, repeat empty phrases, spiritual noise. Be real.

Because here's what he means by that. When you ramble and repeat things, you think that praying is a one way conversation.

Praying is a real conversation. And real conversations involve talking, but what else do they involve? Listening. Now just ask yourself, when you think about your prayer life, when you're praying, how much of it do you listen?

And a lot of times, how often do we pray? You will pray. You'll start talking to God about something. I really want to How often did you sit in his word? Because that's really kinda how you listen to him.

If we just pray about and talk about whatever we want and just babble and repeat phrases and do what the the the the what he says these Gentiles, the pagans he said do, is like is basically repeat over and over. It's something like this. God, I don't want this,

and I want this. That's pretty much most of it. I think about it when I'm just not thinking about most of my prayer life I wanna go to. God, I really don't want this to happen. I really want this to happen. Most of our prayers is, I don't want this. I want this. I don't want this. I want this. I don't want this. I want this. And he says babbling, just repeating it over and over and over again. And sometimes we get loud about it. Sometimes we get really discouraged in it. You know what that reminds me of?

Talking to your kids.

That's what children do. When they come to you, they always, I don't want that. I want this. I don't want that. You're trying to have a conversation. For them, it's a one way conversation. I say you do. And if you're not careful, you'll let it be that.

And and and the problem is you need to discipline. You need to direct. My my oldest daughter, her grandson my grandson, is

six. My oldest grandson, he's super intelligent. He's super smart. He does well in school. He's like he's he's he can have a conversation. I'm surprised with him. I learned that he can sit down and and and really reason through stuff if you'll talk to him. But he's still sick, so sometimes he forgets that he can do that, and he just acts like a kid. And the other day, she was telling me, yeah, they're out in the backyard, his little brother who's three did something to him, and he didn't like it. And so he did this overtly what brothers will do, a very disproportionate

response. And it was just like clobbered him. Now he's crying, and she's like, stop doing that. He's like, I don't care. He did this to me. Like, justifyingly, like, I had every right to do it. Just

spazzing out. And she goes, you know what? You need to go have a time in. Let's go inside. You're gonna sit down for a minute and then we're gonna talk. And she's like He's like, no. I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna go inside.

I wanna stay outside. She goes, you need to go inside. You can't be outside. I don't wanna go inside. I wanna stay outside. So she finally grabbed him. Discipline literally Discipline means redirect.

So instead of pummeling him, she just picked him up and carried him. It's funny because he's not that big. So he's like bigger. They're going to the door, and they got to the door, and then he reached his arms out. I'm like, thou shalt not pass.

And he's pulling him in, drags him in, sitting down. He's like, don't want it. Why can't I go back outside? Why isn't it being here? He's so

she my my daughter said, stop.

She goes, let me ask you a question. When, son, has this ever worked? Tell me one time. I'm I'm giving you a chance. Give me one example of when you doing this, I don't want this, I want this, not listening, doing whatever you want, and then getting mad at me. When has that ever worked on me or your dad?

When have we ever said, you know what? You've asked so many times that you've changed my mind. Run amok. Beat up your brother. I don't care. Now a lot of us, my kids probably could say yes multiple times because we gave up on parenting.

But he at six, he literally she's like, he's like, I think at first he was trying to figure out a time. And then he but he went through his little Rolodex. He goes, never?

Because you know what might have worked to not be in here? Actually, I know it would have worked if when I said, hey, what are you doing? Because you yelled that he hit you, but I said, stop. If you would have said, you know what? You're right. Sorry, brother. Sorry, mom.

We wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation right now.

What are you babbling about right now?

What is your frustration in your faith because you just over and over again keep saying, God, I don't want this, I want this. And you refuse to understand that God has a bigger perspective than me and you. He knows what's best for us. He loves us. He says he will love you and give you what you really need,

just like a good father. So when I say I, me, mine, a me center, it's like, that's not good enough. I babble, I get upset, I either feel defeated, like since God's not answering, I must not be a good enough follower of him, or I'm arrogant enough to say, God's I don't you're just angry with him.

You need to time in. You need to sit with God, check your why by getting alone, getting real with Him. Stop pretending and start really praying. And praying means share your heart, but listen to His answer. Because what we're gonna learn next week in prayer, no is an answer. And any good parent in here knows that.

Why do we get so mad when God says the same thing to us? Do you realize we are further away in understanding and maturity and ability from God in us than our kids in us? You compare us to God, you know how much further away we are than our kids? We need to remember that.

Because know and wait are answers. And if you get frustrated with that, we're being a babbling kid. We need to check our why, and that's an indicator that your faith was never about him. It's always been about you. And Jesus is saying, don't want that for my children. I don't want that because that doesn't get anywhere.

It leaves you with arrogance or insecurity. And you know what he says? This brings anxiety.

I'm bringing you identity.

We need to find our identity in Jesus and God and who he created us to be and who He calls us to be. Not always searching for an identity in something else.

Even trying to search for an identity and proving yourself to God. God. That's not our identity. We just need to be able to say, I love you, God, because I know you love me.

And are you more focused on sounding spiritual, looking spiritual, and getting what you want than actually being real with God.

Jesus is saying that'll never ever work.

It's not gonna work.

Surrender. Because otherwise, that that that that that that wrong why of a lie will dig in and it'll get to you. Because I go back back to the the the conference. I got there to speak, and it was a different story. I wanna show you the picture of the building that I I showed up at. Now look where I'm at.

