WEBVTT - The Father Saw (When You Feel Invisible) 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.600 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.920 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.000 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:22.640 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.319 It's so awkward how they let the beat run and 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.600 you'll just look at me after the highlight video is over. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.839 By the way, my son made that beat. Do the 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:40.559 dash on YouTube. Yes I'm his manager, and yes I'm 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.880 going to take a cut when he gets to that level. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.400 I want to look at Matthew chapter six today, Matthew six, 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.640 verse one through four from the sermon on the mounth 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.360 that Jesus preached, and I want to get into a 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.720 very deep topic. Don't worry about standing up in show today. 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.080 You probably need to sit still for this one. But 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.320 it's not bad. It's really good. But I just want 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.039 you to receive it. You know, sometimes I worry that 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.920 everywhere else you go in life, you're so focused on 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.280 what you need to do, and you come into church 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.080 with that same mindset. But in many ways, I want 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:20.880 this time to be the one part of your week 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.280 where you can receive. Now that doesn't mean you do 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.560 it passively, because you get more out of it if 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.840 you put something into it. But this message today comes 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:36.440 from this general spirit of the age Zeitgeist, where it 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:42.200 seems that our entire emphasis is on being seen. And 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.240 you're going to see that phrase seen two times in 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.160 this passage. But it's in direct contrast. And I want 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.360 to do my best, with the help of the Holy Spirit, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.840 to illuminate or that God will illuminate exactly what we 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.960 need to see today. And I trust that He will 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.080 be careful. Verse one not to do your acts of 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.840 righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.440 you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.600 So when you give to the needy, and right there, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.959 you know most of us just heard the word give. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.959 This is not a scripture about money. This is a 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:27.440 scripture about motives. He's using the vehicle of talking about 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.720 money to get to the idea of what are your motives. 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.800 And he says when you give to the needy, or 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.160 when you pray, or when you fast. He uses three 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.640 different examples in Matthew six. But when you are doing 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:45.919 something significant, don't do it to be seen. Okay, when 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.799 you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.400 as the hypocrites do on Facebook. And did I read 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.480 it wrong? I just got caught in twenty twenty four 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.280 a moment, but this is a this is a like 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.880 thirty a D. So I'm off on my dates. Okay, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.400 do not do it like the hypocrites do in the 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.080 synagogues and on the streets. To be honored by men. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.640 I tell you the truth. They have received their reward 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.520 in full. But when you give to the needy, do 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.800 not let your left hand know what your right hand 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.639 is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.680 Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:32.560 will reward you. The title of this message is the 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.480 Father Saw, The Father Saw. I want to pray one 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.560 more time if you would join me. Lord, your word 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.280 is powerful, and if I get out of the way, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:47.320 it will do work. So remove me. I know that 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.520 it's my vocal chords right now, but I pray that 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.680 the voice would come from heaven now. If their hearts 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.440 are blocked by something that they are thinking about that 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.040 is not in this room, I pray that every thought 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.760 would be taken captive right now, so your word can 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.440 go forth, feed your people. God, use me to do 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:11.400 it in Jesus' name. Amen, this is my last service 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.680 of the weekend. I preached three and I forgot to 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.800 do this every other time, so I decided to do 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.000 it upfront on this service. Now. It's really good that 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.839 we saved it for last because my middle son, Graham, 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:31.839 is a wrestler and he won two state championships. Yeah. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.600 Well the first one that he won, and it's kind 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:35.880 of like a what do you call it, like a 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.640 junior state championship or something like that, so it wasn't 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.520 necessarily like NCAA or something like that, but it was 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.839 a big deal to us. And I remember on the 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.000 way home from the first one that he won, because 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.120 we were both kind of surprised that he won it. 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:59.920 And when we sat down at Pizza Hut to celebrate, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:05.160 which is what every great parent does at any juncture 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.479 of life, whether it's book it or a state championship, 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:11.160 Pizza Hut is the answer. How many know that you 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.200 store up for yourself treasures on earth, or you can 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.000 enjoy treasures at pizza Hut. That's in Matthew Chapter six, 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.400 verse twenty one through twenty three, and I said, man, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.400 it's so good. I got to be here for it. 