I'm the only one you could see from the parking lot. And and and yeah. And then and then no no no no. Don't don't don't be like what happened to me. You're gonna encourage me in the wrong way. Get behind me, Satan. Because here's what happened. A little bit in me says, they made it right.

But then what happened was I started walking around. All the people that knew me started coming, look at you, man. You got top billing. Like, one of the speakers was behind a garbage can. You couldn't even see them. I was like, yes. And then but then I'm sitting there, and I thought I thought it was funny.

And but then everyone says, wow. You must be proud.

You must be proud because that's also Lynn Winters, Cornerstone Church. He was my mentor growing up, and and now I got my head plastered really huge right on the side of his building. And and then they're like but they're saying, man, I can't I'm looking forward to it, man. You up there, you're gonna do good. I go, yeah. I I'm you're gonna I can't wait to hear what you have to say. You're gonna be the best one. You're gonna be the best, and you're gonna do so good. And they kept saying that. I know they were trying to encourage me, but they were being Satan.

Because instead of encouraging me, it started to make me nervous. And here's what I knew was a problem. I don't get nervous when I speak.

Ever since I knew that God called me to do it, I get up here, I prepare, I go, hey, you know what? I prepared, I think I know what God's I'm just gonna go do what God wants me to do. I always pray that it's his words, not mine, by his power, not mine, for his glory and his kingdom, not mine, and it's what I want for the people from God, not what I want want from people.

I pray that every time, and I don't worry about it. I think God called me. I think he gave me a good message. I knew what I was wanna talk about, and I knew he was gonna bring in high energy. All of they started saying all that, and I started getting worried. What if I don't rock it?

What if the what if I don't bring the house down? What if people don't respond really well?

And it kinda just couldn't put its way in there. So then I went in the back when we're doing this pre run through and I was trying to do the talk to the band. I'm like, hey. I said, hey. What song are you coming out of? Because I'd asked them days before, and they told me. And I go I asked the guy, is that a good song to come out of from from a high energy? Like, oh, yeah. That'll be good. And I'm like, no. I don't think you guys understand. I am really gonna go high energy.

I I am old, but I have a lot of energy. And this is only one talk for thirty minutes. It's like one half of the Super Bowl. And I'm gonna go out there and treat it like it's the second half. We're down by seven because it's the whole theme was to bring encouragement. And I said, I am going to go all in locker room. I'm gonna go out on that field, and I'm gonna throw everything out there. And it might shock some people. So I told the band when I said, so how are you doing? When you come out, don't be worried. I'm gonna be on the floor.

And they're like, what? I go and be rolling around. It's not a life alert situation. I go, unless I ask for help, then it is a life alert situation.

But I said, don't worry. And I and I and I normally when I first told them before, but I got back and told these guys, one of the guys at the band, someone looked at me like, that usually wouldn't bother me. I go, they'll learn. And instead, I was like, uh-oh.

Am I going too far? Am I gonna be too much of a spaz? Am I gonna freak everyone out? And it started to get me worried. I started, maybe I should change it. Maybe I should do something different. Maybe I should

that doesn't happen to me. I don't get nervous like that. I mean, half time when I'm preaching, I'm with my security guy back behind that curtain. I'm almost late getting out here because we're joking around. I have to go sit by myself and stare at a wall or anything. I'm like, I already prepared. I know what God wants me to say. I'm gonna go say it. But and then I'm like halfway. It's like the video announcement saying, oh, I need to be out there. But all of a sudden, now I'm worried?

I knew I needed to check my why. So then I went and I got alone. I don't normally do that. I go, hey. Leave me alone. I went back into this back room, and I sat there. I'm like, what is going on? This is weird. This shouldn't bother me.

It doesn't bother me. Why is this bothering me right now? And I really prayed. I said, God, I know what I'm supposed to say. I know I did this, but this is getting to me when it shouldn't be. Can you help me out here? And as I sat there, I realized it just hit all the way back to a quality that is in me,

that I think can help me be a pastor, but it can really hurt me if I if I let it take over. And that is I like to be liked. I care about what other people think. I think if I completely didn't, I'd just be a jerk. And I might be wrong, but I'm assuming everyone in this room likes to be liked.

A few of you don't. You know who you are, and you don't care that you know who you are.

And it was hitting that for some weird reason, and I needed to talk to God about that. Because if I go down that road, I can be a very different preacher. I won't say what needs to be said. I will just make sure I say things that everybody wants to hear.

Checked my why, got alone and got real, didn't try to perform, and I really prayed. And then I went out there, and I crushed it. You know why? No. I didn't crush it because of the crowd. I I crushed it because I went out there and I said what I knew God wanted me to say.

And the only thing I had to worry about at that point was can I get back off the floor because I'm old? And when I get up now off the ground, I look like a new horse that was just born and is trying to stand for the first time. Your legs all pointing in.

I even handled that all right. And that all happened simply because of this. And that seems like a silly little example, but I'm telling you, what is it in your life? That's me. As a speaker, as a person in front, I really have to be confronted. It is so easy to be a person that has the privilege

of being able to stand in front of all you and talk about the precious word of God. It is so easy to make it about me.

What is that in your life? Because I know for me, I learned it's not I, me, mine. My faith can't. My work, my walk can't be me centered. It won't work. It always has to be he centered. So what about you? What about you? Father God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you love us more than we love ourselves.

And I just pray for me, my and everyone in this room and anyone watching that we could simply just relax and know your love so deeply that when you say, do we love you back? We say yes with agape love because our faith is centered on you. And that is a blessing that it doesn't count and have to be counted upon to be all about me.

I pray this, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks for joining us online today. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up to date with everything happening here at Rock Point.