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.600 I said, imagine if I had missed it because it 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.600 was on a weekend and I had scheduled someone else 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.760 to preach so I could be there and watch it. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.080 And he said something back to me. It's one of 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.919 those moments you live for as a parent. I said, 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.120 what if I had missed it? He said, well, if 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.960 you hadn't been there to watch, I probably wouldn't have won. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:45.920 Like it was written straight out of a script from 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.919 Seventh Heaven, you know, like stuff your kid's never saying. 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.599 My house usually is more like the Simpsons than Seventh Heaven. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:56.120 But this was at one moment and it took me 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.960 back having that trophy to the year was nineteen ninety 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.159 when I won first place. And I don't know if 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.560 you can get a close up of this. I never 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.960 won a Grammy, but I won the Somerville Takedown Tournament. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.560 Come on, in the one hundred and ten weight pound 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.960 division ninety three. If I need to tell you something, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.360 hold on. You might not want a clap yet. There 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.719 were only two other people in the weight class, and 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:39.800 they didn't give out trophies. So my dad on Christmas 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:45.520 Day there was an awkwardly wrapped present under the tree. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.680 And my dad was not always the model father. He 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.039 did his best, but my mom was always there telling 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.200 him what he needed to do. And she said, get 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.840 that boy a trophy and wrap it and write him 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.000 an And I never forget what the note said is 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.120 that here is the trophy that I watched you win 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:21.920 that I think you deserve. So what do you do 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:27.120 when the world doesn't give out trophies? This message is 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:32.600 called the Father saw. Jesus makes a distinction in Matthew 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.520 chapter six between what people see and what God sees. 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:42.120 How many know there's a difference. And have you noticed 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.160 that the world hands out trophies sometimes for all the 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.600 wrong stuff? Y'all, Uncle, help me preach a bit today. 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.880 I'm gonna have to do this by myself. The world 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:57.840 will hand out trophies always for what is seen. But 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.320 we have a God who celebrates the unseen. He is 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.400 the king of a kingdom where what is unseen is 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.800 often more important than what is seen. The unseen is 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.320 often more important than the scene in the kingdom, but 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.520 the world celebrates the scene, and so people will congratulate 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.200 you for a new car, even though what they don't 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:29.320 know is you can't afford the payments. And the world 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.120 will celebrate you for getting a promotion. And it's good 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.120 if you get a promotion. I pray you get every 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.439 promotion God wants you to have this year. But people 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:42.440 will never come up to you and congratulate you for peace. Hey, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.240 congratulations for your peace. They can't celebrate it because they 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:52.679 can't see it, and you can't celebrate what you don't see. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:57.760 If you lose weight, people will celebrate you even if 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.840 you put it back on and lose it again year. Look, 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.679 if you really want people to celebrate you, let me 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.280 give you a fool proof way. Every year, gain thirty 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.240 pounds and lose it, and at least half of the 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.280 year people will tell you how much better you look. 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.600 But if you lose the weight and keep it off, 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.280 nobody walks up to anybody and says you still look 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:27.520 all right because they can't see that. So people don't 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:32.480 celebrate consistency. Can I teach a little bit before I preach? 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.920 One of the ways that I tell our staff that 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.600 you can know you're getting good at your job is 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:43.120 when people stop giving you compliments. In fact, one of 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.040 the ways that you can tell you're a good parent 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:47.640 is when your kids don't thank you for keeping the 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:54.760 heat on. They just walk up to the refrigerator like 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.560 stuff is supposed to be there. Am I right about her? 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.680 If your child ever tells you, hey, thank you for 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.400 indoor plumbing, that probably means you're not providing very well 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.200 at this moment in time, and it needs to get better. 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.520 And often the greatest proof that you're doing good in 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.760 God's sight is that you are taken for granted in 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:27.440 people's sight. And I know what I'm preaching about today 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.880 because when I first started preaching, people would pinch my cheeks. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.080 I was seventeen years old and they would pinch my cheeks. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.440 Now I got this beard, and my cheeks aren't so 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.160 soft to pinch anymore. And I figure that if I'm 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.199 really doing my job preaching, you'll stop thinking about how 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.920 good the preacher was, and you'll start being able to 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.360 hear what God is saying to you. But now I 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:54.800 need you to know that In Matthew chapter six, Jesus 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.439 says that there is a tremendous temptation to do things 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.840 to be seen by people and whether that means that 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.280 we live our lives like a reality TV show through 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.320 the vehicles of Instagram and Facebook, showing people certain scenes 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.199 of our life that present an image that we would 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.000 like them to think is really us, while secretly feeling 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.480 lonely because the discrepancy between our real life and our 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.840 projected life is becoming more distant, and that distance creates 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.319 the illusion of feeling like an impostor. Even though you 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.240 are doing the best that you can, you are showing 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.320 something that is better than what you are, and so 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.920 people will congratulate what they think you are, but secretly 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.280 who you are is dying inside because nobody sees it. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:38.640 And I'm preaching this whole series because our need to 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.080 be seen by others can keep us from being known 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:46.520 by God. I don't mean that God doesn't know you. 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.000 He knows everything about you. He's the only one who does. 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.720 But we see the contrast in Matthew Chapter six, Let's 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.480 look at it again. He says, be careful when you 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.320 do what you do that you don't do it to 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.080 be seen. How many things in my life am I 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:09.240 doing to be seen? There is no worse feeling than 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:14.520 that of invisibility. You know, when you are doing your 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.040 very best and it goes unrecognized, it makes it kind 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.560 of harder to want to keep doing it. And when 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.080 you feel unseen, especially by the people whose attention and 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.960 approval you crave the most, it can create a compulsion 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.400 in your life to start doing things that are not 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:39.080 even really consistent with your character in order to receive 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.840 from people a confirmation that can be taken away just 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.720 as easily as it was given. But we are not 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:52.679 citizens of this kingdom, which celebrates and compliments all the 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.640 things that are seen. We are citizens of the kingdom 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.920 where Jesus has things like this. When you do something 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.880 in secret, your father sees it, and he will reward 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.679 you according to what he sees. So my message is, 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:18.600 if you have felt unappreciated, uncelebrated, unnoticed, and insignificant in 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:23.719 this kingdom, what is unseen is often what is most significant. 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:32.520 Now not in the world. In the world, we we 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:38.160 correlate scene with significant. But I'll tell you what. You 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.240 could take this pulpit away and I could still preach 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.480 my sermon because I really don't need my notes. They're 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.760 just like Linus's blankets, just like a security thing for me. 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:49.840 I really have the message in my heart. So you 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:54.280 could take this away and I could still preach. But 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.680 if the signal that's causing this microphone to make a 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.520 sound were to drop out, you could no longer hear 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:06.320 the message. Why because what is invisible is often what 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:14.959 is most valuable. And yet can I keep going. I'm 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:16.320 gonna do it, whether you want me to or not. 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.320 I got you now, Whether we will admit it or not, 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:26.320 we are so good at celebrating the wrong stuff. People 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:31.720 will always, especially the crowd, give us rabbits. The crowd 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.760 will always celebrate the wrong thing. People will always celebrate 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.480 what they can see. And another thing that people will 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:44.680 always do is celebrate a gift rather than celebrating character. 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.360 We celebrate the wrong stuff. Now, if you do it 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.480 in secret, and this could refer to anything in your life. 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.840 If you do, if you do what you do according 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:03.800 to your values, not according to external validation, then you 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:09.920 understand the meaning of the Father. Saw the sacrifices that 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.840 you made that no one else really pointed out, the stuff, 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.360 Nobody gave you a trophy for. What would it be 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.520 like this year for us to live with God as 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:25.560 our audience and not our dysfunctional friends and family members 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.520 who are secretly so caught up in their own crap 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.480 that they can't celebrate us because they're waiting for us 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:40.160 to celebrate them. Now. I struggle with this because it's 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.800 hard for me to live my life for an invisible audience. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.760 And they used to sing a song in the children's 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.400 church where I grew up that said, be careful, little eyes, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.920 what you see? Did you all have this song in 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.920 children's church? Be careful, little ears, what you hear? The 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:00.640 creepiest children's Bible song ever for the father up above 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.000 is looking down with love. It's like this doesn't feel 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:09.320 very loving. This steals invasive. Okay, so you remember the song. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:14.800 Every move I'm made, every breath take, I'll be watching you. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:16.960 It was like the beat was so good to the song. 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:25.400 I didn't realize it's a stalker. But he said, your father, 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.480 who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.440 Say this out loud, my reward. Y'all can't mumble this part. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.280 Y'all are so loud about the wrong stuff. Get loud 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.800 about this shot us say my reward is from the 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.960 Lord touch. Somebody say I don't need a trophy. I 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.440 don't need a trophy. I don't need a trophy for 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.960 everybody who was not appreciated, for everybody who was not celebrated, 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.840 for everybody who was unwanted, even abandoned. I want you 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.600 to know your father saw who left you, He saw 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.440 who should have been there. And when my father and 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.960 mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me off. 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.000 My father saw when people mistreated me, and I could 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.400 have got even, but I put it in his hands. 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.040 He saw it, and my reward is with the Lord. 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.639 Ten seconds to celebrate the presence of God in your life. 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.640 Come on from the front to the back, nephews Toakaston, 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:36.280 give him praise if you know he was watching. So 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:42.000 how good are you at celebrating the unseen? Do you 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.960 celebrate those moments in your life where God is making 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.800 you stronger but your biceps aren't getting bigger. People will 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:55.320 celebrate your biceps. Oh man, you go tickets to give 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:57.840 you the ticket to the gun show. People have fifty 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:04.640 thousand cliches to compliment your because people celebrate what they see. 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.400 But nobody ever came up to me and said, hey man, 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:18.199 your contentment is like gains bro and we all know 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:22.240 which is more valuable. But we live in a world 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:26.600 where what is visible is celebrated more than what's valuable. 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:32.040 So if you move toward the clap of the crowd, 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:38.000 they will lead you right off the cliff. I'm gonna 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.040 stop right here, but you see the illustration. If I 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.480 keep following that clap, where am I going to end up? 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.560 If you keep chasing clout right now, what's it going 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.639 to be like when the people that you live to 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:58.560 please are no longer even paying attention. Your friend might 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.320 move to Alabama. Now the person that was your whole 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.760 soul source for affirmation is gone to another nation, I 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:12.120 mean state. And the Lord said to tell you that 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.920 he saw it. Now, we don't need to be afraid. 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.440 This is not a verse about retribution. You know your 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.639 father who sees what is done in secret. Some people 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:23.920 hear that like a threat. And when I said that 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.639 your father sees what is done in secret, you were like, 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:31.240 oh God, oh no, that's the worst news I heard 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:36.159 all day. He's not speaking about punishment, he's speaking about reward. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:39.879 He's trying to get us to see that we're seeing 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:46.199 whether people do or not. Okay, I get it, Pastor, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:53.159 he sees me I get it, Do you really? Or 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:58.320 are you still buying stuff? Are you still giving away things? 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:03.760 Are you still One thing that I've learned is we 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.280 don't graduate from our need to be approved by people 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:13.400 when we graduate high school. We still live for approval. 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:20.640 It just gets more expensive. I can't preach it any 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.720 harder than this. I dressed like a highlighter and everything 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:30.520 so y'all can see me today. And when God gave 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.480 me this message, he said, call it the father saw 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:39.880 the father saw, because they thought nobody saw, but I did. 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.520 And since you can't see the father visibly or hear 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.320 the father audibly, I want to deliver the message today 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:55.320 that he saw. He saw what you didn't get. He 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:59.679 saw that integrity that you had. He saw when you 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.880 didn't go off Now Wednesday you did, but then Thursday 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:05.480 you got it together and you didn't do it again. 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:10.520 So see, we got to celebrate the times where we 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:15.879 do get it right now, I'm bad at this. Stand up. 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:17.320 If you're like me and you have a hard time 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.320 celebrating your successes. Stand up if you're like me and 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:21.280 you have a heart time celebrating your successes. Stand up 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:23.359 if you let me have a hard time celebrating your successes. 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.520 All right, let's take a moment. Since we're so hard 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.200 on ourselves and we have a hard time celebrating ourselves 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.119 on every location, let's celebrate the fact that we had 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.040 the self awareness to stand up and know that we're 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:39.160 hard on ourselves. See how weak that was, Like, I'm 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.240 not clapping for that. Sit down, I gotta work on 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.320 y'all for a minute. We are so bad at this. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.080 Me and Holly went on a hike to Crowder's Mountain Friday, 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.840 and while I was busy beating the imaginary opponent to 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.040 the top of the hill, I was thirty steps ahead 0:21:56.080 --> 0:22:01.600 of her and she was looking at the view. She said, 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.000 she said, I said you. I said you need to 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:09.560 keep up. She said, you need to slow down. The 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:12.520 views getting good, and I was like, I know it. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:22.520 But she was talking about the the landscape, and I 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:24.879 realized it was an analogy for what she brings to 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.840 my life that is so irreplaceable. Holly is great at 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:32.840 celebrating herself. She really is. She does not need lessons 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.159 in this. She came downstairs the other day celebrating her 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.600 workouts and that she had, you know, made it to 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.760 a certain point in her workouts, and I'm the kind 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.320 of person that you know, I'll do the workout and 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.320 then think about the fact that you know, somebody else 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:52.800 could have lifted more, and I'll just do this all 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.679 the time. Really, I struggled to celebrate myself, and I 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:02.040 used to think that was godly, because, after all, the 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:08.919 Bible says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.440 You notice people who quote that verse are never really 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:17.959 that humble, and they don't even know what verse it is. 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:20.560 The next time somebody quotes the Bible verse that you 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:22.440 to beat you over the head with it, ask them 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.120 what chapter and verse, ninety nine percent chance they'll shut up. 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.560 I'm not talking about pride. I'm talking about process and 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:39.200 progress and being able to say, in certain moments of 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:45.360 your life, nobody else saw it, but the Father saw. Otherwise, 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:47.080 you're going to be waiting for people to give you 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:53.560 trophies that don't even exist. Oh, by the way, if 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:58.440 they gave the trophy real quick example, they can take 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:02.879 it back. They can change their mind about you. So 0:24:02.920 --> 0:24:05.879 I have to get calibrated. I feel annointed to preach today. 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:09.720 Is it just me? I feel annointed to get us 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:12.200 set free? Watch this. We talk about getting set and 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:16.080 free from sin and shame. We need to get set 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:26.280 free from people. Not that we don't care about them, 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:30.400 but we can't be controlled by them. I can't even 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:33.760 let you control this message, because what if the best 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:35.720 thing I say is the thing you're not ready to hear. 0:24:37.160 --> 0:24:39.919 What if you don't like the taste of the medicine, 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:42.199 I gotta mash it up in the apple sauce and 0:24:42.240 --> 0:24:46.400 give it to you anyway, because I cannot be controlled 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:50.280 by a crowd and deliver God's word. Now, you cannot 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:54.600 be controlled by a cultural ideal of success and really 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:59.040 receive the affirmation that comes from God alone. And today 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.679 is the day for somebody that you get a different audience, 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:07.080 not the audience that is external, because they will always 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:10.000 clap for what is visible. But if you know you 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:12.879 have a God on the inside of you that is 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:16.239 the treasured possession of your life and the strength of 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:20.399 your soul, give in praise right now and celebrate his 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:23.760 presence in your life that if you don't have anything else, 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:30.119 you've got him and he is enough. Y'all do what 0:25:30.160 --> 0:25:32.480 you wanna do. I'm gonna take twenty seconds and celebrate 0:25:33.160 --> 0:25:36.520 that word. Thank you Lord for loving me. Thank you 0:25:36.600 --> 0:25:39.639 Lord for choosing me. Thank you Lord for keeping me. 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:42.680 Thank you Lord for forgiving me. Thank you that you 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:46.360 didn't just see my mistakes, but you saw my potential. 0:25:50.880 --> 0:25:55.919 The father saw, The father saw, He saw the tears 0:25:55.960 --> 0:25:58.639 you cried while you were waiting because you wouldn't compromise 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:02.440 just to fit in. The father saw, the father saw. 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:08.520 And so when we when we celebrate the unseen, write 0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:12.600 that down on your page. Celebrate the unseen, because what 0:26:12.720 --> 0:26:17.280 is most seen is not always what's most significant. You know, 0:26:17.320 --> 0:26:21.959 the devil can't defeat you, right, He's a defeated foe. 0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:24.240 Now if it were you against him and be like 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.919 Connor McGregor, you know, be over in forty seconds. But 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:32.359 did y'all see that I need my money back? That 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:35.879 was sixty dollars for forty seconds of fighting. If I 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:37.399 do the math on that, and I can't do it 0:26:37.440 --> 0:26:39.760 off the top of my head, that's a very expensive 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:42.480 dose of violence that I purchased last night on the 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:44.600 UFC fight. If you'll know what I'm talking about, don't worry. 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:50.159 I was praying. But when we say that that that 0:26:50.520 --> 0:26:52.439 the devil, you know, the devil is doing this and 0:26:52.480 --> 0:26:53.960 that in my life. There's only two things he can do. 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:56.000 He can't defeat you the Cross of Jesus. Christ defeated 0:26:56.040 --> 0:27:00.480 the devil once and for all. He is a defeated foe. 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:03.359